There are many who reprimand priests for using luxurious clothes and golden crosses. It's time to figure out whether the crosses are really golden and where did such a strange "tradition" come from in religion, which preaches love for one's neighbor. No matter how boring it is, but first of all we will have to return to our beloved Romans.
1. Undeserved stereotype
Firstly, when you look at the shiny cross of the priest, you really get the impression that it is completely made of gold.
To reflect all the splendor of the power and splendor of the Lord.
In the vast majority of cases, this is not the case. As a rule, gold directly in crosses is up to 5% of the total volume of materials used. Those. these are either small gold plates or (most often) - gold plating. Sometimes, in the production of crosses, materials similar to gold are used, only to create an "effect" on others.
The material is not declared.
Secondly, sometimes you can hear: "Gold is demonic material." This is a finger-drawn statement. The religious texts do not regulate in any way the list of materials from which church attributes should be made, including crosses. Moreover, Christianity treats gold "in no way." Teaching condemns - greed and selfishness, not the material itself. So you can summarize with a well-known joke: "the little hands are clean!"
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2. Comrade Roman political officer
It is enough naive to poke the church in the passages in the spirit: "Christ walked barefoot, and you hung yourself with gold."
Constantine the Great, after the death of Augustus. Made Christianity one of the dominant religions of the empire.
For a person who knows at least something about history, this should sound like stupidity. As you know, theory and practice do not always correlate. And the church as an organization is one of the best examples here. The key point is that the church, including the Christian church, has always been an ideological organization. And any organization will accumulate resources in one way or another.
One God in heaven - one ruler on Earth. The history of Byzantium began with Constantine.
In the Roman Empire, Christianity was adopted as a state religion for a reason. It was a deliberate political and social step, as well as a declaration. A pagan culture with many gods was no longer suitable for the role of state ideology. The transition was carried out primarily to strengthen the sole power of the emperor.
The bottom line was something like this: if we have one God in heaven, then there should be one ruler on earth (preferably chosen by this God). At that time, the Roman Empire occupied a huge area. For many people, the empire literally was the whole world. So the ideological step - one god, one emperor, seemed to the population quite logical and reasonable. And since the Christian emperor of Rome is God's henchman, disobedience to the emperor is disobedience to God.
Now Sophia of Constantinople is a museum. It was formerly a mosque. Even earlier, it was a Christian cathedral. From the very beginning, it was a grandiose building with luxurious interior decoration.
Why is it said? To the fact that at the time of the adoption of Christianity, the Romans were still pagans in their minds. And they, like ancient people, directly realized that the gods or God - must be honored. What is the best way to show your respect? That's right, build a huge and beautiful temple. In addition, Christianity actively preached the idea that the soul will go to heaven. The rich decoration of temples, the use of incense, gold and silver, beautiful painting with paints - all this was done to enhance the effect on parishioners, to create such a "corner of heaven on earth." An ordinary person who had never seen anything in his life except a plow or a potter's wheel, finding himself in such a place, was literally "hypnotized" and bewitched.
Golden robes and crosses are not at all an invention of domestic priests, but a Byzantine tradition, naturally inherited first by Russia during baptism, and then by Russia.
Later, this will also develop the idea that the temples of the Lord are also an attempt to reflect on the earth all the splendor of his power. Which material shines the most? That's right, gold.
3. Correct PR
Separately, it should be added that luxurious temples, which in the time of Rome, in the early Middle Ages, were also a political declaration, they say, we are like that and can spend a lot of money on it. Foreign merchants, ambassadors from distant states, hostages from yesterday's enemies brought to Rome - all these people saw rich temples and were delighted.
A fragment of Vasnetsov's painting - The Baptism of Rus. In the Middle Ages, the gold and luxury of the Byzantine church made it possible to produce the right effect on the pagans.
Gold, incense and choir helped transform the temple into a corner of paradise on earth.
If the state can spend such resources on the construction of its religious buildings, then it is powerful and rich. And since it is powerful and rich, it means that the gods (or God) favor it - this is a typical (in a good way) model of thought of people of a pagan mentality. In turn, amazed by the greatness of such a country, people will once again think about what kind of policy to pursue in relation to it and whether it is worth doing business with it.
