Father Savva was very much afraid of the arrival of aliens, since there was a strong opinion in parish circles that they were not there
“Of course, I don’t dare to fantasize on this topic,” he sighed over tea in the monastery garden. - But it seems to me that the crafty one is not a creator and he himself hardly conceived other worlds.
- How so! - exclaimed his eternal opponent, Father George. “Obviously, little green men are devils. You just need to overshadow them with the sign of the cross, and they will immediately evaporate.
- God grant! - Father Savva nodded, but added: What if they don't evaporate? What, then, in my old age, besides Latin, can I also comprehend the Martian !?
(St. John Okhlobystin)
The study, conducted in 22 countries, showed that every fifth respondent believes that alien "agents" are living on Earth, posing as people. In India and China, more than 40% believe this. The least inclined to admit this are the inhabitants of Belgium, Sweden and the Netherlands - there are only 8% of believers in aliens.
“What do you think explains the popularity of the belief in alien aliens? Is it widespread, in your opinion, in our country? - with such questions the REGIONS. RU correspondent turned to the clergy.
Archpriest Boris Mikhailov, rector of the Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos in Fili, suspects that such performances, unfortunately, are not uncommon in our country.
“The spread of such ideas is connected in many respects with general religious degradation, a return to primitive forms of religious experience. After all, aliens from other worlds are nothing more than the spirits of the underworld of the dead, if we mean the universal model of the universe, the so-called. Of the World Tree, which arose at the turn of the XII-XI millennia BC. It is present in the minds of many more people, although in a twisted form (now, in contrast to past eras, the emphasis is on exploring the “underground” area),”he said.
"These primitive religious ideas are also expressed in some aspects of modern culture and art: in a number of works of avant-garde painting, cinema and music (especially in rock)," added the archpriest.
Hegumen Melety (Sokolov), a teacher at the Moscow Theological Seminary, also believes that belief in aliens is widespread in Russia.
“This is, naturally, caused by the spiritual illiteracy of the population. Moreover, this spiritual illiteracy is constantly fueled by the media - in particular, stories about aliens allegedly visiting Earth,”he said.
“There is a spiritual world. And the Church knows that thinking, acting and very active beings live in this world. This is the world of angels - light and fallen, influencing a person. And a person who is in a state of spiritual illiteracy can accept any fantasies that are imposed by the spirits of darkness,”the Father Superior added.
Priest Andrey Alekseev, cleric of the church of St. mchts. Paraskevy Pyatnitsa in Katchalov, noted that, unfortunately, in our time, such ideas are becoming more widespread.
“And this is primarily due to the spiritual ignorance of people, the lack of basic knowledge about the spiritual world. Recognizing the existence of the spiritual world itself, people often limit their knowledge of it to very superficial ideas, being carried away by images that spread by no means good forces,”he said.
“If in the old days demons confused people with various dragons, then today, in the age of technical achievements, these are ideas about various alien civilizations, aliens, etc.,” the priest believes.
“Alas, due to spiritual ignorance, this topic has become very attractive for many people. Many media outlets speculate on this topic. All this speaks of a very low level of spiritual culture and an elementary ignorance of the foundations of faith,”he concluded.
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Priest Georgy Roshchin, deputy. prev. Department of the MP on relations between the Church and Society, blames the spread of superstitions about aliens the film and television industry.
“The belief in aliens living on earth is shaped primarily by film production. Therefore, it is difficult to judge the seriousness of the grounds for such a belief,”he stressed.
“I think that in Russia adherents of belief in alien beings can only be among the non-believing, non-church public. The Church clearly expresses its position that the earthly civilization is one of a kind,”said Father George.
“Some theologians argue on the topic of other worlds, proceeding from certain texts of Scripture. In particular, there is a place in the Gospel where the Savior says: “My Father has many mansions,” which makes it possible to assume that our world is not the only one. But this, most likely, lies in the field of theoretical theological reflection and is not connected with those superstitious ideas about aliens that we draw from television programs,”added the priest.
“Here you can give advice: trust the entertainment industry less and litter your head with such pseudo-beliefs less, and pay more attention to your own life, to the moral education of our inner hearts, to building good relations with our loved ones,” he concluded.
Priest Georgy Belodurov,The cleric of the Resurrection (Three Confessors) Church in Tver, an employee of the missionary department of the Tver Diocesan Administration, suspects that the love of the newcomers is akin to the love of superheroes among the people.
“This belief is a product of science fiction. The mysterious and unknown have always attracted people,”he said.
“Understandably, in certain social and cultural settings, such beliefs are more common. There are very practical peoples who are not very fond of such fiction. These include, for example, the Germans. As for the Chinese, if we look at their culture, then all these flying movie heroes really are somewhat similar to aliens, said Father George.
Rushan-khazrat Abbyasov, head of the international department of the Council of Muftis of Russia, believes that the possibility of the existence of other worlds cannot be ruled out.
“In Islam, there is no belief in omens and other superstitions. A person, first of all, must rely on the Almighty,”he said.
“The Quran says that the Almighty is the Lord of the worlds: the world of angels, the world of jinn, the world of man, the world of animals, and so on. Maybe there is a world and some other creatures - creatures unknown to us. The time will come, and the Almighty will reveal to people the knowledge about them. But today science cannot say anything about this yet,”Rushan-khazrat concluded.
The head of the press service of the Council of Muftis of Russia, Gulnur-khanum Gazieva, believes that superstitious ideas about aliens are an attempt to escape the problems of real life.
“It is difficult to judge the reasons that led to such statistics. Here, of course, is the influence of films and television programs, which play on the strings of human gullibility. Belief in aliens is a superstition, when they try to explain everything unusual by the intervention of “agents” of other worlds. Sometimes it seems that the topic of aliens is being heavily pedaled in those regions that have a number of social problems. And both India and China, despite the miracles of economic growth, have obvious social problems. And such problems are sometimes deliberately drowned out by such information,”she stressed.
“I would like to believe that truly believers will not be led by such superstitions. We have been given earthly life in reality, we should not go into fantasy. And earthly life is a great preparation for eternal life. And it is necessary to approach it realistically, no matter how difficult it is,”Gulnur-khanum summed up.
Borukh Gorin, head of the public relations department of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, noted the anthropocentricity of the idea of the creation of the world by God.
“Judaism has never dealt with the study of extraterrestrial civilizations: it teaches that this whole world was created for man. And Judaism is simply not interested in the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations,”he stressed.
“And people believe in“little green men”precisely because it cannot be proved and verified,” summed up Mr. Gorin.