The fight against religious fanaticism. Faith as an addiction
Psychology of religious fanaticism
“Fanaticism from Lat. fanatismus- frantic, extreme commitment to any beliefs or views, intolerance to any other views, for example. religious." This is not how fanaticism is defined Brief dictionary foreign words and not any other quick guide for the student, but the latest edition of TSB. The very volume of this article shows more clearly than anything else that in Russian science this concept is extremely poorly understood and developed. And this despite the fact that the word “fanaticism” itself was very widely used in atheistic literature of the 20-80s, when religious fanatics Francis of Assisi and St. Seraphim of Sarov, and Saint Teresa of Lisieux, and Pope John Paul I, and Fr. Alexander Men and many others.
From almost any context it is clear that the word “fanaticism” denotes some extreme form of religiosity. But what actually is the place occupied by the term “fanaticism” among such concepts as asceticism, religious fundamentalism or extremism, fanaticism, etc.?
This concept was first introduced by Jacques Benigne Bossuet (1627-1704), a Catholic bishop who was one of the main ideologists of French absolutism and saw in Catholicism, which had quite sharply separated from Rome and essentially turned into a national religion, the official belief system for monarchical France. For him, Protestants were fanatics because they believed that all their “dreams” were inspired by God. For Bossuet, fanatics are not the Parisian bourgeoisie, who in 1572, on the night of August 24, when the day of the Apostle Bartholomew is celebrated, “with all their might,” as Voltaire would later write, “rushed to kill, cut throats, throw them out of windows and chop pieces of their fellow citizens just because they did not go to mass.” For Bossuet, fanatics are precisely Protestants, for they feel that their faith depends only on God, but not on church institutions or rules approved by anyone.
Pierre Bayle (1647-1706), and after him the “French Encyclopedia” (1777), or rather, the author of the article on fanaticism M. Delaire, who was a specialist in the philosophy of F. Bacon, give a fundamentally different definition of fanaticism. It is an "enacted superstition" or the fruit of ignorance, the primitive soul, the irrational or rather the pre-rational (prerationel) consciousness. “Fanaticism was born in the forests amid the darkness of the night and panic fears and erected the first pagan temples.”
If Bossuet gives a Catholic, although, of course, not shared by Catholic scientists today, interpretation of the term “fanaticism,” then Bayle and the “French Encyclopedia” propose that by fanaticism we understand everything that concerns early forms religion, and more broadly, religious feeling in general. However, both Bossuet and Bayle associate fanaticism with the sensations experienced by the believer. In essence, for all the apparent incompatibility of the two definitions of fanaticism, in both cases we're talking about about independent religious feeling, not governed by any theological system or church structure.
Thus it links the word itself fanaticus with ideas about epiphany or theophany. It was precisely this aspect of the cult of Cybele or Bellona that Bossuet, who was very well-read in ancient authors, drew attention to when he first used the word “fanatic” in a modern European context. Protestants or, for example, English Quakers, whom he mentions in a speech given at the funeral of the Queen of England, seem to him to be fanatics precisely because they believe that all their dreams are inspired or instilled in them by God Himself.
A fundamentally new definition of fanaticism, which has become a classic, is given by Voltaire in his “Philosophical Dictionary” published in 1764 in Geneva. He puts forward the following proposition: “He who is characterized by ecstasies and visions, who takes his dreams for something real and the fruits of his imagination for prophecies, he can be called an enthusiast, but he who supports his madness by killing is a fanatic.” The essence of fanaticism, according to Voltaire, is that a fanatic, defending the orthodoxy of which he considers himself the guardian, is ready to execute and kill, while he always and exclusively relies on force. For Voltaire, “the most disgusting example of fanaticism” is St. Bartholomew’s Night. Voltaire also speaks of cold-blooded fanatics - these are “judges who pronounce death sentences on those who think differently from them.”
Voltaire also defines some features of the psychology of fanaticism. This is not simply “the fruit of ignorance and a primitive soul,” as the French Encyclopedia states, but it is always closely connected with the psychology of the crowd: “books excite fanaticism much less than meetings and public performance" Fanaticism is always sombre et cruel, that is, “gloomy and cruel”, it is at the same time superstition, fievre, rage et colere(superstition, fever, rage and anger).
If we remember that Boucher-Leclerc considered the generally accepted etymology of the word not entirely reliable fanaticus from fanum then it would be reasonable to assume that Voltaire’s definition of fanaticism is also based on the fact that everyone who knows Greek language will undoubtedly be heard in Latin wordfanaticus echo of a Greek adjective thanatikos(§avcmx6<;) - смертоносный. Фанатику всегда свойственно пренебрежительное отношение к жизни - как к чужой, так и к своей собственной. Как те пилоты-террористы, что направили пассажирские самолеты на здания Всемирного торгового центра в Нью-Йорке, погибли сами и погубили тысячи человеческих жизней. Несколько лет тому назад в интернете, на одном из православных форумов появился целый ряд реплик по поводу того, что страдающим онкологическими заболеваниями детям, которым помогает группа учеников о. Александра Меня, лучше и полезнее в духовном плане было бы умереть, нежели принимать помощь от еретиков. Ибо именно еретика видят в о. Александре многие православные неофиты, разумеется, имеющие с православием очень мало общего. Вот еще один вполне современный и на самом деле не менее страшный, чем 11 сентября 2001 г., пример пренебрежительного отношения к жизни, увы, типичного для фанатика. При этом фанатик как бы замещает Бога, Который, с его точки зрения, медлит, и начинает судить и действовать вместо Бога.
