In what year did Easter begin? Easter: the history of the holiday and traditions, Smile love you
Easter - chief Orthodox holiday, the day of the Resurrection of Christ.
Easter service
In Russia, the Resurrection of Christ was always met in the temple. - the most solemn of the year. . The Midnight Office is served until 24:00, during which the priest and deacon go out to the Shroud, incense it, lift it up and take it to the altar. Around midnight, Easter Matins (or Matins) begins. An integral part of the Easter service is the procession around the church. When the believers enter the temple, the singing of the canon of St. John of Damascus begins. Matins ends with the reading of the catechumen for Pascha by St. John Chrysostom. After Matins, the Hours and Liturgy are served, with the royal gates open. They remain open throughout the Bright Week as a sign that Christ has forever opened the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven to all Christians.
Photo SPBDA
Christening
A special Easter greeting is called Christening. At the end of Matins, after singing: “Let us embrace each other, rzem: brethren! and to those who hate us we will forgive all through the resurrection,” the believers greet each other, saying, “Christ is risen!” and answering "Truly Risen!", kiss three times and exchange Easter eggs. This is how it is customary to greet each other and all the 40 days following Easter, until Ascension.
Easter meal
After the service, believers go to the refectory or home to break their fast. During Holy Saturday and after the Easter service, Easter cakes, Easter cottage cheese, and eggs are consecrated in churches. On Easter, Artos is also consecrated - this is a special leavened bread intended only for prayerful eating. It is distributed to believers at the Saturday service of Bright Week for keeping at home.
The tradition of painting eggs for Easter
One of the main Easter traditions is colored eggs. They symbolize the Holy Sepulcher, in which eternal life is hidden. The shell is a stone that was rolled to the entrance to the rock where Christ was buried. But under the shell is enclosed new life. Red is the color that was traditionally painted Easter eggs, indicates the suffering and shed blood of Christ. And at the same time, he conveys the royal dignity of the Savior (in the east, red was considered royal).
What are Easter eggs?
There are several traditional types of Easter eggs.
Krashenki (or galunki) are called eggs, painted in one color (mostly red), without drawing a pattern on the shell. Since ancient times, natural dyes, primarily onion peel, have been used to make krashenka. With its help, a rich terracotta color and yellow of varying intensity were obtained.
Easter eggs are eggs painted with traditional folk ornaments or patterns (mostly geometric or floral). In V. Dahl's explanatory dictionary, one can find the following definition: “Pysanka is an Easter egg painted with different colors in a pattern: it is written with a wire hook, which is dipped in wax; put into the paint, it is painted only on the gaps. Easter eggs were painted only raw, they were not used for food. After the Trinity, it was customary to blow such eggs. A painted egg was turned into a bird by gluing wings to the shell.
It was necessary to paint the egg according to a special technology, following the rules for combining the colors of the ornament and the background.
If these rules were violated, then the egg no longer became a pysanka, but a malevanka. This means that not a traditional pattern was applied to it, but its own.
Krapanki are eggs with a plain background, on which patterns of stripes or spots are applied.
Another type is raganka, or shkryabanka. After dyeing such eggs, a certain pattern was scrawled on their shell.
Eggs are decorative eggs made of wood, beads and other materials. The famous Faberge eggs can also be considered a variety of them.
Where did this tradition come from?
The tradition of giving each other colored eggs on the day of the Resurrection of Christ spread thanks to Mary Magdalene.
Mary was the first to whom Christ appeared after his Resurrection and said: “touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father.”(John 20:17). Mary Magdalene brought the Apostles joyful news that she had seen the Lord. This was the first sermon on the Resurrection.
When the Apostles departed from Jerusalem to preach to all parts of the world, Mary Magdalene also left with them. Even before the Apostle Paul, a woman went to Rome, the center of the then civilization. The brave disciple of Christ even appeared to the emperor Tiberius and told about the life, miracles and teachings of Christ, about how He was slandered by the Jews and crucified by the sentence of Pontius Pilate.
The emperor doubted the story of the Miracle. Then Mary Magdalene took a white egg, which she brought to the palace as a gift, and with the words “Christ is Risen!” gave it to Tiberius. Before the eyes of the Roman ruler, the egg turned from white to bright red.
In the library of the monastery of St. Anastasia the Maker, located in the northern part of Greece, not far from the city of Thessaloniki, a handwritten Greek charter of the 10th century has been preserved. It contains a prayer read on Easter day for the consecration of eggs and cheese. The abbot, distributing the consecrated eggs, says to the brethren: “So we received from the holy fathers, who preserved this custom from the very times of the apostles, for the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene was the first to show the believers an example of this joyful sacrifice.”
Folk traditions of celebrating Easter
The first Sunday after Easter is called Antipascha, and among the people - Red hill. In Russia, it has always been a day of youth festivities, round dances and matchmaking. Girls and boys who had reached marriageable age were to take part in these festivities. According to church traditions, starting with Krasnaya Gorka, believers can marry.
Favorite pastime for Easter it was ball rolling, or "wheels". Games began on the first day of Easter and sometimes continued throughout Bright Week. One game could last several hours. Skillfully painted wooden eggs were often used, sometimes whole sets of such eggs were prepared specifically for the game.
The rules for skating were as follows. A painted egg was rolled up on an inclined wooden plank or on the ground - from a non-steep hill. Below, all the participants in the fun arranged other eggs in a semicircle, each one by one. The goal was to knock the egg out of place. If this worked out, the participant took the beaten egg for himself and continued the game. If he missed, the next participant entered the game, and the unsuccessfully rolled egg remained at stake.
Easter traditions in different nations
In the Orthodox Greece Easter is the most important holiday. It is celebrated solemnly and nationwide. As in Russia, preparation begins with Holy Week. During it, no bells are rung in Greece. For Easter, they prepare a special bread called "tsoureki". On the eve of the holiday, on the evening of Holy Saturday, they make magic. This is a hearty soup with giblets, egg-lemon dressing and herbs, which is made with Passover lamb liver. Magiritsa is usually served on the table at night right after the Easter service. This soup becomes the first meat dish of breaking the fast after Lent.
AT Poland on Easter they eat "mazurki" - shortbread cookies with fruit and nut fillings. Traditionally, the delicacy was prepared with plums and apples, but now there are recipes for cookies with citrus fruits. Chopped almonds or walnuts are added to the filling. The top of the mazurka is sprinkled with powdered sugar or glazed.
Polish Easter eggs. Photos of Jaroslaw Pocztarski
Easter Sunday in Poland is followed by "Wet Monday". On this day, the Poles generously water each other from buckets, drop water "bombs".
AT Bulgaria and Romania Easter bread is called "kozunak". Its filling can be the most diverse and depends only on the imagination of the baker.
In some countries of Europe and North America, it is a common custom to hide Easter eggs on Easter morning. Children wake up and immediately rush to search the whole house and yard until they find the Easter Bunny's "nest" with many colorful eggs.
Until the 16th century, a variety of animals were engaged in Easter eggs: foxes and roosters, storks and cuckoos, cranes and capercaillie. Today, however, not only Germany, but all over the world the favorite of children is easter bunny.
For Easter, the Germans prepare Easter pies in the shape of a lamb.
AT Great Britain just like in Germany, the morning for children begins with the search for a basket hidden by the Easter Bunny.
AT Good Friday The British eat hotcrossbuns - spiced buns decorated with a cross pattern. It is believed that buns baked on Good Friday do not spoil throughout the year. At Easter in the United Kingdom, roast lamb is cooked.
In France chocolate eggs are hidden from children. The main dish, as in Great Britain, is lamb.
AT Italy on Easter Sunday, thousands of people go to the main square of Rome to listen to the congratulations of the Pope. The celebration of Easter begins on Good Friday, when the famous procession from the Colosseum to the Palatine Hill takes place. The marchers make 14 stops, which symbolize the path of Christ from the place of judgment to Golgotha. There are also theatrical performances dedicated to the life, suffering, death and resurrection of Christ.
The main Easter dish in Italy is lamb with fried artichokes, a salad of sweet peppers, olives and tomatoes, a salty pie with eggs and cheese. Necessarily on the table there is also an analogue of our Easter - colomba, translated from Italian as “Easter dove”. This is a tall, dry, dove-shaped pie made from yeast dough with the addition of grated orange peel, candied fruits or raisins. Top the colomba with almond slices and sugar.
Let's deal with... Easter!
Even non-religious people have probably noticed that numerous church holidays are being celebrated more and more loudly in our lives. The phenomenon of religious expansion is a separate, big topic. And in this article, attention will be paid to only one church holiday- Easter, considered the most important event of Christians. This year, this holiday will be celebrated on April 20. By the way, in Catholic countries it is usually celebrated 2 weeks earlier. Strange, isn't it?
Our goal is to find all the truthful information about the religious holiday Easter. Analysis of this information will help to find out whose holiday it is; who celebrates it and why; what does Christianity and other religions have to do with it; what are the real reasons for the introduction and imposition of this and other religious holidays on us.
Why did Easter attract our attention, and not some other holidays? Because this holiday is considered the most important among Christians, because a holiday with this name exists in several religions; and because between what is written in the Bible and what the priests say about this holiday, there are obvious and fundamental contradictions. So we decided to find out this question once and for all. In our research, we will rely on the text of the Bible and on our analysis of this text.
2. Christian definition of Easter
In the Christian religion, the Easter holiday is defined as follows:
“Easter, the day of the Resurrection of Christ, is the most important holiday of the Orthodox Church. That is the main meaning Orthodox faith- God himself became a man, died for us and, having resurrected, delivered people from the power of death and sin. Easter is a holiday of holidays!..” (Easter website).
“The feast of the Holy Resurrection of Christ, Easter, is the main event of the year for Orthodox Christians and the biggest Orthodox holiday. The word "Easter" came to us from the Greek language and means "transition", "deliverance". On this day, we celebrate the deliverance through Christ the Savior of all mankind from slavery to the devil and the gift of life and eternal bliss to us. Just as our redemption was accomplished by Christ's death on the cross, so eternal life is granted to us by His Resurrection. The Resurrection of Christ is the foundation and crown of our faith, it is the first and greatest truth that the apostles began to proclaim…” (website “Testament”).
“Easter (Greek πάσχα, from Hebrew פסח - Pesach, literally from Hebrew “passing by”); in Christianity also the Resurrection of Christ (Greek Η Ανάστασις του Ιησού Χριστού) is the oldest Christian holiday; the most important feast of the liturgical year. Established in honor of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Currently, its date in each specific year is calculated according to the lunisolar calendar (movable holiday) ... ”(Wikipedia).
If we do not take into account the frank verbiage that religious sites sin, then it is written here that this “ancient Christian holiday” was established in honor of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. However, this is a lie. The Easter holiday was set much earlier and for a completely different reason! And it was originally established not for Christians, but for Jews. And if Easter were the feast of the resurrection of Jesus, and not his murder, then the living Jesus Christ would have to be depicted everywhere, and not dying in agony on the cross. Our priests lie to us even when they claim that the resurrection of Jesus is “the main event of the year for Orthodox Christians”! The Bible clearly states that the Easter holiday existed even before the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ! A little later we will show and prove it ...
In addition, it is necessary to clearly and unambiguously deal with the term "Orthodox Christianity".
Orthodoxy has never had anything to do with any religion. Orthodoxy is part of the Vedic worldview, the Vedic way of life of our Ancestors of the Slavic-Aryans. But not religion. There has never been a religion in Russia. Orthodoxy is life according to the Law, according to the rules, the observance of which ensured continuous evolutionary development. This is the fundamental difference between Orthodoxy and any religion: Orthodoxy leads people up, along the path of development and knowledge; and religion pushes people down, to fanaticism and degradation - to prayers and endless begging for everything they need from the next God.
The first religion that appeared in Russia was the Cult of Dionysius (the Greek religion), which was called Christianity only in the Middle Ages, or rather, in the 16th century. And Orthodoxy has existed for over 10,000 years. It was created to help in the development of people who survived the world nuclear war and the planetary catastrophe that followed it, which occurred about 13 thousand years ago. Then there was a turn of the earth's axis, and the "great flood", and "nuclear winter", and the almost complete savagery of all who survived after this horror. Almost everything was destroyed, and the task was at least to survive.
Knowledge was quickly forgotten and lost as unnecessary. And then those of our Ancestors who managed to evacuate the planet in time on the Whitemans, Whitemars and through the Gates of the Interworld came up with a set of simple Rules for the survivors, the observance of which allowed them not to descend to the level of intelligent animals, but to gradually return to their high level of evolutionary development, which was with the Slavic-Aryans before the Catastrophe. This is what Orthodoxy is. It has nothing to do with Christianity or any other religion...
And the fact that churchmen began to call themselves "Orthodox Christians" is a trick, or, more simply, a deception. They diligently destroyed the truthful information about Orthodoxy, and hoped that the flock would always stupidly and obediently follow the shepherds of the Jewish god Jehovah. And for a while it was. But now everything has changed radically. The adverse effect on Humanity of the "Night of Svarog" ended, and people began to wake up from the mental sleep in which they had been immersed for the last thousand years.
In addition, other important events took place that were of decisive importance not only for our planet, but also for millions of other inhabited planets and civilizations in the Universe.
3. Jewish definition of Passover (Pesach)
In the Jewish religion (Judaism), the holiday of Passover (Pesach) is defined as follows:
“Pesach (Hebrew פֶּסַח, lit. “passed, walked around”, in Ashkenazi pronunciation - Passover / Passover; Aram. פִּסְחָא, Pischa; in Greek and Russian - Easter) - the central Jewish holiday in memory of the Exodus from Egypt. It begins on the 15th day of the spring month of Nisan and is celebrated for 7 days in Israel and 8 outside of Israel ... In memory of these events in Jerusalem, it was prescribed to perform a ritual slaughter of a one-year-old male lamb, without blemish, which should be baked on fire and eaten completely …” (Wikipedia).
As can be seen from this definition, the Jews appointed the Passover holiday in order to thank their God Jehovah with sacrifices for allegedly sparing the Jewish firstborn when he killed everyone else in Egypt (the so-called 10th plague). The Bible speaks of this as follows: the Jewish slaves were ordered by their God to slaughter lambs, and to anoint the doors of their houses with their blood, so that the angels, when they perform mass executions, could distinguish the houses of “their own” from the houses of the Egyptians. And so, allegedly for this service, the Jews to this day thank their God with sacrifices and call it the word “Pesach” ...
4. Where did the Christian holiday Easter come from?
As can be seen from these definitions, the reasons for the appearance of both the Christian and Jewish holidays of Passover are completely different. Moreover, these well-known reasons are not true. In fact, the reason for the appearance of the Jewish holiday Pesach is somewhat different. But we will not consider it here. Our theme is somewhat different.
But the reason for the appearance of Christian Easter is of great interest to us. It is generally accepted that Christian Easter appeared as a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ after the cruel execution on the cross. However, the Bible clearly states that the Passover holiday existed even before the crucifixion of Jesus.
Firstly, in the text of the book of the Bible itself, we found another peculiar Table of Contents, placed for some reason at the very end of the book (we mean the book “Bible”, Publishing House “Bible Societies”, Moscow, 1995. ISBN 5-85524- 007-X). This table of contents is called "The sequence of gospel events according to the four gospels." We will not give it in full (it takes 11 pages), but we will write out only some of the headings:
The deeds of the Lord Jesus Christ in Judea after His temptation in the wilderness until the first Passover
The Works of the Lord Jesus Christ in Galilee on His Return from Judea
Ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ from the first Easter to the second
Events on the way from Judea to Galilee
Ministry of Jesus Christ in Galilee
Ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ from the second Easter to the third
Sermon and miracles of Jesus Christ in Galilee
Events from the third Easter to the fourth - Easter of suffering ...
And this Passover was Jewish. The text of the Bible says so directly: “the Passover of the Jews was drawing near ...” (John 2:13).
From these headings it is clear that the career of Jesus Christ in Judea and the surrounding area lasted a little more than 3 years (from the 1st to the 4th Easter). After that, he was brutally murdered - crucified on the cross. And then he resurrected (he really was revived by those who sent him), and this event allegedly was the reason for the creation of the Easter holiday among Christians.
As we can see, everything here is greatly distorted and mixed up: the priests say one thing, the Bible says something else, but in fact, a completely third or even fourth thing happened. The fact that the Jewish Passover existed even before the crucifixion of Jesus is beyond doubt: the exodus from Egypt did take place several thousand years before this ritual murder. And it is believed that this event is celebrated by the Jews on the feast of Passover.
But the attempt of the employees of the church corporation to affirm in our heads the idea that the “Christian Easter” is not at all the same as the Jewish one, is a real attempt to manipulate consciousness, i.e. zombies! This "holiday" is one and the same! Feast of Sacrifice! And to prove it today is not difficult at all.
To begin with, you can find out exactly where the execution of Jesus Christ took place?
Now this is pretty easy to do. For example, to the question “Where was Christ crucified?” Google immediately issues an article by Yaroslav Kesler “Where Christ was crucified and when the Apostle Paul lived”, in which the author, after reading the Bible on English language, very convincingly shows that Jesus Christ was executed in Constantinople, and the churchmen - the founders of Judeo-Christianity - corrected the necessary places in various translations of the Bible to hide this fact:
“... Tsar-Grad, Constantinople or Istanbul. Tsar-Grad and its bald mountain Beikos ... - this is the place of the great tragedy, opposite Gul Gata - i.e., in Swedish, the "Golden Gate", the place that turned into "Golgotha" for Jesus Christ (ibid., by the way , there is also a colossal tomb in which, it is believed, the Old Testament Joshua is buried, who in the Western European versions of the New Testament is simply called Jesus, i.e. Jesus). So, according to the considered phrase from the Gospel, the Galatians-Jews crucified Christ in Constantinople, and not at all in present-day Jerusalem ... "
Another proof that the murder of Jesus Christ took place in Constantinople was found in the book of Nosovsky G.V. and Fomenko A.T. "A New Chronology of Russia, England and Rome". They managed to calculate not only the place (Constantinople), but also the exact date of this event - February 16, 1086! It was on this day and in this place that the complete solar eclipse(a very rare occurrence) and an earthquake.
And Nikolai Levashov managed to find irrefutable facts explaining some inconsistencies that previously defied logic. In the 2nd volume of his autobiographical book “The Mirror of My Soul”, he provides unique information that allows him to dot all i's in this specially confusing story. He found evidence that Jerusalem in the 11th century AD. was in Constantinople, the capital of Byzantium. It turns out that the word "Jerusalem" for many centuries meant not the name of the city, but the place where at that moment the headquarters of the high priest was located:
“…there have always been several Jerusalems, according to the number of high priests! Sometimes the ruler of the country and the high priest had their headquarters in the same city, then this city had a double name, secular - the capital, and spiritual - Jerusalem! .. ”(Chapter 5).
And in this book of his, Nikolai Levashov explains who Pontius Pilate really was. The Bible says that he was a Governor, not a Roman governor. In the 27th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew there are the following words: “On the feast of Passover, the ruler had the custom of releasing to the people one prisoner whom they wanted ...” (Matt. 27:15). It is written here that on the Easter holiday it was customary to release one sentenced person ... And the custom is something that has been formed for centuries. This means that the Governor of the area where the trial and execution of Jesus Christ took place adhered to the established custom of releasing one of the criminals on the Easter holiday, which was probably celebrated even longer than the custom existed.
The trial and execution of Jesus took place in Constantinople, which means that the Ruler mentioned in the Bible ruled Byzantium (Romea), and not Judea, which, according to information from the Bible, occupied an area of only 70x80 km, i.e. like a typical mid-range city today. In addition, in reality, no “Roman Empire” ever existed, and no “Romans” conquered Judea. This is documented. The tale of this Empire was invented in order to hide information about another, real Empire that actually existed for many thousands of years - about the great Slavic-Aryan Empire, which in the Middle Ages began to be called the Great Tartaria.
Nosovsky and Fomenko put forward the following, very logical version of who Pontius Pilate was: “Jesus is being judged by Pontius Pilate, that is, by Pontius Pilate. The word "Pilate" in the old Russian language had the meaning of "executioner", "tormentor", hence Russian word"to pilat" - to torment, to tyrannize (V. Dahl, see "to pilat"). Thus, the Pontic Pilate is the Pontic Executioner, the Pontic Torturer. Therefore, it is possible that the Gospel Pilate is not a proper name, but a position.
The Pontic Pilate is simply the Pontic judge, that is, the state official who administers the court and under whose command the executioners are…”
And then on the Internet you can find in a couple of minutes the one who was the emperor of Byzantium in 1086 AD, i.e. the one who was hidden in the Bible behind the title of "Pontius Pilate". At this time, the ruler of the Byzantine Empire was Alexei I Komnenos (circa 1048-1118), who was the Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118.
The miniature of the XII century depicts the Byzantine Emperor Alexei I Komnenos with Jesus Christ.
This is direct evidence that Jesus Christ lived in the 11th century AD and met with Emperor Alexei I Komnenos. And direct evidence that he was executed in Constantinople are several paintings that depict the crucifixion of Jesus Christ against the backdrop of the sea bay ...
