Why is the inventor of gunpowder associated with evil spirits? Where and when was gunpowder invented? Gunpowder in Europe: who invented it

From the book: Folklore of the Novgorod region: history and modernity / Compiled by O.S. Berdyaev. - Publishing house "Strategy", 2005. - 352 p. - (Golden Collection). ISBN 5-9234-0055-3.

The recordings were made in the Novgorod region by university teachers and students from the mid-60s of the twentieth century to the present.

DEVILRY

1.
My cousin-in-law was friends with a girl from another village. He walked from Pola and reached beyond Borki, there you go up a little hill, there is a forest. This girl came out to him. I started calling him somewhere:
- Let's sit on the stove.
So he fell straight into the water, and sat down - everything was fine, but fell into the water. And the girl got lost.
He walked late, often went to drink vodka...

2.
My uncle was among the boys and went to a strange village. Well, I was driving from someone else’s village to my own, and two men walked behind me and asked for a ride. He took it back. I put them in the sleigh, but they didn’t sit down. Then the horse stopped. He started pushing her and swearing! I looked back, and those two were no longer there, and the horse was standing by the ice hole. It was evil spirits. Those two were lumps, an unclean spirit. Cones used to confuse people.

3.
My uncle went to a strange village to walk with a girl. And he walked away from there at midnight. Here you go. And there she sat on an avalanche: her hair was long. Probably a mermaid. He got scared and coughed. She jumped into the water. She was already a mermaid. Who else? He got scared, and only then stopped going there at night.

4.
Here is the sea. There is a long road near this sea. They mowed down this sea.
No one knows who jumped out from this sea:
- Oh, my betrothed has been gone for a long time.
Where a man walks without being and says that I can’t go any further, I’ll take a swim here. And they say to him:
- Oh, dear, you can’t swim here, here a man jumped out and shouted that there was no betrothed.
- Whatever you want, I can’t go.
They decided to carry him in their arms, and then he died in their arms.

5.
It was like a miracle in the bain when, after the men, we went to the third pair. Before, everything seemed like a miracle.
One woman went to the third steam room to wash and did not wash. I came to the Bayny, and there was screaming and squealing. I opened the door, and there they were fighting. Devilry. She ran home naked and left her underwear behind.

6.
One house burned down. On the night it burned down, that night the brownie left this house at eleven o'clock. He kept looking around and roaring: “Uh-oh!..”.
And the neighbor saw him in a white robe and was afraid to say, to warn the owners that you would burn. And at night the two-story house burned down. Everything burned down. They jumped out the window themselves and don’t know how or why it caught fire.

7.
There was such a grandmother, she hung out with evil spirits. These are the devils. She told the children while she was alive that don’t live in this house until I die. They felt like they were in this house. She didn't tell me how it seemed to her.
Well, he says, I’m going to die, so you get out of this house. And soon she hanged herself: she was pulled in by evil spirits. And they sold this house and moved to a new one.

8.
One old man walked around the world. Old Believers said:
- Go to this grandmother, she’ll let you in.
Well, he came, asking. She says:
- I would be happy to let you in, but I have a relative opposite me, I need to be a womanizer.
He said that if you go, first look out the window, you will see a miracle, but don’t say anything to your relatives.
She came and looked out the window - there was a strangled guy hanging there. Then she went into the hut, she delivered the baby and didn’t say anything to this aunt. This old man says:
- It was Yevon’s fate that hung in the loop.
And then she gave birth to a boy. He grew up handsome and healthy. When he turned eighteen, he hanged himself.
So they say that this is probably his fate.

9.
A friend came to Ukraine. She asked me to spend the night. They let me in. The owner had a cow for a reason. When the mistress of the brownie was not in the house, as he went into the yard, he appeared: black hair, long, himself in a gray caftan. And he kept pushing the woman out:
- Leave this house, you don’t belong here.
It has long been. I was still young. I was 12, and now I’m 70. And she had to go to another apartment. And she lived there all the time. She felt good.

10.
There was a son and daughter who had gone home for the holidays. They studied in Borovichi. Well, the husband called his wife that we would go to the train to meet her. She was afraid to leave the house: she had a lot of money. Well, he had just managed to get out when this scary, long woman walked around, her arms were black, her hair was black, long. And she took it under her bosom. And raised it to the ceiling three times. And a lump formed on her head. And she says that she didn’t see when she left me. When the owner appears with the children, she was lying on the floor unconscious. When she regained consciousness, he asked:
- Lisa, what’s wrong with you?
She said:
- The evil spirits were aliens.
He said:
- Yes, that's it, thieves came.
I made a search and found no one; everywhere the doors were either locked or remained locked.

The Devil and the Peasant

Once a peasant was shearing his sheep. I walked past the devil and was surprised.
- What are you doing? - asks.
“Yes, I cut the wool,” the owner answers.
- Wouldn’t I be able to cut wool?
- Why not?
The devil came home, and he really wanted to cut wool. But he had no sheep, only pigs. The devil caught a pig, tied its legs and began to shear it. The pig squeals as if it is being slaughtered, and there is no hair on it. The devil got tired of this, he let the pig go, spat and said in his hearts:
- That’s true: there’s a lot of noise, but there’s no point.

