События в первом столетии третьего тысячелетия

This summer we did not find anything outstanding from what had happened in heaven, except for the painful domination of giants over people, among whom, according to the legend of Kedrin, from the time of their appearance until the flood there were up to two hundred princes. Of these, the tenth was a prince named Azail. He invented the art of making swords, armor and all kinds of military weapons for battle; He also began to extract gold and silver ore from the ground. Like him, each of the other princes invented something new and taught it to others: one was some kind of magic, another was predictions, another was casting spells and other unpleasing deeds with which they collected the wrath of God for themselves. One evil man Hazael invented two evils: weapons and gold and silver. With the invention of weapons, he helped rage and anger, and with gold and silver he pleased human voluptuousness. The weapons of war are strength and bloodshed; in gold and silver is the insatiability of the heart and the multiplication of sorrows. The body is killed by weapons, and the soul is killed by voluptuousness, but both are evil. Evil is a weapon-bearing language, since it is disgusting to human nature. Our nature was created by God not for war, but for meekness, in the likeness of the meekness of the nature of God. The Creator did not give him horns, like young men (a bull, an ox), with which to butt each other, nor great teeth, like wild boars, with which to bite someone and eat them, nor sharp claws, like lions, with which to torment and tear apart, for, besides all this, he must be meek, peaceful, non-hostile, unvengeful, kindly and friendly. Raising weapons against each other and engaging in warfare is not a matter of meekness, but of rage, not of peace, but discord, not of kindness, but of vengeance, not of love, but of enmity, and a matter of such a thing that nothing can be more bitter in the heavenly realms. For enmity comes from the devil, who, according to Christ, “is a murderer from time immemorial” (John 8:44). Evil is weapons and war, for they are the opposite of the commandment of God, who says: “Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13). God created man to live, but war deprives him of life. God, by His good pleasure, limited human life to a certain time, but war interrupts this time, destroys the limit of life and ahead of time (by God's permission) exterminates people from among those living on earth. The thing is evil, because it is opposite to the good of the world, in which kingdoms are established, cities are populated, people multiply, settlements spread, and wealth increases. But war turns all this goodness of the world into nothing, for it destroys kingdoms, ruins cities, devastates villages, plunders wealth and brings poverty, and in one hour kills a large number of people who have been born for many years. It is not in vain that David, praying to God, says: “Destroy the tongues of those who want to fight” (Ps. 67:31). Does anyone approve only of a war that is committed due to a blessed fault? For there are two types of war: one occurs in vain and unjustly offends, and the other defends itself and others from an unjust enemy attack. Unrighteous war is a mortal sin, like murder, and is subject to the judgment that God pronounced after the flood: “Shed the blood of a man, in its place his blood will be shed” (Gen. 9:6). If, through a blessed fault, a war arises in which one defends oneself and others, then such a war is not condemned as a mortal sin, but is sometimes even imputed as a manifestation of the high virtue of love, if it is waged with good intentions, in order not only to save oneself alone, but to preserve the whole fatherland from approaching enemies and to preserve not only the physical health of one’s neighbors, but also their spiritual salvation, which could be damaged if one’s compatriots fell into the hands of foreigners, which happens in Hagaryan captivity, in which Christians are forced to Hagaryan impurities, and sometimes to renounce Christ. The war that arises for such reasons has its praise in the Holy Scriptures, as the Lord Himself says: “Greater love has no one than this, but whoever lays down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). (Whoever wants a detailed discussion about such a war should turn to the debate between the Christian philosopher and the Saracens, set out in the lives of Saints Methodius and Constantine, on the 11th day of the month of May). However, even a war carried out through a blessed fault is not always sinless. Often mixed in with it are, if not mortal, then venial sins, such as, for example, the desire for revenge and vain glory. (About vengeful war, that it does not happen without sin, is written in the life of the holy martyr Arethas and others like him, as God answered through the lips of a perspicacious elder to the Ethiopian king Elezboa, who went to battle with the Jew Dunaan, wanting to take revenge on him for the shedding of Christian blood. This is written about the 24th day of the month of October.) We will say briefly that war is evil, even if it is blessed, and only out of necessity can it be good: peace and the natural meekness of human nature are better. It was not for good that the chief of the giants, Hazael, invented military weapons - for the slaughter of humans, for he multiplied the murder begun by Cain. And I think that he deserves greater condemnation and punishment than Cain, for the latter killed one person, and he, having armed many inhumans, prepared them against countless people and multiplied the bloodshed in the heavenly world. The same Hazael invented no less evil by mining gold and silver, for this is the cause of wars and murders. It is not in vain that Scripture says: “The love of money is the root of all evil things” (1 Tim. 6:10). For what sets nation against nation and kingdom against kingdom, is it not silver and gold? For every ruler, having a lot, wants even more, which is why he takes up arms, gathers forces and starts a war with neighboring countries. What motivates a thief to steal, and a robber to go out and kill innocent travelers? What motivates those in trade to lie and swear? What teaches the rich not to be merciful, to offend, to steal and rob others? What blinds the eyes of the wise and compels judges to commit unrighteous judgment? Isn't it silver and gold? Truly, it is the beginning of all evil: it prompted Judas to betray his Lord, it taught Ananias and Sapphira to lie in front of the holy apostles, it also led to the renunciation of Christ by some Christians during persecution. Let anyone who wishes to read a wonderful story about this in the book “The Irrigated Fleece,” where, after the sixth miracle, the Persian priest Paul is told how he rejected Christ for the sake of gold and cut five holy maidens with his own hand. And what kind of evil does gold and silver not cause, which the hearts of the dainty can never get enough of, for they, in the words of St. Chrysostom, would like the earth to be golden, and the walls to be golden, and even the sky and air to be made of gold! But what is the use of this when the soul is damaged? What gain is there from quickly perishing gold and silver, when for its sake eternal heavenly blessings are destroyed? Unless the one who uses it without reserve for alms will find benefit, as it is written: “The deliverance of a man’s soul is wealth to him” (Proverbs 13:8). Hellenic poets have a fable about giants, as if they all gathered together and conferred to wage war against the God who lives in heaven, and to do this they began to demolish high mountains to one place and place them one on top of the other, in this way to reach the heights of heaven. But God struck them with thunder and lightning from above and scattered the mountains with a stormy wind. Anyone who wants to know this and other similar fables should look at the first book of his Metamorphoses by the poet Ovid. Arabian history tells that the Egyptian kingdom began to exist before the flood and there were sixteen kings of Egypt before the flood. But the Greek historian Georgiy Kedrin, mentioned earlier, says that this story is not true, and therefore we will pass by in silence the untrue thing. You might be interested in: