События в четвертом столетии первого тысячелетия

After his admiration to the heights and teaching from the angel, Seth, telling his father and mother about what he saw there, began to draw on the earth the location of the heavens and the likeness of the planets - the sun, moon and stars, as well as their courses. Having done this, he began to invent writing, which was finally completed after him by his son Enos and was subsequently called Hebrew. And thus the astronomy and book teaching began from Seth, who, together with his father Adam, worked hard to depict this on stone in order to enlighten subsequent generations (George Kedrin, Cyrus Dorotheus of Monem-Vasi and other chronographers). Saint Theophylact, Archbishop of Bulgaria, who lived in 1070 after the Nativity of Christ, in the days of the Greek king Romanus Diogenes, in the preface to the Gospel of Matthew writes the following: “Those Divine men who lived before the law did not learn on the basis of scriptures and books, but, having a pure mind, were enlightened by the illumination of the All-Holy Spirit and, thus, recognized the commandments of God, for Himself God spoke to them mouth to mouth. Such were Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Job and Moses. When people became vicious and unworthy of being enlightened and taught by the Holy Spirit, the humane God gave the scriptures, so that, thanks to them, they would remember the commandments of God.” According to Saint Theophylact, it seems that there were no books from Adam and even to Moses. But since the ancient Greek chronograph of Constantinople Georgiy Kedrin, who was not many years older than Theophylact and lived during the reign of Isaac Komnenos, and after him other Greek and our Russian chronographers all agreed that Hebrew writings originated from Seth, the son of Adam, it therefore seems that their, like many others, stories are not true: usually faith is given to many rather than alone. And in foreign chronicles it is written that book writings originate from Seth. In addition, George Kedrin wrote this: in the year from the beginning of the world 2585 (after the flood in 342), Cainan, the son of Arphaxad and the grandson of Shem, and Noah’s great-grandson, found somewhere in the field the writing of the giants who lived before the flood; From this it clearly follows that books were written before the flood. The same can be seen from the following. The holy Apostle Jude in his letter recalls the prophecy of the holy forefather Enoch, who lived before the flood, which speaks of the coming of the Lord for judgment: “Behold, the Lord will come in the shadows of His holy angels to execute judgment on all” (Jude 1:14–15) and so on. This prophecy of Enoch was preached not only by the mouth of Enoch, but (according to reliable legends) it was written by him in a book; for how would it have been known to the generations following the flood if it had not been written down in a book? During the flood, Noah kept that book of Enoch with him in the ark, and thus the generations that multiplied after the flood became aware of Enoch’s prophecy. The church writers who talk about this and are worthy of trust are the following: Tertullian, who lived during the reign of Severovo, who reigned at the beginning of the third century after the Nativity of Christ; Clement of Alexandria, presbyter and contemporary of Tertullian, and Jerome presbyter, who was during the reign of Theodosius the Great. And Saint Athanasius the Great in his Synopsis, just like those, says that the book of Enoch’s prophecy was preserved by Noah from the flood and passed on to his descendants. Consequently, writing began from ancient times from the time of the first forefathers who were before the flood, and precisely from Seth, the son of Adam. And that Saint Theophylact tells that the ancient forefathers were not enlightened by books, is it for this reason that he says that in those times when the simplest peoples lived in heaven, the writings were few and the books had not yet multiplied, except that one book of Enoch, which we talked about. Moses was the first multiplier of the scriptures, since he wrote five books. But how could he write books if he had not first learned this from others? If he learned from another, then it is clear that before him there was book writing. However, we do not contradict Saint Theophylact, nor do we accuse his former narrators of untruth, but we cited the opinions of him and them here for the sake of knowledge; whoever wants to, let him reason for himself as he understands, and believe whomever he wants. It is also known that Adam and Seth, according to the wisdom and understanding given to them by God, arranged the year into days, weeks and months and taught people how to maintain the annual cycle, counting days, weeks, months and years. At the same time, Cain, having given birth to children in the country to which he fled, had his first son, named Enoch, in whose name he later created the city of Enochia in Syria, near the mountains of Lebanon, when the family of his son multiplied. Enoch, the son of Cain, gave birth to Gaidad; Gaidad begat Maleleel; Maleleel begat Methuselah; Methuselah begat Lamech, a bigamist and murderer; Lamech gave birth, and so on. Know, reader, that when you read in the Cain tribe the names of Enoch, Maleleel, Methuselah and Lamech, do not think that they are the same who a little later were born into the righteous offspring of Seth and were righteous, but although they are of the same name, they are different and unpleasing. For there are many sinners of the same name with the righteous, and righteous people of the same name with the sinners, but an honest name does not make a person righteous and holy if his life is corrupt, just as a dishonest name does not make a man dishonorable and sinful if his life is virtuous. In the face of the apostles there were two Judas: one Iscariot, and the other not Iscariot. Both have the same name, but their lives are different. One is a traitor, and the other is a preacher of the name of Jesus Christ; one is an adversary, and the other is the brother of the Lord according to the flesh; one hanged himself and died, and the other, having suffered for Christ, was awarded a heavenly crown. There were two before the flood and Enoch: one was the son of Cain, and the other was from the family of Seth. Cain moved into hell with his father, and Seth's Enoch was raptured into heaven. There were two Lamechs: one in the sinner's generation, and the other in the Christ's generation. The one who belonged to a sinful race was the first bigamist in heaven, and the other pleased God and was the father of Noah and a prophet, as history will later talk about him. Here you can think about our Christian namesake: we are all called Christians in the name of Christ, but not all of us please Christ. We were baptized in the name of Christ, but we work not for Christ, but for our own lusts: “For if anyone is overcome, he works for this” (2 Pet. 2:19), says the holy Apostle Peter. But Christ Our Lord Himself said in the Gospel: “He who commits sin is the slave of sin” (John 8:34). And there are many among us who only bear the Christian name, but by deeds brush it aside, and they are not Christ’s, but belong to the devil, as St. John the Theologian says: “Whoever commits sin is of the devil” (1 John 3:8). In this way, the words of Christ spoken in the Apocalypse to the angel of the Sardinian Church come true: “The name of the Lord is as if he were alive and yet dead” (Apoc. 3:1). Hearken, O man, enlightened by holy baptism! You have a Christian name, which marks you for eternal life, but by your deeds you are preparing for yourself eternal death in hell. A Christian in name, but a pagan in deeds; an angel by name, but a demon by life; a man in the image, but a beast of a fierce disposition; animated and at the same time soulless, neglecting the salvation of your soul: “The name of Imasha is alive, but you are dead.” Spare your soul, spare the Christian name, so that through you the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, may not be blasphemed; but correct yourself by repentance and show yourself through good deeds as a living and true Christian, so that your life may be according to your name. You might be interested in: