Freedom of choice and elections: in blessed memory of Evgeniy Avdeenko

Evgeny Andreevich Avdeenko
; November 21, 1952 - July 25, 2014 [1], - Russian Orthodox thinker, theologian, translator, teacher. Born, lived and died in Moscow. Graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow State University, Department of History of Foreign Philosophy (1975). One of the founders and teacher of the first Orthodox classical gymnasium in post-Soviet Russia.

Scientific heritage[edit]

Avdeenko’s scientific interests included ancient philosophy and mythology, patristics, historiosophy, biblical studies, exegesis, classical and Russian philology. Avdeenko gained the greatest fame as a theologian, engaged in philosophical understanding and philological interpretation of the Old Testament based on parallel analysis of texts in Hebrew and Greek. Based on the Bible, Avdeenko proposed a paradigm of history, at the center of which is the opposition of two spiritual principles - “Cain and the Cainites” and “sons of God”. These principles manifest themselves in nations, religious communities and individuals. Avdeenko put forward a theory about the archetypal concepts of “Cain” and “Babylon”, which have their semantic completion in the ideology of transhumanism. He also proposed interpretations of large-scale differences in the Septuagint and the Masoretic Text that are of fundamental importance for the foundations of Judaism and Christianity. While teaching at school E.A. Avdeenko developed and introduced training courses on ancient and Russian culture, ancient Greek epic, lyric poetry and tragedy into gymnasium education. These developments formed the basis of the monographs “Homer: the worldview of the epic”, “Aeschylus. Sophocles Theology of ancient tragedy”, “Eugene Onegin: Rock, Ideal, Life (lessons on Pushkin)” (preparing for publication).

The biography of the writer Avdeenko is not rich in bright events; he lived by philosophy and theology

Evgeniy Andreevich Avdeenko was born in Moscow on November 21, 1952 - on the day when in Orthodoxy it is customary to remember the archangels: Gabriel, Raphael, Jeremiel, etc.

November 21, 1952

birthday of Evgeny Andreevich Avdeenko

Little is known about Evgeniy Avdeenko’s childhood.

Natalia Ivanovna Moskovtseva, the writer’s widow, said that their family joined the church late.

The parents were atheists, and therefore the spouses, in order not to annoy their relatives, rented housing and often moved from one to another.

Writer Avdeenko

Parents reproached Evgeny Avdeenko for the fact that, despite his excellent abilities, he did not make a career. But the wife believed in her husband, she was not embarrassed by either the meager living conditions or the constant state of being “on suitcases.”

Moskovtseva Natalia Ivanovna, Wife of Evgeniy Andreevich Avdeenko

Natalia Ivanovna speaks of Evgeniy Avdeenko as a well-mannered and reserved person.

He always adhered to the biblical principle “do not judge, lest you be judged”, was not rude, thought broadly and strived for self-improvement.

But let's go back to an earlier period of Evgeniy Andreevich's life. The future theologian studied at Moscow State University, at the Faculty of Philosophy. Department of History of Foreign Philosophy.

Evgeniy Andreevich was always drawn to science. Among his areas of interest:

• mythology;
• philosophy;
• biblical studies;
• historiosophy;
• patristics (the teaching of the church fathers in post-apostolic times);
• exegesis (the science of interpreting theological texts).

Also, Evgeniy Avdeenko has always been attracted by the knowledge of language - philology. This was reflected in his career.

See also the article Archpriest Vadim Leonov

Hermeneutic method[edit]

Avdeenko proceeds from the inseparability of the symbolic language of the Old and New Testaments and insists on a parallel analysis of the texts of the Old Testament in Hebrew and Greek as equal. At the same time, the differences between the Septuagint and the Masoretic text can be considered either as an interpretive translation, which is the oldest and most authoritative experience of interpretation for Christians, or as a trace of the work of the “last editors” (Masoretic) seeking to level out passages that have a Christological meaning. Avdeenko explained the need to study the Bible this way:

I was prompted to intensively study the Holy Scriptures by the need to understand what is happening in the modern world, because everything that is being communicated to us has not received sufficient coverage from those sources that are in the power of the general humanistic movement. Those. It is impossible to understand what is happening in the modern world without the Holy Scriptures, without relying on the categories that are given in it [2].

As a teacher at the Orthodox classical gymnasium, Avdeenko believed that the study and teaching of the highest monuments of literature always leads to theological issues and requires expanding the worldview, his own and the student’s, to the fundamental concepts of world history. The point of view on world history and its peak achievements is the Holy Scripture.

Evgeny Avdeenko did not give preference to one source, but looked for their intersection points

One of the important moments in the work of Evgeniy Andreevich was the solution to the problem of differences between two traditional biblical sources:

Septuagint - a collection of translations of the Old Testament into ancient Greek

The Septuagint is the translation of seventy interpreters. The oldest translation of the Old Testament into Greek that has come down to us. It was created between the 3rd and 1st centuries BC. in Alexandria.

Judaism does not recognize this source, but Christianity has always actively used it. In particular, the author of the Gospel of Luke quotes precisely the translation of seventy interpreters.

There is no single Septuagint version: the text is so popular that more than 2,000 copies exist today. Many of them differ from each other in details.

The Masoretic Text is a collection of biblical Old Testament texts that was formed by the 10th century. It's not the oldest. There are earlier sources.

However, it was the Masoretic text that received the widest distribution among Jews.

Both texts have significant contradictions, sometimes fundamental ones. But Evgeny Avdeenko did not see this as a problem. He believed that one should not give preference to one or another monument.

He believed each of them to be genuine and worthy of attention.

The researcher saw the problem only in the fact that there were translations that introduced their interpretations into new versions of the texts.

This is an early attempt at interpreting the Christian heritage and should be treated as such.

Also, interference in the original manuscripts by later editors cannot be ruled out. For example, Jewish scribes were interested in eradicating from the text any Christian evidence that Jesus Christ was the Messiah.

Avdeenko believed that there was no contradiction between the Septuagint and the Masoretic text.

Bibliography[edit]

• Enemies of David and enemies of the Messiah according to the book of Tehillim
  .
  - M.: Classis, 2014. - ISBN 5-98042-018-5 about the book
• Theme "Cain" in the modern world
  .
  - M.: Classis, 2014. - ISBN 5-98587-006-5 about the book
• The Psalms: A Biblical Worldview
  .
  - M.: Classis, 2021. - ISBN 5-9681-0020-6 about the book
• Homer.
  The Iliad: The Worldview of an Epic .
  - M.: Classis, 2021. - ISBN 5-98587-017-0 about the book
• Biblical foundations of Russian ideology.
  2 issues .
  - M.: Classis, 2021. - ISBN 978-5-91579-047-5 about the book

Writer Avdeenko taught at a classical gymnasium and lectured on literature and the Bible

In addition to his research activities, Evgeniy Andreevich was engaged in teaching. He worked as a teacher at the Orthodox classical gymnasium.

He felt it was necessary to add cultural courses to the curriculum. He paid special attention to the Russian classical tradition and ancient heritage: lyrics, tragedies, epics, etc.

He considered the study of the best monuments of human thought an important condition for the expansion of human consciousness.

It is this approach, from the point of view of Evgeniy Avdeenko, that can teach a person to reason about fundamental concepts in human history.

Having a broad outlook, a person is able to begin to talk about such global things as world history.

And then the most important step awaits him - understanding the truths set forth in the Holy Scriptures.

The Bible is the key to understanding the processes that take place in modern society.

Therefore, society needs the foundation of the Holy Scriptures. The writer himself spoke about the role of the “Book of Books” in a person’s life:

“The Holy Scriptures must be questioned.

Life now raises questions, and none of us can say that everything is fine in our countries.

One must ask the Holy Scripture, then It will answer.

There is no need to try to read a lot and quickly.

You can read just a few verses, but fully understand the content of what is written there.

There is no need to chase quantity; under no circumstances should you try to read the Holy Scriptures quickly.

On the contrary, when we find difficulties in the Biblical text, this is an indication that we should stop, think, look for solutions, ask someone who knows better than us.

And gradually the language of the terms of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments will begin to be recognized.

And what’s amazing is that this language is uniform:

the books of Scripture were created over thousands of years, they differ in the time of writing, the era of writing,

they have different genres, the purpose of writing is different and the languages ​​are different (some were written in Hebrew and translated into Greek,

others are written only in Greek).

Everything is different, but the language of symbolic Scripture is the same - from the book of Genesis to the Apocalypse.”

Evgeniy Avdeenko

theologian

The lectures of Evgeniy Andreevich Avdeenko were also very popular. The writer was invited to various theological schools, where he spoke on a variety of topics, from how to get married correctly to analysis of the creation myth.

But there are still two main topics:

1. Interpretation of Old Testament books.
2. Analysis of ancient and Russian literature from a Christian position.

The video below is a recording of E. A. Avdeenko’s lecture on creation. He successively reads texts in ancient Greek and Hebrew and comments on them:

Freedom of choice and elections: in blessed memory of Evgeniy Avdeenko

On July 24 of this year, an amazing man, Evgeniy Avdeenko, passed away. Probably, anyone who listened to his lectures will never forget this name, but will be glad again and again to draw from the living, blessed source of his knowledge, bestowed by the Creator Himself through the Holy Scriptures.

Take any question that worries modern people, and you will find simple, clear explanations for anyone, with a strong foundation of the Word of God.

One of these issues is participation in elections. I will give a transcript of a small part of the lecture in the cycle “The Life of Abraham - the Teaching of Salvation.” Evgeniy Andreevich calls political elections a punishment from God and concludes that this punishment must be accepted. And this is perhaps his only conclusion with which I do not agree one hundred percent. On the one hand, we cannot help but perceive the elections as the inevitability of a historical moment, as an excuse for spiritual devastation. On the other hand, we are interested in the practical part - personal participation in elections.

In order to meaningfully approach this issue, first of all, let’s check with the Holy Scriptures, as St. Nicholas of Serbia teaches us (in his book “War and the Bible,” for example), as God’s servant Eugene always did, may the Kingdom of Heaven be his. I don’t know of his lecture, which was entirely devoted to the topic of political elections, so I will give an important part of the conversation about Isaac’s marriage:

When a person's choice concerns vital issues, then in the Holy Scriptures and in the entire biblical worldview it takes on an ominous meaning. Let us take the trouble to list cases in the Holy Scriptures when the choice was either directly a sin, or occurred against an ominous background .

The first and most terrible thing was before the Flood: when the sons of God, already in a state of extreme seduction, saw the women of the Cain family, saw that they were good and began to choose: “and they took them as wives as anyone chose” (Gen. 6 , 2). The consequence of these first elections was the extreme corruption of mankind and the Great Flood.

The second case: when Abraham and Lot were forced to separate and go their separate ways because their flocks were too numerous. Abraham invited Lot to go where he wanted, so that he could go in the other direction. Lot could go anywhere. But Lot raised his eyes and saw the surroundings of Sodom and Gomorrah, saw that this country was watered and blooming, “like the garden of the Lord” (Gen. 13:10), that is, Lot was deceived. And Lot chose for himself to go to this land, to live with sinners in a flowering land. Lot was a righteous man, but during the destruction of Sodom, Lot and his family ended up in Sodom. The consequences of the choice that Lot made: the death of his wife, incest and a life of isolation.

The third choice situation: there is a formal pretext to choose, but in reality there is no choice. This is how Joshua spoke to the people in his last speech. Jesus spoke to those who followed him into the Promised Land. These people saw everything, participated in everything, they saw the power of God. The main thing is that they understand this, remember and not be seduced. Jesus offers the people a choice of religion: who to worship: First - “the gods whom your fathers served beyond the river and in Egypt” (pagan gods). The second - “to the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live” (pagan gods). Third - “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, for He is holy. And the people answered and said: No, it will not happen that we leave the Lord and begin to serve other gods! For the Lord is our God, He brought us and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery... and kept us all the way... and among all the nations” (Joshua 24: 14-17). “Jesus said to the people: Are you witnesses about yourselves, that you have chosen the Lord for yourself to serve him? They answered: witnesses” (Joshua 24:22).

The people, participants and witnesses of the holy war, until they are seduced by life on the conquered land, make the only right choice. More precisely, until he is seduced, there is no choice for him. As soon as the people begin to be seduced, the reality of choice begins. Israel served the Lord under Joshua and after him under the elders who knew all the works of the Lord. But the elders died, and elections began regarding which gods to serve. And the children of Israel began to honor Ashtoreth and all the gods of the nations around them. Worship of God is lost, and the people, as the prophet Isaiah says (Isaiah 1:29), choose oak groves and gardens for idolatry.

Let us make a preliminary conclusion: the basis for real choice is seduction and sin. Human freedom is not freedom of choice. Everyone who offers us elections as freedom seduces us .

Fourth. Samuel was a judge and prophet of Israel. Before him and during his time, God Himself reigned over the people of Israel. When Samuel grew old, his sons were made judges, and they were found to be unworthy. The elders began to ask Samuel to install a king over them, like all nations (1 Samuel, starting from chapter 8). This was the sin of denying God, for Israel, as it is said, rejected the Lord so that he would not reign over the people. However, God does not abandon his people; He commands Samuel to listen to the voice of the people in this matter. But before this, Samuel must testify, that is, declare with irresistible clarity, what the harsh law and judgment of the king will be. The people of Israel are facing an election: who will be king - the Lord or a man from the Lord.

Israel has to go through a real choice, the precondition for which is always sin . The people of Israel, as it is said, chose a king for themselves. Not a specific person - they chose the very principle of royal power, that a person should still be a king. And when Samuel resigned the title of judge, the Lord showed a sign, destroyed the harvest, “so that they would know and see how great was the sin that... they committed in the eyes of the Lord, asking for a king” (1 Sam. 12, 17). The people were greatly afraid of the Lord and of Samuel and said: “They added another sin to all our sins when they asked for a king” (1 Sam. 12:19). Hence, elections are evil added to sins.

Fifth, we learn from the story of King David: when the king ordered to count all his people. At that time and under those circumstances it was a sin. David was dissuaded. And even none other than the leader Joval, who was bold to sin. The advice was not listened to, the people were counted, and as soon as the result was reported to David, “his heart trembled,” and he said: “I have sinned gravely” (2 Sam. 24:10). The result and consequence of this grave sin was that the Lord, through the prophet Gad, offered David a real choice: famine - 7 years; run from the enemy - 3 months; pestilence - 3 days (2 Kings, 24, 12). The choice that was given to King David was of a special kind - there is no solution without evil. The king was thinking. And in the name of atonement for sin, he made a choice - to fall into the hands of the Lord, but not into the hands of man, and chose the plague. And the number of people decreased by 70 thousand.

The sixth case is the story of how Rebekah was matched and Isaac was married. This story makes theological sense. It turns out that for these two souls there was no choice. Isaac and Rebekah were good enough not to be selected. Behind this lies the wisdom and holiness of Abraham, the wisdom of the ambassador Abraham, the education of Rebekah, but the main and most effective thing is the Providence of God. To the husband is given a wife, to the wife is given a husband. To choose here is a little unnecessary, and in general from another story, for example from the story of Jacob: he sinned against his father - and he will choose a wife. He will choose the wife he loves, but will be deceived and will fight for her. And how clean and quiet everything was with Isaac and Rebekah.

I am afraid that you, brothers and sisters, will listen to this story about the marriage of Isaac and Rebekah, and will not go to the polls. We must go to the polls, because we are not holy in life and have lost the grace of the Kingdom. Elections are a punishment from God, and the punishment must be accepted.

This is our thorough introduction. It’s a pity that Evgeny Andreevich is no longer here to reflect with him. Let's try it ourselves.

The main conclusion that emerges from all the material is that choice in fateful matters is inevitably associated with sin and seduction. As for sin, it is clear to us: apostasy and perjury resulted in regicide, which has not yet been repented and therefore weighs heavily on the soul of the people (see the texts of the Messages of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II and the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on the 75th and 80th anniversary of the assassination of Emperor Nicholas II and His Family dated July 18, 1993 and June 9, 1998). They are seduced again and again. Just take a quick look at today’s “elections” in Ukraine.

At the same time, there are a certain number of people who, by the grace of God, realized their disastrous state and the fall of the people, and brought sincere repentance for the sin of regicide. The participation of such people in democratic elections would be open complicity in the sin of apostasy. After all, we ask the Lord for mercy to restore the God-established power, to give the lost people a Tsar-Father, His Anointed One, Who Restrains the world’s evil.

Is there any salutary value in choosing from people known to be deceivers? “Your princes are transgressors and accomplices of thieves” (Isa. 1:23). Is there any point in participating in a procedure that is obviously staged? The events of the last year in Ukraine show that the very course of history is clearly pushing towards a negative conclusion. A significant part of the population refused to participate in one election. Calls at the time for communists and others to boycott them were unsuccessful; Now the elections are taking place against the backdrop of a decision to liquidate this party, even if it gets into parliament, that is, it has the support of a decent number of voters. We will remain silent about the liquidation of the population itself. And yet, realizing that there is no one to vote for, people stubbornly discuss who to vote for. And thus he takes on the blood.

Truly, as the Lord says through the prophet Isaiah to Israel, “the people of Gomorrah”: “ What else should we beat you with, you who continue your stubbornness? .. Your land is devastated; your cities are burned with fire; your fields are eaten up by strangers in your eyes... If the Lord of hosts had not left us a small remnant, then we would have been the same as Sodom, we would have become like Gomorrah... And when you multiply your prayers, I do not hear: your hands are full of blood... Wash yourself, Purify yourself... but if you deny and persist, the sword will devour you ” (Isa. 1: 5, 7, 9, 15-16, 20).

Let us pay attention to the “small remnant” of the people. At one time, it seems, in 2008, the ever-remembered elder Hieroschemamonk Amphilochius (Belotserkovsky) said that if there are at least 50 people in Kyiv who consciously do not go to the polls, then the Lord’s mercy will be with the country. This is leaven. Not throwing your vote into the ballot box does not mean not spiritually participating in what is happening. The people for whom Fr. Amphilochius, as best he could, prayed for the admonition of the people, carried out fasting, and many repented of the sin of regicide on the election day itself. In such obedience, despondency is overcome, the hope is strengthened that the Lord is able to bring to repentance even those “who do not think of repentance, who are confirmed in their malice.”

In the Lord's Prayer, given by the Savior Himself, we ask daily: “Thy Will be done, as it is in Heaven and on earth.” This is a request that on the sinful earth, following the example of the Kingdom of Heaven, there will be an earthly Kingdom - not “heaven on earth,” but a clear hierarchy that promotes spiritual ascent to the Mountainous Fatherland. So why then do people go to “democratic” elections? They do their will. Do they at the same time conform their passions to the Will of God? Back in 1917, the godless revolution was called “democratic”; it was renamed into terms familiar to us only later. Yes, our voice is important. But not the puppeteers who approve the figures in advance. Important for our Savior and the Creator of history, for whom our complicity in ongoing lawlessness is evidence of unrepentance. It is also important for the enemy of human salvation, as evidence of his power. Therefore, our voice, personal and collective, national, should be only to God, His holy and all-perfect Will be done.

Without living according to God, man and all the people have lost the habit of trusting in His help and guidance. Therefore, he does not understand that God Himself provided and can, by His mercy, bestow a Tsar and, in the special Church Sacrament of the Crowning of the Kingdom, impart to His chosen one the spiritual gifts to rule the people. This will not be an elected person, but one appointed by God Himself . The source of power of God's Anointed One is the Holy Spirit. The source of power for the temporary puppeteers replaced by puppeteers is the controlled passions of people. “They set up kings themselves, without Me, they set up princes, but without My knowledge;...from there - destruction. Just as you sowed the wind, you will also reap the whirlwind... Sow righteousness in yourselves and you will reap mercy” (Hosea 8: 4, 7; 10:12). Haters of the Royal power like to quote from the 1st Book of Kings, where the prophet Samuel warns about the rights of the king over the people (1 Kings 8:10-18). Let us emphasize: these are the rights of the king appointed by the Creator, the rights given by Him Himself. They were given when the people of God turned out to be apostates, refused the direct leadership of God through the prophets, and are realized if the people depart from the Law: “ If you fear the Lord and serve Him and listen to His voice, and do not resist the commandments of the Lord, you will also your king who reigns over you walks after the Lord your God, then the hand of the Lord will not be against you ” (1 Sam. 12:14).

Israel's choice of a man from God instead of God was a betrayal of God, a religiously more difficult form of life, but the Lord does not abandon His people, anointing them a king. Moreover, after a long time, through the prophet Isaiah, He makes a promise: “ And I will turn My hand against you and, like lye, I will cleanse the dross from you, and I will separate from you everything that is leaden; and again I will appoint for you judges, as before, and counselors, as at the beginning; then they will say to you: “city of righteousness, faithful capital ” (Is. 1:25-26).

That is why the Fundamentals of the Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church dated June 9, 2008 says: “Under a monarchy, power remains God-given... Modern democracies, including monarchical ones in form, do not seek the Divine sanction of power ... We cannot completely exclude the possibility of such a spiritual revival of society when a religiously higher form of government will become natural ” (ch. III, 7).

preserve His anointed One, the “Holder”, which is spoken of in the Holy Scriptures (2 Thess. 2:7-8), as a kind of mystical power restraining world evil, in order to deliver the remnant of His people and to give them joy until He comes. day of judgment (see 3 Esdras, 12, 31-34).

So let us be, according to the word of St. Theophan of Poltava, actively “wait for the fulfillment of this revelation,” putting all our strength in order for us not to be lukewarm, but to be zealous and repent (Rev. 3:19). Otherwise we will hear “I will spew you out of My mouth” (Rev. 3:16).

“No one will do the hard and difficult, but vitally necessary work to revive Russia for us. God grant us to finally understand the full extent of our responsibility ... the full horror of the catastrophe awaiting us if we do not find the strength to resist the violent impulses of evil that are tormenting the country” (Metropolitan John Snychev). Lord, strengthen me!

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, may Your Will be done on us!

Holy Tsar Nicholas, pray to God for us sinners!

We believe, Lord, in the Orthodox Royal Autocracy, sworn by the Holy Spirit for eternal times by the consecrated Council and the Russian people for the peace and prosperity of our Fatherland and for the salvation of the soul, as all the Russian saints of God of recent centuries taught about the same thing. Amen. (Russian Creed, compiled by St. Theodosius of the Caucasus).