Antonello da Messina, "Crucifixion", 1475, Konrad Witz, "Crucifixion".
Thus, we found out exactly when and where the execution of Jesus Christ took place: it took place in the capital of Byzantium, Constantinople, in 1086 AD. And now you can understand why in Byzantium those years they celebrated Easter, who were sitting in Jerusalem, and, accordingly, why “on the Easter holiday, the ruler had the custom of releasing one prisoner to the people ...”.
In biblical times, the Cult of Dionysius dominated the territory of the Roman (Byzantine) Empire! Or, as it was often called, the Greek religion!
In all these religions, the gods also died and rose again. All these cults were copies of the cult of Osiris and were created specifically in order to use them to divide people, zombie and unleash religious wars between them.
Thus, everything falls into place: and the celebration of Easter in Constantinople in the 11th century AD; and the presence of a custom to release a prisoner for a holiday; and time of execution; and place of execution. It remains only to understand that the "Christian" Easter came from the same place as the "Greek" - from Judaism, and has nothing to do with the resurrection of Jesus Christ!
5. Why was Jesus Christ killed?
Oddly enough, part of the answer to this question can also be found in the text. Holy Scripture I mean, the Bible. At first, reading the New Testament, you notice that the “voluntary” death of Jesus Christ was not entirely voluntary, or rather, completely involuntary. He was brutally executed! The Jews sacrificed him to their "God" Jehovah (aka Yahweh) on the Passover holiday!
The question immediately arises point-blank: how dare they execute the "son of God"? God would have to immediately “pulverize them”?! Quite right! So it would be if God were the only one, as the priests say, and Jesus Christ was his son. Or if Jesus really was the son of that God whom the Jews revere as their superior. That's when he would have shown them "Kuzkin's mother"! Or rather, then they would not have thought of killing him. It would not be, for what! He would be from the same gang as the "daddy", and would act along with him!
However, Jesus was executed! And this means that he was not from Jehovah's gang, but was both his enemy and the Jews zombified by him. There are even several wonderful places in the New Testament about this, when Jesus tells the Jews "... your father is the devil ..." and so on. Therefore, there was no question of any voluntary sacrifice on the part of Jesus in order to atone for the sins of others!
And in general, if you think about it: why on earth would a normal God suddenly allow the killing of his only son, heir, in order to atone for something on some planet? This unpretentious fantasy can only be believed by people of a “religious mental state.”
In fact, our priests are lying again! Moreover, they lie desperately, in writing, they lie to millions of their parishioners! They, too, have fallen into the trap of the Dark Ones they serve: if they tell the truth, the parishioners will scatter, and they will even hit faces with crosses. And then the church corporation will become just nothing, an empty place. And they are already so accustomed to power, accustomed to eating sweets and not denying themselves anything.
Returning to the question of the reason for the ritual murder of Jesus Christ, we can and should say the following. From the books of Nikolai and Svetlana Levashov, we now know a lot about the personality and life of Radomir (this is the real name of the one who was once called Jesus Christ to hide the truth about him). Radomir was the son of the white Magus and the sorceress Mary, who had nothing to do with the Jews.
Unfortunately, the Dark Ones were stronger at that time. The Light Hierarchs, who led the earthly civilization, could not adequately resist the cunning, meanness and treachery of the cosmic "jackals" and their helpers. The Jews seized Radomir and put him to a painful death - they sacrificed him to their God Jehovah just in time for the Passover holiday. And it was precisely for this ritual murder of a Light Hierarch of such a level that Jehovah promised his helper slaves deliverance from karma during their centuries-old service to Evil.
6. Why are we forced to celebrate religious holidays?
And really, why? Why are we encouraged in one way or another to celebrate many religious holidays? Are the churchmen really concerned that we have a good rest, that we are in a good mood, that we are healthy and happy? To have healthy, smart and happy children? In no case!
Oddly enough, churchmen try to keep their flocks in blackness, despair and hopelessness. And they need it in order to break the will of people, the natural desire for Light and Life. People with a broken will cannot resist anything, but can only beg and beg. This is exactly what our implacable enemies - the Dark Forces - and the church miners who have been working for them for centuries need. They zombify the flock with religious intoxication, accustom them to passivity and freebies (you just need to pray well and ask), and simply cynically set everyone up. This is well illustrated by gloomy church paraphernalia and widespread advertising of the crucified and bloodied Jesus Christ.
It would seem, why should everyone go in cycles in the process of torment during the ritual murder of the beloved and revered God? But this is the whole point of the Jewish religion of Christianity. By this they support their hatred for Radomir, and at the same time accustom the goyim (non-Jews) to suffering, long-suffering (“Jesus endured and commanded us ...”), despair and hopelessness, like the goy God - Jesus Christ, betrayed by the Jews to martyrdom.
3. Draining energy (life force) from many people
These simple conclusions can be easily drawn from the information found and analyzed.
A lot of pictures can be found if you ask Google for an image search on a query with the words "SEMANA SANTA". You will be amazed at the results! You will see not only huge, maddening crowds of people who annually in a frenzy repeat the suffering of Radomir during the ritual execution. You will see that Christianity is a religion of death, and you will understand all its mortal danger for each of us and for all Humanity...
Dmitry Baida
Views: 1 586
In a few weeks or days, the Christian world will celebrate one of the most important holidays - the Bright Sunday of Christ. This 2018 holiday falls on April 1 for Catholics and April 8 for Orthodox Christians.
I have always wondered why it is celebrated every year on different days.
It turns out that 2000 years ago, the chronology was carried out according to lunar calendar. And now we count the years according to a calendar tied to the solar cycle, so it was decided to tie the date of Easter to the days of the moon. And now Christ's Sunday is celebrated on every first Sunday after the first spring full moon, which is considered the first full moon after the spring equinox. In the event that the full moon falls on Friday, Saturday or Sunday, Easter is postponed to the following Sunday.
The history of the Easter holiday, a brief presentation
The history of the origin of the holiday is covered with a bit of darkness, since there is no unequivocal answer as to how, when and why this holiday began to be celebrated.
According to one version, the Jews began to celebrate Easter for the first time, 1500 years before the birth of Christ. This happened when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. By itself, the word "Easter" in translation means "exodus" or "deliverance" from slavery. That is, people simply celebrated their own Independence Day.
But after Judas sold Christ, and the Pharisees crucified him and he miraculously resurrected, the people began to celebrate the holiday in this way. In the New Testament, this holiday symbolizes victory over death.
For a long time there were disputes about the celebration. And only in the fifth century AD, church leaders developed clear rules and lines for celebrating the holiday in order to separate the concept of Jewish, Catholic and Orthodox Easter.
The holiday came to the territory of the Slavs after the baptism of Russia. Prior to this, the ancient Slavs celebrated the feast of the awakening of nature.
Traditions and customs in different countries
For a long time, paganism and Christianity were so closely intertwined that they acquired their own traditions and customs. Therefore they are in different countries absolutely different. For example, did you know that Easter in America is not complete without an Easter bunny and beautiful egg baskets? And in some areas of Latin America and Greece, celebrants burn an effigy of Judas, who betrayed Jesus?
And in Bermuda, Christians fly kites into the sky, which symbolizes the Ascension of Christ to heaven? I did not know. Our Orthodox traditions are closest to me.
Easter dishes like Easter cakes and painted eggs
My grandmother always baked and dyed eggs on Maundy Thursday. It was such a sacrament that we, a gang of juvenile bandits, her grandchildren, watched this process with rapture. It was very interesting to watch how the grandmother kneads the dough. Adds raisins and all sorts of goodies to the dough, bakes it. But our favorite thing was picking out raisins from the dough while grandma was not looking. Who slept, naturally received on the ears.
The process of coloring the eggs was also entertaining. Grandma always dyed eggs in onion skins. And by the way, I still use this method. Synthetic dyes are of course very colorful, but somehow I'm more used to it. Yes, and onion peel is always in the house.
By the way, about eggs. Did you know that the most expensive and famous were Faberge eggs made in 1885.
And the first precious Easter egg was golden, covered with white enamel and inside was a small golden hen.
And in the city of Vegreville, in Canada, there is a large Easter egg. It weighs about 2 tons, and its length is about 8 meters.
Here are a few more interesting facts about the Resurrection of Christ.
In 2010, the largest Easter egg was made in Russia. The weight of which was 880 kg, and the height is 2.3 m.
And in 2011, the largest in the world was baked in Ukraine, which weighed more than 2 tons and its height was 2.4 m.
The Slavs kept painted Easter eggs or Easter eggs at home throughout the year. They believed that in this way they could protect their home from fires, floods and other natural disasters.
In Kolomna there is a Pysanka Museum, the building is built in the shape of an egg.
Belarus is the only country in which both Catholic and Orthodox Easter are considered public holidays.
In America, it is very popular to roll Easter eggs on a sloping lawn. The winner of the competition is the person who can roll his colored egg the farthest without stopping.
And in Bulgaria they make a lot of clay products, most often these are pots. They are usually thrown from the upper floors of houses to the ground: this marks the victory of good over evil. At the same time, anyone passing by can take a piece of clay for themselves - for good luck.
There is also a tradition to put a large candle at the altar, from which all other lamps in the church are lit later.
Signs
Many interesting signs have always been associated with Easter.
For example, the thieves believed that if during the Easter service to steal something from the parishioners. And they won’t catch him by the hand - then you can safely steal all year, you won’t be caught.
BUT gamblers believed that luck in the game will bring a coin. Which is worth putting in a boot before going to church.
How to quickly and easily decorate Easter eggs. Video
It doesn't really matter how we celebrate Easter. It is important to remember that two thousand years ago God gave his only son for the salvation of our souls. After all, very often in household chores we forget to even call our parents. So take the opportunity and visit your relatives. They will be very happy.
Easter is called "the celebration of celebrations" - this is the main Christian holiday. For a believing Christian, Easter is endowed with great sacred meaning. This is evidence of the omnipotence of God, who has risen from the dead, it is also a reminder of the boundless love for man of God, who sent his son to death on the cross to save people. But the tradition of celebrating Easter is longer than the history of Christianity. It is rich in interesting details that differ in different countries and cultures.
The origin of the holiday dates back to the Old Testament times. about the day of liberation from Egyptian slavery. The very word "Easter" is translated as "pass by" or "pass".
According to the Bible, God punished the Egyptians with ten cruel executions for refusing to free the Jews. The last punishment was the killing of all the first-born in the state, with the exception of the Jews. The son of the ruler of Egypt also died, so the pharaoh, already exhausted by the misfortunes of Egypt, hastily released the Jews. Before the night of the execution of the firstborn, God commanded the Jews to mark the doors of their homes with a conventional sign - the blood of the sacrificial lamb. Through these doors the angel of death did not enter that night.
