The city in the Holy Land where the temple was located. Reached enlightenment and sacred mountains

In christianity

Representations of Europeans about the Holy Land

The inhabitants of medieval Europe committed pilgrimage to the Holy Earth and traded with it. Nevertheless, the knowledge of Europeans about Palestine was distinguished by numerous exaggerations. According to Rome Pope Urban II "The land that flows milk and honey" (words from his speech on the Clermont Cathedral, where the beginning of the crusades were announced). The ideas about the abundance and rich holy land are explained by the mythological ideas of Christians. (Such ideas are also in other religions.) They were convinced that the Holy Land (and above all Jerusalem) as the Center for Christianity and the Center of the world is opposed to all other lands as the periphery of the world. And if in Europe (on the periphery) there is hunger, illness, drought and injustice, then in the center of the world, the opposite is the opposite. There is a benevolent, the earth fertures, reigns peace and the fairness. This is precisely one of the reasons for the mass of crusades.

History of the Earth

see also

Sources

Literature

• Gusterin V. P. Cities of the Arab East. - M.: East-West, 2007. - 352 p. - (Encyclopedic Directory). - 2000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-478-00729-4

Links

• Article Holy Places in the encyclopedic dictionary of Brockhaus and Ephron

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Watch what is "Holy Land" in other dictionaries:

Palestine dictionary of Russian synonyms. Holy land of land., Count of synonyms: 3 cemetery (30) ... Synonym dictionary

Do not confuse with the Holy Land (Amusement Park). Map of the Holy Land, 1759. Holy Land ... Wikipedia

Holy Land - ♦ (ENG HOLY LAND) The term denoting the land of Palestine and its holy places. As the Holy Land, Israel became known in the Middle Ages. The pilgrimage of Christians began here with 4 in ... Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms

Holy Land - Holy Earth I (Palestine) ... Russian spelling dictionary

Holy Land - (Palestine) ... Orphographic Dictionary of the Russian Language

II.2.1. Syria and Palestine (Holy Land) - ⇑ II.2. States of the Crusaders ... rulers of the world

Holy Rus. Picture Mikhail Nesterova, 1901 1906 Holy Rus Name of Russia and Russia in Russian folklore, poetry and eloquence ... Wikipedia

PROMISED LAND - [Greek. γῆ τῆς ἐπαγγελίας], the biblical name (Heb 11. 9) of the Earth (on the territory of Canaan), promised by God by the Old Testament Patriarchs and their descendants of the people of Israel, they received the Rui after the outcome of Egypt (see also Art. Israel ancient). In MN ... Orthodox encyclopedia

The centers of Orthodox Christianity are Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth and Vifania. Bethlehem is located a few kilometers south of Jerusalem, Vifania - east. Nazareth is 100 km north of Jerusalem, not far from the famous Galilean Sea. Pilgrims arriving in the Holy Earth are first headed in Bethlehem, where they attend the christmas church of Christ. In the wall of the temple, a niche laid out by marble, in which the nursery is located, where the babe of Jesus was lying by legend. In Bvifania to visit tourists, the foundation of the house and the tombstone of the grave of Lazarus, resurrected by Jesus, are open. The spiritual significance of pilgrimage in Nazareth is to visit the place where Jesus Ros and later gained students among fishermen.

Of course, the center of attracting pilgrims is Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, there is a number of cults of the cult of cultivation. First of all, this is a hethymansky garden, which witnessed the spiritual torment of Jesus Christ. In the Garden Garden grow eight old olive trees planted during the times of Jesus. Here is the basilica of the passions of the Lord, inside which is the rock of the Passion of the Lord. Usually, pilgrims stretch NIC before this rock, pray and remember the passions of the Lord before the Roman guards grabbed him.

All pilgrims arriving in Jerusalem pass along the way of the grief of 14 stops associated with the last hours of life of Jesus:

• - Jesus sentenced to death;
• - Jesus takes his cross;
• - The Savior falls for the first time;
• - Jesus meets his mother;
• - Simon Kirnesesky helps Jesus carry the cross;
• - Veronica wipes the chamber of Christ;
• - Jesus falls for the second time;
• - Savior preaches Jerusalem women;
• - Jesus falls for the third time;
• - With Christ, remove clothes;
• - navigation to the cross;
• - Jesus Christ dies on the cross;
• - The body of the Savior is removed from the Cross;
• - The body of Jesus Christ is put in the coffin.

Each of the 14 stops pilgrims stop for prayers and reflections. At the end of the godfather is the temple of the Holy Sepulcher. This unique construction is where there were events related to the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Temple of the Merry Coffin is visited by the Christian pilgrims of all directions - Catholics, Orthodox, Monophysites, Ariana, Nestorian, Protestants, Copts.

Christian pilgrimage tourism is of particular importance in the life of society:

• 1) spiritual and educational role (during the trip, pilgrims learn about the history of the places they visit, their roles in the spiritual life of Russia; get acquainted with a peculiarity of worship, the heritage of the saints, elders);
• 2) a general education role (monasteries were cultural historical centers, in many many museums, reflecting the life and customs of various historical eras);
• 3) a missionary role (trips to holy places contribute to the coercion of many of the previously non-religious people);
• 4) a charitable role (during pilgrim tours, pilgrims are charitable material assistance and cash donations).

Specialized tourist firms offer various pilgrimage tours. Tours to Israel are particularly popular and demand.

Palmnic Tour program in Israel, 8 days / 7 nights

• 1st day - arrival in a / n. Ben-Gurion. A meeting. Jaffa. Russian monastery of St. Peter. The grave of St. Taby. Lidda. Greek Orthodox Church of St. George Victorious. Moving to Jerusalem. Hotel accommodation. Dinner.
• 2nd day - Jerusalem. Breakfast. Worship of the coffin of the Lord. Russian Compound. Russian spiritual mission in Jerusalem. Church of the Holy Trinity. Dinner. At 24:00 - Divine Liturgy in the Temple of the Holy Sepulcher (from Saturday on Sunday).
• 3rd day - Jerusalem. Breakfast. Mount Sion. Tomb of King David. Torny of the secret evening. Temple of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Temple mountain. Great path. Temple of the coffin of the Lord. Calvary. Stone of minor formation. The coffin of the Lord. Place of gaining a life-giving cross. Dinner.
• 4th day - Jerusalem. Breakfast. Ein-Karem. Nativity of John the Forerunner. Source of the Blessed Virgin. Gongnsky Orthodox Women's Monastery. Monastery "Visits" (place of housing of righteous Eel Piece and Zechariah). Bethlehem field. Church of shepherds. Bethlehem. Church of the Nativity. Greek Orthodox Monastery of the Holy Cross. Dinner.
• 5th day - Jerusalem. Breakfast. Eleon mountain. Savior-Sensky Monastery of the Russian Foreign Orthodox Church. The place of finding the head of John the Forerunner. Gethsimania. The tomb of the Blessed Virgin. Garden Garden. Russian monastery of St. Equalo. Mary Magdalene, worship of the Great Princess Elizabeth Fedorovna and Inokini Varvara. Dinner.
• 6th day - Jerusalem. Breakfast. Departure from the hotel. Jewish desert. Monastery of St. George Khoziewit. Monastery Gerasima Jordansky. Moving to Galilean on the Valley of the Jordan River. Omotion in the sacred waters of the Jordan River. Accommodation in a hotel in Tiberia. Dinner.
• 7th day - Tiberia. Breakfast. Nazareth. Church of the Archangel Gabriel at the source of the Virgin Mary. Church of the Annunciation. Kana Galilee. Church in honor of the first wonderfulness on the marriage feast. Galilee Sea. Tabha. Church of the miracle multiplication of breads and fish. Capernaum. Monastery of the Twelve Apostles. Mount of bliss. Church of the Nagorno sermon. Magdala. Russian Temple of Mary Magdalene. Dinner at the hotel.
• 8th day - Tiberia. Breakfast. Mount Favor. Temple of the Transfiguration of the Lord. Moving to the airport. Departure to Moscow.

Each of us at least once in life heard about pilgrimage. A lot of people, representatives of one religion, go to sacred places that are coming by a religion. They make it one by one or groups - it does not matter. The main thing is to have pure intentions and submissive body, as well as the soul, full of repentance, and the heart, which is distinguished by the sincere faith. Pilgrimage is the desire of the lost lands of God to worship with holy lands and cities.

A bit of history

Of the deep ancients, the term "pilgrimage" came into a modern language. This is derived from the word "palm". The branches of this tree were brought from the sacred territories the first Christians that went there for the blessing of the Most High. They were usually driving during the Great Holiday on the eve of Easter, who glorified the entry of Christ in Jerusalem. In Russia and other Orthodox countries, it is called "Verbal Sunday". But you should not think that only Christians were engaged in the pilgrimage. For example, in ancient India, local residents went to the land for a couple of times a year, where, according to legends, certain deities lived. In this way, they tried to absorb the energy of the revered beings, which remained here in every stone and tree. And in Greece, pilgrims are from all over the country in Delphi: the local temple lived an appearance of Pythia, who predicted fate on behalf of the Higher Forces.

