January 7 – Christmas. This is the day of the beginning of a new era. On this day, the night festive Liturgy is served in all churches of the Orthodox Church. Christmastide begins with the Christmas holiday - holy days - two weeks before Epiphany Eve.

New era

It got very cold that night. Nights in this area are generally cool, but that night was especially chilly. Because of the cold, even the night seemed blue-black, and this made the stars twinkle brighter in the dark sky.

The lucky ones, whose houses were heated in advance and all the cracks were prudently filled with rags, wrapped themselves up warmly and, getting ready to go to bed, exchanged happy words about how, for sure, theirs would be warmer than their neighbors.

What kind of uninvited guest? Who knocks on the door in such darkness? Who can't sleep?

And the nights were indeed restless - and all because of this census. So it was necessary to conduct a population census. Now everyone goes to Bethlehem, everyone who was born here, and they need a place to stay for the night. It’s good if someone is richer, but they’re asking for nothing.

– Do you have anything to pay with?
- No, we are poor people, but my wife is about to give birth, and we really need a place to stay for the night! We came from afar, She is tired and can’t walk anymore!

…. Well, there’s no money, and my wife has to give birth, well, it won’t be a hassle.
- Sorry, there are no places!

And another door slammed.
Should I try again? Shouldn't we spend the night on the street? What to do next?
-A place in the stable?
After all, She has to give birth. After all, it’s not just a baby that should come into the world. After all, the King of Kings, the savior of the world, will come!

Old Joseph knew who his wife would give birth to. Maria was given to him as a wife as a very young girl - the priests did not know what to do with a girl who had vowed to devote her whole life to God and chose him, already an old man, to be her husband. And so, after some time it turns out that his pure bride is pregnant. What about the vow of chastity? And they will find out what will happen to her - she will be stoned to death! She is pregnant, but not yet married... And he decides to secretly let her go. Then at least they won't kill her...

But that night he suddenly woke up. It was not a dream, it was a vision - an Angel of God appeared to him. He appeared before him and said that there was no sin on Mary. The one she carries under her heart is not the fruit of male lust, but the fruit of the Covenant, the Son of the Holy Spirit, the Savior of the world. The Messiah, whom everyone had been waiting for for hundreds of years.
And long weeks of waiting began, and now the one who will come to save the world is very close. To save us all from death, from sin, to give hope for salvation.

It was winter.
The wind was blowing from the steppe.
And it was cold for the Baby in the den
On the hillside.

B. Pasternak

And there was not even the tiniest place for Him in any house. The King and Savior of the world is born, and where? In a dirty barn, where only animals warm the air with their warmth.

The breath of the ox warmed him.
Pets
We stood in a cave
A warm haze floated over the manger.

We have long lost the habit of saying “before our era”, “in the new era”, introduced into the Russian language after the revolution to replace “before the Nativity of Christ” and “after the Nativity of Christ”, for example, in English the era is still designated as BC (Before Christ - before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini lat. - year of the Lord)

Meeting the Tsar

Christ was born in the city of Bethlehem during the days of the national census in the Roman Empire, which at that time also included Judea.

“I see (I see) a strange and glorious sacrament,” he sings, “Heaven is a den; Throne of Cherubim - Virgo; The manger is a container, and in them the incontainable Christ God will recline” (irmos of the 9th song of the canon).

According to legend, the birth of the Infant of God was painless, so the Most Holy Virgin Herself, without outside help, swaddled the Infant and laid Him in a manger.

But in the midst of midnight silence, when all of humanity was enveloped in the deepest sleep, the news of the Nativity of the Savior of the world was heard by the shepherds. They were guarding the flock when an Angel appeared to them and said: “Do not be afraid: I bring you good news of great joy, today a Savior has been born to you, Christ the Lord.”

The shepherds, apparently pious people, immediately hurried to where the Angel showed them, and were the first to receive the honor of worshiping the Infant Christ. They spread everywhere, wherever they looked, about the appearance of Angels to them and about the heavenly praise they heard, and everyone who heard them marveled. The Most Holy Virgin Mary, filled with a feeling of deep humility, remembered all this, “composing it in Her heart.”

Thus, the poor simple shepherds were the first to see Christ.

The frosty night was like a fairy tale,
And someone from a snowy ridge
All the time he was invisibly part of their ranks.
The dogs wandered, looking around cautiously,
And they huddled close to the shepherd and waited for trouble.
Along the same road through the same area
Several angels walked in the midst of the crowd.
Their incorporeality made them invisible,
But the step left a footprint.
A crowd of people was crowding around the stone.
It was getting light. Cedar trunks appeared.
-Who are you? – asked Maria.
– We are a shepherd’s tribe and ambassadors of heaven,
We have come to praise you both.
- We can’t do it all together. Wait at the entrance.

Calculation from the Nativity of Christ

The accepted chronology “from the Nativity of Christ” was introduced in the 6th century by the Roman monk Dionysius, called the Small. Dionysius based his calculations on the calculation that the Lord Jesus Christ was born in the year 754 from the founding of Rome, but, as more thorough research showed, his calculation turned out to be erroneous: Dionysius indicated the year at least five years later than the actual one. However, this Dionysian era, intended at the beginning only for church use, from the 10th century became widespread in Christian countries and was accepted in civil chronology, although it is recognized as erroneous by all chronologists: the generally accepted date of Christmas is the 749th year from the founding of Rome.

Why the Magi?

The next to come to the newborn Christ were the wise men from the East. In their person, the entire pagan world bowed its knees before the true Savior of the world.

Today it is often said that the Orthodox faith accepts astrology, and at the same time they refer to the fact that the Magi were among the first to come to the newborn Savior. However, the church testifies to the impossibility of Orthodox astrology: the Magi brought all pagan wisdom to the feet of Christ, symbolically showing the insignificance of their knowledge before the greatness of the God-man.

The Gospel wise men determined by the stars that the King of the Jews was born, but, having come to Jerusalem, they were forced to turn to the scribes and Pharisees to find out in which city exactly He was born? “Where is he who has been born King of the Jews? for we saw his star in the east and came to worship him.” (Matt. 2.2).

These words frightened Herod. Reigned at that time, because he had no legal right to the throne. Herod was afraid of his opponent, but what was it worth to destroy him? While the baby was still so defenseless: Herod made the Magi promise to point him to the newborn King of Kings. They came to Bethlehem and there “fallen, bowed down” Newborn Christ. “Having opened your treasures”, Magi “They brought Him gifts: gold, as to a King, frankincense, as to God, and myrrh, as to a man who had tasted death.”.

It was getting light. Dawn is like specks of ash,
The last stars were swept from the sky.
And only the Magi from the countless rabble
Mary let him into the hole in the rock.
He slept, all shining, in an oak manger,
Like a ray of moonlight in the hollow of a hollow.
They replaced his sheepskin coat
Donkey lips and ox nostrils.
We stood in the shadows, as if in the darkness of a stable,
They whispered, barely finding words.
Suddenly someone in the dark, a little to the left
He pushed the sorcerer away from the manger with his hand,
And he looked back: from the threshold to the Virgin,
The Christmas star looked on like a guest.

Having received a revelation in a dream not to return to Herod, who planned to kill the Infant God, the Magi took a different route, that is, not through Jerusalem, and went to their own country, probably south of Bethlehem. and then Herod ordered the killing of all the babies in Bethlehem and the surrounding area. An angel appeared to Joseph again and ordered him to flee with Mary and the Child to Egypt to avoid certain death.

What is Christmas for?

Christ came into the world in order to heal the sinful, fallen nature of man from within. As the famous theologian of the 20th century, Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh, writes, “God gives His Son - yes, to earthly life, but also to death! To death, which is alien to Him to everyone, with which He has nothing in common, because death is the fruit of our alienation from God, death is the fruit of sin, the deadness of the soul, which entails the dying of the body. The incarnate God, the God-man Lord Jesus Christ, is already immortal at His birth: and He accepts mortality, wanting in everything to be identified with us, people, to be at one with us, without being separated from the love of God, or from unity with Him, in order to live our life, but a purified life, transparent to everything bright, and die our sinful death. Yes! He dies our death, not His own, because how can Eternal Life die?.. But He communes with us and dies.”

Christ became a man not only to teach us the true path or to show us a good example. He became a man so that we unite with yourself, to associate our weak, sick human nature with His Divinity.

Holiday

At Christmas, a night Liturgy is served in all churches of the Orthodox Church, distinguishing this day from the other days of the year.
The chants of the Nativity of Christ service are especially solemn and melodious. In the evening on the day of the Feast, festive vespers are served. Temples are always decorated for Christmas in a special way: in many churches, Christmas trees are decorated and Nativity scenes are installed.

At Christmas, the 40-day fast ends and the joyful time of Christmastide begins. The time when there is no fasting, the time that Orthodox Christians try to spend holyly, is the result of all fasting. For a long time in Rus', these days especially many acts of mercy were performed, they helped the poor, sick, lonely, this is also a time of folk festivities, fun and joy about the holiday of Christmas.

To use presentation previews, create a Google account and log in to it: https://accounts.google.com

Slide captions:

"The Nativity of Christ and the New Era."

2017 years ago, an unprecedented event took place in the small town of Bethlehem - a baby, the Son of God, was born into the world.

The first guests of the divine baby were simple shepherds, to whom the Angel announced the Nativity of Christ.

At this time, the Magi (ancient sages) came with gifts to the King of the World. They knew and expected that the great King of the World would soon come to earth, and a wonderful star showed them the way to Jerusalem.

Era is the initial moment of the chronology system. We count the years from the birth of Christ.

Coming to earth, He was not greeted with honor, nobility and wealth. He was born outside the city, in a cave, and was placed in a manger where they put food for animals.

The national and most beloved holiday in Russia. Even on the eve of the holiday, Russians decorated their favorite Christmas tree from childhood.

In the old days, when the clock struck midnight, everyone exchanged gifts, congratulated, and made wishes. It was believed that at Christmas the sky opens and the heavenly forces fulfill all their plans. But desires must be good.

Christmas is a quiet, homely, calm holiday. Only family members and closest relatives and friends gather at the table. It is not customary to invite many guests.

On Christmas days, children, pretending to be Magi, walked with a star and congratulated all their acquaintances and even strangers on the holiday. They sang praise to the born Christ and carol songs that told about the Birth of the Divine Child, and the adults thanked the young singers and treated some to cookies, some candy, some to pies.

Preview:

Lesson on the basics of Orthodox culture “The Nativity of Christ and the New Era.”

Target: familiarizing students with the history of the origin of the Orthodox holiday of the Nativity of Christ as the beginning of a new era;instilling children's interest in studying the history of Orthodox culture; fostering a respectful attitude towards Orthodox traditions and national culture.

Equipment: presentation, audio recording of the song “Christmas”, “Christmas Song”, Christmas Tree”, handouts for working in pairs.

During the classes:

Today I want to start the lesson by listening to a song. After listening, you will answer questions and determine the topic of our lesson.

The song "Christmas" is playing (Appendix 1)

Christmas

Chorus.

• What does the piece sound like?
• What feelings are expressed?
• What picture did your imagination paint?
• What we're going to talk?

(Slide 1)

Guys, please remember what you know about the holiday Christmas?

Today in the lesson you will hear, understand and remember the Christmas story, which happened many, many (more than two thousand) years ago..

In the small Jewish city of Nazareth, which was part of the Great Roman Empire, lived Joseph and Mary, the same Mary to whom the Archangel Gabriel announced that She would give birth to a Son from the Holy Spirit, and he would save the world. In those days, when the time of His birth was approaching, the Roman emperor Augustus ordered a national census to be carried out in Judea in order to count the people. To do this, everyone had to go to the city where his ancestors came from.

Joseph and Mary came from the line of King David, so they went to Bethlehem, the city of David. Here they did not find a place in the hotel and they stayed in a cave where shepherds drove their flocks in inclement weather. It was in this cave at night that the Divine Baby Jesus was born. The Virgin Mary swaddled Him and laid Him in a manger on soft fragrant hay. (Slide 2) Manger-a lattice box in which feed for livestock was placed. Now, in memory of the cradle of Christ, this is the name of the children's institution where small children are raised.

