Why was Jesus Christ crucified? History of Christianity

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

Why was Jesus Christ crucified? This question may arise in a person who either refers to this event only as a historical fact, or takes the very first steps towards faith in the Savior. In the first case, the most correct decision is to try not to satisfy your idle interest, but to wait until a sincere desire appears with your mind and heart to understand this. In the second case, you need to start looking for an answer to this question, of course, by reading the Bible.

In the process of reading, various personal considerations on this matter will inevitably arise. This is where the division begins. Some believe that each person has the right to his own reading of the Holy Scriptures and remain in their opinion, even if it is fundamentally different from the opinion of other people. This is the Protestant position. Orthodoxy, which is still the main Christian denomination in Russia, is based on the reading of the Bible by the Holy Fathers. This also applies to the question: why was Jesus crucified? Therefore, the next sure step in trying to understand this topic is to turn to the creations of the Holy Fathers.

Notsearch the internet for an answer

Why does the Orthodox Church recommend this approach? The fact is that any person who tries to live a spiritual life necessarily reflects on the meaning of the events connected with the earthly life of Christ, on the meaning of His sermons and apostolic epistles. If a person moves in the right direction, then the meaning, the hidden subtext of Scripture, is gradually revealed to him. But attempts to unite the knowledge and understanding accumulated by all spiritual people and those who try to be them into one gave the usual result: how many people - so many opinions. For each, even the most insignificant issue, so many understandings and assessments were found that, as an inevitability, there was a need to analyze and summarize all this information. The result was the following picture: several people necessarily covered the same topic absolutely, almost verbatim, in the same way. Having traced the pattern, it was easy to notice that opinions exactly coincided with a certain kind of people. Usually these were saints, theologians who chose monasticism or simply led a particularly strict life, were more attentive than other people to their thoughts and actions. The purity of thoughts and feelings made them open to communion with the Holy Spirit. That is, they all received information from the same source.

The discrepancies appeared from the fact that none of the people is perfect. No one can escape the influence of evil, which will surely seduce, try to mislead a person. Therefore, in Orthodoxy it is customary to consider the opinion confirmed by the majority of the Holy Fathers to be the truth. Solitaryassessments that do not coincide with the vision of the majority can be safely attributed to personal conjectures and delusions.

About everything related to religion, it is better to ask a priest

For a person who has just begun to be interested in such issues, the best solution would be to seek help from a priest. He will be able to advise literature that is suitable for a beginner. You can apply for such help to the nearest temple or spiritual and educational center. In such institutions, priests have the opportunity to devote sufficient time and attention to the issue. It is more correct to look for an answer to the question "Why was Jesus Christ crucified?" in exactly this way. There is simply no unequivocal answer to it, and independent attempts to seek clarification from the Fathers are dangerous, since they wrote mainly for monks.

Christ was not crucified

Any Gospel event has two meanings: explicit and hidden (spiritual). If you look from the point of view of the Savior and Christians, then the answer could be this: Christ was not crucified, He voluntarily allowed himself to be crucified for the sins of all mankind - past, present and future. The obvious reason is simple: Christ called into question all the usual views of the Jews on piety, undermined the authority of their priesthood.

The worship of God among the Jews, before the coming of the Messiah, consisted in excellent knowledge and exact execution of all laws and regulations. The sermons of the Savior made many people think about the falsity of this view of the relationship with the Creator. In addition, the Jews expected the King promised in the prophecies of the Old Testament. He should have beenfree them from Roman slavery and stand at the head of a new earthly kingdom. The high priests were probably afraid of an open armed uprising of the people against their power and the power of the Roman emperor. Therefore, it was decided that "it is better for us that one person should die for the people than that the whole nation should perish" (see the Gospel of John chapter 11, verses 47-53). This is why they crucified Jesus Christ.

Good Friday

On what day was Jesus Christ crucified? All four gospels unanimously state that Jesus was arrested on the night from Thursday to Friday of the week before Easter. He spent the whole night in interrogation. The priests betrayed Jesus into the hands of the governor of the Roman emperor, the procurator Pontius Pilate. Wanting to avoid responsibility, he sent the captive to King Herod. But he, not finding anything dangerous for himself in the person of Christ, wanted to see some kind of miracle from a prophet known to the people. Because Jesus refused to entertain Herod and his guests, He was brought back to Pilate. On the same day, that is, on Friday, Christ was brutally beaten and, putting on His shoulders the instrument of execution - the Cross, was taken outside the city and crucified.

Good Friday, which happens in the week leading up to Easter, is a day of especially deep sorrow for Christians. In order not to forget on what day Jesus Christ was crucified, the Orthodox keep fast every Friday throughout the year. As a sign of compassion for the Savior, they limit themselves in food, try to carefully monitor their mood, not swear, and avoid entertainment.

Calvary

Where was Jesus Christ crucified? Turning again to the Gospel, one can be convinced that all four "biographers" of the Savior unanimously point to one place - Golgotha, or the Place of the Skull. This is a hill outside the city walls of Jerusalem.

Another difficult question: who crucified Christ? Would it be correct to answer this way: the centurion Longinus and his colleagues are Roman soldiers. They drove nails into the hands and feet of Christ, Longinus pierced the already cooling Body of the Lord with a spear. But the order was given by Pontius Pilate. So he crucified the Savior? But Pilate tried in every possible way to persuade the Jewish people to let Jesus go, since he had already been punished by being beaten, and there was "no guilt" in Him worthy of a terrible execution.

The Procurator gave the order under fear of losing not only his place, but, perhaps, life itself. After all, the accusers argued that Christ threatened the power of the Roman emperor. It turns out that the Jewish people crucified their Savior? But the Jews were deceived by the high priests and their false witnesses. So after all, who crucified Christ? The answer would be honest: all these people together executed an innocent person.

Hell, where is your victory?

It would seem that the high priests won. Christ accepted a shameful execution, regiments of angels did not descend from Heaven to take Him down from the cross, the disciples fled. Only his mother, best friend and a few devoted women stayed with Him to the end. But this was not the end. The alleged victory of evil was destroyed by the resurrection of Jesus.

At least see

Trying to erase any memory of Christ, the pagans covered Golgotha and the Holy Sepulcher with earth. But at the beginning of the 4th century, the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Empress Helen arrived in Jerusalem to find the Cross of the Lord. For a long time she unsuccessfully tried to find out where Jesus Christ was crucified. An old Jew named Judas helped her, saying that the place of Golgotha is now the temple of Venus.

After excavations, three similar crosses were discovered. To find out on which of them Christ was crucified, the crosses were alternately attached to the body of the deceased person. From the touch of the Life-Giving Cross, this man came to life. A huge number of Christians wished to bow to the shrine, so they had to raise the Cross up (erect) so that people could at least see it from afar. This event took place in 326. In memory of him, Orthodox Christians celebrate on September 27 a holiday called the Ex altation of the Cross of the Lord.