The essence of the pilgrimage was slightly modified in the Middle Ages. It was then that it became as we know him in our day. During the heyday of the Christian religion, people began to massively go to Jerusalem to visit the erected Emperor Konstantine. In the XV century, travelers from Europe developed pointers and special routes: from the Rhone River to the shores of Jordan. Crusades finally strengthened the tradition of pilgrimage on the territory of the Holy Land. It is known that these days about 200 million people comply annually.

Basic views and the essence of pilgrimage

Believers are sent to a dangerous, long and heavy path not only for prayer and forgiveness for the sins performed. Often their goal is much noble: find the meaning of life, know your destination, gain grace, show the devotion to religious beliefs. Sometimes the desires of pilgrims are absolutely ground: to ask the long-awaited baby, heal from the disease, get rid of spiritual suffering. In any case, such a journey implies a certain attitude of a person to reality. The idea is absolutely simple: to voluntarily take care of the difficulties, take the difficult conditions of the road, spend some time in constraints to achieve the highest goal. It symbolizes the refusal of humanity from the material values \u200b\u200band physical pleasures for the sake of spiritual and eternal ideals.

Depending on the various signs, the types of pilgrimage are distinguished. These may be foreign and domestic cities or to sacred places in the wilken nature, voluntary and mandatory, individual and group, long-term or short-term travels. By the way, as for the temporary segment, earlier, according to the Orthodox canons, a real pilgrimage was considered a trip, which lasted at least 10 days. Travels can also be performed at any time of the year or be dedicated to a specific holiday.

Geography

Recently, pilgrimage differs with a new psychological basis and geographic focus: this is not only a trip to holy places, but also a journey to health purposes. Therefore, representatives of different denominations go to the East to know there a new religion and the secrets of the folk treatment that these lands are so famous for themselves. In India, China, Japan, Tibet and Nepal, they will settle at the temples: communicate with monks, attend worship with their permission, adopt their healing practices. For example, Ayurveda is very popular in Delhi and its districts - a complex science specializing in rejuvenation, treatment of the body. The teaching to restore human harmony and the universe is directed, since it is the violation of this balance provocates the development of physical and mental ailments. Instead, many tourists attend China to class "qigong" - this is a complex of respiratory and motor exercises, helping to replenish the stock of energy and mental strength. The goal of such trips is not only to help heal, but also make moral and spiritually.

As for the religion specifically, in our days, the main places of pilgrimage in the world are:

• Republic of CIS. Some of them (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus) are the center of Orthodoxy.
• Europe. Here the flows of Catholicism and Protestantia are dominated.
• North and Latin America. Christian beliefs prevails.
• Africa. Islam is spread, but Christian centers are found.
• Asia. She is inherent in Islam, as well as Judaism and Buddhism.

Each continent has its own holy memos, which are mandatory for visiting and viewing.

Christian pilgrimage

For more than two thousand years, representatives of the Christian world wish to see the Holy Land - Jerusalem. Those who make an Orthodox pilgrimage, the coffin of the Lord manits and goes like any other place on the planet. This territory is the cradle of all Christianity, crowded with the beauty of Palestinian landscapes, the secret night utilities and the wondrous atmosphere of sacred memo. Israel is the sacred country itself. We will learn about him from the first pages of the Bible: Christ was born on this earth, here he was adulted, preached and was executed. The pilgrimage to the coffin of the Lord was distributed in the times of ancient Russia. But the foreman of the modern direction is considered to be the mother of Emperor Konstantin, Holy Elena. Being in old age, she went here to search for the cross, on which the earthly life of Jesus ended. The discovery of the "true and honest" crucifixion is invariably associated with this historical person.

Religious pilgrimage is always accomplished on the blessing of the Church. This is not only a trip to the Holy Land, but also permanent prayers, repentance, spiritual work on themselves, cleansing and humility. The path of pilgrims usually begins in the Negev: endless expanses of the desert are associated with the guys of patriarchs and important events from the Old Testament. The path is based on the visit to Jerusalem. From here you can organize tours to Galileo, Bethlehem, Jericho, to the dead sea and other sacred places. This route is conditional. Each pilgrim can add it to other interesting places.

Main holy places

Jerusalem is a sacred city not only for Orthodoxy, but also for representatives of Judaism and Islam. Many events are connected with him, including the birth and death of Christ. From what objects to start the Orthodox pilgrimage? First, it will be necessary to visit unfortunately, only the ruins remained from it - including the famous Watch Wall. Secondly, go to the oil horque and to the Garden Garden - here Jesus prayed before he was arrested. Thirdly, it is important for the pilgrims to see the temple of the passions of the Lord: it is built in the 20th century, but just perfectly recreating the architecture of those times when Christ went by these streets.

Bethlehem is another Christian shrine. In the Arab territory there is a temple of the Nativity of Christ. He is built around a big grottle, in which a small Savior appeared among the cattle. What is the most interesting thing - every Christian confession has its place in this church. Do not forget about visiting Nazareth - Galilee. It was here that Maria recognized from the angel that he would soon become the mother of the long-awaited Messiah. In the same city settled a little teen Jesus, who returned with his parents from Egypt, where Izod's persecution was saved. In Galilee, he spent all his childhood and his youth, performed the first miracles and found faithful followers and disciples.

Pilgrimage to Europe

The first country where it is worth going, it is, of course, Italy. Her capital Rome is the eternal city, the Arena approval of world Christianity. The local Orthodox and Catholic Churches are popular pilgrimage sites, because they are their walls keep a lot of shrines associated with the apostles. For example, in the Cathedral of St. Peter, the relics and the power of the Great Student and the follower of Jesus are stored. Also here are the graves of other faithful followers of the Christian Church, not to mention the unsurpassed masterpieces and monuments of world art. In another Italian city - Loreto - be sure to visit the Basilica, which is called the authentic home of Mary. According to the legend, the heavenly angels to protect the mother of Christ, they endured her house several times: ultimately he found himself in Loreto.

The third most important place for pilgrimage is considered to be Santiago de Compostela in Spain. In the local council there is a tomb of St. James, so the protection of the road to this relic was the matter of honor of many kings and if you want to make a pilgrimage to the monastery, then be sure to select Athos. The shrine located on the Greek Peninsula is one of the most mysterious places on the planet, which is shrouded in many legends and myths. They say, Maria herself preached here to faith in Christ. Since then, the monks who have left the worldly fuss, live and pray in Athos. And every person who fell here feels a special fertile atmosphere, which permeated every block of land.

What to see in Russia?

In our country, there are also many shrines in which the tired and lost soul can find a shelter, find peace, get a blessing. Russian pilgrimage begins with the Solovetsky archipelago, where the famous monastery is located - the cultural and spiritual center of the North. In Soviet times, it was used to keep prisoners, but after the end of that sad time, the former spirit of antiquity was again turned into these walls. To penetrate the holy atmosphere, you need to live at least a week in Solovki. It is necessary to visit the Trinity-Sergiye Lavra - the largest monastery of Russia. This is not only a treasury of ancient Russian art, but also a UNESCO World Heritage Monument.

As for the Diveevsky monastery, he is called another terrestrial lot of the Virgin. In the XVIII century, it took him under his guardian, Ierodiakon Serafim, who later became a consistent Russian saint. Here to rest his relics with miraculous power. Do not miss the opportunity to recruit healing water from the source on the territory of the monastery. They say it helps with any physical and mental illness. Another popular monastery with Pskov-Pechersk Resident. It is located in the dungeons. The caves are used as a tomb, as the remains of people are not decomposed here. Nearby built the Assumption Church, which stores miraculous icons.

Hajj in Islam

This is the name of the Muslim pilgrimage. He must be made at least once in his life every representative of this religion. Those who have passed the hard way are called "Haji". To travel, Musulmanin is obliged to achieve majority, confess Islam, be mentally healthy and sufficiently wealthy to maintain not only at the time of pilgrimage, but also his family, the rest. During the Hajj, he can not smoke, drink alcohol, enjoy intimate relationships, engage in trade and so on.

Muslim pilgrimage begins with human vestments in white clothes, which, being the same for everyone, hide his public and social status. The first rite is bypassing around the house of Allah - Kaaba - the main shrine of Muslims, located in Mecca. After that, a person runs seven times a distance between the sacred hills of Marva and Safa, after which he drinks healing water from the deputy deputy deputy. Only after that, he goes to the Valley of Arafat, which stretches near Mecca. The culmination of the rite is unproved prayers in this area. The ritual is complicated, as the pilgrim must simultaneously be stationary under the scorching sun from noon to sunset. Withstand the test, it is allowed to a common collective prayer. The next day, a person goes to another valley - Ma. Here he throws seven stones in a pillar - the symbol of Satan, takes part in the rite of sacrifice and returns to Mecca for the last bypass around Kaaba.