God Himself, through the Archangel Gabriel, instructed Mary to name her son Jesus (in Hebrew"Savior") Christ (from Greek "Anointed One") . This is how the ancient Jews called kings, priests, and prophets as a sign of their important service: anointed with myrrh ( miro) - a mixture of fragrant substances specially prepared and illuminated.

That night, shepherds were in the field with their flocks, and suddenly they saw an extraordinary light and an Angel of the Lord appeared to them and said: “I bring you great joy, today in the city of David a Savior has been born, who is Christ the Lord. And here is a sign to you: you You will find a Child wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” And many Angels sang a song of praise: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Then the shepherds hurried into the cave and found everything as the Angel told them and bowed to Mary and the Child. (Slide 3)

Wise astrologers from the East - the Magi - also came to worship the born Savior. They were led by a star, golden, clear, many-winged, which ascended into the sky at the hour of the Nativity of Christ and shone over the whole world. That very night the history of the human race was divided in two. From the rising of the messenger star, from the Nativity of Christ, we count the centuries. (Slide 4)

The star walked in front of them and stopped over the cave in which the Child was. And the wise men, bowing, opened their gifts before Him: gold, which they brought to Jesus as a King, incense, brought to Him as God, and myrrh, announcing His future suffering and death for the salvation of the world.The names of these wise men are preserved in the Gospel– Belshazzar, Gaspard, Melchior. Having bowed to the ground to the Baby, the Magi presented gifts: gold, as to the king, in the form of tribute. Incense (fragrant resin), as to God, during worship.Myrrh (oil), as for a persongoing to his death. Because dead people are anointed with fragrant oil. Mary kept these gifts all her life. Now they are in a monastery on the mountain Athos . An amazing fragrance still emanates from the gifts.

These events took place 2017 years ago, and since then Christians around the world have joyfully celebrated the Nativity of Christ.. Christmas has become the most important event for all humanity. Even modern chronology is carried out precisely from the Nativity of Christ.. We say that a new era is counted from this event, and we mark all the events that occurred before the birth of Christ with the words BC. (BC or AD). (Slide 5)

Coming to earth, He was not greeted with honor, nobility and wealth. He had no shelter, no cradle like all children. Nursery, i.e. the cattle feed box became his cradle, the cave became his refuge. But was the Virgin Mary offended by people? She is still humble, radiating love and meekness.(Slide 6)

Sounds " Christmas song" ( Annex 1)

Christmas song.

1. The stars were shining brightly

Over the land of Bethlehem,

In the field the herds slept peacefully -

There was peace and quiet everywhere.

Chorus.

Baby Jesus was born that night

To help people suffering in the world.

I sing praises to him alone, -

To my Christ.

1. Angels in heavenly light

They gave glory to Christ,

But the houses were crowded,

And he was born in a stable.

Chorus.

1. In a little child's heart,

Oh, settle down, Jesus.

You are my shepherd, I am a sheep

I strive to be in the sky with you.

Everyone knows that the day before Christmas is called Christmas Eve. It received this name from one Lenten dish - sochiva. Sochivo is boiled grains of wheat, sometimes rice, mixed with honey and nuts. This dish is eaten on the day before Christmas because, although strict fasting continues on this day, the Christmas holiday has already begun. Therefore, the church charter appoints this incredibly tasty, but still lenten dish on this day.
Another ancient folk tradition is associated with Christmas Eve - not eating until the first star. On days of strict fasting, it was prescribed to eat once a day, and the stricter the fast, the later. Therefore, on Christmas Eve, the day of strict fasting before the great holiday, the pious tradition remains of eating juice in the evening, and spending the whole day in prayer and preparing oneself for the holiday.
- What do you see on slides (7,8)?

(Answers: Christmas tree, joy, gifts, holiday)

Right! Christmas is a holiday for children and adults, with songs, games, gifts at the tree, with the glow of candles and the smell of resinous pine needles.

Another irreplaceable attribute of Christmas is a festively decorated fir tree.

Why do people have decorated Christmas trees in their homes for Christmas?

This tradition came to us a long time ago from Germany. Saint Boniface, the enlightener of all Germans, preaching the Word of God and wanting to show the pagans the powerlessness of their gods, cut down the sacred oak - a tree dedicated to the pagan god Odin. And from the stump of this tree a beautiful fir soon grew. To which Saint Boniface pointed out that “the fir of Christianity grew on the roots of the felled oak of paganism.” Since then, the Germans, remembering this miracle, decorated fir or spruce every Christmas. And it was from there, under Tsar Peter the Great, that the Christmas tree came to Russia.
Listen to the song "Christmas Tree""

CHRISTMAS TREE

Words and music by N. Tananco

1. Snow crumbs swirl in a white waltz,

They are not afraid of frost at all.

The most beautiful night outside the window,

On this night Christ was born.

The star flashed brightly above the cave,

Having illuminated His cradle,

And she came to Him that night without gifts

Small modest spruce.

Chorus.

Christmas tree - so many miracles!

And on the top of the head there is an asterisk - a gift from Heaven.

The Christmas tree is beautiful to the point of tears,

Christ blessed her.

1. Decorating the tree on Christmas evening,

We rejoice just like Him.

And at midnight we light candles

God who was born of a virgin.

He was the kindest child in the world,

You and I should be like him.

May Christmas trees be lit in all homes

With the bright star of Bethlehem!

The wonderful tradition of giving gifts was given to the world by the great saint - St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. Sacred Tradition says that it was around Christmas that Saint Nicholas did one of his deeds: having learned that a bankrupt townsman, due to extreme need, was going to sell his daughters into slavery, at night he secretly threw three bags of gold into the garden and thereby saved the whole family from hunger, shame and spiritual death. And Christians, remembering this episode from the life of the saint, tried on the eve of Christmas to provide help to those who needed it. This is where the custom of giving gifts for Christmas came from. (Slide 10)
There are two more beautiful Christmas traditions - setting up nativity scenes near churches and singing carols. A nativity scene is a symbolic “cave” in which either a sculptural or iconographic image of the Nativity of Christ is placed. And carols are special chants glorifying the Birth of the Savior. (Slide 11, 12)

Guys, how do you celebrate this bright holiday?

Both the songs and the story that I read to you are all about the birth of Christ, about Christmas.

Let's give this holiday to our loved ones. Now you will receive a creative task. You will divide into pairs and make toys for the Christmas tree.

(The teacher distributes templates for making toys with instructions):

1. Star of Bethlehem - the top of the Christmas tree

2.Trumpeting angels supporting the star on both sides

3. The Magi coming to worship the Baby Jesus

4. The Nativity of Jesus Christ - the Infant of God in the manger

5. Evangelism to the shepherds

6. Flight to Egypt

7. Nativity scene - the cave in which the Savior of the world was born

8.Children singing carols.

9. Garland composed of words sung by the angels: “Glory to God in the highest”

10. A garland of flags decorated with the initials of Christ and the Virgin Mary, and flags with the image of a fish, an anchor and a lamb with a cross. The fish is an ancient symbol of Christ, because the first letters of the Greek words “Jesus Christ the Son of God the Savior” form the Greek word “Ichthys”, which means “fish”, and the anchor, so similar to the cross, has symbolized hope for salvation since apostolic times, which Christ promised to all who love him. A lamb with a cross is also a symbol of Christ - the Lamb of God.

11. Angels

12. Christmas stars with the image of the letters IE XE - Jesus Christ and MR OY - Mary Theotokos. You will always find these inscriptions on the icons of the Savior and the Mother of God.

So let's see what you got!

Well done today, you did your best!

I suggest you finish the lesson a beautiful song , dedicated to the wonderful Orthodox holiday of the Nativity of Christ.Performance of the song "Bright holiday of Christmas"(Slide 13)

Bright holiday of Christmas

1. A wonderful picture will decorate an elegant Christmas tree,

Where, as if in a fairy tale, a big star shines,

Where is the cradle of Christ, joy and beauty

On Christmas Day.

Chorus

On the bright holiday of Christmas

Slowly light the candles.

Speak this evening

Only kind words.

On the bright holiday of Christmas

Let's remember everything we dreamed of

And will leave all sorrows

Bright holiday of Christmas.

1. May joy dwell in your heart for a long time

And in gratitude for this divine gift:

Fairytale dark forest, stardust from heaven

On Christmas Day.

Lesson summary:

• What we were talking about?
• What new did you learn?
• Why is it 2017 AD in Russia?
• When is Christmas celebrated in Russia?
• What Christmas symbols do you know?
• What does the name Jesus Christ mean?
• What is Christmas Eve?
• Why did people start a new countdown from the Nativity of Christ?
• How did people celebrate Christmas?

Well done boys! Our lesson is over. Goodbye!

Preview:

Christmas

1. All dreams come true on this fabulous day,

Let everyone smile, driving away the shadow of tears.

The candles are lit, the clock strikes twelve,

Souls open up, the song of Christ flows.

Chorus

Christmas, Christmas, has come to visit us again!

Christmas, Christmas, brings joy and warmth!

Christmas, Christmas, everything cruel is gone!

Christmas, Christmas, bright holiday Christmas!

1. May we become kinder on this day, on this night,

And dreams will become brighter, we will drive the darkness away.

At Christmas we expect miracles, we praise the heavens,

We carry the bright face of Christ, keeping it in every heart.

Questions from TV viewers are answered by Priest Konstantin Morozov, cleric of the Church of St. Prophet Elijah on the Porokhovs. Broadcast from St. Petersburg.

Good evening, dear TV viewers! On air on the Soyuz TV channel is the program “Conversations with Father,” hosted by Deacon Mikhail Kudryavtsev. Today our guest is the cleric of the Temple in honor of St. Prophet Elijah on the Porokhovs in St. Petersburg, priest Konstantin Morozov.

Hello, Father Mikhail.

- Please, bless our TV viewers.

May the born Christ enter the hearts of each of us.

Dear TV viewers, we also join in wishing you a Merry Christmas. This is our first broadcast after Christmas from St. Petersburg. Our topic today is related to the Nativity of Christ and it sounds like this: “Our era or the era from the Nativity of Christ?” Father, please tell me what is the difference?

The only difference is that we do not have such a division as ancient history, ancient history, modern history, modern history. There is a moment in history that changed the fate of the whole world - this is the Nativity of Christ. Therefore, we count before the Nativity of Christ “BC,” and after the Nativity of Christ “our era” is the time in which we live. Because this birth became fateful for all humanity, no matter where on the globe a person lives, no matter what religion he belongs to, after the birth of Christ people think completely differently, perceive this world, live in this world. This is primarily due to the fact that we have the concept of “personality”. Previously, there was no such concept; you can read in the Old Testament and in other stories of the ancient world, how baskets of gouged out human eyes were brought to kings after the capture of this or that city, or how Herod kills babies in Bethlehem. This seems terrifying to us! How can you kill a baby or a person, or bring a basket of human eyes? For people of antiquity, this was not something wild and was not perceived the way we perceive it, because a person was not thought of as a person, but was thought of as one of the subjects living in this world, nothing more. God becomes man, and, consequently, human nature becomes exalted to Heaven. I will quote a well-known phrase of the holy fathers: “God became man so that man could become God.” This is part of the history of the entire culture after the birth of Christ.

What do you think, 2000 years have passed, what has changed radically, because the world is not homogeneous, there is the East and there is the West, there is the Far East?

I think that initially a person feels loneliness in his world, and no matter how much we strive for unity, and this is embedded in us, we strive for another person to understand us, to share us the way we feel, the way we understand ourselves . All relationships between people, between husband and wife, between children and parents, between friends are built on this. But within ourselves we understand that another person will perceive me this way, treat me the way I treat myself, and even the closest one will not be able to, he will not be able to understand the full depth of my personality, which I cannot convey to him. But a person has this feeling and desire for unity because it was originally laid down by God. In the Bible we read that Adam and his wife were both naked and not ashamed, that is, they were absolutely open to each other, there was absolutely no wall that separated one from the other. The appearance of clothes indicates that this separation has occurred between them, they have personal space and personal life for one and the other. The Bible communicates this by pointing out that the functions of a woman and the functions of a man are different: “He will rule over you, and you will earn your bread by the sweat of your brow.” Of course, a person within himself understands the loneliness in this world and, probably, this loneliness is more pronounced in older people who have already walked the path of life, who have already experienced a lot in this life and, to a greater extent, sitting at home near the fireplace or somewhere... then among their loved ones and relatives, grandchildren and children, they understand that each of them has their own life. And no matter how dear they were to them, they still play a certain role in their lives, and a person (grandson, child) allows them into his life for a certain period and at a certain distance of communication. But when Christ enters a person’s life, then the person understands that he is not alone, because God is ready to share his whole life with him. And with this moment, a person again feels this original internal craving for unity, which everyone has. Therefore, we feel the birth of Christ as a certain miracle, that the Ruler of the Universe becomes a man, and it seems that this cannot be comprehended in our minds, no matter how much we talk about it, no matter what we read from the holy fathers, or think about it, we perceive it as a certain miracle. How could the One who created this world become a man? On the other hand, you and I understand that on these Christmas days we are waiting for this miracle, because the biggest miracle happened, and thereby the world changed, changed radically.

Question from a TV viewer: “Hello, I have the first question: a lot of people make fortunes at Christmas time, is this a sin? And the second: I have a cat, and I don’t know where to put the kittens, no one wants to take them, I keep them at home, and then I throw them in - is it a sin?”

Thanks for the questions. Why do they tell fortunes at Christmas time? Usually there is always time, so to speak, a time buffer, which in any culture was perceived as an intermediate time of the state of the world before and after. But in Anglo-Saxon cultures there is such a bad holiday as Halloween, it is celebrated before All Saints' Day in the Catholic Church. There is also a certain buffer when all the evil spirits appear on this night and dominate until All Saints’ Day arrives, that is, a bright day when the saints who shone forth in God, the Church honors the victory of God over all evil. In the same way, at the moment of the Nativity of Christ, on the night before Christmas, they tell fortunes, on Christmas Eve, we read this in Gogol. Gogol’s character the demon is very interesting because he appears precisely at the moment in time when the world is being prepared, but Christ has not yet taken full dominion over this world. It is no coincidence that during one of Christ’s temptations the devil shows Him the kingdom of the world and says: “Bow down to me and I will give You dominion over him.” Satan does not lie at this moment, indeed the Earth belongs to him, but Christ comes into his own and says to him: “Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him alone.” They communicate in biblical phrases with each other. Still, God’s power over the entire Universe is coming.

- Although Christ himself calls the devil: “The prince of this world comes and finds nothing in Me.”

Yes, this point is very important. Therefore, fortune telling at Christmas time, of course, is not Christian, not Orthodox, not pagan, but in cultures this moment of a time buffer has always been noted between one moment of manifestation of evil forces and the moment of the onset of the Kingdom of Light - the Kingdom of God.

- It must be emphasized that in any case, fortune telling is communication with the devil.

Undoubtedly! In the book “Unholy Saints” by Father Tikhon (Shevkunov), his experience is very well described when he recalls that they, as students, entertained themselves with spiritualism and all kinds of fortune-telling, and the thought of suicide began to appear in them, and this was escalated, and only after that as soon as he was baptized and began to live the church life, this passed. But, of course, this is entering an area where a person discovers a very subtle facet of the spiritual world, and it is a big mistake if a person believes that he can enter this area unprepared.

Question from a TV viewer: “My sister is very sick and I was told to pray a prayer in agreement with my other sisters. What is a prayer by agreement and how to read it?

I will now answer this question and return to the cat that always has kittens - to the first question. It seems to me that the cat needs to be sterilized. This will be less evil than constantly throwing kittens, because there are people who think that let my poor kitty or cat go for a walk. It is better to sterilize in urban conditions; the cat does not need this function.

Regarding the prayer of agreement, I think this prayer certainly begins when the Lord says: “Where two or three are gathered in My Name, there am I in the midst of them.” The church always prays, the church in Greek is “congregation”, so it is a collection of Christians praying for a person or a group of people. Sometimes Christians cannot gather, but in prayer we feel this unity. Let's say two friends go to different churches on Sunday for liturgy - do they attend the same liturgy or different ones? Of course, on one, because the liturgy is not constrained by space. In the same way, in prayer we do not constrain ourselves by space, being in different houses, different apartments, living in different areas of the city, we get up at a certain time for prayer, for example, at nine o’clock in the evening, or at whatever time this group of people agreed, this maybe 5, 10 people or more. And at the moment they are praying for God’s servant Lyudmila, so that the Lord will heal her or help her suffer from this serious illness with which she has fallen ill. Sometimes we ask for healing, although, in my opinion, the Lord will heal anyway, if that is His Will, we need to pray that the person will bear the burden of his illness with dignity, so that he does not become despondent, does not despair, so that he perceives it is like a certain service to God through your illness. This is how the saints perceived their illnesses - as a certain service to God and the mortification of their flesh through their illness. Therefore, at this moment, prayer for agreement is prayer at a certain time when people agree and pray for the same person.

Question from the VKontakte group: “Please tell me, if the calculation of our era comes from the Nativity of Christ and is generally accepted, then why do we have so many Muslims and other religious movements that theoretically recognize this calendar, but at the same time retain their views?”

Muslims do not recognize this calendar; they calculate in a completely different way, from the Prophet Muhammad, from what happened in Mecca. Therefore, the chronology here is completely different. And to talk about why people do not recognize Christ, this requires a big program. First of all, 3 questions will always be important for a person: this is the question of the meaning of life, what is life and what is death. And all human and religious culture answers primarily these 3 questions. Why does a person exist, what is life for him and what is death for him. And, naturally, each religion will answer these questions differently. Let’s say Buddhism will say that a person must dissolve, go into oblivion, they usually talk about rebirth, but this is not entirely true, because birth into life is not a very joyful moment, because there is illness, sorrow and suffering. And therefore, the wheel of these rebirths is a wheel of suffering, and not of what a person has in eternity and constantly lives on Earth. In general, no religion will say that happiness for a person is to live on Earth. Therefore, the transition through the wheel of Samsara, dissolution into non-existence is the goal for Buddhists. For Christians, the goal will be the moment of deification - union with God to the limit, to the end, in order to become like God. This moment is very important for Christians. Each religion will respond to a person in its own way, based on its concepts, traditions, and the culture in which people live. Therefore, of course, the question arises as to why a person is satisfied with certain answers, this is a completely different area, and why, if a person is satisfied with the answers of a particular religion to these 3 questions. This is a whole polemic, a lecture, I will move away from this topic, because at the very core for Christians, God is a Person, and communication with God is communication with a Person. The Lord said about Himself: " Iam the way, the truth and the life". For us, Christ is this way, and truth, and life, therefore, to the question of philosophers “what is truth?” Christians always say: “Truth is not what, but Who is truth. Truth is Christ." For us this is understandable, because Christ entered a person’s life, this meeting took place. Many people spoke about this, including Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh and Father Alexander Men. They said that it does not matter where a person was born - in a church environment or not in a church environment. Let’s say that for a priest’s son the question is whether it is necessary to fast or not, that food from fasting is changed to fasting during Lent, that curtains during Lent are changed from white to black, or that the piano is locked with a key during Lent, no music is played. , it won’t be installed that way. For him, this is a way of life, certain traditions, family ways, but the question that Christ must become the reality of his life, enter his life, not just be some kind of philosophical knowledge or just the knowledge that Christ is God, and to be the real presence of God in his life is the moment a person meets God, and it will be different for everyone. For some, this happens, as with Vladyka Anthony while reading the Gospel, when he feels that on the other side of the table there is Christ, about whom he is reading, without feeling Him physically, or with some kind of natural nature, but internally sensing this meeting , he carries it throughout his life. This happened to Father Alexander Me when he saw a portrait of Stalin ascending in a hot air balloon, and realized that I must fight this evil and, of course, Christ is the core in my life to resist all this pressure of evil that dominates the world. At the age of 13 this happens to both of them. For Christians, of course, God is not an impersonal God, let’s say, as the “Lord of the Universe”, who can tempt, who can test a person. But for Christians, God is, first of all, a Person, and this Person is first and foremost loving.

You mentioned Father Alexander Men, he often connected his sermons with scientific progress, he had his own books related to this. Our TV viewer Elena asks a question about this: “Does scientific progress hinder preaching about Christianity and life in Christ, or does it help?”

I think that, first of all, we have the opportunity in scientific progress to better master biblical history. Archeology, history, and physics help us become better acquainted with what is happening in our world. Therefore, of course, there has never been a contradiction between science and religion, because religion answers the question in essence: science answers the question “how?”, and religion answers the question “why?”. Why did this or that happen, and why, but science is limited to the question “how?” This is its specific function. Therefore, no contradictions arise. We know a lot of smart scientists and people who were believers: Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev, Newton, Pascal, Academician Pavlov, and many others. Therefore, no contradictions arise here. On the other hand, Father Alexander Men posed a very important question to himself, he posed to people the question that both the Apostle Paul and other preachers addressed believers for whom being unbelievers was something unnatural, although they were pagans , but they were believers. And in the 20th century and now we are faced with the fact that a person says that he is an unbeliever, and he does not live in the perception of a religious worldview, he does not know the religious feeling, religious practices, even pagan ones. And hence the language of preaching must change, because the missionary language of the Apostle Paul, the Apostle Peter is based on certain religious concepts and ideas that people of that period had. Now the language of the late 20th century must take into account the fact that we communicate with people who do not know any religious ideas and any religious concepts; this should be a completely different language. Father Alexander devoted a lot of time to preparing his books, his sermons, his books and his sermons are addressed to people who do not have any religious consciousness.

Question from a TV viewer: “My daughter is 17 years old, she often has parties and farewells. Tell me, is it genes or is it possible to isolate her from this addiction?”

- Transitional age is generally a problem.

Yes, this is a problem. A mother's prayer reaches from the bottom of the sea. Of course, we must pray, parents must pray for their children. I know several families in our temple who have children themselves. They once attended Sunday school with us, and one of them told me: “How it helped me that I went to bed to the prayer of my mother and woke up, and my mother got up before me, and therefore I woke up to her prayers. This gave me some kind of inner confidence in my life, I understood that no matter what happened in my life, my mother’s prayer would save me.” This is an important factor. On the other hand, why do teenagers leave the Church? Bishop Anthony has a good article “God is in Question,” where he compares the truth and the concept of this truth, citing the example of Gregory the Theologian, who writes: “If we collected all the ideas about God, who is described in the Holy Scriptures and who is described by holy fathers for that period, and would have said: “This is our God,” then we would have created an idol for ourselves. Because God always surpasses our ideas about him.” And the ruler says that we are building a certain model of God for ourselves. A 7-year-old has one model of perceiving God, a 12-year-old has another, a 60-year-old has a third, because you mix in your personal experience of a spiritual relationship with God, life experience and many more criteria for how people imagine Christ. Although Christ is one, everyone’s idea of ​​Christ in some kind of internal relationship with Him will be different: a 12-year-old teenager must break his 7-year-old idea of ​​God and must create a new model of perception of God, just like a 20-year-old must break his 12-year-old perception of God and create a completely different model of perception of God within himself, which will correspond to his experience, his psychological age, his spiritual experiences as a 20-year-old person. Therefore, to a greater extent, teenagers leave church because their perception of God remains that of a 7-year-old, on the one hand, on the other hand, parents constantly see only external imitation: going to church, confessing, receiving communion. But no one teaches how to confess, why you need to take communion. They do not have an internal need for this, because their parents said: “You must take communion.” And there must be an internal feeling that I need this, so at a certain period teenagers begin to leave. I always say, “You know, let him go, let him go through his life, the religious experience that he had, it will always remain, and he will always remember it at some point. Let him wallow in his own mud, because a person must once go through a certain school and draw his own conclusions about life, we cannot constantly control him, we thereby drown out the personality in him.” And to a greater extent, parents want to create a child according to their own template. And this pattern is always sinful, because man is a damaged creature. The parable of the prodigal son is a very important point. The Lord, in the person of the father, calmly releases his son, who said: “Let's assume that you are dead. Give me part of the property due to me.” And every day he waits for his return and, seeing this return, rushes to him first. In the same way, Saint Monica, the mother of Blessed Augustine, had an inner feeling that her son, having gone through the whole cycle of life’s circumstances: fornication, infatuation with heresies, and riotous life, would return and become a Christian. She believed in this, and so it happened, he became a saint of the Church. Our main problem is that we do not believe in our children.

