The Messiah is ... The Messiah: definition, meaning

In modern society, the word "Messiah" is firmly associated with the Second Coming of Christ and the appearance of the Antichrist, followed by the Apocalypse and the Last Judgment.

To create a full-fledged picture of the definition of this concept, one must look at the definition of the Messiah from the perspectives of several world religions.

Messiah - Teacher in Judaism

According to the dictionary of the Russian language DN Ushakov, the meaning of the word "Messiah" is the Savior, according to the theory of Judaism and Christian churches, sent down to the Earth by God to purify it from sin, and the word itself comes from the Hebrew "Madlashiach" (literally anointed; The Greek translation is Christ).

In ancient times all kings who ascended to the throne were subjected to anointing with oil. According to Judaism, the Messiah is a descendant of the kind of King David. It should be noted that Tanakh calls the word "madlyashi" all the kings of Judea and Israel, the priests, the biblical patriarchs, the people of Israel, some prophets and the Persian king Cyrus, because of his special merits to the Jewish people.

The concept of the coming of the Messiah was introduced into Judaism by the prophets of Ancient Israel. The main criterion of this parish is the prophecy of Isaiah, indicating that the Messiah will appear to the world in the era of social and interethnic changes. In the era of the Mashiach, wars will stop, universal prosperity will come on Earth, and people will turn their attention to spirituality and service to God, and the entire Jewish people will live according to the laws of the Torah.

According to the teachings of the Midrash - the oral Torah - a parallel is drawn between the first advent of the "first redeemer" of Moses and the "second redeemer" of the Messiah, which allows us to speak of the birth of the Messianic idea back in ancient times.

The Messiah in Islam

In Islam, the Mahdi - the Messiah - is the last successor of the Prophet Muhammad, who will appear in the world on the eve of the end of the world. In the Koran itself, the coming of the Messiah is not mentioned, but it is widely known in the Hadith of Muhammad, originally identified with the prophet Isa (Jesus), who will announce the approach of kiyamat - the Day of Judgment.

In ancient times, Mahdi was perceived in the image of a future ruler who would restore the original purity of Islam. Therefore, Messianic ideas have always inspired Muslim religious and social movements.

Separately, it should be said that, due to certain dogmatic circumstances, especially Akiv, belief in the Mahdi was accepted in Shiite Islam, where it merged with the belief in the return of the "hidden Imam".

The basis of the doctrine of the Messiah in Christianity

According to the new Russian dictionary, edited by T. F. Efremova, the Messiah is:

• The epithet of the name of Jesus Christ as the deliverer from sins and the savior of all mankind;
• The expected deliverer of the Jewish people from the prophecies.

In the Christian world, the belief in the appearance of the Messiah as the return of Christ to earth was most widely spread. At the same time in the Orthodox Church there is a common opinion that the Messiah is precisely Jesus of Nazareth, who will be sent back to people by God to complete the Last Judgment.

It should be noted that in the European folklore, in the basis of which numerous streams of Christianity and local pagan traditions are intertwined, there is a common standardized image of Christ, who must enter the donkey at the beginning of his coming. Jesus himself will be very cautious about the use of the word "Messiah", therefore, the variants of his self-proclamation are practically excluded.

An antimission in the Russian people's consciousness

In the Russian religious Orthodox tradition, it is also widely believed that, contrary to the Messiah, there must be a full antipode on the Earth. However, if the beliefs about Christ are fixed in the biblical tradition of the uncertainty of the day of its appearance, then the Dark Messiah - Trishka, Antichristos - was expected by believers almost every century. And to this day, some Orthodox people have an opinion that both of these phenomena, if not occurred in modern times, will necessarily occur in the near future.

In the mind of the philistine Messiah and Dark Messiah appear unusually charismatic personalities. They are also credited with the ability to instantly deliver a person a sense of love for the world around them and for people, to feel evil in them, and some other qualities.

In some cases, there is also a combination of the images of the Dark Messiah and Dennitsy - the angel of Lucifer, the most beautiful of the divine creatures, cast into hell for pride.

An analogue of this concept in Hinduism

What is the Messiah in the Hindu religious tradition? This concept is directly related to the concept of the Teacher and Savior, and it seems to be the embodiment of the ten avatars of Lord Vishnu on Earth.