Mecca and Medina

These are the main cities of pilgrimage for Muslims. According to the Quran, the prophet Muhammed was born in Mecca, there he began his sacred mission - prophecy. As already mentioned, in this city there is Kaaba - a ritual stone, to which hundreds of thousands of Muslims come out annually. Boulder is located in the courtyard of a large mosque - one of the main Islamic minarets. Religious doctrine reads: Each believer should visit its territory. Usually such a journey is performed in the lunar month of Zul-Hijj. Muslims are confident that pilgrimage and deprivation are synonyms. Therefore, despite the presence of a set of comfortable hotels in the Mecca, they stop in poor tent camps, broken simply on crude land.

Medina is another important place for a person professing Islam. Translated from Latin, his name sounds like "radiant city". His visit is included in the mandatory program of Hajj, since it is here that Mohammed's grave is. In addition, the city became the first location in which I waslam triumph. A large prophet mosque is built here, the capacity of which reaches 900 thousand people. The building is equipped with an automatic umbrella system to create shade, as well as modern air conditioning and escalators.

Holy places of Buddhist

For representatives of this ancient religion, pilgrimage is a way to achieve higher bliss, breathing in the sacred air in sacred territories. By the way, they are in Tibet, China, Buryatia, but their largest quantity is still located in India - the cradle of Buddhism. The first place for universal attendance is the Bodhi tree, under which, according to legend, loved to meditate the Buddha. It is in the shadow of a green plant that he reached the greatest Nirvana. The second important memo is the city of Capillavast: Buddha has spent his childhood, he learned all the parties to the unsightly existence of a person. And decided to: renounce civilization for the sake of comprehending the paths of salvation and sacred truth.

Pilgrimage to holy places from Buddhists does not work out without a visit to the Royal Palace near Patna. On a hill, located nearby, Buddha told followers about her teaching. Gorgeous choirs are literally surrounded by attractions. Considering them, do not forget about the last on the list, but not much, the place, - Sarnatha. Here the Buddha read his first sermon. The pilgrims from all over the world go to Varanasi, so that through the century to feel sacred words of the saint, filled with eternal wisdom and deep life sense.

The Holy Land is part of the territories of the modern state of Israel (until 1948 - Palestine). It is the shrine of three Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The borders of the Holy Land stretched from the west from the coast of the Mediterranean to the desert of Jordan and from Galilee in the north to the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula.
In the center of the Holy Land stands to Jerusalem, an old city, the walls, located on the Jewish hills of the west of the Dead Sea, the lowest point on Earth.
Hebrew - ארץ הקודש, Éreẓ haqodeš
Greek - άγιοι τόποι, Agioi Topoi
Arabic - الأرض المقدسة, Al-Arḍu L-Muqaddasa
The Holy Land has a significant religious value for Judaism, Christianity, Islam and the faith of Bahai. It currently includes territories of Israel, Palestinian territories, Jordan and part of Lebanon. Israel - Holy Land, Jerusalem Brilliant Israeli Crown. Jerusalem has a huge religious importance, it is the Holy City for Judaism, the birthplace of Christianity, and the third of the holy cities for Islam. The perception of the holiness of the Earth for Christianity was one of the causes of crusades, during which Christians sought to win the holy land from Muslims, who invaded her limits and freed themselves from the Byzantine Empire. The Holy Land was a place for religious pilgrimages from biblical times, Jews, Christians, and later Muslims.
The foreman of the Jewish people Patriarch Abraham comes to this land in the XIX century to R. Kh. (About 1850 to R. H.) from Mesopotamia, from Hurray Chaldean (Sumerisk) in the southern course of Evfrat. According to God's call, he is sent from there through Harran (north of Euphrates), from which the Patriarch Jacob came from, the first named after Israel (one of the etymologies "who saw God," who became face to face with God ") (Gl. 32, 28), according to which the entire Jewish people received the name of Isrants .. Abraham and his offspring, God was promised to the land of Canaan, named so in his then inhabitants. For this promising, God's Land and Nazvannazhni promised, as the great Jew and the Grand Christian Pavel from Tars (EHR.11.9) resembles this.

After a forty-year wandering around the desert, the Israeli people under the leadership of Joshua Navina settled in Palestine (approx. 1200 to R. H.). The next two centuries covers the period of judges, and then the epoch of the kings. At about 1000 to R. X. The strong and glorious King David, the poet, the musician and the Prophet, occupies the case with the capital of Israel Jerusalem. From this time, over the centuries, the Holy City of Jerusalem becomes a symbol of all Palestine as the Holy Land and the symbol of the Earth and the whole mankind in general. Everyone reading the Bible knows the Holy Land, the country of sacred memories. For more than two thousand years, Orthodox pilgrims rushed here. For each Orthodox Russian man, the Holy Land has always been the closest, most desired place on Earth. For in this earth, the Annunciation, Christmas, the Presentation of the Lord, the Baptism of Jesus Christ, his phenomenon in the Favorosky Light of Transfiguration. The Savior's earth's paths ran here, his preaching and teachings were heard, his great wonders were committed. On this earth, a secret evening took place. Here the Savior has undergone the betrayal of Judas, the trial of Pontia Pilate, went through the godfather on Calvary and was crucified by his people on the cross. On the Holy Land, the glorious Resurrection of Christ as a prototype of our resurrection, and the Ascension of the Savior in Heaven, and the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles. Here, the terrestrial life of the Virgin Virgin Mary was held, her audit was made here. From here, the apostles of the world were separated into all the ends of the world - the students of Christ, carrying people his doctrine about the salvation of mankind.
Once upon a time having been on the Holy Land, it is impossible to forget the atmosphere of holy places, beauty. Palestinian landscapes, night worship in the coffin of the Lord. The holy land is the cradle of the Christian faith, always remains close and dear heart of every person.

Holy Land is a meeting place for a person with God. The land where most of the Old Testament History flowed, Earth Abraham, Isaac, Jacob; The land of holy prophets - Isaiah, Elijah, Elisha and many others. The Holy Land is the birthplace of our Lord Jesus Christ. There was Christmas, the Presentation of the Lord, the Baptism of the Lord, the Transfiguration of the Lord, there the Lord preached, worked wonders, took a free suffering and the godfather; There was the Allworn Resurrection of Christ, the Ascension of the Lord into Heaven, the Descent of the Holy Spirit. This is the land promised.
Holy Land, this is the Earth, where there was the Christmas of the Mary Virgin Mary, her introduction to the temple, the Annunciation, where its glorious awaits. Holy Land - Land of St. Apostles and many designers of God, the first martyrs for Christ, Reverend fathers and wives.
This land, where the believers, saints and sinners have long been sought. This is the land where he gained sv. Equal-to-apostolic Elena Life-giving cross, where to worship rushed to all of us close and expensive St. Nicholas Wonderworker and much many believers from all countries.
From the distant Russia for a long time, people to the Holy Sepulcher of the Lord, in the Holy Grad Jerusalem, to the trepidate Calvary, were sought. The name of one of such a pilgrim has been preserved to our time: this is the "igumen of the Russian land" Daniel, who at the beginning of the 12th century from Russia got to the land of Saint, spent in it, everywhere I was, 16 months and, returning home, told the brethren and sisters to my where he was and what he saw.
What can I see now in St. Earth? We see the same sky, the same mountains and water, feel the same air that they were and in the earthly life of Christ the Savior. We go on the ground that is consecrated by his feet. We attend places associated with those or other events of his earthly life. And yet - we see how diverse the love of believers to the Lord appeared and manifests itself; As these places, sometimes naive, sometimes ugly, but from the whole loving heart, decorated and decorated.
The blessing of the Lord will be with all who seek closer to get acquainted with the earthly birthplace of Christ the Savior, with Holy Earth, with the "open Gospel", as it is sometimes called it, and so closer to understanding the Holy Scriptures - the words of life, covering them their daily life.