“Fanatism,” Berdyaev writes about this, “does not allow the coexistence of different ideas and worldviews. There is only the enemy. Hostile forces are unified and presented as a single enemy.” And further: “Communists, fascists, fanatics of “orthodox” Orthodoxy, Catholicism or Protestantism do not argue with any ideas, they throw the enemy into the opposite camp, at which machine guns are trained.” A fanatic, as a rule, does not realize, rather, only feels the weakness of his position, but at the same time mobilizes all his strength precisely for merciless defense the truth he professes.
Fanaticism comes to the forefront of history in eras, firstly, of the decline of living faith and crisis of the religious worldview, secondly, at moments of change in spiritual guidelines, when the majority of believers have very little idea of what they believe in, and, finally, in those periods when when the new generally begins to dominate the life of society. That is why religious fanaticism, inquisitorial trials, “auto da fe” (Portuguese expression auto da fe comes from Latin actus fidei, those. “act of faith”), those bonfires in the fire of which Jan Hus, Savonarola, Miguel Servet, Giordano Bruno and many others died, and, finally, St. Bartholomew’s Night became, so to speak, the shadow of the Renaissance.
The rapid development of national languages and literatures, and then the fine arts (Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo), the incredibly rapid spread of printing throughout Europe and the subsequent book boom of the 16th century, great geographical discoveries (Vasco da Gama, Columbus and Magellan) and the revolution in the field of classical science (Copernicus, Tycho Brahe and J. Kepler) in less than a hundred years changed the world beyond recognition. All this provoked that gigantic crisis in the field of religious worldview, which resulted in the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. Translations of the Bible appear in all European languages, new, sometimes completely unthinkable theological and philosophical ideas are born. This cannot but cause a reaction not only among the average believer, who in the new conditions turns out to be completely disoriented and begins to fiercely defend my truth, the truth of bygone times, inherited from ancestors and therefore sacred, but sometimes also from a bright thinker. This was the case with Thomas More, who was among those who achieved the execution of the author of the English translation of the Holy Scriptures, William Tyndale.
The 20th century is in many ways similar to the Renaissance. Telephone, radio and television, the scientific and technological revolution in general, nuclear physics and the atomic bomb, aviation, space flights, finally, the Internet and research in the field of cloning - all this has changed life around us beyond recognition, just as it did in the 16th century. century. A person who professes traditional values, without having time to comprehend everything that is happening around him, easily falls into the trap of fanaticism. This almost always happens if (I’m using a gospel image) Saturday, those. adherence to religious norms and the letter of the law, this or that ideology or dogma, etc. turns out for him more valuable than a living person. In essence, it is precisely this trap that Jesus speaks about repeatedly in the pages of the New Testament, denouncing the scribes and Pharisees.
It is necessary to realize that fanaticism today makes itself felt not only in the Islamic world. Of course, in the conditions of modern society, adherents of fanaticism, as a rule, although not always, do not have the opportunity to kill or burn at the stake in the name of their idea of truth (remember Martin Luther King and Father Alexander Men!), however, even in this situation they They easily adapt, moving into the sphere of the media, newspapers, radio, especially the Internet, where a real zone of hatred is often formed in forums and chats. A fanatic, or rather, a neophyte infected with the bacillus of fanaticism begins to identify and expose enemies and, above all, heretics, Catholics, Protestants, etc., fights against culture, creates not only around himself, but also in general, in the social atmosphere, a tense a climate of fear, intolerance and heresy.
Soviet ideology, so to speak, canonized violence and lack of freedom. In the new conditions, a person brought up by the Soviet school, assimilating traditional values, both religious and political, absorbing them into himself and admiring them, very quickly begins to defend them, using the methodology that he learned, figuratively speaking, from the newspaper Pravda. The enemy must be found, exposed, neutralized and destroyed. The enemy in this situation turns out to be everyone who seems dissident to such a person. Thus, religious fanaticism, which has always grown out of the desire to protect the old, traditional, sanctified by time and the memory of the past, is gaining new breath in the post-Soviet reality.
What, if not a typical example of inciting fanaticism and interreligious hostility, is the answer of one of the Moscow priests to a radio listener’s question about what to do for the residents of the city in which the Baptists built a house of worship? To this question, the priest answers that they need to collect more stones and go break the windows of the Baptists until they themselves get out of there. Does this answer have at least something in common with Orthodoxy, which is known throughout the world as a religion of sacrificial love?
Where can I find a way out of this situation? According to Ali Absheroni, quoted above, fanatics, “with a one-sided understanding of tolerance, stand up for justice only in relation to themselves.” In other words, Berdyaev spoke about the same feature of fanaticism, pointing out that egocentrism is always inherent in a fanatic. “The faith of a fanatic, his selfless and selfless devotion to an idea does not in the least help him overcome egocentrism... a fanatic of any orthodoxy identifies his idea, his truth with himself.” From here Berdyaev draws an extremely important conclusion: “the egocentrism of a fanatic... is expressed in the fact that he does not see the human personality, is inattentive to the personal human path.”
Ali Absheroni expresses similar ideas. “Islam,” he writes, “does not need fanatical revolutionaries, it needs pious and devout people with deep and sincere faith, who, on the contrary, are characterized by tolerance and openness towards people who think differently, speak different languages or otherwise believers."
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From the book Comparative Theology. Book 6 author Team of authorsI was always sure that a person with my intelligence could not become a fanatic. When they call me a fanatic for going to church twice a week instead of once, you think: I wish I had more of that “fanaticism.”
