Sinusitis

What are Christian values? Christian values in education: benefits and challenges.

What was it about Christian teaching that attracted people so much? Apparently a whole series its features.

Firstly, the idea of the equality of all people before God, the idea that for God there is neither a Greek nor a Jew, contrasted with the ancient idea of the naturalness of inequality, the opposition of Hellenes and barbarians, and later Romans and barbarians.

Secondly, humanity as absolute goodness, the preaching of love and compassion, the complete unselfishness of this love. If the culture of classical antiquity was dominated by the Platonic understanding of justice as proportional reciprocity, then the Christian unselfishness of love for one's neighbor was manifested in the amazing call to love our enemies, to do good to those who hate us, to bless those who curse us.

Finally, apparently, an important role in the spread of Christianity was played by its appeal to the irrational sphere of the universe and the inner world of man himself, i.e. faith as a special emotional-volitional state, feelings, experiences, mystical intuition, divine revelation.

The most important task of the church was to educate the masses in the spirit of Christianity. It was a long and difficult process. Missionaries were sent to all corners of Europe, and the new religion gradually took over the barbarian world. But conversion to Christianity in itself did not mean that yesterday’s pagans would accept new ideas about the world and God, learn new moral standards - in a word, become Christians in practice, and not formally. It was necessary to change people's consciousness, and big role The parish priests played a role in this. In the parish, at the lower level of the church organization, the priest explained to his parishioners the meaning of the teachings of Christ, instilled the concept of sin and virtue.

At the same time, the church, as a rule, made compromises with mass consciousness, trying to attract people to itself and realizing that complex theological problems were not accessible to everyone. For the “simple people”, special literature was created, in which

The dogma of Christianity was simplified and even modified, adapting to popular beliefs. “Popular” theology was adapted to the popular consciousness. At the same time, under the influence of the Christian value system, people's consciousness changed significantly. Ideals that were different from the pagan ones and new ideas about man and the world were gradually consolidated in it.

Christianity is a religion of salvation. For him, the essence of the history of the world is the falling away of humanity (in the person of Adam and Eve) from God, which subjugated man to the power of sin, evil, death, and the subsequent return to the Creator of the prodigal son who realized his behavior. This return is led by the descendants of Abraham, with whom God makes a “covenant” (agreement) and gives them a “law” (rules of behavior). The goal of the Old Testament righteous men and prophets turns into a ladder ascending to God. But even guided from above, even a holy person cannot be completely cleansed, and then the incredible happens: God incarnates, he himself becomes a man, or rather a God-man, by virtue of his miraculous birth “from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary”, free from sin. God the Word, the Savior, the Son of God appears as the Son of Man, a preacher from Galilee and voluntarily accepts a shameful death on the cross. He descends to hell, frees the souls of those who do good, resurrects on the third day, appears to the disciples, and soon ascends to heaven. A few more days later, the Holy Spirit descends on the apostles and gives them the strength to fulfill Jesus’ commandment - to preach the Gospel to all nations. Christian piety combines ethics based on love for one's neighbor with the feat of faith, which leads through the “narrow gates” to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Medieval philosopher Aurelius Augustine(354-430) puts at the center of his attention the problem of evil in man and the fight against evil, the cause of which he initially considered matter, the flesh. Augustine believes that God created man righteous, but with a will capable of good and evil. Adam and Eve abused their freedom, sinned, stained their soul with pride and selfishness, and the fallen soul infected the body, which became its master from the servant of the soul. The human will became capable only of evil that was not created by God. It is not something that really exists, but the action of the free will of people who wished to move away from the Creator. So, evil is only the absence of good, removal from it.

Salvation does not depend on the will and merits of man, but is conditioned by grace, the action of God. How can a Christian be sure of his salvation? How to maintain the right faith? This is where the role of the church comes to the fore. The Church is the bearer of religious and moral tradition, passed from Christ to the apostles, and then to their disciples; it is also the sphere of the real presence of Christ, who gives the infallibility of faith. The creation of a doctrine about the church and its organization became the most important tasks for Christianity.

Introduction

Christia ́ nstvo (from Greek. Χριστός - "poma" ́ Zannik", "Messi ́ I") - Abrahamic world religion, based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ as described in the New Testament. Christianity is the world's largest religion in terms of the number of adherents, about 2.1 billion, and in terms of geographical distribution - almost every country in the world has at least one Christian community. Christians believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, the Son of God who became man, and the Savior of mankind.

Christianity arose in the 1st century in Palestine, which was at that time under the rule of the Roman Empire, initially among Jews, but already in the first decades of its existence it became widespread in other provinces and among other ethnic groups.

The purpose of this work is to study the foundations and values of Christian doctrine.

To achieve this goal, I set the following tasks:

Consider the life and personality of the founder Christian tradition Jesus Christ;

Study the history of the emergence and development of Christian teaching in the world;

Determine the foundations and values of Christian doctrine.

When writing this work, the following literary sources were used: Ambrogio D. At the Origins of Christianity, Sergius O. (Lepin). Christianity, also Sventsitskaya I. S. The first Christians and the Roman Empire and others.

Jesus Christ

Cultists say that the Gospels were written by two apostles of Jesus Christ (Matthew and John) and two disciples of the other two apostles: Peter - Mark and Paul - Luke. The Gospels tell us that during the time when King Herod ruled Judea. A woman named Mary in the city of Bethlehem gave birth to a boy whom she and her husband named Jesus. When Jesus grew up, he began to preach a new religious teaching, the main ideas of which were the following. First, you must believe that Jesus is the Christ (the Greek word Christ means the same as the Hebrew word Messiah). And secondly, you must believe that he is Jesus - the son of God. Along with these two, the most frequently repeated ideas in his sermons, he propagated many others: about his future second coming, about the resurrection of dead bodies at the end of the world, about the existence of angels, demons, etc. Moral ideas occupied a significant place in his sermons: about the need to love your neighbors, help those in trouble, etc. He accompanied his teachings with miracles that proved his divine origin. In particular, he performed the following miracles: he healed a great many sick people with a word or touch, raised the dead three times, turned water into wine once, walked on water as if on a dry place, fed five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two small fish, etc. Especially important A role in the Gospels is played by the story of the last days of the life of Jesus Christ. This story begins with the episode of his entry into Jerusalem. He was met by many people, for Jesus became famous for his many miracles. People spread their clothes and palm branches on the road along which Jesus Christ was traveling and shouted to him Hosanna! . Word Hosanna literally translated from Hebrew means salvation (a wish for salvation to Jesus), but in meaning this is a greeting like Glory ).

One of important events in the life of Jesus Christ after his entry into Jerusalem was the expulsion of merchants from the Jerusalem temple. The situation of expelling traders from the temple became a symbol of the removal of dishonest people from all holy and noble affairs. Jesus entered Jerusalem on the first day of the week (as Sunday is called in the Gospels), and on the fifth day of the week (i.e. Thursday) the farewell Easter dinner (the Jewish Passover) of Jesus Christ with the apostles took place. Subsequently, Christian clergymen called this dinner last supper . During the Last Supper, Christ's disciples ate the bread and drank the wine that he served them.

After the Easter dinner, Jesus Christ and his disciples (with the exception of one of them, Judas Iscariot, who left the dinner earlier) came first to the Mount of Olives and then to the Garden of Gethsemane. There, in the garden on the night from Thursday to Friday, Roman soldiers, with the help of Judas Iscariot, arrested Jesus Christ. The arrested man was taken to the house of the high priest. The church court accused him of blasphemy and encroachment on the royal throne (this encroachment was seen in the fact that he called himself king of the Jews ). Jesus Christ was sentenced to death. On Friday, Roman soldiers who, according to the laws of that time, carried out death sentences church court, crucified him on the cross, and he died. Early in the morning on the first day of the week, Jesus Christ was resurrected, and after some time ascended to heaven. Book located in the Bible after the Gospels Acts of the Apostles clarifies that the ascension to heaven occurred on the 40th day after his resurrection. This is the main content of the gospel stories about Jesus Christ.

History of Christianity

In the 1st century AD There were many national religions on the territory of the Roman Empire. By the end of the 5th century. these religions either retreated into the background (such as Judaism) or disappeared from the historical scene (ancient Greek religion). Christianity, on the contrary, from a small religious movement turned into the main, most numerous religion in the empire. According to historians, the victory of Christianity over other religions is explained by its following features.

Firstly, its monotheism. All other religions in the empire, except Christianity and Judaism, were polytheistic. Under the empire, monotheism looked more attractive.

Secondly, its humanistic moral content. Of course, there were certain humane moral ideas in other religions of that time. But in Christianity they were expressed more fully and more vividly, since the main authors of this religion (according to historians) were workers; and for workers, work and life without mutual respect and mutual assistance were simply impossible.

Thirdly, the picture of the afterlife in Christianity looked more attractive to the lower classes of society than in any other religion. Christianity promised a heavenly reward first and foremost to all those who suffer in this life, to all those who are humiliated and insulted.

Fourthly, only Christianity abandoned national barriers, promising salvation to everyone, regardless of nationality.

Fifthly, the rituals in the religions that existed at that time were complex and expensive, and Christianity simplified and made the rituals cheaper.

The Christian religion has gone through two major stages and is now in the third stage of its history. Historians call Christianity of the first stage (I-V centuries) ancient Christianity, the second stage (VI-XV centuries) - medieval Christianity, the third stage (XVI century - to the present) - bourgeois Christianity. In bourgeois Christianity, a special part of the stage stands out, which is called modern Christianity (second half of the twentieth century).

The creed of official ancient Christianity took shape towards the end of the 5th century. It was based on the Bible and decisions Ecumenical Councils and was set forth in the works of prominent theologians of the 4th and 5th centuries (they, like the famous theologians of subsequent times, are called church fathers ). The creed of official ancient Christianity was adopted in whole or in part by all Christian denominations that emerged subsequently, but each of the denominations supplemented the creed of ancient Christians with some of its own specific religious teachings. These specific additions mainly distinguish one denomination from another.

The main author of the Bible is God. People helped him: about 40 people. God created the Bible through people: he inspired them with what exactly should be written. The Bible is a divinely inspired book. It is also called Holy Scripture and the Word of God. All books of the Bible are divided into two parts. The books of the first part, taken together, are called the Old Testament, the second part - the New Testament. Ancient Christians included 27 books in the New Testament. Some denominations in modern Christianity include 39 books in the Old Testament (for example, Lutheranism), others - 47 (for example, Catholicism), others -50 (for example, Orthodoxy). Therefore, the total number of books in the Bible is different in different denominations: 66, 74 and 77.

The persecutions experienced by Christianity in the first centuries of its existence left a deep imprint on its worldview and spirit. Persons who suffered imprisonment and torture for their faith (confessors) or were executed (martyrs) began to be revered in Christianity as saints. In general, the ideal of the martyr becomes central in Christian ethics.

Today the main directions of Christianity are Catholicism, Protestantism and Orthodoxy.

Foundations and values of Christianity

According to the creed of official ancient Christianity, there are three groups of supernatural beings in the world: the Trinity, angels and demons. Main idea The doctrine of the Trinity is the assertion that one God exists immediately in three persons (hypostases) as God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. All persons of the Trinity can appear to people in physical, material bodies. So, on Catholic and Orthodox icons(and Catholics and Orthodox Christians inherited the doctrine of the Trinity from ancient Christians) The Trinity is depicted as follows: the first person is in the form of a man, the second person is also in the form of a man, and the third person is in the form of a dove. All persons of the Trinity possess all perfect qualities: eternity, omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, omnibenevolence and others. God the Father created the world with the participation of the other two persons of the Trinity, and the forms of this participation are a mystery to the human mind. Christian theology considers the doctrine of the Trinity one of the most incomprehensible to the human mind.

In ancient Christianity, believers were required to honor prophets. Prophets were people whom God gave the task and opportunity to proclaim the truth to people. And the truth that they proclaimed had two main parts: the truth about right religion and the truth about right life. A particularly important element in the truth about correct religion was the story of what awaits people in the future. Christians, like Jews, revered all the prophets mentioned in the Tanakh (Old Testament), but in addition to them they revered the prophets of the New Testament: John the Baptist and John the Evangelist. Their veneration of the prophets, as in Judaism, was expressed in the form of respectful conversation about the prophets in sermons and in everyday life. But the ancient Christians, unlike the Jews, did not have any special ritual veneration of Elijah and Moses. Ancient Christians supplemented the veneration of the prophets with the veneration of the apostles and evangelists (authors of the Gospels). Moreover, two evangelists (Matthew and John) were also apostles. John, moreover, according to the views of ancient Christians, was considered at the same time a prophet.

The main idea of the doctrine of the afterlife in Christianity is the idea of the existence of heaven and hell. Heaven is a place of bliss, hell is a place of torment. Word paradise taken from Persian. In the first, literal meaning, it meant wealth , happiness . Word hell taken from the Greek language (in Greek it sounds like ades ) and in the first, literal meaning meant invisible . The ancient Greeks used this word to describe the kingdom of the dead. Since, according to their ideas, this kingdom was located underground, to that extent the word ades in the second meaning it began to mean underground kingdom . Ancient Christians believed that heaven was in heaven (hence the expression kingdom of heaven ), and hell is in the bowels of the earth. Modern Christian clergy add to this that both heaven and hell are located in a special supernatural space: they are inaccessible to people during earthly life.

It is usually written in the literature that, according to Christian teaching, God sends the righteous to heaven and sinners to hell. Strictly speaking, according to Christian teaching, because of the original sin of Adam and Eve, all people are sinners (with the exception of Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ). Therefore, according to Christians, the righteous are not the opposite of sinners, but a special part of them. Since the righteous differ from each other in the degree of righteousness, and inveterate sinners differ from each other in the depth of sinfulness, then the fate of all the righteous (in the degree and forms of bliss) and all sinners (in the degree and forms of torment) is not the same.

According to the canons of Christianity, the afterlife has two stages. First: from the death of the body until the second coming of Jesus Christ. The second stage will begin with the second coming of Jesus Christ, but it has no end. At the first stage, only the souls of people are in heaven and hell; at the second, souls will unite with resurrected bodies. Hell in both stages is in the same place, and heaven in the second stage will move from heaven to earth.

Man, according to Christian teaching, was created as a bearer of the “image and likeness” of God. However, the Fall committed by the first people destroyed man's godlikeness, placing on him the stain of original sin. Christ, having suffered on the cross and death, “redeemed” people, suffering for the entire human race. Therefore, Christianity emphasizes the purifying role of suffering, any limitation by a person of his desires and passions: By accepting his cross,” a person can overcome evil in himself and in the world around him. In this way, a person not only fulfills God’s commandments, but also transforms himself and ascends to God, becomes closer to him. This is the purpose of a Christian, his justification sacrificial death of Christ.

Associated with this view of man is the concept of sacrament, characteristic only of Christianity - a special cult action designed to really introduce the divine into human life. This is, first of all, baptism, communion, confession (repentance), marriage, unction.

Basic ideas and values of Christianity:

) Spiritualistic monotheism, deepened by the doctrine of the trinity of Persons in the single being of the Divine. This teaching has given and continues to give rise to the deepest philosophical and religious speculations, revealing the depth of its content over the centuries from new and new sides;

) the concept of God as an absolutely perfect Spirit, not only absolute Reason and Omnipotence, but also absolute Goodness and Love (God is love);

) the doctrine of the absolute value of the human person as an immortal, spiritual being created by God in His image and likeness, and the doctrine of the equality of all people in their relationship to God: they are still loved by Him, like children of the Heavenly Father, all are destined for eternal blissful existence in union with God, everyone is given the means to achieve this destiny - free will and divine grace;

) the doctrine of the ideal purpose of man, which consists in endless, comprehensive, spiritual improvement (“..be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect”);

) the doctrine of the complete dominance of the spiritual principle over matter: God is the unconditional Lord of matter, as its Creator: He has given man dominion over the material world, so that through material body and in material world fulfill your ideal purpose; Thus, Christianity, dualistic in metaphysics (since it accepts two foreign substances - spirit and matter), is monistic as a religion, for it places matter in unconditional dependence on the spirit, as a creation and medium for the activity of the spirit. Therefore it

) is equally far from both metaphysical and moral materialism and from hatred towards matter and the material world as such. Evil is not in matter and not from matter, but from the perverted free will of spiritual beings (angels and humans), from whom it passed onto matter (“cursed is the earth because of your deeds,” God says to Adam; during creation, everything was “good and evil” "). This sober and at the same time highly ideal view of Christianity on matter received its best expression in the doctrine of the resurrection of the flesh and the bliss of the resurrected flesh of the righteous together with their souls in the enlightened, eternal, material world and in the second cardinal dogma of Christianity - in the doctrine of the God-man, truly incarnate and the Eternal Son of God, who became human to save people from sin, curse and death, identified by the Christian church with its Founder, Jesus Christ. Thus, Christianity, with all its impeccable idealism, is a religion of harmony of matter and spirit; it does not curse or deny any of the spheres of human activity, but ennobles them all, inspiring us to remember that they are all only means for man to achieve spiritual, god-like perfection.

) the essential metaphysical nature of its content, making it invulnerable to scientific and philosophical criticism and

) For Catholic churches East and West - the doctrine of the infallibility of the church in matters of dogma due to the Holy Spirit acting in it at all times - a doctrine that, in the correct understanding, protects it, in particular, from historical and historical-philosophical criticism.

These features, carried by Christianity through two millennia, despite the abyss of misunderstandings, hobbies, attacks, and sometimes unsuccessful defenses, despite all the abyss of evil that was and is being done supposedly in the name of Christianity, lead to the fact that if Christian teaching could always be accepted and not accept, believe in it or not believe, then it is impossible and will never be possible to refute it. To the specified attractiveness traits Christian religion it is necessary to add one more and by no means the last: the incomparable Personality of its Founder. To renounce Christ is perhaps even much more difficult than to renounce Christianity.

Ancient Christianity was the cradle of the main world religion of our time. In its further development, Christianity was divided into many denominations, but each of them is based on the inheritance received from ancient Christianity.

Conclusion

Subsequent events showed that the content of the new spirituality (and it was realized not only in the sermon, but also in the very life of Jesus and his closest disciples) has a significance that goes far beyond the borders of little Judea. At this time, the Roman Empire was gripped by a gradually growing spiritual (semantic) crisis: in the gigantic expanses, people feel spiritually lost, they become just cogs of a huge bureaucratic machine, without which it is impossible to manage the empire. Traditional pagan gods expressed a sense of spiritual involvement in the life of the cosmos, the continuation of which was perceived to be the life of the ancient city-state (polis). But Rome actually ceased to be a polis, grew to the size of an empire, and this feeling disappeared along with the previous way of political and economic life. The old gods have lost their meaning for humans. Man was left alone with himself and longed for a new semantic support, connected with him personally; he looked for God, addressed to everyone, and not to everyone together.

Christianity was able to provide this semantic support. Moreover, it made possible the spiritual community of people belonging to the most different races and nationalities, for God is above external differences and the strife of this world, and for it there are no differences, Christ is everything and in everything. Spiritual universalism allowed Christianity to become a world religion, laying the foundations for understanding the very value of a person without regard to his race, nationality, class, or class.

The Christian faith changed the very structure of the soul of European man. People's deep perception of the world has changed: having discovered personality and freedom in themselves, they faced such questions of existence that neither ancient thought nor ancient feeling had reached. First of all, this spiritual revolution was associated with morality.

List of used literature

christian creed spiritual

1.Ambrogio D. At the origins of Christianity (from its origins to Justinian): Trans. from Italian / Under general edited by prof. I.S. Sventsitskaya. - M., 1979.

2.Bolotov V.V. Lectures on history ancient Church. - St. Petersburg, 1907 1918. T. 1-4; The same (reprint). M., 1994.

.Posnov M.E. History of the Christian Church (before the division of the Churches - 1054)

.Sventsitskaya I.S. Early Christianity: pages of history. - M., 1987; M., 1988; M., 1989

.Sventsitskaya I.S. The first Christians and the Roman Empire. - M., 2003.

.Sergius O. (Lepin). Christianity // Religion: Encyclopedia / Comp. and general ed. A.A. Gritsanov, G. V. Sinilo. - Mn.: Book House, 2007

.Frazer James George. Folklore in the Old Testament.

We constantly have to deal with such a concept as Christian values. How many copies have been broken on this topic, but I personally have not yet been able to hear a clear answer to the question of what Christian values are. Therefore, relying on various qualified opinions, we will try to determine what it is and what values can be called Christian.

Let's start, perhaps, with the definition of values as such.

“Values are socially approved and shared ideas of what goodness, justice, patriotism are, romantic love, friendship, etc. Values are not questioned; they serve as a standard and ideal for all people.Different cultures may prioritize different values. Each society has the right to determine for itself what is a value and what is not.”
Kravchenko A.I. Culturology: Textbook for universities. - 3rd ed. - M.: Academic Project, 2001.

Since values as such serve as a standard and ideal for all people, then, accordingly, Christian values should serve as a standard and ideal for all people professing the Christian religion.

Let's see what contemporary Christian authorities directly say on this topic.

“Believers are convinced that people receive values from God. God gives people moral law- knowledge about the right life, about how to avoid evil, fear and disease and even death, not to harm others, to live in love, harmony and agreement with people and the world around them.”
Andrey Kuraev. Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture, textbook for fourth grade.

“If we return to the hierarchy of Christian values, it becomes clear that the sacraments of the Holy Church should come first for a Christian. By the Sacraments of the Church we understand divinely established forms church life, within the framework of which, in a mysterious way, a Christian, with the help of God, enters into direct communion with God and partakes of divine grace. We can say that the transfer from generation to generation of the experience of communication with God occurs through succession, first of all church sacraments and the foundations of spiritual life. At the same time, it is necessary to know that this experience must be consistent and verified by Holy Scripture.”
About the Hierarchy of Christian values, Abbot Peter (Meshcherinov), director of the School of Youth Ministry at the Danilov Monastery in Moscow. (Excerpts from a report at the conference “Modern youth in the Church: problems and ways to solve them.”)

“So, the most important value in Christianity is the Triune God. This belief among Christians was formed not by some scientist, educator or theologian, but by Jesus Christ Himself.The second value is the Bible or the Word of God . For Christians, this is an unquestioned authority. In other words, a Christian must check all his actions on the basis of a written message inspired by God himself through the Holy Spirit.And the third value for Christians is the Church . This is not a temple or a House of Prayer, but a community or gathering of people who believe in Jesus Christ.”
Vasily Trubchik is an evangelist, executive editor of the publishing house “Krynitsa Zhytstya” of the ECB Union in the Republic of Belarus.

“Christianity is based on the understanding of value as an absolute good that has significance in any relationship and for any subject.The highest good, which is the source of all other values, for a Christian is the Divinely revealed truth about Holy Trinity as an absolutely perfect Spirit.In the system of Christian values, the most important place is also given to the doctrine of uniqueness human personality as an immortal, spiritual being created by God in His image and likeness.Christian teaching reveals high meaning and purpose life man - bliss in the Kingdom of Heaven. The doctrine of salvation also occupies a vital place in the system of Christian values. On this path, the Word of God calls for comprehensive, spiritual improvement . Value gospel commandments, is determined by the fact that they are given to us by the Lord as spiritual laws, the fulfillment of which leads us into eternal life. Finally, it must be said about an important component of the system of Christian values - conciliar spiritual experience Church, which is captured in liturgical texts, the works of the holy fathers and the lives of saints.”
Hieromonk Job (Gumerov).

Summarizing the above opinions, we can come to the unequivocal conclusion that Christian values are given by God and the most significant values for Christians are the Triune God, the Holy Scriptures and Christian Church with its sacraments.

Without going too much into dogmatic subtleties, but still taking into account the fact that each of the Christian denominations (Catholic, Orthodox and many Protestant) consider only their Church to be true, only their interpretation of the Scriptures to be true and, accordingly, only their understanding of the Triune God true, and also the fact that each of the Christian denominations considers other Christian denominations to be heretics and erring ones who cannot be saved, we will try to consider the issue a little more broadly, using the example of one of the denominations of the long-divided kingdom of the Christian Church.

That is, for a Christian, the unity of power and society is possible only if both power and society are compatible with Christianity, and with correct Christianity. Otherwise, a Christian is not obliged to fulfill the demands of the authorities and there can be no talk of any conciliarity.

5. Self-restraint and sacrifice are the renunciation of selfishness, consumerism towards one’s neighbors and the world around us, the ability to sacrifice one’s personal for the good of one’s neighbor and the Motherland.

Well, it seems to be a real Christian value - and the shepherds themselves confirm this:

A truly merciful Christian pours out mercy on everyone around him, without distinguishing who is “worthy” and who is “unworthy” of attention. At the same time, prudence should be exercised when providing assistance. For example, non-believing acquaintances of one Orthodox Christian asked for money, and he gave without asking. And then he was very sad when he found out what this money was used for: the spouses took it to have an abortion. If a person asks for money to commit a sin, then in this case It would be merciful on our part to refuse and at least tryprotect him from sin.

That is, sacrifice is sacrifice, but only with prudence, in the sense that you still need to look at who and why to sacrifice personal things for the good of your neighbor and the Motherland.

Is it possible to sacrifice personal things for the good of a heretic? So the Apostle Paul says:

« Heretic, after the first and second admonition, turn away knowing that such a one has become corrupt and sins, being self-condemned” (Titus 3:10-11)But regarding the heretics, St. The Church does not even allow such exceptions as there are in relation to suicides: once a heretic or blasphemer died not reconciled with the Church, he died in excommunication from it “The Church cannot allow prayers for him.” Heresy is spiritual suicide, and it is useless to care about a dead member, cut off from the whole body of the Church, and it is useless to pray.”
Archbishop Nikon (CHRISTMAS).

Here is the answer to whether it is worth sacrificing personal things for the good of the heretic. What then can be said about people of other faiths, who have even less chance of reconciling with the Church...
That is, self-restraint and sacrifice for a Christian normal phenomenon only in relation to their neighbors, who form the body of their proper Church. All the rest - heretics, infidels and atheists - are outside Christian values.

6. Another eternal value is patriotism, faith in Russia, attachment to native land, his culture, willingness to work for his homeland.

Patriotism in itself initially contradicts Christian values, for, as mentioned above:

28 There is no longer Jew or Gentile; there is neither slave nor free; there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3)
In addition, we read the letter of the Apostle Paul to the Romans, chapter 13:
1 Let every soul be subject to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God; the existing authorities have been established by God.
2 Therefore he who resists authority resists God’s ordinance. And those who resist will bring condemnation upon themselves.
3 For rulers are not a terror to good deeds, but to evil deeds. Do you want to not be afraid of power? Do good and you will receive praise from her,
4 For the ruler is God’s servant, for your good.

That is why the church always gets along with any government and, even despite persecution, history shows that the church got along with various dictatorships and prayed for these authorities.

It turns out that patriotism is in no way included in the circle of Christian values and contradicts them. And exceptions only confirm the rule.

7. The value of human good is the main priority social development and respect for human rights, his well-being and dignity, spiritual and material well-being.

Material wealth cannot make a person happy. The Lord Jesus Christ warns: “Beware of covetousness, for a person’s life does not depend on the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15). The pursuit of wealth has a detrimental effect on a person’s spiritual state and can lead to complete degradation of the individual. The Apostle Paul points out that “those who desire to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and harmful lusts, which plunge people into disaster and destruction. For the root of all evil is the love of money, to which some have abandoned the faith and subjected themselves to many sorrows. But you, a man of God, flee from these things” (1 Tim. 6:9-11). In a conversation with the young man, the Lord said: “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your property and give it to the poor; and you will have treasure in heaven; and come and follow Me” (Matthew 19:21). Then Christ explained these words to the disciples: “It is difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven... it is easier for a camel to pass through needle ears rather than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:23-24). Evangelist Mark clarifies that it is difficult for those who trust not in God, but in material goods to enter the Kingdom of God—“those who trust in riches” (Mark 10:24). Only “he who trusts in the Lord, like Mount Zion, will not be moved, but abides forever” (Ps. 124.1).

Any human desire for benefits, with the exception of spiritual ones, although in a narrow confessional sense, is not a Christian value and is even condemned by the church.

8. Eighth on the list are family values - primarily love and loyalty, caring for children and the elderly.

72nd rule of the 6th Omni. Sob. speaks:

It is not worthy for an Orthodox husband to unite in marriage with a heretical wife, nor for an Orthodox wife to unite with a heretic husband. If anything like this is discovered to have been done by anyone: the marriage shall be considered not firm and the unlawful cohabitation shall be dissolved. For it is not proper to confuse the unmixed, nor to combine the wolf with the sheep, nor the lot of sinners with the part of Christ. If anyone transgresses what we have decreed, let him be excommunicated.”

However, there was one exception, when Christians were allowed to marry non-Orthodox: when the latter made a promise to convert to Orthodox faith. The 14th rule of the 4th Universe speaks about this. Cathedral:

« It is not allowed to marry a heretic, unless in such a case when the person marrying an Orthodox person promises to convert to the Orthodox faith». (See also Canon 31 of the Council of Laodicea).

“...Even today the Church does not sanctify marriages between Orthodox Christians and non-Christians...”

It turns out that family values are considered by Christianity only in a narrow confessional context, and marriages with heterodox and non-Orthodox people are condemned. Such marriages are deprived of precisely those real Christian values that the church recognizes, namely, joining the church with its sacraments.

Strangely, all 8 eternal values that were compiled by the Russian Orthodox Church, do not fit into the most significant values for Christians, which are the Triune God, the Holy Scriptures and the Christian Church with its sacraments.

And no matter how many pages are written, no matter how many debates are held on this issue, everything rests on the dogmas of the church, which quite clearly says:

Friendship with those who fight against God, traitors and infidels, heretics and other great sinners leads the Orthodox to the same fate with them and leads to their same punishment, and Saint John says: “for he who greets him participates in his evil deeds” and does not order such to be greeted and take in.
Akathist to the Most Blessed Mother of God for the addition of mind, Ikos 11 .

Therefore, any discussions on the topic of Christian values should be perceived only within the framework of narrow confessional dogmas and cannot in any way be those universal human values that are prescribed in

The ethics of Jesus Christ is defined as the ethics of love. “By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).

The core of the ethical system of Christianity is value orientations as essential elements internal structure personalities, fixed by the life experience of the individual, the totality of his experiences and delimiting the significant, essential for a person from the insignificant, insignificant. Value orientations represent a set of philosophical, political, aesthetic, and moral beliefs of a person, deep and permanent attachments, and moral principles of behavior. The totality of established, established value orientations forms a kind of axis of consciousness, ensuring the stability of the individual and the continuity of a certain type of behavior and activity. Because of this, value orientations act as the determining motive of human behavior.

Christianity contains the entire set of value orientations. The leading place among them is occupied by moral and ethical ones. Figuratively speaking, Christianity is not so much a religion about the structure of the universe and society, but a religion about how to live as a person, about the meaning of human existence, about conscience, duty, honor, etc. Christianity gave even purely cultic liturgical actions a moral and ethical orientation.

The main ethical value in Christianity is God himself. God is love, love for all peoples who recognize and honor him. There is no chosen people for him. The very idea of the superiority of one people over another is alien to Christianity.

Thus, the main direction in the rethinking of Judaism by Christianity is to deepen the substantive moral principle of religious teaching from the point of view of affirming the leading role of the principle of love. The commandment of love - love for God, love for one's neighbor, including one's enemy, is considered by many cornerstone religious and moral teachings of Christianity.

The essence of Christian morality is formulated in the Sermon on the Mount of Jesus Christ. It is most fully set out in the Gospel of Matthew. The main commandments of the Sermon on the Mount include the following: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you and slander you in every way unjustly because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven: just as they persecuted the prophets who were before you. You are the salt of the earth. If the salt loses its strength, then what will you use to make it salty? It is no longer good for anything except throwing it out there for people to trample underfoot. You are the light of the world. A city that stands on the top of a mountain cannot be hidden” (Bible).

For the first time in the history of religious thought, Christianity formed moral commandments not in a prohibitive sense (what should not be done), but in a positive sense (what should be done). The moral commandments of Christianity are addressed, first of all, to the conscience of man.

The teaching about conscience in the “New Testament” should be understood based on the provisions of the “Old Testament”. Although the four gospels use the terminology of the “Old Testament”, for example, instead of the word “heart”, the Apostle Paul introduced the word “conscience”, borrowing it from ancient culture. The Apostle Paul, as it were, translated the Gospel teaching about the heart into the context of the moral concepts of the culture of the ancient world. As the modern Orthodox theologian Archimandrite Platon (Igumnov) writes, the Apostle Paul “borrowed the term “conscience” in order to most accurately and fully express the central idea of the Christian teaching about salvation by faith and connected the concept of conscience with faith, love and the action of the Holy Spirit in the life of an individual person.” (About faith and morality).

Following the New Testament statements on the issue of conscience, the “church fathers” considered conscience as the most important dignity of moral consciousness and, in general, the entire spiritual integrity of the human person.

Of the many moral precepts of Christianity, the main ones are considered to be love of God and love of neighbor. In the Gospel of Matthew we read: “And one of them, a lawyer, tempting Him, asked, saying: Teacher! What is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus said to him: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind”: This is the first and greatest commandment; The second is similar to it: “love your neighbor as yourself”; On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (Bible)

An important feature of Christian morality is its active nature, its focus on transforming not only the individual, but also the entire surrounding society. Hence the repeated calls of Jesus Christ to preach the gospel to all “tongues” (nations). Based on this, we cannot agree with the opinion that Christianity is deeply individualistic. Internally, immanently, Christianity is permeated with the ideas of collectivism. This is especially true of early Christianity. On the pages of the New Testament there is much evidence of the attempts of the first Christians to build life on the principles of community of property. “And all the believers were together and had everything in common: And they sold their possessions and all property, and distributed it to everyone, according to the need of each” (Bible, p. 132.). “The multitude of those who believed had one heart and one soul; and no one called anything of his property his own, but they had everything in common.” “There was no one in need among them; for all who owned lands or houses, selling them, brought the price of what was sold and laid them at the feet of the Apostles; and to everyone was given whatever he needed” (Bible, p. 134).

Early Christianity was characterized by an extremely negative attitude towards wealth. The young man who wished to follow Jesus Christ was told: “...If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give it to the poor; and you will have treasure in heaven; and come and follow Me” (Bible). Elsewhere Jesus Christ says: “How difficult it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Bible)

Christian culture reveals and substantiates the absolute significance of human personality, creativity and freedom. Man was created by God in the “image and likeness of God,” i.e. is a person with freedom and creative ability. Personal freedom is connected with the fact that it embodies the supramundane spirit, which comes from the Divine Spirit. Original sin Adam and Eve violated man's godlikeness and alienated him from God, but the image of God remained intact in man. All further history is considered by Christianity as the story of the reunification of man with God. Christianity itself begins with Jesus, who gives the New Testament and restores man's internal connection with God. If the God of the “Old Testament” is addressed to the entire people as a whole, then in the “New Testament” he is addressed to each individual. The Old Testament God pays great attention to the fulfillment of complex religious law and rules everyday life, numerous rituals accompanying every event. The God of the “New Testament” is addressed, first of all, to the inner life and inner faith of each person.

Christian morality is based on the self-worth of the individual (the individual is the “image of God” in man) and the inextricable connection between goodness, truth and freedom. Expressing human freedom, truly Christian faith rests not on fear and external duty, but on love directed towards Christ and towards each person as the bearer of the image of God: “And now these three remain: faith, hope, love; but the greatest of these is love.” (I Corinthians 13:13).

In Christianity, moral standards are not addressed to external affairs and external manifestations faith, and to intrinsic motivation, "to the inner man"The highest moral authority here is conscience, which is the voice of the free spirit, making the individual independent of nature and society and subordinating it only to the highest truth itself. Christian God- this is the highest truth of human conscience, personified and deified as the gracious meaning of all existence.

In Christian religiosity, belief in the immortality of the soul and the Last Judgment plays a huge role. While elevating man as a free and god-like supra-mundane being, Christianity cannot free man from the need to live and die in a world where there is no fair reward for good and evil. Belief in the immortality of the soul and reward after death is intended to give a person not only knowledge, but also a direct feeling of the absolute power of the moral norms of Christianity.

The most important component of Christianity is eschatology, the doctrine of the end of the world, the second coming of Christ, the physical resurrection of the dead And Last Judgment, after which the Kingdom of the righteous should be established on the new Earth and under the new Heaven.

Christianity has accomplished a great historical synthesis, inheriting and in its own way transforming the intellectual achievements of previous eras, ideas and images different religions Middle East, traditions of Greco-Roman ancient philosophy. At the same time, the development of pre-existing philosophical and religious thought followed the spiritual and moral quest of the era, which gave Christianity a special appeal.

The most important thing for us today in the Bible is the rich moral experience of humanity contained in it, which has developed over centuries and millennia. There is a lot here that is instructive, necessary and quite acceptable for us. The famous dialogues and sermons of Christ are addressed not so much to the disciples as they are aimed at Eternity. The teaching of Christ is transhistorical. Therefore, it is close and understandable to every generation on Earth.

The main Christian virtue is love. The ancient Greek language - the language of the Gospels - knew four words translated into Russian as “love”: eros, philia, storge and agape. Eros is love between a man and a woman. Philia is the love of friends. Storge is the love of parents for their children, and agape is the love of Christians, not only for each other, but for everyone, regardless of their religious beliefs. Jesus speaks about this love to his disciples in his farewell conversation:

“A new commandment I give to you: love one another, as I have loved you, and you also love one another. By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13: 34-35).

Speaking of friendly and love relationship to people, Jesus taught not to judge anyone, not to condemn other people. When you see your neighbor’s weaknesses, you should not judge him, but have compassion, remembering your own sinfulness. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus expressed this idea in one simple demand: “Judge not, lest you also be judged, for with the judgment you judge and with the measure you use, it will be measured out to you. don’t you notice in your eye?” These instructions end with a conclusion that can form the basis of philanthropic and humane morality:

“So in everything you want people to do to you, do so to them” (Matthew 7: 1-3; Mark 4: 24; Luke 6: 37-38, 41-42).

A person needs to be loved as he is. Jesus preferred to deal with ordinary people. Moreover, all the outcasts, all the outcasts of society found in Him a friend and intercessor. Publicans (tax collectors), who were not recognized as people, and street women were often among those who surrounded Him. When people wondered why the Teacher communicated with people of dubious reputation, He answered them: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. Go and learn what it means: “I want mercy, not sacrifice.” I came to call not the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:12-13).

By admitting his sinfulness and repenting, a person takes the first step along the path of salvation. This path is a process of serving the internal moral law, the revelation of the essence of which is the meaning of the actions of Christ. By bringing sinners closer to Himself, Christ wanted to awaken in them repentance and a thirst for new life. Often His kindness and trust performed true miracles.

One day Christ passed through Jericho. A multitude of people met Him at the gates of the city. Everyone wanted Jesus to stay in their home. One of the Jerichoites, named Zacchaeus, “chief of tax collectors,” tried to push through the crowd, hoping to get at least a glimpse of the Teacher, but short stature interfered with him. Then he ran ahead and climbed the tree that Jesus was about to pass by. Jesus actually approached the place and, looking up, noticed a man sitting on a fig tree. “Zacchaeus,” Jesus suddenly said, “come down quickly! Today I need to be with you.”

Overwhelmed with joy, the publican ran home to meet the Teacher, and those around him began to murmur: “He stayed with such a sinful man!”

But the Teacher’s step had an effect. “Lord,” said Zacchaeus, meeting him, “I give half of what I have to the poor, and if I unjustly forced anything from anyone, I will repay him fourfold.” “Now salvation has come to this house,” answered Christ. “For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who were lost” (Luke 19: 1-10).

In numerous sermons and parables, Jesus develops the idea of loving one's neighbor. The Apostle Peter asks: “Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother who has sinned against me? Up to seven times?” To this he receives the answer: “I do not tell you - up to seven, but up to seventy times seventy.” Essentially this means a call for unlimited tolerance.

The parable of the prodigal son tells about love for one's neighbor and about mercy. One man had two sons. The younger son demanded part of the estate, then settled “in the far side” and gradually “wasted his estate” as he led a dissolute lifestyle. He had to herd pigs. He was starving and would have gladly eaten even pig food, but no one would give it to him. Then he thought that his father’s workers knew no shortage of bread, while his son was dying of hunger. He decided to return home and repent of what he had done: since he is not worthy to be his father’s son, he will become his servant. He got up and went to his father's house.

The father saw his son approaching from afar, came out to meet him, hugged and kissed him. He ordered the slaves to bring the best clothes and put a ring on his hand. He ordered the fatted calf to be slaughtered and arranged a merry feast in honor of his returning son.

When the eldest son returned home, he heard singing and joyful voices. Having learned about the reason for the fun, he became angry and did not want to enter the house, although his father begged him to take part in the feast. Moreover, the son reproached his father for the fact that he himself had never received a reward for good service to his father, but for his son, who “wasted his property,” he slaughtered a fatted calf.

The father explained his behavior by the fact that the eldest son is always with him and all the goods belong to him: “And about this, it was necessary to rejoice and be glad, that this brother of yours was dead and is alive again, was lost and was found (Luke 15: 11-32) .

There is also a very interesting episode in the Gospel of John with “the woman taken in adultery.” They brought her to Jesus and, reminding her that the law required her to be stoned to death, they asked what His opinion was on this matter. The question was asked for provocative purposes, “to find something to accuse” the Teacher.

And the Gospel paints a vivid picture of how events unfold. Jesus' opponents thought they had now put Him in a bind. They knew His extraordinary mercy, flowing where others hated, praising where others despised, and encouraging where others crushed. They also knew how by this mercy He had acquired for himself the enthusiastic love and passionate devotion of many. They knew that the publican was among His chosen disciples, sinners sat next to Him at feasts and harlots freely washed His feet and listened to His teaching. Thus, they were occupied with the question, will He justify this woman and thereby expose Himself to the charge of heresy, openly contradicting the sacred and severe law, or, on the other hand, suppressing compassion in Himself, will mercilessly condemn her? Having done the latter, will He not push away from Himself the crowd of people, carried away by His mercy and the possibility of popular unrest, and will He not incur punishment from the civil authorities on charges of indignation? There seemed to be no way out of this predicament for Jesus.

Jesus did not answer the question asked of Him for a long time, bending down to the ground and mechanically running his finger along it. Then He raised His head and calmly pronounced His wise judgment, which is contained in the famous words: “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” He bowed his head again, and those gathered began to slowly disperse one after another. Soon only the woman who had escaped execution remained with Jesus. Jesus turned to her: “Has no one condemned you?” When she answered: “No one, Lord!” - He said to her: “Neither do I condemn you: go and sin no more” (John 8: 7, 15, 17, 24, 46).

This is one of the most significant and profound episodes in the gospel narrative, testifying to the tolerance and humanity of the new faith.

Jesus persistently preaches love for one's neighbor. But one day a certain person asks Him the question: “Who is my neighbor?” Instead of answering, He tells a parable about a Jew who once fell into the hands of robbers. The robbers attacked him, robbed him, beat him and left him half-dead on the road. A priest was walking, saw the victim, but passed by. The temple servant did the same; he came up, looked and went on his way. The last thing the victim expected was sympathy from the Samaritan who was riding behind them. Could this foreigner and heretic have turned out to be better than the priest and the Jew? However, he stopped and, without asking anything, helped the victim: he bandaged his wounds, took him to the hotel on his mule and paid for him in advance.

Which of these three, Jesus asked his interlocutor, do you think turned out to be a neighbor to the one who fell into the hands of robbers?

The one who showed him mercy, he could not help but admit.

Go and do likewise (Luke 15:11-32).

Consequently, your neighbor does not necessarily have to belong to your people and be your fellow believer - it is enough that he is simply a good person.

Moreover, we must also love the evil: according to the text of Luke, Jesus commands to “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who offend you.” The commandment to love your enemies is the most amazing of all moral truths. The apotheosis of the New Testament attitude towards the enemy is the famous words of Christ: “You have heard what was said - love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you: love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you and pray for those who oppress you and persecute you, May you be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward will you receive? And if you greet only your brothers? yours, what special thing are you doing? Do not the Gentiles also do the same? This is the heart of one of the deepest and most important passages of the New Testament. This is the breathtaking height to which Christ calls man.

Loving your enemies does not at all mean experiencing the same feelings of affection for them that you feel for a loved one, or rejoicing in your soul, as happens when communicating with friends. Here we are dealing with an attitude that is higher than psychological and spiritual attachments, located on a different plane. To love an enemy means to forgive him for his previous atrocities, not in the sense of not considering them as atrocities or making peace with them, and not in the same way as a generous rich man forgives a debt to an insolvent debtor, but in the sense that they cease to be an absolute barrier to new relationships with him. This means re-opening the way for cooperation.

In Leo Tolstoy’s diary there is the following entry: “One of the most common misconceptions is to consider people good, evil, stupid, smart. Man flows, and he has all the possibilities: he was stupid, he became smart, he was angry, became kind, and vice versa. This is the greatness of a person. And from this you cannot judge a person, but he is already different. In a word, in the most evil person there are grains and potentialities of good.

A person with moral wealth is able to follow the New Testament moral commandments. In his sermons, Christ calls on people to lay up imperishable treasures in their souls. Only moral wealth can be considered one’s own property in the true sense of the word, for such a treasure is connected with the inner essence of a person, and no one and nothing has power over it.

The truths set forth by Christ seem simple and clear, because in many ways they are the quintessence of the worldview of an ordinary person. For him, serving God turns into serving people, for it is impossible to love God without loving your neighbor. Moreover, Christ transfers the Kingdom of God into the heart of man, so God and the moral law become identical. To be a Christian means to recognize the spirit of the Gospel and live in accordance with it.

Most often, Christianity is interpreted only as a religion. However, the history of Christianity is an entire civilization. This view of Christianity allows us to rise above the difference between people between believers and non-believers and to re-evaluate the personality of Christ Himself, to see in Him one of the Teachers of mankind and the first humanist.

It is not enough to understand goodness - you must be able to pave the way for it among people, and for this you need less pure paths. Without the earthly life of Christ, the world would not have become involved in the infinitely high morality that his Father revealed to him. In morality, as in art, the word is nothing, everything is in the deed. The idea hidden in Raphael's painting is worth little - the painting is valued. And in morality, truth is valuable only when it passes to a state of feeling and reaches its value, only when it is realized in the world as a fact. People of mediocre morality wrote very good rules; on the other hand, very virtuous people have done nothing to continue the tradition of virtue in the world. A palm branch to the one who is powerful in word and deed, who felt good and at the cost of his blood brought him triumph (Renan E.Zh., p. 113).

The article briefly highlights the main Christian values: the Triune God, the Word of God and the Church. Society today has adopted Christian values and interpreted them for everyday life. In modern society, views on the roles of men and women, the position of the family in society, as well as the role of the family in raising the younger generation have changed.

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CHRISTIAN VALUES IN MODERN PERCEPTION

SOCIETY

Chernetskaya E.N.

teacher of disciplines

General humanitarian cycle

OBPOU "Kursk Assembly

technical school (Kursk)

Without God, a nation is a crowd,

United by vice

Either blind or stupid

Or, what’s even worse, she’s cruel.

And let anyone ascend to the throne,

Speaking in a high syllable.

The crowd will remain a crowd

Until he turns to God!

(Hieromonk Roman)

The expression “Christian values” arose only in the 20th century, when a theory of values was formed in Western philosophy, called axiology (Greek axia - value and logos - teaching, word).Value is the significance of a known object (ideal or material) in relation to the goals, aspirations and needs of a person.The concept of moral value first appears in the ethics of I. Kant. Christian values- a great treasure of humanity, but they become a blessed treasure only for those who follow the path of salvation[ 1 ].

Christianity proceeds from the understanding of value as an absolute good that has significance in any relationship and for any subject. Christian values are not limited to the Gospel commandments and moral rules. They make up a whole system.

The most important value in Christianity is the Triune God.This belief among Christians was formed not by some scientist, educator or theologian, but by Jesus Christ Himself. This is what He says to the lawyer:“The first of all commandments: 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 mind, and with all thy strength—this is the first commandment!” [ 2 ].

The second value is the Bible or the Word of God. For Christians, this is an indisputable authority. All Christian authors first of all refer to what the Old and New Testaments, and only then on the church fathers and other authors.

And the third value for Christians is the Church. This is not a temple or a House of Prayer, but a community or gathering of people who believe in Jesus Christ. The Bible compares the Church to a body, the head of which is Jesus Christ, and believers as its various members [ 3 ]. Moreover, the Church, according to the writings of the Apostle Paul, is the pillar and ground of the truth [ 4 ].

And Christ calls His disciples in the Sermon on the Mount the light and salt of this world, which also relates to the Church [ 5 ].

The adoption of Christian values meant a radical revaluation of existing values for a long time. Nietzsche even called it a total rebellion against ancient values.

But given that society today remains mostly atheistic, accepted Christian values have adapted to the realities of life. Love for God finds its expression not only in love for the Heavenly Father, but also in love for one’s neighbor, for humanity as a whole. For most people, Christian standards are expressed in the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament. After all, they are for long history of humanity have long become a moral code. And if every member of society observed it, then this would be quite enough for the prosperous existence of humanity without wars, murders, and betrayal. But many despise these norms for the sake of their immoral principles, which are far from both Christian and universal human norms. They allow themselves to become higher than all people, take responsibility for the destinies of many and assume the role of arbiters of the destinies of humanity. It is scary that in society there are now more and more individuals who control the destinies of thousands and millions, starting local and global conflicts. Have they heard about Christian and moral standards and values? Hardly. Or they forgot about them, satisfying their material needs, elevating them to a cult and serving them.

Many build their lives, intuitively subordinating it to Christian and moral standards. Many have their own hierarchy of values that are close to Christian ones.

Faith in God, love for one's neighbor and family are the main Christian values for most Russians. To the corresponding question from sociologists, 93%, 90% and 84% of the survey participants, which was conducted by experts from the Bashkirova and Partners company, answered this way, respectively.

The study, which involved 1.5 thousand people, was devoted to the attitude of Russian citizens towards Christian values and their place in our lives. Meanwhile, values such as work, patriotism, freedom and faith in afterlife Approximately half of the respondents (51-57%) classified themselves as Christian. But democracy and money, according to the majority of respondents (74% and 62%), do not belong to Christian values.

At the same time, research by sociologists shows that Russians are divided in their opinion that Christian values are the basis of modern society - 44% agree with this, and exactly the same number of respondents (44%) hold the opposite opinion [ 6 ]. I am glad that love for one's neighbor and family, in the opinion of many, are at the forefront of Christian values. Since the formation of a person begins with the family, let's take a closer look at this value.

Russia has been an Orthodox country for more than a thousand years. Orthodoxy has entered our life, culture, worldview, and statehood. Therefore, the Russian people have a lot of Christian qualities.

Raising a new member of society begins with the family. Family is what gives a person a solid foundation for his entire life, nourishes and supports him. Neither a career, nor things, nor hobbies, nor friends can give the happiness and prosperity that a family gives.

A strong family is a family with its own traditions. But in modern Russia, changes have occurred related to the understanding of the function and role of the family. First, the roles of men and women have changed. Women wanted equality with men in all spheres, not only family, but also public life. The woman has ceased to be the keeper of the home, and the man has ceased to be the protector and breadwinner.

Views on the concept of “family,” on loyalty in the family, and on raising children have also changed. Many of the traditions that made a family a family were lost. Many families nowadays are more like people who live under the same roof, without having anything in common, and sometimes even without knowing each other. But it is the family that gives a sense of stability and protection from the very beginning. early childhood which we carry throughout our adult lives and pass on to our children.

Children are raised not only by their parents as such, but also by the family life that develops. It is the family that gives rise to a sense of continuity between generations, and through this, involvement in the history of one’s family, and the development of the ideals of patriotism. The family, having provided stability, reveals the abilities and strengths in the family member.

Family relationships are primarily spiritual relationships. Therefore, they do not appear simply because two people fell in love with each other and wanted to live together under the same roof. Family is the hard everyday work of spouses, the desire to change themselves in better side, make your spouse happy, and later your children.

The visible manifestation of family life is the home. Home is the place where both the physical and spiritual life of the family unfolds. Family and home are a spiritual fortress that protects everyone living in it from the temptations of the outside world. Every day the family must be prepared to overcome the influences of the world with healthy Christian education.

How do modern teenagers see their family in the future? In humanities classes, we cannot ignore questions about values; we also talk about family. I am glad that teenagers see love and mutual respect, a mutual desire to live together as the basis for creating a family. But they fully admit that the need for a marriage union may arise, because the birth of a child is expected. It is alarming that more than half of students, even before starting a family, are concerned about the division of property in the event of a divorce, and the fate of future children is the last thing they think about. For them, family is something convenient in everyday life and status. Few of them think that they need to work together on relationships and overcome difficulties. For them, everything is simple so far: they didn’t like something - divorce, and put their feelings aside. Maybe this is due to their youthful maximalism, or maybe the reason is in their own families? After all, about 50% of students themselves were raised in single-parent families and, based on this, formed their vision of their future family. They will pass it on to their children. Therefore, there is no idea of the family as a value that needs to be protected. Based on statistics, half of all marriages break up. This trend is becoming disappointing for Russia. The foundations of the family are also undermined by the so-called free unions, which only create its illusion.

We are all now focusing on Western society, considering it the standard of freedom and democracy.Western democracy was originally based on the Christian values of love for one's neighbor, non-resistance to evil and, most importantly, freedom of conscience. But ultimately, the emphasis on this led the West to legalize same-sex marriage, propaganda of homosexuality, freedom of expression of sinful forms of life, etc. It’s good that young people today categorically do not accept these “values.” Christianity is not a democracy, but a theocracy, i.e. orientation towards God and His will. It is from God, according to the deep conviction of Christians, that true morality, culture and the prosperity of society come from submission to His will.