The appearance of Satan. Why does God allow evil? Where did the devil come from? Early mentions in Old Testament texts

17.11.2021 Operations

Y; m. and f. [Greek satanas from other Hebrew] 1. [with a capital letter] only m. According to religious beliefs: the head of evil spirits, the embodiment of the evil principle; lord of hell, devil, devil. Satan rules the roost there (book; the forces of evil operate there). □ in comparison… … encyclopedic Dictionary

- (Heb. sâtân, Aram. sitenâ or sâtânâ, “adversary in court, in a dispute or in war, obstructor, contradictor, accuser, earpiece, instigator”, cf. Arabic shaitan; Greek translation διάβολος, from where Russian devil, German Teufel, “devil”, and Arabic Iblis) ... Encyclopedia of Mythology

Husband. devil or devil, demon, unclean, evil spirit, shaitan. Satan, which is his personally; English, related to him. Satanic malice. Satanism, Satanism, devilry, devilry. Satanize, rage, or indulge in satanic affairs; | crumble... ... Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary

Cm … Synonym dictionary

Satan- in hell with the soul of Judas in his hands. Fragment of the Last Judgment icon. Novgorod school. Mid-15th century Satan is in hell with the soul of Judas in his hands. Fragment of the Last Judgment icon. Novgorod school. Mid-15th century in Judaism and Christianity the main antagonist of God and... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary of World History

Dr. Russian Satan σατανᾶς (XIV century, Srezn. III, 263), also Art. glory soton, Russian cslav. soton (Ostrom., Mar., Zogr., Euch. Sin., Supr.); see Diels, Aksl. Gr. 117 et seq.; ancient borrowing from Greek σατανᾶς from other Hebrew. sāṭān; see Vasmer,... ... Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language by Max Vasmer

- (Hebrew satan). 1) according to sacred scripture, the tempting spirit, the chief of the fallen angels. 2) a genus of monkeys from the family. narrow-nosed. Dictionary foreign words, included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. SATAN Jewish. satan, from satan, Arabic... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

In Judaism and Christianity, the main antagonist of God and all forces faithful to Him in heaven and on earth, the enemy of the human race, the king of hell and the ruler of demons. In the Old Testament, the word Satan is a common noun. He treats carriers with particular hostility... Historical Dictionary

SATAN, satans, many. no, husband (ancient Hebrew: satan enemy). 1. The devil, an evil spirit, the personified evil principle in different creeds (rel.). “Mary, in the silence of the insidious one, listened to Satan.” Pushkin. || A swear word is the same as the devil in 2 meanings. (simple). 2. View... ... Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary

SATAN, s, husband. In religious mythology: the same as the devil, and also (simple, male and female) abusive language about a person. S. rules the roost there (the forces of evil operate there; book). Husband and wife alone. (last: their thoughts and behavior are the same). | adj. satanic, oh... Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

Satan- SATAN, s, m Same as the devil. God rules the world, Satan can only rule the carnival ball, whirling, flickering, emptiness (Deacon A. Kuraev) ... Explanatory dictionary of Russian nouns

Books

"Satan" and "Voevoda" The most formidable nuclear weapon, Zheleznyakov Alexander Borisovich. “Satan” is how the Americans nicknamed the Soviet R-36 M combat missile system, the most powerful and advanced ICBM that implemented the strategy of a guaranteed retaliatory strike. 8…
"Satan" and "Voevoda" The most formidable nuclear weapon in the world, Zheleznyakov A.B. “Satan” (“Satan”) is how the Americans nicknamed the Soviet R-36 M combat missile system, the most powerful and advanced ICBM that implemented the strategy of a guaranteed retaliatory strike. 8…

The name "Satan" comes from a Hebrew word meaning "to resist." In the early books of the Old Testament, written before the Babylonian captivity (i.e., before the 6th century BC), the word satan is used to mean “adversary.” In the episode telling about the journey of Balaam, the Angel of the Lord “stood ... on the road to hinder (satan) him” (Num. 22:22). Wherein the word satan did not necessarily refer to a supernatural adversary. Thus, the Philistines refused to accept David’s help, fearing that in the battle he would go over to the side of the enemy and become their satan, that is, their enemy (1 Sam. 29:4).

The word "Satan" in its more familiar sense appears in two later passages written after the Babylonian captivity. Here Satan is an angel belonging to Jehovah's entourage and acting as an accuser of sinners before God. In the Book of the Prophet Zechariah, approximately dating from the end of the 6th century BC. e., a vision is described in which the high priest Jesus appears before the court of God. At the right hand of Jesus stands Satan “to oppose him,” that is, to act as an accuser. This passage gives only a hint that Satan is overzealous in his task:

God rebukes him for trying to accuse a righteous man (Zech. 3:1-2).

In the first two chapters of the Book of Job, written about a hundred years later than the Book of the Prophet Zechariah, Satan is still the accuser of sinners, but here his malicious intent is already quite obvious.

It tells how the sons of God, including Satan, appear before Jehovah. Satan reports that he “walked the earth and walked around it,” and, according to the author of the book, these words should have sounded ominous: after all, Satan’s functions obviously included searching for unrighteous people. Jehovah then praises Job as a sinless and God-fearing man; Satan objects to this that it is not difficult for Job to fear God, for he is happy and rich. As a test, Jehovah allows Satan to kill Job's children and servants and destroy his livestock. However, despite all these disasters, Job refuses to curse God, philosophically declaring: "The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!" But Satan, not content with this, insidiously advises Jehovah: “...skin for skin, and for his life a man will give everything that he has; but stretch out Your hand and touch his bone and flesh, will he bless You?” Jehovah allows Satan to infect Job with leprosy, but Job remains faithful to the Lord.

William Blake. Satan showers Job with troubles

In this episode, Satan shows a strong determination to undermine Job's faith in God and acts as the direct executor of the punishments that befall Job. However, it acts in complete accordance with God's instructions and appears to perform a useful function. He seeks to reveal the sinfulness inherent in every person by nature. But later, apparently, because of such fierce zeal, Satan became no less disgusted with God than with people. In the 1st Book of Enoch, which was not included in the Old Testament, but influenced the early Christians, a whole category appears - Satans, who are not allowed into heaven at all. Enoch hears the voice of the archangel Phanuel, "driving away the satans and forbidding them to appear before the Lord and accuse the inhabitants of the earth." In the same book, “punishing angels” appear, apparently identical to Satan. Enoch sees them preparing instruments for the execution of "the kings and rulers of this land, to destroy them."

From this idea of an inexorable angel accusing and punishing people, the medieval and modern Christian image of the Devil developed over time. When the Old Testament was first translated into Greek, the word "satan" was rendered as "diabolos" - "accuser", with a connotation of the meaning of "false accuser", "slanderer", "slanderer"; From this word the name “Devil” arose.

Later Jewish authors tended to distinguish between good and evil principles and presented Jehovah as an absolutely good God. The actions of Jehovah in some biblical episodes seemed completely incredible to them, and therefore were attributed to some evil angel. The first version of the story of how David numbered the people of Israel and thereby brought God's punishment upon the Israelites is contained in the 2nd Book of Samuel (24:1), which dates back to the beginning of the 8th century BC. e. Here the idea of conducting a census is suggested to David by Jehovah himself. But retelling the same episode in the 1st Book of Chronicles, the author of the 4th century BC. e. shifts responsibility for this act from God to Satan:

“And Satan rose up against Israel, and stirred up David to number the Israelites” (1 Chron. 21:1). This is the only instance in the original text of the Old Testament of the use of the word "Satan" as a proper name.

In even later Jewish texts and in Christian teaching, the image of Satan becomes increasingly clear. Satan is gradually gaining strength, turning into a great adversary of God and man and almost (but not completely) leaving the power of the Lord. Many have wondered why Satan, initially a helpful but rather unpleasant servant of Jehovah, eventually falls from God's favor and becomes His enemy. One of the possible answers to this question is given by the legend about the so-called Guardians, the grain of which is contained in the Book of Genesis. When the human race multiplied on earth, “the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were beautiful, and they took them as wives as they chose.” In those days, “there were giants on earth,” and the children that human daughters bore from angels were “strong people, glorious people of old.” Perhaps this fragment merely served to explain the legends about ancient giants and heroes; however, wittingly or unwittingly, the next verse connected it with the reign of evil on earth: “And the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually.” That is why God decided to cause a great flood and destroy humanity (Gen. 6:1-5).

Several allusions to this story can be found in other books of the Old Testament, but the first complete (albeit later) version appears only in 1 Enoch, in fragments apparently dating back to the 2nd century BC. h. “And it came to pass that when the human race multiplied, beautiful and beautiful daughters began to be born to men in those days. And the angels, the sons of heaven, saw them and desired them, and said to each other: Let us go, let us choose wives for ourselves from among the daughters of men, and let them bear children for us." These angels belonged to the rank of Guardians who do not know sleep. Their leader was either Semjaza or, according to other fragments, Azazel. Two hundred Guardians descended to earth - to Mount Hermon. There they took wives for themselves “and began to go in to them and indulge in filth with them.” They taught their wives witchcraft and magic, and also passed on to them knowledge about the healing properties of plants. Azazel taught men to make weapons - swords, knives, shields. In addition, he introduced people to the vicious art of cosmetics.

Mortal women began to give birth to children from the Guardians - powerful giants who, over time, ate all the food supplies. “And when people could no longer feed them, the giants turned against them and devoured humanity, and they began to indulge in sin with birds and beasts, reptiles and fish, and devour each other’s flesh and drink blood.”

Then God sent the archangel Raphael to imprison Azazel in the desert until the Day of Judgment, at which he would be condemned to eternal fire.

The remaining Guardians were forced to watch as the angels killed their children. Then God ordered the Archangel Michael to chain the Guardians and imprison them in the gorges of the earth until the day when they would be cast into the fiery abyss to eternal torment. Demons emerged from the bodies of dead giants and settled on the earth, where they still live, spreading evil and destruction everywhere.

One passage sympathetically suggests that the sin committed by the angels was explained not so much by lust as by a thirst for family comfort, which, unlike people, the celestials were deprived of. This is the first hint of the later legend about the envy that some angels began to feel towards man. God tells the angels that they are not given wives and children, since they are immortal and do not need procreation. But in later eras the idea prevailed that evil, bloodshed and forbidden arts appeared on earth due to the fact that a monstrous crime was committed against the laws of Nature. The carnal union of the angelic, divine principle with the mortal, human, gave birth to monsters - giants. It is possible that, on the basis of the legend of the Guardians, medieval beliefs about sexual relations between witches and the Devil arose. And, in essence, this whole legend turns out to be a kind of devilish parody of the main mystery Christian faith- the mystery of the descent of God to a mortal woman and the birth of the Savior.

Some church fathers, including Augustine the Blessed, rejected the legend of the Guardians and linked the origin of evil with the rebellion of the supreme archangel, who rebelled against God, overcome by pride.

They found confirmation of this version in the famous fragment from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, which in fact is a prophecy about the deplorable fate of the king of Babylon:

Lucifer is the star of the Dawn.

“How you fell from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the dawn! You who trampled on the nations were broken on the ground. And you said in your heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mountain in the assembly of gods, on the edge of the north; and I will ascend to the heights cloudy, I will be like the Most High. But you are cast down into hell, into the depths of the pit" (Is. 14:12-15).

This is how the Christian legend was born about the Devil’s attempt to become equal to God himself and about the expulsion of the rebel from heaven. This version of the answer to the question of why the early biblical Satan-accuser fell from Jehovah's favor turned out to be especially successful, since it was consistent with the tendency of later Jewish and Christian authors to elevate the original status of Satan almost to the position of an independent deity. At the same time, it was argued that before the fall the rebellious archangel bore the name Dennitsa, and after the fall he began to be called Satan.

The quoted fragment from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah is possibly associated with the legend of the beautiful morning star who lived in Eden, clothed in sparkling gems and bright light. Seized with insane pride, he dared to challenge God himself. “Daystar, son of the dawn” in the original Hebrew sounded like Helel ben Shahar, i.e. “day star, son of the dawn.”

Ancient Jews, Arabs, Greeks and Romans identified the morning star (planet Venus) with a male deity. In Greek it was called "phosphoros" (Phosphoros), and in Latin - "lucifer" (Lucifer); both of these names mean "light bearer." It has been hypothesized that the legend of Lucifer is based on the fact that the morning star is the last of the stars visible at dawn. She seems to challenge the rising sun, which is why the legend arose about the rebellious morning star and the punishment that befell him.

The legends of Lucifer and the Guardians connect the origin of evil with the fall of the celestials, who succumbed to the sin of pride or lust and were condemned to punishment in hell. These two legends naturally came together:

The Guardians began to be considered Lucifer's minions. Hints of such an interpretation are already contained in the 1st Book of Enoch. One of its fragments says that the Guardians were seduced by Satan, who led them astray from the true path and led them to the path of sin; Elsewhere, Azazel, the leader of the apostate angels, is described as “a star that fell from heaven.” By the 1st century AD. e. Lucifer, Satan and the Guardians were united in a single tradition, to which was added the story of Eden. The 2nd Book of Enoch says that the archangel Satanael tried to become like God and tempted the Guardians to rise up with him. They were all expelled from heaven, and Satanael, wanting to take revenge on God, tempted Eve in Eden. According to the apocryphal text “The Life of Adam and Eve” (“Vita Adae et Evae”), Satan was expelled from the host of angels because he disobeyed God and did not want to worship Adam. Michael told him that God would be angry with him for this, but Satan replied: “If he becomes angry with me, then I will set my throne above the stars of heaven and will be like the Most High.” Upon learning of this, God cast Satan and his followers to earth, and Satan seduced Eve in revenge. Here the idea of the sin of pride that overwhelmed the Devil is combined with the legend of the envy of angels towards man.

There is not a single hint in the Book of Genesis that the serpent who tempted Eve was the Devil; however, Christian authors generally assert that it was either a messenger from the Devil or the Devil himself in guise. On this basis, Saint Paul developed the fundamental Christian dogma, which consists in the fact that the Fall of Adam betrayed all subsequent generations of people into the power of the Devil and doomed them to sins and; but then God sent His Son to earth to free people from this punishment. If Adam, having disobeyed God, made people mortal, then Christ, having voluntarily accepted, gave people eternal life: “As in Adam all die, so in Christ all will live” (1 Cor. 15:22).

Jesus and his disciples apparently believed that The devil has power over this world- or, at least, above worldly vanity, luxury and pride. The Gospel of Matthew tells how the Devil, tempting Christ in the desert, showed Him “all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them” and uttered the words that then formed the basis of Satanism: “... all this I will give you if you fall and worship me " (Matt. 4:8-9). In a parallel episode in the Gospel of Luke, the Devil specifically stipulates that he has been given authority over all the kingdoms of this world:

“I will give you the power over all these kingdoms and the glory of them, for it has been given to me, and I give it to whomever I want” (Luke 4:6). Jesus calls the Devil “the prince of this world” (John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11), and St. Paul calls him “the god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4). The Gnostics later interpreted these fragments in their own way: they argued that the Devil rules this world because it was he who created it, while God is alien to man and far from what is happening on earth.

Another later trend in the formation of the image of the Devil was to identify him with Leviathan - the monstrous primordial dragon or serpent who once challenged Jehovah to battle. Isaiah says that God will smite “the leviathan that runs straight, and the leviathan that bends” (Isaiah 27:1). It is possible that the legend of Jehovah’s victory over Leviathan is connected with the Babylonian and Canaanite ones. In Babylon, they annually celebrated the victory of the god Marduk over the great Tiamat, who tried to overthrow the gods and take their place. In Canaanite, Baal slays the sea dragon Lophan (Itn), or Leviathan:

“When you struck Leviathan, the slippery one, (And) put an end to the writhing, seven-headed Tyrant...”*.

In the Revelation of John, Leviathan and the Devil - opponents of God, overcome by pride and deserving of severe punishment - are identified with each other. A huge dragon with seven heads appears. His tail pulls a third of the stars from the sky and casts them to the ground. “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought against them, but they did not stand, and there was no longer a place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, the ancient serpent, called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world, was cast out to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." Then a triumphant voice is heard from heaven: “... the slanderer of our brethren is cast down, who slandered them before our God day and night.” And this voice proclaims woe to those who live on earth, “for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, knowing that he has not much time left” (Rev. 12:3-12).
This grandiose vision combines almost all the main motifs of the later Christian concept of the Devil: “Satan” accusing people before God; war in heaven, in which the Lord's army is led by the Archangel Michael; the overthrow of Dennitsa-Lucifer from heaven; fallen angels (fallen stars) are his minions; seven-headed dragon Leviathan; and finally, the belief that the vengeful wrath of the Devil has fallen upon the earth. It is not entirely clear whether the description of the Devil as a “seducer” referred to the episode of the Serpent of Eden, but many generations of Christians who read this fragment of the Book of Revelation almost certainly identified the “ancient serpent” with the tempter of Eve.

It was the Christians who exalted the Devil, almost equalizing him in rights with God.

Convinced of the impeccable goodness of God, they nevertheless felt the frightening proximity of the great supernatural Enemy, the quintessence of all the world's evil. Catholics began to explain the fall of the Devil as the sin of pride; this version became orthodox and remains so to this day.

In the Middle Ages and at the dawn of modern times, the Devil remained frighteningly real and close to almost every Christian. He appeared in folk tales, theatrical productions and Christmas pantomimes; priests remembered him every now and then in their sermons; He watched the parishioners with an ominous gaze from church frescoes and stained glass windows. And his minions were everywhere - invisible to mere mortals, omniscient, evil and treacherous.

Evil is attractive in its own way, and the more power the Devil was endowed with in people’s imaginations, the more attractive this image became.

The devil, like God, was usually depicted in the guise of a man, and Christians believed in the rebellion of the supreme archangel against God not least because this legend touched on certain hidden strings of the human heart. Lucifer was perceived as a rebellious man, and pride, oddly enough, seemed to be a more worthy reason for the fall of the angels than the lust that overwhelmed the Guardians. As a result, the image of the Devil acquired romantic features. In Milton's Paradise Lost, this greatest of rebels appears as a fearless, strong-willed, determined rebel who did not want to bow to a superior force and did not humble himself even after defeat. Such a powerful image inevitably inspired admiration. Considering how magnificent and grandiose the devil's pride and power were, it is not surprising that some people awakened the desire to worship the Devil, and not God.

People who worship the Devil do not consider him evil. That supernatural being, which in Christianity acts as the Enemy, for a Satanist is a kind and merciful god. However, the word “good” in relation to the Devil in the mouths of his followers differs in meaning from the traditional Christian understanding. From the point of view of a Satanist, what Christians consider good is actually evil, and vice versa. True, the Satanist’s attitude towards good and evil turns out to be ambivalent: for example, he experiences perverted pleasure from the knowledge that he is doing evil, but at the same time he is convinced that his actions are actually righteous.

Worship of the Devil as a good god naturally entails the belief that the Christian God the Father, the Old Testament Lord, was and remains an evil god, hostile to man, trampling upon truth and morality. In developed forms of Satanic cult, Jesus Christ is also condemned as an evil entity, although in the past sects accused of devil worship did not always share this opinion.

Claiming that God the Father and God the Son, the creators of Jewish and Christian morality, are in fact the bearers of evil, Satanists, of course, come to deny the entire Judeo-Christian moral law and the rules of behavior based on it. Devotees of the devil are highly concerned with sense gratification and worldly success. They strive for power and self-affirmation, satisfaction of carnal desires and sensual passions, violence and cruelty. Christian piety with his virtues of self-denial, humility, spiritual purity and innocence seems to them lifeless, faded and lethargic. They are ready to repeat with all their hearts after Swinburne: “You have conquered, O pale Galilean, and the world has lost its colors from your breath.”

In Satanism, as in all forms of magic, any acts traditionally condemned as evil are highly valued for their special psychological and mystical effects. According to devil worshipers, it is possible to achieve perfection and divine bliss, for example, through the ecstasy into which participants in a sexual orgy (often including perverted forms of sex, homosexuality, masochism, and sometimes cannibalism) bring themselves. Because the Christian church(especially the Roman Catholic) is perceived as a disgusting sect of adherents of an evil deity, then its rituals should be parodied and profaned. Thus, Satanists not only express their devotion to the Devil, but also transfer to Satan’s disposal the power that is contained in Christian rituals.

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Why does God allow evil? Where did the devil come from?

bad qualities

According to the Bible, nothing can exist unless God gives it existence. “Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”(John 1:3). “Everything is from Him, By Him and to Him”(Rom. 11:36). “For by it we live and move and have our being”(Acts 17:28). In other parts of the Bible (primarily in the Psalms) this idea appears many times. However, God is not the creator of evil and does not support its existence. In this sense, evil does not exist. What we call evil does not exist in itself, but as a distortion of God’s plan, as a belittlement, degradation of what He created.

According to the Bible, the source of evil is the Devil. The Apostle John writes: “First the Devil sinned”(1 John 3:8). Having desired to be equal to God, he from a beautiful being (Lucifer, the Light-Bearer, see the books of the prophets Ezekiel 28:11-19, Isaiah 14:12-14) turned into an opponent of God (in Hebrew - Satan) and a liar (in Greek - Devil). The devil helped Adam and Eve also doubt God and want to determine for themselves what will be good and what will be evil (Genesis 3). “Only this I found that God created man upright, and people indulged in many thoughts"(Eccl. 7:29). In this desire to take the place of God, in the desire to separate from Him - the source of all good - is the cause of evil, i.e. inferiority of man and the world.

Just as a flower withers and withers without the sun, so everything created by God cannot be good and kind without Him. One of the reasons for the degradation of our human nature is that each of us, in the person of Adam and Eve, abused our God-given freedom and turned away from our Creator. Just as unclean water flows from a dirty source, so we inherit a nature distorted by sin from our parents and pass it on to our children. But thanks to God, we have a desire for good and hatred for evil. And with the help of the Holy Spirit we must develop this desire for good and liberation from sin in ourselves. In the person of Jesus Christ, every person is already a winner in this fight against evil (Rom 5:12-19). between life with God and life without Him (i.e. death). Freedom is not possible without alternatives. The Bible repeatedly speaks of two paths - the path of life and death, the narrow and the wide. And God calls on people to choose life.

If God explicitly punished manifestations of moral evil and suppressed manifestations of natural evil, then people would bow before the One who is Truth, Life, Love out of fear of His punishment and the desire to receive protection from Him, and not because of sincere love to him. In this case, a person’s free, selfless acceptance of good would be difficult. (These conclusions can be drawn from the Book of Job.) And we would misunderstand God Himself, His character, and therefore could not enter into a close relationship with Him, or live truly happily.

According to J. Young, "The Bible does not give us a theoretical answer to the question: 'Why does God allow suffering?' Instead, we find God there, suffering with us and atoning for our sin through the Crucifixion” (Young. J. Christianity. M., 1998. P. 44). Thus, the problem of evil in Christianity is solved, first of all, thanks to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. To destroy sin and its consequences, but to have mercy on sinners, the Son of God becomes Man. The God-man lives a sinless life, showing the love of the Father to the whole world, but the innocent is sentenced to a shameful death. On the Cross, Christ takes the punishment intended by God for all the evil committed by people on Himself. Therefore, anyone who accepts His substitutionary sacrifice receives forgiveness from God and strength to forsake sin and prepare for eternal life.

The suffering of God shows how much He hates evil and how much He loves people. How God values man! How dear we are to Him! In order to communicate with us in eternity, He voluntarily went to the torment of the Cross. In the powerlessness of Christ on the Cross, the power and love of God are revealed. They find their manifestation in those who, following the example of Christ, fight evil in their lives and bring good to others.

Igor Muravyov

Here => others

24.09.2019

And here is what the 19th century French poet Charles Pierre Baudelaire wrote: “The greatest cunning of the Devil is to convince us that he does not exist.”

Where did he come from? Long before the appearance of man, the Earth itself, and even the material Universe, spiritual personalities already existed. The Bible calls them angels or sons of God. All of these were originally perfect, but one of them himself decided to go against God. The name Satan was given to him only after
he departed from God, and it means “adversary,” “enemy,” “accuser.” This is exactly what he became when he rebelled against God, his father.

Why did he do this? Satan wanted everyone to worship him and not God. Once he tried to achieve the worship of Jesus Christ himself when he lived on earth. In the 4th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, where the temptation in the desert is discussed, the devil himself is clearly meant. Christ does not enter into negotiations with him, but rejects all his proposals. But calling him “Satan,” He does not necessarily use this word, borrowed from Hebrew into Greek, as a proper name: it may be a designation of the role played by the devil during Christ’s sojourn in the desert. He was his enemy, trying to lead him astray.

How did he become Satan? Since people worshiped God, he decided to slander him. By deception, he achieved the worship of the first people - first Eve, and then Adam. He told Eve that if she breaks God's commandment, she will become like God. As a result, Satan became her god.

This fallen angel was also given the name Devil, which translated means “slanderer.” After he took the path of sin, he began to win over other angels to his side.

How strong is Satan's influence?
In order to hide traces of his crime, the criminal destroys all evidence. But when a crime is being investigated, one thing is obvious: if there is a crime, then there must be a criminal. Satan is responsible for causing humanity to become mortal, which is why Jesus Christ rightly called him “The Murderer.” When he talked to Eve, he did not admit to her who he really was, but used a snake to talk, so Eve thought she was talking to a snake. Now he doesn't show his either true face, because it's easier to deceive.

Jesus Christ made it clear that Satan is the criminal who rules the world from behind the scenes. Satan arranged this system in such a way that most people followed him without even knowing it.

Today's world is full of lies, hatred, corruption, hypocrisy, wars, crime. , this is how the world becomes. No wonder the Bible calls the Devil “the god of this system of things.”

“Hell reigns, but does not reign over the human race forever.” This means that humanity will not always be in the position it is in now. And even those who find themselves in the kingdom of the devil, in hell, are not deprived of God’s love, because God is present in hell. The Monk Isaac the Syrian called the opinion that sinners in hell are deprived of God's love blasphemous. The love of God is present everywhere, but it acts in two ways: for those who are in the Kingdom of Heaven, it acts as a source of bliss, joy, inspiration, but for those who are in the kingdom of Satan, it is a scourge, a source of torment.

We must also remember what is said in the Revelation of St. John the Theologian: the final victory of Christ over the Antichrist, good over evil, God over the devil, will be won. In the Liturgy of Basil the Great, we hear that Christ descended into hell by the Cross in order to destroy the kingdom of the devil and bring all people to God, that is, with His presence and thanks to His death on the cross, He permeated with Himself everything that we subjectively perceive as the kingdom of the devil. And in the stichera dedicated to the Cross of Christ, we hear: “Lord, You have given us Your Cross as a weapon against the devil”; It also says that the Cross is “the glory of angels and the plague of demons,” this is an instrument before which demons tremble, and the devil “trembles and shakes.”

This means that we are not defenseless before the devil. On the contrary, God does everything to protect us as much as possible from the influence of Satan; He gives us His Cross, Church, sacraments, Gospel, Christian moral teaching, and the opportunity for constant spiritual improvement. He gives us periods such as Lent when we can pay special attention to spiritual life. And in this spiritual struggle of ours, in the struggle for ourselves, for our spiritual survival, God Himself is next to us, and He will be with us all the days until the end of the age.

Patristic experience today. Part 1. #Osipov A.I.

The word "Satan" (Satan) is used in the Tanakh in the meaning of "adversary" or even "traitor" (Mlahim 1, 5, 18), "accuser in court" (Tehillim 109, 60) and "opponent" (Shmuel 2, 19, 23). This word was also used to denote one who puts obstacles in someone's path (Bamidbar 22:32), when the angel put obstacles in the way of Balam. But Satan as a separate being, not subordinate to G-d, was not mentioned in the Torah.

Satan first appears as a being of a higher order in the book of Job, where he appears among the “sons of G‑d” (1:6). In dialogue with the Almighty, Satan appears as a participant in the Divine Council and an accuser of man. However, by persecuting a person, seeing in his actions only injustice and sins, Satan is deprived of the right to act independently, without the permission of G‑d, therefore he cannot be considered as an opponent of G‑d. The doctrine of monotheism does not suffer in the least from its existence, nor from the recognition of other heavenly powers. Satan appears in the same way in the book of the prophet Zechariah (3:1-2), where he is the opponent and accuser of the high priest Joshua. Satan is opposed by the “angel of the Lord,” who imposes silence on him in the name of G‑d. In both of these cases, Satan appears only in the role of prosecutor and acts only when he is allowed to do so, but in the book of Divrei Ha-Yamim he is described as a much more independent figure: he, on his own initiative, leads David into such a sin that entails resulting in the death of many people. This approach is all the more striking because the original source says that G‑d, and not Satan, misled David. But this is easily explained: after all, he is, after all, the conductor of G‑d’s instructions.

In Pirkei Avot 4:11, sin itself is the accuser of man, not Satan. The Tosefta Shabbat states that Satan accompanies the blasphemers of the Lord, according to Tehillim 109, 6.

Midrashim say that Satan was created simultaneously with the foremother Chava (Yalkut, Bereishit 1, 23) and is therefore a mortal being, but, like all heavenly beings, he can fly (Bereishit Rabbah 19) and is able to take on any form, for example, birds (V. Talmud, Sanhedrin 107a), women (V. Talmud, Kiddushin 81a), beggars (ibid.). Satan is like a goat; they address him with words of contempt: “an arrow in your eyes” (V. Talmud, Kiddushin 30a, 81a).

Satan is the embodiment of all evil, all his thoughts and actions are aimed at the death of man. Satan pushing for evil ( yetzer ha-ra- evil desire, Hebrew), and the angel of death are one person. He descends from heaven, leads man into sin, then rises to accuse him before G‑d. At the command of G-d, he takes out the soul, in other words, kills (V. Talmud, Bava Batra 16a). He can use one accidentally dropped word to raise an accusation against a person, so one should beware of “giving Satan the opportunity to open his mouth” (V. Talmud, Berachot 19a). Satan tries to accuse a person precisely when he is in danger (Talmud Yerushalmi, Shabbat, 5 b). Satan's circle of knowledge is limited and many things confuse him, for example, blowing the shofar on New Year's Day (V. Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 16 b). And on the day of Atonement ( Yom Kippur) his power is completely destroyed; this is explained using gematria: the sum of the digital values of the letters of the name a-Satan ( hey, sin, tat, noon) - 364, therefore, one day a year is free from his power (V. Talmud, Yoma 20a). When Satan for some reason does not achieve his goal, he is terribly depressed. A terrible disappointment for him was the fact that the Jews received the Torah, and he did not calm down until he led them to worship the calf (V. Talmud, Shabbat 89a).

According to the Haggadah, Satan played a prominent role in the fall of Adam (Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 13), he is the father of Cain (ibid., 21). In addition, he took an active part in many events described in the Torah, for example, in the history of David’s infatuation with Bath-Sheva (V. Talmud, Sanhedrin 95a), in the death of Queen Vashti (V. Talmud, Megillah 11 b), and the decree of Haman the extermination of all the Jews in one day was written on parchment delivered by Satan (Esther Rabbah 7).

Satan will have to yield to Moshiach. The light created at the beginning of Creation was hidden by G‑d under His throne, and when Satan asked about the purpose of this light, G‑d answered him: “It is intended for the one who shames you.” Then Satan began to beg the Almighty to let him look at Moshiach. Seeing him, Satan fell in horror and exclaimed: “Truly this is Mashiach, who will overthrow me and all the princes of the angels in hein(Hell)" (Psikta Rabbati 3, 6).

In Kabbalah, all the villains mentioned in the Torah (Amalek, Goliath, Haman) are identified with Satan. Satan's hordes are named clip(Hebrew: husk, shell, outer shell, something secondary, opposed to the main one).

God rebukes him for trying to accuse a righteous man (Zech. 3:1-2).

William Blake. Satan showers Job with troubles

Then God sent the archangel Raphael to imprison Azazel in the desert until the Day of Judgment, at which he would be condemned to eternal fire.

One passage sympathetically suggests that the sin committed by the angels was explained not so much by lust as by a thirst for family comfort, which, unlike people, the celestials were deprived of. This is the first hint of the later legend about the envy that some angels began to feel towards man. God tells the angels that they are not given wives and children, since they are immortal and do not need procreation. But in later eras the idea prevailed that evil, bloodshed and forbidden arts appeared on earth due to the fact that a monstrous crime was committed against the laws of Nature. The carnal union of the angelic, divine principle with the mortal, human, gave birth to monsters - giants. It is possible that, on the basis of the legend of the Guardians, medieval beliefs about sexual relations between witches and the Devil arose. And, in essence, this whole legend turns out to be a kind of devilish parody of the main mystery of the Christian faith - the mystery of the descent of God to a mortal woman and the birth of the Savior.

They found confirmation of this version in the famous fragment from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, which in fact is a prophecy about the deplorable fate of the king of Babylon:

Lucifer is the star of the Dawn.

There is not a single hint in the Book of Genesis that the serpent who tempted Eve was the Devil; however, Christian authors generally assert that it was either a messenger from the Devil or the Devil himself in guise. On this basis, St. Paul developed the fundamental Christian dogma, which consists in the fact that the Fall of Adam betrayed all subsequent generations of people into the power of the Devil and doomed them to sins and; but then God sent His Son to earth to free people from this punishment. If Adam, having disobeyed God, made people mortal, then Christ, having voluntarily accepted, gave people eternal life: “As in Adam all die, so in Christ all will live” (1 Cor. 15:22).

Another later trend in the formation of the image of the Devil was to identify him with Leviathan - the monstrous primordial dragon or serpent who once challenged Jehovah to battle. Isaiah says that God will smite “the leviathan that runs straight, and the leviathan that bends” (Isaiah 27:1). It is possible that the legend of Jehovah’s victory over Leviathan is associated with Babylonian and Canaanite myths. In Babylon, they annually celebrated the victory of the god Marduk over the great Tiamat, who tried to overthrow the gods and take their place. In Canaanite myth, Baal slays the sea dragon Lophan (Itn), or Leviathan:

“When you struck Leviathan, the slippery one, (And) put an end to the writhing, seven-headed Tyrant...”*.

It was the Christians who exalted the Devil, almost equalizing him in rights with God.

In the Middle Ages and at the dawn of modern times, the Devil remained frighteningly real and close to almost every Christian. He has appeared in folk tales, stage plays and Christmas pantomimes; priests remembered him every now and then in their sermons; He watched the parishioners with an ominous gaze from church frescoes and stained glass windows. And his minions were everywhere - invisible to mere mortals, omniscient, evil and treacherous.

Evil is attractive in its own way, and the more power the Devil was endowed with in people’s imaginations, the more attractive this image became.

People who worship the Devil do not consider him evil. That supernatural being, which in Christianity acts as the Enemy, for a Satanist is a kind and merciful god. However, the word “good” in relation to the Devil in the mouths of his adherents differs in meaning from the traditional Christian understanding. From the point of view of a Satanist, what Christians consider good is actually evil, and vice versa. True, the Satanist’s attitude towards good and evil turns out to be ambivalent: for example, he experiences perverted pleasure from the knowledge that he is doing evil, but at the same time he is convinced that his actions are actually righteous.

Claiming that God the Father and God the Son, the creators of Jewish and Christian morality, are in fact the bearers of evil, Satanists, of course, come to deny the entire Judeo-Christian moral law and the rules of behavior based on it. Devotees of the devil are highly concerned with sense gratification and worldly success. They strive for power and self-affirmation, satisfaction of carnal desires and sensual passions, violence and cruelty. Christian piety with its virtues of self-denial, humility, spiritual purity and integrity seems to them lifeless, faded and sluggish. They are ready to repeat with all their hearts after Swinburne: “You have conquered, O pale Galilean, and the world has lost its colors from your breath.”

In Satanism, as in all forms of magic, any acts traditionally condemned as evil are highly valued for their special psychological and mystical effects. According to devil worshipers, it is possible to achieve perfection and divine bliss, for example, through the ecstasy into which participants in a sexual orgy (often including perverted forms of sex, homosexuality, masochism, and sometimes cannibalism) bring themselves. Since the Christian Church (especially the Roman Catholic Church) is perceived as a disgusting sect of adherents of an evil deity, its rituals should be parodied and profaned. Thus, Satanists not only express their devotion to the Devil, but also transfer to Satan’s disposal the power that is contained in Christian rituals.

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If God is good, why is there so much evil in the world?

Astronauts who have seen the Earth from orbit say how beautiful, calm and majestic it looks. How can something bad happen on such a beautiful planet? But, as soon as they return to Earth, they realize that not all is well here!

There are wars, tears and blood are shed. Every day we hear news of new terrible events. This has become so commonplace that we don’t really worry - until it affects us!

Have you ever wondered why good people suffer along with the bad ones? Why do innocents become victims of crime and violence? Why good people it is so difficult, and the evil ones enjoy life? Why do innocent people die due to the fault of a drunk driver, but he himself gets away with minor bruises?

Planet Earth is tormented by earthquakes, floods, fires and other disasters! The number of deformed children and orphans has increased. Millions of earthlings are starving and have no roof over their heads. And people’s hearts are tormented by the question: “IF GOD IS SO GOOD, WHY IS THERE SO SO EVIL IN THE WORLD?”

Is the whole reason only in God? Or perhaps there is another force that opposes the Lord? What is this force called? Where does it originate? What does he do? Will it last forever or will it end?

Only the Bible can answer all these questions.

Does Satan exist?

Yes, indeed, there are opposing forces in the Universe! These are the forces of good and the forces of evil, the forces of heaven and the forces of hell. God is not to blame for the evil happening on planet Earth! God is the Creator of love and blessing. Satan created hatred and suffering. Let us turn to the Bible for confirmation: “God is love” (1 John 4:8). “I have loved you with an everlasting love, and therefore have I shown you My favor” (Jeremiah 31:3). God's love is eternal! God never changes!

The Bible also characterizes the devil: “He was a murderer from the beginning and did not stand in the truth, for there is no truth in him; When he speaks a lie, he speaks his own way, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).

You and I are in the center of a cosmic drama - a conflict between power and lawlessness, between the Creator and Satan, the fallen angel.

We are not spectators, but participants in the action, because we are involved in this struggle - whether we like it or not.

Believing that Satan is just a myth or a phenomenon leaves us completely unprepared to face the intelligent being that he truly is. The Apostle John empathizes with us in Revelation 12:12: “Woe to those who dwell on the earth... for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, knowing that he has not much time left.”

Ap. Peter compares him to a roaring lion: “Be sober and watchful, for your adversary the devil walks around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

Is God the creator of Satan?

We need to know: WHO IS SATAN, WHAT IS SATAN, AND WHERE DOES IT COME FROM? Jesus himself answers this question:

“I saw Satan fall from heaven” (Luke 10:18).

The devil lived in heaven! Incredible, but it's a fact! Holy Scripture reveals to us the most tragic story. Satan, or Lucifer (“light-bringer”), as he was formerly called, was a beautiful and powerful heavenly angel. So why did he give in to sin?

Lucifer held the highest position among the heavenly angels. “You were an anointed cherub to overshadow, and I appointed you for this purpose; you were on the holy mountain of God, walking among the fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, until iniquity was found in you... Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty, and because of your vanity you destroyed your wisdom” (Ezekiel 28:14-17).

This beautiful and wise angel desired the glory and honor that belongs only to God. He was hungry for power. This created angel wanted to rule the Universe himself instead of the Creator!

“And I said in my heart: “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mountain in the assembly of gods, on the edge of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High” (Isaiah 14:13-14).

Shortly before this, Lucifer began to spread a spirit of discontent among the angels. He began to insidiously destroy the love and justice with which the Lord ruled the Universe!

How did our world become subject to sin?

Planet Earth has just emerged from the hands of the Creator in all its splendor and perfection. A perfect world and in it two perfect people - Adam and Eve, to whom God gave dominion over this world. After observing the first couple in their genuine love and perfect joy, Satan planned to lead them into doubt and rebellion against God.

God told Adam and Eve about His difficulty with Satan and warned against his tricks.

Created with free will and freedom of choice, they were free to choose to love God and follow Him, or to ignore His instructions. Their loyalty was tested.

God placed a special tree in the middle of paradise and gave the following instruction and warning: “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from it; For in the day that you eat of it, you will die” (Genesis 2:17).

People could eat fruit from all the trees in the huge garden - except one. And this requirement was not difficult. Human faith, love, devotion and obedience were tested by such a simple means.

A person is most vulnerable when he is taken by surprise. This is exactly what happened to the first people. Satan used his supernatural power to deceive them. The Prince of Darkness does not always approach openly, and, acting with flattery and cunning, he seduced the first couple. By disobeying God, they lost everything: happiness, perfect love, fellowship with God, their home and dominion over the Earth.

Free man or slave?

As we read the third chapter of Genesis, we ask the question: “Why did God, knowing the danger of the Fall, allow Satan to tempt man?”

He allowed this, wanting man to love Him with all his mind and consciously respond to His love. The first people on earth had a choice: to listen to God or to succumb to the flattering words of the tempter? What will they choose? The entire Universe watched with bated breath.

And they made a choice, alas, not in favor of good. If God were to give man a difficult test, one might doubt His intention. The very ease of the prohibition made the sin great. By sinning, Adam and Eve lost their given dominion, and Satan became “the prince of this world” (John 12:31). And to this day he constantly tempts a person who has become a slave to his own sin.

Since then, everything bad has come: illness, quarrels, confusion, despair, fear, death. After the Fall, God appeared to Adam and said: “Cursed is the earth for your sake; in sorrow you will eat from it all the days of your life. It will bring forth thorns and thistles for you...By the sweat of your brow you will eat bread until you return to the ground from which you were taken; For you are dust, and to dust you will return” (Genesis 3:17-19).

They failed God's test. From masters they turned into slaves: “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves in obedience, to him you are slaves...” (Romans 6:16).

Why didn't God destroy the devil right away?

Before Lucifer's rebellion against God, there was no lie or deception. The idea of telling a lie never occurred among the angels. When Lucifer began to accuse God, slandering Him, the other angels could not understand that this was a sin. For their sake, the Lord could not destroy the first sinner without first showing the full severity of his sin.

God might declare that Satan is a deceiver, a liar, a thief, a destroyer, and a murderer. But the angels created by the Lord had to understand this themselves. The Creator determined the time at which evil was to reveal itself to the end.

Satan showed his hatred of God at the birth of Jesus, influencing the jealous mind of King Herod, prompting him to destroy the Child in Bethlehem. But it was not enough for Herod to take the life of Jesus alone; he put to death many infants under the age of two. This is the handwriting of Satan: hatred, malice, violence, murder... But Satan’s plan failed: Christ remained alive.

Satan does not calm down and continues to look for an opportune moment for his dirty deed. After baptism, the devil, masquerading as a Heavenly Angel, approached Christ in the desert. Satan could have received an eternal inheritance on earth if he had managed to in any way prevent Christ from fulfilling His mission of saving sinful people. But Christ triumphed over all temptations.

The defeated Satan left, but not for long. He returned - Calvary followed. All his strength was aimed at preventing Christ from restoring the dominion lost to man. This was the last chance for survival for a person.

In the end, Satan managed, through treachery, to betray Christ into the hands of a bloodthirsty crowd, and He died on Calvary. God gave His Son, and the Son gave His life, to change our destiny. Contemplating the Cross of Calvary, the entire Universe saw that Satan is the source of lies and a murderer. His essence was finally revealed when he brought about the death of the innocent Son of God. The cross revealed another truth to everyone: Christ is the Savior of our world.

About His death on the cross, which brought salvation to people, Jesus said: “Now is the judgment of this world; now the prince of this world will be cast out; and when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to Me. These things He spoke, indicating by what kind of death He would die” (John 12:31-32).

Satan directs all his efforts to destroy those for whose sake Jesus accepted death on the cross of Calvary, and Christ died for everyone: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life "(John 3:16). The Word of God says, “The devil has come down to you in great wrath, knowing that he has not much time left” (Revelation 12:12).

Great is Satan's hatred of God, His followers and every righteous law. Without even a drop of love and compassion, he forces a person to endure physical, mental and emotional torture.

But God is stronger than Satan - He won. And He gives us the assurance: “For I am the Lord your God; I hold you by your right hand, I say to you: “Do not be afraid, I will help you” (Isaiah 41:13).

To repel all the attacks of Satan, strength is needed, it is hidden in God. You can ask Him for help in in simple words, for example, like this: “Dear Heavenly Father, I thank You for the victory that the Son of God won over Satan in this world. I thank You for the promise that Jesus will give me victory over the devil and my sinful life. I thank you that you hear my prayer. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen".

Thinking out loud:

The source of goodness is God: “God is love” (1 John 4:8).

The source of evil is Satan: “He was a murderer from the beginning and did not stand in the truth, for there is no truth in him; When he speaks a lie, he speaks his own way, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).

The origin of evil took place in heaven: “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought against them” (Revelation 12:7). Christ said, “I saw Satan fall from heaven” (Luke 10:18).

The cause of Lucifer's downfall is pride: "Thy beauty made thy heart proud" (Ezekiel 28:17).

The devil led the first people on earth into sin. He still seeks his victims today: “Be sober and watchful, for your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

The Christian world is divided into two kingdoms: heavenly and underground. In the first, God rules and a retinue of angels obeys him. In the second, the reins of government belong to Satan, who controls demons and devils. these two opposing worlds are fighting for human souls. And if we know a lot about the Lord (from church sermons, the Bible, the stories of pious grandmothers), then we try not to remember again about his antipode. Who is he? And what is the correct name for him: the Devil, Satan, Lucifer? Let's try to lift the curtain on an incomprehensible mystery.

Who is Satan?

Researchers claim that at first he was the majestic angel Dennitsa, the crown of beauty and wisdom. Bearing the stamp of perfection, one fine day he became proud and imagined himself higher than the Lord. This greatly angered the Creator, and he overthrew the obstinate man and his followers into complete darkness.

Who is Satan? Firstly, he is the head of all dark forces, the enemy of God and the main tempter of people. Secondly, he is the embodiment of darkness and chaos, the purpose of which is to seduce true Christians from the righteous path. To do this, he appears to people in different guises and promises untold riches, fame and success, asking in return, in his words, the least - eternal possession of the soul.

Often the devil himself does not tempt the righteous, but sends his earthly assistants, who during their lifetime became associates of dark forces: witches and black magicians. His main goal is the enslavement of all humanity, the overthrow of God from the throne and the preservation of his own life, which, according to legend, will be taken away after the Second Coming of Christ.

Early mentions in Old Testament texts

First, the concept “Satanail” appeared, meaning a certain dark force. It comes from ancient myths, in which this matter is described as the main opponent of the demiurge god. Subsequently, the image was formed under the influence of Iranian mythology and Zoroastrianism. Added to this were people's ideas about evil forces and demonic darkness: as a result, we received a complete and fairly accurate idea of who Satan is and what he needs from us.

It is interesting that in the Old Testament texts his name is a common noun, denoting an enemy, an apostate, an infidel, a slanderer who opposes God and his commandments. This is exactly how it is described in the books of Job and the prophet Zechariah. Luke points to Satan as the personification of evil, who possessed the traitor Judas.

As we see, in early Christianity the devil was not considered a specific person. Most likely, it was a composite image of all human sins and earthly vices. People considered him a universal evil, capable of enslaving mere mortals and completely subordinating them to his will.

Identification in folklore and everyday life

People often identified the devil with the serpent, based on stories from the Book of Genesis. But in fact, these assumptions have no basis, since on the pages of the mentioned source the reptile is a typical trickster, a mythological archetype endowed with negative human characteristics. Despite this, later Christian literature considers the snake an analogue of Satan or, in extreme cases, his messenger.

In folklore he is also often called Beelzebub. But researchers say this is a mistake. And they cite indisputable facts: in the Bible, Beelzebub is mentioned only in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark - as a “demonic prince.” As for Lucifer, he is not mentioned in either the Old or New Testament. In later literature, this name is given to a certain fallen angel - a demon of the planet.

From the point of view of orthodox Christianity, sincere prayer will be the real salvation from the bonds of the devil. Religion ascribes to Satan the power that he takes from the Almighty and turns to his harm, paradoxically being part of God’s plan. These contradictions often lead Christian philosophy to a dead end.

Later mentions

In the New Testament, Satan appears as a deceiver and pretender, who hides under the guise of a wolf in sheep's clothing - stated in the Acts of the Holy Apostles and in the second letter of Paul. The image received its greatest development in the Apocalypse, where he is described as a specific person - the head of the kingdom of darkness and vices, giving birth to offspring. The son of Satan, Antichrist, is also a fully formed image here, playing a certain role: opposing Christ and enslaving people.

In subsequent mystical, as well as Christian apocryphal literature, Satan acquires specific features and a line of behavior. This is already a person who is the enemy of the human race and the main antagonist of God. Despite censure in all religions of the world, it is an integral part of the doctrine, the starting point for comparing good and evil, a certain criterion of human actions and motives. Without its existence, we would never be able to take the righteous path, since we would not be able to distinguish light from dark, day from night. This is why the existence of the devil is an important part of the supreme divine plan.

Shapes of Satan

Despite undeniable points of view, disputes and judgments, the devil is called differently. In a number of teachings, his name changes depending on the image in which he appears before humanity:

Lucifer. This is Satan who knows and brings freedom. Appears in the guise of an intellectual philosopher. Sows doubts and encourages debate.
Belial. The beast in man. Inspires the desire to live, to be yourself, awakens primitive instincts.
Leviathan. Keeper of secrets and psychologist. Encourages people to practice magic and worship idols.

This theory, which also deserves to exist, allows us to better understand who Satan is. According to her, this is a certain vice that a person struggles with. He can also appear before us in the female image of Astarte, pushing us into adultery. Satan is also Dagon, who promises wealth, Behemoth, who inclines to gluttony, drunkenness and idleness, Abbadon, who calls to destroy and kill, Loki is a symbol of deceit and lies. All these persons can be either the devil himself or his faithful servants.

Devil's signs

The most sacred is the snake. The hood can be seen in many Egyptian paintings and frescoes. This is a symbol of the expansion of consciousness, and the snake assuming an attacking pose indicates the soaring of the spirit. Other symbols say the following:

Pentagram pointing downwards. Symbolizes Satan himself.
Simple pentagram. More used by sorcerers and witches to perform rituals.
Emblem of Baphomest. The mark of Satan inscribed on his bible. This is an inverted pictogram in the form of a goat's head.
Cross of Disorder. An ancient Roman symbol signifying the renunciation of Christian values of the divine essence of Christ.
Hexagram. It is also the “Star of David” or the “Seal of Solomon”. The most powerful sign of Satan, which is used to summon evil spirits.
Marks of the beast. Firstly, this is the number of the Antichrist - 666. Secondly, they can also include three Latin letters F - it is the sixth in the alphabet, and three intertwined rings forming sixes.

In fact, there are many symbols of Satan. They also include a goat's head, a skull and crossbones, a swastika and other ancient signs.

Family

The wives of the devil are considered to be the so-called demonesses, each of which has its own sphere of influence and is irreplaceable in hell:

Lilith. The main wife of Satan, the first wife of Adam. Appears to lonely travelers in the form of a beautiful brunette, after which she mercilessly kills them.
Mahallat. Second wife. Leads legions of evil spirits.
Agrat. Third in a row. Field of activity: prostitution.
Barbelo. One of the most beautiful. Patronizes treachery and deceit.
Elizadra. The devil's main HR advisor. Characterized by bloodthirstiness and vindictiveness.
Nega. Demon of epidemics.
Naama. The temptress whom all mortal men desire.
Proserpine. Patronizes destruction, natural disasters and catastrophes,

The devil has other wives, but the demonesses listed above are the most powerful, and therefore are familiar to many peoples of the world. From which of them the son of Satan will be born is unknown. Most researchers claim that the mother of the Antichrist will be a simple earthly woman, but very sinful and vicious.

Devil's Book

The handwritten Bible of Satan was created at the turn of the 12th-13th centuries. According to sources, it was written by a monk under the dictation of the devil himself. The manuscript contains 624 pages. It is truly huge: the dimensions of the wooden covers are 50 by 90 centimeters, the weight of the Bible is 75 kilograms. The production of the manuscript took 160 skins skinned from donkeys.

The so-called Bible of Satan contains the Old Testament and various edifying stories for preachers, various forms of conspiracies. On page 290 the devil himself is drawn. And if the legend about the monk is a fiction, then the “satanic image” is a fact. Several pages before this graffiti are covered in ink, the next eight have been completely removed. Who did this is unknown. The most interesting thing is that the “demonic manuscript,” although condemned by the church, was never banned. Several generations of novices even studied the texts of Holy Scripture from its pages.

From its historical homeland - Czech Prague - the manuscript was taken with them to Stockholm as a trophy in 1649. Now only employees of the local Royal Library, wearing protective gloves on their hands, have the right to leaf through the pages of the sensational manuscript.

Church of the Devil

It was created on April 30, 1966 by the American Anton Sandor LaVey. Founded on Walpurgis Night, the Church of Satan proclaimed itself the antipode of Christianity and the bearer of evil. The Seal of Baphomet is a symbol of the community. By the way, it became the first officially registered organization that worshiped the cult of the devil and considered Satanism its ideology. LaVey was the so-called High Priest until his death. By the way, he also wrote another modern version of the Satanic Bible.

The Church of Satan accepts into its ranks everyone who has reached the age of majority. The exception is the children of active participants already involved, since they understand satanic practices and teachings from a young age. The priests hold black masses - a parody of church services, and also practice sexual orgies and sacrifice. The main holidays of the community are Halloween and Walpurgis Night. The initiation of new members into the secrets of the devilish cult is also celebrated on a grand scale.

How to protect yourself from the influence of Satan and his servants

The church gives two practical advice that will help save the soul from the devil's machinations. First, temptations must be resisted, and prayer will help with this. It is difficult for Satan to fight the pure intentions, the sincerity that we put into the basis of turning to the Lord. There is no need to ask for anything except strength and at the same time thanks for another day lived and those little things that made it unique and colorful.

Secondly, you need to get as close to God as possible. Priests advise attending Sunday and holiday services, fasting, learning to be friendly and honest towards other people, not breaking the commandments, fighting vices, and rejecting temptations. After all, every step taken towards the Lord simultaneously removes us from Satan. The ministers of the Church are confident: following their recommendations, every person is able to cope with the demons living inside, thereby preserving their soul and finding a well-deserved place in the Gardens of Eden.

From atana. What images does this word conjure up in your mind? An evil creature with horns, a tail and a pitchfork? A cute baby in a red hood on your doorstep on Halloween? Cultural caricatures aside, Satan is a concrete and real being known to Christians as the great liar and deceiver, the sworn enemy of God and His people. Scripture says a lot about his character and actions - who he is and what he does - but what about his origins? Where did he come from? Who created the devil?

Chatty snake

The Bible opens with the story of creation, when God announced the beginning of the universe. The first two chapters present breathtaking pictures of order, wholeness and prosperity. It is not surprising that the Creator, having surveyed what He had created, declared that it was all “very good” (Gen. 1:31).

And suddenly, unexpectedly, a snake appears. But this is not just an ordinary snake: he talks, and I must say that he is very talkative. Very quickly this writhing creature begins a conversation with Eve, seducing her and her silent husband - and you and me - into rebellion against God. As the story progresses, it becomes clear that this ancient serpent is the embodiment of Satan himself (Rev. 12:9).

Origin of the Devil

The Bible does not explicitly and clearly describe the origin of Satan. Presumably, he began to exist some time after God created the perfect world (Gen. 1:31) and before his appearance in the Garden of Eden in the form of a serpent (Gen. 3:1). Despite everything we don't know, we can say with some certainty at least the following five things.

1. God created him.

Scripture states that everything was created by God and for God (Rom. 11:36; 1 Cor. 8:6; Col. 1:16-17). It naturally follows that the all-encompassing category of “everything” even includes the devil. After all, if God is not “behind” the creation of Satan, then who is? Some other powerful being? If so, then This a being must control at least one realm of existence. And then this sphere cannot be completely subject to God and be under His control.

2. God created him good and good.

As the source of all goodness, beauty and truth, God creates only that which corresponds to His nature - things that are in themselves good, beautiful and true. Every aspect of creation, whether in heaven or on earth, was originally “very good.” Paul puts it simply: "Every creation of God is good"(1 Tim. 4:4). The character of God is perfect purity, there is not even a particle of darkness or deception in Him (1 John 1:5; James 1:13). And Satan was created as an angel to serve and glorify this great God.

Obviously something went wrong.

3. Some of God's created angels rebelled against Him.

There are two places in the New Testament that speak of a time when angels rebelled against God and fell into evil and darkness:

God did not spare the angels who sinned, but, having bound them in the bonds of hellish darkness, he handed them over to be judged for punishment. (2 Peter 2:4)
The angels who did not retain their dignity, but left their home, are kept in eternal bonds, under darkness, for the judgment of the great day. (Jude 1:6)

According to Scripture, one day there was a rebellion of angels against the King of Heaven.

4. Satan has power in the realm of demons.

As the “prince of demons,” it was most likely Satan who initiated and led this heavenly rebellion (Matt. 12:24). And then, Satan is the first sinner, “because first the devil sinned”(1 John 3:8).