Заключение. ΧΙХ век в религиозном отношении

The above overview of the church history of individual peoples of the East and West gives a fairly vivid picture of the church and religious life of the Christian world during the 19th century. We can only summarize its individual features in a brief description of the religious state of the past century. Although the division into centuries is something conventional and artificial, each century bears a bright stamp of individuality, sharply distinguishing it from others. The 19th century bears the same stamp, which in religious terms differs sharply from the century that preceded it and, moreover, in a sense favorable to religion. The 18th century, in essence, was a century of violent negation in both the political and religious spheres, and with its ideas, developed on the basis of superficial enlightenment, it shook all the foundations of both spiritual and material life. The leading heralds of these ideas thought of making a radical revolution in the history of mankind, freeing it from the religious and political bonds that bound it, which, moreover, seemed to them no stronger than a web spread by convention, routine and self-interest. Reality, however, soon showed them that the foundations of human life, developed and strengthened over centuries, were not as easily destroyed as they thought, and therefore a reaction was inevitable, which began with the dawn of the 19th century and, despite some fluctuations in the middle, gave the main tone to its entire history. Hence, if the 19th century is compared in religious terms with the 18th century that preceded it, then, in general, it will turn out to be more religious. The 18th century - the time of the deists and sensationalism of Locke in England, the encyclopedists and Voltaire in France, the rationalist enlightenment in Germany - significantly cooled religious feeling in Europe and alienated the European peoples from the Christian Church. The French Revolution, as the evil child of these ideas, created a rupture between society and religion, because of its hostility towards the Roman Catholic clergy and the pope, it opposed religion itself, and even used the freedom it proclaimed for the state suppression of Christianity in France. Since the beginning of the 19th century, the situation has changed greatly. Religion again began to assume its importance everywhere in Europe. In England, little by little, the dominance of materialistic philosophy weakened and then completely disappeared, the influence of the deists fell, and the church, in the person of its clergy, strong in its enlightenment, again regained its former power over the minds. An extraordinary zeal for the cause of religion and Christianity was awakened, and the foundation of such religious and educational societies as the British and Foreign Bible Society, as well as large missionary societies for the spread of the Gospel throughout the world, clearly indicated the restoration of the importance of religion in England with the advent of the 19th century. Although in England even after this there was no shortage of opponents of Christianity, and many adherents of the philosophical theories of Spencer and Mill and the naturalistic ideas of Darwin understood them in a sense hostile to Christianity, these ideas were no longer able to shake the strong devotion of the English people to religion, which to this day remains an important factor in its history and life. The same revolution took place in France. There, too, a reaction began against extreme unbelief, a new religious enthusiasm appeared, and a turn was made in the minds to the old religious convictions. Chateaubriand, De Mestre, Lamennay, Lacordaire, Lamartine - these are the outstanding persons who mainly contributed to this return of the French people to the faith. True, in France, new opponents of Christianity later emerged, especially in the person of the founders of positivism, such as Auguste Comte and Littre, as well as the leaders of socialism and communism, and the educated French classes in general, due to the hostile cultural tendencies of the Roman Catholic clergy and especially the Jesuits, who were in a hurry to seize spiritual power into their own hands, were far from on friendly terms with the Roman Catholic Church, but through it thanks to a hasty conclusion and to Christianity itself, but if we take the French people in general, then they remained faithful to their church and with their devotion to it caused a lot of trouble and difficulty to the frivolously liberalizing government. We see the same in Germany. Behind the religious cooling of the 18th century. At the beginning of the 19th century there followed a strong religious upsurge, which was greatly facilitated by the liberation wars against Napoleon I. These wars mainly revived religious feeling among the German people. The great religious systems that appeared at the beginning of the century, such as those of Kant, Fichte, Schelling and Hegel, as well as the ideas of later theistic philosophers in general - Herbert, Fichte the Younger, Lotze and others, were favorably disposed towards the Christian religion. Of course, in Germany there was no shortage of philosophers and naturalists who were hostile to Christianity, such as Schopenhauer, Hartmann, Nietzsche, Buchner, Haeckel, but their influence was limited only to the so-called “intelligentsia”, and they could not weaken the religious faith of the German people themselves. An obvious indicator of the religious revival in Germany in the 19th century is the flourishing of theological science there, the countless religious and charitable societies, and the zeal that the Germans generally showed for the spread of Christianity and the Bible throughout the world. The rest of Europe and America followed what happened in England, France and Germany, since these countries set the tone for the entire civilized world. Therefore, among them too, in general, the same phenomena are noticed, a return to old religious beliefs, although there was no shortage of opponents of Christianity. The fight against Christianity turned out to be powerless. Religion is obviously deeply rooted in the human being, and Christianity represents the complete satisfaction of all the inner and noblest needs of the human spirit, and therefore all efforts of the enemies of Christianity to weaken and overthrow it are in vain. The main reason for this turn in the consciousness of modern humanity towards religion and Christianity, undoubtedly, was the feeling of horror at the furies that marked the French Revolution. Since the furies and horrors of the end of the 18th century were the direct fruit of that godless freethinking, which was preached as the new gospel of enlightened humanism, the