The history of the creation of the world in different religions. Creation of the world by God - biblical story
According to the concept of Taoism, the creation of the Universe occurs as a result of several simple principles and stages. In the beginning there was emptiness - Wu-ji, the unknown. From the vacuum, two basic forms or processes of energy are formed: Yin and Yang. The combination and interaction of Yin and Yang forms qi - energy (or vibrations) and ultimately everything that exists.
Christianity
The central dogma of creation in modern Christianity is Lat. Creatio ex Nihilo - “creation from nothing”, in which the creator, who called all things from non-existence, is God in his act of will (Latin productio totius substantia^ ex nihilo sui et subjecti), transferring all things from a state of non-existence to a state of being. God also acts as the primary cause of the existence of the world. The process of creation of the world is described in the first 3 chapters of the book of Genesis. According to the Bible, the world was created in 6 days, when on the 6th, the last day, the first man was created.
Some Christian denominations (for example, Catholics) do not require believers to understand the first chapters of Genesis as a literal description of the process of creation and allow them to be viewed as an allegorical story about the creation of the world by God.
Many of the modern Orthodox theologians prescribe to understand here by day a certain stage of the creation of the world, which in duration does not correspond exactly to the astronomical day.
At the same time, in modern Orthodoxy quite a lot of theologians insist on a literal understanding of the first chapters of the book of Genesis. Evangelical Christians and Protestants (Lutherans, etc.) basically adhere to a literal 6-day creation of the world.
Jainism
Jain mythology contains detailed information about the structure of the world. According to it, the universe includes the world and the non-world; the latter is inaccessible to penetration and knowledge.
The world, according to the ideas of the Jains, is divided into higher, middle and lower, and the whole of it consists of three, as it were, truncated cones. Jain mythology describes in detail the structures of each of the worlds and those who inhabit them: plants, animals, people, inhabitants of hell, a huge number of deities.
The lower world, consisting of seven layers, is filled with stench and impurities. In some layers there are denizens of hell suffering from torture; in others - disgusting black creatures, similar to ugly birds, sexless, constantly tormenting each other.
The middle world consists of oceans, continents, islands. There are mountains (some of gold and silver), groves with fairy trees, ponds covered blooming lotuses; palaces, the walls and grilles of which are strewn with precious stones. In legends there are descriptions of rocks on which thrones stand intended for the initiation of Tirthankars. Some islands belong to lunar, solar and other deities. In the center of the middle world rises the world mountain, the so-called Mandara.
The upper world consists of 10 (for the Shvetambaras) or 11 (for the Digambaras) layers. Each layer is divided into sublayers inhabited by numerous deities; often their names are only mentioned and no description is given. At the very top, in the special abode of Siddhakshetra (the highest point of the universe), reside siddhis - liberated souls.
In Jainism there are a huge number of deities that differ from each other social status: some have the power of servants, warriors, advisors; others are described as reminiscent of earthly pariahs, the most powerless and poorest of people. Depending on their position, deities live in the higher, middle or lower worlds. In different kingdoms upper world there is a rebirth of people and animals. After the expiration of the divine being's term, they can return to their previous state.
The world was created either from a certain cosmic egg, or from primary heat, or from the sacrifice of the first man Purusha to himself (from parts of his body), but in any case, this was preceded by a certain cosmic sexual act, although it is not at all clear who by whom. As the author of the “Hymn on the Creation of the World” (part of the Rig Veda) wrote:
There was neither death nor immortality then.
There was no sign of day or night.
It breathed without disturbing the air, according to its own law
Something One, And there was nothing else but it.
There were fertilizers. There were tensile forces.
Gust below. Satisfaction at the top.
Where did this creation come from:
Maybe it created itself, maybe not -
He who oversees this world in the highest heaven,
Only he knows. Or maybe he doesn’t know either?
Orthodox Buddhism denies the eternal existence of gods, the creation of the world, and the existence of the soul.
The creation of the world in the Koran is described somewhat differently than in the Bible. Islam does not reject the idea of weekly holiday, which, as you know, is justified in the Bible by the message that the Lord God rested on this seventh day from the work of creating the world, but Friday is considered a holiday. “Your Lord is Allah, who created the heavens and the earth in six days.” "Al A'raf" (7:54) According to modern researchers In the Qur'an, the word "ayam", one of the translations of which is "days", should be interpreted as designating a long period of time, an era, and not as "day" (twenty-four hours). "Revelation from Him who created the earth and the heavens." "Taha" (20:4)
The creation of heaven to earth and earth to heaven, here we are talking about Creation in general. “And Allah ascended to the sky, which was like smoke” “Fusilat” (41:11) “Do not the disbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were united, and then We separated them?” “Al-Anbiya” (21:30) The creation of a single gaseous mass (durkhan), the elements of which, although united at the beginning (ratg), then become separate elements (fatg). “He created day, night, sun and moon. They move along their own circular path." “Al-Anbiya” (21:33) The Bible speaks of the Sun and the Moon as two luminaries - to rule the day and control the night, and the Koran distinguishes them by using different epithets: light (nur) about the Moon and torch (siraj) about the Sun.
There is a Higher Power, which is called Atsmuto, which translated means “in itself” or essence, essence. This force is unknowable in principle, because it has no connection with creation.
A thought arose in Atsmuto: to create a creation with the purpose of pleasing it.
The thought of creating a creation in order to fill it with absolute pleasure is called “Creator”. (This very thought!) The result of this thought, its imprint, is the creation that enjoys this thought. To what extent can it enjoy it? To the extent of its similarity. This thought is perfection, it is the highest. Therefore, to bring creation to perfection, to pleasure, means to raise it to the level of this thought, the Plan of Creation. The similarity of this thought means in creation its correction and elevation, its achievement of the highest, best state.
“Ten things were created on the first day. Here they are: heaven and earth, confusion and emptiness, light and darkness, spirit and water, the quality of day and the quality of night” Talmud (tractate Chagigah 12:1) “By the Word of God the heavens were created” (Tehillim 33:6). In Talmudic literature they often say about the Almighty: “He who spoke, and the world came into being.” “By ten sayings the world was created” (Avot 5:1).
According to the Torah, God is the Creator of the entire world, visible and invisible, material and spiritual, but its story about the creation of the world needs some explanation.
God created the world not from the materials that existed before and not from the materials He created, but from absolutely nothing. Of course, this is very difficult to understand: after all, here the human mind is very close to the edge beyond which ordinary logic is powerless. Before the moment of creation, not only did there not exist any “available materials”, there was no space and time, which were then created by God in the same way as everything else.
God created the world according to a certain plan, according to a certain program. The world was not created instantly, but as a result of a long process, including seven periods, called “days” in the Torah.
The length of each of them is anyone's guess, but Torah commentators like to refer to a psalm that says that "with God one day is like a thousand years."
God did not create the world with his own “hands”, like, for example, a sculptor. He said: “Let it be...” - and it became just like that, i.e. He created the world with words, or, as they say, “sayings.” With God there is no distinction between word and deed.
Starting from a certain moment, the already created world becomes a partner in creation, an associate of God in His creation. God says: “Let the earth grow...” (Gen. 1.11), and the earth is included in the process of creation. God says: “Let the water produce...” (Gen. 1.20), and the water also begins to create. “And God saw that it was good” (Gen. 1.25). However, the world acquires meaning and completeness only after the creation of man.
It was in China that the most important cosmic forces were not the elements, but the male and female principles, which are the main active forces in the world. The famous Chinese yin and yang sign is the most common symbol in China.
One of the most famous myths about the creation of the world was recorded in the 2nd century BC. e. It follows from it that in ancient times there was only dark chaos, in which two principles gradually formed by themselves - Yin (dark) and Yang (light), which established the eight main directions of world space. After these directions were established, the Yang spirit began to rule the heavens, and the Yin spirit began to rule the earth.
The earliest written texts in China were fortune-telling inscriptions. The concept of literature - wen (drawing, ornament) was initially designated as an image of a person with a tattoo (hieroglyph). By the 6th century BC e. the concept of wen acquired the meaning of a word. The books of the Confucian canon appeared first: the Book of Changes - I Ching, the Book of History - Shu Jing, the Book of Songs - Shi Jing XI - VII centuries. BC e. Ritual books also appeared: Book of Ritual - Li Ji, Records of Music - Yue Ji; chronicles of the kingdom of Lu: Spring and Autumn - Chun Qiu, Conversations and judgments - Lun Yu. A list of these and many other books was compiled by Ban Gu (32-92 AD).
In the book History of the Han Dynasty, he recorded all the literature of the past and his time. In the I - II centuries. n. e. One of the brightest collections was Izbornik - Nineteen Ancient Poems. These poems are subordinated to one main idea - the transience of a short moment of life. In ritual books there is the following legend about the creation of the world: Heaven and earth lived in a mixture - chaos, like the contents chicken egg: Pan-gu lived in the middle (this can be compared with the Slavic idea of the beginning of the world, when Rod was in the egg).
Zoroastrianism
The Zoroastrians created an interesting concept of the universe. According to this concept, the world has existed for 12 thousand years. Its entire history is conventionally divided into four periods, each lasting 3 thousand years.
The first period is the pre-existence of things and ideas. At this stage of heavenly creation there already existed the prototypes of everything that was later created on Earth. This state of the world is called Menok ("invisible" or "spiritual").
The second period is considered to be the creation of the created world, that is, the real, visible, inhabited by “creatures.” Ahura Mazda creates the sky, the stars, the Moon, the Sun, the first man and the first bull. Beyond the sphere of the Sun is the abode of Ahura Mazda himself. However, Ahriman begins to act at the same time. It invades the firmament, creates planets and comets that do not obey the uniform movement of the celestial spheres.
Ahriman pollutes the water and sends death to the first man Gayomart and the primeval bull. But from the first man are born man and woman, from whom the human race descends, and from the first bull come all animals. From the collision of two opposing principles, the whole world begins to move: waters become fluid, mountains arise, celestial bodies move. To neutralize the actions of “harmful” planets, Ahura Mazda assigns her spirits to each planet.
The third period of the existence of the universe covers the time before the appearance of the prophet Zoroaster.
During this period, the mythological heroes of the Avesta act: the king of the golden age - Yima the Shining, in whose kingdom there is no heat, no cold, no old age, no envy - the creation of the devas. This king saves people and livestock from the Flood by building a special shelter for them.
Among the righteous of this time, the ruler of a certain region, Vishtaspa, the patron of Zoroaster, is also mentioned. During the last, fourth period (after Zoroaster) in each millennium, three Saviors should appear to people, appearing as the sons of Zoroaster. The last of them, Savior Saoshyant, will decide the fate of the world and humanity. He will resurrect the dead, destroy evil and defeat Ahriman, after which the world will be cleansed with a “flow of molten metal”, and everything that remains after this will gain eternal life.
Myths of Ancient Egypt
The most famous Egyptian creation myth originated in the city of Heliopolis. According to him, in the beginning there was only chaos. From it came the sun god Ra, and then everything else. First of all, Ra created from himself the first pair of gods - Shu (air) and Tefnut (moisture). From them were born Geb (earth) and Nut (sky). Geb and Nut had four children: Osiris, Isis, Set and Nephthys. The legend about them is given in this article.
Osiris and Isis became the parents of the falcon god Horus. Nephthys also had a child from Osiris, the jackal-headed god of embalming Anubis. The wife of Horus was considered Hathor, the goddess of love, music and dance. Ra sailed across the sky in his boat every day. And every night the sun god made a dangerous journey through the underworld, where he had to defeat the personification of darkness and darkness - the serpent Apophis, in order to appear again in the sky in the morning.
The thought that Maximus the Confessor expresses when discussing mutual joy can also be associated with the concept of mutual love. “God is love” (1 John 4:8), the Evangelist John tells us. And this Divine love is not self-centered, but mutual, it is distributed among everyone who is involved in it. God is not just some Being, independent, separate and loving only Himself. God is Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All Three Persons love each other and are connected to each other in a continuous movement of mutual communication. God is not personal, but interpersonal, representing not just unification, but fusion. One of the characteristic terms that the Cappadocian Fathers use to describe the Holy Trinity is communion.
Therefore, if God as the Holy Trinity represents the sacrament of shared love, this means that the decision to create the world is in perfect harmony with the nature of God, since Creation allows others besides Him to share in this movement of Trinitarian love. By saying that this choice is in accordance with the nature of God, I do not mean that God was in any way “obliged” to create the world. On the contrary, no internal or external factors God was not forced to make such a gesture. He acted absolutely freely. God is necessary for the world, but the world is not necessary for God. As the Russian theologian Georgy Frolovsky said: “The world exists. But he began to exist. And this means: there might not have been peace. There is no need for the world to exist. The cause and foundation of the world is outside the world. The existence of the world is possible only through the extra-mundane will of the All-Good and Almighty God” (“Creation and Creatureness”).
However, despite the fact that God creates the world with absolute and perfect freedom, and the world, accordingly, is an expression of His free will, God in the act of creation also reveals His true nature - love. Let us remember here the words of Saint Dionysius the Areopagite that Divine love is ecstatic, which means that it is located outside of Him. God created the world because his love “spills out.” Without this pouring love, the world would never exist. And instead of talking about creation ex nihilo (out of nothing), it would be more correct to talk about creation ex amore (out of love).
If we view Creation in this way—as an expression of mutual joy and mutual love—then no theistic view that the universe is a work and a holy Creator is an architect or craftsman can satisfy us. We cannot accept the image of the universe as a kind of clock that the watchmaker only makes, winds and then leaves to run.
Undoubtedly, such points of view are erroneous. According to the remark of Saints Maximus the Confessor and Dionysius the Areopagite, Creation is not an act in which God acts only externally, but an act through which God is expressed internally. God is not only outside of creation, but also within it. The first images with which we describe the connection of God with the world should not depict the One who gives the world shape, changes it and organizes it. We must imagine God as an entity living within everything, present everywhere and forever. When we say that God is the Creator of the universe, we mean that God is “everywhere existing and fulfilling all things,” using the words that Orthodox Church addresses both Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Closely related to this issue is another topic that I would like to touch upon. The creation of the world should be interpreted not as an event that occurred once in the past, but as continuing to be associated with the present. The world exists because God loves it, and not because he once loved it in the distant past, at the very beginning, but because he loves it here and now, at this very moment and in every next one. We should speak of Creation not at some vague point in time, but in the present. We should not say that once upon a time, many years ago, God created the world. It's about God creating peace with me and you inside it now and always. If the holy Creator did not use his creative will every fraction of a second, then the universe would be lost in the darkness of non-existence. As Saint Philaret of Moscow said, “the creative word is like an adamantine bridge, on which creatures are placed and stand, under the abyss of God’s infinity, above the abyss of their own insignificance” (“Word on the day of the discovery of the relics of our Father Alexy, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia, the Wonderworker). and on the occasion of the return to the Moscow flock”). This creative word of God, the “adamant bridge” of St. Philaret, is a word spoken not once, but continually, a word spoken yesterday, today and repeated “all the days until the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
As God's creation, the world is inherently beautiful: “And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good” (Gen. 1:31). But at the same time this is the world of the Fall, broken, crushed, destroyed and distorted by sin - original sin our ancestors and the personal sins of each of us. As the Apostle Paul says, all creation has “subjected itself to futility” and is “groaning” as it waits for the hour when it will be free again (Rom. 8:20-22). However, this decline is not complete. In created nature, even in its fallen state, echoes of the sacred presence of God continue to be heard. And the world continues to remain beautiful, even if its beauty is imperfect. And we can truly say the words pronounced at every Vespers: “Wonderful are Thy works, Lord.”
The unknown author of the 19th-century Russian prose work “Frank Tales of a Wanderer to His Spiritual Father” vividly emphasizes this innate beauty and splendor of the world. Walking through an endless forest with the Jesus Prayer on his lips, the wanderer felt his heart filling with love for all people, and not only for them, but for everything that exists: “When I began to pray with my heart, everything around me seemed to me amazing form: trees, grass, birds, earth, air, light, everything seemed to speak to me that they exist for man, testify to the love of God for man, and everything prays, everything sings the glory of God. And I understood from this what is called in Dobrolyubiya “knowledge of the words of the creature” (Tale two). The experience of this particular moment is not a false sensation, but a genuine knowledge of the true nature of the created world.
Metropolitan Callistus Ware, “The Beginning of the Day.”
These chapters are perceived by some as factual descriptions, by others as allegory. Some view the 6 days of creation as describing the stages of the origin of the universe, although the phrase world creation has a religious connotation, and the phrase origin of the universe used in natural sciences. Very often the biblical story of creation is criticized for not being consistent with what has been proven by science. But are there any contradictions here? Let's speculate!
World creation. Michelangelo
Before dwelling in more detail on the history of the Creation of the world, I would like to note one interesting feature. Most religions and ancient cosmogonic texts first tell about the creation of the gods, and only then about the creation of the world. The Bible describes a fundamentally different position. Biblical God has always been, He was not created, but is the creator of all things.
Six days of the creation of the world.
As you know, the world was created out of nothing in 6 days.
The first day of the Creation of the world.
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the abyss, and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters. And God said: Let there be light. And there was light. And God saw the light that it was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. And God called the light day and the darkness night. And there was evening and there was morning: one day. (Genesis)
This is how it begins biblical story Creation of the world. These first lines of the Bible allow us to better understand biblical cosmology. Please note that here we're talking about not yet about the creation of the heaven and earth familiar to us, they will be created a little later - on the second and third days of creation. The first lines of Genesis describe the creation of the first substance, or, if you like, what scientists call the creation of the universe.
Thus, on the first day of creation, the first substance, light and darkness, was created. It should be said about light and darkness, because lamps in the firmament of heaven will appear only on the fourth day. Many theologians have discussed the topic of this light, describing it both as energy and as joy and grace. Today there is also a popular version that the light described in the Bible is nothing more than the Big Bang, after which the expansion of the Universe began.
Second day of the creation of the world.
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it separate water from water. [And it became so.] And God created the firmament, and separated the water that was under the firmament from the water that was above the firmament. And so it became. And God called the firmament heaven. [And God saw that it was good.] And there was evening, and there was morning: the second day.
The second day is the day when the primary matter began to be ordered, stars and planets began to form. The second day of creation tells us about the ancient ideas of the Jews, who considered the sky to be solid, capable of holding huge masses of water.
The third day of the creation of the world.
And God said: Let the water that is under the sky be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear. And so it became. [And the waters under heaven were gathered into their places, and dry land appeared.] And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of waters he called seas. And God saw that it was good. And God said, “Let the earth bring forth green grass, grass yielding seed [after its kind and after its likeness, and] a fruitful tree bearing fruit after its kind, in which is its seed on the earth.” And so it became. And the earth brought forth grass, grass yielding seed according to its kind [and likeness], and a tree [fruitful] bearing fruit, in which is its seed according to its kind [on the earth]. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning: the third day.
On the third day, God created the Earth almost as we know it now: seas and land appeared, trees and grass appeared. From this moment we understand that God creates the living world. Science describes the formation of life on a young planet in a similar way; of course, this did not happen in one day, but still there are no global contradictions here either. Scientists believe that long rains began on the gradually cooling Earth, which led to the appearance of seas and oceans, rivers and lakes.
Gustav Dore. world creation Thus we see that the Bible does not contradict modern science and the biblical story of the Creation of the world fits perfectly into scientific theories. The only question here is chronology. What one day is for God is billions of years for the universe. Today it is known that the first living cells appeared two billion years after the birth of the Earth, another billion years passed - and the first plants and microorganisms appeared in water.
The fourth day of the creation of the world.
And God said: Let there be lights in the expanse of the heaven [to illuminate the earth and] to separate the day from the night, and for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years; and let them be lamps in the firmament of the heaven to give light on the earth. And so it became. And God created two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, and the stars; and God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light on the earth, and to rule the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning: the fourth day.
It is the fourth day of creation that leaves the most questions for those trying to reconcile faith and science. It is known that the Sun and other stars appeared before the Earth, and in the Bible - later. On the one hand, this is easy to explain if we take into account that the Book of Genesis was written at a time when astronomical observations and cosmological ideas of people were geocentric - that is, the Earth was considered the center of the Universe. However, is everything so simple? It is likely that this discrepancy between the cosmology of the Bible and science can be explained by the fact that the Earth is more significant or “spiritually central”, because man lives on it, created in the image of God.
The Creation of the World - day four and day five. Mosaic. St. Mark's Cathedral. The heavenly saints in the Bible and in pagan beliefs are fundamentally different. For pagans, the sun, moon and other celestial bodies were associated with the activities of gods and goddesses. The author of the Bible may be deliberately expressing a completely different attitude towards the stars and planets. They are equal to any other created object in the universe. Mentioned in passing, they are demythologized and desacralized - and, in general, reduced to natural reality.
Fifth day of the Creation of the world.
And God said: Let the water bring forth living things; and let the birds fly over the earth, across the firmament of heaven. [And it was so.] And God created the great fish and every living creature that moves, which the waters brought forth, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying: Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters of the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth. And there was evening and there was morning: the fifth day.
World creation. Jacopo Tintoretto
And here the biblical story of the creation of the world fully confirms scientific facts. Life originated in water - science is sure of this, the Bible confirms this. Living organisms began to multiply and reproduce. The universe developed according to the will of God's creative plan. Let us note that, according to the Bible, animals arose only after algae appeared and filled the air with the product of their vital activity - oxygen. And this is also a scientific fact!
Sixth day of the Creation of the world.
And God said, Let the earth produce living creatures according to their kinds, cattle and creeping things and wild beasts of the earth after their kinds. And so it became. And God created the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, and the cattle according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And God said: Let us make man in Our image and after Our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing. on the ground. And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them: Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea [and over the animals], and over the birds of the air, [and over every livestock, and over all the earth,] and over every living thing that moves on the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed that is on all the earth, and every tree that has fruit yielding seed; - This will be food for you; And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to every [creeping thing] that creeps on the earth, in which there is a living soul, I have given every green herb for food. And so it became. And God saw everything that He had created, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning: the sixth day.
The sixth day of creation is marked by the appearance of man - this is a new stage of the universe, from this day the history of the human race begins. Man is something completely new on the young Earth; he has two principles - natural and divine.
It is interesting that in the Bible man is created immediately after animals, this demonstrates his natural origin, it is continuously connected with the animal world. But God breathes the breath of His Spirit into a person’s face - and the person becomes involved in the Lord.
The creation of the world by God out of nothing.
The central idea of Christianity is the idea of creating the world out of nothing, or creation ex Nihilo. According to this idea, God created all things from non-existence, transforming non-existence into being. God is both the creator and the cause of the creation of the world.
According to the Bible, before the Creation of the world there was neither primordial chaos nor primordial matter - there was nothing! Most Christians believe that all three persons of the Holy Trinity participated in the creation of the world: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
The world was created by God to be meaningful, harmonious and obedient to man. God gave this world to man along with freedom, which man used for evil, as evidenced by. The creation of the world according to the Bible is an act of creativity and love.
History of the Creation of the World - sources (documentary hypothesis)
The Creation story existed in the oral tradition of the ancient Israelites long before it was recorded by biblical writers. Many biblical scholars say that it is, in fact, a composite work, a collection of works by many authors from different periods ( documentary theory). It is believed that these sources were combined together around 538 BC. e. It is likely that the Persians, after conquering Babylon, agreed to grant Jerusalem significant autonomy within the empire, but required local authorities to adopt a single code that would be accepted by the entire community. This led to the fact that the priests had to abandon all ambitions and bring together sometimes contradictory religious traditions. The story of the creation of the world came to us from two sources - the priestly code and the Yahwist. This is why we find in Genesis 2 the creation stories described in chapters one and two. The first chapter is given according to the priestly code, and the second - according to the Yahwist. The first tells more about the creation of the world, the second - about the creation of man.
Both narratives have much in common and complement each other. However, we see obvious differences in style: Text submitted according to the Priestly Code, clearly structured. The narrative is divided into 7 days; in the text, the days are separated by phrases "And there was evening, and there was morning: day...". In the first three days of creation, the act of separation is clearly visible - on the first day God separates darkness from light, on the second - the water under the firmament from the water above the firmament, on the third - the water from the dry land. Over the next three days, God fills everything he has created.
The second chapter (Yahwist source) has smooth narrative style.
Comparative mythology argues that both sources of the biblical Creation story contain borrowings from Mesopotamian mythology, adapted to the belief in one God.
The creation of the world is the original question in any religion. How and when everything that surrounds man was born - plants, birds, animals, man himself.
Science propagates its theory - something happened in the universe big Bang, this gave rise to the galaxy and the planets around it. If the general scientific theory of the creation of the world is united, then the legends about it different nations their.
Myths about the creation of the world
What is a myth? This is a legend about the origin of life, the role of God and man in it. There are a huge number of such legends.
According to Jewish history, Heaven and Earth were original. The material for their creation was the clothes of God and snow. According to another version, the whole world is an intertwining of threads of fire, water and snow.
According to Egyptian mythology, initially darkness and chaos reigned everywhere. Only the young God Ra, who shed light and gave life, was able to defeat him. In one version, he hatched from an egg, and in another version, he was born from a lotus flower. It is noteworthy that there are many variations in the Egyptian theory, and many contain images of animals, birds, and insects.
In the stories of the Sumerians, the world came into existence when flat earth and the dome of Heaven united and gave birth to a son - the God of Air. Then the deities of water and plants appear. Here for the first time we speak of the emergence of a person from the organ of another.
The Greek myth about the origin of the world is based on the concept of chaos, which swallowed up everything around, the sun and moon were inseparable, cold was combined with heat. A certain God came and separated all opposites from each other. He also created man and woman from a single matter.
The parable of the ancient Slavs is based on the same chaos that reigned everywhere and around. There are deities of time, earth, darkness, wisdom. According to this legend, all living things appeared from dust - humans, plants, animals. The stars came from here. Therefore, it is said that the stars, like man, are not eternal.
Creation of the world according to the Bible
Holy Bible is the main book of Orthodox believers. Here you can find answers to all questions. This also applies to the origin of the world, humans and animals, plants.
The Bible has five books that tell the whole story. These books were written by Moses during his wanderings with the Jewish people. All the revelations of God were initially recorded in one volume, but then it was divided.
The beginning of the Holy Scriptures is the Book of Genesis. Its name from Greek means “beginning,” which speaks of the content. It is here that the story is told about how the birth of life, the first man, the first society occurred.
As the Scripture says, man, by his existence, carries the highest goal - love, beneficence, improvement. It contains within itself the breath of God himself - the soul.
According to biblical history, the world was not created in eternity. How many days did it take for God to create a world filled with life? Even children know about this today.
How God created the earth in 7 days
The appearance of the world in such a short time is briefly described in the Holy Scriptures. Not in the book detailed description, everything is symbolic. Understanding transcends age and time - it is something that lasts for centuries. History says that only God can create the world out of nothing.
First day of creation of the world
God created “heaven” and “earth”. This should not be taken literally. This does not mean matter, but certain forces, entities, angels.
On this same day, God separated darkness from light, thus creating day and night.
Second day
At this time, a certain “firmament” is created. The personification of the separation of water on earth and air. Thus, we are talking about creating air space, a certain atmosphere for life.
The third day
The Almighty orders the water to gather in one place and make room for the formation of land. This is how the earth itself appeared, and the water around became seas and oceans.
Fourth day
It is notable for the formation of celestial bodies - night and day. The stars appear.
Now the possibility of counting time arises. The successive sun and moon count days, seasons, years.
Fifth day
Life appears on earth. Birds, fish, animals. This is where the great phrase “be fruitful and multiply” comes into play. God gives the beginning, the first individuals who will themselves raise their offspring in this paradise.
Sixth day
God creates man “in His image and likeness” and breathes life into him. Man is molded from clay, and the breath of God revives dead material and gives him a soul.
Adam is the first person, man. He lives in the Garden of Eden and understands the languages of the world around him. Despite the diversity of life around him, he is lonely. God creates a helper for him, the woman Eve, from his rib while Adam sleeps.
Seventh day
Called Saturday. It is reserved for rest and serving God.
This is how the world was born. What is it exact date creation of the world according to the Bible? This is still the main and most difficult issue. There are claims that time is being described long before the advent of modern chronology.
Another opinion says the opposite, that the events in the Holy Book are our time. The figure varies from 3483 to 6984 years. But the generally accepted point of reference is considered to be 5508 BC.
Creation of the world according to the Bible for children
Initiating children into the doctrine of God teaches correct principles of behavior and points to undeniable values. However, the Bible in its present form is difficult for an adult to understand, let alone a child’s perception.
In order for a child to study the main book of Christians himself, a children's Bible was invented. A colorful, illustrated publication, written in a child-friendly language.
The story of the creation of the world from the Old Testament tells that initially there was nothing. But God has always been. All seven days of creation are narrated very briefly. It also tells the story of the emergence of the first people and how they betrayed God.
The story of Adam and Abel is described. These stories are instructive for children and teach correct attitude to others, elders, nature. Animated and feature films come to the rescue, which clearly show the events described in the Holy Scriptures.
There is no age or time for religion. She is beyond everything essential. Understanding the origin of the environment and the role of man in the world, finding harmony and one’s path is possible only by understanding the values that faith carries.
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters.
(Genesis 1, 1-2).
The biblical teaching about the creation of the world is briefly called Six days. Day means day. In 1823, Anglican priest George Stanley Faber (1773-1854) put forward the day-age theory. This opinion has absolutely no basis. In Hebrew to express words indefinite period of time or era there is a concept olam. Word yom in Hebrew always means day, day but never period of time. Rejecting a literal understanding of the day greatly distorts the biblical teaching about the creation of the world. If we take a day as an epoch, then how to determine evening And morning? How to apply the blessing of the seventh day and the rest in it to the era? After all, the Lord commanded rest on the seventh day of the week - Saturday, because He Himself rested: and God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, for on it He rested from all His works(Genesis 2, 3). The Lord created plants on the third day, and the sun, moon and other luminaries on the fourth. If we accept the idea of “day - era”, it turns out that for an entire era plants grew without sunlight.
The Holy Fathers understood day literally the first chapter of Genesis. Saint Irenaeus of Lyons: “Restoring this day in Himself, the Lord came to suffer on the day before the Sabbath - that is, on the sixth day of creation, on which man was created, through His suffering giving him a new creation, that is, (liberation) from death.” Saint Ephrem the Syrian: “No one should think that the six-day creation is an allegory.” Saint Basil the Great: « And there was evening, and there was morning, one day... This determines the measure of day and night and combines them into one daily time, because twenty-four hours fill the continuation of one day, if by day we mean night.” Saint John of Damascus: “From the beginning of a day to the beginning of another day is one day, for the Scripture says: and there was evening and there was morning: one day».
How then did the alternation of day and night occur before the creation of the luminaries, which appear on the fourth day? St. Basil the Great writes: “Then, not by the movement of the sun, but by the fact that this primeval light, in a measure determined by God, either spread out, then contracted again, day occurred and night followed” (Six Day Conversation 2).
Genesis begins with a description of the magnificent work of God - the creation of the world in six days. The Lord created the Universe with innumerable luminaries, the earth with its seas and mountains, man and all animals and vegetable world. The biblical revelation about the creation of the world rises above all existing cosmogonies of other religions, just as truth rises above any myth. Not a single religion, not a single philosophical doctrine could rise to the idea of creation out of nothing that surpasses reason: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
God is self-sufficient and absolutely complete. For His existence, He does not require anything and does not need anything. The only reason for the creation of the world was the perfect Love of God. Saint John of Damascus writes: “The good and most good God was not content with contemplating Himself, but out of His abundance of goodness He wanted something to happen that in the future would benefit from His benefits and be involved in His goodness.”
The first to be created were disembodied spirits - Angels. Although the Holy Scriptures do not contain a narrative about the creation of the angelic world, there is no doubt that Angels by their nature belong to the created world. This view is based primarily on the clear biblical understanding of God as the omnipotent Creator who laid the foundation for all that exists. Everything has a beginning, only God is beginningless. Some holy fathers see an indication of the creation of the invisible world of Angels in the words God created the sky (Genesis 1, 1). In support of this thought, Saint Philaret (Drozdov) notes that, according to the biblical narrative, the physical heaven was created on the second and fourth days.
Pristine the earth was unsettled And empty. Created from nothing, matter first appeared disordered and covered in darkness. Darkness was an inevitable consequence of the absence of light, which was not created as an independent element. Further, the writer of everyday life Moses writes that The Spirit of God hovered over the waters(Genesis 1, 2). Here we see an indication of the creative and life-giving participation in creation of the third Person of the Holy Trinity - the Holy Spirit. An extremely short and precise definition - everything is from the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. Water mentioned in the above verse is the most important element without which life is impossible. In the Holy Gospel, water is a symbol of the life-giving and saving teachings of Jesus Christ. In the life of the Church, water has a special meaning, being the substance of the Sacrament of Baptism.
First day of creation
And God said: Let there be light. And there was light... And God separated the light from the darkness. And God called the light day and the darkness night. And there was evening and there was morning: one day(Genesis 1, 3-5).
By Divine command arose light. From further words: and God separated the light from the darkness we see that the Lord did not destroy darkness, but only established its periodic replacement with light to restore and preserve the strength of man and every creature. The Psalmist sings of this wisdom of God: You extend the darkness and there is night: during it all the forest animals roam; lions roar for prey and ask God for food for themselves. The sun rises [and] they gather and lie down in their lairs; a man goes out to his work and to his work until evening. How numerous are Your works, O Lord!(Ps 103:20-24). Poetic expression and there was evening and there was morning ends with a description of the creative activities of each of the six days. The word itself day the saints took it literally.
Light was created by the Divine in a word possessing omnipotent creative power: for He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it appeared(Ps 32:9). The Holy Fathers see here a mysterious indication of the second Person of the Holy Trinity - the Son of God Jesus Christ, whom the Apostle calls In a word and at the same time says: Everything came into being through Him, and without Him nothing came into being.(John 1, 3).
When describing the first day, put first evening, and then morning. For this reason, the Jews in biblical times began their day in the evening. This order was preserved in the worship of the New Testament Church.
Second day of creation
And God created the firmament...<...>and called... the firmament the sky(Genesis 1, 7, 8) and placed the sky between the water that was on the earth and the water above the earth.
On the second day God created physical sky. In a word firmament the word in the Hebrew original is conveyed, meaning prostrate, for the ancient Jews metaphorically compared the firmament to a tent: you stretch out the heavens like a tent(Ps 103:2).
When describing the second day, we also talk about water, which is found not only on the earth, but also in the atmosphere.
Third day of creation
And God gathered the waters under the sky into one place and opened the dry land. And he called the dry land earth, and the collection of waters he called seas. And God commanded that the earth should grow greenery, grass and trees bearing fruit. And the earth was covered with vegetation. The Lord separated the water from the dry land(see: Gen. 1, 9-13).
On the third day were created oceans, seas, lakes and rivers, and continents and islands. This later delighted the Psalmist: He collected like piles sea waters, put the abysses in the vaults. Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all who live in the universe tremble before Him, for He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it appeared(Ps 32:7-9).
On the same day God created all vegetable world. This was fundamentally new: God laid the foundation for organic life on the ground.
Produce flora Creator commanded the earth. St. Basil the Great says: “The then verb and this first command became, as it were, a natural law and remained in the earth for subsequent times, giving it the power to give birth and bear fruit” (St. Basil the Great. Six Days. Conversation 5).
The book of Genesis says that the earth brought forth greenery, grass, and trees that sowed seed according to their kind. The Holy Fathers attached fundamental importance to this, for it indicates the constancy of everything created by God: “What came out of the earth at the first creation is preserved to this day, through the preservation of the race by succession” (St. Basil the Great. Six Days. Conversation 5). As you can see, the third day was dedicated to the structure of our planet.
And God saw that it was good (Genesis 1:12). The writer of everyday life expresses in poetic language the idea that God creates wisely and perfectly.
Fourth day of creation
And God said that lights should appear in the firmament of heaven to sanctify the earth and to separate day from night. The calendar and time will now be counted based on the created luminaries. And the luminaries appeared: the sun, the moon and the stars(see: Gen. 1, 14-18).
In description fourth day we see the creation of the luminaries, their purpose and their differences. From the text of the Bible we learn that light was created on the second day before the luminaries, so that, according to the explanation of St. Basil the Great, unbelievers would not consider the sun to be the only source of light. God alone is the Father of lights (see: James 1:17).
The creation of luminaries had three purposes: first, to illuminate land and everything that is on it; a distinction is established between the luminaries of the day (the sun) and the luminaries of the night (the moon and stars). Secondly, separate day from night; distinguish four time of year, organize time using calendar and keep chronology. Thirdly, to serve for signs of the end times; This is stated in the New Testament: the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken; then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven; and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory(Matthew 24:29-30).
Fifth day of creation
On the fifth day, the Lord created the first living creatures living in water and flying in the air. And God said: Let the water bring forth living things; and let the birds fly over the earth. This is how the inhabitants of the waters appeared, aquatic animals, insects, reptiles and fish appeared, and birds flew through the airspace(see: Gen. 1, 20-21).
At the beginning of the fifth day God turns His creative word to water ( let the water produce), while on the third day - to the ground. Word water is taken here in a broader sense, denoting not only plain water, but also the atmosphere, which the sacred writer also calls water.
On the fifth day, God creates a higher form of life than plants. By God's command, representatives of the water element appeared (fish, whales, reptiles, amphibians and other inhabitants of the waters), as well as birds, insects and everything living in the air.
The Creator creates the first beings of each kind (“according to kind”). He blesses them to be fruitful and multiply.
Sixth day of creation
On the sixth day of creation, God created animals living on earth and man in His image and likeness(see: Gen. 1, 24-31).
Description sixth creative day Prophet Moses begins with the same words as the previous days (third and fifth): let it produce...God commands the earth to create all the animals on earth (living soul according to its kind). God created everything in a certain sequence increasing perfection.
And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils breath of life, and man became a living soul (see: Gen. 1:26-28).
The last, as the crown of creation, was man was created. He was created in a special way. The Holy Fathers first of all note that his creation was preceded by the Divine Council between all Persons Holy Trinity: let's create man. Man is distinguished from the entire created world by the way the Lord creates him. Although his bodily composition was taken from the earth, the Lord does not command the earth to produce man (as was the case with other creatures), but He Himself creates him directly. The psalmist says, addressing the Creator: Your hands created me and formed me(Ps 119:73).
God said that it's not good for a person to be alone.
And the Lord God brought upon the man deep sleep; and when he fell asleep, he took one of his ribs and covered that place with flesh. And the Lord God created a wife from a rib taken from a man, and brought her to the man(Genesis 2:21-22).
The Lord, of course, could have created not only one married couple, but several and produced from them the entire human race, but He wanted all the people of the earth to be one in Adam. After all, even Eve was taken from her husband. The Apostle Paul says: From one blood He brought forth the entire human race to live on all the face of the earth.(Acts 17:26). And that's why we are all relatives.
At the dawn of human history, God established marriage as a permanent life union between a man and a woman. He blessed him and tied him with the closest bonds: they will be one flesh(Genesis 2:24).
Having created the human body, God blew into his face breath of life and man became a living soul. The most important distinctive feature man is that he the soul is godlike. God said: Let us make man in Our image [and] after Our likeness(Genesis 1:26). About what it is the image of God in man, we talked earlier. When God created man, He brought all the animals and birds to him, and man gave them all names. The naming of names was a sign of man's dominance over all creation.
With the creation of man, the six-day creation of the world ends. God created the world perfect. The hand of the Creator did not bring any evil into him. This doctrine of the original goodness of all creation is a sublime theological truth.
At the end of times will the perfection of the world has been restored. According to the testimony of the seer, the holy Apostle John the Theologian, there will be a new heaven and a new Earth(see: Rev. 21, 1).
Seventh day
And God finished on the seventh day His work which He had done, and on the seventh day He rested from all His work which He had done.(Genesis 2, 2).
Having completed the creation of the world, God rested from His works. The writer of everyday life uses a metaphor here, for God does not need rest. This indicates the secret of true peace that awaits people in eternal life. Before the arrival of this blessed time, already in earthly life we see a prototype of this state - the peace of the blessed seventh day, which was in the Old Testament Saturday, and for Christians it is a day Sunday.