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1. Luke, "beloved physician", was one of the closest associates of St. Paul (Col 4:14). According to Eusebius (Church East 3:4), he came from Syrian Antioch and was brought up in a Greek pagan family. He received a good education and became a doctor. The history of his conversion is unknown. Apparently, it happened after his meeting with ap Paul, whom he joined c. 50 AD He visited with him Macedonia, the cities of Asia Minor (Acts 16:10-17; Acts 20:5-21:18) and remained with him during his stay in custody in Caesarea and in Rome (Acts 24:23; Acts 27; Acts 28; Col 4:14). The narration of Acts was brought to the year 63. There is no reliable data on the life of Luke in subsequent years.

2. Very ancient information has come down to us, confirming that the third Gospel was written by Luke. St. Irenaeus (Against Heresies 3, 1) writes: "Luke, the companion of Paul, expounded the Gospel taught by the Apostle in a separate book." According to Origen, "the third gospel is from Luke" (see Eusebius, Church. East 6, 25). In the list of sacred books that have come down to us, recognized as canonical in the Roman Church since the 2nd century, it is noted that Luke wrote the Gospel on behalf of Paul.

Scholars of the 3rd Gospel unanimously recognize the writer's talent of its author. According to such a connoisseur of antiquity as Eduard Mayer, ev. Luke is one of the best writers of his time.

3. In the preface to the gospel, Luke says that he used previously written "narratives" and the testimonies of eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word from the very beginning (Luke 1:2). He wrote it, in all probability, before the year 70. He undertook his work "by carefully examining everything from the beginning" (Luke 1:3). The gospel is continued by Acts, where the evangelist also included his personal memories (starting with Acts 16:10, the story is often told in the first person).

Its main sources were, obviously, Mt, Mk, manuscripts that have not come down to us, called "logy", and oral traditions. Among these traditions, a special place is occupied by stories about the birth and childhood of the Baptist, which developed among the admirers of the prophet. At the heart of the story of the infancy of Jesus (chapters 1 and 2) lies, apparently, a sacred tradition in which the voice of the Virgin Mary herself is still heard.

Not being a Palestinian and speaking to Gentile Christians, Luke reveals less knowledge than Matthew and Jn of the setting in which the gospel events took place. But as a historian, he seeks to clarify the chronology of these events, pointing to kings and rulers (eg Luke 2:1; Luke 3:1-2). Luke includes prayers that, according to commentators, were used by the first Christians (the prayer of Zechariah, the song of the Virgin, the song of the angels).

5. Luke views the life of Jesus Christ as a path to voluntary death and victory over it. Only in Lk the Savior is called κυριος (Lord), as was customary in the early Christian communities. The Evangelist repeatedly speaks of the action of the Spirit of God in the life of the Virgin Mary, Christ Himself, and later the apostles. Luke conveys the atmosphere of joy, hope and eschatological expectation in which the first Christians lived. He lovingly paints the merciful appearance of the Savior, clearly manifested in the parables of the merciful Samaritan, the prodigal son, the lost drachma, the publican and the Pharisee.

As a student of Paul Luk emphasizes the universal character of the Gospel (Lk 2:32; Luk 24:47); He leads the genealogy of the Savior not from Abraham, but from the forefather of all mankind (Luke 3:38).

INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

The Holy Scriptures of the New Testament were written in Greek, with the exception of the Gospel of Matthew, which is said to have been written in Hebrew or Aramaic. But since this Hebrew text has not survived, the Greek text is considered the original for the Gospel of Matthew. Thus, only the Greek text of the New Testament is the original, and numerous editions in various modern languages all over the world are translations from the Greek original.

Greek language in which it was written New Testament, was no longer a classical ancient Greek language and was not, as previously thought, a special New Testament language. This is the colloquial everyday language of the first century A.D., spread in the Greco-Roman world and known in science under the name "κοινη", i.e. "common speech"; yet the style, and turns of speech, and way of thinking of the sacred writers of the New Testament reveal the Hebrew or Aramaic influence.

The original text of the New Testament has come down to us in in large numbers ancient manuscripts, more or less complete, numbering about 5000 (from the 2nd to the 16th century). Before recent years the most ancient of them did not go back beyond the 4th century no P.X. But for Lately many fragments of ancient manuscripts of the NT on papyrus were discovered (3rd and even 2nd c.). So, for example, Bodmer's manuscripts: Ev from John, Luke, 1 and 2 Peter, Jude - were found and published in the 60s of our century. In addition to Greek manuscripts, we have ancient translations or versions into Latin, Syriac, Coptic and other languages ​​(Vetus Itala, Peshitto, Vulgata, etc.), of which the oldest existed already from the 2nd century AD.

Finally, numerous quotations from the Church Fathers in Greek and other languages ​​have been preserved in such quantity that if the text of the New Testament were lost and all ancient manuscripts were destroyed, then specialists could restore this text from quotations from the works of the Holy Fathers. All this abundant material makes it possible to check and refine the text of the NT and to classify its various forms (the so-called textual criticism). Compared with any ancient author (Homer, Euripides, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Cornelius Nepos, Julius Caesar, Horace, Virgil, etc.), our modern - printed - Greek text of the NT is in an exceptionally favorable position. And by the number of manuscripts, and by the brevity of time separating the oldest of them from the original, and by the number of translations, and by their antiquity, and by the seriousness and volume of critical work carried out on the text, it surpasses all other texts (for details, see "The Hidden Treasures and new life”, Archaeological Discoveries and the Gospel, Bruges, 1959, pp. 34 ff.). The text of the NT as a whole is fixed quite irrefutably.

The New Testament consists of 27 books. They are subdivided by the publishers into 260 chapters of unequal length for the purpose of providing references and citations. The original text does not contain this division. The modern division into chapters in the New Testament, as in the whole Bible, has often been ascribed to the Dominican Cardinal Hugh (1263), who elaborated it in his symphony to the Latin Vulgate, but it is now thought with great reason that this division goes back to Stephen the Archbishop of Canterbury. Langton, who died in 1228. As for the division into verses now accepted in all editions of the New Testament, it goes back to the publisher of the Greek New Testament text, Robert Stephen, and was introduced by him into his edition in 1551.

The sacred books of the New Testament are usually divided into statutory (Four Gospels), historical (Acts of the Apostles), teaching (seven conciliar epistles and fourteen epistles of the Apostle Paul) and prophetic: the Apocalypse or Revelation of St. John the Theologian (see the Long Catechism of St. Philaret of Moscow).

However, modern experts consider this distribution outdated: in fact, all the books of the New Testament are law-positive, historical, and instructive, and there is prophecy not only in the Apocalypse. New Testament science pays great attention to the exact establishment of the chronology of the gospel and other New Testament events. Scientific chronology allows the reader to follow the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, the apostles and the original Church according to the New Testament with sufficient accuracy (see Appendixes).

The books of the New Testament can be distributed as follows:

1) Three so-called Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and, separately, the fourth: the Gospel of John. New Testament scholarship devotes much attention to the study of the relationship of the first three Gospels and their relation to the Gospel of John (the synoptic problem).

2) The Book of the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of the Apostle Paul ("Corpus Paulinum"), which are usually divided into:

a) Early Epistles: 1 and 2 Thessalonians.

b) Greater Epistles: Galatians, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Romans.

c) Messages from bonds, i.e. written from Rome, where ap. Paul was in prison: Philippians, Colossians, Ephesians, Philemon.

d) Pastoral Epistles: 1st to Timothy, to Titus, 2nd to Timothy.

e) The Epistle to the Hebrews.

3) Cathedral Messages("Corpus Catholicum").

4) Revelation of John the Theologian. (Sometimes in the NT they single out "Corpus Joannicum", i.e. everything that ap Ying wrote for a comparative study of his Gospel in connection with his epistles and the book of Rev.).

FOUR GOSPEL

1. The word "gospel" (ευανγελιον) in Greek means "good news". This is how our Lord Jesus Christ Himself called His teaching (Mt 24:14; Mt 26:13; Mk 1:15; Mk 13:10; Mk 14:9; Mk 16:15). Therefore, for us, the "gospel" is inextricably linked with Him: it is the "good news" of salvation given to the world through the incarnate Son of God.

Christ and His apostles preached the gospel without writing it down. By the middle of the 1st century, this sermon had been fixed by the Church in a strong oral tradition. The Eastern custom of memorizing sayings, stories, and even large texts by heart helped the Christians of the apostolic age to accurately preserve the unwritten First Gospel. After the 1950s, when eyewitnesses to Christ's earthly ministry began to pass away one by one, the need arose to record the gospel (Luke 1:1). Thus, the “gospel” began to denote the narrative recorded by the apostles about the life and teachings of the Savior. It was read at prayer meetings and in preparing people for baptism.

2. The most important Christian centers of the 1st century (Jerusalem, Antioch, Rome, Ephesus, etc.) had their own gospels. Of these, only four (Mt, Mk, Lk, Jn) are recognized by the Church as inspired by God, i.e. written under the direct influence of the Holy Spirit. They are called "from Matthew", "from Mark", etc. (Greek “kata” corresponds to Russian “according to Matthew”, “according to Mark”, etc.), for the life and teachings of Christ are set forth in these books by these four priests. Their gospels were not brought together in one book, which made it possible to see the gospel story from different points of view. In the 2nd century, St. Irenaeus of Lyon calls the evangelists by name and points to their gospels as the only canonical ones (Against Heresies 2, 28, 2). A contemporary of St. Irenaeus, Tatian, made the first attempt to create a single gospel narrative, composed of various texts of the four gospels, the Diatessaron, i.e. gospel of four.

3. The apostles did not set themselves the goal of creating a historical work in the modern sense of the word. They sought to spread the teachings of Jesus Christ, helped people to believe in Him, correctly understand and fulfill His commandments. The testimonies of the evangelists do not coincide in all details, which proves their independence from each other: the testimonies of eyewitnesses are always individual in color. The Holy Spirit does not certify the accuracy of the details of the facts described in the gospel, but the spiritual meaning contained in them.

The minor contradictions encountered in the presentation of the evangelists are explained by the fact that God gave the priests complete freedom in conveying certain specific facts in relation to different categories of listeners, which further emphasizes the unity of meaning and direction of all four gospels (see also General Introduction, pp. 13 and 14) .

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3-10 In response to these speeches, the Lord told the parable of the lost sheep, where he depicted how every lost human soul is dear to God and how God is looking for bent souls in order to return them to Himself. The sinner is depicted here under the guise of a sheep, which, often out of ignorance of the road, goes astray and lags behind the flock, and God is under the guise of a shepherd who is so sorry for the stray sheep that, leaving the rest of the flock, consisting of 99 sheep, sets off look for one stray sheep, and when he finds it, he announces it with joy to all his neighbors. The same parable in more summary Eve also has Matthew (cf. Matthew 18:12-14).

4 In the desert . This marks the special care of the shepherd for the lost sheep. Even if we admit with Trench (p. 315) that the eastern desert is not a sandy and waterless region, that there are comfortable pastures in it, then in any case the presence of a herd in the desert without a shepherd who protects it from wild animals is very dangerous for herds. If, nevertheless, the shepherd leaves the flock to look for one lost sheep, it is clear from this that he is very sorry for this sheep.

5 Take her on your shoulders. This is a symbol of the shepherd's special care for the sheep. The sheep is tired, and therefore he carries it on himself. Thus, the grace of Christ supports the sinner who has turned to the path of salvation, and who does not have enough of his own strength to complete this entire difficult path. In the primordial Church, this image of a shepherd with a sheep on his shoulders was repeatedly reproduced on the walls of the catacombs: this is how Christ the Savior was depicted.

7 I tell you. This is the application of the parable of the lost sheep to the occasion which gave rise to Christ's parable. By the “99” righteous, Christ does not mean the righteous only by name, that is, those who outwardly kept the law, while their moral state would by no means give them the right to be called righteous — which would be strange in the fact that God would leave such imaginary righteous? - but, undoubtedly, the righteous in the proper sense of the word, indeed, righteous people, and, however, the parable leaves aside the question of whether there are such righteous people.

Personality of the gospel writer. The Evangelist Luke, according to legends preserved by some ancient church writers (Eusebius of Caesarea, Jerome, Theophylact, Euthymius Zigaben, and others), was born in Antioch. His name, in all likelihood, is an abbreviation of the Roman name Lucilius. Was he a Jew or a Gentile? This question is answered by that place from the epistle to the Colossians, where ap. Paul distinguishes Luke from the circumcised (Luke 4:11-14) and therefore testifies that Luke was a Gentile by birth. It is safe to assume that before entering the Church of Christ, Luke was a Jewish proselyte, since he is very familiar with Jewish customs. In his civil profession, Luke was a doctor (Col. 4:14), and church tradition, although rather later, says that he was also engaged in painting (Nikephorus Kallistos. Church. history. II, 43). When and how he converted to Christ is unknown. The tradition that he belonged to the number of the 70 apostles of Christ (Epiphanius. Panarius, haer. LI, 12, etc.) cannot be recognized as reliable in view of the clear statement of Luke himself, who does not include himself among the witnesses of the life of Christ (Luke 1:1ff.). He acts for the first time as a companion and assistant to the Apostle. Paul during Paul's second missionary journey. This took place in Troas, where Luke may have lived before (Acts 16:10ff.). Then he was with Paul in Macedonia (Acts 16:11ff.) and, on his third journey, Troas, Miletus, and other places (Acts 24:23; Col. 4:14; Phm. 1:24). He also accompanied Paul to Rome (Acts 27:1-28; cf. 2 Tim 4:11). Then information about him ceases in the writings of the New Testament, and only a relatively late tradition (Gregory the Theologian) reports his martyr's death; his relics, according to Jerome (de vir. ill. VII), at imp. Constantius was transferred from Achaia to Constantinople.

Origin of the Gospel of Luke. According to the evangelist himself (Luke 1:1-4), he composed his Gospel on the basis of the tradition of eyewitnesses and the study of written experiences of the presentation of this tradition, trying to give a relatively detailed and correct orderly presentation of the events of the Gospel history. And the works that Ev. Luke, were compiled on the basis of the apostolic tradition - but nevertheless, they seemed to be ev. Luke is insufficient for the purpose he had in compiling his gospel. One of these sources, perhaps even the main source, was for Ev. Luke Gospel of Mark. They even say that a huge part of the Gospel of Luke is in literary dependence on Ev. Mark (this is exactly what Weiss proved in his work on Ev. Mark by comparing the texts of these two Gospels).

Some critics still tried to make the Gospel of Luke dependent on the Gospel of Matthew, but these attempts were extremely unsuccessful and are now almost never repeated. If there is anything that can be said with certainty, it is that in some places Ev. Luke uses a source that agrees with the Gospel of Matthew. This must be said primarily about the history of the childhood of Jesus Christ. The nature of the presentation of this story, the very speech of the Gospel in this section, which is very reminiscent of the works of Jewish writing, make us assume that Luke here used a Jewish source, which was quite close to the story of the childhood of Jesus Christ, set forth in the Gospel of Matthew.

Finally, even in ancient times, it was suggested that the Ev. Luke, as a companion of ap. Paul, expounded the "Gospel" of this particular apostle (Irenaeus. Against heresies. III, 1; in Eusebius of Caesarea, V, 8). Although this assumption is very likely and agrees with the nature of the gospel of Luke, who, apparently, deliberately chose such narratives as could prove the general and main point of the gospel of Paul about the salvation of the Gentiles, nevertheless the evangelist's own statement (1:1 et seq.) does not refer to this source.

Reason and purpose, place and time of writing the Gospel. The Gospel of Luke (and the book of Acts) was written for a certain Theophilus to enable him to be convinced that the Christian doctrine taught to him rested on solid foundations. There are many assumptions about the origin, profession and place of residence of this Theophilus, but all these assumptions do not have sufficient grounds for themselves. One can only say that Theophilus was a noble man, since Luke calls him “venerable” (κράτ ιστε 1:3), and from the character of the Gospel, which is close to the character of the teachings of St. Paul naturally concludes that Theophilus was converted to Christianity by the apostle Paul and was probably previously a pagan. One can also accept the evidence of the Encounters (a work attributed to Clement of Rome, x, 71) that Theophilus was a resident of Antioch. Finally, from the fact that in the book of Acts, written for the same Theophilus, Luke does not make explanations of those mentioned in the history of the journey of St. Paul to Rome of the localities (Acts 28:12.13.15), it can be concluded that Theophilus was well acquainted with these localities and, probably, he himself traveled to Rome more than once. But there is no doubt that the gospel is its own. Luke wrote not for Theophilus alone, but for all Christians who were interested in getting acquainted with the history of the life of Christ in such a systematic and verified form as this history is found in the Gospel of Luke.

That the Gospel of Luke was in any case written for a Christian, or, more correctly, for Gentile Christians, is clearly seen from the fact that the evangelist nowhere presents Jesus Christ as the Messiah predominantly expected by the Jews and does not seek to indicate in his activity and teaching Christ the fulfillment of messianic prophecies. Instead, we find repeated indications in the third gospel that Christ is the Redeemer of the entire human race and that the gospel is for all nations. Such an idea was already expressed by the righteous elder Simeon (Luke 2:31 et seq.), and then passes through the genealogy of Christ, which is in Ev. Luke brought to Adam, the ancestor of all mankind, and which, therefore, shows that Christ does not belong to one Jewish people, but to all mankind. Then, beginning to depict the Galilean activity of Christ, Ev. Luke puts in the forefront the rejection of Christ by His fellow citizens - the inhabitants of Nazareth, in which the Lord indicated a feature that characterizes the attitude of the Jews towards the prophets in general - the attitude by virtue of which the prophets left the Jewish land for the Gentiles or showed their favor to the Gentiles (Elijah and Elisha Lk 4 :25-27). In the Conversation on the Mount, Ev. Luke does not cite Christ's sayings about His attitude to the law (Lk 1:20-49) and Pharisees' righteousness, and in his instruction to the apostles he omits the prohibition for the apostles to preach to the Gentiles and Samaritans (Lk 9:1-6). On the contrary, he only tells about the grateful Samaritan, about the merciful Samaritan, about Christ's disapproval of the immoderate irritation of the disciples against the Samaritans who did not accept Christ. Here it is also necessary to include various parables and sayings of Christ, in which there is a great similarity with the doctrine of righteousness from faith, which St. Paul proclaimed in his epistles, written to the churches, which were composed predominantly of Gentiles.

The influence of ap. Paul and the desire to clarify the universality of salvation brought by Christ undoubtedly had a great influence on the choice of material for compiling the Gospel of Luke. However, there is not the slightest reason to assume that the writer pursued purely subjective views in his work and deviated from historical truth. On the contrary, we see that he gives a place in his Gospel to such narratives, which undoubtedly developed in the Judeo-Christian circle (the story of the childhood of Christ). In vain, therefore, they attribute to him the desire to adapt the Jewish ideas about the Messiah to the views of St. Paul (Zeller) or else the desire to exalt Paul before the twelve apostles and Paul's teaching before Judeo-Christianity (Baur, Gilgenfeld). This assumption is contradicted by the content of the Gospel, in which there are many sections that go against such an alleged desire of Luke (this is, firstly, the story of the birth of Christ and His childhood, and then such parts: Luke 4:16-30; Luke 5:39; Luke 10:22 ; Luke 12:6 ff.; Luke 13:1-5 ; Luke 16:17 ; Luke 19:18-46 etc. (In order to reconcile his assumption with the existence of such sections in the Gospel of Luke, Baur had to resort to a new assumption that in its present form the Gospel of Luke is the work of some later living person (editor).Golsten, who sees in the Gospel of Luke a combination of the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, believes that Luke had the goal of uniting the Judeo-Christian and The same view of the Gospel of Luke, as a work pursuing purely reconciliatory goals of the two trends that fought in the primordial Church, continues to exist in the latest criticism apostolic writings. Yog. Weiss, in his preface to the commentary on Ev. Luke (2nd ed. 1907) to come to the conclusion that this gospel can by no means be regarded as pursuing the task of exalting peacockism. Luke shows his complete “non-partisanship”, and if he has frequent coincidences in thoughts and expressions with the epistles of the Apostle Paul, then this is due only to the fact that by the time Luke wrote his Gospel, these epistles were already widely distributed in all churches . But the love of Christ for sinners, on the manifestations of which so often ev. Luke, is not anything particularly characterizing the Pauline idea of ​​Christ: on the contrary, the whole Christian tradition presented Christ as loving sinners...

The time of writing the Gospel of Luke by some ancient writers belonged to a very early period in the history of Christianity - back to the time of the activity of St. Paul, and the newest interpreters in most cases assert that the Gospel of Luke was written shortly before the destruction of Jerusalem: at the time when the two-year stay of Apostle ended. Paul in Roman imprisonment. There is, however, an opinion, supported by rather authoritative scholars (for example, B. Weiss), that the Gospel of Luke was written after the year 70, that is, after the destruction of Jerusalem. This opinion wants to find a basis for itself, mainly in the 21st ch. The Gospel of Luke (v. 24 et seq.), where the destruction of Jerusalem is assumed as if it had already taken place. With this, as if, according to the idea that Luke has about the position of the Christian Church, as being in a very oppressed state (cf. Luke 6:20 et seq.). However, according to the same Weiss, the origin of the Gospel cannot be attributed further to the 70s (as do, for example, Baur and Zeller, who believe the origin of the Gospel of Luke in 110-130, or as Gilgenfeld, Keim, Volkmar - in 100- m g.). Regarding this opinion of Weiss, it can be said that it does not contain anything incredible and even, perhaps, can find its basis in the testimony of St. Irenaeus, who says that the Gospel of Luke was written after the death of the apostles Peter and Paul (Against Heresies III, 1).

Where the Gospel of Luke was written is nothing definite from tradition. According to some, the place of writing was Achaia, according to others, Alexandria or Caesarea. Some point to Corinth, others to Rome as the place where the Gospel was written; but all this is mere conjecture.

On the Authenticity and Integrity of the Gospel of Luke. The writer of the Gospel does not call himself by name, but the ancient tradition of the Church unanimously calls the writer of the third Gospel St. Luke (Irenaeus. Against heresies. III, 1, 1; Origen in Eusebius, Tserk. ist. VI, 25, etc. See also the canon of Muratorius). There is nothing in the Gospel itself that would prevent us from accepting this testimony of tradition. If opponents of authenticity point out that the apostolic men do not cite any passages from it, then this circumstance can be explained by the fact that under the apostolic men it was customary to be guided more by oral tradition about the life of Christ than by records about Him; in addition, the Gospel of Luke, as having, judging by its writing, a private purpose primarily, could just so be considered by the apostolic men as a private document. Only later did it acquire the significance of a universally binding guide for the study of gospel history.

The latest criticism still does not agree with the testimony of tradition and does not recognize Luke as the writer of the Gospel. The basis for doubting the authenticity of the Gospel of Luke is for critics (for example, for John Weiss) the fact that the author of the Gospel must be recognized as the one who compiled the book of the Acts of the Apostles: this is evidenced not only by the inscription of the book. Acts (Acts 1:1), but also the style of both books. Meanwhile, criticism claims that the book of Acts was not written by Luke himself or by any companion of St. Paul, and a person who lived much later, who only in the second part of the book uses the records that remained from the companion of ap. Paul (see, for example, Luke 16:10: we...). Obviously, this assumption, expressed by Weiss, stands and falls with the question of the authenticity of the book of the Acts of the Apostles and therefore cannot be discussed here.

With regard to the integrity of the Gospel of Luke, critics have long expressed the idea that not the entire Gospel of Luke came from this writer, but that there are sections inserted into it by a later hand. Therefore, they tried to single out the so-called "first Luke" (Scholten). But most of the new interpreters defend the position that the Gospel of Luke, in its entirety, is the work of Luke. The objections which, for example, he expresses in his commentary on Ev. Luke Yog. Weiss, they can hardly shake the confidence in a sane person that the Gospel of Luke in all its departments is a completely integral work of one author. (Some of these objections will be dealt with in the Commentary on Luke.)

content of the gospel. In relation to the choice and order of gospel events, ev. Luke, like Matthew and Mark, divides these events into two groups, one of which embraces the Galilean activity of Christ, and the other his activity in Jerusalem. At the same time, Luke greatly abridges some of the stories contained in the first two Gospels, citing many such stories that are not at all found in those Gospels. Finally, he groups and modifies those stories, which in his Gospel are a reproduction of what is in the first two Gospels, in his own way.

Like Ev. Matthew, Luke begins his Gospel from the very first moments of the New Testament revelation. In the first three chapters, he depicts: a) the foreshadowing of the birth of John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus Christ, as well as the birth and circumcision of John the Baptist and the circumstances that accompanied them (ch. 1), b) the story of the birth, circumcision and bringing of Christ to the temple , and then the speech of Christ in the temple, when He was a 12-year-old boy (ch. 11), c) the performance of John the Baptist as the Forerunner of the Messiah, the descent of the Spirit of God on Christ during His baptism, the age of Christ, in which He was at that time, and His genealogy (ch. 3rd).

The depiction of Christ's messianic activity in the Gospel of Luke is also quite clearly divided into three parts. The first part embraces the work of Christ in Galilee (Lk 4:1-9:50), the second contains the speeches and miracles of Christ during His long journey to Jerusalem (Lk 9:51-19:27) and the third contains the story of the completion of the messianic ministry Christ in Jerusalem (Luke 19:28-24:53).

In the first part, where the Evangelist Luke apparently follows Ev. Mark, both in choice and in the sequence of events, made several releases from Mark's narrative. Omitted precisely: Mk 3:20-30, - the malicious judgments of the Pharisees about the expulsion of demons by Christ, Mk 6:17-29 - the news of the taking into prison and the death of the Baptist, and then everything that is given in Mark (and also in Matthew) from history activities of Christ in northern Galilee and Perea (Mk 6:44-8:27ff.). The miracle of feeding the people (Luke 9:10-17) is directly connected with the story of Peter's confession and the first prediction of the Lord about His sufferings (Luke 9:18 et seq.). On the other hand, Ev. Luke, instead of the section on the recognition of Simon and Andrew and the sons of Zebedee to follow Christ (Mk 6:16-20; cf. Mt 4:18-22), tells the story of the miraculous fishing, as a result of which Peter and his companions left their occupation in order to constantly follow Christ (Lk 5:1-11), and instead of the story of the rejection of Christ in Nazareth (Mk 6:1-6; cf. Mt 13:54-58), he places a story of the same content when describing Christ's first visit as Messiah of his fatherly city (Luke 4:16-30). Further, after the calling of the 12 apostles, Luke places in his Gospel the following departments, which are not found in the Gospel of Mark: Sermon on the Mount(Luke 6:20-49, but in a more concise form than it is set out in Ev. Matthew), the question of the Baptist to the Lord about His messianism (Luke 7:18-35), and inserted between these two parts the story of the resurrection of the Nain youth ( Luke 7:11-17), then the story of the anointing of Christ at a dinner in the house of the Pharisee Simon (Luke 7:36-50) and the names of the women of Galilee who served Christ with their property (Luke 8:1-3).

Such closeness of the Gospel of Luke to the Gospel of Mark is no doubt due to the fact that both evangelists wrote their Gospels for Gentile Christians. Both evangelists also show a desire to depict the gospel events not in their exact chronological sequence, but to give the fullest and clearest possible idea of ​​Christ as the founder of the Messianic kingdom. Luke's deviations from Mark can be explained by his desire to give more space to those stories that Luke borrows from tradition, as well as the desire to group the facts reported to Luke by eyewitnesses so that his Gospel represents not only the image of Christ, His life and works, but also His teaching. about the Kingdom of God, expressed in His speeches and conversations both with His disciples and with His opponents.

In order to carry out systematically such an intention, ev. Luke places between the two, predominantly historical, parts of his Gospel - the first and third - the middle part (Luke 9:51-19:27), in which conversations and speeches predominate, and in this part he cites such speeches and events that, according to others The gospels took place at a different time. Some interpreters (for example, Meyer, Godet) see in this section an accurate chronological presentation of events, based on the words of Ev. Luke, who promised to state “everything in order” (καθ ’ ε ̔ ξη ̃ ς - 1:3). But such an assumption is hardly sound. Although Ev. Luke also says that he wants to write "in order", but this does not mean at all that he wants to give in his Gospel only a chronicle of the life of Christ. On the contrary, he made it his goal to give Theophilus, through an accurate presentation of the gospel history, complete confidence in the truth of those teachings in which he was instructed. General sequential order of events ev. Luke kept it: his gospel story begins with the birth of Christ and even with the birth of His Forerunner, then there is an image of the public ministry of Christ, and the moments of the revelation of Christ's teaching about Himself as the Messiah are indicated, and finally, the whole story ends with a presentation of the events of the last days of Christ's stay on the ground. List it in sequential order everything that was accomplished by Christ from baptism to ascension, and there was no need - it was enough for the purpose that Luke had, to convey the events of the gospel story in a certain group. About this intention ev. Luke also speaks of the fact that most of the sections of the second part are interconnected not by exact chronological indications, but by simple transitional formulas: and it was (Luke 11:1; Luke 14:1), but it was (Luke 10:38; Luke 11:27 ), and behold (Lk 10:25), he said (Lk 12:54), etc. or in simple connectives: a, but (δε ̀ - Lk 11:29; Lk 12:10). These transitions were obviously made not in order to determine the time of events, but only their setting. It is also impossible not to point out that the evangelist here describes events that took place now in Samaria (Lk 9:52), then in Bethany, not far from Jerusalem (Lk 10:38), then again somewhere far from Jerusalem (Lk 13 :31), in Galilee - in a word, these are events of different times, and not only those that happened during the last journey of Christ to Jerusalem on the Passover of suffering Some interpreters, in order to keep the chronological order in this section, tried to find in it indications of two journeys of Christ to Jerusalem - the feast of renewal and the feast of the last Easter (Schleiermacher, Ohlshausen, Neander) or even three that John mentions in his Gospel ( Wieseler). But, apart from the fact that there is no definite allusion to various journeys, this passage in the Gospel of Luke clearly speaks against such an assumption, where it is definitely said that the evangelist wants to describe in this section only the last journey of the Lord to Jerusalem - on the Pascha of suffering. In the 9th ch. 51st Art. It says, “When the days of His taking away from the world drew near, He desired to go up to Jerusalem.” Explanation see in a sense. 9th ch. .

Finally, in the third section (Lk 19:28-24:53) Heb. Luke sometimes deviates from the chronological order of events in the interests of his grouping of facts (for example, he places Peter's denial before the trial of Christ by the high priest). Here again ev. Luke keeps the Gospel of Mark as the source of his narratives, supplementing his story with information drawn from another source unknown to us. So, Luke alone has stories about the publican Zacchaeus (Lk 19:1-10), about the dispute of the disciples during the celebration of the Eucharist (Lk 22:24-30), about the trial of Christ by Herod (Lk 23:4-12), about women mourning Christ during His procession to Golgotha ​​(Lk 23:27-31), a conversation with a thief on the cross (Lk 23:39-43), an appearance to Emmaus travelers (Lk 24:13-35) and some other messages representing a replenishment to the stories of ev. Brand. .

Gospel plan. In accordance with his intended goal - to provide a basis for faith in the teaching that has already been taught to Theophilus, ev. Luke planned the entire content of his Gospel in such a way that it really leads the reader to the conviction that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished the salvation of all mankind, that He fulfilled all the promises of the Old Testament about the Messiah as the Savior not of one Jewish people, but of all peoples. Naturally, in order to achieve his goal, the Evangelist Luke did not need to give his Gospel the appearance of a chronicle of gospel events, but rather, it was necessary to group all the events so that his narrative would make the desired impression on the reader.

The evangelist's plan is already evident in the introduction to the history of Christ's messianic ministry (chapters 1-3). In the story of the conception and birth of Christ, it is mentioned that an angel announced to the Blessed Virgin the birth of a Son, whom she would conceive by the power of the Holy Spirit and who therefore would be the Son of God, and in the flesh, the son of David, who would forever occupy the throne of his father, David. The birth of Christ, as the birth of the promised Redeemer, is announced through an angel to the shepherds. When Christ the Infant is brought to the temple, the inspired elder Simeon and the prophetess Anna testify to His high dignity. Jesus Himself, still a 12-year-old boy, already announces that He should be in the temple as in the house of His Father. When Christ is baptized in the Jordan, He receives a heavenly witness that He is the beloved Son of God, who received the fullness of the gifts of the Holy Spirit for His messianic ministry. Finally, His genealogy, given in Chapter 3, going back to Adam and God, testifies that He is the founder of a new humanity, born from God through the Holy Spirit.

Then, in the first part of the Gospel, an image is given of the messianic ministry of Christ, which is accomplished in the power of the Holy Spirit indwelling in Christ (4:1). By the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ triumphs over the devil in the wilderness (Luke 4:1-13), and this "power of the Spirit" in Galilee, and in Nazareth, His native city, declares Himself the Anointed One and Redeemer, about whom the prophets of the Old Testament foretold. Having not met faith in Himself here, He reminds His unbelieving fellow citizens that God is still in Old Testament prepared the reception of the prophets among the Gentiles (Luke 4:14-30).

After this, which had a predictive value for the future attitude towards Christ on the part of the Jews, the event follows a series of deeds performed by Christ in Capernaum and its environs: the healing of the demon-possessed by the power of the word of Christ in the synagogue, the healing of Simon's mother-in-law and other sick and demon-possessed who were brought and brought to Christ (Luke 4:31-44), miraculous fishing, healing of a leper. All this is depicted as events that led to the spread of the rumor about Christ and the arrival to Christ of whole masses of people who came to listen to the teaching of Christ and brought their sick with them in the hope that Christ would heal them (Luke 5:1-16).

This is followed by a group of incidents that caused opposition to Christ from the Pharisees and scribes: the forgiveness of the sins of the healed paralytic (Lk 5:17-26), the announcement at the publican's dinner that Christ did not come to save the righteous, but sinners (Lk 5:27-32 ), the justification of the disciples of Christ in non-observance of the fasts, based on the fact that the Bridegroom-Messiah is with them (Luke 5:33-39), and in violating the Sabbath, based on the fact that Christ is the lord of the Sabbath, and, moreover, confirmed by a miracle, which On the Sabbath Christ did it over the withered hand (Luke 6:1-11). But while these deeds and statements of Christ irritated his opponents to the point that they began to think about how to take Him, He chose from among His disciples 12 to be apostles (Luke 6:12-16), announced from the mountain in the ears of all the people who followed Him, the main provisions on which the Kingdom of God founded by Him should be built (Luke 6:17-49), and, after descending from the mountain, not only fulfilled the request of the Gentile centurion for the healing of his servant, because the centurion showed such faith in Christ, which Christ did not find in Israel (Lk 7:1-10), but also resurrected the son of the widow of Nain, after which he was glorified by all the people accompanying the funeral procession as a prophet sent by God to the chosen people (Lk 7:11-17 ).

