The division between Orthodoxy and Catholicism has a rich history. It began with events that took place in 1054. It was then that the legates of Pope Leo IX ruling at the time drew up an act of excommunication against Patriarch Michael Kerullarius of Constantinople and the entire Eastern Church. During the liturgy in the Cathedral of St. Sophia, they placed it on the throne and withdrew. Patriarch Michael responded by convening a council, at which, in turn, he excommunicated the papal ambassadors from the Church. The Pope took their side and since then, the Orthodox Churches have ceased to commemorate the popes in their services, and the Latins have been considered schismatic.

Catholicism has more than a billion followers around the world. At the head of the Catholic Church is the Pope, not the Patriarch, as in Orthodoxy. The Pope is the supreme ruler of the Holy See. Earlier in the Catholic Church, all bishops were so called. Contrary to popular belief about the total infallibility of the Pope, Catholics consider only the Pope’s doctrinal statements and decisions to be infallible. At the moment, Pope Francis is at the head of the Catholic Church. He was elected on March 13, 2013, and is the first Pope in many years to meet with the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church. In 2016, Pope Francis met with Patriarch Kirill to discuss the most important issues for Catholicism and Orthodoxy. In particular, the problem of persecution of Christians, which exists in some regions even today.

Dogmas of the Catholic Church
A number of dogmas of the Catholic Church differ from the corresponding understanding of Gospel truth in Orthodoxy.

Filioque is the dogma that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both God the Father and God the Son.
Celibacy is the dogma of clergy celibacy.
Catholic Sacred Tradition includes the decisions made after the seven Ecumenical Councils and the Papal Epistles.
Purgatory is the dogma of an intermediate “station” between hell and heaven, where one can atone for his sins.
The dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary and her bodily ascension.
Communion of the laity with the body of Christ only, of the clergy with the body and blood.

Of course, these are not all the differences from Orthodoxy, but Catholicism recognizes those dogmas that Orthodoxy does not regard as true.

The post Peculiarities of Catholicism appeared first on Mode TheReligion.

Sunnism emerged as a movement as early as the first century of Islam as a result of a power struggle between supporters and relatives of the Prophet Muhammad-the relatives of the murdered third caliph Osman (644-656) of the Meccan Omeya family and supporters of the fourth caliph Ali (656-661), the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad. Ali’s followers defended the special right of his descendants, the Alids, to power, to imamat – mediation between God and men, spiritual and political leadership of the community, and formed another direction in Islam – Shiism.

Sunnis recognized the caliph as the supreme head of the “community of believers” with spiritual and secular power as the successor of the Prophet Muhammad. Since the 10th century, the caliph became a Muslim high priest, almost completely losing political power.

The development of Muslim society required the development of jurisprudence – fiqh. The followers of Sunnism recognized the Quran, Sunna, ijma and qiyas as its basis. Ijma provides the consensus opinion of the theologians-legal scholars on certain religious, legal and everyday issues not mentioned in the Quran or Sunnah, and expresses the opinion of the entire Sunni Muslim community; qiyas means a judgment on provisions not stipulated in the Quran and Sunnah by analogy with the stipulated provisions.

On the basis of the Qur’an and the Sunnah, the jurists-faqihs developed a code of Muslim law, the Shariah (late eighth and early ninth centuries). The Sunnis divided into followers of the four orthodox madhhabs (schools of law) – Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i, and Hanbali. After them, the doors of ijtihad were closed and the application of Muslim law to new social and political phenomena began to be carried out with the help of “fatwas” – conclusions of the highest authoritative clerics made on the basis of the Koran, the Sunna, the Sharia and previously issued “fatwas”.

The post Sunnism appeared first on Mode TheReligion.

Protestantism is one of the movements in Christianity, along with Orthodoxy and Catholicism, that emerged in Europe in the 16th century; Protestants are often referred to as movements in other religions that offer simplifications of doctrine and worship. For example, the Karaites are sometimes called Protestants in Judaism. Nietzsche has been called a Protestant in philosophy.

To the question of what Protestantism is, the easiest answer is a stereotypical one: Protestantism emerges as a protest against the domination and monopoly of the Catholic Church in the spiritual and intellectual life of Europe at that time. In this context one necessarily thinks of the Middle Ages: it was during this period that the hegemony of the Catholic Church was absolute, and “therefore the ages are Middle Ages” because they are between “light antiquity” and “light revival”, which brings us back to the light ideas of the ancient period. “The Middle Ages,” on the other hand, were perceived as times dark and impenetrable. What did it mean to return to antiquity? In fact, it was a return to the ideals of pagan culture.

The ideals of the Renaissance were embraced, including by the clergy, moreover, by the higher clergy. What exactly was embraced? Sensuality and its extreme manifestation, hedonism (the pursuit of sensual pleasures). The official church view of sensual pleasure did not change, it continued to be considered a sin, and when John Wycliffe, Jan Hus, and Girolamo Savonarola protested against total depravity, and called for repentance, they were not only heard, but they received wide support, both among the general masses of people and among the clergy, including the highest.

The English thinker John Wycliffe (1320-1384) was the first to radically raise the issue of church reform and theology. The church, Wycliffe believed, must be as poor as it was in the days of the apostles. It is first of all an assembly of believers, who are all equal before God, and consequently the church hierarchy has no special spiritual status. Wycliffe also opposed monasteries and the monastic way of life because he considered monasteries a breeding ground for vice.

The post Protestantism: The Many Faces of Protest appeared first on Mode TheReligion.

This disagreement arose in the second half of the seventh century, when the struggle for power in the Caliphate intensified and the question of Muhammad’s successor became acute. The Shiites insisted on the transfer of power to Ali, who was the Prophet’s cousin and son-in-law. The Sunnis were of the opinion that the leader was chosen and did not share the thesis about the divine nature of Ali and his descendants.

The result of this confrontation was the de facto military defeat of the Shiites, which put them on the margins of political life. In the middle of the eighth century, Shiism split into two currents – extreme and moderate. The first included the “extreme” (Gulat) and the Ismailis; the second included the Zeidites and the Imamites. Other, less mainstream directions of Shiism are also known: Druzes, Alawites, and Qaisanites.

Followers of Shiism are found practically in all Islamic countries, but most of them are found in Iran and Azerbaijan. A significant part of the population is Shiite in Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, Bahrain.

Shiism has played a large role as a banner for various popular movements using its ideas during uprisings. The common people were close to the postulate of Shiism about the infallibility of the Imam, with whose arrival the kingdom of justice is to be established.

According to Shiite legend, the last 12th Imam disappeared at the age of 9, this event happened no later than 878. There is a version that he did not die but is under the patronage of Allah and must return. The Shiites call the last Imam – “The Hidden Imam” or Sahib azzaman (the lord of time, muntazar (the expected Mahdi Messiah)). It should be noted that in Shiism, unlike Sunnism, the Imam is a mediator between God and man, a kind of bearer of divine substance. Shiites believe that the Imam is infallible, has supernatural abilities and possesses occult knowledge.

Supporters of Shiism adhere to a certain hierarchy of religious figures, at the head of which stands the ayatollah. He is subordinated to the mujtahids, who may express their opinions on religious matters.

It is important to note that there have been recent attempts to reduce tensions between Sunnis and Shiites. This is facilitated by providing Muslims with reliable information about adherents of the opposite direction. For example, among Sunnis there are many erroneous views of Shiites, that they supposedly have a different Koran, worship Ali as God (in Islam worship of anyone except Allah is not allowed), do not recognize the first three caliphs (who ruled before Ali), replace the five obligatory daily prayers (namaz) with one, do not pay zakat (2.5% of savings for the poor), etc. It is easy to see that these perceptions are untrue, and debunking them will make it possible to establish a dialogue between Shiites and Sunnis within the framework of their common faith in Islam.

The post Shiism is one of the main currents of Islam appeared first on Mode TheReligion.

Many deny Confucianism the right to be called a religion. Indeed, everything associated with religion–tales of God or gods, spirits, the posthumous fate of the soul and the afterlife–is marginalized in the discourse of Confucius, who was more concerned with moral and social issues.

However, when we consider the heritage of Confucius as a whole, it is not correct to interpret these texts as denying religiosity in general. Confucius spoke little about religious things, not because he denied or ignored them, but largely because this was an area he felt least in need of correction.

Confucius did not begin his teaching from a blank sheet of paper; on the contrary, he emphasized that he preached wisdom from antiquity. So he was quite receptive to that complex of religious beliefs that had come down to him from his ancestors. Three elements can be distinguished in these beliefs: from ancient times, the Chinese worshipped Heaven (Tian), worshipped spirits, and worshipped the souls of dead ancestors.

