The question often arises: “Why is there so much suffering and distress, need, grief and disease in the world today?” Death claims thousands of people every day, and hatred and evil reach their apogee... Why is this?
People who are far from Christianity often blame the Lord for everything. But the Word of God says this: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). The Lord Himself is the source of light, life, love, peace, joy and goodness. And even after people had gone far from the Creator and His truth, He “did not cease to testify of Himself with good deeds, giving us from heaven rain and fruitful seasons, and filling our hearts with food and joy” (Acts 14:17).
But if God gives only everything good and gracious, then where does all the evil in the world come from?
Scripture says that the struggle between good and evil is the struggle between truth and falsehood, and it has been waged since time immemorial, beginning in heaven. Some angels rebelled against God and His rule. “And there was war in heaven: Michael and His angels fought against them, but they did not stand, and there was no longer a place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that ancient serpent, called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world, he was cast out to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (Rev. 12:7-9). Thus, the forces of evil appeared on our land. In all centuries they have tried to distract people from God and instill in the hearts of people a spirit of disobedience and indignation against Him.
There are many different opinions about Satan. Most people who use his name in conversation don't know much about him. In the above text, some information is secretly conveyed about Satan as a certain person. His name is the devil and Satan, which means deceiver and slanderer. He is busy seducing the entire universe.
Reasons for existence
Since ancient times, there have been many points of view on the reasons for the existence of good and evil. They can be considered depending on the relationship to two definitions:
- objectively and truly necessary for the existence of humanity
- necessary for existence from the point of view of people
With this approach, the causes of good and evil are broadly divided into materialistic and idealistic.
Materialistic reasons
Materialistic reasons connect the concepts of good and evil with the laws of human nature, which arise in the earliest stages of personality development. In particular, with the natural aspiration of people, the so-called naturalism; with pleasure-suffering (hedonism); happiness-unhappiness (eudaimonism), etc.
These concepts are closely related to social conditions, that is, to specific contradictions in the life of society, their influence on the morality of certain eras and social systems. Moreover, as F. Engels believed: “Ideas about good and evil changed so much from people to people, from century to century, that they often directly contradicted one another.” V. Lenin, in turn, added that the idea of good and evil always coincides with people’s current demands for reality.
Idealistic reasons
Idealistic reasons come from the divine plan, which gives the rivalry between good and evil either a metaphysical meaning, or reduces these concepts to the expression of subjective wishes, inclinations, likes and dislikes of man. In turn, religious teachings identify good with knowledge of truth - human value, holiness, divinity, and evil is considered as a consequence of ignorance of this truth or is attributed to abnormal deviations in behavior, which is the result of human imperfection (see, for example, “The Fall” ).
The place of the devil's activity is the earth
His assistants are demons, that is, fallen angels or the so-called. infernal entities.
The Lord in His Word gives advice: “Put on the whole armor of God, so that you can stand against the wiles of the devil; for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:11-12). It is clearly stated here that the devil and his angels are part of the spirit world. At the same time, they actively interfere in the affairs of the material world.
The Holy Scripture reveals to us the following picture of the origin of the devil: “And the word of the Lord came to me: Son of man! Weep for the king of Tire and say to him: Thus says the Lord God: You are the seal of perfection, the fullness of wisdom and the crown of beauty. You were in Eden, in the garden of God; your garments were adorned with all kinds of precious stones; ruby, topaz and diamond, peridot, onyx, jasper, sapphire, carbuncle and emerald and gold, all skillfully placed in your nests and strung on you, were prepared on the day of your creation. You were an anointed cherub to overshadow, and I appointed you for this purpose; you were on the holy mountain of God, walking among the fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, until iniquity was found in you. Because of the vastness of your trade, your inner being was filled with unrighteousness, and you sinned; and I cast you down as unclean from the mountain of God, expelled you, the overshadowing cherub, from among the fiery stones. Because of your beauty your heart was lifted up, because of your vanity you destroyed your wisdom; Therefore I have cast you down to the ground; I will hand you over to shame before kings” (Ezek. 28:11-17). The text describes Satan's past in some detail. Notice that he was at first “the anointed cherub to overshadow” the throne of God. In the ancient Temple of Solomon, where the Ark of the Covenant of God was kept, two angels made of pure hammered gold stood on both sides of the ark. This ark prefigured the throne of God - the original of the temple is in heaven: “The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord is his throne in heaven” (Ps. 10:4). It was there, near the throne of God, that Satan was originally located as the “overshadowing cherub.” He was created perfect. But lawlessness arose in his heart, that is, unwillingness to obey the law of God.
Some people are confused by the fact that in these verses Satan is described under the name of the king of Tire. This is not surprising, since the activities of Satan were actually inspired by him; The driving force behind the king of Tire was Satan. Describing the fall of this once glorious angel, the prophet exclaims in amazement: “How you have fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of the dawn! He crashed to the ground, trampling the nations. And I said in your heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit on the mountain in the assembly of gods, on the edge of the north; I will ascend to the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. But you are cast down into hell, into the depths of the pit” (Isaiah 14:12–16).
Scripture calls the devil "Daystar", the morning star
Comparing this description with the above from Revelation 12:7-9, which describes the war in heaven, we find that when this angel was cast out from the presence of God, he became Satan. He wanted to be equal to God and envied the glory and power of the Creator. Using his powers and his wisdom for evil, he deceived many angels and convinced them to take part in his rebellion against God. As a result of this, he and his angels were expelled from heaven. Christ says: “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning” (Luke 10:18). Since then, the earth has been the field of his activity and the site of the battle between good and evil, truth and lies.
Scripture says about Satan that he deceives the entire Universe. Therefore, it is difficult for us to understand why many inhabitants of our planet mistake him for someone else. The modern misunderstanding of the personality of the devil is largely a consequence of caricatures that became especially popular in the Middle Ages. To reduce their fear of the king of darkness, people made fun of him, portraying him as a funny and repulsive creature with a pitchfork and a tail. A pitchfork was placed in his hand, a feeble-minded grin was depicted on his face, and at the sight of such an image the question involuntarily arose: “Who would be afraid of such a funny figure?”
The truth, however, is that the devil is a highly intelligent being, a powerful and talented spirit with the gift of endless ingenuity. His arguments are brilliant and he is an excellent sophist. His plans are subtle and the logic is almost irrefutable. The powerful opponent of God is not a galloping creature with horns and a tail, but a majestic prince of “this age” with unlimited strength and a subtle mind, capable of using every opportunity to prove himself, able to turn any situation in his favor. The devil is quite capable of producing the false prophet that the Bible warns about. From the ruins of modern unbelief and doubt, Satan will create a false king, the Antichrist. He will form a religion without a Savior, build a church without Christ, call to serve him without God’s word. About his great power of deception we read: “And no wonder: for Satan himself disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14). The masterpiece of his endless temptation is that the devil has convinced many people that he does not exist.
At the present historical moment, two powerful trinities stand face to face: the Most Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and the false trinity, the worship of which he wants to achieve from humanity. The trinity of Satan (the devil, the Antichrist and the false prophet) is described in the Revelation of John the Theologian: “And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet” (Rev. 16:13).
Introduction
Throughout human history, every person has felt the brunt of the evil existing in the world, which has literally penetrated into all spheres of human life. It is no coincidence that the following words can be found in the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian: The whole world lies in evil (John 5:19). And, in fact, evil is an integral attribute of the fallen world.
Perhaps one of the most important and difficult questions of humanity is the following: “How did evil appear? And what is it?” And the human perception of the entire universe and people’s attitude towards God will depend on what kind of answer we have to it. In this regard, it is extremely important to get the correct answer to the question posed.
In the modern world, evil primarily means suffering. T.Yu. writes well about this. Borodai: “Modernity is increasingly inclined to understand by “evil” exclusively or predominantly suffering”[1]. But the patristic tradition has its own understanding of evil. And, by the way, it practically does not correspond to the modern idea. As Priest Stefan (Domuschi) writes, “the entire Christian argument was built on a certain understanding of what evil is. And although suffering was also discussed in detail, it was extremely rarely identified with evil as such.”[2].
To begin with, we should talk about how evil appeared in our world. And here, first of all, it is worth noting that the holy fathers unanimously denied the connection between the appearance of evil and God. For example, St. Basil the Great says: “It is also ungodly to say that evil has its beginning from God, because the opposite does not happen from the opposite”[3]. And in Theophilus of Antioch one can find the following statement: “Nothing evil was originally created by God, but everything was beautiful”[4]. You can give a lot of quotes from the holy fathers about this[5]. But if God is not the source of evil, then where did it come from? As Lossky V.N. says: “Evil has its beginning in the angelic worlds”[6]. And, indeed, it was among the world invisible to us that evil first appeared.
Most holy fathers and church writers believe that the angelic world was created by God before the appearance of the material world[7]. As perfect beings, absolutely all angels had freedom. And one of the angels closest to God, named Dennitsa, having abused his freedom, resisted his Creator and fell away from Him; In addition, he carried away many other angels with him. This is how fallen spirits appeared in the world. And initially all the fallen angels were good. You can find a number of statements from the holy fathers about this. For example, St. Anthony the Great writes: “Demons are called that not because they were created that way. God didn't do anything evil. On the contrary, they were created good”[8]. The same can be found in St. Macarius the Great: “The Creator created all rational beings, I mean Angels, demons and souls, pure” [9].
The Holy Fathers are unanimous in the opinion that Satan fell away from God absolutely voluntarily, no one pushed him to do this. For example, St. Cyril of Jerusalem writes the following about this: “The first culprit of sin and the father of evil is the devil. <…> No one sinned before him. He sinned not because he received from nature the necessary inclination to sin; he, being created good, of his own will became a devil, receiving this name from his actions”[10].
The Holy Fathers see the reason for the falling away of Dennitsa in his pride, namely, in the fact that he wanted to take the place of God. In St. Anthony the Great we find the following words: “Pride and arrogance cast the devil from Heaven into the underworld”[11]. Saint Gregory the Theologian not only writes that Satan fell because of pride, but also adds that because of his envy he drew other angels with him: “So he [the devil] for his exaltation will be cast down from his heavenly circle; but he was not the only one who fell. And since his insolence destroyed him, he carried away many into the fall, namely, all those whom he taught to sin, just as the attacker who persuaded the royal army to treason carried away - out of envy of the godly host of the One who reigns on high and out of the desire to reign over many evil ones.”[12]
Thus, the appearance of evil originates in the angelic (invisible) world. Satan, being created as a good angel, voluntarily (due to pride) fell away from his Creator, and because of his envy, he carried away some of the other angels with him. At the same time, I would also like to cite the statement of Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev) that “the doctrine of the voluntary falling away of the devil from God is the answer to the eternal question of every philosophy about the origin of evil”[13].
In the visible world, evil appeared when Adam and Eve in paradise violated God's commandment and ate the fruits of the forbidden tree. The third chapter of Genesis talks about this in some detail. From this place it is clear that evil was suggested to the ancestors by the serpent. In the form of a serpent, as the holy fathers say, there was a devil who, out of envy, seduced people[14]. Despite the fact that the devil took some part in the fall of the first parents, responsibility for breaking the commandment remains with Adam and Eve, because Satan only offered to taste the forbidden fruit, he did not force the first parents to do this. But why did people listen to the devil? Saint John Chrysostom writes the following: “The first man fell into sin from pride, desiring to be equal to God”[15]. Indeed, pride is the root of the ancestral fall, because man wanted to become a god besides God. All this led to tragic consequences that affected not only the ancestors, but all of humanity.
Reflecting on the Fall, Saint Cyril of Alexandria posed a very interesting question: “If created man had to reach such a great misfortune, is it not fair to think that it would have been much better for him not to have existed?”[16] At the same time, the saint reminds about the words of the Savior: ... it would have been better for that man not to have been born (Mark 14:21). Nevertheless, in answering this question, St. Cyril gave important arguments in favor of the appearance of people. Firstly, according to the saint, existence as a gift of God in itself is better than non-existence; secondly, God gave man not just life, but a blissful life in paradise, and finally, thirdly, man in the future should become a partaker of God's grace, but since sin became an obstacle on the path to this glory, the Lord found a suitable cure: the decay of human flesh and subsequent death. “The death of the flesh was invented with benefit,” says the saint, “not leading the animal to complete destruction, but rather preserving it to renewal and, so to speak, to future remake, like a broken vessel. And that a living being would have to endure incorruption, the Creator did not know this, but on the contrary, he knew that along with this would follow the destruction of indecent deeds, and the destruction of corruption, and the elevation to a better state, and the perception of original benefits”[17].
The holy fathers talk a lot about the sad consequences of the Fall. St. John Chrysostom writes that after breaking the commandment, people became mortal: “Although they (Adam and Eve) lived for many years, from the very minute they heard: You are dust and to dust you will return (Gen. 3:19), they received death sentence, became mortal.”[18]. According to the thought of the Venerable Macarius the Great, people suffered first spiritual death, and then physical death: “As in the crime of Adam, when the goodness of God condemned him to death, first he suffered death in his soul, because the intellectual feelings of the soul became extinguished in him and, as it were, mortified by deprivation of heavenly and spiritual pleasure; subsequently, after nine hundred and thirty years, physical death befell Adam.”[19] Also, the Monk Macarius says that after eating the forbidden fruit, a person’s nature was distorted and he fell under the power of Satan: “So the evil prince clothed the soul with sin, its entire being, and desecrated it all, captivated it all into his kingdom, did not leave it in free from his power, not a single member of it, nor thoughts, nor mind, nor body, but clothed it in the purple of darkness”[20]. Saint Theophilus of Antioch writes about the physical suffering that befell man after the Fall: “For disobedience, man endured labor, sorrow, illness and, finally, death.”[21]
The holy fathers and church writers sought to find out what evil in itself is and whether it has its own nature.
The first of the church authors who gives an explanation of evil from an ontological point of view is Clement of Alexandria[22]. He writes that God is good, and everything that He created is also good. Moreover, evil, which God did not create, does not have its own existence; it is outside of good and is either its absence or its opposite. “Evil is the opposite of good, just as justice is the opposite of injustice,” [23] writes Clement. At the same time, as noted by P.B. Mikhailov, “the definition of evil as the absence or deprivation of good for Clement means an indication of the absence of God or removal from God, who is the Supreme Good”[24]. As confirmation of this point of view, the following passage from Clement’s “Pedagogue” is available: “Where the Lord turns his face, there is peace and joy; and from where he turns away, evil begins to creep in. God does not want to bear evil, because He is good. If He turns His face away from somewhere, then He does so because of human unbelief, and evil develops there.”[25] At the same time, Clement notes that evil cannot be a source of good: “Evil cannot give birth to good, just as light cannot give birth to darkness or cold to heat. Evil cannot do good because its nature is evil and it blinds like darkness”[26].
Thus, Clement defends the position according to which evil in the ontological sense has no nature and independent existence, but is the absence of good or its opposite.
Origen was also concerned with the question of the nature of evil. Reflecting on this question, the church author speaks of a passage from the Gospel of John: All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made (John 1:3). Here Origen poses the following question: “Does not the concept of “all” include evil and vice?” Answering him, Origen writes that among what God created there is nothing bad or unnecessary. At the same time, he says that evil does not have nature and essence: “Vice is insubstantial”[27]. Indeed, since evil, according to the church author, is non-existent, it has an apparent existence, and not from God and not from the Son of God, therefore it cannot be considered that the concept of “everything” in the above Gospel passage includes evil.
At the same time, Origen points out that the source of evil is rooted in free will: “Every (man) will has the cause of the wickedness that resides in him. This wickedness is evil; hence, evil and destructive are those actions that come from wickedness, and strictly speaking, in nothing else... can evil be assumed”[28].
Thus, Origen, following Clement of Alexandria, writes that evil does not have its own nature and essence, it, therefore, does not have an independent existence, while evil is a lack of good.
Saint Athanasius the Great partly touched upon the topic of the nature of evil. Thus, Saint Athanasius asserts that good is something that exists, and evil is something that does not exist. He explains it this way: “And I call existing things good because they have models for themselves in the existing God; and I call the non-existent evil, since the non-existent is produced by human imagination”[29]. Therefore, evil has no nature of its own. At the same time, God is not the source of evil, therefore it did not always exist, but had its beginning in the created world[30].
Reflections on the nature of evil can also be found in the works of St. Basil the Great. Denying God’s involvement in the emergence of evil, the saint rejects the opinion that evil can have its own nature: “Do not consider God guilty of the existence of evil, and do not imagine that evil has its own special independence”[31]. Saint Basil gives various definitions of evil. So, in one place he says that “evil is not a living and animate entity”[32], in another - “evil is the deprivation of good”[33], in the third - “all evil is a mental illness”[34]. It is no coincidence that P.F. Smirnov writes the following: “Evil, according to Vasily the Great, obviously does not have substantiality and originality and therefore does not exist forever, as a special principle”[35].
The source of evil, according to St. Basil the Great, is rooted in free will: “Evil, taken in its proper sense, began in arbitrary falls”[36]. The saint also writes that evil is “a state of the soul that is opposite to virtue and occurs in the careless through a falling away from goodness”[37]. Consequently, evil “has already appeared in creation, generated by the free will of rational creatures created good”[38].
Thus, evil, according to the thought of St. Basil the Great, does not have its own nature and independent existence. Evil is the deprivation of good. The source of evil is not in God, but in the free will of rational creatures.