peoples, having tasted of this bitter fruit, instinctively tried to get rid of the confused state and looked for strong foundations of life - in religion and the church. That is why the 19th century began with a strong reaction in favor of the rights of trampled Christianity, and since in the West its most important representative was the papacy, the latter, through the combined efforts of the European powers, who broke the stormy power of Prometheus of the past century (Napoleon I), was restored in its rights. This beneficial reaction was also revealed in Protestantism, where in place of cold and superficially soulless rationalism a new spirit of religious sentiment breathed in, as it manifested itself especially in the pietistic-romantic movement of the first quarter of the century. But the most significant event of the 19th century was the appearance of a new factor in the history of the Christian civilized world, namely Orthodox Russia, with its ideals rooted in the deepest foundations of Christianity, which at the beginning of the century were put forward on the banner of pan-European politics, when it was its crowned leader Alexander I the Blessed, who freed Europe from the yoke of the son of revolution and the turmoil he caused, who put forward the idea of a “sacred union” as an expression of brotherly love Christian peoples on the common basis of their faith. These factors outlined the path for the further course of the church-religious and social-state life of the century, and if they were carried out consistently, there was hope for the complete pacification of suffering humanity on the unshakable principles of Christianity. But the world lies in evil, and this hope was not destined to be realized: the old leaven of false principles of church and religious development in the West did not fail to affect itself in a number of new sad phenomena that characterize the further history of the 19th century, namely the development of extreme ultramontanism in Roman Catholicism on the one hand and rationalism in Protestantism - with their bitter fruits, poisoning and corrupting the modern life of Western European Christendom and often planting harmful seeds on the soil of the Orthodox East. On the other hand, the very consciousness of the bitterness of these fruits serves as a natural incentive to seek more true church-religious principles, which the best consciousness of modern humanity begins to see again in the Orthodox East, from where the light of Christianity first shone and where the torch of Orthodoxy, immutable in its truth, still burns. The 19th century witnessed many such attempts (on the part of the Anglicans, Old Catholics and some parties in Protestantism) and in them lies the guarantee of further movement in this direction in the future. If thus, in church-religious terms, the 19th century, despite many vicissitudes and turmoil caused by outbreaks of the spirit of anti-churchism and anti-Christianity, ultimately came to a better understanding of the meaning of religion, then this is even more true in relation to the internal side of Christianity, which could not help but be appreciated as a great moral force even by those who were not able to understand its ecclesiastical side (like Harnack, Tolstoy and others). That is why the influence and significance of Christianity was particularly strong in the life of the 19th century with the amazing flourishing of various institutions that embodied the spirit of Christianity. The proof of this 402 is undoubtedly: 1) countless charitable societies and philanthropic institutions that decorate all the large cities of Europe and America, which in itself testifies to how much Christian love, which constitutes the essence of all Christianity, is alive in the hearts of Christians of the 19th century. None of the previous centuries can compare with the 19th in this respect. Never before has human misery found such relief in Christian countries as in the last century. Proof of this true Christian love for mankind is the fact that during this period the trade in slaves, which in former times was carried out in the most inhumane manner, was prohibited in all Christian states, and in general slavery itself ceased wherever the power of European nations reaches. 2) Prosperity of theological sciences. Although theological sciences had their main focus in Germany, they were also developed in all other Christian countries, Orthodox, Protestant and Roman Catholic. Never before, in any century, has the clergy achieved such a high level of education as in the 19th century. Although the Orthodox Eastern clergy, due to various unfavorable circumstances in which many peoples of the Orthodox East found themselves, did not have the opportunity to follow their Western brethren, they, however, showed very significant success in this regard, especially in Russia. Never before has Holy Scripture been examined with such care and studied so comprehensively; never has the history of the church been developed with such tireless diligence and given such brilliant results; never have the dogmas of Christianity, its morality, its rituals, its forms of government and the very essence of religion in general been studied in all their forms with such thoroughness as in the last century. 3) Jealousy for the spread of Christianity. And before, Christian churches cared about the spread of the Christian faith in non-Christian countries. But what they did previously for this purpose cannot be compared with what the Christian churches accomplished on a grand scale in the 19th century. In this century the number of Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Protestant missionary societies operating for this purpose has been astonishing. Thousands of missionaries of various churches worked with unparalleled dedication in all countries of the world - in Asia, Africa, America and Australia, and many died for their faith. Millions of rubles were spent annually by missionary societies on the Christian education of pagans. The fruits of all these labors and sacrifices were, unfortunately, not very great, because savages, uncivilized or semi-civilized peoples, not having the opportunity to rise to the heights of Christianity and only with difficulty understanding the spirituality of Christian teaching, prefer their sensual pagan religions to it, as more consistent with their base spiritual development and mixed with various superstitious ideas, and do not willingly accept the Gospel. It is difficult for savages to understand the invisible spiritual God proclaimed by Christian missionaries, our Heavenly Father, revealed in Christ - they do not understand the worship of God in spirit and truth without external sacrifices. They cannot rise to the idea of ​​universal love, brotherhood and the equality of all people as sons of God - an equality that does not tolerate slavery and considers a woman equal to a man, prohibits her oppression and polygamy characteristic of the pagans, just as they do not understand those spiritual benefits that are associated with the Christian promise in the future life. They want visible and tangible gods, prefer external worship in the form of sacrifice, love slavery, polygamy and sensual paradise. However, many millions of pagans in India, Japan, China, Africa and Australia have already been converted to Christianity. This magnificent activity loudly testifies to the Christian zeal of the peoples of Europe and America in the 19th century. 