Since then and to this day there is a Jewish holiday in memory of those events - Pesach. Every year at this time, the Jews remember the events of the Old Testament, following their traditions.
So, for example, before the holiday, everything leavened in the house is destroyed: bread, cookies, pasta, soup mixtures, and only unleavened bread is used for food. This tradition serves as a reminder that during the exodus from Egypt, the dough did not have time to leaven.
The new meaning of the holiday in the New Testament
Since ancient times, worship on. This tradition was also started by the Israelites, remembering how they were awake on the night of deliverance from Egyptian slavery. The Last Supper, an event so revered by the Christian faith, took place precisely during the Easter dinner. This is indicated by many details in the story of the Last Supper.
In those days, in the Jewish environment, there was still a tradition to sacrifice a lamb on Easter. But there is no slaughtered lamb on the table tonight. Jesus Christ replaces the sacrifice with himself, thereby symbolically indicating that he is the very innocent sacrifice brought for the purification and salvation of mankind. Thus, the original received a new meaning.
The eating of bread and wine, symbolizing the body of Christ sacrificed, is called the Eucharist. Such a new semantic content is indicated by Christ himself: "This is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many."
Passover date confirmation
After the departure of Christ, Easter became the main holiday of his followers - the early Christians. But serious disagreements arose in the Christian communities over the date of the celebration of the Resurrection of Christ. Some communities every week. Many communities in Asia Minor celebrated Passover once a year on the same day as the Jews. In the West, where the influence of Judaism was much less pronounced, it was customary to celebrate a week later.
Attempts to agree on a common date for the holiday were unsuccessful. Pope Victor I even excommunicated the Christians of Asia Minor from the church when they did not agree to celebrate Easter according to the Roman custom. Later, as a result of disputes, he had to remove the excommunication.
The question of the date of the celebration of Easter was submitted to the First Ecumenical Council of the Church. And the council decided to determine the day of the holiday according to three factors: full moon, equinox, Sunday. Since then, the custom of celebrating Easter on the first Sunday after the full moon from the spring equinox has appeared.
However, paschalia has multiplied and continues to differ in different churches to this day. In the 16th century, Pope Gregory sent an embassy to the Eastern Patriarch with a proposal to adopt a new Paschal and a new, Gregorian calendar, but the proposal was rejected, and all followers of the new calendar were anathematized by the Eastern Church. Until now, many churches, even those that have adopted the Gregorian calendar, continue to celebrate Easter according to the old Paschalia. Of the Orthodox churches, only the Christian Church in Finland switched to the Gregorian Paschal.
The division of churches on this issue is connected with the transition to the New Julian calendar. Some churches switched to new dates, but some left existing traditions in order to avoid unrest among the people. Among them is the Russian Orthodox Church, which still uses the Julian calendar, considered time-honored by church practice.
Attempts to create a common, single date of celebration for the entire Christian world were unsuccessful.
The history of the tradition of dyeing eggs
The famous ritual symbol of the holiday - the Easter egg, also arose in antiquity. The egg is a symbol of the coffin and at the same time a symbol of resurrection. The interpretation explains: outwardly, the egg looks lifeless, but a new life is hidden inside it, which is preparing to come out of it. Likewise, Christ will rise from the tomb and show man the way to a new life.
Where the tradition of using Easter eggs came from is not known with certainty.
Version | Origin of tradition |
Orthodox tradition tells the following story. | Mary Magdalene gave the egg to Emperor Tiberius and addressed him with the words: "Christ is Risen." When the emperor objected that just as a white egg cannot become red, so a dead one cannot become alive, the egg immediately turned red. |
Another version of this legend. | Mary Magdalene came to the emperor, bringing an egg as a gift because of her poverty. To somehow decorate the gift, she painted it red. |
A more scientific version is also offered. | According to her, the tradition of giving eggs came to Christianity from pagan mythology, where it symbolized the creative power of nature. |
The history of the custom of giving eggs for Easter has been lost for centuries. But now this bright tradition is strongly associated with the Easter celebration.
Easter in Russia
Orthodoxy in Russia was inherited from Byzantium, from where the celebration traditions were adopted Easter. Every day of the so-called Holy Week until the Resurrection had its own sacred meaning.
Russia had some of its own celebration traditions. For example, a priest changed his vestments several times during the Easter service. This tradition originated in Moscow and is still sometimes found in some churches. This is due to the fact that in Russia, when someone from a wealthy family died, the relatives of the deceased bought beautiful and expensive brocade and turned to the priest with a request to serve Easter in their vestments. In order not to refuse any of the wealthy patrons of the temple who applied, the priests found a tricky way out - they began to change their clothes several times for the service.
Later, a symbolic explanation was given for this custom: since Easter is a holiday of holidays, then it must be served in different vestments. After all, each color in Christianity has its own symbolic meaning.
In Russia, many customs were timed to the days of Holy Week.
- So, for example, on Thursday, the day of purification, it was customary to take not only spiritual purification, but also physical. From here came the custom to swim in the hole, river or lake, to clean the house.
- The Easter table should be rich. The richness of the table symbolizes heavenly joy, because in the Bible the Kingdom of God is repeatedly likened to a feast.
- Some Easter customs were associated with the harvest. One egg from those consecrated in the church was left before the start of sowing. To get a rich harvest for the whole year, he was taken to the field for the first planting.