And then on one Orthodox forum the topic of fanaticism was raised, and someone gave an original interpretation by an unknown priest. In his opinion, a fanatic is one who thinks: “Everyone will die, I alone will be saved.” But the Orthodox think differently: “The commandments are for me alone, but the Lord will have mercy on the rest.”
If so, I have noticeable signs of fanaticism. Walking down the street, I only see people dying. God! I thank You that I am not like other people (Luke 18:10). I meet a good person and immediately belittle him in my eyes: can he be good if he rejects Christ? There are not many Orthodox Christians around. And among them, many scare me away with the uncanonical nature of their Orthodoxy.
There are fewer and fewer friends left. What can they tell me that is wise or new?
The only meaning is if someone denounces. One said not so long ago: “You have become a terribly disgusting type lately. It has become impossible to communicate with you.” He probably meant the feeling of superiority with which I trash his Buddhist-Hindu reasoning and declare that the truth is only in Orthodoxy. There are very few such frank people. As for this friend, I can’t agree that Hinduism is simply another path to truth, equivalent to Christianity? He is a kind guy, but where will he go with such reasoning?
Therefore, I am a fanatic.
And as soon as I discovered fanaticism in myself, several events happened to me almost simultaneously.
First. I responded to an advertisement posted in our church calling for blood donations for young patients at a children’s hospital. Donated blood. The idea came to make an article about this initiative group, which posts advertisements, writes about children in newspapers, maintains a website, takes hundreds of donor calls and, as a result, uninterruptedly supplies the hematology department, where children suffer from leukemia and need blood every day. The example in our unmerciful society is all the more instructive because, as always, it is set by the Orthodox.
No sooner said than done. I came to the hematology department, talked to mothers, and took photographs of their children. In the face of death, everyone becomes better - both the children, and their mothers living at the department, and you, even looking at all this through the lens. Many people seemed almost saints to me. Including those I decided to write about. All young, selfless. It is clear that they have become members of a single family, in which all mothers are like sisters, and children, therefore, are nephews, including to donors.
And God blessed their work with obvious miracles. Firstly, He independently invested the desire to help the hospital into two girls who worked in the same commercial company - Tanya and Lena. Secondly, He gave these girls, who had never written, an amazing gift of speech and helped them, with their searingly powerful essays about children, to break into literally all the large-circulation Moscow publications. Those same yellow, commercial ones, which, they say, cannot be brought into the temple.
But here's a surprise. It turned out that Tanya is an atheist, Lena is a Catholic. Advertisements in churches are posted by their Orthodox assistant Sasha, but these two “non-Orthodox” are still the locomotive of the good deed.
30 To this Jesus said: A certain man was going from Jerusalem to Jericho and was caught by robbers, who stripped him of his clothes, wounded him and left, leaving him barely alive.
31 By chance, a certain priest was walking along that road, and when he saw him, he passed by.
32 Likewise, the Levite, being at that place, came and looked and passed by.
33 But a Samaritan, passing by, came upon him, and when he saw him, he had compassion
34 And he came and bandaged his wounds, pouring in oil and wine; and setting him on his donkey,
35 And the next day, as he was leaving, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, “Take care of him.” and if you spend anything more, when I return, I will give it back to you.
36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the one who fell among the robbers?
37 He said, “He who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus said to him: Go and do likewise.
Gospel of Luke, chapter 10
What, according to the holy fathers, should be the motives for good deeds? Either to fulfill the will of God, or to cultivate mercy in oneself. And these girls have pity for children and a desire to eliminate the injustice of fate towards them. Pity is wonderful, but regarding justice, this is, of course, a mistake; you cannot accuse God of injustice and imagine that you are more merciful than Him. I didn’t hesitate to tell my heroines about this. The interview turned into an argument. It seemed like he was saying the right thing, but my heart was getting heavier...
Second. Wanting to get rid of some Orthodox books I had read (based on the principle “On You, God, what is not good for me”), I found Victor through the Internet in Riga, who is engaged in missionary work with prisoners. He handed over the books, and communication continued via email. True, Victor’s tone seemed to me a little enthusiastic, not Orthodox. I dug deeper. It turned out that he is Orthodox, and has been in the Church for almost as long as I have been on earth. But with deviations. Instead of relying in everything on the holy fathers, he places the Old Testament above all on the basis of the revelation personally given to him by God. You understand - sheer charm, which I soon announced to him. And since he resisted, did not want to accept my hints, I became more and more irreconcilable with each letter. And although he persisted, he remained patient and friendly with me. And after all, in the end, I only gave away what was unnecessary, and he spends time and energy helping those who need it so much. The correspondence weighed more and more heavily on one’s conscience...
An e-mail argument with Tanya, who found herself in America with her parents, took place at the same time. Every morning I turned on the computer, read the letters full of misconceptions from these two people and sent them my admonitions, trying to seem as tolerant as possible. (I hope you understand the sad irony of my words.) But the question God was knocking on my heart became more and more obvious. Why does my conscience convict me when I am outwardly right?
The site turned out - it couldn’t be more Orthodox. The creation was blessed by the hieromonk of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra; after its creation, blessings came from several priests who really liked it. In advance, we even rejected news about church life as vain things that distracted us from prayer and the fight against passions. And, as befits an Orthodox website, it included a section “Will non-believers be saved?” Of course, with a negative answer, confirmed by the holy fathers.
