- Part 2 -
"… It seems that none of the people saw the resurrection itself. Otherwise, at least some mention of this would have survived. But there were witnesses of those supernatural phenomena that preceded the miracle and followed it. In one or another composition, eyewitnesses are listed in the Gospels. And we can assume that it was their "testimony" that was used in the Holy Scriptures. If you do not assume otherwise: that the whole story with the resurrection was invented. On which, in fact, the critics of Christianity insisted from the very beginning, calling the miracle a "theological invention" …"
An unexpected miracle
“And they will mock Him, and beat Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him; and on the third day he will rise again,”Jesus said to himself to his closest disciples. But even they did not expect his resurrection. The miracle, which happened at exactly the predicted time, was taken by surprise. And all of them were plunged, to put it mildly, into amazement.
The apostles were informed about the resurrection by Mary Magdalene. As stated in the Gospel of Matthew, “She went and announced to those who were with him, weeping and weeping; But when they heard that He was alive, and she saw Him, they did not believe. " The Apostle Peter "was amazed at what had happened in himself." And Thomas refused to believe his eyes at all. Since then, people have not left doubt. And an even burning desire to find out what happened there after all in the Holy Sepulcher - in a stone cave carved out at the foot of the hill of Calvary - "skull" in translation from the Aramaic language.
“None of us has penetrated into the mystery of Christ's death,” writes archpriest and theologian Nikolai Ivanov on this occasion, “and the human mind cannot say anything about those hours when the body of Christ lay breathless in a stone tomb. But something happened in him … It became alive again, but already different in properties."
In a word, the church hints: don't meddle, people, in this matter. You will not penetrate the secret anyway. However, they climb. And fanatical theologians, and atheists-skeptics, and pseudo-documentaries like Brown, and inventors-ufologists, and even serious scientists. We will return to their hypotheses later. In the meantime, let's turn to the legends that have come down to us.
The apostles did not come
Promotional video:
Something like this looked like the coffin in which Jesus was buried.
1. "Door" - gool - rolled on the chute.
2. The only way to enter the coffin was to bend over.
3. There was a very spacious room inside.
It seems that none of the people saw the resurrection itself. Otherwise, at least some mention of this would have survived. But there were witnesses to those supernatural phenomena that preceded the miracle and followed it. In this or that composition, eyewitnesses are listed in the gospels. And we can assume that it was their “testimony” that was used in the Holy Scriptures. If you do not assume otherwise: the fact that the whole story of the resurrection is invented. On which, in fact, critics of Christianity insisted from the very beginning, calling the miracle "a theological invention."
Only the following is more or less clear: all the Gospels describe the deeds of a certain Joseph from the Jewish city of Arimathea, or Joseph of Arimathea, in almost the same way. He, a rich man and a secret disciple of Jesus, when he learned that he had died on the cross, "dared to come in to Pilate and asked for the Body of Jesus." Pilate gave it away. Joseph bought the shroud, removed the body from the cross, and wrapped it in the shroud. And, as stated in the Gospel of Matthew, “he laid him in his new tomb, which he had carved in the rock; and, having rolled a large stone to the door of the tomb, he departed."
Strange, but the closest associates of Jesus, the apostles, did not take up the sorrowful chores. We just cried and sobbed. And it’s quite a mystery: why none of them came to the funeral?
Who Buried Jesus The
Gospel of Matthew reports that "Mary Magdalene and the other Mary" were present at the burial. Some of the church fathers even suggest that this “other” could be the Most Holy Theotokos herself … But the women did not enter the cave. It is said: "They sat opposite the coffin."
"They looked where they put Him," - the Gospel of Mark already introduces a slight ambiguity. “They looked at the coffin, and as it was supposed to be His Body” - the Gospel of Luke already suggests that women nevertheless went inside and saw Jesus lying there and wrapped in a shroud.
Another character appears in the Gospel of John: "Nicodemus also came … brought a composition of myrrh and aloe, about a hundred liter." (Liter is a Greek measure of weight, approximately 325 grams). Then follows: "… they took the Body of Jesus and wrapped it in swaddling clothes with incense, as the Jews usually bury." Further - again in the plural: “… They laid Jesus there for the sake of Jewish Friday, because the tomb was near.” So how many people participated in the burial? Three? Four? Or more? Did anyone help to roll a huge stone - the so-called golel - at the entrance to the coffin? After all, it was a disk weighing about a ton, which was rolled with difficulty by 20 people.
Ancient Jewish burials discovered in Israel make it possible to imagine what the coffin in which Jesus was placed looked like. As a rule, a special groove was made at its entrance, along which the disc was rolled - gool. The gutters were inclined. The disc could be placed in advance at the top point and supported with a stone. If you knock it out, then the golel itself will roll down the chute.
In other words, Joseph of Arimathea could well close the door on his own. And even without witnesses … But did you cover it?
There is a document from which we can conclude: on Saturday, the entrance to the coffin was open …
HISTORICAL REFERENCE
I put him in his new coffin
The coffin in ancient Judea is a cubic room carved into the rock. It was very expensive. For its construction, it was necessary to cut down several cubic meters of rock, make a passage and niches, carve out a stone that protected the deceased from wild animals. And yet - to cut down the bed for the dead body to the full length of the wall. In Joseph's coffin, the stone bed was to the right of the entrance. In order to save money, about a year after the burial, the coffin was opened. And, having collected the bones, they put them in a special vessel - an ossuary - which was then kept in a side niche. So one tomb could be used for many generations. Joseph had a new coffin. As a rich man, he took care of the tomb in advance. But he gave up the coffin to Jesus …
In the biblical books of the New Testament, there are four Gospels that tell about the burial and resurrection of Jesus. Talking about the same thing, they seem to complement each other. As witness testimony in a certain "case", recorded by "investigators" from the words of different people. But you start comparing them and find inconsistencies. This raises at least two questions. Who was the last person to see the body of Jesus in the tomb? And on what day did it disappear?
There are no definite answers. Perhaps, from this for almost two thousand years there were numerous critics who without hesitation asserted: there was no resurrection - someone simply stole the body of Jesus.
In addition, the high priests and elders, who, in fact, sentenced Jesus to death, immediately began to spread false rumors that his disciples had stolen the body.
"And this word rushed among the Jews to this day" (Matt. 28, 15).
Stone with seven seals
“That day was Friday, and Saturday was coming” (Luke 23, 55). And according to the Bible, the situation looked like this: the body of Jesus, anointed with myrrh and aloe, wrapped in a shroud, was already lying on a ledge carved into the wall of a stone coffin-cave. The entrance to the coffin was closed with a heavy stone-golel. Everyone who participated in the funeral left. Including Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, the organizer and main participant in the burial. Nobody seemed to be going back. At least until Sunday.
However, on Saturday a whole delegation comes to the coffin, and new witnesses appear. But for some reason they are mentioned only in one canonical Gospel - from Matthew. And in the apocryphal (not included in the books of the New Testament), the so-called Gospel of Peter.
The first source says: “… the chief priests and Pharisees gathered to Pilate. And they said: Master! we remembered that the deceiver, while still alive, said: "after three days I will rise again"; So, command to guard the tomb until the third day, so that His disciples, coming at night, do not steal Him and say to the people: "He was raised from the dead"; and the last deception will be worse than the first.
Pilate said to them: You have a watch; go guard as you know. They went and put a guard at the tomb, and put a seal on the stone."
The second source provides more interesting details. Even the name of the centurion sent by Pilate to guard the coffin is reported - Petronius. Further there it is written: “And with them (obviously, with the chief priests and Pharisees) the elders and scribes went to the tomb. And, having rolled a large stone, together with the centurion and the warriors, they rolled to the entrance to the tomb. And, having sealed with seven seals, set up a tent and began to guard."
It turns out that the coffin was open ?!
By whom? Joseph didn't close it? Or did someone visit the grave after him?
And the centurion with the soldiers, high priests and elders - did they look into the cave before rolling and sealing the stone? Have you made sure that the body of Jesus is in place?
The Mysterious Disappearance of Joseph
The books of the New Testament do not say anything about what Joseph of Arimathea did after Jesus was buried. In a strange way, he completely disappeared from the canon story.
Joseph "enters the scene" again in one of the apocryphal Gospels. From Nicodemus. The same one who helped him carry the body of Jesus into the tomb. In the presentation of Nicodemus, the story begins to resemble a mystical detective at all.
Having buried Jesus, Joseph came to the Jews and began to shame them: "You did evil to the righteous and did not repent, crucifying Him, and pierced Him with a spear." He began to frighten: "You will perish forever."
“The Jews, hearing these words, were very angry in their minds and, seizing Joseph, they imprisoned him, where there was (not even) a window. And they bolted the doors of the dungeon, and Anna and Caiaphas (the chief priests) set watchmen. And the council was kept by the priests and the Levites, so that everyone would gather after the Sabbath day and decide what death to put Joseph to death. When they all gathered together, Anna and Caiaphas ordered to bring Joseph."
And then a miracle happened, comparable in some way to the resurrection of Jesus - not in scale, of course, but in essence. It was like this: Anna and Caiaphas came for Joseph, “… they opened the locked doors and did not find Joseph. Seeing this, they were terrified, for they found the prison closed, but they did not find Joseph … And everyone marveled at this."
Andrea Mantegna (1457 - 1460): in his painting Jesus is already impaled with a spear. The artist depicted a deep wound.
Subsequently - a week later - Joseph was found sitting at home in Arimathea. And, according to Nicodemus, he told the following about his disappearance from the locked dungeon: “When they imprisoned me, on Friday evening I stood in prayer on Saturday eve, and the dungeon opened from four corners (there is a translation version that says that in the dungeon four angels showed up), and I saw Jesus like lightning light … And holding my hand, he brought me to Arimathea, to my house, and said to me: “Peace be with you! Until forty days have passed, do not leave your chorus …"
The prosecutor is
tackling the case. The village of Arimathea, now El Rama, was located about 30 kilometers from Jerusalem. On foot - five hours, on a donkey it was possible to get there in two. But from the words of Joseph it follows that he was there instantly. Mystic … Of course. Unless we assume that the story of the miraculous liberation was invented by Joseph himself. But in fact, someone released him from the dungeon, locking it up again. Pontius Pilate, for example, could have dared to do this. According to legend, he was friends with Joseph, had a grudge against the high priests and was deeply worried that he had not saved Jesus from death. Was not Pilate conspiring with his friend?