The devil and the tailor

One day the devil says to the tailor:
- When you sew, you steal time from the owner.
“I don’t steal the owner’s time,” the tailor answers, “I work honestly.”
“No, you’re stealing time,” the devil stands his ground.
- How can I steal? - the tailor is surprised.
“And this is how you steal,” answers the devil, “because you sew with short threads.”
And the devil went to the owner:
“Your tailor,” he says, “steals your time and sews slowly.” But I would sew it twice as fast.
The owner of the tailor began to scold him. The tailor didn’t like this, so he called the devil:
- Show me how you can sew twice as fast.
“Well, I’ll show you,” the devil answers, “but you have to cut two identical caftans from the same material.”
They went to the owner and agreed that he would provide material for two caftans. The tailor cut the caftans. They agreed to start sewing at the same time. The devil threaded the needle with a very long thread, and the tailor threaded it with a short one. Here is a tailor sitting and sewing, just threading a needle thread by thread, and the devil is still sewing by himself. As soon as he pierces the material with a needle, he runs out of the hut into the street to stretch the thread. But the thread gets tangled, and the devil can’t handle it.
The tailor sewed a caftan and asked the devil:
- Well, have you finished sewing with your long thread?
The devil shakes his head:
- No, don’t waste your time when you sew with short threads.
Since then, the devil has never said that a tailor runs away from work.

The devil and the hunter

One day a hunter went hunting and suddenly met the devil. The devil saw the hunter's gun and asked:
- Why are you carrying this thing with you?
“And this is my grandfather’s pipe,” answered the hunter.
The devil pestered the hunter: let him take a puff from such a pipe.
The hunter agreed. He poured gunpowder and shot and said to the devil:
- Well, get ready, now you’ll smoke, just open your mouth wider.
The devil put the barrel in his mouth, and the hunter pulled the trigger. The devil could barely stay on his feet.
- What a pipe! - speaks. - Only I didn’t want to smoke.
And they each went their own way. And since then the devil never asked anyone for a smoke; he kept remembering his grandfather’s pipe.

Smart artists

One peasant had devils in his barn, and they could not get them out of there. One stormy evening two wandering artists knocked on his house and asked to spend the night.
“I can’t let you into the house,” says the owner. - If you want, sleep in the barn, that's where the devils gather at night.
They took the bag from the peasant and went to the barn. There they ripped open the bag from the bottom and both of them climbed into it, so much so that their heads were sticking out of the bag at the ends. They lay down and fell asleep. And around midnight - suddenly there was noise and fuss. The whole barn was filled with devils. Suddenly one of the devils saw the bag and called the rest of the devils.
The devils gathered and wondered: what kind of beast is this with two heads? They just can't understand. They sent three little devils into the inferno to the oldest devil for advice. They brought it. And he is so old that dust is falling off him, and his eyes can see almost nothing. The devil looked at the bag and said:
“I’ve seen a lot in my life, been to a lot of places, but I’ve never seen such a wonderful animal.” He will destroy our tribe, we must run away from here!
The devils rushed out as soon as the ringing began. And since then they were no longer in the barn, and they have not been seen in the entire village since that time.

Stupid damn

Once a boy was herding pigs by the lake. He sits on the shore and twists the rope. Suddenly he sees the devil crawling out of the lake. The devil asks him:
- What do you need this rope for?
- And I’ll pull the devil’s snout off with it! - the boy answers.
The devil got scared:
-Are you really that strong?
The boy pretended that the devil had angered him:
- Here I will show you how strong I am! Look, I decided to ask! Now I’ll close the lake and bandage your throat!
The devil got scared and begged him not to do this. The boy became brave, began to chase the devil, made him dance: let him show his strength.
“Yes, I’ll raise the horse,” the devil boasted.
- What a miracle - to raise a horse! - the boy laughs. - And here’s what I’ll do: I’ll squeeze the horse between my legs and run around the lake - that’s power!
The devil listened, but doesn’t believe it. Then the boy jumped on the horse, hit its sides with his heels and rode around the lake. The devil was taken aback: there must be something stronger than him in the world.

The clouds are rushing, the clouds are swirling;
Invisible moon
The flying snow illuminates;
The sky is cloudy, the night is cloudy.

For the life of me, there is no trace;
We've lost our way. What should we do?
The demon leads us into the field, apparently
Yes, it circles around.

A.S. Pushkin. Demons (1830)

You read a secular magazine or newspaper: it’s easy and pleasant to read, you can easily believe everything. But if you start reading a spiritual magazine or a book, especially a church book, or if you start reading prayers sometimes, your heart will become heavy, and you will be tormented by doubt, and unbelief, and some kind of darkness and disgust. Many people admit this. Why does this happen? Not from the quality, of course, of the books themselves, but from the quality of those who read, from the quality of their hearts, and - most importantly - from the devil, the enemy of man, the enemy of everything sacred: he will take the word from their hearts [Lk. 8, 12]. When we read secular works, we do not touch him, and he does not touch us. As soon as we take up the sacred books, we begin to think about our correction and salvation, then we go against him, irritate him, torment his anger, and so he attacks us and torments us mutually - what to do? Don’t give up on good deeds, beneficial reading, prayer, but you must endure and in patience save your soul. Through your patience gain your souls [Lk. 21, 19], says the Lord

Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt. My life in Christ.

PartIV. Evil spirits as a “source of knowledge”

The infernal world and evil spirits

Those “spiritual beings” with whom occultists enter into communication are called “demons”, “demons”, “fallen spirits”, “fallen angels”, “spirits of evil”, etc. in the Holy Scriptures. This world of “fallen spirits” has its own hierarchy. The “highest positions” belong to those whom the Holy Scriptures call “the devil” and “Satan.” Word " devil"translated from Greek means "slanderer", "slanderer", "seducer". Word " Satan» Jewish origin, means: “enemy”, “insidious”, “hostile”, “seducer”, “destroyer”. The concepts of “devil” and “Satan” are very multifaceted. Their different sides are revealed in the Holy Scriptures through their names: “ prince of this world"(John 12:31); " Lucifer"(Matt. 9:34; 25:41; John 8:44; 1 John 3:8; Apoc. 12:9; 20:2); " prince of demons"(Matthew 9:34; 12:24); " Belial"(2 Cor. 6:15); " Beelzebub"(Luke 11:15); " tempter"(Matthew 4:3); " seducer"(Apoc. 12:9), etc. The habitat of the listed “subjects” is often called the “infernal world” - the world of fallen spirits.

