May it burn in hell! Hell of a job. Hellish heat. It's all gone to hell! The word "hell" has long become commonplace, people, using it, do not at all think about the true meaning of the term. No one, speaking of hellish heat, imagines boilers with boiling sulfur. A hell of a job is not at all a lathered devil, tired of waving a pitchfork. And a real hell is a crush at rush hour, a scandal at a planning meeting and a noisy quarrel with neighbors. For most contemporaries, this word is just a figure of speech, a saying so familiar that you don’t even notice it. From a place of eternal death torment, hell turned into a meaningless abstraction, into an illustration for a collection of folklore.
Evolution of the concept of reward
It is difficult today to find a person who would consider the existence of a classical medieval hell to be probable. However, there are fewer and fewer supporters of strict canonical Christianity. Many believe in an abstract nameless God - the embodiment of supreme power and supreme justice. Those who consider themselves Christians may well consider the concept of rebirth to be reasonable, this no longer seems a paradox. But the concept of posthumous retribution is still relevant, just less literal now.
Now even religious people talking aboutafterlife punishment for sins, nevertheless, imply something of an intangible, spiritual nature, and not licking hot frying pans. And for atheists and representatives of a number of non-Christian religions, this is generally only a legend. Hell, in their opinion, does not exist. If divine retribution falls on the heads of sinners, then here, on earth - let's say, in the next life. But not so long ago it was as strange not to believe in hell as it is now to seriously discuss tar and horned devils.
At the same time, the very fact of posthumous retribution is usually not disputed. As Voltaire said, if God does not exist, then it would be necessary to invent it. With the devil and hell - the same story. In life, it is not often that bad deeds entail punishment. Moreover, quite often come across energetic cheerful corrupt officials and he althy cheerful doctors-bribe-takers. And this is by no means a sign of the times. Dishonesty is the easiest way to get rich, and cruelty and dishonesty is an easy way to get what you want without any moral torment.
Justice of the Ancient World
This moral dilemma has two solutions. Either accept such injustice as an integral part of life, or create an effective system of containment. That is, the most unscrupulous and aggressive were waiting for a direct road to hell.
The first way went paganism. The strong is right, he gets the best, the strong is the favorite of the gods. And the weak are to blame. The fittest survive. Such was paganism. Behavior was regulated exclusively by law, traditions. This is not how you can do it, but this is how you can do it. Don't "Thou sh alt not kill", notkill a guest, do not kill in the temple, do not kill the one who broke bread with you. And in other cases - either "an eye for an eye", or pay the virus.
This is clearly seen not only in Greek and Egyptian myths. Even in the Old Testament traces of this ancient cruel worldview are visible. Often the behavior of the characters is in no way consistent with the norms of Christian morality. They lie, they betray, they kill. But at the same time, they honor the commandments - countless norms and prohibitions that regulate behavior and life. They believe in a single god and enjoy his undoubted patronage. Why? Because that was the worldview of those times. If you are successful, you are pleasing to God, he patronizes you. If not… well. Apparently you are a sinner. Cruel Darwinian theory justified by religion. In such conditions, hell is an obvious excess. Why punish someone if you can simply cut him down with a sword? Retribution here and now, with your own hand, if, of course, you can.
Why hell is needed
Later, with the advent of Christianity (and the Old Testament is not Christianity, it is much earlier), the situation changed. Christ said: "Do not kill, do not steal, and love your neighbor." All. That's all the rules. The Christian concept of a person who is pleasing to God is an example of humanism with a minimum of external paraphernalia. It doesn't matter if you boil the lamb in its mother's milk. It doesn't matter which hand you use to perform ablution after going to the toilet. The only thing that matters is the soul. The vector has shifted.
During pagan times, it was immediately obvious who the gods loved. Rich means loved, means worthy. Help in business, bestow good luck. If you are objectionable, you live poorly and badly. What other reward can we talk about? And what about Christians? In this then very young religion, external attributes were replaced by internal ones. A good person who keeps all the commandments could be poor, sick, and unhappy. Moreover, surely a peasant who does not steal or rob will be poorer than a robber and owner of a brothel. But how is this possible? Where is the justice then? This is where the concept of reward comes in. Heaven and hell are the same carrots and sticks that regulate the behavior of a person who is unstable in his convictions and moral criteria. After all, if someone considers lying and stealing wrong, then in any case he will not do it. But if he hesitates… This is where the concept of posthumous retribution comes in. Do the right thing and you will be rewarded. And if you sin… Hell is an eternity full of torments. Quite a weighty argument in favor of the right choice.
The Dogma of Purgatory
True, it was the alleged infinity of punishments that caused criticism. After all, then it turns out that the one who stole the chicken and the one who set fire to the shelter receive almost the same punishment. There is only one way for everyone - to hell. Yes, a thief will probably have brimstone in his cauldron up to his ankles, and an arsonist up to his throat. But still, if you look at this situation from the perspective of eternity… It's not so fair.
Therefore, the dogma of purgatory was introduced into Catholicism. This is hell, but hell is temporary. A place of repentance for sinners who have not committed unforgivable sins. They are serving their sentences there, being cleansedsuffering, and then, after the allotted time, go to heaven.
This dogma even has confirmation in the Bible, albeit indirectly. After all, relatives of the dead are offered to make expiatory sacrifices and pray for the repose of the soul, which means that this makes sense. But if the punishment is eternal and unchanging, then pleading does not change anything, therefore, it is useless.
Catholicism is the only branch of Christianity that believes that sinners go not only to hell, but also to purgatory. Both Protestants and the Orthodox Church believe that there can be no question of any temporary expiatory punishment. But really, what then is the meaning of funeral prayers? Because they don't change anything. The answer to this question is especially interesting when such funeral rituals are held on a paid basis and are declared by the church to be necessary for the deceased. There is an obvious paradox.
What hell looks like
What exactly happens in hell is a mystery. The Bible says that this is a place of eternal torment, but what exactly? This question has interested many philosophers and theologians. There were many concepts and conjectures. In disputes on this topic, the theologians of the Middle Ages broke their spears for more than one century. To whom and what reward is due, what does hell look like and what happens there? These questions have always interested people. Sermons devoted to this topic were very popular among parishioners.
Now many are sure that the circles of hell are indeed a description taken from religious texts. Quite a logical picture: division into sectors, for each typesinners - his own. As the sins deepen, they become heavier, and the punishment becomes more severe.
In fact, the circles of hell in this form were invented by the Italian poet and philosopher Dante Alighieri. In his Divine Comedy, he described his own journey through the afterlife: purgatory, heaven and hell. Each of these worlds consisted of sectors. The expression: “On the tenth heaven with happiness” is also from there. In the Divine Comedy, paradise consisted of ten heavens. And finally, the highest heaven, Empyrean, was meant for the purest, blissful souls.
Dante's Hell
The hell described in the poem "The Divine Comedy" consisted of nine circles:
- First round - Limbo. There, those who did not learn the Word of God against their own will were waiting for the Day of Judgment: unbaptized babies and pure-hearted pagans.
- The second circle is for lustful and depraved people. Eternal hurricane, endless rotation and hitting the rocks.
- The third circle is for gluttons. They rot in the endless rain.
- The fourth circle is for misers and spenders. They carry huge stones, constantly getting into quarrels and fights because of them.
- The fifth circle is for the furious and the bored. A swamp in which the wrathful fight endlessly, trampling the bottom of the bodies of despondent people with their feet.
- The sixth circle is for false prophets and heretics. They rest in burning graves.
- The seventh circle is for rapists. They boil in blood, suffer in the desert. They are torn by dogs and harpies, hit by arrows, poured by fiery rain.
- Eighth circle - those who betrayed those who trusted them. An endless variety of punishment awaits them. Flagellation, fire, gaffs and pitch. For them, hell is being devoured by snakes and turned into snakes, endless illness and suffering.
- The ninth circle - traitors. Their punishment is ice. They were frozen into him up to the neck.
Geography of Hell
But all nightmarish descriptions are really hell invented by the poet and writer. Of course, he was a deeply religious person, but The Divine Comedy is not apocryphal. And not even a theological treatise. This is just a poem. And everything that is described in it is only a figment of the author's imagination. Of course, Dante was a genius, so the poem became world famous. The idea of a circled hell and a heaven rising one above the other has become a truth so familiar that people no longer know who created it.
The question of where hell is located and what it actually looks like was asked not only by Dante. There were many versions. Most theologians placed hell underground, some believed that the vents of volcanoes are the way to hell. The argument supporting this theory was the fact that as the earth deepened, the temperature rose. Any miner could confirm this. Of course, the red-hot infernal cauldrons were the reason for this. The deeper the mine, the closer to hell.
After scientists were able to accurately answer the question of what is happening both in the sky and on the ground, the concept had to be revised. Now theologians are inclined to think that hell and heaven, if they exist literally, then definitely not in our world. Although, most likely, these categories are still spiritual. For torment at allboiling cauldrons are not needed, but for enjoyment - paradise. Spiritual torments and joys are no less palpable than bodily ones.
But you can still find notes in which it is reported that geologists were too carried away by drilling, and now a well leads to the underworld. According to journalists, you can also travel to hell on a spaceship - after all, the Sun fits the definition perfectly. Big and hot - there is a place for all sinners.
Hell and Hades
However, the fact that hell is a place of eternal torment is a relatively new theory. Indeed, in the days of paganism, there was also an afterlife. In ancient Greece, people believed that after death, the souls of people cross the river of oblivion, falling into the realm of the dead - Hades. There they wander forever, unconscious and unaware of themselves. And kings, and beggars, and great warriors - all are equal in the face of death. Whoever a person is during his lifetime, all that remains of him is a shadow for which there is neither past nor future.
The god of the underworld ruled Hades, also Hades. He was not evil, nor was he the god of death. Thanatos separated the soul from the body, and Hermes accompanied it to the afterlife. Hades, on the other hand, ruled the kingdom of the dead, without committing any cruelties or crimes. Compared to other gods of the Greek pantheon, he was very good-natured and gentle. Therefore, when in films Hades is portrayed as looking like a demon, this is very far from the truth. The underworld is not a realm of evil and pain. Hades is a place of eternal rest and oblivion. Later, the Romans adopted the same idea of the afterlife.
Such a world at allnot like the usual concept of hell. The origin of this name, however, is not in doubt among scientists. Hell is the ancient Greek Hades, just one letter "lost".
Gods and Demons
Christians borrowed from the Greeks not only the name of the underworld. Hell's angels, that is, demons, goat-legged and horned, are practically the twins of satyrs and fauns. These lesser deities have traditionally served as models of masculine strength and indefatigability - and hence fertility.
In the ancient world, high libido, fertility were clearly regarded as manifestations of vitality. Consequently, they were directly connected with abundant shoots, with harvests, with the offspring of livestock. The traditional embodiment of vitality, vitality, fertility is a goat. The hooves and horns of a faun were borrowed from him, and he is one of the incarnations of Satan.
Hades was also traditionally considered the god of fertility and we alth. The underworld is a world of silver, gold and precious stones. A seed is buried in the ground so that it will sprout in the spring.
The monstrous goat-horned fiend, contrary to human nature, is just an ancient god of fertility that has lost its former greatness. It is difficult to say why exactly this happened. On the one hand, a new religion often borrows elements of its predecessor, while creatively reworking them. On the other hand, Christianity is an ascetic religion, condemning lust and fornication. From this point of view, the god of fertility really looks like the embodiment of sin.
Hell personalities
If the lower demonicthe hierarchy, devoid of individual features, comes from pagan gods, then here are the highest echelons of diabolical power - piece goods, author's. Just like the saints, though. The Bible speaks of only one god and one devil. There are angels and there are fallen angels. All. The rest is the reflections of theologians and pundits brought into religion, arguing about what heaven and hell are. These are artificial creations. That is why new Christian movements, such as Protestantism, deny the existence of saints and personalized demons.
Hell's angels, the highest demonic hierarchy, are first mentioned in the Middle Ages. They are written about by specialists in theology and demonology, inquisitors investigating the cases of witches and heretics. And often their opinions about the specialization of a demon differ. For example, Binsfeld wrote in 1589 that every demon is the embodiment of one of the vices. Pride - Lucifer, lust - Asmodeus, greed - Mammon, gluttony - Beelzebub, anger - Satan, laziness - Belphegor, envy - Leviathan. But Barret, two hundred years later, argued that the demon of lies is Satan, temptation and seduction is Mamon, revenge is Asmodeus, and false gods are Beelzebub. And these are the opinions of only two experts. In fact, there is much more confusion.
Either hell is a place where employees must regularly take refresher courses and master related fields of knowledge, or demonology is not entirely sincere.
A curious fact. The well-known characters of the novel "The Master and Margarita", Behemoth and Azazello, were not inventedwriter, but borrowed from literature on demonology. Behemoth is a demon that is mentioned in the book of Enoch. In addition, in the 17th century, the famous rite of exorcism took place. Demons were driven out of the abbess of the monastery, and this process was carefully recorded. Behemoth was the fifth demon to leave the unfortunate woman. His head was that of an elephant, and his hind legs were of a hippopotamus.
Azazello is Azazel, the demon is not Christian, but Jewish. Bulgakov wrote the truth. It is indeed a demon of drought and desert. Jews roaming the arid territories knew better than anyone how deadly heat and dryness can be. So making him a demon slayer was the logical thing to do.