The embassy from John the Baptist to Christ with the question of whether He is the Messiah prompted Christ to point to His deeds as evidence of His Messianic dignity and together reproach the people for not trusting John the Baptist and Him, Christ. At the same time, Christ makes a distinction between those listeners who yearn to hear from Him an indication of the way to salvation, and between those who are a huge mass and who do not believe in Him (Luke 7:18-35). The subsequent sections, in accordance with this intention of the evangelist to show the difference between the Jews who listened to Christ, report a number of such facts that illustrate such a division in the people and together Christ's attitude to the people, to its different parts, in accordance with their attitude to Christ, namely: the anointing of Christ a repentant sinner and the behavior of a Pharisee (Lk 7:36-50), a mention of the women of Galilee who served Christ with their property (Lk 8:1-3), a parable about the various qualities of the field on which sowing is carried out, indicating the bitterness of the people (Lk 8: 4-18), the attitude of Christ towards His relatives (Luke 8:19-21), the crossing into the country of Gadara, at which the disciples showed little faith, and the healing of the demoniac, and the contrast between the stupid indifference shown by the Gadarins to the miracle performed by Christ, and the gratitude of the healed (Lk 8:22-39), the healing of the bleeding woman and the resurrection of the daughter of Jairus, because both the woman and Jairus showed their faith in Christ (Lk 8:40-56). This is followed by the events told in chapter 9, which were intended to strengthen the disciples of Christ in the faith: supplying the disciples with the power to cast out and heal the sick, along with instructions on how they should act during their preaching journey (Luke 9: 1- 6), and it is indicated, as Tetrarch Herod understood the activity of Jesus (Lk 9: 7-9), the feeding of five thousand, by which Christ showed the apostles who returned from the journey His power to help in every need (Lk 9: 10-17), the question of Christ , for whom His people consider and for whom the disciples, and the confession of Peter on behalf of all the apostles is given: “You are the Christ of God”, and then the prediction by Christ of His rejection by the representatives of the people and His death and resurrection, as well as an exhortation addressed to the disciples, so that they imitated Him in self-sacrifice, for which He will reward them at His second glorious coming (Luke 9:18-27), the transfiguration of Christ, which allowed His disciples to penetrate with their eyes into His future glorification (Luke 9:28-36), the healing of the possessed a lunatic lad, whom the disciples of Christ could not heal, due to the weakness of their faith, which had as its result an enthusiastic glorification by the people of God. At the same time, however, Christ once again pointed out to His disciples the fate awaiting Him, and they turned out to be incomprehensible in relation to such a clear statement made by Christ (Luke 9:37-45).

This inability of the disciples, despite their confession of the Messiahship of Christ, to understand His prophecy about His death and resurrection, had its basis in the fact that they were still in those ideas about the Kingdom of the Messiah, which were formed among the Jewish scribes, who understood the Messianic Kingdom as an earthly kingdom, political, and at the same time testified to how weak their knowledge of the nature of the Kingdom of God and its spiritual blessings was. Therefore, according to Ev. Luke, Christ devoted the rest of the time until His solemn entrance into Jerusalem to teaching His disciples precisely these most important truths about the nature of the Kingdom of God, about its form and distribution (second part), about what is needed to achieve eternal life, and warnings - not to get carried away the teachings of the Pharisees and the views of His enemies, whom He will eventually come to judge as the King of this Kingdom of God (Luke 9:51-19:27).

Finally, in the third part, the evangelist shows how Christ, by His sufferings, death and resurrection, proved that He is indeed the promised Savior and King of the Kingdom of God anointed by the Holy Spirit. Depicting the solemn entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, the evangelist Luke speaks not only of the rapture of the people - which other evangelists also report, but also that Christ announced His judgment on the city that was rebellious to Him (Luke 19:28-44) and then, according to with Mark and Matthew, about how He shamed His enemies in the temple (Luke 20:1-47), and then, pointing out the superiority of alms to the temple of a poor widow over the contributions of the rich, He foreshadowed before his disciples the fate of Jerusalem and His followers ( Luke 21:1-36).

In the description of the suffering and death of Christ (chap. 22 and 23), it is exposed that Satan induced Judas to betray Christ (Luke 22:3), and then Christ's confidence is put forward that He will eat the supper with His disciples in the Kingdom of God and that the Passover of the Old Testament must henceforth be replaced by the Eucharist established by Him (Luke 22:15-23). The evangelist also mentions that Christ, at the Last Supper, calling the disciples to service, and not to domination, nevertheless promised them dominion in His Kingdom (Luke 22:24-30). This is followed by a story about three moments of the last hours of Christ: the promise of Christ to pray for Peter, given in view of his imminent fall (Lk 22:31-34), the call of the disciples in the struggle against temptations (Lk 22:35-38), and the prayer of Christ in Gethsemane, in which He was strengthened by an angel from heaven (Luke 22:39-46). Then the evangelist speaks about the taking of Christ and the healing by Christ of the wounded servant of Peter (51) and about the denunciation by Him of the high priests who came with the soldiers (53). All these particulars clearly show that Christ went to suffering and death voluntarily, in the consciousness of their necessity in order for the salvation of mankind to be accomplished.

In depicting the very sufferings of Christ, the evangelist Luke puts forward Peter's denial as evidence that even during His own sufferings, Christ pitied His weak disciple (Luke 22:54-62). Then follows a description of the great sufferings of Christ in the following three lines: 1) the denial of the high dignity of Christ, partly by the soldiers who mocked Christ in the court of the high priest (Lk 22:63-65), but mainly by the members of the Sanhedrin (Lk 22:66-71), 2 ) the recognition of Christ as a dreamer at the trial of Pilate and Herod (Lk 23:1-12) and 3) the preference of the people for Christ Barabbas the robber and the condemnation of Christ to death by crucifixion (Lk 23:13-25).

After depicting the depth of Christ's suffering, the evangelist notes such features from the circumstances of this suffering, which clearly testified that Christ, even in His sufferings, nevertheless remained the King of the Kingdom of God. The Evangelist reports that the Condemned One 1) as a judge addressed the women weeping over Him (Lk 23:26-31) and asked the Father for his enemies who committed a crime against Him without consciousness (Lk 23:32-34), 2) gave a place in paradise to the repentant thief, as having the right to do so (Lk 23:35-43), 3) realized that, dying, He betrays His own spirit to the Father (Lk 23:44-46), 4) was recognized as a righteous man by the centurion and aroused repentance among the people by his death (Lk 23:47-48) and 5) was honored with a particularly solemn burial (Lk 23:49-56). Finally, in the history of the resurrection of Christ, the evangelist exposes such events that clearly proved the greatness of Christ and served to explain the work of salvation accomplished by Him. This is precisely: the testimony of the angels that Christ overcame death, according to His predictions about this (Luke 24:1-12), then the appearance of Christ himself to the Emmaus travelers, to whom Christ showed from Scripture the necessity of His suffering in order for Him to enter into glory. His (Lk 24:13-35), the appearance of Christ to all the apostles, to whom He also explained the prophecies that spoke about Him, and instructed in His name to preach the message of the forgiveness of sins to all the peoples of the earth, while promising the apostles to send down the power of the Holy Spirit (Lk 24:36-49). Finally, having depicted briefly the ascension of Christ into heaven (Luke 24:50-53), ev. Luke ended his Gospel with this, which really was the affirmation of everything taught to Theophilus and other Christians from the Gentiles, the Christian teaching: Christ is really depicted here as the promised Messiah, as the Son of God and the King of the Kingdom of God.

Sources and aids in the study of the Gospel of Luke. Of the patristic interpretations of the Gospel of Luke, the most detailed are the writings of Blessed. Theophylact and Euphemia Zigaben. Of our Russian commentators, Bishop Michael (The Explanatory Gospel) should be placed in the first place, then D.P. Kaz. spirit. Academy of M. Bogoslovsky, who compiled the books: 1) The childhood of our Lord Jesus Christ and His forerunner, according to the Gospels of St. Apostles Matthew and Luke. Kazan, 1893; and 2) The public ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the sayings of the holy evangelists. Issue. first. Kazan, 1908.

Of the writings on the Gospel of Luke, we have only the thesis of Fr. Polotebnova: The Holy Gospel of Luke. Orthodox critical-exegetical study against F. H. Baur. Moscow, 1873.

Of the foreign commentaries, we mention interpretations: Keil K. Fr. 1879 (in German), Meyer, revised by B. Weiss 1885 (in German), Jog. Weiss "The Writings of N. Head." 2nd ed. 1907 (in German); Trench. Interpretation of the parables of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1888 (in Russian) and Miracles of our Lord Jesus Christ (1883 in Russian, lang.); and Mercks. The four canonical gospels according to their oldest known text. Part 2, 2nd half of 1905 (in German).

The following works are also cited: Geiki. The Life and Teachings of Christ. Per. St. M. Fiveysky, 1894; Edersheim. The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah. Per. St. M. Fiveysky. T. 1. 1900. Reville A. Jesus the Nazarene. Per. Zelinsky, vol. 1-2, 1909; and some spiritual journal articles.

Gospel

The word "Gospel" (τὸ εὐαγγέλιον) in classical Greek was used to designate: a) the reward given to the messenger of joy (τῷ εὐαγγέλῳ), b) the sacrifice sacrificed on the occasion of receiving some kind of good news or a holiday made on the same occasion and c) the good news itself. In the New Testament, this expression means:

a) the good news that Christ accomplished the reconciliation of people with God and brought us the greatest blessings - mainly establishing the Kingdom of God on earth ( Matt. 4:23),

b) the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, preached by Himself and His apostles about Him as the King of this Kingdom, the Messiah and the Son of God ( 2 Cor. 4:4),

c) all New Testament or Christian teaching in general, primarily the narrative of events from the life of Christ, the most important ( 1 Cor. 15:1-4), and then an explanation of the meaning of these events ( Rome. 1:16).

e) Finally, the word "Gospel" is sometimes used to refer to the very process of preaching the Christian doctrine ( Rome. 1:1).

Sometimes the designation and content of it is attached to the word "Gospel". There are, for example, phrases: the gospel of the kingdom ( Matt. 4:23), i.e. joyful tidings of the kingdom of God, the gospel of peace ( Eph. 6:15), i.e. about the world, the gospel of salvation ( Eph. 1:13), i.e. about salvation, etc. Sometimes following the word "Gospel" Genitive means the originator or source of the good news ( Rome. 1:1, 15:16 ; 2 Cor. 11:7; 1 Thess. 2:8) or the identity of the preacher ( Rome. 2:16).

For quite a long time, stories about the life of the Lord Jesus Christ were transmitted only orally. The Lord Himself left no record of His words and deeds. In the same way, the 12 apostles were not born writers: they were “unlearned and simple people” ( Acts. 4:13), although they are literate. Among the Christians of the apostolic time there were also very few "wise according to the flesh, strong" and "noble" ( 1 Cor. 1:26), and for the majority of believers, oral stories about Christ were much more important than written ones. Thus the apostles and preachers or evangelists "transmitted" (παραδιδόναι) tales of the deeds and speeches of Christ, while the faithful "received" (παραλαμβάνειν), but, of course, not mechanically, only by memory, as can be said of the students of rabbinic schools, but whole soul, as if something living and giving life. But soon this period of oral tradition was to end. On the one hand, Christians must have felt the need for a written presentation of the Gospel in their disputes with the Jews, who, as you know, denied the reality of the miracles of Christ and even claimed that Christ did not declare Himself the Messiah. It was necessary to show the Jews that Christians have authentic stories about Christ of those persons who were either among His apostles, or who were in close communion with eyewitnesses of Christ's deeds. On the other hand, the need for a written presentation of the history of Christ began to be felt because the generation of the first disciples was gradually dying out and the ranks of direct witnesses of the miracles of Christ were thinning out. Therefore, it was necessary to fix in writing individual sayings of the Lord and His whole speeches, as well as the stories about Him of the apostles. It was then that separate records of what was reported in the oral tradition about Christ began to appear here and there. Most carefully they wrote down the words of Christ, which contained the rules of the Christian life, and were much freer in the transfer of various events from the life of Christ, retaining only their general impression. Thus, one thing in these records, due to its originality, was transmitted everywhere in the same way, while the other was modified. These initial notes did not think about the completeness of the narrative. Even our Gospels, as can be seen from the conclusion of the Gospel of John ( In. 21:25), did not intend to report all the words and deeds of Christ. This is evident, among other things, from what is not included in them, for example, such a saying of Christ: “it is more blessed to give than to receive” ( Acts. 20:35). The Evangelist Luke reports such records, saying that many before him had already begun to compose narratives about the life of Christ, but that they did not have the proper fullness and that therefore they did not give sufficient “confirmation” in the faith ( OK. 1:1-4).

Evidently, our canonical gospels arose from the same motives. The period of their appearance can be determined at about thirty years - from 60 to 90 (the last was the Gospel of John). The first three gospels are called biblical science synoptic, because they depict the life of Christ in such a way that their three narratives can be easily viewed in one and combined into one whole narrative (forecasters - from Greek - looking together). They began to be called gospels each separately, perhaps as early as the end of the 1st century, but from church writing we have information that such a name was given to the entire composition of the gospels only in the second half of the 2nd century. As for the names: “The Gospel of Matthew”, “The Gospel of Mark”, etc., then these very ancient names from Greek should be translated as follows: “The Gospel according to Matthew”, “The Gospel according to Mark” (κατὰ Ματθαῖον, κατὰ Μᾶρκον). By this, the Church wanted to say that in all the Gospels there is a single Christian gospel about Christ the Savior, but according to the images of different writers: one image belongs to Matthew, the other to Mark, etc.

four gospel

Thus the ancient Church looked upon the depiction of the life of Christ in our four gospels, not as different gospels or narratives, but as one gospel, one book in four forms. That is why in the Church the name of the Four Gospels was established behind our Gospels. Saint Irenaeus called them "the four-fold Gospel" (τετράμορφον τὸ εὐαγγέλιον - see Irenaeus Lugdunensis, Adversus haereses liber 3, ed. A. Rousseau and L. Doutreleaü Irenée Lyon. Contre les hérésies, livre 3 ., vol. 29 11, 11).

The Fathers of the Church dwell on the question: why did the Church accept not one gospel, but four? So St. John Chrysostom says: “Is it really impossible for one evangelist to write everything that is needed. Of course, he could, but when four people wrote, they did not write at the same time, not in the same place, without communicating or conspiring among themselves, and for all that they wrote in such a way that everything seemed to be pronounced by one mouth, then this is the strongest proof of the truth. You will say: "However, the opposite happened, for the four Gospels are often convicted in disagreement." This is the very sign of truth. For if the Gospels were exactly in agreement with each other in everything, even regarding the very words, then none of the enemies would believe that the Gospels were not written by ordinary mutual agreement. Now, a slight disagreement between them frees them from all suspicion. For what they say differently about time or place does not in the least impair the truth of their narration. In the main thing, which is the foundation of our life and the essence of preaching, not one of them disagrees with the other in anything and nowhere - that God became a man, worked miracles, was crucified, resurrected, ascended into heaven. ("Conversations on the Gospel of Matthew", 1).

Saint Irenaeus also finds a special symbolic meaning in the quaternary number of our Gospels. “Since there are four parts of the world in which we live, and since the Church is scattered throughout the earth and has its affirmation in the Gospel, it was necessary for her to have four pillars, from everywhere emanating incorruption and reviving the human race. The all-arranging Word, seated on the Cherubim, gave us the Gospel in four forms, but imbued with one spirit. For David also, praying for His appearance, says: "Seated on the Cherubim, reveal Yourself" ( Ps. 79:2). But the Cherubim (in the vision of the prophet Ezekiel and the Apocalypse) have four faces, and their faces are images of the activity of the Son of God. Saint Irenaeus finds it possible to attach the symbol of a lion to the Gospel of John, since this Gospel depicts Christ as the eternal King, and the lion is the king in the animal world; to the Gospel of Luke - the symbol of the calf, since Luke begins his Gospel with the image of the priestly service of Zechariah, who slaughtered the calves; to the Gospel of Matthew - a symbol of a person, since this Gospel mainly depicts the human birth of Christ, and, finally, to the Gospel of Mark - a symbol of an eagle, because Mark begins his Gospel with a mention of the prophets, to whom the Holy Spirit flew, like an eagle on wings "(Irenaeus Lugdunensis, Adversus haereses, liber 3, 11, 11-22). In other Church Fathers, the symbols of the lion and calf are moved and the first is given to Mark, and the second to John. Starting from the 5th c. in this form, the symbols of the evangelists began to join the images of the four evangelists in church painting.

Mutual relations gospels

Each of the four Gospels has its own characteristics, and most of all - the Gospel of John. But the first three, as already mentioned above, have extremely much in common with each other, and this similarity involuntarily catches the eye even with a cursory reading of them. Let us first of all speak of the similarity of the Synoptic Gospels and the causes of this phenomenon.

Even Eusebius of Caesarea in his "canons" divided the Gospel of Matthew into 355 parts and noted that all three forecasters have 111 of them. IN modern times exegetes worked out an even more precise numerical formula for determining the similarity of the Gospels and calculated that the total number of verses common to all weather forecasters goes up to 350. Matthew then has 350 verses peculiar only to him, Mark has 68 such verses, and Luke has 541. Similarities are mainly seen in the transmission of the sayings of Christ, and differences - in the narrative part. When Matthew and Luke literally converge in their Gospels, Mark always agrees with them. The similarity between Luke and Mark is much closer than between Luke and Matthew (Lopukhin - in the Orthodox Theological Encyclopedia. T. V. C. 173). It is also remarkable that some passages of all three evangelists go in the same sequence, for example, the temptation and speech in Galilee, the calling of Matthew and the conversation about fasting, the plucking of ears and the healing of the withered hand, the calming of the storm and the healing of the demoniac of Gadarene, etc. The similarity sometimes extends even to the construction of sentences and expressions (for example, in the citation of the prophecy Mal. 3:1).

As for the differences observed among weather forecasters, there are quite a few of them. Others are reported only by two evangelists, others even by one. So, only Matthew and Luke cite the conversation on the mount of the Lord Jesus Christ, tell the story of the birth and the first years of Christ's life. One Luke speaks of the birth of John the Baptist. Other things one evangelist conveys in a more abbreviated form than another, or in a different connection than another. The details of the events in each Gospel are different, as well as the expressions.

This phenomenon of similarity and difference in the Synoptic Gospels has long attracted the attention of interpreters of Scripture, and various assumptions have long been put forward to explain this fact. More correct is the opinion that our three evangelists used a common oral source for their narrative of the life of Christ. At that time, evangelists or preachers about Christ went everywhere preaching and repeated in different places in more or less extensive form what it was considered necessary to offer to those who entered the Church. In this way a well-known definite type was formed oral gospel, and this is the type we have in writing in our synoptic gospels. Of course, at the same time, depending on the goal that this or that evangelist had, his gospel took on some special features, only characteristic of his work. At the same time, one cannot rule out the possibility that an older gospel might have been known to the evangelist who wrote later. At the same time, the difference between synoptics should be explained by the different goals that each of them had in mind when writing his Gospel.

As we have already said, the synoptic gospels are very different from the gospel of John the Theologian. Thus they depict almost exclusively the activity of Christ in Galilee, while the apostle John depicts mainly the sojourn of Christ in Judea. In regard to content, the synoptic gospels also differ considerably from the gospel of John. They give, so to speak, a more external image of the life, deeds and teachings of Christ, and from the speeches of Christ they cite only those that were accessible to the understanding of the whole people. John, on the contrary, omits a lot of the activities of Christ, for example, he cites only six miracles of Christ, but those speeches and miracles that he cites have a special deep meaning and extreme importance about the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Finally, while the synoptics portray Christ primarily as the founder of the kingdom of God and therefore direct their readers' attention to the kingdom he founded, John draws our attention to the central point of this kingdom, from which life flows along the peripheries of the kingdom, i.e. on the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, whom John depicts as the Only Begotten Son of God and as the Light for all mankind. That is why even the ancient interpreters called the Gospel of John predominantly spiritual (πνευματικόν), in contrast to synoptic ones, as depicting a predominantly human side in the face of Christ (εὐαγγέλιον σωματικόν), i.e. bodily gospel.

However, it must be said that weather forecasters also have passages that indicate that, as weather forecasters, the activity of Christ in Judea was known ( Matt. 23:37, 27:57 ; OK. 10:38-42), so John has indications of the continuous activity of Christ in Galilee. In the same way, weather forecasters convey such sayings of Christ, which testify to His divine dignity ( Matt. 11:27), and John, for his part, also in places depicts Christ as a true man ( In. 2 etc.; John 8 and etc.). Therefore, one cannot speak of any contradiction between the synoptics and John in the depiction of the face and deed of Christ.

Reliability of the Gospels

Although criticism has long been expressed against the authenticity of the Gospels, and recently these attacks of criticism have become especially intensified (the theory of myths, especially the theory of Drews, who does not at all recognize the existence of Christ), however, all objections of criticism are so insignificant that they are shattered at the slightest collision with Christian apologetics. . Here, however, we will not cite the objections of negative criticism and analyze these objections: this will be done when interpreting the text of the Gospels itself. We will only speak about the main general grounds on which we recognize the Gospels as completely reliable documents. This is, firstly, the existence of the tradition of eyewitnesses, of whom many survived until the era when our Gospels appeared. Why should we refuse to trust these sources of our gospels? Could they have made up everything that is in our gospels? No, all the Gospels are purely historical. Secondly, it is incomprehensible why the Christian consciousness would want - so the mythical theory asserts - to crown the head of a simple rabbi Jesus with the crown of the Messiah and the Son of God? Why, for example, is it not said about the Baptist that he performed miracles? Obviously because he did not create them. And from this it follows that if Christ is said to be the Great Wonderworker, then it means that He really was like that. And why could one deny the authenticity of the miracles of Christ, since the highest miracle - His Resurrection - is witnessed like no other event ancient history(cm. 1 Cor. 15)?

Bibliography foreign works according to the four gospels

Bengel J. Al. Gnomon Novi Testamentï in quo ex nativa verborum VI simplicitas, profunditas, concinnitas, salubritas sensuum coelestium indicatur. Berolini, 1860.

Blass, Gram. - Blass F. Grammatik des neutestamentlichen Griechisch. Göttingen, 1911.

Westcott - The New Testament in Original Greek the text rev. by Brooke Foss Westcott. New York, 1882.

B. Weiss - Wikiwand Weiss B. Die Evangelien des Markus und Lukas. Göttingen, 1901.

Yog. Weiss (1907) - Die Schriften des Neuen Testaments, von Otto Baumgarten; Wilhelm Bousset. Hrsg. von Johannes Weis_s, Bd. 1: Die drei alteren Evangelien. Die Apostelgeschichte, Matthaeus Apostolus; Marcus Evangelista; Lucas Evangelista. . 2. Aufl. Göttingen, 1907.

Godet - Godet F. Commentar zu dem Evangelium des Johannes. Hanover, 1903.

Name De Wette W.M.L. Kurze Erklärung des Evangeliums Matthäi / Kurzgefasstes exegetisches Handbuch zum Neuen Testament, Band 1, Teil 1. Leipzig, 1857.

Keil (1879) - Keil C.F. Commentar über die Evangelien des Markus und Lukas. Leipzig, 1879.

Keil (1881) - Keil C.F. Commentar über das Evangelium des Johannes. Leipzig, 1881.

Klostermann A. Das Markusevangelium nach seinem Quellenwerthe für die evangelische Geschichte. Göttingen, 1867.

Cornelius a Lapide - Cornelius a Lapide. In SS Matthaeum et Marcum / Commentaria in scripturam sacram, t. 15. Parisiis, 1857.

Lagrange M.-J. Études bibliques: Evangile selon St. Marc. Paris, 1911.

Lange J.P. Das Evangelium nach Matthäus. Bielefeld, 1861.

Loisy (1903) - Loisy A.F. Le quatrième evangile. Paris, 1903.

Loisy (1907-1908) - Loisy A.F. Les evangeles synoptiques, 1-2. : Ceffonds, pres Montier-en-Der, 1907-1908.

Luthardt Ch.E. Das johanneische Evangelium nach seiner Eigenthümlichkeit geschildert und erklärt. Nürnberg, 1876.

Meyer (1864) - Meyer H.A.W. Kritisch exegetisches Commentar über das Neue Testament, Abteilung 1, Hälfte 1: Handbuch über das Evangelium des Matthäus. Göttingen, 1864.

Meyer (1885) - Kritisch-exegetischer Commentar über das Neue Testament hrsg. von Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer, Abteilung 1, Hälfte 2: Bernhard Weiss B. Kritisch exegetisches Handbuch über die Evangelien des Markus und Lukas. Göttingen, 1885. Meyer (1902) - Meyer H.A.W. Das Johannes-Evangelium 9. Auflage, bearbeitet von B. Weiss. Göttingen, 1902.

Merckx (1902) - Merx A. Erläuterung: Matthaeus / Die vier kanonischen Evangelien nach ihrem ältesten bekannten Texte, Teil 2, Hälfte 1. Berlin, 1902.

Merckx (1905) - Merx A. Erläuterung: Markus und Lukas / Die vier kanonischen Evangelien nach ihrem ältesten bekannten Texte. Teil 2, Hälfte 2. Berlin, 1905.

Morison J. A practical commentary on the Gospel according to St. Morison Matthew. London, 1902.

Stanton - Wikiwand Stanton V.H. The Synoptic Gospels / The Gospels as historical documents, Part 2. Cambridge, 1903. Toluc (1856) - Tholuck A. Die Bergpredigt. Gotha, 1856.

Tolyuk (1857) - Tholuck A. Commentar zum Evangelium Johannis. Gotha, 1857.

Heitmüller - see Jog. Weiss (1907).

Holtzmann (1901) - Holtzmann H.J. Die Synoptiker. Tubingen, 1901.

Holtzmann (1908) - Holtzmann H.J. Evangelium, Briefe und Offenbarung des Johannes / Hand-Commentar zum Neuen Testament bearbeitet von H. J. Holtzmann, R. A. Lipsius etc. bd. 4. Freiburg im Breisgau, 1908.

Zahn (1905) - Zahn Th. Das Evangelium des Matthäus / Commentar zum Neuen Testament, Teil 1. Leipzig, 1905.

Zahn (1908) - Zahn Th. Das Evangelium des Johannes ausgelegt / Commentar zum Neuen Testament, Teil 4. Leipzig, 1908.

Schanz (1881) - Schanz P. Commentar über das Evangelium des heiligen Marcus. Freiburg im Breisgau, 1881.

Schanz (1885) - Schanz P. Commentar über das Evangelium des heiligen Johannes. Tubingen, 1885.

Schlatter - Schlatter A. Das Evangelium des Johannes: ausgelegt fur Bibelleser. Stuttgart, 1903.

Schürer, Geschichte - Schürer E., Geschichte des jüdischen Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu Christi. bd. 1-4. Leipzig, 1901-1911.

Edersheim (1901) - Edersheim A. The life and times of Jesus the Messiah. 2 Vols. London, 1901.

Ellen - Allen W.C. A critical and exegetical commentary of the Gospel according to st. Matthew. Edinburgh, 1907.

Alford - Alford N. The Greek Testament in four volumes, vol. 1. London, 1863.

Jesus preached his doctrine in Judea, both ordinary people and scribes, teachers of the law, came to listen to him. Scribes are accustomed to interpret sacred texts for people. They asked Jesus tricky questions, trying to make him look bad in front of the people. One of the scribes addressed Jesus with flattering words:
- Teacher, what do you need to do to inherit eternal life?
What does the scripture tell you? - answered the Lord.
The scribe knew the answer to this question - love God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.
Jesus looked the scribe straight in the eye.
- You answered correctly, go and do the same and inherit eternal life.
The lawyer tried to take Jesus at his word:
- But who is my neighbor?
Jesus addressed all who listened attentively:
- Listen to my parable.
One man was walking from Jerusalem to Jericho. The road was deserted, and suddenly robbers attacked the traveler. They beat him, took all his money, took his clothes and left him for dead. A lot of time passed until the first passerby appeared on the road, it was a priest. He saw the beaten man, but passed by and did not help him. The priest was afraid of robbers, he had very important things to do, and the wounded man remained lying by the road.
He was walking along the same road and the Levite, who was serving in the temple, the Levite noticed the man lying down, but he also passed by. For the Levites observed religious purity and did not want to touch anything unclean on the way to the temple. People nodded in understanding, whoever touched the dead body, according to the law, could not enter the temple after that.
A lot of time passed, a Samaritan appeared on the road. The crowd roared disapprovingly, because there had been a long-standing enmity between the Jews and the inhabitants of Samaria. Jesus continued.
- The Samaritan saw the wounded man, took pity on him and approached the traveler. He gave the unfortunate drink, washed his wounds olive oil, put him on a donkey and set off with him. He took the wounded man to the nearest hotel, where he planned to stay.
Together with the innkeeper, the Samaritan put the beaten man to bed, bandaged him, and gave him new clothes. The next day, the traveler was about to continue his journey, but before that he gave the owner of the inn two denarii, punishing him to take care of the beaten by robbers A, if the costs are greater, - said the Samaritan, - then when I return, I will compensate you in full. And he went about his business.
Jesus looked at the lawyer and asked.
- What do you think, who of these three priest, Levite or Samaritan was the neighbor of the beaten traveler?
The lawyer lowered his eyes and, not wanting to utter the word Samaritan, answered
- The one who showed mercy to him.
Jesus smiled.

He looked at all who listened to his parable. These were his disciples, and lawyers with the Pharisees, and travelers who stopped to listen to a sermon.
The voice of Jesus sounded in the hearts of each of them:
“Then go ahead and do the same.

Original message

“Which of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, will not leave ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until he finds it? and he will say to them: Rejoice with me, I have found my lost sheep! I tell you that in this way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous who have no need of repentance "(Luke 15: 1-7) .

The parable of the lost sheep explains that, as St. Paul (1 Timothy 2:4), God "desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth." In this parable, the shepherd's compassion for the lost sheep was manifested especially in the fact that He took it your shoulders In and brought her back. The meaning of the parable is that "God takes care of the conversion of sinners, and rejoices in them more than in those who are established in virtue" (Blessed Theophylact). The parable also explains that a person may (at least sometimes) not want to live with God and that when this happens, God "does a lot" to "bring that person back." The parable makes it very clear that if ever the "lost sheep" thinks: "I don't want to sin anymore, I want to live with God", this person will be gladly taken back: in fact, this is exactly what God wants. and what God is waiting for and what He hopes for.

Considering the emphasis in the parable on God's interest in each individual and on His love for each individual, it is amusing to note that in the Gospel of Thomas, the stray sheep is presented as "the biggest" (and especially worth to look for it). At the same time, the meaning of the story is completely lost: "[The shepherd is looking for a sheep not because of its high value, but simply because it belongs to him and that without his help it will not find the way back"

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(Matt. 18:12-14)

All the tax collectors gathered to listen to Jesus and other sinners.The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were dissatisfied with talking:

He converses with sinners and eats with them.

Then Jesus told them a parable:

“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost. Will he not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go looking for the lost one until he finds it?And when he finds her, he will gladly take her on his shoulders.And when he comes home, he will call his friends and neighbors and say to them: “Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep!”I tell you that there will be more joy in heaven over one repentant sinner than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.

Parable of the Lost Coin

Or if a woman has ten pieces of silver and she loses one of them, will she not light a candle and sweep from all corners until she finds it?And when she finds it, she will call her friends and neighbors and say: "Rejoice with me, I found my lost coin."So, I tell you that God's angels rejoice over even one repentant sinner!

Jesus' Parable of the Prodigal Son

Jesus continued:

One man had two sons.The younger said to his father: "Father, give me that part of the inheritance that is due to me." And the father divided the property among his sons.A few days later, the youngest son gathered everything he had and went to a distant country. There he squandered all his means, leading a dissolute life.When he had nothing left, a severe famine began in that country, and he was in need.Then he went and hired himself to one of the inhabitants of that country, and he sent him to his fields to tend pigs.He was so hungry that he was glad to fill his stomach with at least the pods that were fed to pigs, but they did not give him even those.

And, coming to his senses, he said: “There are so many hired workers in my father's house, and they have food in abundance, and here I am dying of hunger!I will go back to my father and say to him: “Father! I have sinned against Heaven and against you.I am no longer worthy to be called your son, treat me like one of your farmhands.”And he got up and went to his father.

When he was still far away, his father saw him, and he felt sorry for his son. He ran to meet him, hugged him and began to kiss.The son said to him: “Father! I have sinned against Heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son."But the father said to his servants: “Go quickly, bring the best clothes and dress him. Put a ring on his finger and put sandals on him.Bring a fattened calf and slaughter it, let's have a feast and be merry.After all, my son was dead, and now he is alive again! He was lost and found! And they started having fun.

And the eldest son at that time was in the field. When he approached the house, he heard that there was music and dancing in the house.He called one of the servants and asked him what was going on.“Your brother came,” he answered him, “and your father slaughtered a fattened calf, because his son came back safe and sound."The eldest son was angry and did not want to go into the house. Then the father came out and began to persuade him.But the son replied, “All these years I have worked for you as a servant and have always done what you said. You never even gave me a kid so I could have fun with my friends.But when this son of yours, who had squandered your property with harlots, came home, you slaughtered a fattened calf for him!”“Son,” the father said then, “you are always with me, and everything that I have is all yours.But we must rejoice and rejoice, because your brother was dead and is alive, was lost and found!”

Jesus, preaching to the people, said: "Beware, beware of covetousness, for the life of a man does not depend on the abundance of his possessions." Then He told them a parable: “A certain rich man had a good harvest in the field, and he reasoned with himself: “What should I do? I have nowhere to gather my fruits.” And he said, “This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and I will gather there all my grain and all my goods, and I will say to my soul: my soul! A lot of good lies with you for many years: rest, eat, drink, be merry!" But God said to him: "Mad! this very night your soul will be taken from you; who will get what you have prepared?" So it is with those who lay up treasures for themselves, and do not grow rich in God. Jesus says further: "Therefore, do not look for what you eat or drink, and do not worry, because that all this is sought by the people of this world; but your Father knows that you need it; seek the Kingdom of God most of all, and all this will be added to you. Fear not, little flock! For your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell ​​your property and give alms. Prepare for yourselves vaginas that do not decay, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near, and where moths do not eat; For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
LUKE 12:15-21, 29-34

This parable of Jesus speaks of two people whose lives were very different. One person lived richly, but unrighteously, the other lived in poverty, but righteously. “A certain man was rich, dressed in purple and linen, and every day feasted brilliantly. There was also a certain beggar, named Lazarus, who lay at his gate in scabs and wanted to feed on the crumbs falling from the rich man’s table, and the dogs, coming, licked his scabs The poor man died and was carried by the angels to the bosom of Abraham, the rich man also died and they buried him, and in hell, being in torments, he lifted up his eyes, saw Abraham in the distance and Lazarus in his bosom, and crying out, said: “Father Abraham! have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame." But Abraham said: "Child! remember that you have already received your good in your life, and Lazarus - evil; now he is comforted here, while you suffer; and besides all this, a great gulf has been established between us and you, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can they go from there to us.” Then he said: “So I ask you, father, send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers; let him bear witness to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.” Abraham said to him, “They have Moses and the prophets; let them listen to them.” He said, “No, Father Abraham! but if anyone from the dead comes to them, they will repent." Then Abraham said to him: "If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, then if someone rises from the dead, they will not believe." In this parable, it is interesting that the rich man is exposed nameless, and the poor man is called Lazarus. This, as it were, confirms that the names, once famous on earth, are forgotten, and the righteous, unknown to the world, are glorified in heaven. It is clear from the parable that death, interrupting a person’s earthly existence, opens the beginning of life in eternity.The way we lived on earth will determine our future eternal life.
LUKE 16:19-31

The Parable of the Lost Sheep.

Jesus loved the human race so much that he left the glory of heaven and came to earth to seek and save those who perished in sins, who apostatized from God and forgot Him. He, like the Good Shepherd, is always looking for a lost sheep. In one of His parables, Jesus said: “Which of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, will not leave ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until he finds it? And when he finds it, he will take it on his shoulders with joy and when he comes home, he will call his friends and neighbors and say to them: “Rejoice with me: I have found my lost sheep.” I tell you that in this way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous who have no need of repentance ". There will be great joy in heaven when, even now, one of the readers, who has not yet accepted Jesus into his heart, turns to Him with a heartfelt prayer of repentance. Jesus will understand, hear, forgive, give peace and rest to the soul.
LUKE 15:3-7