Who are the Pharisees in Orthodox Christianity? Scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees - who are they? Opinion of Josephus and the Apostle Paul

If we go deeper in particular, Jesus Christ criticized the Pharisees, Sadducees and scribes for the following. 13 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you close the Kingdom of Heaven to men, for you yourself do not enter and you do not allow those who want to enter. 43 Woe to you Pharisees, because you love presiding in the synagogues and greetings in the public assemblies. Matt. 23:23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you tithe mint, anise and cumin, and have neglected the most important things in the law: judgment, mercy and faith; this had to be done, and this should not be abandoned.

The Pharisees and Sadducees were different branches (currents) of Judaism, and the scribes were engaged in rewriting the scrolls of the Holy Scripture, so they knew it well and were respected by the people. That is, they looked respectable, spiritually elevated, enjoyed the respect of the people, but inside, which was not noticeable to ordinary believers, they were not so decent and spiritual. 5. The clergy of Christianity, merging with the state, absorbed much of paganism into its teachings - miraculous shrines, holy intermediaries, magical places and objects.

In all these cases, the violation of a direct commandment is explained by Tradition, saying that the holy elders explained that this can be done and this is not a violation. It was for this that Jesus reproached the clergy of his time, that they placed the authority of the elders above the direct Word of God. Pharisees - Literally translated from Aramaic: Separated.

Jesus, the Law and the Pharisees

The name Pharisees comes from a Hebrew word meaning to excommunicate, to separate; but the story of their origin is hidden in... ... the Bible. Old and New Testaments. Scribes is the biblical name for a special class of people who are often spoken of in both the Old and New Testaments (Heb. sopherim, Greek γραμματεΐς). A scribe (literally, a writer, a scribe) is a representative of, apparently, the most educated layer of the Jewish people (in the New Testament they are almost always mentioned together with the Pharisees).

In the lexicons of the Greek language one can also find information that the word grammateus also meant a person skilled in Jewish law, an interpreter of the law. 52 He said to them, “Therefore every scribe who is taught in the kingdom of heaven is like a master who brings out of his treasury new and old things.

“Grammar” comes from it, because grammar is what is written and used when writing. Jesus rebuked them for their sins and inconsistency. He was a scribe, versed in the Law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel gave.

Pharisee - translation from Greek

13 And I appointed Shelemia the priest and Zadok the scribe and Pedaiah of the Levites, and with them Hanan the son of Zachur the son of Mattaniah, to the storehouses, because they were considered faithful. After the Babylonian captivity, when the Hebrew language began to be forgotten and a new one, Aramaic, came into use, all the holy books had to be rewritten in order to preserve them.

2 Do not add to what I command you, and do not subtract from it; You shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. These books taken together are known as the Talmud (teaching), which, according to the rabbis, contains 613 commandments (248 commandments and 365 prohibitions).

The famous scribes of Christ's time were Hillel and Shamai, who headed two different schools. Hillel's disciple (and grandson, as the legend goes), was Gamaliel, the mentor of Saul (Apostle Paul). 19 Then one scribe came up and said to Him: Teacher! We do not know how the Pharisees acquired such a name. The Pharisees were the leading religious group in Jesus' time.

The Pharisees were separatists because they treated every other people with contempt. Their contempt, according to some researchers, was also transferred to the Sadducees and ordinary Jews. Saul of Tarsus was a Pharisee at the time of his conversion to Christ. The party of the Pharisees was apparently formed shortly before the era of the Maccabees. At first, the Maccabees were part of the Pharisees' party and relied on it, but later they left this party and even persecuted its members.

The Pharisees limited themselves to the external execution of the Law, while at the same time trying to strengthen the Law with new rules and regulations governing its implementation. In fact, they were increasingly moving away from God's true will (Matthew 15:1ff.). The consequence of this was unconscious, and therefore especially dangerous, hypocrisy (verses 7-9; 23:13-29) and narcissism (Matt 6:5,16; 23:5-7; Luke 18:11).

That is, criticism of the Pharisees, Sadducees and scribes is Jesus’ denunciation of the actions of the spiritual leaders of Israel at that time. 8 For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit; and the Pharisees admit both. The Old Testament, but already in his time there were other scribes.

At the time of Jesus Christ, the scribes and Pharisees were the religious leaders of the Jewish people, their spiritual mentors and fathers. They created their own special system of understanding and fulfilling the Law of God. They put a lot of effort and labor into building their authority as an infallible caste of people close to God. And suddenly Jesus Christ sharply criticized this caste, declaring that the righteousness of the Pharisee is worthless. Jesus Christ showed that all the ceremonies invented by the Pharisees, and even the ostentatious execution of the Law of God, could not make the scribes and Pharisees saints (which they claimed to be), since they did not have saving faith in God, were not pure in heart, meek in character, etc. ... as Jesus Christ demanded. By their way of life, the Pharisees could not achieve righteousness and could not bring their souls into conformity with God's will, because their orthodoxy was based on formal observance of the Law of God and was devoid of love, humility, compassion, etc. According to Jesus Christ, the Pharisees and the scribes could not save the world from destruction, since they became like salt, which had lost its taste and strength. Thinking that they were serving God, the Pharisees were actually serving themselves, while formally fulfilling the Law of God. Their righteousness consisted of a sketchy, superficial, formal observance of the law, and was aimed primarily at satisfying their own ambitious and selfish needs. They followed the law at their own discretion, framing their actions as justification for their arbitrariness. And the Law of God was holy and perfect, like the Lord, and demanded righteousness and justice from people in its fulfillment. And the righteousness of the Pharisees consisted in serving themselves, which was covered up by external observance of the law. But in fact, such disdainful and selfish service to the law distorted and humiliated the Law of God. Regarding the righteousness of the Pharisees, the Old Testament prophet Isaiah said: “All our righteousness is like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). And the Apostle Paul wrote about the Pharisees: “For not understanding the righteousness of God and trying to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to the righteousness of God” (Rom. 10:3). Therefore, Jesus Christ proclaimed the holy words, addressing his disciples and followers: “ For, I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20). These words must be understood as follows. If you treat the observance of God’s commandments like the Pharisees and scribes (that is, formally and violate them), if you adapt the fulfillment of God’s Law for your own selfish and vain purposes, and verbally declare that you allegedly serve God, then you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven , because in essence you violate, and do not fulfill, the Will of God, hypocritically covering this violation with false righteousness. According to the words of Jesus Christ, the righteousness of His disciples and followers must surpass the false righteousness of the Pharisees and scribes. That is, true Christians must have true, and not false Pharisaic righteousness, and selflessly and unwaveringly serve the Lord God, keeping His commandments aimed at doing good. Moreover, service to God must be sincere and honest, without Pharisaic hypocrisy and guile, which cunningly circumvents the fulfillment of God’s Commandments and seeks excuses for sins and deviations from the Law of God. But the Law of God is Holy and does not allow distortions and non-compliance with It. Therefore, the disciples and followers of Jesus Christ, in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, had to have a different righteousness than the scribes and Pharisees. This righteousness, legal and perfect, is offered by the Lord God to true Christians through His Son, Jesus Christ. Opening their hearts to Jesus Christ, His disciples and followers had to, fulfilling the Teachings of Christ, change their soul and lifestyle and become the earthly likeness of Jesus Christ.

To begin with, of course, it is worth explaining who the Pharisees, Sadducees and scribes were. The Pharisees and Sadducees were different branches (currents) of Judaism, and the scribes were engaged in rewriting the scrolls of the Holy Scripture, so they knew it well and were respected by the people. Jesus Christ's denunciations of the Pharisees and Sadducees were addressed mainly to their spiritual authorities. That is, criticism of the Pharisees, Sadducees and scribes is Jesus’ denunciation of the actions of the spiritual leaders of Israel at that time.

First of all, of course, Christ denounced the clergy for hypocrisy! That is, they looked respectable, spiritually elevated, enjoyed the respect of the people, but inside, which was not noticeable to ordinary believers, they were not so decent and spiritual. Jesus spoke of them this way:

Matthew 23:27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside full of the bones of the dead and all uncleanness.

If we go deeper in particular, Jesus Christ criticized the Pharisees, Sadducees and scribes for the following. Let us quote the words of Jesus about them

1. Because they did not fulfill all the commandments Scriptures, and to a greater extent – ​​ritual ones and which are in plain sight:

Matt. 23:23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you tithe mint, anise, and cumin, and left the most important things in the law: judgment, mercy and faith; this had to be done, and this should not be abandoned.

Matt. 23:2 said: The scribes and Pharisees sat on Moses' seat(teachers of God's law, the first of whom was Moses); 3 Therefore whatever they command you to observe, observe and do; according to their deeds(Pharisees) do not do as they say, and do not do.

2. For what they taught wrong people who served the destruction of people:

Matt. 23:13 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you close the Kingdom of Heaven to men, for you yourself do not enter and you do not allow those who want to enter. 15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, who go around sea and land to convert even one; and when this happens, you make him a son of Gehenna, twice as bad as you.

3. For what they loved elevate himself above the people (flock):

Matt. 23:6 they also love to sit at feasts and preside over synagogues 7 and greetings in public assemblies, and so that people call them: teacher! teacher!

4. For separating themselves from the people, including special clothing, which was not in the Law of Moses for the Levites and other ministers (only the priests, entering the sanctuary, wore special clothes made of fine linen, and the High Priest wore a more complex functional one, symbolizing the Mediator Jesus):

Matt. 23:5 increase screaming clothes their

5. For the fact that added to the law There are many Moses human legends:

Matt. 23:4 heavy burdens bind and unbearable and lay them on people's shoulders

Mark 7:7 in vain they worship Me by teaching doctrines, commandments of men .

6. Because spiritual leaders abolished the direct commandments of God, giving a priority fulfillment of the commandments of human Traditions:

Mark 7:8 Because you leaving the commandment of God, hold on human traditions, washing mugs and bowls, and doing many other things like that. 9...is it good that you set aside the commandment of God in order to keep your own tradition?

Matt. 15:3 Why do you you transgress God's commandment for the sake of tradition your his(we are talking about the traditions of the elders, as written in Matt. 15:2)? 6 Thus you have made void the commandment of God by your tradition.

Do you think all these reproaches of Christ apply to the spiritual leaders of some modern historical Christian denominations who:

1. Not all commandments of Scripture are fulfilled(in particular, some directly violate the 2, 3, 4 commandments of the Decalogue, Ex. 20: 4-11)

2. They teach the people not as it is written in the Word of God, leading them away from the Living Lord to objects, holy places, intermediary people, they say, these intermediaries will connect them with God. Therefore, believers misunderstand the character of the loving Lord, they say, he has no time, He communicates only with the elect, and does not hear or notice ordinary people and waits for them to turn to saints or shrines... But God in His Word says that He Himself hears all prayers directed to Him and next to each of us and delves into all our affairs (Ps. 33:15) and even knows how many hairs we have on our heads (Matthew 10:30), and will answer the prayer of faith and heal (James 5:15).

3. Some ministers elevate themselves: they don’t mind when their hands and hem are kissed; they consider their spiritual position to be much closer to God. Although, in essence, they are the same ordinary people - sinners, and sometimes even more, because knowledge of church statutes in itself does not illuminate a person, but to whom more is given, more is required (Luke 12:48). Many spiritual teachers ask to be called spiritual teacher, mentor, father, pope, which Jesus directly forbade, pointing out similar mistakes of the Pharisees (see Matt. 23).

4. We came up with something for ourselves special clothes, in order to separate yourself further from ordinary people, causing them to have special respect for themselves. Although the law of Moses did not require all ministers to wear different clothes (except for the High Priest), but only for the priests to put them on before entering the temple. Also, the ministers of the first Christian church (the first 3 centuries), including bishops, did not have special clothes, but wore what ordinary people did.

5. The clergy of Christianity, merging with the state, absorbed much of paganism into its teachings - miraculous shrines, holy intermediaries, magical places and objects. Also added numerous invented burdens to God's law: fasts, penances, etc., complicating the life of the believer, which God did not prescribe in His Word. This never happened in either the Old or New Testament.

6. Spiritual leaders believed that the elders had the right to comment on God's law in a way that changes the clearly and unambiguously stated commandments of God. In particular, by changing the fourth commandment about the Sabbath, adjusting the second commandment, where the Lord prohibits the worship ANY images, I ignore the third commandment, where God forbids repeating His name in vain, and in some prayers this is done as many as 40 times, just to get the count, as if God doesn’t hear the first time. There are other violations of the law; I am writing here about the most obvious ones. This issue is discussed more fully in my book. In all these cases, the violation of a direct commandment is explained by Tradition, saying that the holy elders explained that this can be done and this is not a violation. It was for this that Jesus reproached the clergy of his time, that they placed the authority of the elders above the direct Word of God.

Valery Tatarkin

Many have heard how someone can be called a Pharisee, but not everyone knows who the Pharisees are. In the ordinary mind, pharisaism is a lie, falsehood and hypocrisy. But without referring to the complex and interesting history of the word “Pharisey,” it is impossible to understand who a Pharisee is and what kind of phenomenon this is.

The religious side of the concept

When talking about this phenomenon, the topic of conversation often has a religious connotation. Believers, when faced with negative moral qualities of a person, often characterize him with the indicated word.

This opinion is predominantly held by representatives of Christian denominations: Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Protestantism.

Adherents of Judaism may be offended when they hear such word used in their address. This is due to the long-standing historical confrontation between the Pharisees, whose teachings became the basis of rabbinic Judaism, and Christians of the first centuries.

Even if the conversation is conducted in a purely secular context, one should not abuse the concept of “pharisaism”, forgetting what it was originally. For some of your interlocutors, this word may seem offensive, especially since religion belongs to the area of ​​freedom of conscience and no one is obliged to inform others about it.

Take note! Some may even consider the accusation of pharisaism to be a sign of anti-Semitism, which can undermine one’s reputation in a business or professional environment that seems far removed from religion.

Origin of the term

Let us tell you from the very beginning about the origin of Pharisaism, the significance of which in human history still causes debate among representatives of the world of science.

The answer to the question of what Pharisaism is is given by Wikipedia. A separate article in the free encyclopedia is devoted to this phenomenon in its historical context.

Who are the Pharisees? Wikipedia calls this the followers of the religious-social movement that existed in Judea during the era of the Second Temple, during the years of the earthly life of Jesus Christ.

The Pharisees became a prominent phenomenon in the second century BC, when the Jews gained relative political independence after the Maccabean revolt. Their opponents in that era were the Sadducees and Essenes.

Although the name "Pharisees" goes back to the Hebrew word פרש ‎, denoting heretics and apostates, this school became dominant in Judea, and its teachers laid the foundation for Jewish religious law - Halacha. As we can see, the original meaning of the word “Pharisee” was far from what “Pharisey” now means.

The Pharisees themselves, the meaning of the word from which the name of the adherents of this worldview came, did not prevent them from preaching their views on faith in God, which were in many ways opposed to the ritual Judaism of the priests of the Temple and the Sadducees who stood at the head of the near-temple nobility.

To understand who the Pharisees are, it is enough to mention that these are the priests who were the first to serve God in the synagogues .

Before this, all rituals were performed in a single place - the Jerusalem Temple, where people from all over Judea and from places of dispersion flocked on holidays.

Let us list the main points of the Pharisaic doctrine

1. Belief in the predestination of fate influencing a person's life.
2. Confidence that a person can choose between good and bad deeds.
3. A statement about the need to observe, in addition to the Torah, oral instructions passed down from generation to generation.
4. Waiting for the resurrection of the dead.

Pharisaic teachers recorded a large number of commentaries and explanations on the provisions of the Mosaic Law. Some of these interpretations modified and significantly softened the commandments of the Pentateuch, for example, regarding the observance of rest on the Sabbath and ritual purity, which means the actual reform of the ancient religion, disguised as strict adherence to traditions.

It was precisely such arbitrary changes in the law, as not corresponding to the true spirit of Divine instructions, that Jesus Christ criticized, who on the pages of the Gospels repeatedly enters into polemics with the Pharisees.

Note! Pharisaic views did not prevent individual adherents of this movement from subsequently becoming disciples of Christ.

Meaning

Only by understanding history can one understand what Pharisaism is for Christian believers. In church sermons you can often hear statements about how a Christian can avoid becoming a Pharisee; the definition and roots of this concept are discussed.

First of all, we are talking about the correspondence or non-conformity of form and content in religious life.

For example, many parishioners, as priests say, criticize women standing in church without headscarves, believing that this is unacceptable.

At the same time, they themselves commit more serious sins, slandering their neighbors and being angry with them. It is noted that such pharisaism, by definition, nullifies the spiritual achievements associated with the observance of external piety.

Attention! The synonyms given in specialized dictionaries can tell a lot about the functioning of the word “pharisaism” in the modern Russian language.

The following words are mentioned as equivalent by linguists:

• falsehood
• hypocrisy,
• duality,
• hypocrisy,
• insincerity,
• deceitfulness,
• duplicity,
• doublethink,
• duplicity,
• crookedness.

What does Pharisaism mean for a secular person? Of course, it is impossible to become a Pharisee in the original sense of the word in the modern world. But even if you are far from religion, it is not difficult to understand what pharisaism means.

Interesting! The meaning of the word extortion and what it is

We are talking about people who, behind external adherence to form, hide complete indifference to its content. Instead of real help, they will offer a dismissal or an excuse.

Unfortunately, this phenomenon is widespread. Also, deceitful and insincere people can be accused of pharisaism with good reason.

Useful video

Let's sum it up

Having understood what pharisaism is, it makes sense to take a closer look at your own environment and your personal actions. It is enough to ask yourself whether there is always a sincere attitude in your soul towards what you do and say, whether others have a reason to call you a Pharisee.

In contact with

Matt. XXIII, 1-39: 1 Then Jesus began to speak to the people and to His disciples, 2 and said, “The scribes and Pharisees sat in the seat of Moses; 3 Therefore whatever they command you to observe, observe and do; But do not act according to their deeds, for they speak and do not do: 4 they bind heavy and unbearable burdens and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves do not want to move them with a finger; 5 Yet they do their works so that people can see them: they enlarge their storehouses and increase the cost of their garments; 6 They also love to be seated at feasts and to preside in synagogues 7 and to be greeted in public assemblies, and for people to call them “Teacher!” teacher! 8 But do not call yourself teachers, for you have one Teacher, Christ, and yet you are brothers; 9 And call no one on earth your father, for you have one Father, who is in heaven; 10 And do not be called instructors, for you have only one instructor—Christ. 11 Let the greatest of you be your servant: 12 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. 13 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you close the Kingdom of Heaven to men, for you yourself do not enter and you do not allow those who want to enter. 14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour the houses of widows and hypocritically pray for a long time: for this you will receive all the more condemnation. 15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, who go around sea and land to convert even one; and when this happens, you make him a son of Gehenna, twice as bad as you. 16 Woe to you, blind leaders, who say: If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is guilty. 17 Mad and blind! What is greater: gold, or the temple consecrating gold? 18 Also: if anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on it, he is guilty. 19 Mad and blind! What is greater: the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift? 20 So he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything that is on it; 21 And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it; 22 And he who swears by heaven swears by the Throne of God and by Him who sits on it. 23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you tithe mint, anise and cumin, and have neglected the most important things in the law: judgment, mercy and faith; this had to be done, and this should not be abandoned. 24 Blind leaders, straining out a gnat and devouring a camel! 25 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you cleanse the outside of the cup and the platter, while inside they are full of robbery and unrighteousness. 26 Blind Pharisee! First cleanse the inside of the cup and the dish, so that the outside of them may also be clean. 27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside appear beautiful, but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and all uncleanness; 28 Likewise, on the outside you appear to people to be righteous, but on the inside you are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness. 29 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, who build tombs for the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and say, “If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been their accomplices in spills blood of the prophets; 31 Thus you testify against yourselves that you are the sons of those who killed the prophets; 32 So fill up the measure of your fathers. 33 Serpents, brood of vipers! How will you escape from condemnation to Gehenna? 34 Therefore, behold, I send you prophets, and wise men, and scribes; and some you will kill and crucify, and others you will beat in your synagogues and drive from city to city; 35 May all the righteous blood shed on earth come upon you, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachi, whom you killed between the temple and the altar. 36 Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. 37 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to you! how many times have I wanted to gather your children together, as a bird gathers its chicks under its wings, and you did not want to! 38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. 39 For I say to you, you will not see Me from now on until you cry: Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!

Mk. XII, 38-40:38 And He said to them in His teaching: Beware of the scribes, who love to walk in long robes and accept greetings in public assemblies, 39 sitting in front in synagogues and reclining in the first place at feasts, - 40 these, who devour the houses of widows and publicly pray for a long time, will receive the heaviest condemnation.

OK. XX, 45-47:45 And when all the people listened, He said to His disciples: 46 Beware of the scribes, who love to walk in long robes and love greetings in public assemblies, presiding in synagogues and presiding at feasts, 47 who devour widows' houses and hypocritically pray for a long time; they will receive all the more condemnation.

A Guide to Studying the Four Gospels

Prot. Seraphim Slobodskaya (1912-1971)
Based on the book “The Law of God”, 1957.

On the Divine Dignity of the Messiah-Christ

(Matt. XXI, 33-46; XXII, 15-46; XXIII; Mark XII, 1-40; Luke XX, 9-47)

... Then Jesus Christ turned to His disciples and the people and in a menacing speech, clearly before everyone, exposed the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and scribes and predicted grief for them.

Jesus Christ said with sorrow: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you close the Kingdom of Heaven to people; because you yourself do not enter, and you do not allow those who want to enter.”

… “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you tithe mint, anise and temin (things of little value), and have left the most important things in the law: judgment (justice), mercy and faith; and this had to be done, and this should not be abandoned. Blind leaders who strain out the mosquito and swallow the camel!” (This means that they carefully observe the little things and leave the important things unattended.)

“…. Outwardly, you seem righteous to people, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness."

This was the last admonition of the Lord, the last attempt to save them from terrible condemnation. But there was no repentance on their faces, but there was hidden anger against the Savior.

Archbishop Averky (Taushev) (1906-1976)
A Guide to Studying the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament. Four Gospels. Holy Trinity Monastery, Jordanville, 1954.

13. A diatribe against the scribes and Pharisees

(Matt. XXIII, 1-39; Mark XII, 38-40; Luke XX, 45-47)

Having shamed the Pharisees and made them irresponsible, the Lord, to warn His disciples and people from the spirit of the Pharisees, delivered a formidable accusatory speech against the Pharisees, in which he exposed their main errors, both regarding teaching and regarding life. This speech is given in full only by St. Matthew, and St. Mark and Luke are only excerpts from it. The Lord began this speech with the words: “The scribes and the Pharisee sat in the seats of Moses,” i.e. the scribes and Pharisees took the place of Moses and arrogated to themselves the exclusive right to teach the laws of Moses to the people and interpret their meaning. “Everything that is commanded to you to observe, observe and do, but do not do it according to the Deed” - here the Pharisees are accused of the fact that while they teach the law, they themselves do not live according to the law. “All”, i.e. “everything” must, of course, be understood with limitations, for the Savior Himself often denounced the scribes and Pharisees for their incorrect understanding and interpretation of the commandments of the law. “For they bind heavy burdens and poor ones to bear…” like a heavy burden on animals, they lay “on the prescience of man” all the numerous and varied regulations of the Mosaic Law (cf. Acts 15:10), sternly demanding from the people their fulfillment to the last detail, but they themselves did not want to help the people in this. If the Pharisees do any of what they demand from others, it is not to please God, but so that they can be seen and praised by people. They “expand their storehouses,” i.e. needlessly, for show to others, they enlarge those leather bags or boxes in which sheets of papyrus or parchment with sayings from the law were placed: Exodus 13:1-10; 13:11-17; Deut. 6:4-10 and 11:13-22, and which during prayer were attached with straps, one to the forehead, and the other to the left hand. The custom of wearing these repositories originated from the literal understanding of the words of the book. Exodus 13:9: “And the commandment of God shall be a sign on your hand, and a memorial before your eyes.” The Jews believed that these repositories protected against evil spirits. “And they magnify the excrements of their garments” - four tassels that were sewn to the edges of outer clothing and the yakhon-colored threads running from these tassels along the edges of the clothing. They were ordered to be made and worn by law, as a reminder of the commandments of God and to distinguish Jews from other nations (Numbers 15:37-40). The Pharisees, out of vanity, also made these brushes larger than ordinary ones. “They love to lie down early at suppers and sit down first at gatherings” - in those days they ate food not while sitting, but reclining on special long and wide pillows, leaning against a table that usually had the shape of the letter P. The main or honorary seats were in the middle of the table and the Pharisees sought them out: in the synagogues they demanded the seats closest to the pulpit. “Don’t be called teachers”... this means: “don’t seek to be called teachers, fathers and mentors, for in the proper sense for all people the only Father is God and the only Mentor and Teacher Christ. This prohibition of being called “teachers”, “fathers” and “mentors” cannot be taken literally, as sectarians do, for from the Apostolic Epistles it is clear that these names were used by the Apostles themselves, as, for example. I John. 2:13; Rome. 4:16; I Cor. 4:15; Ephesus 6:4; Phil. 2:22; I Sol. 2:11; I Tim. 5:11; Acts 13:1; Jacob 3:1; Rome. 2:20; 12:71; I Cor. 12:28; 12:29; I Tim. 2:7; II Tim. 4:3; Heb. 5:12 (“teachers”); I Cor. 4:15; Heb. 13:7; 13:17; (“mentors”). It is impossible to allow the Apostles to violate the commandment of Christ given to them by using these names. It is more correct to understand that this commandment applied only to the Apostles themselves personally, warning them against exalting themselves in front of each other and instilling in them that they are all equal to each other, and whoever wants to be great must be a servant to everyone. One should not give man the honor due to the one God, and one should not honor teachers and mentors in themselves excessively, as if these teachers and mentors spoke their own word, and not the word of God. “Woe to you, scribes and hypocrites, for you shut up the kingdom of heaven before men...” because you yourself did not believe in the Messiah-Christ and turned others away from this saving faith. “You consume the houses of widows...” you deceive widows with your ostentatious piety and plunder their property. “Go over sea and land” - you acquire proselytes from the pagans, not caring about their instruction in the true faith, but corrupting them even more with the bad example of your hypocritical life. “Woe to you, leaders of blindness, who says: whoever swears by the church must eat nothing, but whoever swears by the gold of the church must eat.” - Jewish teachers divided oaths into great and small and taught that the fulfillment of a small oath is not necessary. An oath given by gift or church gold was considered great, and an oath by a temple or altar was considered small. The Lord indicates that to swear by all these objects means to swear by God himself, and therefore one cannot break any of these oaths. “Woe to you, for you tithe riot, and copra, and kimin, and forsake the law, judgment, and mercy, and faith...” Pharisees, in fulfillment of the law of tithes (Num. 18:20-24; Deut. 14:22- 28), they brought a tenth even from such herbs, which the law does not mention, due to their insignificance. The Lord denounces them for the fact that, while strictly observing the little things, they ignore the most important things, such as: justice in legal proceedings, mercy for the poor and unfortunate, loyalty to God and His law. “Mosquitoes that wait, but worms devour” is a popular saying in the East: taking care of little things and ignoring the most important, the Pharisees are like those who carefully strain out a mosquito caught in a drink, and fearlessly swallow a whole camel (a hyperbolic expression, of course), i.e. e. commit serious sins. “You cleanse the outside of the glass and dishes, but the inside is full of theft and injustice” - the outside of the vessel, the purity of which the Pharisees cared about, is contrasted with the fact that inside the vessel is food obtained by theft and injustice. We must take care of this inner purity, first of all, about earning our daily bread in an honest way.

“Be like a heaped coffin,” i.e. whitened with lime. Every year on the 15th of the month of Adar, the caves that served as tombs were whitened so that passers-by would not approach or touch them, since touching the coffin, according to the law, caused uncleanness for 7 days (Num. 19:16). The whitewashed tombs seemed beautiful from the outside: so the Pharisees, in appearance, seemed righteous, but in reality they were hypocrites and lawless people. Next, the Lord denounces the Pharisees for hypocritically building tombs for the prophets and decorating monuments to the righteous who were beaten by their fathers. They seem to honor the beaten righteous, but in fact they are even worse than their fathers, from whose origin they are proud, for they are going to kill the Lord Himself. “And you will fulfill the measure of your fathers” – i.e. You will surpass your fathers in their wickedness. “I will send you prophets” - of course, the message of the Apostles and their collaborators to preach the Gospel teaching; Here the Lord predicts how the Jews will persecute and persecute them, becoming like their fathers who beat up the Old Testament prophets. “Let all righteous blood come upon you...” being evil, the Pharisees will take responsibility for the blood of all the righteous ever killed, both by themselves and their ancestors, starting from the blood of Abel, killed by his brother Cain, to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Varakhin, killed between the temple and the altar. Some believe that this is the same Zechariah who, at the command of King Joash, was stoned in the courtyard of the house of the Lord (2 Chron. 24:20). True, this Zechariah is called the son of Jehoiada, but perhaps this was his middle name, since it was the custom of the Jews to bear two names. Some ancient interpreters, like St. Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and others believe that we are talking about the father of St. John the Baptist. For all the crimes committed by the leaders of the Jewish people, the scribes and Pharisees, the Lord pronounces a severe sentence on Jerusalem: “Behold, let your house be left to you,” which was fulfilled 36 years later, when in 70 A.D. Josephus and the Roman hordes subjected Jerusalem to complete destruction. The Lord speaks about this with deep sorrow, pointing out all his love for this stiff-necked people, similar to the love of a bird for its chicks. “You will not see Me from now on... until you say: blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” - here of course the time of the second coming of Christ, when even unbelievers, against their will, will have to glorify His Divinity.

A. V. Ivanov (1837-1912)
A Guide to Studying the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament. Four Gospels. St. Petersburg, 1914.

Jesus Christ's diatribe against the Pharisees

(Matt. 23:1-39; Mark 12:38-40; Luke 20:45-47)

Concluding His prophetic ministry, the Savior, like the great prophet and Lawgiver of the Old Testament, addressed an accusatory speech to the leaders and teachers of the Jewish people and, as once - at the beginning of His sermon - announced bliss to His true followers - so now, on the contrary, He announces woe to those who , sitting on the seat of Moses, they prescribe commandments that are difficult to fulfill for the people and do not fulfill them themselves; and calling themselves fathers and teachers, they seek only undeserved honor. Having, as if in passing, taught His disciples a lesson in humility - as opposed to Pharisaic pride - and forbidding them to be called fathers and teachers, He calls eightfold woe upon the scribes and Pharisees:

1) For their misinterpretation of the Law, by which they block access to the Kingdom of Heaven for the people;

2) For their greed and feigned piety, devouring the houses of widows;

3) For their false zeal in the spread of Judaism, leading to the death of unfortunate proselytes;

4) For their perjury and blasphemous invocation of the name of God and sacred objects, allowing freely to break the oath taken before the temple or altar of God, and condemning the violation of the oath with gold or the gift of the altar;

5) For the preference of the unimportant to the most important and petty essential in the Law, expressed in the demand for tithes from garden plants of the moral law not prescribed by the Law;

6) For maintaining external cleanliness of cups and dishes and allowing internal uncleanness - theft and untruth;

7) For their hypocrisy, covering up internal iniquities, just as beautiful tombs cover up the inside of a tomb filled with dead bones and uncleanness; And

8) for the hatred they inherited from their fathers towards the prophets and messengers of God.

Foreseeing and predicting that they would fulfill the measure of the atrocities of their fathers by expelling and killing the prophets and wise men sent to them, He calls upon them the blood of all the righteous from Abel to Zechariah - the son of Barachi, who was killed between the temple and the altar (2 Chron. 24:20-21 ). With a bitter reproach to Jerusalem, which beats the prophets and messengers of God, He turns and reminds for the last time the repeated care of God for the gathering into one herd of His children and its reluctance; condemning the very temple of God to devastation, he predicts that they will no longer see Him until they exclaim: blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! This is already the ninth - although not named, but the most severe grief for stubborn resistance to the will of God and rejection of the call to salvation.

Having disgraced the scribes and Pharisees with wise answers to their private questions and silenced them by asking them a difficult question about the person of the Messiah, Jesus Christ delivered a formidable accusatory speech against the imaginary wise men and teachers of the people, hiding behind external piety, but inwardly full of untruth and leading the people to destruction.

In this speech He summarized everything that He said against the Pharisees at different times of His ministry. It was necessary to expose to the people what kind of teachers they were and what their wisdom was. This was required by the duty of justice and the good of the people, who were blinded by the Pharisees. This was also necessary for the disciples of Christ Himself, since He foresaw that among His followers there would be the same Pharisees and scribes who, sitting on His seat, would begin to bind unbearable burdens in order to place them on the shoulders of others, but they themselves would not even lay a finger on them. move, they will decorate the outside of their lives, but inside they will be full of all untruth and theft. And against Christian hypocrites He uttered His grief.

1) In denouncing the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus Christ first of all draws attention to the fact that they bind and place heavy and unbearable burdens on people’s shoulders, but they themselves do not want to lift them with a finger - that is, to the prescriptions of the Law of Moses, which in itself is difficult new, even more complex and therefore more difficult requirements are added to the execution, for the fulfillment of which they do not provide any means, do not indicate any conditions or circumstances that alleviate the responsibility of the violator of the Law; they themselves, taking advantage of the privilege of teachers and governors of Moses and finding, perhaps, excusable reasons for violation, do not fulfill the requirements that they prescribe to others.

2) Despite the fact that the scribes and Pharisees were bad teachers of the Law and fully deserved the reproofs and reproaches to which they were now subjected, Jesus Christ nevertheless demands that the people listen to them and do what they prescribe, but only advises them not to act according to their deeds - thus sanctifying the authority of power and calling even greater responsibility on those who, having the right to teach, corrupt the people by their example, and warning people against violating the Law for the sole reason that the teachers of the Law are bad.

Doctrine and Law have force and binding meaning, not because they are transmitted by a good or bad teacher, but by virtue of the authority of the Divine power from which they flow.

3) The scribes and Pharisees enlarged their storehouses and lengthened the length of their vestments. These repositories (φυλακτήρια - tefillin) are a kind of 4-cornered boxes, of which the Jews tie one on the forehead, the other on the right hand, in fulfillment of the command literally understood by them tie it on your hand as a sign and let them be steadfast before your eyes(Deut. 6:8).

Strips of parchment with the words written on them are placed in the boxes: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength.(Deut. 6:4-5). Such tefillin are still used by Jews always during prayer. The Pharisees made them much wider and larger than other Jews in order to show their special zeal for the fulfillment of the Law.

Voskrilia were threads or laces of a blue-red color that were sewn to the ends of outer clothing, like the threads of a priestly robe, to commemorate the fact that the entire people of Judah are a people of priests (Num. 15:38-40). Among the Pharisees they were especially long. Today's Jews wear them and call them tsetsis.

4) The prohibition to be called teachers and fathers was directed against the custom of the rabbis of that time, who considered themselves the founders of schools and were called fathers. Such were the schools of Shammai, Hillel, and Gamaliel. In this sense only, Jesus Christ forbade His disciples to be called teachers and fathers. But they themselves were called teachers and fathers, and others called them that when it was not about independent teaching, but about the teaching of Christ, about the preaching of the Gospel. When some, out of reason, or out of enthusiasm for the example of Jewish rabbis or Greek philosophers, began to be called by the names of Peter, Paul, Apollos, then the Apostle Paul unconditionally forbade being called by such names, but demanded that everyone be called Christ's, accepting Christ not in the sense of the founder of any something of a philosophical or rabbinical school, but in the sense of the Savior and the only Teacher of the faith (1 Cor. 1:12).

5) It was the custom of the Jews to build tombs for the prophets, to paint and whitewash them annually, both in order to show zeal and respect for the dead, and, perhaps, so that the worshipers coming to Jerusalem to celebrate would indicate the places of the tombs, which was considered unclean to touch.

6) By building tombs over the prophets, the Pharisees wanted to show that they did not share the opinions and feelings of their ancestors, who killed these prophets, and sometimes expressed the same directly. But Jesus Christ, exposing their inner properties, bringing out their hatred of Himself, their readiness to kill Him, thereby proved to both the people and themselves that they are the evil sons of evil ancestors, and that just as the ancestors killed the prophets, so they are ready to kill and will actually kill Him, Who is above all the prophets. Therefore, concluding His speech, He says to them: fulfill the measure of your father.

7) Calling upon the head of the teachers of the Jewish people the judgment of God for the shedding of the innocent blood of the righteous, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Barachias, Jesus Christ shows that the Pharisees and scribes, imitating the wicked in deeds, are subject equally to them to the same judgment of the truth of God, are liable not only for their own deeds, but also for the deeds of those whom they imitated.

8) Opinions differ about which Zechariah, son of Barachias, Jesus Christ speaks. Of the sacred books, only Zechariah, one of the 12 minor prophets, who lived after the captivity of Babylon, is known with this name; but nothing is known about his death. The father of John the Baptist was called Zechariah, but whether he was the son of Varachia is also unknown. Tradition, indeed, tells about the death of Zechariah that when Herod, who sought the death of Christ, ordered the beating of all male infants in Bethlehem and its environs, Elizabeth - the wife of Zechariah - who lived near Bethlehem, fearing that her son John, who was not then more than 1.5 years, was not killed by Herod’s servants, ran away with the baby into the mountains and hid there in a cave. The soldiers, not finding them in the house, reported this to the King. Then Herod ordered to demand from Zechariah that he hand over his son, or indicate where his wife and son were hiding, threatening him with death otherwise. Zechariah, who was in the temple at that time during the Divine Services, answered the soldiers that he did not know where Elizabeth and her son had disappeared to. Then the irritated soldiers, fulfilling the order of the King, dragged Zechariah from the altar on which he was making a sacrifice, and killed him there in the sanctuary - that is, between the altar and church, as the porch was called, in which people gathered for prayer during the Divine service.

If this legend is based on a historical fact, then it is clearly visible why Jesus Christ, denouncing the Jews for shedding the blood of the righteous, starting with Abel, as the first innocently killed, ended with an indication of the last case of murder, which was committed in front of the contemporaries who were among the listeners His. However, most interpreters are of the opinion that this refers to Zechariah, the son of the high priest Jehoiada, who was killed by order of King Joash between the temple and the altar. Jesus Christ could contrast the death of Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, with the death of Abel on the grounds that the death of Zechariah is spoken of in the last book of the Jewish canon, 2nd book of Chronicles (24:20), and the death of Abel in the first (book of Genesis); or that both were killed near the altar on which they offered sacrifices to God, and killed for their true service to God. The name Barachiah, as an honorable name, could have belonged to Jehoiada for his piety. Varakhiya means: son of the Lord's brother.

9) The disasters pronounced upon the Jews, the repeated grief and heavy punishment of God for unrighteously shed blood, according to Jesus Christ, were to befall the very same generation that witnessed His teaching and curses. However, it does not contradict the meaning of the words of Jesus Christ and the opinion that here we mean the entire Jewish people, on whose head the responsibility for all innocently shed blood has indeed fallen and continues to fall since the time of the Calvary sacrifice - to the extent, of course, to the extent that the descendants of Christ’s contemporaries imitate their ancestors in persecution against the righteous.

Calling grief on Jerusalem and its temple, Jesus Christ points to the desolation of this temple, in which God once dwelt among His people: Behold, your house is left empty! So, the abomination of desolation, predicted by the prophet Daniel, begins in the holy place (Dan. 9:27)! The Lord leaves the temple and will not come to it again until He comes as a Judge, when the same Jews will meet Him with the exclamation: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”.

From the Gospel of Luke (13:34,35) it is clear that similar words were spoken by Jesus Christ long before the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, so that they can be taken as a prediction about the entry. But since in the Evangelist Matthew these words are in close connection with the speech about the destruction of Jerusalem, the speech, according to the testimony of all three Evangelists, was delivered after the entrance, then the words blessed is he who is to come it is more fair to refer to the Second Coming of Christ.