4) The same is evidenced, finally, by the establishment of more peaceful and friendly relations between Christians of various churches during this time. Previously, strong hostility reigned between churches of different faiths, and ardent fanaticism, contrary to the spirit of Christianity, filled the hearts of everyone, in complete contradiction with the tolerant and loving spirit of the teachings of Christ; terrible religious wars, in which Christian blood flowed in torrents, were a disgrace for Christian peoples. In the nineteenth century, on the contrary, under the influence of general progress, and also because the tolerant and humane spirit of the Gospel was better understood, religious persecution ceased, and more peaceful and friendly relations were established between the various churches. If we exclude the Roman Church, which even at that time, due to the lust for power of its leaders and the fanatical Jesuits serving them, did not cease by all means to achieve the subjugation of other churches, then we can say that Christians of all churches sought a peaceful rapprochement among themselves. And this especially needs to be said about the Orthodox, Anglicans and Old Catholics, who persistently support serious negotiations for mutual communication and reunification, which cannot be considered impossible or incredible, if we take into account the cordial friendliness that has already been established between these churches. These truly Christian feelings of representatives of various churches do special honor to the Christian world of the 19th century. All of the above testifies to the power of influence of the Christian religion on the civilized peoples of the 19th century. Various opponents of Christianity, of course, tried to weaken this force in various countries. Such opponents in different countries were socialists, communists and anarchists who sought to overthrow the Christian religion - this main support of social order - and in general all those spiritually crippled people who want to turn the modern world into chaos, from which, as they absurdly think, a new, much better and more perfect world should arise. Christianity was also opposed by some naturalists who, in the name of natural science, found it possible to deny God and spirit in general and consider only matter to truly exist. But all these opponents of the Christian religion were not able to undermine the religious beliefs of Christian peoples. On the contrary, they only provided an occasion for famous learned theologians to come out with serious apologetic works in favor of Christianity, in which, on the one hand, it was proven that all opponents of Christianity, in essence, achieve the unreasonable and impossible and, speaking against Christianity, are enemies of the human race; and on the other hand, that the natural sciences and those philosophical theories that rely exclusively on natural science cannot resolve religious and metaphysical questions. This was brilliantly proven by such famous representatives of natural science as Dubois-Reymond and Virchow, 403 who showed that the competence of the natural sciences is limited to the field of physical phenomena, and therefore cannot extend to Christianity, which, with its great and beneficial fruits, has proven all the beneficial influence of its influence on humanity. It became clear to everyone who understands the matter that religion is the deepest need of the human soul, that it is deeply rooted in it, and that Christianity represents the fullest realization of the spiritual needs of man. Just as a person will never cease to be a spiritually intelligent being, to have moral ideas and to love the beautiful, so he will never cease to feel the need for religion: he will always have the need to lift his mind and his heart to God, worship Him, and find from Him moral support in temptation, consolation in misfortune and reinforcement in everyday struggle. Christianity is an unconditional religion, a religion in its most perfect form, which best satisfies spiritual needs. The hostile attacks of various opponents of Christianity have only shown that it is certainly necessary even from the point of view of the current culture, which, despite all efforts to renounce its true primary source - Christianity, in reality owes everything to Christianity and without it will be like a tree without roots. This is the consciousness of all the best representatives of true culture, and one can only wish and hope that this view, having passed beyond the turn of the 20th century, will become increasingly widespread - as true spiritual enlightenment spreads in modern humanity. This is the general picture of the state of the Christian world at the turn of two centuries. As with everything earthly, there is no shortage of light and shadows. And if, in view of many sad phenomena of the present time, revealing new encroachments on the part of the dark forces of sin on the source of the spiritual good of mankind - on religion, Christianity, the church - one cannot help but mourn the division of the Christian world, then on the other hand, many signs show that now within the main faiths a sincere desire for mutual communication in the love of Christ is increasingly awakening for a joint struggle against the spirit of this world, and in this, undoubtedly, lies a new guarantee of fulfillment the immutable promise of the Lord Christ to his Church that even the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Wed. article by Athens prof. Diomede Cyriacus in the International Theological Journal for April-June 1901. The recently celebrated (in September 1901) Virchow's anniversary, which brought together the best representatives of natural science from all countries of the civilized world to Berlin to honor the open and most powerful opponent of Darwinism, clearly showed what views currently prevail in the circles of the highest and most famous representatives of the natural sciences. These views have nothing in common with Darwinism and crude materialism in the sense of Haeckel and others.