Bible. History of creation and characteristics of individual books of the Bible

Holy Bible- a collection of books recognized by the Church as inspired, i.e. written by God's chosen people under the inspiration and revelation of the Holy Spirit. Thus, it is implied that God is the author of the Holy Scriptures, despite the fact that these texts were written by different people and at different times. The Church believes that inspiration is a supernatural act through which the Holy Spirit influences the will, mind and abilities of the human author, without, however, depriving him of the freedom inherent in the human person. The unity of the Bible is also evidenced by the common theme of all its books, which can be characterized as the history of human salvation. The Bible tells primarily about the actions of God carried out by Him for the salvation of people through agreements (covenants) concluded between Him and people; their meaning is in God's care for man and in the determination of man's duties towards God. Therefore, the two main parts of the Bible are called the Old Testament and the New Testament.
Old Testament- an agreement concluded between God and the people of Israel - was formed over almost one millennium (from the 13th to the 4th centuries BC) based on the ancient mythology of the Middle East, recording historical facts from the life of the Jewish people, describing their customs, mores and ancient rights, reflections on the meaning of life and the purpose of man. The books of the Old Testament are written in Hebrew, since the God Yahweh spoke only to the Palestinian Jews in their language (some fragments are written in Aramaic and Chaldean). A translation into Greek for Jews who lived in Greece and did not speak Hebrew (the so-called Septuagint) was carried out in the 3rd century BC.
P the order of the books of the Old Testament in the Christian Bible is different from the order of the same books in the Hebrew Bible (the Holy Scripture of Judaism, which arose in the 5th century BC); this distinction has a theological significance. The most important theme of the Jewish Bible is the history of the Jewish people, chosen by God, and its focus is the Pentateuch (Torah, or the Law that God gave to the Israelites through Moses). The second most important part is the books of the prophets (Nevi'im) - the first and subsequent ones. The third most important part of the Jewish canon is the so-called Scriptures (Ketuvim). Since the New Testament is the center of the Christian Bible, the Old Testament is seen only as a preparation for it. Therefore, in the Christian Bible, the books of the Old Testament are not built around the Torah, but are directed towards the New Testament. They are divided into a) historical (the Pentateuch is rethought as an integral part of a single historical picture of the world); b) teachers' books (or books of Wisdom); c) prophetic, which are understood primarily as a foreshadowing of Christ and therefore are located at the end of the Old Testament, forming a kind of transition to the New Testament. In total, the Catholic and Protestant editions of the Old Testament contain 39 books. The Orthodox edition of the Old Testament also contains 11 more deuterocanonical (apocryphal) books, as well as significant additions to the canonical text of the books of Esther, Daniel and the Second Book of Chronicles.
New Testament was created during the 1st - 4th centuries by Christians and for Christians, and therefore received such a name (as a new Treaty between God and Christians). The Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox editions of the New Testament contain the same 27 books. These are the 4 Gospels (from the Greek "good news"), the Acts of the Holy Apostles (authored by Luke), 21 Epistles of the Apostles and St. Paul, as well as the Revelation of John the Theologian (or the Apocalypse). The New Testament was written in ancient Greek
M Many texts were not canonized and did not enter the Bible at all as being unclear in origin, too contradictory and not entirely consistent with generally accepted canons (the so-called apocrypha). These include, for example, about 50 different Gospels, several apocalypses, deeds, epistles, letters and various fragments, including the Logia - 14 sayings of Christ, discovered at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries.

The bible, the main sacred text of Christianity, is a collection of dozens of sacred books canonized by the church, created at different times, by different authors, and even in different religions. The complex composition of the Bible is reflected in its title; The word "bible" is Greek in origin and literally means "books". The time of creation of biblical texts covers a period of about one and a half millennia: the oldest texts date back approximately to the 13th - 12th centuries. BC e., and the latest books were written in the II century. n. e. The composition of the Bible is not uniform; already in early Christianity, its division into two parts was accepted - the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Old Testament includes sacred texts created during the formation and establishment of a monotheistic religion among the Jewish people, called Judaism. Thus, by origin, this part of the Bible is not Christian, and before the coming of Christ, the Old Testament books functioned as the sacred texts of Judaism. According to a number of historical information contained in these books, the time of creation of the earliest of them dates back to no earlier than the 14th - 13th centuries. BC e., and the latest - II century. BC e. The final canonization of the books of the Old Testament was carried out in the 1st century. n. e. The Old Testament entered into the composition of the Christian Bible in the form that was given to it in Judaism. The Old Testament canon includes 39 books, but there are some nuances here. The Hebrew Bible (for obvious reasons, Jews do not call this collection of books the Old Testament) has 22 books; this difference is of a formal nature and is explained by the fact that the Jews, trying to equate the number of books of their sacred writings with the number of letters of the alphabet, there are exactly 22 of them, combined some originally separate books into one.

More fundamental are the differences in the composition of the Old Testament in Christian denominations. All Christian denominations recognize 39 canonical books, but the Catholic and Orthodox churches include 11 more books in the Old Testament part of the Bible, and they treat them differently: Catholics recognize these books as canonical, but of the second order, and Orthodox - non-canonical, but "spiritual" . Protestantism includes only 39 canonical books in the Bible, considering all the rest to be apocrypha 1 . These differences in the composition of the Old Testament are explained by the historical circumstances of the formation of the biblical canon and are associated primarily with the Greek translation of the Old Testament books, originally written in Hebrew.

In terms of content, the books of the Old Testament are extremely multifaceted. Conventionally, they can be divided into four main groups that have a common ideological and thematic focus. These are legislative books that contain the main divine commandments, historical books that set out the sacred history of the Jewish people, prophetic books that point to the coming coming of the Messiah, and the so-called Scriptures (in the Orthodox tradition they are called teaching books), a group of books that is heterogeneous in content, including texts close to philosophical reflections, individual short stories, prayer hymns, etc. Particular importance in both Judaism and Christianity is given to the first of the listed group of books. It consists of the first five books of the Bible - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, which received the general name of the Pentateuch (in Judaism - the Torah), the authorship of which is attributed to the largest Hebrew prophet Moses. It is in them that the history of mankind is set forth from the creation of the world and man by God to the receipt of the Law, and the Law itself, given by God through Moses, is presented in detail.