People quite often call the diverse collection of inhabitants of the “infernal world” simply “evil spirits.” This expression is especially common among Slavic peoples.

The Holy Fathers studied the properties of demons well. So, according to the saint Ignatius Brianchaninova, “spirits are much freer in their actions, much more developed in their abilities than people.” Summarizing the sayings of the Holy Fathers, priest Rodion describes the basic properties and abilities of the inhabitants of the world with which occultists communicate as follows: “As we see from all of the above, disembodied spirits, created from a subtler substance than man, are initially endowed with the ability to exert a strong influence on the material world, in addition, they have incomparably greater knowledge about the structure and laws of the universe, and possess means that allow them to overcome the laws of the material world.”

A look at “secret knowledge”: Johann Wolfgang Goethe and Mikhail Bulgakov

In this case, I rely on the Holy Fathers, who well understand the nature of “secret knowledge” and “ spiritual communication» those who are outside the Church. However, those who are not used to reading the Holy Fathers can refresh their memory of the world famous work of the German writer Johann Wolfgang Goethe(1749-1832) "Faust". This drama describes in artistic form the relationship between Faust, who is engaged in the search for “secret knowledge,” and the representative of the world of “spiritual” beings, Mephistopheles. For those who are not in the know, I will inform you: Faust, according to researchers, is a real person who lived in Germany in the 16th century. He practiced black magic and entered into a pact with the devil. Fantastic stories began to emerge around him. In 1587 in Frankfurt am Main it was published folk book about Doctor Faustus. The purpose of this book was edifying. Five years later, the English playwright Christopher Marlowe wrote the play "The Tragic History of Doctor Faustus".

By the way, Goethe’s play is often called a “philosophical tragedy.” - Not by chance. After all, Faust in the play was originally a scientist and philosopher who spent many years searching for the truth. And already at a very mature age, this scientist becomes disillusioned with the possibility of finding the truth with the help of traditional science. He lost faith in both science and God. That's when main character Drama found himself in a state of despondency and despair, and the devil approached him in the form of a black poodle. An agreement is concluded between the devil (Mephistopheles) and Faust, according to which our hero sells his soul to the devil in exchange for the fulfillment of any desires. How similar this is to the situation in science and philosophy, when many representatives of this intellectual sphere of activity, disillusioned with positive knowledge, wanted metaphysical, secret knowledge. And they entered the slippery path of mysticism. Faust had all sorts of desires in the future, both carnal and spiritual. But still, the desire for knowledge still came first.

Further, I will not retell Goethe’s tragedy. I will only say that at the end of the drama God saves Faust from the clutches of Mephistopheles. This is the “happy end” of the play. And yet it is closer in spirit to drama or tragedy. Faust's salvation does not follow in any way from the entire narrative of the play. It can only be explained psychological reasons: Goethe probably considered Faust his prototype. Accordingly, the author of the play did not want the death of his double.

Some details from the biography of the writer himself: Goethe in his youth was interested in mysticism and the occult. In 1780 he was admitted to the Amalia Masonic Lodge. » . Goethe was an ardent supporter of Freemasonry (Illuminati) until last days life, composing hymns and speeches for his lodge. He possessed the highest degrees of initiation in the system of strict Freemasonry. In 1813, at the tomb of his late brother Wieland, the poet delivered the famous speech “In Memory of Brother Wieland” in the Masonic Temple. What was Goethe's attitude towards Christianity? - The most negative thing. Here is a fragment from the writer’s biography, set forth by Archimandrite Rafail Karelin:“For Goethe, the closest philosopher was Hegel; they were bound by mutual respect, almost friendship. However, Goethe expressed his displeasure that Hegel was awarded a coat of arms depicting an owl (an allegory of wisdom) and a cross. Goethe insisted that the sign of the cross be destroyed as not corresponding to the idea of ​​wisdom... Goethe did not deserve praise from Engels for his works on natural science or works of art, but because the word “God” was unbearable for him and caused something like a mental allergy... Goethe expressed his attitude towards Christianity in the poem “The Corinthian Guest”; there he wrote that Christianity destroyed love and friendship between people, that the death of Christ was the beginning of a flow of blood. Paganism delighted him, as did true beauty and humanity. The poem “The Corinthian Guest” ended with a call: “Let us fly to our ancient gods.”

The author of the play was a mystic in spirit. In his work, he tried to show the limitations of positive science (the drama was born at a time when, thanks to philosophers, an atmosphere of reckless faith in science reigned in Europe). Faust is a unique work of fiction because it simultaneously claims to be a serious work of philosophy. It is not for nothing that Faust is called a “philosophical drama.” Goethe's Faust inspired many eminent philosophers to write works on the themes raised in the drama. This is a German F. Schelling("Philosophy of the Arts"), American RU. Emerson(“Goethe as a Writer”), German O. Spengler(“The Decline of Europe”) and others.

Those who find it difficult to read Faust can read (or re-read) our Mikhail Bulgakov. Mikhail Afanasyevich in “The Master and Margarita” returned to the topic raised by the German writer Goethe. Apparently, both Goethe and Bulgakov were able to so vividly and in detail reveal the theme of the relationship between a person concerned with the search for “secret knowledge” and the other world, since they themselves were involved in communication with that world. The drama “Faust” by Goethe and the novel “The Master and Margarita” by Bulgakov are visual aids on the topic of Gnosticism, primarily “practical”.

However, there is a lot left unsaid in them. And even attractive in its own way (both works have a certain magic that can influence unprepared souls). The authors themselves are sympathetic to their heroes. I will give a fragment of an analysis of the novel “The Master and Margarita” by a Christian author Valery Karpunin: “With his novel, Bulgakov essentially preaches the idea that there is no sharp distinction between good and evil. Moreover, Woland appears before readers as a gloomy, but ultimately “positive” hero - a kind of philosopher, a little tired of his wisdom, endowed with superhuman powers. And the retinue of Satan-Woland - the forces of hell - is generally a “company” of the most charming, handsome people. Suffice it to recall the killer Azazello, the cat Behemoth, the regent regent, the witch Gella... Bulgakov himself motivated the presentation of the infernal forces in the form, so to speak, of “positive heroes”, “positive quantities” ... ".

If you read the works of Goethe and Bulgakov, it would be better to read them together with the works of the Holy Fathers, who explained the dangers of being carried away by “secret knowledge.” This threat, however, was recognized even before Christianity. Old Testament, in particular, contains many warnings and prohibitions against practicing magic. In particular, in Deuteronomy we read: “ ...there shall not be among you one who guides his son or daughter through fire, a soothsayer, a fortune-teller, a soothsayer, a sorcerer, a charmer, a conjurer of spirits, a magician, and one who inquires of the dead; For anyone who does this is an abomination to the Lord...” ( Deut. 18:10 ).

Philosophy of suicide

Above I said that Faust was lucky: contrary to logic, he was saved by God. And Mephistopheles lost. Well, although Faust is called a “philosophical drama,” it is still a work of art. The author has the right to determine the fate of his heroes. IN real life everything is different. Neither writers nor philosophers can cancel or change the verdict of the supreme judge - God. In real life, contracts with Mephistopheles are fulfilled. The devil takes the philosopher's soul. Sometimes the devil ensures that the philosopher himself carries out the sentence. How? - Committing suicide. Moreover, philosophers even bothered to provide a “philosophical justification” for this.

This was done by the famous French writer and philosopher of the twentieth century Albert Camus. He decided to “bring to clean water” of their colleagues, saying that philosophers are avoiding the most important issues. In his essay " The Myth of Sisyphus" says that "there is only one truly serious problem- the problem of suicide. To decide whether life is or is not worth living is to answer fundamental question philosophy." In some ways, this formulation of the question echoes Shakespeare’s question: “To be or not to be?” According to Camus, suicide is one of the ways to combat the absurdity of existence, one of the methods of understanding the world. “Having reached its limits, the mind must pass judgment and choose consequences. These can be suicide and rebirth.” But simply suicide is as absurd as life itself, which has no purpose (meaning). But death—self-sacrifice—is an act with a harmonizing basis. Suicide as a rebellion against the unknowability of the world is fruitless, for “suicide is the complete opposite of rebellion, since it presupposes consent... In its own way, suicide is also a resolution of the absurd, it makes even death itself absurd.” Camus' philosophy can be called suicidal.

We know of numerous cases where philosophers tried to “comprehend the truth” in a suicidal way. It turns out that in ancient philosophy there were many suicides: Lucius Annaeus Seneca ; Titus Lucretius Carus ; Diogenes of Sinope; Democritus; Anaxagoras; Empedocles. But even in modern times there are enough of them. For example, the 19th century German philosopher Philip Mainlander. In his book “The Philosophy of Liberation” (“Die Philosophie der Erlösung”) he articulates the idea that the ordinary person fears the prospect of nothingness, but “the sage looks directly and joyfully into the eyes of absolute annihilation”, since it corresponds to the purpose of life of each individual person and the logic of collapse of existence in general. Mainländer writes the final word to his book, in which he argues with the German pessimist Eduard von Hartmann, whom he considered the unfortunate epigone of the great Schopenhauer. These are the last words of this " Final words": "Like a fire in the flickering of the beginning morning, so your philosophy dissolved in the teachings of Schopenhauer, who was the first to scientifically explore the unconscious. Therefore, your philosophy was confused with the light of the rising sun. But now it is dawn, and the mistake has become clear. The philosophy that previously illuminated the dark night of humanity like a high-burning fire - Indian and ancient pantheism - has now turned into a dying coal: no more light. Farewell!" On April 1, 1876, 34-year-old philosopher Philipp Mainländer received freshly printed copyright copies of his book from the printing house. And then he decided to experimentally test the idea of ​​his idol Schopenhauer about the “unconscious”. A few minutes later the philosopher was hanging from a noose near the ceiling.

Here's an even more resonant suicide. It's about O Field of Lafargue(1842-1911) - famous French politician, philosopher and economist. This is one of the major theoreticians of Marxism. Moreover, he is the son-in-law of Karl Marx himself, the husband of his daughter Laura. Paul Lafargue and his wife Laura have repeatedly stated that as soon as old age sets in, preventing them from fully engaging in political and ideological-theoretical activities, they will commit suicide. In 1911, they kept their word by taking potassium cyanide. Lafargue left a dying political letter, published on December 4, 1911 in the newspaper "L" Humanité. Here are the names of some more suicide philosophers of the 20th century: German Walter Benjamin(1892-1940); French people Guy-Ernst Debord(1931-1994) and Gilles Deleuze(1925-1995). These examples show that practicing philosophy is not safe.

Philosophy of a madhouse

One of the few philosophers who entered the fence of the Church and managed to take a fresh look at philosophy - Valery Karpunin. He published a collection of his articles and speeches entitled Christianity and Philosophy. It contains a short essay, “Philosophy as a Madhouse.” Here is an excerpt: “All conversations, including philosophical disputes and discussions, resemble a picture from a madhouse. The “philosophical self-closure” of the theory on itself is very reminiscent of the self-closure of the petty official Poprishchin, the hero of “Notes of a Madman” by N.V. Gogol. His self-isolation, as we remember, led him to the opinion that he was the king of Spain. Many philosophers are approximately the same “kings of Spain.”

It wouldn't be so bad if philosophers went crazy quietly. Like Diogenes, who stayed in his barrel, distancing himself as much as possible from people (Diogenes’ barrel is an image of the philosopher’s hermit lifestyle). But many “lovers of wisdom” broadcast from high pulpits, publish books in millions of copies, and become television idols. Of course, someone helps them a lot with this. Such philosophical activity is far from harmless. It infects large masses of people with sick ideas. Its destructive effect is comparable to atomic weapons. Of course, any real philosopher, by definition, must differ in his views from the average person. These may be deviations of the intellectual, moral and value order. At the same time, they may not go beyond the norms of medicine (psychiatry).

But, as it turns out, some intellectual and moral deviations are closely related to psychiatric deviations. It is not always possible to understand where in this pair the cause is and where the effect is.

I will give two of the most famous examples of such a close relationship from the history of philosophy and the history of psychiatric diseases. In all lists of “great madmen” we will definitely find these two names - Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche.

J.-J. Rousseau(1712-1778) is included in the list of outstanding French philosophers of the Enlightenment era. I have already mentioned these “enlighteners” more than once. Not all philosophical textbooks contain intimate details of the life of this “great” philosopher related to his mental state. When he was at the height of his creative powers, he was diagnosed with paranoia. External manifestations illness - persecution mania. There were some other manifestations that are not even very convenient to talk about.

The philosopher wrote his “great” works “On the Social Contract”, “Emile, or On Education” while already in a state of mental illness. You never know what a sick person can say or write? But the fact is that these works are studied by students in philosophy courses. Moreover, the ideas of the sick Rousseau were adopted by our statesmen. For a quarter of a century now we have been told about a legal democratic state as a “national idea.” But this idea is taken from Rousseau’s work “On the Social Contract.” And the reform of the education system in Russia is carried out on the basis of Rousseau’s ideas set out in “Emile, or On Education.”

About the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche(1844-1900) we have already mentioned more than once. This is a very serious “patient”. The official diagnosis is nuclear “mosaic” schizophrenia. In everyday life, the philosopher's illness was called obsession. In Nietzsche's biographies we can find descriptions of such manifestations of the disease as clouding of reason, memory lapses, and delusions of grandeur. Just one example of megalomania: Nietzsche wrote and scattered notes in large quantities with the text: “In two months I will become the first person on earth.” I will not delve further into medicine.

Nietzsche was in a state of mental illness for the last twenty years of his life, of which 11 years he spent in psychiatric hospitals. It was during this period of his life that he wrote most of his “brilliant” works. Including “Thus Spoke Zarathustra.” What did the “great” Frederick infect humanity with? - The idea that “God is dead.” And if he died, then everything is possible. Hence the idea of ​​a “superman” who takes the place of God. Hence the justification for a new morality that justifies any means to gain power. Hence the idea: “Push the falling one” (the weak must die, the strongest must win). As you know, Nietzsche’s philosophy was adopted by Hitler and the Third Reich. This philosophy of an obsessed philosopher became the “theoretical justification” for the murder of millions and millions of people. Apparently, this philosophy is still in demand today. One small detail of the picture of our recent history. When “perestroika” began in the USSR, this affected the range of books sold in our country. I remember that in the late 1980s. (the millennium of the baptism of Rus' has already been celebrated) The Bible could only be bought under the counter. But Nietzsche’s work “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” was already on the shelves of bookstores.

Thus, philosophers not only live in a madhouse themselves. They are actively involved in turning the whole world into a madhouse. True, crazy philosophers have their own lawyers. For example, Rudolf Steiner I repeated the idea many times that a true esotericist and mystic is always crazy. Apparently, he also considered himself to be in this category.

What should a person do who finds himself in a corporation of “professional philosophers”, which has become today a big madhouse? Here is Valery Karpunin’s answer: “What can we do? How to “cure”? Is there psychotherapy that will help us get out of the philosophical madhouse if we - God forbid! - Will we get a miracle? Undoubtedly, there is such a way out! This way out is a decisive rejection of philosophical self-closure, a decisive way out of the confines of fruitless and graceless philosophical reasoning, a way out of the boundaries of self-closure within the framework of insane philosophical theories. And where should we go? We must go out into the fullness of reality, turn to the highest Completeness of Reality, which is, of course, God.”

Philosophers and other “thinkers” as agents of “evil spirits”

Obviously, people who are not spiritually prepared and do not have the necessary protection from God (i.e., those who are outside the Church) can become fascinated and hypnotized by the miracles and abilities that fallen spirits demonstrate. It is not very often that they appear face to face with people. Mostly they act through their “agents of influence”, supplying them with everything they need. Including “secret knowledge”, career advancement, fame, the “right” people, money and the ability to produce effects.