Bishop of Athanasius (Evtich)
The holy land is called the territory of the current Israel, or Palestine. The literal expression of the Holy Land meets from the Prophet Zechariah (Zech. 2.12) and in the book of Solomon's wisdom (12.3), where she is named and the land of precious for God from all others ("Earth, the most precious to you") (Prem. 12.7).
The name of Palestine, in the Hebrew Paleseth, means the land of the Philistines, which at the end of the XIII century to R.Kh. They took this territory and gave her the name, which later and reports the Greek historian Herodotus.
However, the oldest biblical name of this territory is Canaan (court. 4, 2), the land of Canaan or Earth Khananeyev (Gen. 11.31; Ex. 3.17). Somewhat later in the Old Testament, it is called the limits of Israeli (1 King. 11.3) and the Land of the Lord (OS. 9, 3) or just land (Ier.). Consequently, the advantage is the Earth. Hence, in a modern conversational language in Israel, it is just called Etiez, or Haaret - Earth (PS. 103.14: "Hamoti Lokha Ha-Acture" - "make bread from the ground").
In the New Testament, she will be called the Earth of the Israelie and Earth of the Jewish (MF. 2.20; in. 3.22), as well as the land of the promised, which Patriarch Abraham "received in the legacy" from God ("had in her legacy") and "faith He dwell on earth promised, as in someone else's "(Heb.11,8-9). These last words contain the highest historical, metatistoric meaning of the Holy Land, but later.
So, Palestine is the land biblical - the land of the sacred history and the sacred geography of the three great world religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Consider it first from the point of view of geography.
Nowadays, biblebists call the greatest geographic area of \u200b\u200bthe Middle East, including Palestine, Syria and Mesopotamia, suitable for it by the term - "fertile crescent". This geophic space is drawn up in the form of a certain bow or arc above the Siro-Arabian desert and connects the Persian Bay with Mediterranean and Red Seas. From the upper side of this geographic arc, the mountainous arrays of Iran, Armenia and the Majia Tavrosa are located, and from the bottom side - the Syrian and Arabian desert. Four large rivers flow through this arc: Tiger, Euphrates, Oonta and Jordan, and on its very border - the River Neal. The eastern tip of the "fertile crescent" is Mesopotamia, and the Western tip includes a valley between the Jewish desert and the Mediterranean Sea and descends to the Nile Valley. Palestine is the south-western tip of this large geographic area, binding Asia and Africa, and through the Mediterranean Europe.
This key place at the junction of the old continents of our planet of the Earth was inhabited from ancient times and is a center of civilization. For Europe, this territory actually was primarily east. It was and remained, as, undoubtedly, without this, there is no so much of the Middle East and Europe itself.
So Palestine, being a link between Mesopotama and Egypt, was simultaneously a compound and the center of the East and the West. This Middle Eastern territory, or, otherwise, the space of the East Mediterranean basin is the cradle of European civilization, and in its geographical and spiritual content is not east, nor Western. Both from a geographical point of view and with spiritual, this territory has never been closed, but was in constant contact with Arabia and Mesopotamia, through Iran (Persia) with India, then through Egypt and Nubia with Africa, as well as through Malny Asia and Mediterranean Islands with Europe. Consequently, Palestine has constantly in contact with the civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt, as well as from very early times - with the Aegean and Allen-Roman civilizations and cultures. But, like the Holy Land, Palestine has its own special biblical civilization that has incorporated all three above-mentioned.
In geographical respect, the Sacred Earth Palestine is different areas. In the central part it is a Jewish plain, or, in biblical, drone. It stretches from the Negev desert, or nonregib, in the south, i.e. From the Sinai Peninsula, to Mount Karmil on Northwest and to Mount Yermon in the north, that is, to the mountain range of Lebanon and Antiwan. The height of this central plateau reaches more than 1000 meters above sea level, and the Dead Sea is lowered by 420 meters below this level. To the west of the central part there are lowlands, descending to the coast of the Mediterranean, while the eastern part of Palestine is the valley of the Jordan River, carrying their waters from Dana (source under the mountain of Yermon) and the Galilee Lake to the Dead Sea. The eastern side of this valley, which is the name of the jaipend (transortion), adjoins the Syrian and Arabian deserts.
The northern part of Palestine is called Galilee, Central Samaria, and South Jews. The length of all this geographic area in length is 230-250 km, and wide from 60 to 120 km. In Galilee, Mount Karmil and Favor are located, the Golan Heights Gennisret Lake, In Samaria, Geval and Garisim, and in Judea, Nebi-Samuel under Jerusalem and Mount Sion in Jerusalem, and east of him, the Eleon (Omal) mountain. There are other mountains on the Jewish hill.
The climate in Palestine is diverse: Mediterranean, deserted and mountainous, and this is the fertility of her land. It varies from abundance to poverty, and therefore in the Bible this land is called both "earth, good and most, where milk and honey", and "earth empty, withered and anhydrous" (ISK.3, 8; PS.62,2 ). The geographical and climate diversity of Palestine as if predicted the complexity of her story, which we will say a few more words.
The ancient inhabitants of Palestine were amores and Cananei, who lived here around the 20th century to R.Kh. Then, they follow Aramey, who lived in Palestine and Syria around the XIII century, approximately from the same time - the Philistines for which the Earth itself and got a name, as well as many other ethnic groups mentioned in the Bible.
The foreman of the Jewish people Patriarch Abraham comes to this land in the XIX century to R. Kh. (About 1850 to R. H.) from Mesopotamia, from Hurray Chaldean (Sumerisk) in the southern course of Evfrat. According to God's call, he is sent from there through Harran (north of Euphrates), from which the Patriarch Jacob came from, the first named after Israel (one of the etymologies "who saw God," who became face to face with God ") (Gl. 32, 28), according to which the entire Jewish people received the name of Isrants .. Abraham and his offspring, God was promised to the land of Canaan, named so in his then inhabitants. According to this promising, God's land and named the land promised, as the great Jew and the Grand Christian Pavel from Tars (EHR.11.9) resembles.
The descendants of Abraham and in addition to this promise soon descended from Palestine to Egypt, while they owned gixos (chicks) (approx. 1700-1550 to R. H.). The inherent in the Jews in Egypt is precisely witnessed during the Pharaohs of Achenaton (1364-1347) and Ramses II (approx. 1250), when all the people of slave served this powerful pharaoh, engaged in "Plinfurgia" (production of bricks iskh.5,7-8) and Building pyramids. In view of the hard exploitation of Israel, the Great Moses - the Prophet, designed by God Abraham, Isaac and Jacob during his worsens in the desert, who saw under the Sinai Mountain Kupina in the fire (the famous theme of the Orthodox iconography "Cupina Nealha") and heard from her Vakhwe's voice: "I Este the same "and" the place where you stand, there is a holy land "(Ex. Z, 5), brought the Jews from Egypt to the Sinai Peninsula (half of the XIII century to R.Kh.). Here, under Rocky Sinai and Horiv, \u200b\u200bMoses received the law from God: Ten Commandments and the rest of the religious and social institutions of the Testament or or rather the Union concluded between God and Israel (Ex. 7 - 24).
After a forty-year wandering around the desert, the Israeli people under the leadership of Joshua Navina settled in Palestine (approx. 1200 to R. H.). The next two centuries covers the period of judges, and then the epoch of the kings. At about 1000 to R. X. The strong and glorious King David, the poet, the musician and the Prophet, occupies the case with the capital of Israel Jerusalem. From this time, over the centuries, the Holy City of Jerusalem becomes a symbol of all Palestine as the Holy Land and the symbol of the Earth and the whole mankind in general.
Jerusalem was also an ancient Khannei city. Back in the ancient Egyptian texts (approx. 1900 to R. Kh.) It is referred to as urusalem. Approximately at the same time when Patriarch Abraham came to Canaan, Jerusalem was the city of Melchizedek, the king of Salimsky, whose name in the Bible means "Tsar of the Truth and the King of the World" (Gen. 14; July 7), which is again the sign of the Great Future , that is, Messianic eschatology. The most ancient Zerusalem residents, starting approximately from 3000 years to R. H., were amores and Hittakes, which were still ejusemi; They later, David, took the Jerusalem (this name is most likely the dwelling of the world, but history shows that the world of him is such, what is the whole history of the earth and human race). In Jerusalem, David built a royal tower on Zion, the highest location of the Holy City, and his son Solomon erected the magnificent temple of God, on Moria Moria. Here, according to legend, Fraothac Abraham, the commandments of God, wanted to sacrifice the son of his Isaac, and the Golgota Mountain is located nearby, on which Jesus Christ was sacrificed for humanity, the Son of God.
In the context of the Old Testament, Jerusalem, as we have already said, is understood as a symbol of the Holy Land and Israel as a people, and further as a symbol of the entire Earth and all mankind. Therefore, God, through the great prophet, Isaiah tells Jerusalem: "Will the woman will forget his breast child, so as not to spare his son's son? But if she had forgotten, I would not forget you. Here I, I draw you on my grandfather; Walls are always pretty Me. (Is. 49,15-16). The fortress of this covenant, or promises, God, according to the Holy Scriptures, is the power of God's love to man and the whole universe. This yahwe reports Israel and through the Jeremiah of the Prophet, thus preceding his New Testament (\u003d Union) with Humanity: "I loved you with love eternal and therefore the favor of favor." (Ier. 31. 3).
Here, in connection with the idea of \u200b\u200bJerusalem as the Holy City and Palestine as the Holy Land, there is a certain divine, more precisely - the God-human, dialectic. It is relevant now, but about it later, and first completed the excursion in history.