To get a good harvest, the remains of Easter cakes and eggs consecrated in the church were buried in the field. For the same purpose, the egg was hidden in the grain prepared for sowing.
In 2019, Easter - the most important Christian holiday - is celebrated on April 28. 48 days are being prepared for the Bright Sunday of Christ: 40 days last and Passion Week goes on for eight days. Despite the importance of the holiday in the Christian world, it appeared long before the death and resurrection of Jesus. The editors of the site explain where the Jewish Pesach came from, how it is connected with the Christian Easter, and also why we paint eggs and bake Easter cakes on Easter
Photo: Virgin and newborn Jesus Christ / tbn-tv.com
The origin of the holiday
The holy holiday of Easter appeared even before the birth of Jesus Christ. It was celebrated in honor of the liberation of the Jewish people from Egyptian slavery. According to biblical tradition, the Jews were forcibly kept in Egypt for 430 years, until they were rescued by the prophet and founder of Judaism, Moses.
One day God appeared to Moses in the form of a blazing but unburned bush. The Lord told the shepherd to come to the Egyptian lands and convince the pharaoh to let the Jews go. At the age of 80, the prophet appeared before the ruler of Egypt, but no matter how he tried to reason with the pharaoh, the Israelites remained in slavery. As punishment, the Lord sent ten plagues on Egypt: punishment by blood, an invasion of frogs, an invasion of blood-sucking insects, punishment by dog flies, pestilence of cattle, ulcers and boils, thunder and fiery hail, an invasion of locusts, Egyptian darkness, and, finally, the death of the firstborn.
Photo: fiery lightning over the sky of Egypt / illustrators.ru
Neither frogs, nor bloody rivers, nor fiery hail did not frighten the pharaoh. Only the death of his own child forced the ruler to release the Jews. The terrible punishment did not affect everyone: Moses warned the Israelis that the doors of the houses should be marked with the blood of a one-year-old immaculate lamb, and the animal itself should be baked and eaten with the family. The Jewish houses that carried out the order of Moses were not touched by death.
When the Israelites approached the Red Sea, the water opened up and the Jews walked along the bottom.
After these events, the Pesach holiday appeared, aka Easter, which literally translates from Hebrew as “passed by, passed by.” This is a direct reference to the passage of the Jews past the water along the bottom of the Red Sea.
Connection with Christian Easter
Christian Easter is inextricably linked with the life, death and resurrection of the son of God Jesus. Christ was born in the small village of Nazareth, near Bethlehem. When he was 30 years old, he received from John the Baptist. Three years later, Jesus gathered 12 of his closest disciples at the Easter feast, whom he said that soon one of them would betray him, thereby predicting the betrayal of Judas.
Photo: Procession of Jesus Christ to Mount Golgotha / catholic.tomsk.ru
The day after the Last Supper, Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect of Judea, ordered that Christ be arrested, tortured, and executed by crucifixion. The priests envied the Son of God, because crowds of believers followed him, and the authorities wanted to eradicate Christianity in the bud. After being beaten with whips and “crowned” with a crown of thorns, the exhausted Jesus put the cross on his back and carried it to the top of Mount Calvary. Jesus' way of the cross through old Jerusalem and the serpentine of the mountain became one of the prototypes of the Christian procession.
The death of the son of God on Mount Calvary is a kind of allegory for the murders of sacrificial lambs. Just as the Jews sacrificed one-year-old immaculate lambs, so Jesus gave his life for the remission of sins and the purification of human souls. Christ died after the Jewish Passover, on Friday, which was called Holy.
Why do we paint eggs for Easter?
On the third day after the burial of Christ, on Sunday, Mary Magdalene, one of the followers of Jesus, together with the myrrh-bearing women, went to his tomb to leave incense. Approaching the cave, she saw that the stone had been moved away, and the Angel of the Lord in a snow-white robe was sitting in the cave. The angel told Mary that Jesus was not in the tomb - he had risen. At that moment, the Son of God himself appeared before her. Overjoyed, Mary hurried to tell the good news to the emperor Tiberius himself. Entrance to the great Roman pontiff without a gift was forbidden, so Mary took it. Hearing about the resurrection of Christ, Tiberius laughed and said that he would believe in it only when the egg in Mary's hands turns red. In the same second eggshell painted in crimson tones, as a symbol of the shed blood of Christ.
Photo: Mary Magdalene presents Tiberius with a purple egg / zolushka-new.com
However, the spiritual writer and bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church Dmitry Rostovsky believed that Mary Magdalene gave the emperor an egg already painted red. This gift aroused the curiosity of the emperor, and she told him about Jesus Christ, after which he believed. In Orthodoxy, this legend, apparently, penetrated under the influence of Catholicism.
According to another version, the Mother of God, the mother of Jesus, entertained Christ with painted eggs when he was a baby.
Why do we bake a holiday cake
Festive Easter cake is a kind of church artos - yeast bread with the image of Christ. After the Ascension of Christ, the apostles left a piece of bread for the son of God at the meal, thereby depicting his presence at the dinner table. Catholics bake festive bread from shortcrust pastry and call it "baba".
Photo: Orthodox family praying at the table with holiday cakes / babiki.ru
The word "Kulich" comes from the Greek kollikion, which means "round bread". This word is found not only in Russian. The Spaniards call the "home" artos kulich, and the French call it koulitch.