But, first of all, the spirits supply their agents with new portions of “secret knowledge.” The methods of transferring “knowledge” are different. Starting from dreams, “insights” and “revelations” and ending with dictation of texts (similar to how a teacher dictates a dictation text to schoolchildren). I have already said above that Nietzsche received “insights” during his attacks mental illness. Writing texts under dictation from voices “from above” is called “automatic writing.” It is known that Helena Blavatsky created her works “The Secret Doctrine”, “Isis Unveiled” and other works using the autowriting method. Possessed the ability to “automatically write”Vladimir Soloviev , which, according to contemporaries, was “passivemedium » . Rudolf Steiner had the “gift” of clairvoyance. And even had secret meetings with...Christ. Just like Saul (the future Apostle Paul), who, as we know from the Acts of the Apostles, communicated with the Son of God on his way to Damascus. Yu. Vorobyovsky compares these meetings: “But here’s one difference. Steiner called the “Savior” for contact himself - with the help of meditation. Having comprehended the “science of occult science,” he did not understand what was really happening to him. This “sage” wrote that at the highest level of initiation a person must experience “the dissociation of will, feeling and thinking, the physical manifestation of which is madness.” Yes, the “peak” of the unfortunate man’s spiritual development was that “Archangel Michael” began to speak and act through him.”

Here's the famous one Carl Jung(1875-1961) - philosopher and one of the founding fathers of analytical psychology, successor to the work of Sigmund Freud. From Jung's memories we learn that the dead come to him, ring the bell and their presence is felt by his entire family. So he asks his “spiritual leader” “winged Philemon” questions in his own voice, and answers in the falsetto of his feminine being - anima, here dead crusaders are knocking on his house... Jung's psychotherapeutic technique of “active imagination” provided for communication with the “spiritual” world and entering trance .

A significant role Philosophers play a role in the implementation of the plans of the “spirits of evil in high heaven” as “agents of influence.” By the way, they are not only “agents of influence,” but also “agents-recruiters.” They need to do everything possible to ensure that a person goes beyond the fence of the Church and, thus, finds himself in the power of demons. To do this, philosophers run around the church fence and show Christians various “tricks” and “intellectual toys”, which are the fetishes of the fallen mind. Some of the most daring and arrogant are trying to penetrate the territory of the Church and seduce Christians with their “tricks” and “toys”, being in direct contact with them. These are already heretics. At the beginning of Christianity, such arrogant and intrusive “agents” of “spirits of evil in high places” filled the church space. These were the Gnostics. Christianity was in mortal danger. With great difficulty, they managed to be escorted outside the church fence. Today, judging by many signs, “agents of influence” are again penetrating inside the church fence with their heresies, with which they infect priests, the clergy, and monasticism, and representatives of theological science, and ordinary Christians. Moreover, many heresies represent various modifications of Gnosticism. The situation is extremely serious, as in the first centuries of Christianity.

And here we turn again to Bacon’s formula: “Knowledge is power.” Let us repeat once again: Bacon was not just a philosopher. First of all, he was an occultist (the main Rosicrucian of his time). Consequently, he could not help but be an “agent of influence” of evil spirits. And, acting in the interests of their “masters”, promote the knowledge that evil spirits need. That is, “false” knowledge. Knowledge, the source of which was and remains evil spirits.

Can anything be pure from something impure?

Can anything be pure from something impure? - Of course not. The Evangelist and Apostle John said this about the “initiated” and “elect”, the admirers of “secret knowledge”: Your father is the devil; and you want to do the lusts of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and did not stand in the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks his own way, for he is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44). Philosophy and science, “emancipated” from God, only relay and strengthen the false knowledge received from their “masters.” The destructive potential of false knowledge increases by orders of magnitude thanks to the invented “amplifier”. Since the time of Bacon, this force, hiding behind the signs of “progress”, “enlightenment” and “science”, has continuously destroyed man, society and nature. She overthrew monarchs, made revolutions, ridiculed and persecuted the Church, destroyed states, corrupted youth, crushed nature, started wars, maimed and killed millions of people, turned man into an animal. Science, and at the same time technology, masquerading as the “benefactor of humanity,” are trying to convince us that scientific and technological progress (STP) makes us happier and brings the world closer to a “bright future.” Nothing happened! NTP, based on false knowledge, can only sow death. Death spiritual and physical. The Savior said that " A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit."(Matt. 7:18). In the context of our conversation, the “bad tree” is science and philosophy, which have false knowledge as their root. This is the same “bad tree” as the one that stood in the center of the Garden of Eden and was called the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” There were ripe and seemingly very beautiful apples hanging on that tree. The first people ate apples from this thin tree, which, as it turned out, was poisoned. This was the first universal catastrophe in the history of mankind, which, as we know, ended with the expulsion of the first people from paradise. Today, humanity stands on the threshold of the last universal catastrophe in earthly history. Its source is still the same - the “bad tree” and poisoned fruits. Today these are not apples, but “fruits” or “achievements” of scientific and technological progress.

NTP: “Trojan horse” from the “infernal world”

A Russian thinker wrote very convincingly about the destructive effect of scientific and technological progress at the end of the 19th century. Konstantin Leontyev. He wrote about the destructive effects, both spiritual and social and physical. Leontyev draws attention to the fact that the word “progress” generally became a key word in the vocabulary of liberals, who not only welcomed this very “progress”, but also tried to substantiate it “scientifically.” In the 40s of the 19th century, various sociological theories(we did not yet have our own sociology). Along with these theories, this word “progress”, little familiar to Russian people, came to Russia. "Progress" - from Latin progressus. It, in turn, comes from the verb progredi- "go ahead". So, Leontyev draws attention to the fact that liberals cannot really explain what moving “forward” means. And what seems to them to be a movement “forward” is a movement towards an abyss. Technical progress is a powerful accelerator of humanity’s movement towards the end of its earthly history. Technical progress is just one of the varieties of this “forward” movement. Leontyev closely connects it with scientific, social, economic, and industrial progress. At one time, in polemics with Marx and his faithful followers, the socialist Eduard Bernstein(1850-1932) threw out the following phrase: “ Movement is everything, goal is nothing" It seems that this phrase very well describes the ideology of the “progressives” (supporters of progress).