“Yes, it’s just right to start the“Case of the abduction of the body of Jesus,”agrees a professional lawyer whom I introduced to the collected materials. Now a pensioner, and in the not so distant past an employee of the prosecutor's office, an investigator for especially important cases undertook to help sort out the versions. But he asked not to be named. “From sin,” he said. Explaining: they say, now the time is such that it is not known where to expect an angry reaction - either from the church, or from the former bosses. After all, one way or another, the versions will have to be built, starting from the assumption that there was no resurrection of Jesus. That is, again, "encroach on the foundations."
I have vowed to remain anonymous. And then the prosecutor asked the first question:
- Is there a conclusion about the death of Jesus in the "case"?
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
Testimony of the Apostle Peter
In 1886, during excavations in the Egyptian city of Ahmim, an amulet with pieces of papyrus inside was discovered in an ancient grave. One of them contained a fragment of the so-called Gospel of Peter, perhaps the oldest of all. Coming from the Apostle Peter. The existence of the Gospel was known from other historical documents. But it was considered irretrievably lost. And it did not fall into the number of canonical ones. The fragment of the Gospel of Peter describes the details of both the burial of Jesus and his resurrection.
The solidified resin of
Smyrna, aka myrrh, is a pale yellow stony resin obtained from the Arabian balsamodendron bush, which has been prized as an incense since ancient times.
Aloe is a medicinal plant with fleshy, thorny leaves.
Both were used during burial in the form of powders with which they rubbed the body of the deceased. They formed a solidifying suspension, to which the burial cloth - the shroud - was dried. And it became hardened.
The version that the body of Jesus was stolen from the tomb has existed at all times. True, it was based only on sweeping accusations immediately expressed by some Jews against the disciples of Christ - the apostles. This is really hard to believe. After all, the disciples were so frightened by the reprisals that they did not even come to bury their Teacher.
On the other hand, the "testimony of witnesses" set forth in the canonical and apocryphal Gospels do not allow us to assert with unshakable certainty the opposite: that the body could not be stolen. But if it could, then by whom? And for what? A former employee of the prosecutor's office and an investigator for especially important cases agreed to help with the versions, who asked to keep his name a secret. Let's call him the prosecutor.
Died of a broken heart
Let me remind you that, taking up the "case", the prosecutor first of all asked: how reliable is it that Jesus was put in the grave dead? The meaning of the question is clear. Why fence different hypotheses, if the simplest one is acceptable: Jesus was brought into the cave in a swoon. Then he woke up. I could leave, but I could wait for the visitors …
This version, by the way, is very popular among critics of Christianity. However, it is rejected not only by theologians, but also by materialists - professors of medicine. Numerous studies have been published. Their conclusions are unequivocal: the death of Jesus is a sure fact. It is even known what he died of.
“But one of the soldiers pierced his ribs with a spear, and that hour there came out blood and water,” says the Gospel of John. From this testimony, physicians and repelled.
“When the warrior pierced Christ's ribs with a spear, he was already dead,” explains Samuel Houghton, a renowned physiologist at the University of Dublin. “And the subsequent outflow of blood and water was a natural phenomenon, caused by natural causes, and not a miracle. This can only happen as a result of death from a ruptured heart.
Joseph is about to close the coffin - a drawing from the Bible for children (England).
“I’m quite sure that a ruptured heart really took place,” Dr. William Stroud supports his colleague.
“If Jesus, pierced with a spear, were still alive, then from the wound with each heartbeat, streams of blood would be poured out,” writes Professor Michael Green in his study. “Instead, the observer saw" blood and water. " Although he could not understand the pathological meaning of the picture. But it does fit some very compelling medical evidence of death.
Joseph leads on the trail
“In that case, let's analyze the events once again,” the prosecutor says. - Several women witnessed how the dead body of Jesus, through the efforts of Joseph of Arimathea, was anointed with fragrant resins, wrapped in a shroud and placed in a tomb. But did they see Joseph close the door? Here the "testimonies" differ. Yes, and Peter, in his Gospel, says that the guards who had arrived to guard the coffin rolled the stone to the cave entrance on Saturday. So, it is possible that the door was open. And the body could have been stolen. Who! Guessing is pointless. There are no facts. But one circumstance, in my opinion, allows nevertheless to put forward specific accusations. I mean the "testimony" of Nicodemus about Joseph's strange behavior. Why, after the burial of Jesus, did he go to the very den of the chief priests and Jewish elders? Made a scandal there. And in the end he ended up in prison with the prospect of being executed.
“Where did he disappear from supernaturally,” I remind.
“I think this,” the prosecutor continues, “is the key to the solution. But she will seem too bold.
- Part 2 -