Approximately 700, the Assyrians, taking the northern part of Palestine, were excited by Jerusalem, but only the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar was able to seize and conquer the city in 587 to R. Kh. A month later, the military alternator Navuzardan ruined the temple and the Holy City and took the Jews to Babylonian slavery. Fifty years later (538 to R. H.), the Persian King Cyrus seized Babylon and allowed the Israelites to return from captivity to their homeland. Then the temple and the city were restored under the leadership of Zorvalevel and Ezra. In 333, Alexander Macedonsky was taken to R. H. Palestine, and for her the Hellenistic period began, which lasted until 63 to R. H., when Jerusalem took possession of Roman Pompey. The Roman-Byzantine Board in Palestine lasted until the Muslims arrived in 637.
The great and glorious period of the Jewish kings in Jerusalem, covering about half of the millennium, was the time of development and lifting, but also the falls of the Holy City and the Holy Land - and material and spiritual. The Asium-Babylonian captivity stopped this development. Then the periods of Persian, Greek and Roman rule over Israel and national-religious resistance came, about which the Book of the Prophet Daniel and the book McCaire. All this time, the period of the Great and Small Prophets of God continues in Israel, starting with the greatest figure of the Israeli sacred history of the Prophet Elijah Fighter, who received his reflection in the face of the prophet John the Baptist during the times of Christ.
The emergence and activities of the prophets in the Holy Land and Jerusalem became an event decisive in the history of Israel and Palestine and unique in the history of all mankind. Jesus Christ is added to the prophets, the great prophet from the Nazareth of the Galilean, the Son of God and the Son of God - the Messiah, who is expanding with his death and the resurrection in Jerusalem, the geogram-historical borders of the Holy Land and the Holy City, turning the story in eschatology in this way. The case of Christ is continued by the New Testament Apostles, who comprehend and complement the prophets, and turn the Old Testament tabernacle (synagogue) to church. Without prophets and apostles, in the center of which - the Messiah of Christ, who unites them, fulfills and fills the meaning, is incomprehensible and unexplained the history of Palestine and the entire Old Testament-New Testament Civilization, and therefore our European civilization.
The appearance of Christ in the sacred history and the sacred geography of Palestine preceded the period of the struggle of Makaveiv and the emergence of religious movements and groups in Israel, which were an expression of attempts to resist the Israeli people influence the Hellenistic and Roman religion and culture, syncritic and pantheistic in their essence. At the same time, all this was a reflection of the Israeli and all-life expectations of peoples (Prosdohia Ethnon), as the forefather Jacob predicted - Israel (Gen. 49.10; 2 Pet. 3,12-13). It was the time of waiting for the Messiah - Christ, which many biblical and out-of-interest certificates speak illiction about eloquently. This Messianic Waiting and Jews, and Ellinov, and other nations of the East summarized in the first half of the II century on R. H. Justin Philosopher (which was from Samaria, and lived in Rome) with the words: "Jesus Christ is a new law and new covenant And Nadezhda (Prosdohia) of all those that are expected from all nations of Divine Goods "(Dialogue with Trifon Jews, 11, 4).
The time of Christ in Palestine and Jerusalem is reflected in the Gospels and the acts of the Holy Apostles. Today's holy places in the Holy Land in most cases are the geography of the biography of Christ, as St. Cyril Jerusalemsky noticed. Palestine and Jerusalem are a materialized (defined) Earth's biography of Christ, the earth's topography of his unnecessary biography. This, among other things, confirm the modern archaeological studies and finds on the territory of Palestine, who in recent years are jointly making Christian and Israeli archaeologists and biblebists.
Roman conquerors destroyed many biblical monuments and traces of Old Testament and Christian Time in the Holy Land: Son Vespasian War Page Tit The Jerusalem Temple has been seized in 73 (in 73, the fortress of Metsanda - Masada on the shores of the Dead Sea); In 133, Emperor Adrian completely ruined Jerusalem and in his place founded the new city "Elia Kapitolin" (with the temple of Jupiter on the site of the temple Yahweh!).
Already during the first conquest, Jerusalem Christians left the city and fled to the jaipend (transice), from where in the first half of the 2nd century, slowly began to return to Palestine and in Jerusalem. When ruining in 133, Jerusalem Emperor Adrian Jews were scattered into the diaspora (which began for many of them even earlier). In the next century, they were forbidden to return to Jerusalem and there was only one sad lumpy to the wall of crying - the remainder of the last glorious temple of Tsar Herod, who visited and whose ruin with sorrow was predicted by Christ (Matt. 23, 37-38; 24.1- 2). However, the Jewish population still remained in Galilee, and in the Byzantine period there were dozens of synagogue throughout Palestine.
The number of Christians in Palestine constantly grew, and especially it increased since the proclamation of freedom of Christianity under Konstantin Great (a famous Milan edict of 313 years old about religious tolerance). Holy Queen Elena, Mother Konstantin, went in 326 from Niche and Nikomide to the Holy Land and began there to renew the holy places there. With the help of Constantine, she erected tens of temples in Palestine, in the places of Christmas (her basil in Bethlehem exists to this day), the life, exploits and sufferings of the Savior (the Temple of the Resurrection on the coffin of the Lord, with extensions, exists now). Recently, a map of this country is open at the mosaic floor of one of the churches in Palestine with the temples of these first Christian emperors of Saints Constantine and Elena. The later tradition of conjunction, the Byzantine and Serbian rulers, and the rulers of other Christian peoples, originates from the Holy Land. Building Elena in the Holy Land continued Empress Evdokia, Wife Feodosia II, as well as Emperor Justinian. Emperor Irakli in 628 returned the honest Cross of Christ's captured by Persians, found at one time with the Holy Queen Elena and revered by all Christians the impact of centuries.
The pious pilgrimage to the Holy Land continued continuously for centuries and, with changes and difficulties, bringing each historical era, is still preserved. (One of the oldest books dedicated to pilgrimage, "Travel Description by holy places" Eteriy, IV century). The most significant and authentic holy places so far belong to the Orthodox Jerusalem Patriarchate, the Zion "Mother of All Churches" of God, and then Roman Catholics, Copt, Protestants, etc.
In 637, Arabs Muslims occupied Jerusalem, and then the heirs of the conqueror of Califa Omar on the site of Solomon and Justinian Temple erected two and now existing mosques, which, as well as the two-year-old Orthodox Temple of the Resurrection and the Temple of the Mernel of the Lord in Calvary, the newly formed Jewish State of Israel is not Torn. From the end of the XI to the XIII century, Western Christians, Crusaders, temporarily liberated Jerusalem, but at the same time His and other holy places strongly robbed, so that even the initiator of the Crusades of Dad Innocent III criticized them for the looting of shrines, which Muslims at least respected Muslims . However, Dad passed through this and supplied his mariontopic uniate "patriarchs" by the enslaved Orthodox East.
From Arabs, dominion in Palestine passed to the Seljuks, then to Mamluk and in the end to Ottomans. Only in 1917, Turkish power was finally removed from Palestine, and the Office was transmitted to the British, which a known manner contributed to the Jews in Education in 1948 by the current state of Israel. At the end of the XIX century, the Zionist movement based in Switzerland moved to Jerusalem. Shortly before that, the Tsarist Russia founded the Russian Palestinian society in Palestine to study the Holy Land, which was also made by Western Roman Catholics and Protestants, whose biblical archaeological schools in Jerusalem are now enjoyed by world fame. The Orthodox Jerusalem Patriarchy has its "Honest Cross Seminary" in Jerusalem.
And now the focus of residents of the Holy Land and the whole world are primarily holy places. In fact, all Palestine is one big holy place. It is materialized (defined) a centuries-old biblical history, to a certain extent, our entire Old Testament and New Testament Civilization, the material and spiritual culture of Europe and the Europeanized peoples of the world. These holy places are written enough in our time, and everything is mainly known. Each of these shrines has its special spiritual significance, a multifaceted heritage, which can be felt and survive only at the site of events. It would be a valid particular personal story about each of the holy places and about their newly experienced history, but we will not dwell on it. Only a short one to say about the historiosophical importance of the Holy Land and Jerusalem within the framework of the Jewishrystian spiritual tradition, that is, on the basis of a biblical-Christian vision of peace and humanity.
From the Bible, from a view captured in her holy land it is clear that at first she was "land of someone else's", the land of polybugs and pagans. Then God promised and gave it in the heritage of Abraham and his offspring Israel, the Old and New. However, the inheritance of this "promised land", from a historical point of view, was changed. In the very biblical narrative about the initial days of the Holy Land, the historical reliability of which is confirmed (the Bible - first of all the book is historical, although its message is both metatistrictoric), contains one universal truth.
Namely, the Bible initially touches man and land. The first person Adam "from the Earth" - "Adamak" (Earth!), And the name of the land of Adam (Gen. 2.7; 3,19). But according to the sacred Scripture, the person is simultaneously characterized as the image of God, he is a carrier of the incoming image and the similarity of God, and as a separate person, and as a society of the human race, and his vocation and mission on Earth to become the Son of God, and to make the Earth - his own, but and God, habitat and house. Thus, a man was asked by the Divine (God-human) iconomy. (The Greek Word of Oikonomia is very well translated into Slavic as Domostroy (house building), just as the Greek concept of Ecology in Slavyansky translates as "home-logic", house-word - care and care about the human place of stay and dwelling, about the house and the habitat , environmental and living space, about the "land of living"; as Psalmopevets said: "Lookout before the Lord in the country of living." - "I will go before the faith of the Lord on the land of living" (Ps. 114, 9).
According to the Bible, the Earth and Cosmos are created in the same way as the very goal as heaven and for Paradise. The Bible tells us that a person once, at the beginning of the story, missed this first chance. But the same sacred Scripture says and testifies that this chance is lost for a person not at all. Man fell, but did not die. This is the main message of the Biblical Testament or the Union of God with Abraham, and it is given exactly when Abraham was called from Haldei to come and settle in Canaan, in the "land promised" Palestine. This is the initial promise given by God at the beginning of history, whose guarantor is himself; He also participates in him, Abraham and Israel who takes this call and entering into union with God. And what was with the execution of this promise? Consider this question in detail.
Undoubtedly, there is a certain special dialectic, but not Platonovskaya or Hegelian, and the biblical, in the fact that the earth is both joy and sadness, a source of life and death, blessed happiness and prosperity, but at the same time - a source of curse, misfortune and loss. It can be seen from the Word of God himself: the Earth, "in which honey and milk flows", is given to the Israeli people - the symbol of mankind is inheritance (Dev.15.4), but at the same time this native himself indicates that he is on this earth Both the settler, a temporary resident (Lion. 25.23). From a historical point of view, over the centuries Palestine for the Israelis, in fact, so was. And this is not just a metaphor. Moreover, she was also for Christians. This holy land, which is the symbol of the Earth in general, is most often connected with Judaism and Christianity, but also with all humanity, and they are just as connected with her. It is in this regard that a certain dialectic concluded. Because the same God the Danannaya Holy Land is necessary in order to dismiss from convulsive human attachment to Earth, to the earth's kingdom, and only to him, so that human life does not reduce only to earthly and did not disobey him only. For not the earth Salvation of man, but the person is salvation for the Earth.
The dialectics of this, or, more precisely and closer to the biblical language, the historical paradox of this, we can see on the pair of examples. Even the forefather Jacob - Israel has given the name of God to some key places of the Holy Land: Film - "House of God" (Gen. 28,17-19) and Penoel - "Face of God" (Gen. 32.30). In the same way, Jerusalem became the holy city of God, "PUP of the Earth", according to the prophet Ezekiel (Iz.38.12), that is, the center of the world, and therefore Solomon built the temple to God alive in Jerusalem, in which God loves to hang and exercise his glory. At the same time, the messentes, in the Holy Scripture, it is said that sometimes, in the transformations of human history, that is, in virtue of human variability, the same places were also the same as the Kapigi, the ministry was not a true one, and Waal and Moloh! The "holy place" turned into the "abuse" and in the Holy City Lord of Glory (MF. 24.15; 1k. 2.8). Of all this tragic paradox, the prophets from Elijah Fighters and the Baptist and the Christ and the Apostles are also evidenced by such frankly.
In this paradox there are enough elements of the biblical apocalyptics, according to which the idea of \u200b\u200bthe Holy City is split and is stratified. Two cities are polarized and opposed to among themselves two cities: the Holy City - Jerusalem and the Demonic City - Babylon (about this, after the apocalypse and St. Augustine, said a lot of F.M. Dostoevsky, Archpriest Sergiy Bulgakov and others). In history, in fact, the temple of God and the "Vertol Robbers", the Church of God and the Babylonian Tower (MF 21.13; 2 Cor. 6.14-16) are divided and opposed.
And yet it is polarized, made in black and white techniques, the apocalyptic vision and perception of peace and human history in connection with the Holy Earth and the Holy City is not the only vision and perception that we find captured in the Holy Book of God. There is also another vision, bibileyski deeper and complete, biblical more realistic, and this is the true Old Testament-New Testament Vision of the Earth and Man on it, as if through the prism of the Holy Land of Israel - Palestine and the Holy City - Jerusalem.
We are talking about the eschatological vision and experience of the Earth and human history on it. It must be emphasized that this eschatological vision and perception is not yet not historical or antistoric. On the contrary, it was the biblical, the Old Testament-New Testament eschatological vision opened and made it possible to the true vision and understanding of the story not as a cyclical return to the beginning (even if it were a primitive "paradise" or prehistoric "happy times"), as it happens everywhere in Outdoor surroundings of the ancient world, but the progressive, dynamic and creative vision and the perception of the Earth and the person on it. The eschatological is not anti-organic, it is greater than only purely historical. This is a metatistoric, Christ-centered vision and perception of earthly reality and human history. Follow it shortly by the Bible itself.
If we go from the Holy Scriptures, from the Bible as a predominantly Palestinian geographic-historical book, we will see that in the very name of Canaan the land promised Abraham and his offspring (Heb. 11, 9) is actually more simple geography and bare history. It is better to say: in this title there is already a specialistological history, and the eschatological geography of the Holy Land.
Namely, Abraham and then David Promised and is given to the Earth of Israel, as Krotky (sincere and honest before God and people). For the Bible says: "meek inherit the land" (Ps. 36,11). And after all, the forefather Abraham, and the King and the Prophet David, with all this inheritance of the Earth, lived on it with the consciousness and the feeling that they are aliens and temporary settlers. (Ps.38, 13: "For a wanderer (temporary settler), I have a severity, like all my fathers"; EU.11.14: "For those that say that they show that they are looking for the Fatherland"). The same words of the Old Testament repeats both Christ in the New Testament: "Blessed is meek, for they inherit the land" (Matt. 5.5). These vertical and new taving words about the inheritance of the Earth Apostle Paul and Grigory Nissky are interpreted as a heritage eschatological, that is, the legacy of the Heavenly Earth and Heavenly Jerusalem (GAL.4, 25-30; Grigory Nissky).
Such a paradoxical eschatological vision and perception is not a denial of history, but, on the contrary, there is a comprehension and transformation of the history, the start of the history of meticory, that is, eschatology. This is a kind of court over the story, but at the same time saving history from evil and sin, from mortal and twarmed in it, this is a gospel of truth that "wheat grain, surfactant in the ground" must die, but not then to die, but So that it "brought a lot of fetus" (in. 12, 24).
This will be clear to the Serbian reader if we recall that this is the interpretation of our human history and geography, the Christian folk, Orthodox genius, when the Kosovo definition of Holy Prince Lazaror called the choice of the kingdom of heaven. Recall that it is said in the Serbian folk song of the Kosovo cycle:
"Flying Bird Falcon Gray
from shrine from nonsense "
Next, the song says that in reality it was a prophet Elijah (the representative of the God's prophets and the apostles), and Jerusalem in reality the Virgin (the symbol of the Heavenly Church); So at the decisive moment of our history, Kosovo martyrs are the kingdom of Heaven from Christ Jerusalem. Consequently, not so much "segreen Jerusalem" from Palestine, how much is the Gorenia Jerusalem, which is free and "Mother to all of us" (Gal. 4, 26; Heb. 12, 22). The Vyshny Jerusalem called the King of Lazarus and Kosovo Serbs to make ESChatological choice in their history. Such a tradition of the vision and interpretation of history and geography, given in the Serbian folk song, came to the Serbs not only from Saint Sava (who, having adopted monasticism chose the kingdom of heaven, and thus did not less for the history and geography of his people and the country. Add that He especially loved the Holy Earth and "God's desired Grad Jerusalem", visited them as a pilgrim twice), but this is the biblical, Old Testamento-New Testament tradition, vividly present in the Serbian people and his historicoophical and spiritual understanding of the life and fate of a person on Earth.
Therefore, it is necessary to clearly say again and emphasize that the eschatological vision and interpretation of biblical history and geography, that is, the holy land and its sacred history as the symbol of the entire Earth and our single chronotope (that is, the geographic-historical center of our civilization, or "Earth Pup ", as the prophet Ezekiel says), does not mean the denial of the history and geography of the Holy Land of Israel - Palestine, and through it and our planet of the Earth. In fact, everything is quite the opposite.
We summarize: in the center True - biblical typological (mystical, Isihast, liturgical) perception and vision of the world, the history of human and earthly, visible and considered always in the transformation light of the kingdom of heaven. It was this vision that the first forefather Jacob possessed - Israel: a staircase that connects the sky and the earth (Gen. 28,12-18). This is the vision and perception of the Earth and the history of the genus Adam on it in the light of the presence of the Lord on this land and in history. Here we mean the first fate of Christ in Palestine, and the ESKhatological Sassion of the Kingdom of Heaven, as it is also the same, but the New Testament, Christ himself (Gen. 28, 12-18; Inc. 1.14 and 49-52) . The same topic is extensive developing the Apostle Paul in the Epistle to the Jews (Ch. 7-9, 11-13), where on the eschatological manner and interprets the cumulative sacred history and the sacred geography of the Old and New Israel. Behind the Apostle Paul, this vision and understanding sets out and shows in life-liturgical practice the entire St. Theological Thought, Exegez, gymnography, historosophy and before all and the entire Holy Liturgy of the Orthodox Church itself.
So, if we connect the oldest Old Testament Prophet Isaiah and the most famous Christian Apostle John and together connect their truly biblical, prophetic vision of the Holy Land and its history as the symbol of the entire Earth and the history of the human race, then it will be the only biblical, Old Testamento-New Testament Vision, Message and an appealing about the Christcentric movement and a feat of the transformation of this sky and this land in a new sky and a new land (Is. 65.17; Rev. 21.1-3), that, in fact, one single all-building tabernacle (home, church) of God With people and people with God. Heaven on earth and earth in the sky.
The Holy Land of Israel and the Holy City of Jerusalem belong to all mankind, and in the earthly and in the heavenly kingdom.
Translation from Serbian Andrei Shestakov.

Holy Land through the eyes of Russian pilgrims (Mikhail Yakushev)
Mikhail Yakushev, the historical orientalist Vice President of the CNSR

For the young state, Kievskaya Rus The concept of "Holy Land" began to acquire more and more meaningful importance after the adoption of Christianity in the 988, which it received from the Universal (Constantinople) of the Church. Then at the end of the X century. Byzantine Constantinople sent to the service of Kiev Prince Vladimir Syrian Metropolitan Mikhail Sirin (F 992), who baptized Kiev, Novgorod and Rostov the Great, combining the functions of the Minister of Foreign Affairs in contacts with foreign courtyards and churches.
After the fall of the new Rome, or Constantinople, in 1453, the All Byzantine, or the Orthodox Church, consisting of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch (Damasky) and Jerusalem Patriarchates, was part of the Ottoman Empire. In 1472, the Moscow Prince Ivan III married the niece of the last Byzantine emperor Konstantin XI, which brought with him from Rome the emblem of the Eastern Roman Empire (in the form of a double-headed eagle), which became the coat of arms of Moscow. From here, the idea of \u200b\u200b"Moscow - the Third Rome" is also stem: a fate of becoming a third Rome, "and the fourth one's never found" to replace the Old and New Rome. From the XVI century In Moscow, the capital of the only Orthodox, or "Romestic Kingdom", came "for the alms" oriental patriarchs and hierarchs from the Ottoman provinces of Constantinople, Antioch, Damascus and Jerusalem.
As Russia enhances, the idea of \u200b\u200bthe Third Rome has become an integral part of state policy. Emperor Peter the Great, who became the first of the Russian monarchs that demanded from ports in the Constantinople Treatise to ensure unobstructed and free access to Russian pilgrims in Jerusalem to worship the holy places and on the need to respect the rights of the Greek clergy of the Jerusalem Orthodox Church. The "Greek Project" of Empress Ekaterina Great strengthened the vector of Russia's movement in the Arab Orthodox East. This largely stimulated and organized a pilgrimage movement as from Russia to the Holy Land, which became from the end of the X century. New phenomenon in the socio-spiritual life of the Kiev Rus, who, moving from paganism to monotheism. One who went to a long, long and dangerous way, the people called the wanderers, pedestrians, pilgrims and fans of holy places in St. Mount Athos, in Syria, Palestine, in Egypt. Bogomols sought to visit Christian places related to the earthly life of Jesus Christ and his students (Ar-Rusul) in Bethlehem, Galilee, Jericho and Jerusalem. To the Egyptian occupation of Syria and Egypt (1831-1840), the Ottoman authorities have taxed the Christian pilgrims with a special type of duty - Kaffarat, incomes from which went to the treasury of Pasha, and then for the needs of Muslim charitable institutions.
The Institute of Saints in Palestine was created in the 1st half of the IV century. The efforts of the East-Roman Emperor (Byzantine) Empire of Konstantin Great (306 - 337) and the bishop of the Jerusalem Antioch Orthodox Church of Makaria. With IV century There were written sources with reference to the miracle of the convergence of the fertile (saint) fire, or Litania, in the church of the Mernel. To see this miracle dreamed of pilgrims and travelers of all times and peoples. It is noteworthy that in 1095, on Mount Clermont, even the Roman Pope Urban II, who called on the whole of Europe to unite in the "Crusade" against "Saracin" (local Arabs-Muslims) in order to "liberate the church of the Holy Sepulcher", mentioned "Holy Fire" in Jerusalem.
Separated in 1099 at 88 years old Syria and Palestine with Jerusalem Crusadors destroyed all the Muslim and Jewish population, turning other shrines in their property: Al-Aqsa Mosque with a dome over the rock was rebuilt into a Catholic church. In this form, the Russian pilgrims of Jerusalem as the capital of the Latin kingdom were found. One of the pioneers of the pilgrim movement with distant Russia was Hegumen Igumen Daniel (beginning of the XII century). The "walking" of Hegumen Daniel became one of the early descriptions of the holy places of Palestine, consolidated by the author of the book the nickname "Nestor Russian pilgrims". It was from his writings that, we learn that in Jerusalem, the Russian monk Daniel was kindly adopted by the King of Latin Baldwin I, who allowed Igumen to participate in the solemn procession of the clergy in front of Baldwin, and also put his cadyl (from Arab, Candil) on St. The coffin of the Lord from the whole Russian land. After converging of the fertile fire, Daniel was allowed to pick up his burning cench in his native Russian land. This tradition has reached this day. In the future, 2006 in Russia will celebrate the anniversary date - 900 years of writing "walkings" of Hegumen Daniel, who became ancient description of holy places in the Holy Land and one of the first works of the ancient Russian literature. Daniel's book followed hundreds and thousands of legends, wanderings and walkings, many of which reached our days with the most valuable information about life, life and the businesses of the local population. Among these authors: A.N. Muravyov (1830), A.S. Norov (1835), N.V. Gogol (1848), I.A. Bunin (1907), etc.
Bogomols from Russia traveled around the sea or along its shores on foot to Constantinople, from which the Holy Land began for them. The Russian resident Minister in Constantinople received them in the port of Sultansky firman, or a "security certificate", with which pilgrims could have to be easily followed through the archipelago, in Asia Minor, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine to Egypt and return back to Constantinople. They could make this way by sea if they had money. As a rule, Russian pilgrims were people poorly, therefore until the 2nd half of the XIX century. We used to use pilgrimage trails for which both Christians and Muslims (Darb Al'-Hajulman) were watched. So, their centuries-old "dialogue of civilizations" began without an understanding of local languages \u200b\u200band customs. The Christian Pillarge of the Bogomolese aroused the feelings of sympathy and respect even from the Muslim population. He led himself as a fit, so that on the way back it could also be enjoyed to take in the same house, for the same owners. Westerns in the Middle East were tightened for 2-3 years. Die in the pilgrimage was considered the highest grace. There were just unique cases. Thus, the Russian Bogomolese Vasily Grigorovich-Barsky spent in the pilgrimage in the holy places almost a quarter of a century (from 1723 to 1747), adopting monastic stop from the Antioch Patriarch. Without having money in your pocket, he managed to learn to speak in Italian, Greek, Turkish, Arabic, and even teach the philosophy of Greek children for food. Over the years of its long pilgrimage on the main Christian shrines in Italy, the provinces of the Ottoman Empire (archipelago, Malaya Asia, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Egypt), Pedestrian left the richest and world famous description of the holy places, which was appreciated by the Publicism of the Tsarist Russia, foreign orientalists, and now, and modern Russian public.
The pilgrims rushed to Jerusalem to the main shrine of Christianity -Hrama of the Holy Sepulcher - on the great holiday of Easter. According to you have come to us from the IV century. With written sources, many people were collected in the church in the church (from 10 to 14 thousand) to attend the conjunction of the harmful fire during the ceremony during the ceremony, at the head of which the Orthodox Patriarch or Bishop of the Jerusalem Orthodox Church. The fire went only on Orthodox hierarchs (even during the occupation of Jerusalem Crusaders). According to reference, if the fire does not fit, the end of the world will come. It is noteworthy that with the inclusion of Jerusalem to the composition of the Arab Caliphate (638) and after the fall of the Byzantine Empire (mid-XVI century), Muslim authorities in the face of Khalifa Omar Ibn Al-Hattaba, Sultan Salah Ad-Dina and Padishah Salim III managed to quickly translate the situation From the category of "conflict of civilizations" (Dar Al' Harb) in the "Civilizations Dialogue" (Dar As-Islyam). It is noteworthy that the system of inviolability of Millets, or religious autonomous communities of Zimmiev (Christians and Jews) endowed them with greater independence than it was even in the Byzantine authorities. With the completion of the Arab Patriarchate, in the Jerusalem Church in 1534 and the onset of Greek patriarchate, the Armenian and Franciscan monk began to encroach the onset of the Greek schurch.
Until the XVI century Catholics and Orthodox had one calendar - Julian, according to which all the religious holidays of Christians coincided and celebrated in one day. In 1582, Papa Grigory XIII introduced his new style of summer, Grigorian, refusing the old Julian calendar, which was used by all Christians from 45 BC. e. With a change in the calendar, Catholics began to celebrate holidays on other days, so since then, following the example of the Jews, they began to ignore the wonder of the gracious fire, accusing the Orthodox clergy in the application of a certain "Greek focus".
Interestingly, Muslims did not deny the divine origin of holy fire, or light, attending the eastern Christians at the ceremony of his cycle. As evidenced by the diaries of pilgrims from Russia, Arabs-Muslims did not hide the emotions overwhelmed them and when the flame appears inside the Church of the Merry Coffin (Kiyamat Al-Mashe), together with their Arab-Christian tribesmen, exclaimed: "Oh, Lord! (D Alla) ", and at the end of the ceremony, they carried home physical evidence of heavenly grace - bundles of burnt candles. In 1834, at Easter, the son of Egypt Pasha Muhammad Ali Ibrahim-Bay attended Litania, accompanied by his armed guard in a crowded church, where OK gathered. 14 thousand people. After the appearance of Fire from Kuvuklia, the jubilant people slightly leaned on a retinue of Ibrahim-Bay, which, without silent, what's the matter with a weapon in the hands of a safe corridor for his warlord from the temple outside. The sad outcome of the Easter day was 300 jammed, curls and crushed as a result of a turmoil.
He happened in the church of the Merry Coffin and bloody clashes between the Orthodox, Armenian and Catholic clergy for the right of possessing Christian shrines in which those who were attended by the Bogomoles from the whole Christian world. The apogee of the so-called or interchristian communication was the question of the holy places of Palestine, which served as a reason (Casus Belli) to the Crimean War. The conflict that broke out in 1847 between the Catholic and Greek clergy, quickly political conversations. Franciscans demanded great rights to infringe the historical rights of the Jerusalem Orthodox Church, or the Mother of All Churches. France, Belgium, Austria, Sardinia and the United Kingdom entered into Francissans. Port supported Catholics. The Universal Patriarch Herman on behalf of all Eastern Patriarchs asked for help to the Russian emperor as a patron of Orthodoxy in the Holy Land. The Emperor Nikolai demanded from Sultan Abdul Madzhid and Emperor Napoleon III not to violate the status quo of the advantageous rights of the Jerusalem Orthodox Church as a historic custody of holy places since the decree of the emperor Konstantin of the Great and subsequent Chalipov and Sultan firms who changed the Byzantine authorities in the Holy Land. As a result, "Eastern Schismatics" (that is, Russia) was declared a "crusade", in which, "Neokressonians" (France, Great Britain and Sardinia) participated in it together with "neosaqins" (Ottoman Empire). Its victims were approx. 1 million people.
Another religious celebration associated with the annual Muslim celebrations of Nebi Musa ("The Prophet Moses") could also be attributed to the "collision of civilizations" on interreligious soil, associated with the annual Muslim celebrations of Nebi Musa ("Prophet Moses"), which always fell to Orthodox Easter on the old Eastern calendar. This holiday symbolized the Celebration of Muslims over the Crusaders, whom Salah Ad-Dean Al-Ayby beat Jerusalem in 1187. After the cancellation of Cauffers, the Ottoman government decided as an adequate response to a mass Christian pilgrimage to stimulate a visit to Muslims (the tear) of the third shrine of Islam, Aluel Haram Agi-Sharif to increase the income of the treasury of Jerusalem Pasha (Mutasarrif). Upon returning the caravan pilgrims from Hajj (pilgrimage) to two shrines in Mecca and the medina, the authorities tried to stimulate the attendance of pilgrims in Jerusalem to the third Muslim shrine. The lack of reliable information, who is fighting in the Crimean (Eastern) War in 1854 (even after the port, England and France declared the war of Russia) led to mass collisions of Muslims with Jews and Christians of all confessions. And not only Orthodox Christians-Arabs, who supported Russia, but also Catholics and Protestants, who entered into a war against the Third Rome on the side of the Ottoman Empire. Despite Russia's defeat in the eastern war, the West could not be displaced from the Middle East and the Mediterranean, since diplomats were the first to go there, pilgrims with Russian clergy. Russian Emperor Alexander II strengthened the Russian spiritual, consular and public presence by developing Russian institutions in the Holy Land. In 1882, on the initiative of Emperor Alexander III, the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society was established, headed by the brother of King the Grand Prince
Sergius Alexandrovich, who was engaged not only by the pilgrimage of Russian believers (Christians, Muslims and Jews), but also the organization of schools in Syria, Lebanon and Palestine, the teaching in which was conducted in Arabic. At the end of the XIX century. In the southern province of Syria there was a new supranational concept - "Russian Palestine". In Jerusalem on a huge plot of land for Russian pilgrims, a fenced wall of Moscow (Al-Moskobiya) with its autonomous infrastructure was built. Due to the huge number of Russian mantis, the city authorities decided to break through the walls of the old town "New", or "Russians", the gate, after which the centuries-old practice of locking the doors of the old city of Jerusalem was canceled. At Easter in Jerusalem from Russia arrived to 18-20 thousand people. After the start of the First World War in 1914 and the overthrow of the monarchy in Russia, organized massive pilgrimage from it almost ceased. It was restored at the end of the 80s - early 90s. XX century And no longer stopped after the start of intifada in 2000. At that time, tourists from Western Europe and the United States preferred not to risk their security. Again, as in the late XIX - early XX centuries, the Russian language in Jerusalem and the Holy Land began to be easily recognizable in the mass of local oriental dialects.
In 1991, the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society (IPGO) was reborn, founded in 1882 according to the Sultansky company in the Holy Land, when there were no such states such as Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Israel.
In 2003, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Center for National Glory (CNS) and the Foundation Andrei First-Called (FAP) V.I. Yakunin supported the initiative of the president of the central nervous system and FAP A.V. Melnik about holding the international program of the Interdipal Prayer "Assice the World of Jerusalem", which is attended by representatives of a number of local churches. Since then, the third year in a row, a representative Russian pilgrimage delegation exercises this program in Holy Grad: after reading the prayer in the throne hall of the Jerusalem Patriarchate, members of the delegation are sent to the temple of the Mernel of the Lord, in order to witness the miracle of the convergence of the harmful light, the particle of which is then delivered in a special container on board The aircraft to Moscow to the Chief Cathedral of the country, the Church of Christ the Savior and is transferred to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II for subsequent distribution in Russia and in other countries of the post-Soviet space. If earlier the Russian walking bogomols spent on returning from 2 to 3 years with fell fire in their hands, now it takes 5-6 hours to return from Jerusalem to Russia.
After the eighty-year-old period of atheism and religious nihilism, the heritage left to us by Russian pilgrims per thousand year period, studied in higher educational institutions and scientific centers of oriental studies, including at the Institute of Asian and Africa at Moscow State University. Russian scientists M.S. play a significant role in this. Meyer, F.M. Aqamba, S.A. Kirillina, K.A. Pancheko, D.R. Zhantiev, T.Y. Kobechnov, etc. If earlier, when visiting the Arab East, pilgrims from Russia were mainly due to the local population on the fingers, now Arabic has become available not only to the experts of Middle East, but also a considerable number of Orthodox and Muslim pilgrims from Russia.
By the way, as part of the dialogue between civilizations, it will not be superfluous to emphasize the fact that many words of Arabs-Christian and Arabs-Muslims use almost the same meaning. The modern Russian pilgrim, the reporter, as well as anyone interested in the Middle East, will not be superfluous to know these words and never use them in a negative meaning, so as not to translate the "Dialogue of Civilizations" from the "territory of the world" (Dar Al-Islyam) in " The territory of war "(Dar al-Harb).

Alla - Lord, God. The word is a derivative of the word on Hebrew "Elahim", borrowed by Jews in the indigenous Canaanese residents of Jerusalem Yievuseev. They called the Almighty El Elyon.

Al-Iman - Vera (in a single God).

AT-Tauhid - Monotheism, or monotheism.

Alk-jihad - vow; spiritual feat; Obedience with an oath of the Almighty.

Ar-Pyx al-Kuds - Holy Spirit (Christian); Ar-Ruh Spirit (Musulman).

Shahid - the Great Martyr faith, martyr. Ash-Shahid Jurjus Allabis An-ZAFR (Great Martyr Georgy Victorious of Christians); Ash-Shahid Usman (Martyr Khalif Osman from Muslims).

Hajj is a pilgrimage to the holy land for the worship of the shrines (the Russian word "walking" is phonetically and lexically similar to him). Hajj - Pilgrim, Hodya, Bogomolese, fan of holy places.

Darb Aluel Hajj - pilgrimage trail. The path of Christian pilgrims ran through the Caucasus, Constantinople, Damascus in Jerusalem, further on the Sinai mountain in the Orthodox Monastery of St. Catherine and back. Muslims were walking along a similar route: from the Caucasus, through Istanbul, Damascus (by Jerusalem) along the Zainenha (the eastern shore of the r. Jordan) in Mecca and Medina. The pilgrimage procession was headed by Emir Alk Hajj, which under Damascus met and accompanied with the Armed Guard of Pasha Damasky, as well as Mutasarrif Jerusalem with his retinue.

In conclusion, I want to specifically again emphasize the importance of the written documents and testimonies of pilgrims who visited the holy places many centuries ago. The annual interchristian clashes in the Temple of the Holy Sepulcher for the right to be the first to enter Kuvuklia are bewildered by pilgrims and TV viewers, but not only from local monks. Apparently, it is no coincidence since 2005 in the police of the Old Town it is subject to "walking" of Russian pilgrims, who described the ceremony of convergence of the fertilous fire, the actions of the local clergy and local authorities. God forbid that the disputes and "civilizations conflicts" in the Holy Land and Jerusalem, the world whom should be asked to all the world with the help of these materials.