So, I will just try to show that the world of religions is more diverse than it seems to Theosophists. The belief in the transmigration of the soul from one body to another is not at all generally accepted There are religions that are not at all ashamed of human physicality. It seems natural for them to assume that the break in the relationship between the soul and the body is just a temporary nuisance, and then their union will resume forever. Therefore, the soul, as it is believed in such cases, does not seek other bodies, but waits to be reunited with the former one – when it will be miraculously awakened and restored. There are religions from the point of view of which, on the contrary, life in the body seems to be such an insignificant episode that the soul, having broken with the body, goes forever, as they believe here, into the world of spirits and gods, and will never again squeeze itself into any body, neither into its former one, nor into any new and alien ones. There are religions that assume that the soul, if it acquires a body, will not be the body of Ivan or Zhuchka: the soul will become part of the universal Body, living the One Life of the Divine...

However, I will not be able to cover all the diversity of religions. Therefore, I propose to consider only five questions in this work:

The first is whether the theory of reincarnation is really universal, religious, and ancient.

The second is whether the idea of reincarnation was recognized by the prophets of the Old Testament.

The third is whether there is an idea of the transmigration of souls in the books of the New Testament.

The fourth is whether the early Christian writers before the Fifth Ecumenical Council (especially "all the ascetics" and "founders", and, in particular, St. Anthony the Great) really recognized the idea of reincarnation.

The fifth is whether this teaching was really "abolished" in the sixth century at the Council of Constantinople.

CHAPTER 1

IDEAS ABOUT DEATH IN THE ANCIENT WORLD

If we proceed from the conviction that the idea of karma and transmigration of the soul (Latin - reincarnation; Greek - metempsychosis) is universal, then, of course, it is strange to hear Christians who renounce it and thereby oppose themselves to all mankind and all of history. But are Christians really such "degenerates"? If we find that the Bible keepers have indeed never accepted the transmigration of souls, will this rejection of karmism be something unique, unprecedentedly scandalous, and will isolate them from the rest of humanity?

If all the surrounding peoples and previous religious traditions believed in reincarnation, then in general it is natural to assume that this idea could be reflected in Christianity in one way or another. And what if the religions of the Ancient East did not have the idea of reincarnation? In this case, the rejection of the idea of karma by Christians will no longer seem too scandalous. It can be assumed that in this matter Christians continue the tradition inherent in the more ancient cultures of the Middle East. So, in order to prepare Theosophists for the most unpleasant surprise for them (that is, to the demonstration of a negative biblical attitude to reincarnation), let us begin our discussion of the attitude of Christianity to the idea of metempsychosis from afar. Let's start ab ovo. From the Ancient East.