The avatar does not have to be represented in the human body. In previous incarnations, Vishnu was a fish, a tortoise, a boar, a semi-human semi-human, a Brahmin dwarf, Brahmana Parashurama, Rama - the legendary king of Ayodhya, the shepherd Krishna and Buddha. The last, the tenth phenomenon of the avatar of Vishnu to the Earth, believers expect at the end of Kali-Yuga, the era of human passions and the worst human manifestations.

According to the teachings, Kalki - the last avatar of Vishnu - descends to Earth on a horse, endowed with a shining sword and eight human abilities. He will destroy the unjust and greedy kings, restore justice, and restore the minds of people living in the world, "making them pure as crystal." It is assumed that all survivors of the end of the Kali Yuga will move into the era of Crete, the age of Purity, and will live according to its laws.

Teacher of Buddhism

In Buddhism, there is also a concept similar to the Christian and Judaistic Messiah and having the features of a cyclical stay in a mortal world.

Strictly speaking, according to Buddhist religious positions, there are innumerable Buddhas as beings who have realized the truth, and each of their phenomena on the planet is nothing more than a link in an endless chain of creation. Thus, each buddha is an intermediary in achieving world knowledge between people and God. The concept of the Buddha is close in nature, but alien to the functions of the Bodhisattva - "a creature striving for awakening" and made the decision to take on the role of the Teacher in the process of reaching people of universal truth. The motivation for this action is considered to be the desire of the bodhisattva to save all living beings from suffering and to free them from samsara, the endless circle of rebirths.

Therefore, the Buddhist Messiah is the Maitreya Bodhisattva, whose prophetic appearance at the end of the Satya Yuga is recognized by all schools of Buddhism. His name literally means "Lord, Called by Compassion". He is the future Teacher of humanity, will give the New Teaching and himself will be the bearer of the Teaching of the Buddha. People will tear up the network of passions, learn to enter the trance and lead a chaste and righteous life.

One of the phenomena foretelling Maitreya's coming will be a decrease in the area of the oceans, so that the Bodhisattva can easily cross them.

The phenomena of the Lamsters throughout the 20th century

In history, there are many phenomena of the Nonsense produced by people for the purpose of enriching or gaining fame and influence. It is worth noting that often these people were associated with high hopes. Christ Himself repeatedly warned his followers about the phenomena of the jesters.

In modern psychiatry, there is also a definition of the "Jerusalem syndrome," or "messianic syndrome," applicable to mentally ill people who claim to be prophetic gods and teachers of humanity.

Among the most famous Lemesses of the 20th century, Grigory Grabovoi stands out, the scandal with whose participation he thundered in the "resurrection of the children of Beslan"; Jim Jones, the founder of the Church of the Nations and provoked the massacre of her followers in 1978; Mun Son Myung, the creator of the South Korean sect "Unification Church"; Marina Tsvigun, who called herself the Virgin Mary Christ, who created in 1980 a sect named after herself and declared herself the "Messiah of the Age of Aquarius and the Mother of the World."

Theme of the Messiah in art

Great contribution to the culture was made by Georg Friedrich Händel, whose "Messiah" is now the most recognizable oratorio in the world. A beautiful work consists of three parts, several scenes in each. Despite the hardships experienced by Handel in 1741, the "Messiah" was written in just 24 days.

Another famous work dedicated to the Messiah is the opera "Jesus Christ the Superstar" by Andrew Webber, written in 1970.

The terrestrial life of Christ's Messiah is also dedicated to many paintings by artists of different historical eras.

Messiah in the modern culture of European countries and America

The image of the Messiah was reflected in various areas of world culture. For example, one of the examples of using the image of the Messiah as a kind of life guide is to include it in his surrealistic works by the American writer Richard Bach. "Pocket Guide Messiah" is a book oracle, which at any time can tell the sufferer the necessary solution or clarify the existing life situation.

The theme of "Antimessia" also found its reflection in the cultural-mass perception, giving rise to the choice of users a large number of computer games. One of these games is Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements, which has a fascinating plot in the form of searching for an artifact and fighting the protagonist and his teacher with the demons of the apocalypse. The protagonist here appears as a Knight of Light, who needs to pierce with the arrow the heart of the black magician Dark Messi, finally defeating the forces of the Dark Forces.