Thank you, father. Servant of God Julia asks this question about religious movements and gives examples of various Protestant movements that call themselves Christians, but are often quite far from traditional ideas. Although we all live in the era from the Nativity of Christ, not all Christians are Christians. How to deal with this and how to fix it?

Take a person out of some Protestant movement or how to relate to the Protestant movement?

- About Yes.

We cannot change Protestants; this is not our task. One man who left the Protestants and became Orthodox said: “First of all, I lacked the fullness of the Sacraments. What is in the church of the West and East is not in the Protestant movement in the fullness of the revealed grace of God.” Reading the Bible, feeling involved in the life of Christ. In fact, there are good examples of Protestants who live an order of magnitude better than some Orthodox live in their piety and in their lives. But he did not feel the fullness of the grace of the Spirit. First of all, here we need to invest what lies at the core. The basis for a person’s coming to church is the understanding that I myself cannot change the way I am, and how I start a new life every week on Monday, this new life does not work out, because on my own I cannot change, but change Only the Lord can do me. And when I come to church, I see how little by little I change. I change not because I learn something more about God by reading, but I change because the Lord, with His Grace, changes. Grace is the action of God in man, namely an active presence, and not just presence. And this active presence of God in a person can change the world around a person, so here, first of all, if we talk about Protestants, they can be brought out by a feeling of some kind of incompleteness.

Question from a TV viewer from the Krasnodar Territory: “Please tell me whether we can be afraid of accepting an electronic passport. They said that electronic passports will be introduced in 2015, should we be afraid of this?”

To this question I’ll add one more, which came to us from the VKontakte group. Servant of God Tatiana writes about a certain article that was described in a certain newspaper in the 90s, where the US Aerospace Agency received photographs from the Hubble telescope, where a “white city” was discovered somewhere in space, which is now, of course, , these photos are classified. Naturally, this is the abode of the Creator. How to deal with all these information viruses?

First of all, we must wait not for the coming of the Antichrist, but for the coming of Christ. We do not read in the Bible that there will be a Last Judgment; even in the Apocalypse we will not find such a definition, because the Judgment of Christ cannot be terrible. Christ comes, and Christ is Love. The judgment of Christ cannot be terrible for a Christian; it is a state of grace, a state of feeling being in this Love. This is a very interesting point, why a person is ready to believe in any nonsense that is written in the newspaper and is not ready to believe what is written in the Holy Scriptures. Always puts everything that is written in the Holy Scriptures into question: “Did it happen or not? Did Christ exist or not? It seems about any nonsense, about the cosmic city as the material abode of the Creator, that tomorrow will be the last day of the world’s existence, in the Mayan calendar, that we are living for the last year and, as you remember, quite recently many people experienced this moment. People are ready to believe. But for some reason people question the Holy Scriptures. First of all, a Christian should not wait for the coming of the Antichrist and should not be afraid of the adoption of electronic passports. First of all, a Christian must wait for the coming of Christ. Once I really remember a story that one of the priests told: “As a young priest, I was very often carried away by sermons about the Antichrist, about the devil, and then one experienced archpriest, the rector of the cathedral where he served, told him: “Father, tell me me, please, but Christ, where is Christ? And from that time on I began to preach only about Christ.” In fact, the feeling of the first Christians was that they were waiting for the coming of Christ and this differs from the Christians of the 21st century. Because Christians of the 21st century are waiting not for the coming of Christ, but for the coming of the Antichrist. Why such difference? To a greater extent, due to an incorrect spiritual life, due to the fact that we place the Antichrist, and not Christ, at the center.

Yes, father, it’s sad, but you started talking about this problem of the end of times, and I would like to ask, can we imagine, for example, the millionth year from the Nativity of Christ?

For us this is such a distant figure. In fact, first of all, the whole world was waiting for the coming of Christ, the whole world was in a certain crisis, so everyone was long-awaiting the Savior of the world, the coming of someone who would deliver the world and turn this world upside down. And in fact, for us, no matter how much we watch the news, no matter what news programs we discuss in our kitchens, if you ask a person a week later: “What was on the news on Wednesday?”, he will not tell you, because he forgot in two or three days what happened in Chile and what the US said about Ukraine. He does not remember this, but remembers the general outline, because first of all, for us, the most enduring news of this world were the words that Christ was born, first to the shepherds: “ Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men favor! And then on behalf of the apostles and on behalf of the myrrh-bearing women that Christ is Risen. These are the two everlasting news in this world: God becomes man and dies for man. " For God so loved the world, Whatgave His only begotten Son, so that“Whoever believes in Him did not perish, but had eternal life.” Therefore, these are two everlasting news that we should ponder, think about and which should be included in our lives. You, Father Michael, had a program with Abbess Georgia, the abbess of the Jerusalem monastery, and you remember that she told how, as a young girl of 17 years old, she was at a service on Christmas night and the priest, delivering a sermon, said: “The Magi brought to the manger Christ gold, incense and myrrh, but what will we bring to the Infant of God?” And she, thinking about this, said: “Lord, I give myself to You, I have nothing!” And with this thought her path to monasticism began, and now, looking back at Mother Georgia’s entire life, we can say that if there had not been this Christmas night and the feeling that she could have brought the Divine Infant to the manger, everything that happened would not have happened in her life. It’s the same for each of us. If we think deeply about what we can bring to the manger of the Infant God, we will understand how our lives can change. Therefore, even if we imagine the millionth year from the Nativity of Christ, we can say that this is enduring news that will always excite people, no matter what happens to the world.

You just said two big news - about the Nativity of Christ and the Resurrection of Christ. The question arises, why do we still calculate chronology from the Nativity of Christ, and not from the Resurrection of Christ, as you think?

Previously, the moment of Christmas and the death of Christ coincided, because the solstice day is a special day. In Cyril of Alexandria we can read: “Christ died and rose again on the day he was born.” In some holy fathers we see statements that these dates coincide. Do you remember what disputes there were about when to celebrate Easter, the Resurrection of Christ. The moment of coincidence of the Nativity of Christ and His Resurrection was previously in culture, and it was understood in this way in the Christian consciousness, among the holy fathers, that the Birth of Christ changed the world, and the Resurrection of Christ also changed this world, it became different. Many are now watching the last part of “The Hobbit”, and those who watched “The Lord of the Rings” or read the book, if you remember, it begins: “The world has become different, I feel a change in the air, in the water, in the earth.” The entire world changes in such a mythical consciousness, in the same way we see this change in the world in the Birth of Christ and in His Resurrection, and this thought has always excited us, so it was initially believed that these dates coincide.

- What do you think we can expect in the near future from the Nativity of Christ?

I wanted to say: “We must wait for Christ!” But what I really wanted to do was wish. These days we all give gifts to each other, and the Lord Himself gave Himself to man - the greatest gift that could be given. We are all waiting for a miracle, because the greatest Miracle happened and this feeling of a miracle inside a person, the return of people to childhood, where this miracle could be felt in abundance, and which was lost over the course of life, people feel it at this time. And I would like us to come closer this year, and everyone has their own small miracle in life, and he feels his miracle in this life. Of course, you and I are happy people and we should be happy every day in the morning, because we were given the greatest opportunity - to live and change ourselves, they gave us another day. Therefore we should be happy in the morning. We can feel this small miracle of God’s touch in every day, in all 365 days, in the same way. Once one of our parishioners was asked by her neighbor in the stairwell: “Well, you go to church, but have you seen God?” She answered: “Yes, every day and more than once.” This was such a truthful answer to the question she posed, because we can see God every day in our lives, and more than once. Seeing His providence for us and the fact that we know that God is providing for us, and no matter how a person is a believer or a doubter, but boarding a plane and saying: “Lord, help!”, we feel first of all that God does not leave us. God grant that the Lord does not leave us this year!

- God bless you, father! Bless us as we leave.

God bless everyone and God's mercy will be with you all!

Presenter: Deacon Mikhail Kudryavtsev

Transcript: Anna Solodnikova

It is known that from the beginning of “our era” - or, as it is also called, “new era”, “era from R.H.”, “era of Dionysius” - there was no continuous counting of years. In other words, people did not count years using it for two thousand years, from the first year to the current year, 2007. The first year of the “new era” WAS COMPUTED much later than itself. The purpose of these calculations was to determine the year of the Nativity of Christ - which was therefore UNKNOWN. It is believed that it was first calculated by the Roman monk of Slavic origin Dionysius the Small in the 6th century AD. e. That is, more than 500 years after the event he dates. It is known that Dionysius first calculated the date of the resurrection of Christ. And only then, using church tradition that Christ was crucified at the age of 31, he received the date of Christmas.

The date of the Resurrection of Christ, according to Dionysius, is March 25, 5539 from Adam. The year of the Nativity of Christ, accordingly, is the 5508th from Adam. Both years are given here according to the Russian-Byzantine era from Adam or “from the creation of the world,” which Dionysius is believed to have used. In modern chronology this is 31 AD. e. for the Resurrection and the beginning of 1 year AD. e. for Christmas. This is how the famous era “from the Nativity of Christ” appeared for the FIRST time.

Today this era is familiar to everyone and is widely used as a global civil calendar. But it was not always so. In the West, Dionysius’ calculations raised deep doubts until the 15th century. In Rus' and Byzantium, the “new era” was not recognized even longer - until the 17th century. The following is reported:

“This era (Dionysius) was tested in 607 by Pope Boniface IV, and it is also found in the document of Pope John XII (965-972). But only since the time of Pope Eugene IV (1431) has the era from the “Nativity of Christ” been regularly used in documents of the papal office... Disputes about the date of the birth of Christ continued in Constantinople until the 14th century,” p. 250.

Moreover, today we already know that Dionysius’ calculations actually contained errors of an astronomical nature. The reason for Dionysius' mistakes lies not in his carelessness as a calculator, but in the insufficient development of astronomy in his time. The error in Dionysius’s calculations surfaced already in the 17th–18th centuries. Since then, several attempts have been made to count Dionysius and correct the date of the Nativity of Christ. For example, in the Lutheran Chronograph of the late 17th century we read:

“In what year was Christ the Lord born, about this there are many opinions, and more than fourty (that is, 40! - Author) are counted in understanding”, sheet 102. Let us list some of the attempts to correct the result of Dionysius: - Christ rose again on April 5 33 years old e. at 34 years old, sheet 109; Christ rose again on April 5, 33 AD. e. at 33 years old (the most common opinion); Christ rose again on April 9, 30 AD. e., and was born several years before the beginning of the century. e. (modern view of the Roman Catholic Church, see also).

But why do you get different answers when trying to correct Dionysius? After all, Dionysius the Less received his date of the Resurrection as a date that satisfied certain calendar “Easter conditions”, or more precisely, the “conditions of the Resurrection”. These conditions are well known today (more on them below). Let's perform Dionysius' calculations again, using modern astronomical data. We will get a definite answer. And then we will understand where previous researchers came up with different “solutions” to the SAME FORMAL PROBLEM that do not coincide with each other.

Looking ahead, we immediately note that in fact, as one would expect, none of the above “solutions to the problem of Dionysius” SATISFIES the calendar and astronomical “conditions of the Resurrection” on which the calculations of Dionysius himself were based. Moreover, it turns out that near the beginning of “AD” there are NO DATES AT ALL THAT SATISFY THESE CONDITIONS. In other words, if Dionysius knew modern astronomy, he could not even come close to indicating the year of Christ's birth where he indicated it - at the beginning of our era. e.

Unfortunately, when astronomical science became sufficiently developed to understand this, and this happened only in the 17th–18th centuries, the “new era” and the date of the “Nativity of Christ” were already widespread in the West and canonized by the Roman Catholic Church, and then Orthodox Church. In addition - and this, apparently, is the main thing - the date of the Nativity of Christ is closely connected with the Scaligerian chronological scale and a strong shift in this date destroys the entire chronological construction of Scaliger.

Therefore, the researchers who tried to “correct” Dionysius had very little freedom - they “had the right” to only slightly shift the date of the Nativity of Christ. For a few years at most. And then only backwards, so as not to increase the “skew” already existing in the Scaligerian chronology due to the gap of 3–4 years between the date of the birth of Christ and the reigns of Augustus and Herod, p. 244. Therefore, under the pressure of Scaligerian chronology, researchers were forced to discard some of the conditions used by Dionysius in dating, and also resorted to various stretches in order to obtain a date close to the beginning of our era.

Let us recall in this regard that in [CHRON1] A. T. Fomenko expressed the idea that “Dionysius the Small” supposedly of the 6th century is largely a phantom reflection of the famous chronologist of the 17th century Dionysius Petavius ​​(Petavis in translation means “Small”).

Let us also recall that according to our research, set out in the book “Tsar of the Slavs,” Christ was born in the 12th century AD. e., namely in 1151 or 1152 AD. e. However, two hundred years later, in the 14th century, the date of Christmas was apparently already forgotten and had to be calculated. As we will see below, the calculations carried out at that time gave an error of approximately 100 years, placing the date of the Resurrection at 1095 AD. e. instead of the correct year 1185 AD. e. On the basis of exactly what considerations these calculations were carried out and why they gave exactly such (erroneous) results, the reader will understand from the further presentation. For now, let’s just emphasize that it was this date, erroneous by about 100 years, that became part of the church tradition of the 14th–16th centuries. And only later, in the 16th–17th centuries, after new, even more erroneous calculations undertaken by the school of Scaliger, the dating of the Nativity, accepted today, to the beginning of our era was obtained. e. Slyly attributed to the supposedly “ancient” Roman monk Dionysius the Lesser. Under whose name, most likely, Dionysius Petavius, one of the founders of the Scaligerian chronology, was actually partially “encrypted.”

1.2.2. Calendar “conditions of the Resurrection”

In the Middle Ages, there were several different opinions about what date in the month of March Christ was resurrected. And also about the age at which he was crucified. One of the most widespread opinions of this kind is expressed in a stable church tradition, according to which Christ was resurrected on March 25, Sunday, the day after the Jewish Passover. The latter, therefore, then fell on Saturday, March 24th. It was these calendar-astronomical “Easter conditions”, which we will call “conditions of the Resurrection”, that Dionysius had in mind when he carried out his calculations of the date of the Resurrection of Christ, and then the Nativity of Christ, p. 242–243. Let us note that these conditions do not contradict the Gospels, although they are not entirely contained in them.

Let's look at them in more detail.

The fact that Christ was resurrected the day after the “Great Saturday” of the Jewish Passover is quite clearly stated in the Gospel of John. This is also confirmed by church tradition and the entire medieval tradition.

The Gospels do not say that Christ was resurrected on March 25th. They only claim that he was resurrected on Sunday (from which the very name of this day of the week later came). The date March 25 is known from church tradition. It must be said that opinions on this matter in the Christian Church have long been divided. However, perhaps the most widespread medieval legend that prevailed in the East (in particular in Rus') in the 15th–16th centuries insists on the date of March 25. The calculations of Dionysius the Less, which we discussed above, are based on the assumption that the resurrection of Christ occurred precisely on March 25. It is known that all Eastern church writers unanimously asserted that Christ was resurrected on March 25, see, for example, p. 242.

Looking ahead, we note that this opinion was not far from the truth. As we showed in our book “Tsar of the Slavs”, the correct dating of the Resurrection of Christ is March 24, 1185. But subsequently, in the 14th century, when calculating the date of the Resurrection, a mistake was made, as a result of which they began to believe that Christ was resurrected on March 25. The date March 25 was included in the canonical church books of that time and became, in fact, generally accepted. Much later calculations by Dionysius were based, naturally, on this canonical date.

Therefore, later in this chapter, analyzing the calculations of Dionysius and correcting the errors contained in them, we will come not to the true date of the Resurrection of Christ (March 24, 1185), but to the date CALCULATED IN THE XIV CENTURY (March 25, 1095). The initial data of Dionysius (who, we repeat, lived LATER than the 14th century) was a CONSEQUENCE of the PREVIOUS DATING of the 14th century. This means that by correcting Dionysius’ calculations, we will arrive at this very dating. That is, LET'S RESTORE THE OPINION OF CHRISTIANS OF THE 14TH CENTURY ABOUT WHEN CHRIST WAS RISEN. But this in itself is extremely interesting and important. Moreover, the mistake of the Christians of the 14th century was not so big compared to the scale of the errors in the Scaligerian chronology that historians use today. It was only 90 years old.

A complete set of calendar conditions that accompanied, according to Christians of the 14th century, the Resurrection of Christ can be found in the “Collection of Patristic Rules” by Matthew Blastar (XIV century): “For the Lord suffered for our salvation in 5539, when the circle of the Sun was 23, the circle of the Moon 10, and the Jews celebrated the Passover on Saturday (as the evangelists write) March 24th. On the Sunday following this Saturday, March 25... Christ was resurrected. Legal Passover (Jewish) is celebrated at the equinox on the 14th moon (that is, on the full moon) from March 21 to April 18 - our Passover is celebrated on the following Sunday,” sheet 185. See also, p. 360.

Church Slavonic text: “For the Lord saved the passion of the five thousandth and five hundredth and 39th present year, 23 for the sun is passing round, 10 for the moon, and for the Jews have the Passover on the last day of the week (on Saturday - Author), as they decided the evangelist is great, declaring the day of this Saturday, March 24; in the coming week (on Sunday Auth), as the sun was cut off considerably, and in the twenty and fifth consecutive week (that is, March 25 - Auth) the mental sun Christ rose from the tomb. Since then, the lawful Passover (Jewish Passover Avt) is celebrated on the 14th moon after the equinox, from the twentieth and first of March to the eighteenth day of April: it is our custom to fall on it on the same week (on Sunday - Avt)”, sheet 185. See .also, p. 360. The year of the passion of Christ given by Matthew Blastar (5539 from Adam) is exactly the same year that was calculated by Dionysius. Subtracting 31 years from 5539 from Adam - the age of Christ in his opinion - Dionysius received the beginning of his era (that is, 5508 from Adam. Let us note in this regard that we do not have the manuscript of Matthew Blastar himself and therefore are forced to use the later copies of XVII century. Where some Scaligerian edition could have already been introduced, for example, the date “5539 from Adam” was inserted for the Resurrection of Christ, calculated by Dionysius in the 16th–17th centuries. Below we will actually make sure that this date was inserted into the text of Vlastar later.

However, Matthew Blastar is not limited to one date and gives the following calendar instructions for the year of the Resurrection of Christ:

1) circle to the Sun 23;

2) circle of the Moon 10;

3) the day before, March 24, there was the Jewish Passover, celebrated on the day of the 14th Moon (that is, on the full moon);

4) the Jewish Passover was on Saturday, and Christ was resurrected on Sunday.

Question: is it possible, based on the listed data, to unambiguously restore the year and date of the Resurrection of Christ - without involving the direct date “5539” (i.e. 31 AD), possibly inserted into the text of Vlastar later?

We will call the set of these four points “conditions of the Resurrection.” These are the calendar and astronomical conditions that, according to Christians of the 14th century, accompanied the Resurrection of Christ. Below we will show that these four conditions allow unambiguous astronomical dating.

1.2.3. Dating the resurrection of Christ according to the full set of “conditions of the Resurrection”

In order to verify the four listed “conditions of the Resurrection,” we wrote a computer program and, with its help, carried out exhaustive calculations for each year from 100 BC. e. before 1700 AD e.

The day of the spring full moon (14th Moon, or Jewish Easter) was calculated according to Gauss's formulas, and Christian Easter, the circle of the Sun and the circle of the Moon - according to the rules of Paschal.

Just like Dionysius and Matthew Blastar, we assumed that the day of the Resurrection of Christ was Easter day and according to Easter. In fact, this assumption is incorrect (see our book “Tsar of the Slavs”), but, as we now understand, it comes from ancient chronological calculations of the 14th century. Since our goal now is to reconstruct the result of these initial calculations and ultimately restore the opinion of Christians of the 14th and 15th centuries about the date of the crucifixion of Christ, we must use the same assumptions as they did.

As a result of computer calculations, we proved the following:

STATEMENT 3.

Calendar “conditions of the Resurrection” 1–4, associated by stable church tradition of the 14th century with the date of the passion and resurrection of Christ, were fulfilled ONLY ONCE: in 1095 AD. e.

It should be emphasized that the very fact of the existence of an exact solution to the problem posed is not at all trivial. If the listed conditions were the fruit of pure fantasy, then, most likely, they would not have had a single exact solution in the historical era. It is not difficult to show that an arbitrary set of such conditions, as a rule, has no solutions (in the historical era). It is almost impossible to guess through fantasy one of those rare combinations when such a solution exists.

INVESTIGATION. The Nativity of Christ, according to the church tradition of the 14th century, was in 1064 AD. e. - 31 years before 1095 AD. e.

NOTE 1.

Dating of the Nativity of Christ in the 11th century AD. e. was originally obtained by completely different methods by A. T. Fomenko in [KHRON1]. As is now becoming clear, in this dating we find traces of the medieval tradition of attributing the life of Christ to the 11th century. This tradition, as it turns out, was wrong, although not by much. The correct dating of the Nativity of Christ, obtained by us in the book “Tsar of the Slavs,” is the 12th century AD. e., that is, a century later. Comparing the era of Christ (XII century) with the dating of the Paschalia obtained above, we see that the Paschalia was compiled - at least in its original form, even before Christ. Does this contradict church history and church tradition? Strictly speaking, no, it does not contradict. In old church texts one can find arguments both for and against. An unconditional contradiction arises only with that view of the history of the church, which was formed no earlier than the 17th century, already under the influence of Scaligerian chronology.

NOTE 2.

The above passage from Matthew Blastar, with the explicit date of the Resurrection of Christ, accompanied by implicit (requiring difficult calculations to understand) “conditions of the Resurrection”, shows how carefully one must approach explicit dates in medieval sources. Many of these dates are the results of calculations of the 16th–17th centuries and were inserted into ancient texts only in the 17th century during the production of their Scaligerian editions. The main disadvantage of these chronological calculations was that they were based on insufficiently developed science, including astronomical science. Such calculations could (and did) contain huge errors lasting hundreds and even thousands of years.

For example, in the mentioned passage from Matthew Blastar, the explicit date of the Resurrection and the calendar-astronomical “conditions of the Resurrection” are completely inconsistent with each other. Since the “conditions of the Resurrection” are more archaic, therefore, the explicit date was calculated (“Dionysius”) later and inserted into the text of Vlastar. This probably happened already in the 17th century, during the era of mass Scaligerian editing of old sources. - The basis for Dionysius’ calculations was, as we will soon see, the very “conditions of the Resurrection” that were given in the original text of Vlastar (and which, fortunately, were preserved during the Scaligerian editing). Dionysius made calculations according to his level of knowledge in the field of computational astronomy and obtained the date 5539 from Adam. That is, 31 AD. e. Today, carrying out the same calculations again, but using the exact astronomical theory (which Dionysius did not know), we see that the date obtained by Dionysius is wrong by a thousand years!

We were lucky: in this case, the ancient texts fortunately preserved the calendar and astronomical conditions that make it possible to unambiguously restore the sought-after date. In other cases, when such information is missing or lost, it is no longer possible to verify the validity of the ancient date calculated by a medieval chronologist and inscribed in the old chronicle. But it is also impossible to assume (as historians usually do) that such a date is accurate - at least approximately. As we have already said, the errors in medieval chronological calculations were rarely small. They were usually huge.

Using the above example, we are once again convinced that the Scaligerian version of chronology accepted today, based on a very uncritical use of sources, requires careful verification by the methods of modern science. This work was done in general in the works of A. T. Fomenko in [KHRON1], [KHRON2]. He discovered three main chronological shifts in the Scaligerian version of Roman history, see [KHRON1], [KHRON2].

1.2.4.Dating of the resurrection of Christ according to a shortened set of “conditions of the Resurrection”

Let us take a closer look at the “conditions of the Resurrection” 1–4. They are not equal. Conditions 3 and 4 are known from many sources and constitute a stable church tradition. Corresponding links can be found, for example, in. Conditions 1 and 2 are very specific calendar guidelines. What happens if you try to satisfy only two conditions 3 and 4? Let's remind them:

3) On the eve of the Resurrection of Christ, March 24, there was the Jewish Passover, celebrated on the day of the 14th Moon (that is, on the full moon);

4) The Jewish Passover that year was on Saturday, and Christ was resurrected on Sunday.

Let us present the results of our computer calculations.

STATEMENT 4.

“Resurrection Conditions” 3 and 4 were fulfilled in the period of time from 100 BC. e. before 1700 AD e. exactly 10 times in the following years:

1) 42 year (that is, 43 BC);

2) 53 AD e.;

3) 137 AD e.;

4) 479 AD e.;

5) 574 AD e.;

6) 658 AD e.;

7) 753 AD e.;

8) 848 AD e.;

9) 1095 AD e. (satisfies the full set of conditions 1–4);

10) 1190 AD e. (very close to the correct date - 1185 AD).

It is easy to see that here too there is not a single solution that is consistent with the Scaligerian version of chronology. So, let's conclude.

The widespread church tradition, clearly reflected in the Gospel of John and in the writings of many church writers, cannot be reconciled with the date of the birth of Christ around the beginning of our era. e. To achieve such agreement, it is necessary to shift the date of the birth of Christ at least 70 years ago or at least 20 years forward. If we add conditions 1–2 here, the solution becomes unambiguous and gives only the 11th century AD. e.

Thus, we can clearly conclude: the point of view of the 14th century Christian Church on the dating of the era of Christ was that this dating belonged to the 11th century AD. e. (instead of the original 12th century). Note that the error was not so great. However, its consequences for the chronology of the past were apparently very serious. The initial 100-year error in dating the era of Christ gave rise to a number of minor distortions in the chronology, and in attempts to correct them, more and more new errors appeared. Their size and number grew like a snowball. By the 16th century, this had led to real chaos in the chronology of antiquity. Only against the backdrop of such chaos did it become possible to introduce the chronological version of Scaliger-Petavius ​​into the minds of people. If the chronology at that time had been more or less in order, such an erroneous version could not have taken hold. Nobody would have believed her.

1.2.5. Could Dionysius the Small have lived in the 6th century AD? e.?

Today it is believed that Dionysius the Small lived in the 6th century AD. e. and carried out his calculations as follows. We quote:

“There is an assumption that when compiling his era, Dionysius took into account the tradition that Christ died in the 31st year of his life and was resurrected on March 25. The nearest year in which, according to Dionysius's calculations, Easter fell again on March 25, was the year 279 of the era of Diocletian (563 AD). Comparing his calculations with the gospels, Dionysius could assume that... The first Easter was celebrated 532 years ago from the 279 year of the era of Diocletian, that is, that the 279 year of the era of Diocletian = 563 from the Nativity of Christ,” p. 242.

Dionysius allegedly carried out all these reasonings and calculations while working with Paschal. His actions, according to modern scientists, were as follows, p. 241–243.

Having discovered that in the almost contemporary year 563 AD. e., which was simultaneously the year 279 according to the era of Diocletian, the “conditions of the Resurrection” were fulfilled, Dionysius postponed 532 years ago from his time and received the date of the Resurrection of Christ. That is, he postponed the 532-year value of the Great Indiction, with a shift by which the Paschal is completely repeated, see above. At the same time, Dionysius did not know that it was impossible to shift the Jewish Passover (14th Moon) by 532 years according to the Easter cycle of “circles of the Moon”. Due to the weak, but still affecting such a large period of time, the secular inaccuracy of this cycle, a noticeable error occurs. As a result, Dionysius was mistaken in his calculations:

“Dionysius failed, although he did not know it. After all, if he sincerely believed that the First Easter was on March 25, 31 AD. e., then he was grossly mistaken in extrapolating the inaccurate Metonic cycle back by 28 circles (that is, by 532 years: 28 x 19 = 532). In fact, the 15th of Nissan, the Jewish Passover, in 1931 was not on Saturday, March 24th... but on Tuesday, March 27th!” , With. 243.

This is a modern reconstruction of the actions of Dionysius the Less, allegedly carried out in the 6th century AD. e. Everything would be fine in this reconstruction if not for one significant drawback. She suggests that in the year 563 AD, close to Dionysius. e. The 14th Moon (Jewish Passover according to Paschal) ACTUALLY CAME ON MARCH 24. Let Dionysius not know about the inaccuracy of the Metonic cycle and made a mistake, shifting the Jewish Passover from 563 to the same date in March in 31 AD. e. But when the Jewish Passover actually happened in the almost contemporary year 563, he, of course, should have known! To do this, it was enough for him to apply the Metonic cycle only 30–40 years in advance, and the inaccuracy of the Metonic cycle does not affect such a short period of time. But the most striking thing is that in 563, the Jewish Easter according to Paschal (14th Moon) did not fall on March 24, but on Sunday March 25, that is, it coincided with the Christian Easter, determined by Paschal. Working specifically with the calendar situation of the year 563 almost contemporary to him and basing the calculation of the era from the “Nativity of Christ” on this situation, Dionysius could not help but see that:

firstly, the calendar situation in 563 does not correspond to the gospel description, and secondly, the coincidence of Jewish and Christian Easter in 563 contradicts the essence of the definition of Christian Easter, which is the basis of Easter, see above.

It therefore seems completely improbable that calculations of the date of the resurrection and birth of Christ were carried out in the 6th century on the basis of the calendar situation of 563. Yes, and besides, we have already shown that the Paschalia itself, which Dionysius used, was compiled no earlier than the 8th–9th centuries.

Consequently, the calculations of Dionysius the Less (or perhaps attributed to him) were carried out no earlier than the 9th century AD. e. And therefore “Dionysius the Less” himself, the author of these calculations, could not have lived earlier than the 9th century AD. e. OUR PROPOSAL RECONSTRUCTION We saw above that in the section of the “Patristic Rules” of Matthew Blastar dedicated to Easter, it is said that the equinox “currently” falls on March 18, chapter 7 of the 80th composition; , With. 354–374. In fact, the spring equinox during the time of Vlastar (in the 14th century) fell on March 12. And on March 18 it fell in the 6th century.

This means that by dating Vlastar’s text according to the vernal equinox, we automatically get the 6th century! Apparently, the same medieval text was included both in the “Rules” of Matthew Blastar and in the work of Dionysius the Less. Perhaps this is a text written by Vlastar himself or one of his immediate predecessors in the 14th century. It contains, as we have seen, the dating of the resurrection of Christ, but there is not a word about the date of the Nativity of Christ. It was probably the text of Vlastar that was used after some time by “Dionysius the Lesser,” who subtracted 31 years from the date of the resurrection of Christ, thus obtaining the date of the “Nativity of Christ” and introducing his new era. If this happened in the 15th century, then it is not surprising that the systematic use of this era began precisely in the 15th century (since 1431) in the West. Subsequently, apparently, in the 16th–17th centuries, the text of Dionysius was used as the basis for the Scaligerian chronology and was dated by the equinox to the 6th century. Then the above reconstruction of his calculations appeared.

1.2.6. Discussion of the obtained dating

We restored this date according to the surviving traces of the Russian-Byzantine church tradition of the 14th–15th centuries, and, therefore, it should be considered primarily as part of this tradition. As we have already said, this date was wrong by a hundred years. The true dates of Christmas and Resurrection, restored by us in 2002, are December 26, 1152 AD. e. and March 24, 1185 AD. e. (see our book “Tsar of the Slavs”).

In all likelihood, the date March 25, 1095 is the result of some old calendar-astronomical calculations of the 14th century. Apparently, the exact idea of ​​the date of the Resurrection had already been lost by that time. This could be, in particular, a consequence of the major political upheavals and religious reforms of the mid-14th century - see our book “The Baptism of Rus'”. During major unrest, information is lost faster - this is a natural law of history.

However, people of the 14th century should, in general, still remember how much time had passed since Christ. At least with an accuracy of 50–100 years. After all, as we now understand, they lived only about 200 years after Christ.

Therefore, by the way, the more likely mistake for them was precisely the increase in the dating age, and not its decrease (as it happened - the error was 90 years with a shift into the past). This is understandable - after all, the closer to their time, the better people remembered their true history. And the less likely it was for them to make a big mistake by placing an event from another era in an era familiar to them. And vice versa - the further into the past, the more vague their knowledge of history became and the greater the likelihood of confusing something in it.

But still, on what basis was the date of the Resurrection of Christ attributed by chronologists of the 14th century to March 25, 1095? We are unlikely to be able to answer this question accurately. However, quite plausible explanations can be proposed.

Note that on March 25, 1095 AD. e. there was the so-called “Kyriopascha”, that is, “royal Easter”, “Easter of the high priest”. This is the name of Easter, which coincides with the Annunciation, which is celebrated on March 25 of the old style. Kyriopascha is a rather rare event. In church tradition it is associated with the coming of Christ. We have already said that the people of the Middle Ages were strongly impressed by beautiful numerical ratios and were inclined to attach a “divine” meaning to them. Here, for example, is how it could “work” in this case.

In reality - or, more precisely, according to the ideas of the beginning of the 13th century, practically contemporary with the era of Christ, Christ was resurrected on March 24th. That is, almost on the same day of the year when the Church celebrates the Annunciation, the day of the conception of Christ. Let us remind you that the Annunciation is celebrated on March 25th. It turned out that Christ spent EXACTLY a certain number of years on Earth - from March 25 of one year to March 24 of another (from Conception to Resurrection). At the same time, it is quite likely that the church holiday of the Annunciation itself was SET for March 25 precisely for reasons in order to “even out” the duration of Christ’s earthly life. The idea is simple and quite understandable in a medieval vein: an even term - a beautiful numerical ratio, which means the term is “divine”, which means it is precisely this period that should relate to Christ, and not some other, “ugly”, and therefore “undivine” one.

But then the question arises - why was the Annunciation scheduled for March 25, and not on the 24th? There are two most likely answers here.

First option. According to the ideas of the 13th century, an equal number of years passed not from the 24th to the 24th of the same month (as today), but from the 25th to the 24th. In those days, it could be considered that the period from the 24th to the 24th included one EXTRA day - namely ONE OF THESE TWO 24s. It all simply depends on the generally accepted convention. Today, when we celebrate an anniversary (a round term), we do not include in this period the day of the holiday itself (which would turn out to be additional and would “get out” of the round term). And in the 13th century, the day of celebration could be INCLUDED IN THE ROUND TIME. That’s why we celebrated anniversaries a day earlier than we do today. Then, in the 14th century, the custom changed and became the same as it is today. Therefore, chronologists of the 14th century, knowing that the Annunciation was celebrated on March 25, also began to look for the Day of Resurrection precisely among the dates of March 25, and not the 24th, as it should have been. And they were wrong.

The second possible option, the date of the Feast of the Annunciation was set on March 25 already in the 14th century, after calculating the (erroneous) date of the Resurrection of Christ. This, in principle, is also possible. Although we do not undertake to say this.

We emphasize that the calculations of Dionysius the Less were, in essence, a SEARCH FOR A SUITABLE “ROYAL EASTER” in a given time interval. Having set in advance (for certain reasons - see below) an approximate era around the beginning of our century. e., he found Kyriopaskha that fell at this time and took it as the date of the Resurrection. And thus he received the supposedly “exact date” of the beginning of the era “from the Nativity of Christ.”

Apparently, calculations of the date of the Resurrection carried out in the 14th century were based on similar considerations. But then, unlike the later Dionysius, the correct a priori dating interval was used. Therefore, the chronologists of the 14th century were mistaken by only 90 years (they could have been more). It is very likely that the date of March 25, 1095 was calculated by them as the appropriate time for Kyriopascha according to their GENERALLY CORRECT ideas that Christ lived somewhere in the era of the 11th–12th centuries. But the exact years were forgotten and they could try to restore them again in this way.

Therefore, strictly speaking, the conclusion that we can draw from all that has been said is the following.

ACCORDING TO RUSSIAN AND BYZANTINE CHRONICLES OF THE 14th-15th CENTURIES, THE AGE OF CHRIST WAS AROUND THE 11TH CENTURY AD.

As our final dating of the era of Christ, set out in the book “Tsar of the Slavs,” showed, these ideas of the chroniclers of the 14th century were generally correct. However, they were wrong about the exact date.

NOTE 1. According to the Gospels and church tradition, in the year of the Nativity of Christ a new star flashed in the east, and 31 years later, in the year of the Resurrection, a total solar eclipse occurred. Church sources clearly speak specifically about a solar eclipse in connection with the resurrection of Christ, and do not always refer it to Good Friday. This is important because Good Friday was close to the full moon, and solar eclipses can only occur on a new moon. Therefore, there could not be a solar eclipse on Good Friday for purely astronomical reasons. But the solar eclipse could have occurred shortly before or shortly after the crucifixion of Christ. In later traditions, as well as in the imagination of writers who were not necessarily well versed in astronomy, the solar eclipse could then be mistakenly attributed to the very day of the crucifixion. As described in the Gospels.

Note that a solar eclipse in a given area, and even more so a total solar eclipse, is an extremely rare event. The fact is that solar eclipses, although they occur every year, are visible only in the region of a narrow strip of the lunar shadow on Earth - in contrast to lunar eclipses, which are visible from half the globe at once. Biblical science of the 18th–19th centuries, without discovering the Gospel solar eclipse “where it should be” - in Palestine at the beginning of the century. e., - suggested that the eclipse was a lunar one. But an exactly suitable lunar eclipse in the Scaligerian dating of the crucifixion of Christ was also not found, see [CHRON1]. However, today it is generally believed that it is a lunar eclipse that is described in the Gospels. Although the old original description of the eclipse, reflected in the primary sources, states that the eclipse was solar.

A detailed discussion of this issue and our final dating of the Nativity of Christ to the 12th century AD. e. (Christmas in 1152 and crucifixion in 1185) see in our book “Tsar of the Slavs”.

NOTE 2. It is curious that in medieval chronicles, dating back today to the 11th century, clear traces of references to Christ have been preserved. For example, the Lutheran Chronograph of 1680 reports that Pope Leo IX (10491054) was visited by Christ himself; “It is narrated that Christ, in the form of a beggar, visited him (Leo IX - Author) in a spoon,” sheet 287. It is important that this is the only mention of this kind in, except in cases of retelling of the Gospels.

NOTE 3. In [CHRON1] and [CHRON2], ch. 2, it is shown that in many chronicles the year 1 according to “RH” is (erroneously) assumed to be 1054 AD. e. This led to one of the major shifts of 1053 years in the Scaligerian chronology. Consequently, medieval chroniclers, most likely, especially often (albeit erroneously) dated the Nativity of Christ precisely to 1054 (or 1053).

Apparently, we have before us traces of another erroneous medieval tradition of dating the Nativity and Resurrection of Christ to the era of the 11th century AD. e. According to this medieval version, Christmas was in 1053 or 1054. This version is very close to the canonical point of view of the 14th century, which we restored above from the work of Matthew Blastar: The Nativity of Christ in 1064, 31 years before his Resurrection (1064 = 1095–31). The difference in dating is only 10 years.

NOTE 4. The beginning of the first crusade, the campaign “for the liberation of the Holy Sepulcher,” is dated in the Scaligerian version to 1096. On the other hand, some ancient texts, for example, the “Tale of the Passion of Spasov”, widely distributed in Rus' in the Middle Ages, and the “Letter of Pilate to Tiberius” included in it, claim that after the crucifixion of Christ, Pilate was summoned to Rome, where he was executed. Then the troops of the Roman emperor marched on Jerusalem and captured it as revenge for the crucifixion of Christ. Today it is believed that all this is medieval speculation. In Scaliger's chronology there is no Roman campaign against Jerusalem in the 30s of the 1st century AD. e. No. However, if the Resurrection was mistakenly dated to the end of the 11th century, then such a statement from medieval sources becomes understandable. It takes on a literal meaning: in 1096 (this is an erroneous dating, but let's believe it for a moment) the First Crusade began, during which Jerusalem was taken. Since the crucifixion of Christ was dated to 1095, it just so happened that the crusade began literally the next year. a year after the crucifixion - exactly as described in medieval texts.

In other words, it turns out that the Scaligerian dating of the First Crusade (1096 AD) is a consequence of Scaliger’s discarded dating of the Resurrection of Christ in 1095 AD. e. Having rejected the dating of the Resurrection to 1095 and replaced it with a much more erroneous dating of the beginning of our century. e., Scaliger also forgot to “correct” the dating of the First Crusade, which depended on it. As a result, it turned out that the crusaders set off to take revenge for the crucifixion of Christ A THOUSAND YEARS after the event itself.

1.2.7. On the stability of the “calendar conditions of the Resurrection”

Let us consider the question of the stability of the year of the Resurrection of Christ that we obtained above, according to the church tradition of the 14th century (1095 AD) in relation to fluctuations in the day of the Jewish Passover-full moon. The point is this. The full moon, according to the “calendar conditions of the Resurrection,” in the year of Christ’s crucifixion fell on March 24. However, the day of the full moon on March 24, known from church tradition, when moving to the modern way of counting the day, may actually mean March 23, 24 or 25. Nowadays, the day begins at midnight, but this was not always the case. In ancient times and the Middle Ages, there were various ways to choose the beginning of the day. For example, the day sometimes began in the evening, from noon, etc. Generally speaking, we do not know exactly in relation to which day - midnight, evening, midday or morning - the full moon date of March 24, included in the “calendar conditions of the Resurrection”, was originally determined " What happens if you “move” the date of the full moon by one day in either direction? Will other solutions appear that differ from those of 1095 AD? e.?

It turns out that no other solutions arise. Moreover, it is not difficult to explain why. The fact is that any predetermined combination of a circle to the Sun and a circle to the Moon (recall that according to the “calendar conditions of the Resurrection” they are equal to 23 and 10, respectively) is repeated only after 532 years. But during this time, the cycle of spring full moons shifts not by one, but by TWO days. Therefore, not every condition connecting the circle of the Sun, the circle of the Moon and the day of the spring full moon can actually be fulfilled. For example, if in the above-mentioned “calendar conditions of the Resurrection” we replace the date of the full moon from March 24 to March 23 or 25, that is, we change it by one day, such conditions can no longer be satisfied. Therefore, with any change in the beginning of the day, new solutions do not appear.

From the above reasoning it is clear that in order to obtain a different solution, it is necessary to shift the date of the full moon as well as the day of the week on which this full moon occurred - by at least 2 days. However, such a shift can no longer be explained either by a difference in the choice of the beginning of the day, or by a possible error in determining the astronomical full moon.

1.2.8. Theological disputes surrounding the “calendar conditions of the Resurrection”

On what day of the week did the full moon fall - the Jewish Passover in the year of Christ's crucifixion? We have seen that in the “calendar conditions of the Resurrection” used by Dionysius the Less, there is an assumption that it was Saturday. In support of this assumption, a well-known passage from the Gospel of John is usually cited: “But since it was Friday, the Jews, so as not to leave bodies on the cross on Saturday - for that Saturday was a high day - asked Pilate to break their legs and take them off" (John 19:31).

However, on the other hand, the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke unanimously claim that Christ and his disciples hosted a festive Easter dinner on Thursday evening. This is the famous evangelical Last Supper, which, according to Christian church tradition (clearly reflected in the church service), took place on Thursday. Here's what the first three have to say about this. Gospels.

Matthew: “On the first day of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus and said to Him, “Where do you tell us to prepare the Passover for You?” He said: go to the city to so-and-so and tell him: The Teacher says: My time is near; I will keep the Passover with you with my disciples. The disciples did as Jesus commanded them and prepared it. When evening came, He lay down with the twelve disciples; And while they were eating, he said, “Truly I say to you, one of you will betray me” (Matthew 26:17–21)

Mark: “On the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, His disciples said to Him, “Where do you want to eat the Passover?” we'll go and cook. And he sends two of his disciples and says to them: go into the city; and you will meet a man carrying a pitcher of water; follow him and where he enters, say to the owner of that house: The teacher says: where is the room in which I can eat the Passover with My disciples? And he will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready: there prepare for us. And His disciples went and came into the city, and found it as He had told them; and prepared Passover. When evening came, He came with the twelve. And as they reclined and ate, Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, one of you who eats with Me will betray Me” (Mark 14:12-17).

Luke: “The day of unleavened bread came, on which the Passover lamb was to be slaughtered, and Jesus sent Peter and John, saying: Go, prepare us to eat the Passover. They said to Him, “Where do you tell us to cook?” He said to them: Behold, as you enter the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him to the house where he enters, and say to the owner of the house: The teacher says to you: where is the room in which I can eat the Passover with my disciples? And he will show you a large, furnished room; cook there. They went and found as he had told them, and prepared the Passover. And when the hour had come, He lay down, and the twelve apostles with Him, and said to them, “I greatly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer” (Luke 22:7-15).

It would seem that there is a contradiction here with the Gospel of John, according to which the Jewish Passover that year was on Saturday, after the crucifixion of Christ. This is how the problem arose. Even a special term “weather forecasters” appeared. This is the name of the first three evangelists - Matthew, Mark and Luke, in contrast to the fourth evangelist - John. The problem is how to reconcile the testimony of the weather forecasters about the date of celebration of the Jewish Passover in the year of the crucifixion of Christ with the testimony of the Evangelist John on this matter?

In fact, as we showed in the book “The King of the Slavs,” this problem can be easily solved - if only you know the correct dating of the crucifixion of Christ and use not modern translations of the Gospels, but older ones that contain fewer errors. There is actually no contradiction between the weather forecasters and John. The Easter full moon in the year of Christ's crucifixion occurred on Wednesday, March 20, 1185. Easter was celebrated after the full moon for seven days. Thursday, therefore, was truly the first day after the full moon, as the weather forecasters said. The GREAT day of the seven-day Jewish Passover was Saturday - since Saturday was considered at that time a holiday of the week, like modern Sunday. So both the weather forecasters and John are right. But biblical commentators, relying on the erroneous Scaligerian dating of the crucifixion of Christ, cannot understand what is going on here.

In general, this issue is extremely confusing in historical and theological works and commentaries. The result of many years of thought by biblical scholars on this topic was the following hypothesis. They suggested that the Jewish Passover in the year of the Resurrection of Christ began on Thursday evening and not on Saturday, as, in their opinion, it is said in the Gospel of John. In other words, modern biblical scholarship has significantly changed the “calendar conditions of the Resurrection.” The basis was the above-mentioned indication of the weather forecasters that Christ and his disciples ate the Passover lamb at the Last Supper on Thursday evening. Where did the (incorrect) conclusion come from that it was on Thursday evening that the Jewish Passover began. At the same time, this modern view of the calendar situation during the “Holy Week” contradicts the older Russian-Byzantine church tradition of the 16th–18th centuries, according to which it was resolved completely differently (however, as we now understand, also incorrectly). Today the issue is considered extremely complex, and a large number of contradictory statements are devoted to it.

We will not go into historical and theological disputes, since our task in this case is only to study the old church Russian-Byzantine tradition in order to restore the DATES ASSOCIATED WITH THIS TRADITION. Therefore, it is quite enough for us that there is a clearly expressed traditional church medieval view (Helmsman, Chrysostom, Theophylact), according to which the Jewish Easter-full moon in the year of the crucifixion of Christ was precisely on Saturday, as stated in the Gospel of John (in fact, John of this does not say, but in this case, as we have already said, what is important for us is not what John meant, but how his words were understood in the 14th–16th centuries). In order to reconcile this understanding of John’s words with the testimony of the weather forecasters, an explanation was put forward that Christ, they say, deliberately ordered the Passover lamb to be prepared ahead of schedule - on Thursday. This “violation of deadlines” was especially emphasized by Eastern theologians, since, in their opinion, it was indirectly reflected in the worship of the Orthodox Church. Namely, that when celebrating the liturgy in the Orthodox Church, leavened bread is used, not unleavened bread. An explanation was put forward that this, they say, came from the fact that at the Last Supper, which took place on Thursday before the Easter holiday, there was no unleavened bread (they were supposed to be eaten starting from the Easter evening). The same view is expressed by Matthew Blastar in his canonical “Collection of Patristic Rules,” which we used in dating.

1.2.9. Why do calendar issues seem so “dark” today?

A modern reader, even if he has the necessary special knowledge to understand calendar issues, when reading books on history, as a rule, misses all calendar and chronological details. Indeed, they seem so dark and confusing that the reader simply regrets the time to understand them. Moreover, he does not see any benefit in this.

Meanwhile, the point is not in the complexity of calendar issues in themselves. They're not that complicated. The deliberate confusion of calendar-chronological discussions is a direct consequence of hidden errors in the chronology accepted today. This confusion is a kind of “covering up tracks” in order to prevent the reader from understanding what - in the opinion of the author-historian - he “shouldn’t” understand. Let's give a few examples.

Let's take, say, the textbook for students “Introduction to Special Historical Disciplines” (Moscow, Moscow State University Publishing House, 1990), approved by the USSR State Committee for Public Education as a teaching aid for students of higher educational institutions studying in the specialty “History”. In the textbook, among other sections, there are genealogy, heraldry, numismatics, etc. Chronology is in fifth place. We cannot list here all the errors, inaccuracies and typos made in this section - there are too many of them. Here we present only the “record result”: 4 fundamental errors in one sentence.

Describing the Gregorian calendar reform, the author of the textbook writes the following:

“Corresponding changes were also made to the calculations of Easter, which was lagging behind by the end of the 16th century. from the vernal equinox, which is the starting point when determining the timing of Easter, by 3–4 days” (p. 179). However:

1) The formal reason for the Gregorian reform was that by the 16th century Easter “laged behind” (that is, fell later) from the first spring full moon, and not from the spring equinox.

2) The starting point of Easter in Paschal is not the spring equinox, but the CALENDAR first spring full moon.

3) The very indication of the “magnitude of the lag” of Easter from the first spring full moon, and even more so from the spring equinox, does not make sense, since the time interval between these two events is not constant. It is different in different years. In fact, this refers to the lag of the calendar Easter full moons, which are the starting points for Easter, from the true astronomical full moons in the 16th century. However:

4) The lag of Easter full moons from the true ones in the 16th century was not 3–4 days, but 1–3 days. This can be seen from the table below comparing the dates of Easter and true spring full moons in the 19-year cycle of “circles of the Moon” at the time of the Gregorian reform:

As for the lag of the earliest Easter from the vernal equinox, which the author formally speaks of and which does not relate to the essence of the issue at all, in the 16th century it was also not 3–4, but 10 days.

One will inevitably feel sorry for the history students who study from such textbooks.

Even in those books on chronology that are generally written in good faith, one can encounter deliberate concealment of “inconvenient” information from the reader. So, for example, in I. A. Klimishin’s book “Calendar and Chronology” (Moscow, “Nauka”, 1975) on page 213, the quotation from Matthew Vlastar about the rules for determining Easter is cut off immediately before Vlastar gives an important chronological indication - an explicit date establishment of the Easter “nineteen days” - the Metonic cycle: 6233–6251. “from the existence of the world,” that is, 725–743. n. e. (VIII century!). Elsewhere in the same book, on page 244, I. A. Klimishin writes: “Somewhat later, the Greek historian John Malala (491–578) attributed the “Nativity of Christ” to the year (01. 193.3), 752 from the “foundation of Rome” "; 42nd August."

John Malala actually gives in his Chronicle the year of Christ’s birth: 6000 “from Adam,” that is, 492 AD. e. (see, for example, the publication by O. V. Tvorogov of the text of the “Sophia Chronograph” in volume 37 of the “Proceedings of the Department of Old Russian Literature”). Why IA. Klimishin cites this date from Malala using the “Olympiad” calculation, which is clearly incomprehensible in this context? Moreover, without any instructions on how to use it and how to understand the designation “(01. 193.3)” he used. After all, not every reader will immediately think that “Ol” here means “Olympiad” and not zero-one. This technique makes it impossible for the circle of readers to whom the BOOK is ADDRESSED to perceive this date. In our opinion, this is a vivid example of blatant concealment of “inconvenient information.”

It is clear why I. A. Klimishin tried to get around the “sharp angle” here in this way. After all, the year indicated by Malala is 492 AD. e. for the birth of Christ does not correspond at all to Scaligerian chronology. And, by the way, this date in the Church Slavonic and Greek lists of Malala’s work has nothing in common with the chronology of the Olympiads. It is given according to the usual church era “from the creation of the world.” As for the attempts of historians to declare that, they say, the Byzantine writer John Malala, mentioning this most important date for church history, for some reason suddenly forgot about the standard Russian-Byzantine era from the creation of the world and took advantage of another era (very exotic, but providing the historians needed result), then such attempts look very, very unconvincing. Apparently, I. A. Klimishin understood this.

1.2. The Nativity of Christ and the beginning of our era

1.2.1. Background

It is known that from the beginning of “our era” - or, as it is also called, “new era”, “era from R.H.”, “era of Dionysius” - there was no continuous counting of years. In other words, people did not count years using it for two thousand years, from the first year to the current year, 2007. The first year of the “new era” WAS COMPUTED much later than itself. The purpose of these calculations was to determine the year of the Nativity of Christ - which was therefore UNKNOWN. It is believed that it was first calculated by the Roman monk of Slavic origin Dionysius the Small in the 6th century AD. e. That is, more than 500 years after the event he dates. It is known that Dionysius first calculated the date of the resurrection of Christ. And only then, using church tradition that Christ was crucified at the age of 31, he received the date of Christmas.

The date of the Resurrection of Christ, according to Dionysius, is March 25, 5539 from Adam. The year of the Nativity of Christ, accordingly, is the 5508th from Adam. Both years are given here according to the Russian-Byzantine era from Adam or “from the creation of the world,” which Dionysius is believed to have used. In modern chronology this is 31 AD. e. for the Resurrection and the beginning of 1 year AD. e. for Christmas. This is how the famous era “from the Nativity of Christ” appeared for the FIRST time.

Today this era is familiar to everyone and is widely used as a global civil calendar. But it was not always so. In the West, Dionysius’ calculations raised deep doubts until the 15th century. In Rus' and Byzantium, the “new era” was not recognized even longer - until the 17th century. The following is reported:

“This era (Dionysius) was tested in 607 by Pope Boniface IV, and it is also found in the document of Pope John XII (965-972). But only since the time of Pope Eugene IV (1431) has the era from the “Nativity of Christ” been regularly used in documents of the papal office... Disputes about the date of the birth of Christ continued in Constantinople until the 14th century,” p. 250.

Moreover, today we already know that Dionysius’ calculations actually contained errors of an astronomical nature. The reason for Dionysius' mistakes lies not in his carelessness as a calculator, but in the insufficient development of astronomy in his time. The error in Dionysius’s calculations surfaced already in the 17th–18th centuries. Since then, several attempts have been made to count Dionysius and correct the date of the Nativity of Christ. For example, in the Lutheran Chronograph of the late 17th century we read:

“In what year was Christ the Lord born, about this there are many opinions, and more than fourty (that is, 40! - Author) are counted in understanding”, sheet 102. Let us list some of the attempts to correct the result of Dionysius: - Christ rose again on April 5 33 years old e. at 34 years old, sheet 109; Christ rose again on April 5, 33 AD. e. at 33 years old (the most common opinion); Christ rose again on April 9, 30 AD. e., and was born several years before the beginning of the century. e. (modern view of the Roman Catholic Church, see also).

But why do you get different answers when trying to correct Dionysius? After all, Dionysius the Less received his date of the Resurrection as a date that satisfied certain calendar “Easter conditions”, or more precisely, the “conditions of the Resurrection”. These conditions are well known today (more on them below). Let's perform Dionysius' calculations again, using modern astronomical data. We will get a definite answer. And then we will understand where previous researchers came up with different “solutions” to the SAME FORMAL PROBLEM that do not coincide with each other.

Looking ahead, we immediately note that in fact, as one would expect, none of the above “solutions to the problem of Dionysius” SATISFIES the calendar and astronomical “conditions of the Resurrection” on which the calculations of Dionysius himself were based. Moreover, it turns out that near the beginning of “AD” there are NO DATES AT ALL THAT SATISFY THESE CONDITIONS. In other words, if Dionysius knew modern astronomy, he could not even come close to indicating the year of Christ's birth where he indicated it - at the beginning of our era. e.

Unfortunately, when astronomical science became sufficiently developed to understand this, and this happened only in the 17th–18th centuries, the “new era” and the date of the “Nativity of Christ” were already widespread in the West and canonized by the Roman Catholic Church, and then Orthodox Church. In addition - and this, apparently, is the main thing - the date of the Nativity of Christ is closely connected with the Scaligerian chronological scale and a strong shift in this date destroys the entire chronological construction of Scaliger.

Therefore, the researchers who tried to “correct” Dionysius had very little freedom - they “had the right” to only slightly shift the date of the Nativity of Christ. For a few years at most. And then only backwards, so as not to increase the “skew” already existing in the Scaligerian chronology due to the gap of 3–4 years between the date of the birth of Christ and the reigns of Augustus and Herod, p. 244. Therefore, under the pressure of Scaligerian chronology, researchers were forced to discard some of the conditions used by Dionysius in dating, and also resorted to various stretches in order to obtain a date close to the beginning of our era.

Let us recall in this regard that in [CHRON1] A. T. Fomenko expressed the idea that “Dionysius the Small” supposedly of the 6th century is largely a phantom reflection of the famous chronologist of the 17th century Dionysius Petavius ​​(Petavis in translation means “Small”).

Let us also recall that according to our research, set out in the book “Tsar of the Slavs,” Christ was born in the 12th century AD. e., namely in 1151 or 1152 AD. e. However, two hundred years later, in the 14th century, the date of Christmas was apparently already forgotten and had to be calculated. As we will see below, the calculations carried out at that time gave an error of approximately 100 years, placing the date of the Resurrection at 1095 AD. e. instead of the correct year 1185 AD. e. On the basis of exactly what considerations these calculations were carried out and why they gave exactly such (erroneous) results, the reader will understand from the further presentation. For now, let’s just emphasize that it was this date, erroneous by about 100 years, that became part of the church tradition of the 14th–16th centuries. And only later, in the 16th–17th centuries, after new, even more erroneous calculations undertaken by the school of Scaliger, the dating of the Nativity, accepted today, to the beginning of our era was obtained. e. Slyly attributed to the supposedly “ancient” Roman monk Dionysius the Lesser. Under whose name, most likely, Dionysius Petavius, one of the founders of the Scaligerian chronology, was actually partially “encrypted.”