God's providence regarding my comrades, collaborators in working on the site, was also confirmed by how well they worked and what kind of people they turned out to be. Olga, with whom I have to communicate more often, with her humility, always ready to help and joyful state of mind, resembles an Orthodox nun, and one who has already succeeded. I don’t even know what makes me happier – that the site was a success or that thanks to it I was able to meet such people. Having no doubt about Olga’s religion, I congratulated her on church holidays, and she congratulated me. But then one day, after two years of working together, congratulating her on the holiday, I suddenly heard: “You know, I’m not Orthodox. You have the right to remove me from working on the site."
They hit me on the head like a brick. The most pleasant thing is to find out how someone took a step towards salvation, and the hardest thing is to see that someone, as you thought, was going towards salvation, is actually going in the other direction. In order not to be even more upset, I did not even clarify what her faith was. But, listening to himself, he answered that it was not for me to dispute God’s providence. She accepted my response with gratitude: “Thank you for sharing God’s grace with me.” And everything went on as before, only I stopped congratulating her on our holidays.
And so, having begun to understand my fanaticism, I decided to ask her: “Who are you, Olga?” It turned out she was a Muslim! He and Valery are Russian, but came to Moscow from Tashkent. Olga herself considers her involvement in this work a miracle. She had her first Ramadan in her life. And in Ramadan you need to pay zakat (something like our tithe). There was no money. In this case, you are supposed to do something good for free. Olga asked God to send her some useful work. And so her heart responded to the call to work on an Orthodox website. And at the very first acquaintance with the texts of the site, she found the answer to an important question that was troubling her. Which she accepted as the voice of God.
There are not so many Russian Catholics and Muslims in Moscow. And if the Lord introduces me to them so often and shows me how good they can be, then He wants to tell me something. He wants to help me recover from exaltation and fanaticism, which prevent me from loving.
May my fellow sufferers, the fanatics, not misunderstand me. I am not going to praise someone else's faith, much less atheism. I just doubt more and more that I can judge people by belonging to one faith or another. If Tatiana, Elena and Olga have more love in their hearts than me, which of us is more pleasing to Christ? Besides, “the end of the matter is the crown,” and it is unknown what will happen to each of us in the end. It is much easier for a good person to become a Christian than for an evil person to become a good person, someone said.
Once upon a time an idea occurred to me as to why people become fanatics. A person gradually realizes that he is no better than others, maybe even worse. But instead of coming to terms with this and starting to work on himself, he suddenly begins to extol a quality that does not need to be worked on. And due to this, stand out among people. For example, a nationalist begins to boast of his nationality. This is an explanation on a psychological level. On the spiritual level: Satan, introducing into the human mind the idea of the special significance of some human quality, kills two birds with one stone: he sows hatred between people and deviates them from repentance.
Our religiosity and belonging to a particular church really have a special meaning. But the trouble is that I forget: my belonging to Orthodoxy is determined not only by attending services and participating in the sacraments, but also by observing the commandments. First of all, the commandments of love and the protecting commandments of non-judgment.
How to belittle yourself in your eyes without belittling your faith? I would like to receive an answer from church authorities who know the answer to such questions.
So far I have decided the following for myself: since it is impossible not to measure people, let their love be my criterion.
Religious fanatics can be divided into two groups. Some are fans of an idea (their church is the coolest, the teaching is the most advanced, only they receive real revelations from God, only they truly worship, only they have the most correct understanding of Scripture, and so on). The latter are fans of their religious leader, who often becomes for them an apostle, a prophet, and the father of all times and peoples. It happens that both categories of fanaticism are combined in one person.
However, the concepts of religious fanaticism and dogmatism should not be confused. A religious dogmatist scrupulously adheres to his beliefs, traditions and faith. He, like fanatics, can admire a religious leader and often considers representatives of other religions to be heretics. However, the goal of a religious dogmatist is to follow his faith, his own activities give him pleasure, he remains integral to himself. Admiration for someone does not go beyond the bounds of reason for a dogmatist, does not impoverish his personality, but only complements it.
How to recognize religious fanatics?
* A religious fanatic derives pleasure not from his activities, but from the very fact of the existence of an ideal or idea. He loses himself in his addiction.
* A religious fanatic wants to experience passions and emotions. He is not self-sufficient, which is why he creates an idol for himself - from an idea or some strong and bright personality. He finds something extremely important for himself outside of himself.
* By imitating a bright religious leader, the fan seems to become a part of this successful personality; the radiance of a person who has achieved something and ascended to the pedestal is reflected on him.
* The fanatic transfers responsibility for himself into the hands of his idol and subordinates himself entirely to someone else's idea.
* A religious fanatic is a vain person, but unsure of his strengths and capabilities. It is easier for him to live by the reflected light of his idea or his ideal.
* A religious fanatic has a need for like-minded people. He is looking for similar fans, among whom he feels like one of his own, speaks the same language with them, they “relish” their idea or their hero and understand each other perfectly. The circle of a fanatic is a kind of psychic association of people electrified by a common feeling, which grows in its circle and can reach unknown magnitudes.
* Religious fanaticism is often aimed at destroying someone else's culture, religion, or value system. Considering his idea the most correct and his leader the most “advanced,” the religious fanatic aggressively subverts other ideas and the authority of other leaders. This is done as proof of love for their leader. Because only his idol is true and his church is the best!
* Often fanaticism is a teenage disease. Many outgrow it, but not all. In adolescence, a person begins to reject previous idols and authorities. Neither parents nor teachers no longer satisfy his spiritual and moral aspirations. Teenagers wonder: who am I with? Who are my friends? They need to feel part of a group.