The main subject of Leontiev’s criticism is not even progress itself (any kind), but the “philosophy” that liberals created to explain and justify this phenomenon.

Firstly, adherents of progress view progress as an endless process. And this, according to Leontyev, is already a heresy, which is in irreconcilable contradiction with the dogma of Christianity. Earthly human history is finite. The Holy Scripture speaks about this. This idea is most clearly expressed in the Revelation of John (Apocalypse). However, Leontiev created his original “naturalistic sociology”. Within the framework of this sociology, he comes, relying on rationalistic methods of understanding the world, to the same conclusion.

Secondly, apologists of progress hope that with the help of achievements in the field of science and technology it is possible to build something like “paradise” on earth. This is no less a heresy, already known in Christianity of the first centuries under the name “chiliasm” (belief in the thousand-year Kingdom of God on earth). The spread of such illusions contributes to the “erosion” of Christianity, people move away from Christ and begin to worship “progress.” Admiration for progress, reliance on the achievements of science and technology, and not on God, is not “rationalism” at all, as some naively believe, but a dangerous form of religious consciousness. In Christianity, the vector of human life is determined by such a clear goal as God. In liberalism, with its abstract “progress,” the guidelines of human life are first blurred and then completely disappear. Humanity begins to wander in the dark. Man's departure from God leads to a weakening of those bonds that ensured the integrity of society. The religious surrogate called “technical progress” destroys society, social entropy, chaos, anarchy, and “Pugachevism” arise.

NTP is a kind of “illusion” with the final the “broken trough” effect», about which the genius wrote A.S. Pushkin. Only in real life we ​​see not a fairy-tale old woman, but an ordinary person, and from a variety of classes and estates (Leontyev called such a person living in the West an “average European”). And such a person addresses his desires not to the “goldfish”, but to “technical progress,” which is no less ephemeral and deceptive than this very fish. One of K. Leontyev’s main works on the problem of technical progress is “Bishop Nikanor on the dangers of railways, steam and in general about the dangers of moving too fast in life.” Bishop Nikanor is a contemporary of Leontyev and his like-minded person in assessing scientific and technological progress. The bishop, in particular, notes: “ Thus, the railway, in essence, nowhere increased well-being, a sense of contentment, peace and happiness; on the contrary, it gave rise everywhere to anxiety, the need for means of life, and the pursuit of profit.».

Yes, individual technical innovations can create stunning effects, demonstrate high speeds, high productivity, comfort and other conveniences and pleasures. Bishop Nikanor does not deny this. But his general conclusion is somewhat unexpected: the price of these technical achievements is prohibitively high. The price is even purely material, without taking into account the moral, spiritual, aesthetic price. Here is the bishop’s reasoning: “ Tell me, has this speed of communication increased the external well-being of people? Apparently, for example, railways are built to increase wealth. I will say, as I said, that they are built to meet needs. And they satisfy them - that's true. But they satisfy it by proportionally increasing the needs themselves, increasing them by complicating life more and more, so that life becomes more expensive, more difficult and more demanding. The proof of this is in the sad experience everywhere that everywhere in Rus', where there were no railways yet, life there was simpler and cheaper.».

The cruel age of purity and self-interest is not accustomed to taking aesthetic values ​​into account at all. K. Leontyev writes about this in almost every work of his. The bishop also speaks about this, emphasizing that technical progress is achieved at the cost of destroying the beauty of God’s world: “ In addition, where the treeless desert expanse passed across the breadth of the Russian land, there is farewell to the poetry of antiquity, the poetry of our fathers and grandfathers, and even of our own youth. Our children will not soon understand the poetic expression “don’t make noise, dark forest, green oak tree,” nor will they understand the entire inexhaustible supply of both mythological and later poetry, based on the mysterious, sometimes elevating, sometimes menacing, sometimes charming impressiveness of the everywhere, still recently impenetrable forest thickets. And this will be a huge depletion of the spiritual treasures of our poetic people. Where did this thousand-voiced delightful song of praise to God go, the song of birds and all kinds of animal voices, which so recently thundered in the endless green flowering thickets on lovely May mornings? The deserted Russian land, denuded by stupid self-interest, is now sinking into a sepulchral, ​​deaf silence. This self-interest will soon kill the very taste for the delights of nature, just as it kills the very beauty of nature.” The esthete Leontyev constantly emphasizes that the beauty of the earth constantly reminds a person of God. The destruction of this beauty weakens the already weakened connection between man and the Creator, thereby bringing closer the end of earthly history. Finally, Bishop Nicanor touches on another aspect of the problem of technological progress. Conventionally, it can be called geopolitical. However, also spiritual and theological. The point is that railways, the telegraph and many other technical achievements intensify international communication and contribute to the internationalization of life. " It is dangerous, lest the earth soon begin to resemble the world wide web, which entangles the entire globe, in which only the emaciated omnivorous man floats, like a hungry spider, having no one or anything to devour, since he himself has devoured, beaten, tormented all living things on the surface of the entire earth. Aren’t these railway lines similar to the threads of the World Wide Web?..” More than a century before the advent of the Internet, which today many call the “World Wide Web,” our Russian bishop already foresaw all this perspicaciously. And we are talking here not just about economic internationalization (globalization). This “World Wide Web,” which today consists of transport communications, telephone, Internet, and invisible financial connections, is extremely reminiscent of the picture described in the Revelation of John (Apocalypse) on the eve of the coming of the Antichrist. Technological progress, predominantly under the control of liberals, clears the path for the Antichrist. Leontyev especially draws attention to the above excerpt from the bishop’s speech, calling technical progress a tool “ Babylonian all-confusion." And by doing overall assessment thoughts of the bishop, Konstantin Nikolaevich says: “ It is a ray of divine light in the satanic chaos of industrial cosmopolitanism.".

Further, in this article, Leontyev continues his discussion about the harmfulness of technological progress specifically for Russia. It still remains an Orthodox country, but is not looking for its own original path, but uncritically borrows everything from the Catholic and Protestant West. Borrows technical innovations, scientific ideas, culture, social theories, etc. Technical progress, according to Leontyev, is a manifestation of cosmopolitanism. Russia borrows from the West " cars, steam, telegraphs, egalitarian freedom, democratic parliaments, etc..", all this - " instruments of all-consuming destruction."

Here are some thoughts on the topic of NTP Hieromartyr Archbishop Hilarion (Trinity). More than 100 years ago, the bishop predicted how bloody the fruits of technological progress would be for Russia and the whole world: “Does the progress of mankind, divorced from God and from the Church, bring happiness? Humanity is taking big, giant strides along the path of progress. Perhaps that brilliant era is already approaching when air flights will open and joint-stock companies will begin to transport luggage and passengers on huge airships. But will this make a person happier? You can safely answer: no, he won’t be happier. Ships fly through the air, and in the pure air element the same merciless war will open as is now being waged on land and at sea. Air destroyers and battleships will appear. In the impenetrable darkness of thunderclouds and under the blue arches, virgin clear skies the roar of guns will be heard; groans and curses and loud cries of victory will break the sacred silence of the transcendental countries, and the scarlet blood of the same suffering and dying unfortunate person will flow to the earth from the heights of the sky. Is it not characteristic of modern progress that the new era of aeronautics immediately entered into an alliance with the military department? We have not yet learned to fly, but according to the new Statute of St. George in Rus', there is a reward for the one who causes the greatest harm to the enemy from an airplane. Aircraft are directly adapted to military purposes, and the Krupp factory skillfully casts formidable guns for firing at airships and airplanes. An old, deeply tragic story is repeating itself: chemists and alchemists were looking for a vital elixir to prolong life, but discovered gunpowder to destroy the already existing short life. It sometimes seems that humanity, with its notorious progress, is spinning in some kind of vicious circle.”

Is there an alternative to this demonic circle? - Same Hilarion Troitsky concludes: “And the progress that our proud age is so proud of does not have much value in the eyes of a Christian, because a Christian first of all asks the question: what is the benefit for eternity, for the salvation of the soul? When answering this question, very often the first are the last. Who is closer to God and the Kingdom of Heaven: the proud conqueror of the air, who rushes with dizzying speed and sets a world record, or the humble, wretched old woman, barely wandering with a knapsack on her shoulders along the path to St. Sergius the Monk?”

Conclusion

I'll end where I started. I mean the “brilliant” philosopher F. Bacon. He is widely known as the founding father of the philosophy of positivism. Many call him the most prominent English “enlightenment figure” (by analogy with the French Enlightenment philosophers). Perhaps, taking into account the above considerations, we should take a fresh look at the “brilliant” Bacon, and at the same time all philosophy (not only positive) with its fetish of “knowledge”? We also noted that F. Bacon- ideological founding father of the USA (this state is of a fundamentally new, Masonic type, was created according to the project outlined in “New Atlantis”). Isn't this proof that the ideas of philosophers can “capture the masses”? Simply put, to make entire nations “possessed”? Are these demonic ideas? F. Nietzsche, reinforced by the “possessed” Fuhrer Adolf Hitler, didn’t make most of the Germans “possessed” in the 30s and 40s of the last century?

We all remember the story about demons who lived in the country of the Gadarenes and moved into a herd of pigs. And then this herd was thrown off a cliff into the sea (Mark 5: 1-14; Luke 8:26-33; Matthew 8: 28-32). This is how the demonic ideas of Bacon and many other philosophers entered into the peoples of today. The words of the Gospel are quite applicable to these ideas: “ The name is legion" And like the Gadarene pigs, hundreds of millions (even billions) of demoniac people are rushing towards the end of their lives, and peoples - towards the end of world history.

In conclusion I will quote the words apostle paul: «... Satan himself takes the form of an angel, and therefore it is not a great thing if his servants also take the form of servants of righteousness; but their end will be according to their works"(2 Cor. 11: 14-15). Today, without any stretch, the definition of “servants of Satan” who “assume the appearance of servants of truth” includes representatives of modern positive science and philosophy who have broken with God. They are destined for the same end as the Gadarene pigs.

See: Priest. Rodion. People and demons. - Kyiv, 2003.

Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov. Addition to the word about death. - St. Petersburg, 1881, p. 182

Priest Rodion. People and demons. - Kyiv, 2003, p. 16.

Archimandrite Rafail (Karelin). Spirituality vectors. - M., 2003 (quoted from: Yuri Vorobyovsky. Paper (M. Bulgakov and other unknowns). - M.: 2012, p. 155).

Along the way, I will say that in F. Dostoevsky’s novel “The Brothers Karamazov” there is a plot of a conversation between Ivan Karamazov and the devil. