Everyone who has read the Holy Gospel knows that Jesus Christ, being the only begotten son of God, was incarnated as a man from the Holy Spirit, who descended on the Virgin Mary.
His life and ministry are described in sufficient detail by the evangelists. But his death and subsequent Resurrection is what was predicted in the Old Testament. Why did this have to happen? How did all the cause and effect come together so that all the predictions about Jesus Christ came true?
These are very difficult questions. To answer them, you need to turn to the only truthful source - the Holy Gospel.
The reason why Jesus Christ was crucified
Photo: Flickr.com
The Gospel of Matthew says:
At that time they had a famous prisoner called Barabbas;
So, when they had gathered, Pilate said to them: whom do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus, who is called Christ?
for he knew that they had betrayed Him out of envy.
While he was sitting in the judgment seat, his wife sent him to say: Do not do anything to the Righteous One, because now in a dream I have suffered a lot for Him.
But the chief priests and elders stirred up the people to ask Barabbas and to destroy Jesus. Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 27:15–26)
That is, the reason is clearly indicated to us: out of envy.
The people who listened to Christ's sermons when he taught him in the temple accepted his teaching with their hearts. It was so true that people were willing to go any distance to hear His preaching. They followed Jesus, listening to Him and accepting him as the Messiah. In addition, all those miracles that he showed people, healing the sick, raising the dead, feeding thousands of people with five loaves, indicated that he was not just another preacher, but exactly who he calls himself - the Son of God.
Because of his activities, the scribes and Pharisees lost their influence before our eyes, and, therefore, their income. The opportunity to increase their storehouses, decorate their robes, recline at feasts and sit in synagogues floated away from them. Now it was not them, but Jesus Christ who were greeted by the people's assemblies. He was called the Teacher, not the scribes and Pharisees. This was precisely the reason that envy and anger strangled the former authorities for the people.
And since the scribes and Pharisees lived among the people for many years, knew their weaknesses and vices, which they themselves instilled in the people, it was not difficult for them to press on the right strings.
The Lord saw everything in advance, he knew about his fate, but gave the Jews the right to choose between good and evil. And they chose a cross for him, shouting in unison “Crucify, crucify.”
Envy and malice are the reasons indicated in the Gospel itself that led Jesus Christ to Calvary.
Jesus Christ was crucified in an attempt to destroy Christianity
The birth of Jesus Christ was planned by God from the creation of the world. It's hard for us to imagine, but God saw everything that would happen to the world from the very beginning. And He, of course, knew what would happen to His son, Jesus Christ. The coming of Jesus Christ into this world is not an accidental event. But the actions of God's enemies are quite predictable. If you have read the Old Testament story of Moses or seen the movie, you will know that due to Pharaoh's order, all Jewish boys were to be killed immediately after birth:
The Egyptians made life miserable for the Israelites by forcing them to backbreaking work with bricks and mortar and toil in the fields. They brutally forced the Israelites to work hard no matter what they did. There were two midwives there who helped the Israeli women during childbirth. One of them was called Shifra, and the other Pua. The Egyptian king told the midwives: “When you help the Jews during childbirth, and when a girl is born, leave her alive, but when a boy is born, kill him!” (Exodus 1:14-16)
When Jesus Christ was born, exactly the same thing happened! King Herod issued a decree to kill all male babies because he was so afraid of losing his power. And so an angel appears to Jesus’ father Joseph to warn him and save Jesus Christ.
After they left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said: “Get up, take the Child and His Mother and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I let you know, for Herod will look for the Child to kill Him.” Joseph got up, took the Child and His Mother at night and left for Egypt. (Matthew 2:13-14)
Jesus goes to Egypt with his entire family. They remain there until the death of King Herod. After which Jesus returns to begin His missionary work. Then He turned 30 years old.
Predestination
Photo: School.orthpatr.ru
But, as already said, the death of Christ was predetermined from the beginning; he had to die in order to cheat death. It was a way to cure humanity of original sin. The Lord knew what he had to endure in order to atone for the sins of mankind. That’s why he calls himself the son of man, emphasizing that he will suffer like a man, but having died, he will be resurrected.
And thus, to every person consisting of flesh and blood, God gave hope that resurrection awaits him, but at the same time, the main thing is to preserve his immortal soul from sin. That is why believers do not lose heart when reading the description of the terrible torment of the Lord. They just have to prevent them from happening again. But every time people sin, they again send Jesus Christ to the cross, making his atoning sacrifice meaningless.
Christ was crucified because He equated Himself with God
Jesus told them, “My Father is always working, so I must also work.” And the Jews began to look even more persistently for an opportunity to kill Jesus, for He not only violated the Sabbath law, but also called God His Father, thereby equating Himself with God. (John 5:17-18)
Why were the Jews looking for an opportunity to kill Jesus Christ? In the Bible passage above, we see that they were very upset that Jesus equated Himself with God. No one, according to the Jews, could consider himself God. But they missed one thing - Jesus did not equate Himself with God, He was God and proved it with His entire life. God descended to earth, taking on the form of a man, to explain in human language what He wants from all mankind. To show through the life of Jesus Christ what kind of life anyone who wants to do the truth and be with God should lead. This touched the Jews very much. It was so touching that they crucified the Son of God with their own hands. By the way, Jews around the world still do not recognize Jesus Christ as the messiah and are still awaiting the coming of the messiah.
The people did not wait for the Messiah
Photo: Radiovera.ru
Why did those people who followed the Lord in crowds, saw the miracles that He performed for them, suddenly turn away from him so easily? Why didn’t they shout down the crowd that was sending Him to death?
Perhaps, and this is one of the versions, He did not live up to their expectations. The Jews believed that He was the Messiah who would become a leader, free Israel from the power of the pagans, make it great and the whole world would respect their state. But instead of taking power from King Herod by force and expelling the Romans who enslaved the Israelites, Christ called the Jews to repentance and prayer. He preached humility and mercy, not war and violence.
As a result: those who a few days ago at the entrance to Jerusalem shouted “Hosanna to the son of David”, a few days later shouted “Crucify, crucify Him!” at the palace of the governor Pontius Pilate.
Don't look for the answer on the Internet
Why does the Orthodox Church recommend this approach? The fact is that any person trying to live a spiritual life necessarily reflects on the meaning of the events associated with the earthly life of Christ, on the meaning of His sermons and apostolic epistles. If a person moves in the right direction, then the meaning, the hidden subtext of Scripture is gradually revealed to him. But attempts to combine into one knowledge and understanding accumulated by all spiritual people and those trying to be them, gave the usual result: how many people - so many opinions. For every, even the most insignificant issue, so many understandings and assessments were revealed that, as an inevitability, the need arose to analyze and summarize all this information. The result was the following picture: several people necessarily covered the same topic absolutely, almost word for word, in the same way. Having traced the pattern, it was easy to notice that the opinions exactly coincided among a certain kind of people. Usually these were saints, theologians who chose monasticism or simply led a particularly strict life, more attentive than other people to their thoughts and actions. Purity of thoughts and feelings made them open to communication with the Holy Spirit. That is, they all received information from one source.
The discrepancies arose from the fact that, after all, no person is perfect. No one can escape the influence of evil, which will certainly tempt and try to mislead a person. Therefore, in Orthodoxy it is customary to consider as truth the opinion confirmed by the majority of the Holy Fathers. Single assessments that do not coincide with the vision of the majority can be safely attributed to personal conjectures and misconceptions.
Epistle of Peter
The Apostle Peter also speaks about the death of Jesus Christ in his letter. He provides evidence that Christ also suffered for the sins of people, being a righteous man, in order to bring unrighteous people to God.
Have a good conscience, so that those for whom you are slandered as evildoers may be put to shame by those who reproach your good life in Christ.
For, if the will of God pleases, it is better to suffer for good deeds than for evil ones;
because Christ, in order to lead us to God, once suffered for our sins, the righteous for the unjust, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit,
to whom He and the spirits in prison, having descended, preached
1 Peter 3 verse 18
It is better to ask a priest about everything related to religion
For a person who has just begun to be interested in such issues, the best solution would be to turn to a priest for help. He will be able to recommend literature that is suitable for a beginner. You can seek such help from the nearest temple or spiritual educational center. In such institutions, priests have the opportunity to devote a sufficient amount of time and attention to the issue. It is more correct to look for the answer to the question “Why was Jesus Christ crucified?” exactly this way. There is simply no clear answer to it, and independent attempts to seek clarification from the Fathers are dangerous, since they wrote mainly for monks.
At least see
Trying to erase every memory of Christ, the pagans covered Calvary and the Holy Sepulcher with earth. But at the beginning of the 4th century, the holy Queen Helen, Equal to the Apostles, arrived in Jerusalem to find the Cross of the Lord. She tried unsuccessfully for a long time to find out where Jesus Christ was crucified. An old Jew named Judas helped her, telling her that on the site of Golgotha there was now a temple of Venus.
After excavations, three similar crosses were discovered. To find out which of them Christ was crucified on, the crosses were applied one by one to the body of the deceased person. From the touch of the Life-Giving Cross this man came to life. A huge number of Christians wanted to venerate the shrine, so they had to raise the Cross up (erect it) so that people could at least see it from afar. This event occurred in 326. In memory of him, Orthodox Christians celebrate a holiday on September 27, which is called: The Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord.
In our time, Golgotha is a part of a rock whose height is 5 meters
During the construction of temples in Byzantium at the holy burial place of Christ, the mountain was razed and the rock was exposed. It was equipped with a staircase, and a golden Cross was installed at the top. You had to climb 28 steps up this staircase, making sure to take off your shoes.
17 steps
lead to Golgotha from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher
Nowadays, a very steep staircase of 17 steps leads to Calvary from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Naturally, the holy place does not look the same as in New Testament times. Now this is an elevation, the height of which is 5 meters above the floor level, and the peak of Mount Golgotha in its modern version has a size of 11.45/9 25 meters.
Stairs from the street leading to Golgotha. It is rarely used nowadays
Golgotha acquired its modern appearance in 1808. Currently, in addition to the staircase from the street, which is practically not used, access to Golgotha is provided through two more staircases. The right one, immediately from the doors of the temple, leads to the Catholic chapel, the left, from the side of the Catholicon, leads to the main, Orthodox chapel.
4.5 meters
is the height of the platform into which Golgotha is turned
In modern times, Golgotha has been converted into a platform 4.5 meters high and 11.5 × 9.25 meters in area. It forms, as it were, one single temple, which is divided by two massive columns into two naves.
The left belongs to the Orthodox, the right to the Catholics. In the Orthodox nave there is a throne made of pink marble, one meter high. In front of it is a hole lined with a silver circle. The Cross of the Lord was placed in it.
Part of the top (to the right of the Orthodox throne) is covered with glass. During construction work, the hill that covered Golgotha was razed. The rock itself was placed in the temple complex of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Nowadays it rises above the floor by only 4.5 meters
The entire surface of the rock is covered with a marble floor, only to the right and left of the throne, in the glazed openings, you can see the gray stone of the “living” Golgotha and the crack that passed through the entire rock as a result of the earthquake at the time of the Savior’s death:
Mf. 27, 51
“And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom; and the earth shook; and the stones dissipated."
In the Catholic nave there is a silver altar, originally intended for the Stone of Confirmation. Due to friction between denominations, the Franciscans were forced to place it in the right aisle of Golgotha, which belonged to them.
Calvary
Where was Jesus Christ crucified? Turning again to the Gospel, one can be convinced that all four “biographers” of the Savior unanimously point to one place - Golgotha, or the Place of Execution. This is a hill outside the city walls of Jerusalem.
Another difficult question: who crucified Christ? Would it be correct to answer this way: the centurion Longinus and his colleagues are Roman soldiers. They drove nails into the hands and feet of Christ, Longinus pierced the already cooling Body of the Lord with a spear. But the order was given by Pontius Pilate. Does this mean he crucified the Savior? But Pilate tried in every possible way to persuade the Jewish people to let Jesus go, since he had already been punished, being beaten, and “no guilt” was found in Him worthy of a terrible execution.
The procurator gave the order under pain of losing not only his place, but also, possibly, his life itself. After all, the accusers argued that Christ threatened the power of the Roman emperor. It turns out that the Jewish people crucified their Savior? But the Jews were deceived by the high priests and their false witnesses. So after all, who crucified Christ? The honest answer would be: all these people together executed an innocent person.
Modern Golgotha is divided into three Altars
If you take a photo of modern Golgotha, you can see that it is divided into three parts:
- Altar of the Crucifixion;
- Altar of Nails;
- Altar "Stabat Mater".
A silver circle under the Orthodox throne of Golgotha marks the place where the Cross of the Lord stood.
It is placed in the Altar of the Crucifixion. In the Altar you can also touch the stone of Golgotha. The location of the Holy Cross in our time is the Altar of the Crucifixion. It is part of the Greek part of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. At the bottom of the altar lies a throne with an open gap left so that pilgrims and pilgrims could touch the very place where the cross with the Son of God stood.
3 altars
placed on Golgotha in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher
Sermons in this place, together with the Greeks, are sometimes conducted by Russian clergy. The Altar of the Crucifixion is the site of the XII station of the Way of the Cross or, as they also say, the path of Chrytus to Golgotha (Via Dolorosa).
The place where the soldiers took off Christ’s robe and nailed Him to the Cross is located to the right of the place of the crucifixion and it is called the Altar of the Horse. It belongs to the Catholic Church.
The X and XI stations of the Way of the Cross take place here. As for the third Altar, it is called Stabat Mater. It belongs to the Catholic Church and according to legend, the Virgin Mary stood here when her son was crucified. This is the 13th stage of the Via Dolorosa.
Adam's Chapel of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The chapel is located at the bottom of the Temple. According to legend, the body of the forefather Adam was buried under Calvary
Approximately 300 meters from the site of Christ’s crucifixion, the site of the Holy Women is marked. From here, as the Savior predicted, his close friends watched from afar as he met death. This place is called "Spudius".
Spudius
the place where the Savior's close friends watched him meet death
A monastery and a chapel named after the Mother of God were built here. In addition, at the bottom of the temple there is a Chapel of the Head of Adam. According to legend, the crucifixion of the Son of God took place in the place where Adam’s body lay and, as it is written in the Bible, Christ washed the remains of our forefather with his blood.
Since Adam's burial place was hidden from human eyes, it was not previously a place of worship.