* A religious fan is, by and large, of no interest to himself. Fanaticism impoverishes a person as a person. Religious fanatics are easy to manipulate and control.
* Fanateya, a person is becoming more and more drawn into what is happening. Some unfamiliar energy begins to fill him. In this strange state, he disconnects from himself, begins, along with everyone else, to sincerely rejoice, grieve, and wait for a miracle.
How do people become religious fanatics?
The future fan subconsciously suffers from the fact that his own life is colorless, there are no exciting events in it, so he involuntarily looks for someone to turn his gaze to. Suddenly he liked some religious leader, how he dressed, how he preached, how he moved on stage. Having listened to the meaning of his teaching, he suddenly realizes that this wonderful man is talking about him, that he understands his soul! At the next stage, he wants to know more about his idol. Over time, the fan begins to identify with him, he needs to be like him in the way he behaves, speaks, and dresses. In the end, an unremarkable person who is of little interest to himself becomes involved in a personality that many know and love.
In fairness, it should be noted that many religious leaders themselves often provoke such a “dissolution” in their personality. They quote passages of Scripture, taking them out of context, such as the words of the Apostle Paul, “imitate me, as I imitate Christ,” and sometimes even develop an entire doctrine about how to “be baptized into a leader,” concentrating only on the revelations of the “modern Moses,” professing only his teachings, following only his instructions.
It is not difficult to convince religious fanatics of the need to have their one and only idol. The crowd has always needed authority, a personality that evokes love, respect, and fear. Since the creation of the world, humanity has had spiritual leaders, kings, and prophets. Religious leaders easily become someone's idols. They are always in sight - heard, seen and loved.
But the time comes when you have to ask yourself the question, not “who am I with,” but “who am I?”
How to get rid of religious fanaticism?
The first objective step in rehabilitating a religious fanatic is to stop denying the existence of this problem. The fanatic must realize that his fanaticism negatively affects his relationships with the people around him. Sometimes this requires confrontation and outside intervention. If a fanatic does not admit his problem, then there is little hope for his recovery. Once a fanatic recognizes his problems, destroying his relationship with God, with others and his attitude towards himself, the first step has already been taken. This is the beginning of recovery.
The second important step to restoration is to recognize yourself in faith and submit to God. The starting point in humility before God is the ability of the fanatic to eventually admit that his life has become unmanageable. Without a relationship with God, change is impossible. Humility before God is a process. This is an extremely difficult step.
The religious fanatic needs mental restoration. It involves replacing fanaticism with reality-based thinking. A religious fanatic needs to get rid of an extreme way of thinking. Fanaticism always views events and people as black and white, everything is only good or only bad, absolutely right or absolutely wrong. For a fanatic, everything is extreme. He is guided by the principle of “sink or perish.”
Humility before God and submission to the Word of God will place the right emphasis in the life of a recovering person, and will also help him treat himself and others correctly.
Submission to God does not lead a person to abandon his own position. Like, I am a servant of the Lord and I have nothing of my own. It's a delusion. God does not treat people like puppets. But he treats them as individuals, because He Himself is a Person. God's guidance leads a person to form his personal position, develop and improve it. Ultimately, a colossal difference is formed between a weak-willed and stupid creature, carried by various spirits, and a person standing before the Lord as a person responsible for himself. Restoring a fanatic involves taking responsibility for yourself, for your words and actions. Responsibility is the position of a person’s personal standing before God.
Builders who reject the Cornerstone inevitably end up in idolatry. Returning to the Truth, to Christ means abandoning idols and obsessive “important” ideas and makes the person himself important and valuable.
In patristics in this sense the expression is usually used jealousy is beyond reason based on the words of the Apostle Paul () .
Term religious fanaticism, along with the direct meaning, is often used:
- non-church people to condemn Christians who are responsible for their faith and practically express it in their lives.
- to promote godlessness. At the same time, the emphasis is on crimes committed under the banner of religion. There are two counterarguments here: 1) fanaticism contradicts the commandments of Christ; 2) atheistic fanaticism (in Russia, France, Spain, Mexico...) led to significantly more victims than religious fanaticism.
What is fanaticism? Who can be called a fanatic?
Hieromonk Job (Gumerov)
Fanatics (Latin fanaticus - frenzied; associated with the root fanum - temple) in ancient times were the name of servants of pagan cults, whose actions were often accompanied by the manifestation of fury. The 1st book of Kings contains a story about how the priests of Baal performed their cult on Mount Carmel: And they took the calf that was given to them, and prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying: Baal, hear us! But there was no voice, no answer. And they galloped around the altar they had made. And they began to shout with a loud voice, and stabbed themselves as usual with knives and spears, so that blood flowed over them. ().
The Holy Fathers did not apply this term to Christians, as it was genetically alien to the principles of the Christian faith and had a certain semantic conditionality. They always gave precise names to various deviations from the healthy Christian faith. The expression is often used in patristics jealousy beyond reason, unreasonable jealousy. “About any deed, if you do it without reflection and study, know that it is vain, although it is decent, because God imputes righteousness according to prudence, and not according to foolish actions” (Rev. Ascetic words.Word 89. About the harm of unreasonable jealousy, hiding behind the guise of Divine jealousy, and about the help that comes from meekness and other moral qualities).
Causes jealousy is beyond reason There are different ones: pride, vanity, conceit. Such unreasonable zeal is especially dangerous when it is fueled by demonic flattery: “So, he teaches others to cruelly exhaust their body with fasting, scourging, sleeping on bare ground and other similar embitterments of the flesh so that he either falls into pride, dreaming that he is doing great things.” affairs" (Rev. .).
The Holy Fathers also write about the destructive consequences of such deviations from the healthy Christian faith: “Our God is the God of peace, and brings all things God’s peace. And zeal for truth, when it comes from God, is peaceful, meek, compassionate towards everyone, even towards those who violate the truth. Therefore, you will understand that the zealous ferocity that kindled you is not from God. The enemy has taken hold of your heart and has inflamed it so unnaturally...” (Saint.).
The word fanaticism began to be actively used since the 19th century by non-believers and liberal-minded Christians who had fallen away from centuries-old tradition, against those whose religiosity was not limited to the cold performance of rituals. In the 20th century, it became one of the most commonly used concepts in the atheistic lexicon. Vague and vague in meaning, it turned out to be very convenient in an era of mass unbelief for condemning any religious activity that does not fit into the framework of the usual consciousness. As soon as a person who goes to church three or four times a year (to receive Epiphany water, bless the Easter cake and light a candle when there is trouble at work) starts visiting every month, his acquaintances begin to say that he has become a fanatic...
Holy Scripture teaches us to treat the word with great responsibility. “You will say different words: some will bring you to life, and others will kill your soul and, perhaps, the soul of your neighbor. That's why it is said: Let your word always be in grace, mixed with salt() (Holy rights. My life in Christ).
Religious fanaticism
Hegumen Ignatius (Dushein)
Religious fanaticism. Until recently, this concept was associated only with the school history course of the USSR. But something has changed. And not only here, but throughout the world. Now all newspapers are full of the words “extremism”, “fanaticism”, “fundamentalism”, and every second politician talks about “tolerance” and “tolerance”.
However, very often the same concepts can mean completely different things to different people. What is religious fanaticism?
For a non-religious person, any manifestation of religiosity at all may seem like a manifestation of religious fanaticism. He went to and began to observe fasts - a fanatic; says that abortion is a sin - extremist; Well, if he remembered Tsarist Russia with a kind word, then he’s just a great-power chauvinist.
Thus, for non-church people the concepts of “believer” and “fanatic” are practically identical. On the contrary, for an Orthodox person the accusation of fanaticism sounds, to say the least, offensive.
What does the word “fanaticism” mean? “Fanaticos” is translated from Latin as “frantic.” Modern Russians, brought up on Western films, imagine believers to be exactly like this – intolerant, frenzied, fasting, with eyes glowing from unhealthy ecstasy.
However, such a state from the point of view of Orthodox asceticism can only be assessed negatively. Orthodoxy is generally a religion of sobriety. Spiritual sobriety. It does not call a person to exalted spiritual states, does not invite him to take off with the help of imagination or emotions into the transcendental distances to communicate with the angelic ranks and the faces of holy saints. On the contrary, it categorically warns against such “flights”.
Orthodoxy just invites a person to look at himself soberly, without rose-colored glasses. Take a closer look at what is inside, in the heart. See what is really happening there.
Fanaticism is completely alien and unnatural to normal Orthodox spirituality. In Orthodoxy there is a concept of “zeal for God.” The example of people who shed their blood for the faith - martyrs - has always been and remains the glory and praise of the Church. Isn't this a manifestation of fanaticism?
After all, in all nations and at all times those who gave their lives for their people, country, and simply for their neighbor were glorified. And in general, if a person does not have something in life that he himself values higher than his life, then this only means that he has not yet risen above the level of the animal state.
The question is: is a person himself ready to die for his faith, or is he ready to kill other people for it, even at the cost of his life? And this is where the Christian sees the line between readiness for self-sacrifice and fanaticism.
For a Christian, the very thought of violence against someone else’s freedom is unacceptable. This organically follows from the Christian teaching about God: God Himself does not allow any violence on His part towards people. A Christian will defend his freedom, including with weapons, but he will never infringe on the freedom of another. Fanaticism precisely seeks to establish its “truths” throughout the world through violence.
Fanaticism is indifferent to the spiritual improvement of man; its goals are in this “earthly” dimension. This is not at all the case in Orthodoxy. The spiritual life of an Orthodox person is entirely directed inward. A Christian sees all his problems in himself, it is there that the center of his struggle is, there, in his heart, “the devil fights with God,” and there, in the depths of his heart, under the rubble of sins and passions, that treasure is hidden - the Kingdom of God - there is nothing more valuable than which in the world. This is the main difference between “religious zeal”, “spiritual zeal” and fanaticism.
This does not mean that everything that is happening around does not bother the Orthodox at all. It’s just that the main front of the struggle for the salvation of the soul is in the soul, and not in the Duma and not in the trenches. The Apostle Paul wrote: “... our struggle (struggle - I.I.) is not against blood and flesh (that is, people - I.I.), but against the principalities, against the powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against the spirits of wickedness in high places.” . And the spirits of evil do not threaten us with machine guns or “suicide belts”; they burst into our hearts along with anger, hatred, pride, lust, greed, and other passions.
Where the correct vector of spiritual warfare is lost, and the struggle begins not with the spirits of evil, not with one’s own passions, but with “flesh and blood” - with people, there the emergence of religious fanaticism is possible.
Are such phenomena possible in Christianity? In a normal spiritual life, no. If it is distorted, yes. That is why we find historical examples of religious fanaticism not only in other religions, but also in many Christian communities that have fallen away from the fullness of the Orthodox Church.
Islam, which originated in Arabia, conquered half the world with fire and sword. Catholicism tried to assert its dominance through the Crusades. Protestants, colonizing America, carried out genocide of the native population. Various sects often carried out bloody reprisals against those who were in no hurry to seek the salvation of their souls from their leaders.
Orthodoxy, on the contrary, is characterized by a tolerant attitude towards people of other faiths. While firmly insisting that it is the Orthodox Church that possesses the fullness of Truth, Orthodoxy does not call for the destruction of those who do not believe so. Over the course of a thousand years, Orthodox Russia has developed vast territories, but nowhere have bonfires burned with pagans, Buddhists or Muslims. Many peoples converted to the Orthodox faith, but always by the power of preaching, and not by force of arms. The same peoples who became part of the Russian Empire with their own beliefs were never oppressed on religious grounds. Moreover, mosques were built and lamas and mullahs were supported from the treasury of the Orthodox Empire.
When they want to accuse the Orthodox of fanaticism, they usually remember the Old Believer schism of the 17th century. Indeed, the tragic events associated with the schism did not occur without the fault of the highest hierarchs. But is it possible to consider the Old Believer schism as a phenomenon organically characteristic of Orthodoxy? Quite the opposite. The lack of elementary spiritual education among the people, excessive ritualism, addiction to the dead letter and to human traditions - all these are distortions, and not the normal state of the Church. But this is precisely what caused the split. Repressions against the Old Believers were carried out by the government, not the Church. Suffice it to remember that Archpriest Avvakum was executed when Patriarch Nikon himself had already been deposed and exiled. The persecution of the Old Believers was a pressing issue for the state, and it was under its pressure that the church hierarchy justified them. Church bans on schismatics were imposed not by Russian bishops but by Eastern Patriarchs.
As has already been said, fanaticism is not characteristic of Orthodoxy at all. It arises as a result of incorrect spiritual life. In sects, where there can be no question of a correct spiritual life, there is the most fertile environment for fanaticism. The gas attacks of the adherents of “AUM Shinrikyo”, the militant calls of the “White Brothers” have not yet disappeared from memory, and reports about the crimes of Satanists regularly appear in the press.
Only correct spiritual guidelines, correct spiritual life, can protect a person from fanaticism. And the Orthodox Church offers means that can protect society from the danger of escalating religious extremism.
“You are the salt of the earth,” the Lord said to the apostles who originally made up the Church. The church is the salt of the earth. What is salt? The first preservative known to people. Something that prevents rotting. The further people go from the Church, the more obvious the smell of decay. Without the Church, the world will become rotten and corrupt in its iniquities. One of the consequences of spiritual rot is fanaticism, and only the Church can resist it without riot police and special forces.
Fanaticism is a painful state, blind faith in an idea and imposing it on others. Fanaticism has been and remains today a complex and contradictory socio-historical phenomenon, which has always aroused keen interest among philosophers, theologians, politicians, cultural figures, and ordinary people. The religious fanaticism of one person can do more harm than the efforts of twenty criminals united together.
Introduction
Fanaticism is a painful state, blind faith in an idea and imposing it on others. Fanaticism has been and remains today a complex and contradictory socio-historical phenomenon, which has always aroused keen interest among philosophers, theologians, politicians, cultural figures, and ordinary people. In diverse forms and varieties, fanaticism manifests itself in almost all spheres of social and human life.
Religious fanaticism, as historically the first form of fanaticism, occupies a special place among its other varieties. It is potentially contained in any religion, can develop in certain historical conditions and can be used by various religious and political groups as a means of achieving their socio-political goals.
At its core, religious fanaticism is a special interpretation of a religious worldview and a special warehouse of religious feelings. The increased danger of religious fanaticism lies in the fact that it can be used as a factor in manipulating the consciousness and behavior of believers.
1. General part
Religious fanaticism is an extreme degree of passion for religious activity with the creation of a cult out of it, worship and dissolution in a group of like-minded people; this is the ideological basis of extremist activity.
Religious fanatical ideology is a perverted, fantastic program for overcoming the acute conflict between the interests of a certain religious group and its social opponents, an inadequate form of resolving the intolerant, historical social situation of a certain group of believers.
Religious fanaticism turns into extremism when there are no other “holding” forms of identification:
National, civil, tribal, property, clan, corporate.
“Pure religiosity” requires purification of the external world, and thus religious extremism is born.
Members of religious fanatical groups become dependent individuals who are unable to take responsibility for their lives and feel confident only in a group led by a strong leader. The more they lose their individuality, the more they need to identify with the leader and group in order to gain a sense of omnipotence. Such individuals can easily become victims of a psychological leader conducting mass trainings.
An even more widespread impact is exerted by financial pyramids such as MMM, organized crime, totalitarian state regimes, international mafia clans and religious-terrorist associations.
Religious fanatical groups most easily attract individuals engaged in intense spiritual quest, striving for “Absolute Truth,” often understood as simple and unambiguous answers to complex questions.
2. Types of religious fanaticism
Religious fanaticism is found among believers of many religions and provokes them into conflicts both with representatives of their own and with followers of other faiths. The main types of fanaticism are:
1) racial;
2) nationalistic (chauvinism);
3) political (fascism, totalitarianism);
4) religious (religious intolerance);
5) ritual - commitment, reaching the point of superstition, to the external form of worship and customs;
5) puritanism - the severity of morals and rules in everyday life, turned into an end in itself;
6) proselytism - attraction to religion in intrusive, insinuating and crafty ways;
7) religious expansion - the desire for worldwide domination of a religion using insidious and violent means.
World history, unfortunately, is full of cases of religious hatred, which pushed states and peoples into religious wars (civil and international) and inhuman persecution. But the religious history of peoples is also full of heresies, schisms, persecutions and excommunications, which was most clearly expressed in the Islamization of the peoples conquered by the Arabs and Turks, the Inquisition of the Western Church, the iconoclasm of several Byzantine emperors, etc.
3. Causes of religious fanaticism
The main causes of religious fanaticism are:
1) political: politicians, inciting religious fanaticism among the people, have long exploited the power of religion and use it either to strengthen their power or as a pretext for expansion;
2) psychological: psychological research shows that fanaticism is a manifestation of mental ill-being, a refuge of neurotic individuals who try to hide from themselves and others, by resorting to fanaticism, their internal mental conflict and the resulting aggressiveness, inferiority complex and selfishness;
3) religious: the elevation of fanaticism to the norm of the rules of some religions (for example, in Islam, the spread of faith “by fire and sword”) or the exaggerated demands of believers towards their neighbors, resulting from an incorrect understanding of the commandments.
4. Consequences of religious fanaticism
The consequences of religious fanaticism for people, society and religions themselves are very diverse. Religious fanaticism:
1) creates in the believer the illusion of spiritual self-sufficiency and guaranteed salvation, lulling his conscience and instilling in him a pharisaical consciousness;
2) distorts faith because it deprives it of a precious quality - love for one’s neighbor, without which faith is dead;
3) stifles personal freedom through coercion, persecution, threats, punishment, and violence;
4) pushes its victims to destroy other human lives and civilizations in religious wars;
5) causes antipathy among religiously indifferent people or people of little faith, inclining them to atheism, since they are convinced that religion, instead of ennobling a person, incites hatred in him and encourages bloody conflicts.
5. Religious fanatics
The main sign of a religious fanatic, which distinguishes him from a very religious person, is the belief that only through their favorite organization and teaching can one come to God, and those who disagree with this belief go straight to hell.
A religious fanatic is arrogant, intolerant, and aggressive towards other spiritual paths and schools. Such a person cannot be called spiritual. Often such people are completely insensitive not only to wisdom, but even to logic, to facts and common sense. They can know thick religious works by heart, hold a high position in their organization, and yet not have a basic understanding of the basics of spiritual philosophy. Religious fanatics can be divided into two groups:
1) Religious fans for the idea (their church is the coolest, the teaching is the most advanced, only they receive real revelations from God, only they truly worship, only they have the most correct understanding of Scripture, and so on);
2) Religious fans of their religious leader, who often becomes for them an apostle, a prophet, and the father of all times and peoples.
A religious fanatic derives pleasure not from his activities, but from the very fact of the existence of an ideal or idea. He dissolves in his addiction, wants to experience passions and emotions. He is not self-sufficient, which is why he creates an idol for himself - from an idea or some strong and bright personality. He finds something extremely important for himself outside of himself.
By imitating a bright religious leader, a religious fan seems to become a part of this successful personality; the radiance of a person who has achieved something and ascended to the pedestal is reflected on him. A religious fanatic transfers responsibility for himself into the hands of his idol and subordinates himself entirely to someone else's idea. He is a vain, but unsure of his strengths and capabilities. It is easier for him to live by the reflected light of his idea or his ideal.
A religious fanatic has a need for like-minded people. He is looking for similar fans, among whom he feels like one of his own, speaks the same language with them, they “relish” their idea or their hero and understand each other perfectly.
The environment of a religious fanatic is a kind of psychic association of people electrified by a common feeling, which grows in its circle and can reach unknown magnitudes.
Religious fanaticism is aimed at destroying someone else's culture, religion, and value system. Considering his idea the most correct and his leader the most “advanced,” the religious fanatic aggressively subverts other ideas and the authority of other leaders. This is done as proof of love for their leader. Because only his idol is true and his church is the best! Often religious fanaticism is a teenage disease. Many people outgrow it, but not all. In adolescence, a person begins to reject previous idols and authorities. Neither parents nor teachers no longer satisfy his spiritual and moral aspirations. They need to feel part of a group.
A religious fan is, by and large, of no interest to himself. Religious fanaticism impoverishes a person as an individual. Religious fanatics are easy to manipulate and control.
The stronger the religious fanaticism, the more a person is drawn into what is happening. Some unfamiliar energy begins to fill him. In this strange state, he disconnects from himself, begins, along with everyone else, to sincerely rejoice, grieve, and wait for a miracle.
However, the concepts of religious fanaticism and dogmatism should not be confused. A religious dogmatist scrupulously adheres to his beliefs, traditions and faith. He, like religious fanatics, can admire a religious leader and often considers representatives of other religions to be heretics.
However, the goal of a religious dogmatist is to follow his faith, his own activities give him pleasure, he remains integral to himself. Admiration for someone does not go beyond the bounds of reason for a dogmatist, does not impoverish his personality, but only complements it.
Conclusion
Religious fanaticism is a disease that brings grief and disaster through delusion, insanity, and the inability to hear and understand others. And they become infected with this disease through human passions and addictions, developed to one degree or another in every person.
Therefore, guarding yourself in passions, fighting them, being a strict self-critic is the way to protect yourself from religious fanaticism. It’s all about us, and we need to start only with ourselves, but not with a fence from others.