The oldest Chinese inscriptions preserved on divination bones contain references to Shan-di, “the Supreme Lord”. That’s how the Chinese called the most important God on whom everything in the world depended, but besides him they recognized the existence of lower gods and spirits who, like people, were subject to Shang-di’s will.

Also the Chinese from antiquity used the notion of Tian (“heaven”) when speaking of the supreme God[2]. Some scholars suggest that Shang-di referred to a personal god and Heaven to an impersonal divine power, but texts often use both concepts as synonyms. In later times the name “Heaven” begins to be used much more frequently than “Shang-di”.

Two notions are closely connected with Heaven in China: min (the will of Heaven) and tyang-min (the right to reign granted by Heaven). Through min and tyang-min Heaven acts in the world of men. Everything that happens in a person’s life – health, sickness, wealth, poverty, etc. – is done according to min. A virtuous ruler receives a min-min and his reign runs well, but if he or one of his successors becomes corrupt and stops taking care of his subjects, then he loses his min-min, the country is in turmoil, and he is overthrown.

Among the lower deities, the spirit of the Earth was especially revered, and there were altars dedicated to it in the courts of rulers and in every village. It was often prayed to for a successful harvest. Other especially worshipped spirits also had capitals or altars.

The post Confucianism as a religion appeared first on Mode TheReligion.

So, in this Eastern country, more than eighty and a half percent of the entire population is a follower of Hinduism. India is one of only three countries in which Hinduism is a major religion. It also includes Nepal and Mauritania. It is a very ancient religion. Its history goes back thousands of years. The first mention of Hinduism can be found in the writings of the Harappan (Indian) civilization, which dates back to 5500-2600 BC. Its prototype are the Vedas, which were dedicated to the demigods Indra – the king of all gods, Varuna – the guardian of justice, as well as the god of world waters, and Agni – the god of fire. The main feature of Hinduism at that time was the sacrifice and repetition of mantras.

The spread of religion throughout India was facilitated by the emergence of Buddhism and other religions that today form such a rich Indian culture.

Throughout its long period of existence, Hinduism has absorbed many different traditions and philosophies. At times they even contradict each other. Thus, despite the fact that Hinduism, like all Indian religions, has many gods, it still has the idea of one supreme deity who represents a single divine conduction.

The primary goal of all followers of this religion is to reconnect with this very power. To this end, Hindus meditate, participate in various rituals or yoga classes. In addition to the many gods in Hinduism, there is also the concept of demons. And they have many demons – millions of demons that also have flesh and gender. In order to seduce righteous Hindus, they may take the form of attractive people, even though they are actually quite ugly, according to Hinduism.

Nevertheless, it is still possible to distinguish basic traits and beliefs in Hinduism. For example, absolutely all Hindus believe in karma and reincarnation. There is also the doctrine of the two afterworlds in Hinduism: sansara and the exit from it. But, by its very nature, sansara is another way of calling reincarnation, as it is the transition of the soul from one body to another. The exit from samsara in Hindi is also called moksha. Moksha is the process of the soul merging without sin with a higher divine power.

To study its many traditions and rituals, one must visit India, a country where this religion is widespread.

The post Hinduism in India. The History and Main Features of the Religion appeared first on Mode TheReligion.

Title
Islam is the religion that reflects in its name the meaning of the message. It is possible to meet sometimes in some texts and analogue in the form of “Mohammedanism”, invented on behalf of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). But in the Holy Book, and by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), this religion is referred to as “Islam.

How is the word Islam translated? In Arabic it means “submitting oneself to God. And from this comes the word “Muslim. That is, it is someone who has “surrendered himself to the service of God.” Allah Almighty approves of this particular form of service to Him. The Qur’an says: “Today I have perfected your religion for your sakes and finished My mercy upon you and approved Islam as your religion” (sura al-Maida, The Supper, ayat 5).

Another ayat of the Holy Book also says: “From him who seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted, and in the Last Life he will be among the losers” (surah “al Imran”, “The Family of Imran”, ayat 85)

Worship
The Creator Another feature of Islam is that the object of worship is the Creator. Not an animal, not a person, not an idea, not a group of people, not a spirit or any other creature, but the Creator Himself. The worship of the One Creator is the call sent down in the Qur’an:

“Apart from Him you worship only the names that you and your fathers invented. Allah has not sent down any proof for them. Allah alone decides. He has commanded that you worship none but Him. This is the right faith, but most people don’t know it” (Surah Yusuf, ayat 40).

Universality
The basic idea of Islam is monotheism and doing the will of the Most High. Wherever and whenever one recognizes that God is one and is the creator of all things, one becomes on the path of Islam. It is enough to reject the service of creatures and recognize the worthy service of the one God.

It should also be noted that for sincere service to the Most High man must not only distinguish between good and evil, but also make a choice between the two. Such freedom of will, granted by the Almighty, also implies responsibility for the choice made. Thus, the Almighty says in the Qur’an: “Verily, believers, as well as Jews, Christians, and Sabaeans, who believe in Allah and the Last Day and act righteously, have a reward with their Lord.

Natural inclination to it.
As the religious texts say, every person is naturally inclined toward monotheism from birth. Thus, in surah “al-A’raf” (“Obstacles”), Allah Almighty says:

“Behold, your Lord took out of the loins of the sons of Adam their offspring and made them testify against themselves: “Am I not your Lord?” They said, “Yes, we testify.”

The post The Four Peculiarities of Islam appeared first on Mode TheReligion.

A God who is devoid of personality traits and free will is called a “philosophical God” and belongs to philosophy, not religion. The philosophical God and the religious God only have a name in common. The philosophical God cannot act as he pleases, cannot do as he wishes. Moreover, he cannot wish at all, much less arbitrarily (i.e., voluntarily) follow his will.

As a consequence, the philosophical God is not subject to a cult. A cult presupposes that God can be influenced (by sacrifices, prayers, other rites), but an impersonal God cannot be influenced. The cult of the philosophical God makes no sense: what is the point of praying and asking God for forgiveness if he will not hear anyway, if he cannot hear or respond to our pleas at all? In antiquity, Aristotle’s God and Plotinus’ God were philosophical.

Unlike ancient philosophy, Christianity does not boast of diversity. Throughout its history, it has created one single picture of the world, although it cannot be said that this picture is the same for all Christian thinkers. The uniqueness of the Christian picture is certainly not a drawback. Christianity is a religion, not a philosophy, and it would be ridiculous if it changed its picture like a glove.

Christian doctrine is the product of a long historical development. Even if we accept that it is already contained in the sacred books of Christians (the Holy Scriptures), it took a great deal of effort and time before it was brought to light and found a more or less coherent form. And the multitude of Christian heresies proves that Scripture allows for different and often contradictory interpretations, so it cannot be said that Christian teaching derives unambiguously from its primary sources.

Sacred Scripture is also called the Bible (Greek: Books) and consists of the books of the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Christians inherited the books of the Old Testament from the Jews; the books of the New Testament were written by themselves. The main content of the Old Testament is the creation of the world and the history of the Jewish people, the main content of the New Testament is the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. In its fullest form, the life and teachings of Christ are set forth in books called the Gospels (translated from the Greek as “good news”). The composition of the New Testament was not formed immediately, but in the course of a long and careful selection, which was completed only by the end of the second century. The books included in the New Testament are called “canonical” (from the Greek “canon” – rule, model), all other works of early Christians are “apocryphal” (from the Greek “apocryphos” – secret).

The post Peculiarities of the Christian worldview appeared first on Mode TheReligion.

Buddhism is more of a philosophy aimed at working on yourself and your consciousness than a religion. The main distinguishing feature of Buddhism is that it is not imposed or advertised to anyone – you have to come to it yourself in search of answers to your life questions.

Minimalism
Over time, you will begin to realize that things are not so important to happiness, that you can do with a minimum set of household items for a comfortable life.

You will no longer chase after new gadgets imposed by advertising, you will realize that even with the old and already native smartphone or laptop is quite comfortable. This will manifest itself in everything from going out to eat to shopping for clothes. You will get rid of this modern disease: stuffiness.

Tolerance
You will become much more tolerant of everything that happens in the world, including people who do not share your views on life.

Every time you interact with a person you will understand that all people are different and everyone has their own way to happiness, even if it seems quite crazy to you. After all, all religions say the same thing, just in different languages.

Healthy Lifestyle
As a consequence of studying the philosophy of Buddhism, you will gradually realize how good it is to have a healthy way of thinking, and without a healthy lifestyle it is impossible.

You will study all your bad habits and start to get rid of them, because this way you will be freer and therefore much happier. You will realize that alcohol and other intoxicating substances have a detrimental effect on your consciousness, it becomes clouded and doesn’t belong to you under their influence, and this harms your constant work on yourself.

Meditation
In Buddhism, meditation is one of the main tools for keeping your mind clear and finding your “self”. You will learn to meditate, even if it seems strange at first. Then it will become a useful habit.

Flexibility
Buddhism teaches you to be flexible and not to go to extremes in your beliefs. All our ideas of what is good and what is bad are born of subjective perception. There is no black and white – everything is relative.

The closest you can come to conscious actions is when you detach yourself from your subjective views and selfish intentions. Decisions will be made not under the influence of emotions, but by constructing logical chains. Of course, they may be wrong too, but we are all here to learn.

Humanity
You can help not only your loved ones, but also other people, those who are in need. You will become more sympathetic to those whom you did not notice or did not want to notice before.

A kind attitude toward others is the way to yourself, to the purification of consciousness. You won’t need gratitude, you will help others simply because you have to, no other way, “who else but me.

Serenity
You will become as calm as an elephant, stop grumbling and worrying about nothing. Some people will be stressed by your calmness, people are used to pouring everything out, but you just won’t have anything to pour out, because you are “empty. You will be calm with other people, with yourself, with your problems. After all, everything is relative, you just need to look at what is happening from a different angle.

Personal life
There will also be metamorphoses in your personal life. Your understanding of your partner will improve, you will learn to better care for a loved one and appreciate him more.

Uncommon knowledge
If you didn’t know about reincarnation, mantras and samsara before, Buddhism will expand your knowledge and thesaurus.

You will start to accept some things within yourself, even though you used to think that this was nothing. You will especially like the idea of human rebirth (reincarnation): in the next life you could very well become an astronaut or a baobab, and it depends on how you live that life.

Personal Growth
The wheel of your personal qualities, thanks to the Buddhist approach, will begin to unwind with new force: you will become more disciplined, calm, responsible, observant. The growth will occur evenly, without obvious distortions.

You’ll notice that you’re getting better as a person, and other people will notice it. You will become more aware of your reality and control your relationship to events. Your inner strength and energy will grow day by day and your optimistic attitude will become your best ally on the way to success.

Buddhism is an ancient philosophy of searching for oneself, working on one’s mind and attitude toward life. It does not impose its rules and foundations. Even if you don’t accept everything Buddhism teaches (such as belief in reincarnation, samsara and karma), but only some of it, this knowledge can make your life better.

The post How Buddhism Affects Life appeared first on Mode TheReligion.

The history of the emergence of Judaism is quite interesting not only for children, who begin to comprehend it from the very birth, but also for the common man. The name “Judaism” comes from the name of the tribe of Judah, the Jewish tribe. According to the Bible, this tribe is the most numerous of all Israel’s tribes. By the way, what is remarkable is that the separation of “Jew” (one who preaches Judaism) and “Jew” (nationality) occurs only in some Slavic languages. For the most part, people use the name “Jew” to refer to both a person of that faith and a Jew by nationality. Most “uninitiated” people who do not preach this faith believe that Judaism is a religion. However, if we examine the concept more broadly, it becomes clear that Judaism is not just a religion, but a specific set of ideas about life that Jews are guided by.

Judaism is about four thousand years old, incommensurably older than Christianity. By its type, Judaism is a monotheistic religion. This means that the religion has a founder. Many religious teachings are philosophical doctrines for their peoples that require interpretation. But Judaism differs from these religions in that it is the only valid law for its people.

The axiom for Jews is the observance of the Torah, the equivalent of the Bible. This book helps with prayers, talks about the various festivals and their celebration. In addition to those topics directly related to religion and faith, the teachings also talk about everyday topics. For example, about relationships, parenting, patterns of behavior, and many others.

At the heart of the Jewish law are six hundred and thirteen commandments, which tell about the rules of religion. They are roughly divided into two groups:

Those that prescribe anything. Two hundred and forty-eight commandments tell and prescribe a pattern of behavior for Jews.
Those that forbid anything. Three hundred and sixty-five commandments (as many as there are days in the year) that forbid anything for believers of this religion.

Judaism, the peculiarities of whose religion are astounding, conceals many interesting facts. Another point that simply cannot be avoided is the Sabbath. While in other religions the day off is Sunday, from the resurrection of Jesus, in Judaism the day off is Saturday. And the Sabbath begins on Friday evening, when Jews wish each other “Shabbat shalom,” which means “peaceful Sabbath,” and stop all work. Even turning the lights on and off, tying shoelaces and pushing the elevator button are meant by work. Therefore, the nation has devised many different devices that allow one to rest in comfort on Shabbat without having to do any work at all.

The post Judaism: Features of Religion appeared first on Mode TheReligion.