New Testament formed after the death of Jesus Christ and constitutes the actual Christian part of the Bible. New Testament books are created in the period from the second half of the 1st century. n. e. to the second half of the II century. n. e. The authors of all the books of the New Testament are the apostles - so in Christianity it is customary to call not only the 12 disciples of Christ, but also their closest disciples and associates. The canon of the New Testament took shape gradually and, as it is officially accepted, was finally approved in 364 at the Laodicean Council. Thus, the formation of the New Testament lasted from the 1st to the 4th centuries. n. e. The New Testament includes 27 books on which Christians have no disagreement - all of them are recognized as canonical. The content of the books of the New Testament is always in one way or another connected with the teachings and activities of Christ and his apostles, but at the same time, groups of texts that are closer in subject matter can be distinguished. The most important group of texts in the New Testament are four books with the same name - the Gospel, which in Greek means "good news". The gospels contain stories about the earthly life of Jesus Christ and his teachings, recorded by the apostles Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The indication of authorship is made in the title: the Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel of Mark, the Gospel of Luke, the Gospel of John. Matthew and John belonged to the inner circle of Christ, being among the 12 apostles, Luke, according to legend, was a companion and disciple of the Apostle Paul, Mark was the Apostle Peter. In addition to the Gospels, the New Testament includes: the book of the Acts of the Holy Apostles, which tells about the preaching work of the apostles Peter and Paul, the authorship of which is attributed to the Evangelist Luke; The Epistles of the Apostles, numbering 21 books, representing essentially the correspondence of the apostles with their associates in the early Christian communities; The Revelation of John the Theologian, or the Apocalypse, in which the Apostle John tells of a mysterious prophetic vision that visited him, the end of earthly human history.

Despite serious differences and even contradictions, the books of the Old and New Testaments are accepted by Christians as a single set of sacred texts - the Christian Bible, held together by the main idea of ​​the coming into the world of the divine Savior, Jesus Christ. From the point of view of Christians, Jesus Christ is the main person not only of the New, but also of the Old Testament; and although the Old Testament books were written before the birth of Christ, they contain numerous prophecies of his coming coming into the world, and all the events described by the Old Testament authors act as a kind of prehistory, steadily bringing this coming closer.

General characteristics of the Bible

In this article, we will briefly review the essence of the Bible, as well as what is the composition and structure of the Bible.

The word "bible" in Greek means "books". Apparently, it is no coincidence that the book is so simply named, which is undoubtedly one of the highest values ​​acquired by mankind. For at least three millennia, the word "Bible" has inspired people, and the circle of those who partake of this source is constantly expanding.

However, there were other times as well. The Soviet government actually banned the Bible, it was not printed and was withdrawn from circulation and libraries, its images and words were carefully deleted or lost allusions to their source, or simply ridiculed.

Therefore, in our historically Christian country, several generations of people have grown up who do not know the Bible at all or almost, have not read it. It should be noted that this is not only religious, but also cultural ignorance, since European culture, especially the culture of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the New Age, as well as modern culture, cannot be comprehended without knowledge of biblical characters, images, events. The Bible can be viewed in at least three ways:

· First‒ and most importantly, is that it Holy Bible Christian religion. This statement, however, requires some clarification. On the one hand, a significant part of the Bible - the Old Testament - was written in pre-Christian times and is the property of the Jewish tradition. The Holy Scripture of the Jews - the Torah - is actually an integral part of the Bible. And Islam, which arose later than Christianity, widely uses biblical images as one of the sources of the Koran. On the other hand, some areas of Christianity treat certain parts of the Bible differently, either excluding the so-called non-canonical books, or preferring the New Testament as a purely Christian revelation. But, despite this, it is precisely as Holy Scripture that the Bible has its exceptional significance, it is from this point of view that it should be approached in the first place.

· Secondly The Bible can be seen as historical source. Indeed, it contains evidence concerning the history of many peoples of the Ancient East from the 2nd millennium BC. before the start of a new era. Of course, the use of the Bible as a historical source requires scientific analysis and verification against other sources, but this should not be taken as a criticism and rejection of Holy history.

· Thirdly, ‒ The Bible can be seen as an important literary or cultural monument. Many biblical texts can be noted in terms of their literary perfection - not to mention the fact that this book has the value of any written memo of antiquity. By the way, in terms of the number of editions and translations into different languages, the Bible far exceeds any other works. But, again, this is a consequence of her influence not as a masterpiece of art, but as a Holy apparition.

The Composition and Structure of the Bible

The Bible is a fairly large book that has a complex structure and contains many relatively independent books. The main thing is its division into two components - the Old and the New Testament.

· Old Testament- this is a pre-Christian, Jewish Bible (in fact, the Jews do not perceive the Bible as something whole - the New Testament, of course, is not recognized at all, and only Torah - Pentateuch of Moses). It was accepted by the Christian church as an integral part of the Holy Scriptures, and Christianity grew to a large extent on Jewish soil; these books were recognized by Christ and used by him as the Word of God; after all, there are many prophecies in these books about the appearance of Christ himself and his mission.

· The second part - the New Testament- this is already its own Christian tradition, these are texts related to the life and work of Jesus Christ and his disciples.

In different translations and editions of the Bible, there are discrepancies regarding the title of the books and the order in which they are placed. Moreover, there is controversy over the number of books that make up the Bible. This applies only to the Old Testament and is connected with two circumstances: with the counting system and with the division into the so-called canonical and non-canonical books.

Thus, the Jewish tradition, which was followed by some Christian theologians, consisted of 24 or even 22 books, which in modern Christian publications, as a rule, are already divided into 39 books (due to the fact that they are presented as two instead of one book of Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, as well as 12 books of minor prophets instead of one, etc.). Another was the grouping of books according to their content in Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), which consists of Torah (Law), Neviim (Prophets) and Ketuvim (Scriptures).Christian tradition distinguishes the following sections of the canon (the canonical composition of the Bible):

· legislative books: The Pentateuch of Moses, that is, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy;

· historical books, that is, those who present mainly the Holy history: Joshua, Judges, Ruta, I and II books of Samuel (in Russian translation - 1 and 2 books of Kings), I and II books of Kings (respectively 3 and 4 books of Kings), 1 that 2 books of the Chronicles (or Chronicles), Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther;

· poetry educational books: Job, Psalms, Proverbs (Proverbs of Solomon), Preacher (Ecclesiastes), Song of Songs;

· prophetic books: great prophets - Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentation of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and small ones - Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.

What about non-canonical books, then they appeared later than other books of the Old Testament and were not included in the Jewish canon or were excluded from it. Christian tradition accepted them, but with some prejudices. They were advised to read by those who were preparing to enter the Christian church, since they are distinguished by their instructive character (however, among them we find historical and prophetic books).

The Catholic Church considers such books deuterocanonical (deuterocanonical), Orthodoxy continues to consider them non-canonical, but the Slavic and Russian Orthodox Bibles print them next to the canonical ones. Protestants, on the contrary, do not print these books in the texts of the Bible, not considering them divinely inspired.

There are 11 of these books: Wisdom (Wisdom of Solomon), Sirach (Wisdom of Jesus the son of Sirach), Tobit, Juditi, the Epistle of Jeremiah, Baruch, 2 and 3 books of Ezra (Catholics consider them apocrypha), three books of Maccabees (Catholics have only two). This also includes passages that are added to some canonical books (for example, chapters 13 and 14 of the book of Daniel). New Testament contains 27 books, which the church tradition also divides into groups:

· to legislative equal four gospels(from Greek - Good News) - from Mateus (Matthew), from Mark, from Luke, from Joan (John). The first three gospels, which are similar in content, are called synoptic; The gospel of John is very different from them both in content and in character.

· historical considered a book Acts of the Apostles.

· Educational books consist of 14 epistles of the apostle Paul and 7 epistles of other apostles.

· Finally, prophetic book New Testament is Revelation of John the Evangelist (Apocalypse).

In this way, into the canonical Bible, that is, the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, are 66 books(39 + 27) - such a composition is recognized by Protestants; a in the complete bible ‒ 77 books(50 + 27) for the Orthodox and 74 (47 + 27) for the Catholics, with a division into canonical and in no way canonical (deuterocanonical) books.

Tanakh(Hebrew תנַ"ךְ‏‎‎‎) - the Hebrew name for the Jewish Holy Scriptures, an acronym for the names of three collections of sacred texts in Judaism. It arose in the Middle Ages, when, under the influence of Christian censorship, these books began to be published in a single volume. Currently time is not the most popular type of publication, but the word remained in use.

"Tanakh" refers to the oldest stage in the history of the Jews in accordance with Jewish tradition. In terms of content, the Tanakh almost completely coincides with the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.

Includes sections:

· Torah, Heb. ‏ תּוֹרָה ‏‎‎‎ - Pentateuch

· Neviim, Heb. ‏ נְבִיאִים ‏‎‎‎ - prophets

· Ketuvim, Heb. ‏ כְּתוּבִים ‏‎‎‎ - scriptures(Hagiographers)

The term "Tanakh" appeared for the first time in the writings of medieval Jewish theologians.

The Tanakh describes the creation of the world and man, the Divine covenant and commandments, as well as the history of the Jewish people from its origin to the beginning of the Second Temple period. Followers of Judaism consider these books sacred and given ruach hakodesh- The Spirit of Holiness.

The Tanakh, as well as the religious and philosophical ideas of Judaism, influenced the formation of Christianity and Islam.

Composition of the Tanakh

The Tanakh contains 24 books. The composition of the books is almost identical to the Old Testament, but differs in the order of the books. However, the Babylonian Talmud indicates an order that is different from the current one. The Catholic and Orthodox canons of the Old Testament may include additional books that are not part of the Tanakh (apocrypha). As a rule, these books are part of the Septuagint - despite the fact that their original Hebrew source has not been preserved, and in some cases, probably did not exist.

The Jewish canon is divided into three parts according to the genre and time of writing of certain books.

1. Law, or Torah, including the Pentateuch of Moses

2. Prophets, or Nevi'im, including, in addition to prophetic, some books that today are considered to be historical chronicles.

The Nevi'im are further subdivided into two sections.

The "Early Prophets": Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel (1 and 2 Samuel) and 1 and 2 Kings (3 and 2 Samuel)

· "Late Prophets", including 3 books of "major prophets" (Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel) and 12 "minor prophets". In the manuscripts, the "minor prophets" made up one scroll and were considered one book.

3. Scriptures, or Ketuvim, including the works of the wise men of Israel and prayer poetry.

As part of Ketuvim, a collection of “five scrolls” stood out, including the books Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations of Jeremiah, Ecclesiastes and Esther, collected in accordance with the annual cycle of readings in the synagogue.

The division of the Tanakh into three parts is attested by many ancient authors at the turn of our era. Reference to "the law, the prophets, and the rest of the books" Sir. 1:2) we find in the Wisdom of Jesus, son of Sirach, written about 190 BC. e. The three sections of the Tanakh are also named by Philo of Alexandria (circa 20 BC - c. 50 AD) and Josephus Flavius ​​(37 AD - ?).

Many ancient authors count 24 books in the Tanakh. The Jewish counting tradition combines the 12 minor prophets into one book, and considers the pairings of Samuel 1, 2, Kings 1, 2, and Chronicles 1, 2 in one book. Ezra and Nehemiah are also combined into one book. In addition, sometimes pairs of books of Judges and Ruth, Jeremiah and Eich are conditionally combined, so that the total number of books of the Tanakh is equal to 22 according to the number of letters of the Hebrew alphabet. In the Christian tradition, each of these books is treated as separate, thus talking about 39 books of the Old Testament.

Torah (Pentateuch) [edit | edit wiki text]

Main article:Pentateuch

The Torah (תּוֹרָה, literally "teaching") consists of five books, commonly referred to as the "Five Books of Moses" or the Pentateuch. Printed versions of the Pentateuch in Hebrew are called hamisha-humshey-torah(חמישי חומשי תורה, literally "five-fifths of the Torah"), and informally - "humash".

In Hebrew, the books of the Torah are named after the first significant word in each book.

Nevi'im [edit | edit wiki text]

Nevi'im (נְבִיאִים, "Prophets") consists of eight books. This section includes books that generally cover the chronological era from the entry of the Israelites into the Promised Land to the Babylonian captivity (the "period of prophecy"). However, they exclude chronicles that cover the same period. The Nevi'im are generally divided into the Early Prophets (נביאים ראשונים), which tend to be historical in nature, and the Later Prophets (נביאים אחרונים), which contain more preachy prophecies.

Although most versions of the Old Testament number 21 books, counting each of the books Samuel and Kings as two books and the Twelve Prophets (or Minor Prophets) as 12 books, things are different in the Jewish tradition.

Ketuvim [edit | edit wiki text]

Ketuvim (כְּתוּבִים, "Records") or "scriptures", also known by the Greek name "Hagiography" (Greek: Αγιογραφία, literally "Scriptures of the Saints"), consists of 11 books. They cover all other books, and include the Five Scrolls (Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Ruth, Eicha, Esther). They are sometimes also divided into categories such as Sifrey Emet (ספרי אמת, literally "Books of Truth"): Psalms, Proverbs, and the Book of Job (in Hebrew, the names of these three books form the Hebrew word for "truth," like an acrostic); "Books of Wisdom": Book of Job, Ecclesiastes and Proverbs; "Books of Poetry": Psalter, Lamentations of Jeremiah and Song of Songs of Solomon; and "Historical Books": Ezra, Nehemiah and Chronicles. In the Hebrew version, Ketuvim consists of 11 books, counting Ezra and Nehemiah as one book, and Chronicles I and II as one book.

Traditional compilers of the Tanakh books [edit | edit wiki text]

Based on: Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Bava Batra, 14B-15A

Agagogy teaches.

(“Agagogia” in ancient Greek means “exaltation”, as the Christian way of interpretation was called.)

The Jewish and Christian interpretations of the Tanakh developed in parallel, but not without interaction and mutual influence. If the influence of the Judaic interpretation on the Christian one was mainly due to the attention to the word in the Tanakh, to the etymology and semantics of the Hebrew word, then the Christian interpretation influenced the Judaic one by the structure of the commentary developed by it, the desire to integrate different methods of interpretation. At the end of the Middle Ages, on the eve of the new time, the commonality of the spiritual atmosphere in both channels of interpretation of the Tanakh contributed to its approach to the border separating interpretation from joint research, even the transition from interpretation to joint research, but without a categorical rejection of interpretation. Perhaps a joint study of the Tanakh by Protestants and Jews. Historical churches interpret the Tanakh only in line with their Holy Tradition.

Tanakh and literature[edit | edit wiki text]

Tanakh and European Literature [edit | edit wiki text]

In the era of classicism - an aesthetic trend in European literature and art of the 17th - early 19th centuries - creative energy was aimed at creating such works that would draw the reader's and viewer's attention to eternal problems, eternal conflicts, eternal personality traits, stories, nature and the human race. Therefore, in the era of classicism, it was characteristic to turn to works already known from antiquity in order to rewrite them in a new way. At the same time, it was important to comply with clear genre requirements (as required by ancient tragedy, epic, ode) and emphasize new, vital aspects in already known material, be it philosophy, personality psychology, conflict between society and the individual, and the like. Obviously, the Tanakh could offer and in fact supplied the authors with the material they were looking for. Examples of such works are the tragedies of Jean Racine (1639-1699) - "Esther" and "Athaliah", the books of George Noel Gordon Byron (1788-1824) "Jewish Melodies" and "Cain".

Tanakh and Russian literature [edit | edit wiki text]

Three books were published in Moscow in the 1990s: The Old Testament in Russian Poetry (1996), The Psalter in Russian Poetry (1995), as well as a book not directly related to the topic The Branch of Palestine. Poems of Russian poets about Jerusalem and Palestine" (1993). They show how often and from different angles Russian poets read the Tanakh. If we turn to the Psalter, then most of all, as it seems, Psalm 137 (or 136 in the Christian canon) attracted Russian poets.

Editions[edit | edit wiki text]

· The first printed Hebrew Chumash was simply a printed sefer-torah with nikudim (contilation marks) and Rashi on the cover, and since then many other editions have appeared.

· The first Masoretic Mikraot Gdolot was printed in Venice in 1524-1525, edited by Daniel Bomberg.

· The Soncino edition was printed in 1527 in Venice.

· Many editions of Mikraot Gdolot have been released since then.

The Biblia Hebraica by Rudolf Kittel appeared in 1906 and was republished in 1913.

· The Leningrad Codex was edited under Pavel E. Kale as Biblia Hebraica (VNK), published in Stuttgart, in 1937. The code was also used for Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS) in 1977, and will be used for Biblia Hebraica Quinta (BHQ). The Leningrad Code presents a different order for the books of Ketuvim.

· Mesorah Publications מקראות גדלות, (Jerusalem, 1996)

The JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh (Philadelphia, 1999)

· Aleppo Code edited by Mordechai Breuer in 1977-1982

· Jerusalem Crown: Bible of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2000. Edited according to the method of Mordechai Breuer under the direction of Yosef Ofer, with additional corrections and clarifications compared to the Horev edition.

· Jerusalem Simanim Institute, Feldheim Publishers, 2004 (published in one and three volume editions).

Ten Commandments

Ten Commandments (Decalogue, or Law of God) (Hebrew עשרת הדברות‏‎‎‎, “ aseret-a-dibrot"- letters. ten sayings; other Greek δέκα λόγοι, " decalogue"- letters. decalogue) - prescriptions, ten basic laws, which, according to the Pentateuch, were given to Moses by God himself, in the presence of the sons of Israel, on Mount Sinai on the fiftieth day after the Exodus from Egypt (Ex. 19:10-25).

The Ten Commandments are found in the Pentateuch in two slightly different versions (see Ex. 20:2-17; Deut. 5:6-21). Elsewhere (Exodus 34:14-26), part of the commandments is reproduced in the form of a commentary put into the mouth of the Almighty, while moral norms are not commented on, but prescriptions are formulated in the religious and cult field. According to Jewish tradition, the version contained in the 20th chapter of the book of Exodus was on the first, broken tablets, and the version of Deuteronomy was on the second.

The setting in which God gave Moses and the children of Israel the Ten Commandments is described in the Bible. Sinai stood in flames, shrouded in thick smoke, the earth trembled, thunder rumbled, lightning flashed, and, in the noise of the raging elements, covering it, the voice of God resounded, pronouncing the commandments (Ex. 19:1 and following). Then the Lord himself inscribed the "Ten Words" on two stone tablets, the "Tables of Testimony" (Ex. 24:12; 31:18; 32:16) or the "Tables of the Covenant" (Deut. 9:9, 11:15), and gave them to Moses. When Moses, after a forty-day stay on the mountain, descended with the tablets in his hands and saw that the people, forgetting about God, were dancing around the Golden Calf, he fell into such a terrible anger at the sight of the unbridled feast that he broke the tablets with the commandments of God on the rock. After the ensuing repentance of all the people, God told Moses to carve out two new stone tablets and bring them to Him to rewrite the Ten Commandments (Deut. 10:1-5).

Traditional understanding

In Judaism [edit | edit wiki text]

Parchment with the text of the Decalogue from the Sephardic Esnoga synagogue. Amsterdam. 1768 (612x502 mm)

Comparison of texts Ref. 20:1-17 and Deut. 5:4-21 (by reference) in the original language, with an approximate translation into English (KJV), allows us to more accurately understand the content of the commandments.

3. Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain[literally "false" - that is, during the oath], for the Lord will not leave without punishment the one who pronounces his name in vain[false]. In the original, this means “do not wear (Heb. תשא, tisa) the name of the Lord is false (waste, conceited, illegal). Source verb נשא nasa" means "to lift, to carry, to take, to raise". Once again, the expression "bearing a name" is used only in Ex. 28:9-30, where, in reflection of the commandment, God orders the high priest Aaron to carry on his shoulders into the sanctuary the names of the tribes of the sons of Israel, carved on two onyx stones. Thus, the one who professes faith in the God of Israel, according to the commandment, becomes the bearer of His name, bearing responsibility for how he represents God to others. The Old Testament texts describe cases where the name of God is defiled by the hypocrisy of people and a false representation of God or His character. Joseph Telushkin, a contemporary Orthodox rabbi, also writes that this commandment means much more than the prohibition of accidentally mentioning God's name. He points out that a more literal translation is " lo tissa will be "You must not bear" rather than "You must not take" and that understanding this helps everyone understand why the commandment is equated with others such as "Thou shalt not kill" and "Thou shalt not commit adultery."

6. Don't kill. Original: "לֹא תִרְצָח". The verb used "רְצָח" denotes immoral premeditated murder (cf. Eng. murder), as distinct from any killing at all, such as in an accident, in self-defence, in time of war, or by court order (cf. Eng. kill). (Since the Bible itself prescribes the death penalty by court order as a result of the violation of certain commandments, this verb cannot mean murder at all, under any circumstances)

7. Don't commit adultery[in the original, this word usually refers only to sexual relations between a married woman and a man who is not her husband]. According to another opinion, all the so-called "prohibitions of incest" belong to this commandment, including male and bestiality.

8. Don't steal. The prohibition against theft of property is also stated in Lev. 19:11. Oral tradition interprets the contents of the commandment "Thou shalt not steal" in the Ten Commandments as a prohibition against kidnapping a person for the purpose of enslavement. Since the previous commandments “Thou shalt not kill” and “Thou shalt not commit adultery” speak of sins punishable by death, one of the principles of interpretation of the Torah prescribes that continuation be understood as a severely punishable crime.

10. “Thou shalt not covet…” This commandment includes the prohibition of theft of property. According to Jewish tradition, theft is also “theft of an image”, that is, the creation of a false idea about an object, event, person (deceit, flattery, etc.) [ source unspecified 1609 days] .

In the Lutheran tradition [edit | edit wiki text]

The "Short Catechism" of M. Luther gives the following list of commandments (with their explanation):

The first commandment:

May you have no other gods but Me.

What does it mean? We must above all respect, love God and trust in Him in everything.

Commandment two:

Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

What does it mean? We must fear God and love Him in such a way that we do not curse, do not swear, do not conjure, do not lie or deceive in His name, but call on His name in every need, pray to Him, give thanks and glorify Him.

The third commandment:

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

What does it mean? We must fear and love God in such a way that we do not neglect the preaching and the Word of God, but sacredly honor him, willingly listen and learn.

Fourth commandment:

Honor your father and your mother, may it be good for you and may you live long on earth.

What does it mean? We must fear and love God in such a way that we do not despise or anger our parents and masters, but honor them, serve and obey them, love and cherish them.

The Fifth Commandment:

Dont kill.

What does it mean? We must fear and love God in such a way that we do not cause suffering and harm to our neighbor, but help him and take care of him in all his needs.

The sixth commandment:

Don't commit adultery.

What does it mean? We must fear and love God in such a way that we are pure and chaste in thought, word, and deed, and that each of us loves and honors his spouse.

The Seventh Commandment:

Don't steal.

What does it mean? We must fear and love God in such a way that we do not take away our neighbor's money or property, and do not appropriate someone else's property through dishonest trading or fraud. But we should help our neighbor in preserving and increasing his property and means of subsistence.

Commandment Eight:

Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.

What does it mean? We must fear and love God in such a way that we do not speak lies about our neighbor, do not betray him, do not slander him and spread bad rumors about him, but defend him, speak only good things about him and try to turn everything for the better.

The Ninth Commandment:

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house.

What does it mean? We must fear and love God in such a way that we do not treacherously encroach on the inheritance or the house of our neighbor and do not appropriate them for ourselves, hiding behind the law or right, but serve our neighbor, contributing to the preservation of his property.

Tenth commandment:

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his servant, nor his maidservant, nor his livestock, nor anything that he has.

What does it mean? We must fear and love God in such a way that we do not seduce, appropriate, or alienate from our neighbor his wife, servant, or cattle, but encourage them to remain in their places and fulfill their duties.

OLD TESTAMENT

Book of Job

CHAPTER 1.

1 There was a man in the land of Uz, his name was Job; and this man was blameless, just and God-fearing and moved away from evil.

2 And seven sons and three daughters were born to him.

3 He had possessions: seven thousand flocks, three thousand camels, five hundred pairs of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and a very large number of servants; and this man was more famous than all the sons of the East.

4 His sons used to come together to make feasts, each in his own house on his own day, and send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

5 When the circle of banquet days was complete, Job sent behind them and consecrated them, and rising early in the morning, offered burnt offerings according to the number of all of them [and one calf for the sin of their souls]. For Job said, Perhaps my sons have sinned and blasphemed God in their hearts. Thus did Job in all such days.

6 And there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord; Satan also came between them.

7 And the Lord said to Satan, Where did you come from? And Satan answered the Lord and said, I have walked on the earth and have gone round it.

8 And the Lord said to Satan, Have you taken notice of my servant Job? for there is no one like him on earth: a man blameless, just, God-fearing and moving away from evil.

9 And Satan answered the Lord, and said, Is Job fearing God for nothing?

10 Didn't You fence him around, and his house, and all that he had? You blessed the work of his hands, and his flocks spread over the earth; 11 But stretch out your hand and touch everything he has, will he bless you?

12 And the Lord said to Satan, Behold, all that he has is in your hand; but do not stretch out your hand on him. And Satan departed from the presence of the Lord.

13 And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their firstborn brother's house.

14 I here, A messenger comes to Job and says: 15 The oxen were yelling, and the donkeys were grazing beside them, as the Sabeans attacked and took them, and struck the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone escaped to tell you.

16 While he was still speaking, another came and said, The fire of God fell from heaven and scorched the sheep and the servants and devoured them; and I alone escaped to tell you.

17 While he was still speaking, another came and said: The Chaldeans formed three bands and rushed at the camels and took them, but they struck the youths with the edge of the sword; and I alone escaped to tell you.

18 While this one was speaking, another comes and says, Your sons and your daughters ate and drank wine in their firstborn brother's house. 19 And behold, a great wind came out of the wilderness and swept the four corners of the house, and the house fell on the youths, and they died; and I alone escaped to tell you.

20 Then Job got up and tore his outer garment, shaved off his head and fell to the ground and bowed down 21 and said, Naked I came out of my mother's womb, and naked I will return. The Lord gave, the Lord took; [as the Lord pleased, so it happened;] blessed be the name of the Lord!

22 In all this Job did not sin and did not say anything foolish about God.

CHAPTER 2

1 There was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord; Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord.

2 And the Lord said to Satan, Where did you come from? And Satan answered the Lord and said, I have walked on the earth and have gone round it.

3 And the Lord said to Satan, Have you taken notice of my servant Job? for there is no one like him on earth: a man blameless, just, God-fearing and moving away from evil, and hitherto firm in his purity; but you stirred me up against him, to destroy him without guilt.

4 And Satan answered the Lord, and said, Skin for skin, and for his life a man will give all that he has; 5 but stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, will he bless you?

6 And the Lord said to Satan, Behold, he is in your hand; save only his life.

7 And Satan departed from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with a fierce leprosy from the sole of his foot to the very crown of his head.

8 And he took for himself a tile to scrape himself with it, and sat down in the ashes [outside the village].

9 And his wife said to him, You are still firm in your integrity! fuck God and die * .

10 But he said to her, You speak like one of the fools: Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this Job did not sin with his mouth.

11 And Job's three friends heard of all these misfortunes that had befallen him, and each went from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shebahite, and Zophar the Nahamite, and came together to go together to mourn with him and console him.

12 And lifting up their eyes afar off, they did not recognize him; and lifted up their voice and wept; and each one tore his outer garment, and threw dust over their heads into the sky.

13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights; and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.

CHAPTER 3

1 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed his day.

2 And Job began and said, 3 Perish the day in which I was born, and the night in which it is said, Man was conceived!

4 Let that day be darkness; May God not seek him from above, and may no light shine upon him!

5 Let darkness and the shadow of death darken it, let a cloud cover it, let them fear it like scorching heat!

6 That night, let the darkness possess it, let it not be counted in the days of the year, let it not be included in the number of months!

7 Oh! that night - let it be deserted; May fun not enter into it!

8 May those who curse the day curse her, who are able to wake the leviathan!

9 May the stars of her dawn be darkened: may she wait for the light, and it does not come, and may she not see the eyelashes of the morning star 10 because she did not close the doors of the womb mothers mine and did not hide sorrow from my eyes!

11 Why didn't I die when I came out of the womb, and why didn't I die when I came out of the womb?

12 Why did my knees take me? why was I sucking nipples?

13 Now I would lie down and rest; I would have slept, and I would have been at peace 14 with kings and councilors of the earth who built up deserts for themselves, 15 or with princes who had gold and who filled their houses with silver; 16 or, like a hidden miscarriage, I would not exist, like babies who have not seen the light.

17 There the wicked cease to be fearful, and there rest the weary.

18 There the prisoners enjoy peace together and do not hear the cries of the steward.

19 The small and the great are equal there, and the servant is free from his master.

20 Why was light given to the afflicted, and life to the grieving soul, 21 who are waiting for death, and there is none, who would dig it more willingly than a treasure, 22 would rejoice to the point of delight, would they be delighted that they found a tomb?

23 What is the light for a man whose way is closed, and whom God has surrounded with darkness?

B bible. When we hear this word, what analogies, ideas and parallels do we have?

John 1:1,2 says:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. It was in the beginning with God.”

Let's take a quick look at the history, structure, and meaning of this book.

1. History of the Bible

The Bible was written over fifteen centuries. It was written in letters, although the early peoples used hieroglyphs and cuneiform for writing, i.e. portrayed the story.

The Bible is divided into two parts: the Old (Old) Testament and the New Testament (Gospel – "good news"). The books of the Old Testament were written in Hebrew, in the Phoenician alphabet, with capital consonants expressing the essence of the word. Books were written on scrolls of dressed leather, sharpened and inked.

Words were not always separated from each other, especially since there were no chapters and verses. All the books of the New Testament were written in ancient Greek. In 1228, Archbishop Stephen Langton created a system of chapters, and in 1551, the Parisian publisher of the Bible, Robert Etienne, broke the chapters into verses.

The Bible text was written on three continents: Europe, Asia and Africa. About 45 people wrote the Bible. They had different origins, different status in society, profession. Among them were: fishermen, military leaders, prophets, kings, shepherds, a tent maker, a doctor, a tax collector, etc. They differed from each other in culture, education, and abilities.

“And besides, we have the surest prophetic word; and you do well to address him as to a lamp that shines in a dark place, until the day begins to dawn and the dawn dawns in your hearts, knowing first of all that no prophecy in Scripture can be resolved (“created”) by himself. For prophecy was never uttered by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke it, being moved by the Holy Spirit.

God Himself, through His Spirit, gave the chosen people the ability to receive revelation from Him and, using their individuality, style of expression of words, their language, spoke and wrote down His revelation to mankind through these people. But not only the writers were moved by the Spirit, the very text of Scripture breathes with it, as we can see for ourselves as we read this book today.

2. Structure of the Bible

There are 66 books (canon) in the Bible: 39 books of the Old Testament (were written between 1500-400 BC) and 27 books of the New Testament (were written in the period of 45-95 AD). There is no name "Old Testament" in Jewish literature; Jews call all Scripture the Tanakh (Talmud - comments on the Tanakh).

Tanakh is divided into 3 parts:

a ) Law ( Torah ) - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy;

b ) prophets ( Nebiim ) - books of Joshua, Judges, 4 books of Kings, books of late prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah) and 12 books of minor prophets;

in ) scriptures ( Ketubim and sacred scriptures ) - Psalter, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations of Jeremiah, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah and 2 books of Chronicles.

The books of the New Testament begin with 4 Gospels, which describe the birth, life, ministry, death, resurrection, Jesus Christ and His training of disciples who were to continue His work after the ascension.

The book of the Acts of the Holy Apostles describes the emergence of the church on the Day of Pentecost and the beginning of the spread of the gospel message throughout the world through the ministry of the apostles.

Epistles (letters) are divided into general (conciliar) and epistles of the Apostle Paul (Shaul) - 14.

The New Testament ends with the book of John (Apocalypse), which contains a narrative of eschatological events.

3. The Meaning of the Bible

"Word from God" - a revelation about the spiritual essence of God; the history of His creation - man; the fall; the consequences of this phenomenon; God's plan to remedy this situation is through His Son Jesus Christ, the Mission.

The Bible reveals the future, how and how everything will end.

The main idea of ​​the Book is the intention of God, through faith in the atoning death of Jesus Christ, to revive people and make them new creatures. This process will end with the return of Jesus Christ, the reunification of holy people with God, and the punishment of those who rejected Him and disobeyed the gospel.

The significance of the Bible is very great. Here is what Jesus Christ Himself says about this book:

“Search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; but they testify of me.” John 5:39.

And the Apostle Paul says this in 2 Timothy 4:16:

“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, equipped for every good work.”

Those. we must understand that the significance of this Book cannot be underestimated, it has a very deep meaning: in fact, it is a life instruction for mankind.

One of the amazing properties of the Book is that its Author can be present with you when you read it, if only you ask Him to clarify it.

Read the Bible. This is truly the Book of Life! It is not easy to understand, but with God you will overcome it!

The word "bible" is translated from Greek as "books". We can say that this is a small library, collected from 66 separate narratives. For many centuries, it was the most famous in human history, in a sense it is considered a bestseller. Anyone can read this book. But during the time of the Inquisition, it was inaccessible to many, and not every ordinary person had the opportunity to read the Bible. The summary of the book, which will be provided in the article, reveals the real value of the events recorded in it.

The influence of the book on modern society

At the present time, there is hardly a person who has not heard anything about such a book as the Bible. Almost everyone knows the contents of the Old Testament. Plots from here very often became a topic for artistic narratives, paintings. The influence of the part of the Bible closer to our time - the New Testament, the content of which cannot be overestimated, is quite strong on modern life. Consider this book from three perspectives.

The Bible as Holy Scripture

First, before moving on to a discussion of the Bible, the content of the book, one must take into account the fact that in Christianity it is considered sacred. At the same time, a considerable part of it, namely the Old Testament, was written before our era.

Islam arose later than Christianity, and it also often uses images and plots from the Bible. In fact, it is the source of the Qur'an.

Also, different Christian denominations have different attitudes towards the composition and content of the Bible. Some of them consider only the New Testament sacred.

The Bible as a Historical Source

As archaeological studies have shown, the content of the Bible is reliable, many events really happened in reality. It contains a lot of information about the history of the ancient Eastern peoples, starting from 2000 BC. We must not forget that this book was written by people of antiquity, and many of the events described in it, which are now explained by science, are presented hyperbolically and from the point of view of a person of those times.

The Bible as a Literary Monument

It is important to note that this book is a real monument of culture. The thing is that the content of the Bible is of great value as a tradition of antiquity. It is the most frequently translated work in other languages ​​worldwide.

Composition and structure

This work is considered voluminous: the content of the Bible includes several separate books. The work is mainly divided into the Old and New Testaments. The first part is pre-Christian descriptions. It was accepted in Christianity as the Holy Scripture. There are many predictions about the coming of the Messiah, which is Jesus.

The New Testament is a text describing the life of Jesus Christ directly with his apostles. Different publications may have a different order of transmission of these stories. The number of books included in the Bible also fluctuates.

Non-canonical books

Those interested in the brief content of the Bible, Genesis need to know that in addition to the recognized authentic narratives, there are also non-canonical books. They came into existence after the Old Testament. Christian mentors advise reading them, too, to those who are going to accept this faith. The thing is that non-canonical books are often instructive in nature.

If we talk about the brief content of the Bible, then first of all it is divided into two parts, but each of them has its own ordered structure. For example, after describing the stages of creation (in the book of Genesis), it tells how people lived without having a law (at that time they were guided only by principles). Further, God made an alliance with the Israelites and gave them his decrees. The Old Testament, which translates as "the old union", contains a description of events before the moment when Jesus came to people. For this reason, the second part is called the New Testament.

If we are talking about a summary of the Bible, the Old Testament, then this is a work about how God created the world, the sky, plants, animals, people. It describes the life of the distant ancestors of modern mankind - they lived in the desert, in the steppe, raised cattle, fell into the bonds of slavery and were freed from them. In addition, they made agreements with God. And one day He promised them rich lands, in which instead of water, milk and honey would flow in the rivers.

Soon there was a merciless struggle with the people living on that land. And then, having won, the ancient Jews set up their own state here. Centuries later, it turned out to be destroyed by its neighbors, and the Israelis were taken into captivity. Judging even by the content of the children's Bible, this happened because of the disobedience of the Jews to God.

But having punished the people, Vladyka promised that one day he would save them from their oppressors. In Hebrew, the messenger of God sounds like "Messiah", and in Greek - "Christ". It was under this name that He went down in history.

When Christianity already existed, the New Testament was being created. Here the main figure is Jesus of Nazareth - Christ. In addition, a significant part of the book is devoted to stories about the deeds of Christian communities. There is a story about the activities of the apostles, who were the disciples of Jesus.

About myths

The Bible is a collection of many ancient stories. They contain myths, legends, and stories about true historical events, predictions, and lyrical compositions. The Old Testament is richest in these things. The Bible has greatly influenced the development of mankind. Many biblical stories need to be correctly interpreted.

About the History of the Gospel

Every book of the New Testament was written in Greek. But at the same time, it was not the classical Greek language that was meant, but the Alexandrian dialect. It was he who was used by the population of the Roman Empire.

At the same time, only capital letters were used in the letter, punctuation marks were not used, and words were not separated from each other. It is noteworthy that small print began to be included in the text only in the 9th century. The same applies to the separate spelling of words. And punctuation marks came only with the invention of printing, in the 15th century.

The division that is in the Bible now was carried out by Cardinal Hugon in the 13th century. The Church has preserved the Holy Scriptures for thousands of years, and it has succeeded in bringing these ancient texts to our days.

In the 17th century, 2 editions of the New Testament appeared at once, they were printed. These texts are considered to be "pure" and original Greek. In the second half of the 9th century, the New Testament was translated by Cyril and Methodius into the Slavic language (Bulgarian-Macedonian dialect). It is noteworthy that this copy has survived to this day in the original. Initially, the Slavic edition was subjected to Russification throughout history. The translation currently in use was made in the 19th century.

The Time of the Gospels

The time of creation of these works has not been precisely determined. But there is no doubt that they were created at the beginning of the 1st century. The thing is that the writings of 107 and 150 contain references to the New Testament, they have quotations from this book.

The works of the apostles were written first. This was necessary to establish the faith of the new Christian communities. It was possible to establish for certain that the Gospel of Matthew was the earliest, it could not have been created later than 50 years of the 1st century. The Gospels of Mark and Luke came after him, but were also written before 70 AD, before the destruction of Jerusalem. Later than all, John the Theologian wrote down his book, at that time he was already an old man, around the year 96. His work is known as the Apocalypse. The symbols used in the book of Revelation are creatures that resemble a man, a lion, a bullock, and an eagle.

On the Meaning of the Gospels

All books in this series describe the life and teachings of Christ. It contains the story of his suffering, death, burial and resurrection. They serve as complements to each other, and none of the books has contradictions in major points.

In addition, over the course of history, about 50 other writings were created that bore the same name, they were also credited with the authorship of the apostles. However, the Church rejected them. They had dubious stories. These included the "Gospel of Thomas", "The Gospel of Nicodemus" and a number of other similar works.

Relationships of the Gospels

Of all the officially recognized gospels, three - from Matthew, Mark and Luke, are close to each other. They have a similar style of writing, they tell about the same thing. But the Gospel of John contains somewhat different information (although this book is also considered canonical), and the form of presentation there is different. John talks more about the deep meaning of what is happening, while the rest of the evangelists describe external events.

In addition, he gives conversations that are quite difficult to understand. In the other three Gospels, the dialogues are quite simple. John was pursuing his personal goal of revealing the doctrine more deeply. However, each of these books has its own characteristics. And it is the totality of information described from different points of view that creates an accurate and detailed portrait of Christ.

On the Character of the Gospels

In the Orthodox teaching about the sacredness of these works, the idea has always sounded that the Holy Spirit did not oppress the mind and character of each author. For this reason, in many respects the differences between the Gospels are due to the individual traits of each author. In addition, they were written in different environments and conditions. In order to more accurately interpret each Gospel, it makes sense to understand the characteristic differences of each author.

Matthew

Matthew was one of the twelve apostles of Christ. Until that moment, he was known as a tax collector. Few people loved him. By origin, Matthew was from the lineage of Levi, as indicated by Mark and Luke in their Gospels.

The publican was touched by the fact that Christ, despite the contempt of the people, did not disdain them. The tax collector in particular was reproved by the scribes and Pharisees, and Matthew gives a diatribe against them in his Gospel because they also broke the law.

For the most part, he wrote his book for the people of Israel. According to one theory, his gospel was originally written in Hebrew, and only then translated into Greek. Matthew died a martyr in Ethiopia.

Mark

Mark was not one of the twelve apostles. For this reason, he did not accompany Jesus constantly, as Matthew did. He wrote his work from the words and with the direct participation of the Apostle Peter. He himself saw Christ only a couple of days before his death. And only in the Gospel of Mark's authorship is there a case when a young man who followed Christ, when he was arrested, was wrapped in a veil over his naked body, and he was seized by the guards, but, leaving the veil, fled naked. Most likely, it was Mark himself.

Subsequently, he became a companion of Peter. Mark was martyred in Alexandria.

At the center of his gospel is the fact that Jesus performed miracles. The author in every possible way emphasizes His greatness and power.

Luke

According to the earliest historians, Luke was from Antioch. He was a doctor and was also a painter. He was among the 70 disciples of Christ. Very vividly in this Gospel, the appearance of the Lord to two disciples is described, and this gives reason to believe that Luke was one of them.

He also became a companion of the Apostle Paul. According to information that has survived to this day, Luke also died a martyr's death in Thebes. Emperor Constantius transferred his relics to Constantinople in the 4th century.

Luke wrote his book at the request of a nobleman from Antioch. In the course of writing, he used both the words of eyewitnesses and written information about Christ, which at that time already existed.

Luke himself claimed to have carefully checked each entry, and his gospel is accurate in the places and times of the events, which are set out in a clear chronological order. Obviously, the customer of the Gospel of Luke has never been to Jerusalem. For this reason, the apostle describes the geography of that area.

John

John was a disciple of Christ. He was the son of the fisherman Zebedee and Solomiya. His mother is mentioned among the women who served Christ with their property. She followed Jesus everywhere.

John became a constant disciple of Christ after a miraculous catch on Lake Gennesaret. He was present at many of his miracles. At the Last Supper, John "lay at the breast of Jesus." He is considered a favorite disciple of Christ.

The apostle wrote his Gospel at the request of Christians. They wanted him to complete the existing three narratives. John agreed with their content, but decided that it was necessary to supplement them with the words of Christ. Which he did, revealing more deeply his essence precisely as the Son of God, and not as a man.