Saint Gregory of Nyssa spoke a lot on this topic. According to V.I. Nesmelov, St. Gregory’s reflections on the topic of evil were deeper than those of his predecessors: “Unlike others, he [St. Gregory of Nyssa - D.N.] did not stop at just one statement of church teaching, but also presented something very remarkable in his own way. depth and originality of its philosophical justification and disclosure. He understood quite correctly that it is impossible to talk about the origin of evil unless it is determined in advance how it should be understood, and therefore the starting point of his teaching was the question: what is the essence of evil?”[39] In order to give the correct answer to this question. According to St. Gregory, it is necessary to consider the relationship between the concepts of “good” and “evil.” Moreover, by good the saint understands, first of all, virtue, and by evil - vice. Reflecting on this topic, Saint Gregory came to the following conclusion: “The difference between virtue and vice is not presented as a difference between any two hypostatic phenomena. On the contrary, just as the non-existent is opposed to the existing and it cannot be said that the non-existent is hypostatically different from the existing, we affirm that non-existence is opposite to being; in the same way, vice is opposed to the concept of virtue, not as something existing in itself, but as something understood by the absence of something better”[40]. From this it follows that good has existence, but evil does not. As an example that would explain this difference, the saint cites the following: “And just as we say that blindness is the opposite of sight, by blindness we mean not something existing in itself, but the deprivation of a previous ability, so we affirm that vice is seen in the deprivation of good, it is like a certain shadow that appears as the ray recedes”[41]. At the same time, A.R. Fokin notes that “good or benefit, according to him, exists as something existing, normal, primordial, natural”[42]. Saint Gregory has a completely different attitude towards evil. “Evil appears only when good disappears, and has existence only in this violation of the original, normal order, that is, in other words, it has no existence at all, as a special, independent phenomenon that could exist simultaneously and next to good, as its opposite”[43], writes V.I. Nesmelov. These thoughts are confirmed by the following words of the saint: “Depravity is not consistent in itself, but is constituted by the deprivation of good. But good is always the same, and constantly abides, and is formed without any prior deprivation of anything. <…> And depravity is the deprivation of existence, and not being”[44]. Evil is not only “deprivation of good,” but also, as the saint writes, “lack of good”: “Evil is nothing other than vice. Every vice, not as something that exists in itself and turns out to be independent, has the distinctive feature that it is a lack of goodness”[45].
At the same time, Saint Gregory writes that the source of evil is in the free will of rational creatures: “For outside free will there is no original evil”[46]. A similar statement can be found elsewhere: “Evil, taken outside of will, does not exist in itself”[47].
Thus, Saint Gregory of Nyssa believes that evil has no nature and does not have its own existence, but is a deprivation, lack or opposite of good, because it appears only when good ceases to exist.
One should also cite the statements of theologians who summarize the thoughts of the holy fathers and church authors of the 2nd – 5th centuries. regarding the nature of evil. As noted by V.N. Lossky: “In the essential aspect, the fathers believe that evil does not exist, that it is only the deprivation of being”[48]. Therefore, evil does not have its own nature, it is “the state in which the nature of personal beings who have turned away from God resides”[49]. The same idea can be found in Archpriest Oleg Davydenkov, who writes about it this way: “From a Christian point of view, evil is not nature, but a state of nature or, more precisely, a state of the will of a rational being, falsely directed towards God”[50 ]. Priest Stefan Domuschi also shares this position: “Evil is not an essence, it does not exist in the world like objects or living beings, but is a state of will”[51].
Thus, according to generally accepted patristic teaching, God is not the creator of evil. It first appeared in the angelic world, when one of the most perfect angels, due to pride, fell away from his Creator, and a number of other angels followed his example. In the material world, evil begins from the moment when the first parents, on the advice of the devil, violated God's commandment and ate from the forbidden tree, for which they were expelled from paradise. The consequences of this exile were very tragic not only for the first people, but also for the entire human race, because people were deprived of direct communication with God, their nature was distorted, and they fell under the power of evil spirits.
The holy fathers and church writers are unanimous in the opinion that evil, unlike good, does not have its own nature; it also does not have an independent existence. Evil is a deprivation, a deficiency or the opposite of good, because it appears only when good at some point ceases to exist. The source of evil is rooted in the free will of sentient beings. It was the abuse of freedom that gave rise to evil.
[1] Boroday T.Yu. The birth of a philosophical concept. God and matter in Plato's dialogues. M., 2008. P. 187.
[2] Domuschi S., Jer. The problem of theodicy in the history of philosophy and Orthodox theology // Spiritual traditions of the peoples “Eurasia”: a journal of interdisciplinary studies. research in the field of religion and culture. M., 2012. P. 231.
[3] Basil the Great, St. Conversations on the Sixth Day. Conversation 2 // Complete collection of the works of the holy fathers of the Church and church writers in Russian translation. T. III. M., 2008. P. 341.
[4] Theophilus of Antioch, St. Epistle to Autolycus. Book 2, 17 // Early Church Fathers. Anthology. Brussels, 1988. P. 483.
[5] St. Athanasius the Great: “God has not created anything evil” (Athanasius the Great, St. Life of St. Anthony the Great, 22 // Athanasius the Great, St. Creations. Part 3. STSL., 1903. P. 197.).
St. Athanasius the Great: “Evil is not from God and not in God” (Athanasius the Great, St. Word on the Gentiles, 7 // Athanasius the Great, St. Creations. Part 1. STSL., 1902. P. 133.).
St. Gregory of Nyssa: “God is not the cause of evil - the Creator of creatures” (Gregory of Nyssa, St. Great Catechetical Sermon, 7 // Gregory of Nyssa, St. Creations. Part 4. M., 1862. P. 27.).
St. Diadochos of Photikie: “God has not created anything evil.” (Diadokh, Bishop Photiki. The ascetic word, divided into one hundred active chapters, filled with knowledge and spiritual reasoning, 3 // Philokalia. T. III. M., 1900. P. 9.).
[6] Lossky V.N. Dogmatic theology // Lossky V.N. Essay on the mystical theology of the Eastern Church. Dogmatic theology. STSL., 2012. P. 476.
[7] See Davydenkov O., prot. Dogmatic Theology. M., 2014. P. 241.
[8] Athanasius the Great, St. Life of St. Anthony the Great, 22 // Athanasius the Great, St. Creations. Part 3. STSL., 1903. P. 197.
[9] Macarius the Great, St. Spiritual conversations. Conversation 16, 1 // Macarius the Great, St. Spiritual conversations, messages, words. M. 2004. P. 129.
[10] Cyril of Jerusalem, St. The teachings are public. Second Catechetical Teaching, 4 // Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Catechetical and secret teachings. M. 2010. P. 25.
[11] Anthony the Great, St. Feats and good deeds in particular // Philokalia. T. I. M., 1895. P. 135.
[12] Gregory the Theologian, St. Theological poems. Word 7. About intelligent entities // Complete collection of the works of the holy fathers of the Church and church writers in Russian translation. T. II. M., 2007. P. 23.
[13] Hilarion (Alfeev), Metropolitan. The mystery of faith. M., 2021. P. 41.
[14] For example, see: Basil the Great, St. Conversation 9. About the fact that God is not the author of evil, 8 // Complete collection of the works of the holy fathers of the Church and church writers in Russian translation. T. III. M., 2008. P. 952. John Chrysostom, St. Conversations on the Book of Genesis. Conversation 16, 2 // John Chrysostom, St. Creations. T. IV. Book 1. St. Petersburg, 1898. P. 128.
[15] John Chrysostom, St. Interpretation of the Holy Evangelist Matthew. Conversation 65, 6 // John Chrysostom, St. Creations. T. VII. Book 2. St. Petersburg, 1902. P. 671.
[16] Cyril of Alexandria, St. Γλαφυρά or skillful explanations of selected passages from the book of Genesis. I, 3 // Cyril of Alexandria, Holy Creation. T. IV. M., 1886. P. 14.
[17] Cyril of Alexandria, St. Γλαφυρά or skillful explanations of selected passages from the book of Genesis. I, 4 // Cyril of Alexandria, Holy Creation. T. IV. M., 1886. P. 17.
[18] John Chrysostom, St. Conversations on the Book of Genesis. Conversation 17, 9 // John Chrysostom, St. Creations. T. IV. Book 1. St. Petersburg, 1898. P. 153.
[19] Macarius the Great, St. Homily 7. On freedom of mind, 26 // Macarius the Great, St. Spiritual conversations, messages, words. M. 2004. pp. 379-380.
[20] Macarius the Great, St. Spiritual conversations. Conversation 2, 1 // Macarius the Great, St. Spiritual conversations, messages, words. M. 2004. P. 30.
[21] Theophilus of Antioch, St. Epistle to Autolycus. Book 2, 25 // Early Church Fathers. Anthology. Brussels, 1988. P. 489.
[22] See: Russell D.B. Satan. The perception of evil in the early Christian tradition. St. Petersburg, 2001. P. 99.
[23] Clement of Alexandria. Stromata. T. I. Book 2, 8:39 // Clement of Alexandria. Stromata. T. I. St. Petersburg, 2003. P. 283.
[24] Ponomarev A.V., Mikhailov P.B., Fokin A.R., Seregin A.V., Smirnov D.V., Sudakov A.K., Shokhin V.K., Kazaryan A.T. Evil // Orthodox Encyclopedia. T. XX. M., 2009. P. 212.
[25] Clement of Alexandria. Teacher 1, 8 // URL: https://www.reformed.org.ua/2/196/1/Qement%20of%20Alexandria (access date: 04/10/17)
[26] Clement of Alexandria. Stromata. T. III. Book 6, 17:159 // Clement of Alexandria. Stromata. T.III. St. Petersburg, 2003. P. 86.
[27] Origen. Comments on the Gospel of John II 13, 93 // Quote. from: Collection. Space and soul (Second issue). Doctrines about nature and thinking in Antiquity, the Middle Ages and Modern Times / Ed. A.V. Seregina. M.: 2010. P. 166.
[28] Origen. Against Celsus. Book 4, 65 // Origen. About the beginnings. Against Celsus. St. Petersburg, 2008. P. 751.
[29] Athanasius the Great, St. Word on the Gentiles, 4 // Athanasius the Great, St. Creations. Part 1. STSL., 1902. P. 130.
[30] See: Ibid., 7 // Ibid. P. 133.
[31] Basil the Great, St. Conversation 9. About the fact that God is not the author of evil, 5 // Complete collection of the works of the holy fathers of the Church and church writers in Russian translation. T. III. M., 2008. P. 949.
[32] Basil the Great, St. Conversations on Shestodnev II, 4 // Ibid. P. 341.
[33] Basil the Great, St. Conversation 9. About the fact that God is not the author of evil, 5 // Ibid. P. 949.
[34] Basil the Great, St. Conversations on Six Days IX, 4 // Ibid. P. 423.
[35] Smirnov P.F. The essence of evil according to the teachings of St. Basil the Great // Christian Reading. St. Petersburg, 1907. No. 2. P. 239.
[36] Basil the Great, St. Conversations on Shestodnev II, 5 // Complete collection of the works of the holy fathers of the Church and church writers in Russian translation. T. III. M., 2008. P. 342.
[37] Basil the Great, St. Conversations on Shestodnev II, 4 // Ibid. P. 341.
[38] Smirnov P.F. The essence of evil according to the teachings of St. Basil the Great // Christian Reading. St. Petersburg, 1907. No. 2. P. 240.
[39] Nesmelov V.I. The dogmatic system of Saint Gregory of Nyssa. Kazan, 1887. pp. 406-407.
[40] Gregory of Nyssa, St. Great Catechetical Word, 6 // Gregory of Nyssa, St. Creations. Part 4. M., 1862. P. 22.
[41] Ibid.
[42] Fokin A.R., Litvinova L.V., Turilov A.A., E.P.A., Lukashevich A.A., Shevchenko E.V. Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa // Orthodox Encyclopedia. T. XII. M., 2006. P. 506.
[43] Nesmelov V.I. The dogmatic system of Saint Gregory of Nyssa. Kazan, 1887. P. 408.
[44] Gregory of Nyssa, St. Conversations on Ecclesiastes, 5 // Gregory of Nyssa, St. Creations. Part 2. M., 1861. pp. 276-277.
[45] Gregory of Nyssa, St. Big catechetical word, 7 // Ibid. Part 4. M., 1862. P. 27.
[46] Ibid.
[47] Gregory of Nyssa, St. Conversations on Ecclesiastes, 7 // Ibid. Part 2. M., 1861. P. 326.
[48] Lossky V.N. Dogmatic theology // Lossky V.N. Essay on the mystical theology of the Eastern Church. Dogmatic theology. STSL., 2012. P. 475.
[49] Ibid.
[50] Davydenkov O., prot. Dogmatic Theology. M., 2014. pp. 259-260.
[51] Domuschi. S., Jer. The problem of theodicy in the history of philosophy and Orthodox theology // Spiritual traditions of the peoples “Eurasia”: a journal of interdisciplinary studies. research in the field of religion and culture. M., 2012. P. 238.
How do those who deny the devil explain the speed with which evil spreads?
How do they interpret the endless obstacles that arise in the path of the righteous? By what arguments can they dissuade the fact that destruction and destruction spread with lightning speed, while creative work and restoration proceed so terribly slowly? Throw false words into the air, spread slander - and, as if by magic, these words will immediately reach the most remote places. But tell the truth, do a generous, honest act - and invisible forces will immediately get to work, trying to hide and darken this tiny ray of light and hope.
It would seem that no one voluntarily erects temples in honor of the devil (except perhaps open Satanists), no one builds pulpits from which his sermons are delivered. But the words of the king of darkness are heard everywhere, and too often the world turns them into desperate actions. If there are no invisible forces trying to discredit human hearts and distort thoughts in favor of evil, then how can you explain human readiness to listen to everything low, vile and vicious, while people remain deaf to the pure, good and bright? Scripture directly points to Satan's dominion over the world in his word: “...I will give you the power over all kingdoms and the glory of them, for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I want” (Luke 4:6). Christ also says that the father of all lies is Satan: “He was a murderer from the beginning and did not stand in the truth, for there is no truth in him; when he speaks a lie, he speaks his own…” (John 8:44); “The prince of this world comes and has nothing in Me” (John 14:30).
God did not create an enemy and a bearer of evil for Himself, as Islam, for example, claims. He created a beautiful angel with free will, with the ability to choose. God created man with similar qualities. What prompted the lucky cherub to rebel against his Creator? We will obviously never know this secret. If the reasons for the rebellion at the throne of God could be understood and explained, then this would already be an excuse for the existence of sin. But there is no explanation or excuse for sin. Christian philosophy and theology do not provide an answer to the origin of evil in Satan as the original source of this evil. Evil is a paradoxical negative quantity that parasitizes on the absence of good. Like a shadow that only appears when the sun is present. One thing is clear - the source of fall, sin and death is the demon.
General overview
Various religious cultures, such as Abrahamic, Manichaean, Zoroastrian, and those spiritually influenced by Buddhism, tend to perceive the dichotomy of good and evil as an antagonistic dualism in which evil must be defeated.
In any language there are words that express the concept of good and evil, a kind of cultural universal that unites moral judgments like good - bad, right - wrong, desirable - undesirable. In our time, the essence of this dichotomy, being a broad concept, usually concerns, in terms of good - love, justice, happiness, virtue, good deeds, creation, and in terms of evil - destruction, vice, intentional harm, discrimination, humiliation, acts of selective violence. A feature of human behavior is the ability to simultaneously perform both good and evil actions.
Some researchers, for example, Edward O. Wilson or Frans de Waal, consider issues of morality, in particular, the concepts of good and evil, as quite applicable in biology.
God does not recognize any other service than love, because He Himself is love
No one can be forced to love. This is the free choice of every person. God showed His love by giving rational beings the opportunity to make their choice. The choice was not made in favor of the Creator, and gradually evil flooded the world. Christ came to destroy the works of the devil: “And just as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also received the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb. 2:14). Christ came into the world to “seek and save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Evil will not always exist in the world. There is a limit to Satan's reign. In Revelation 12:12 we read, “Woe to those who dwell on the earth and on the sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, knowing that he has not much time left.” This ruler of darkness knows that the day of reckoning is approaching. This day of Judgment was destined for the devil and his angels (demons). People who continue to live under his influence, to do his will, and who do not confess their sins, will suffer the same fate as him: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41).
Thus, evil and its ancestor exist only until the time determined by God, and its end is already predetermined. But today we still live under their constant threat. In order to lead a godly life in such a world, to resist the wiles of the devil and not to suffer the same fate as him, we are given advice in Scripture: “Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). And in the same way the Apostle James instructs: “Submit yourselves therefore to God; resist the devil, and he will flee from you; draw near to God, and he will draw near to you; Cleanse your hands, you sinners; straighten your hearts, you double-minded” (James 4:7–8).
Professor Chernyshev V.M.
Simulation.
But God did not create hell or the lower astral plane. This is also a simulation! God is against evil and violence. He didn't create this in reality. But somewhere do his children need to be trained? After all, God cannot allow children to play with living beings and cause them pain in reality. And then, to teach a person to be kind and compassionate, he creates a school. And if it’s even different, then the more developed civilizations (Gods) of the past created such a school and we all study in it. We are used to the fact that school is an institution where we are forced to read textbooks to study history, mathematics, languages, but the school of the future or that school of God (which is the same thing) is virtual reality, a simulation. Before being put at the controls of a real plane, a pilot is trained in a simulator, where he sits behind a monitor and the takeoff and landing are not real. But our Earth is a more advanced simulation. Full immersion. Here we can experience the experience of plant, animal and human.
A person, having killed an animal, will be born as this animal in order to gain experience of how bad it is, in order to feel and remember on his own skin that this cannot be done. Here in the simulation we can kill without killing. It's an illusion. Although it is so hard to believe that everything is not real. But something terrible can happen in a dream and we are fully confident that it is reality. We cry, we are terrified, and then we wake up and behold, it’s gone. It was an illusion, it was a nightmare. So our life is an illusion, but very real.
Higher civilizations created an immersion school.
First of all, it is very easy to study history. You are simply sent to that time and you live in it. You will live through all times. Class by class you will move from the ancient world through the years until you read this in the 21st century.
Secondly, when you read this message, you will feel better. You will finally understand why you are here. We didn't come to save the world. There is nothing to save him from. He's safe. And what you see around is virtual reality, this world does not exist. This is a training program. And we study at school to become Gods. And some (Gods) came to teach us. And this school is universal. We can not only see history, watch how others learn, gain experience in the bodies of different living beings, but also experience all types of pain so that we can refuse to inflict it. We come to know all the laws of the universe, karma. And then learn how to create and maintain worlds. Like any school, there are teachers here. Gurus or prophets or enlightened ones. They are all here to help us master all the sciences of the universe, to grow us into perfect ones.
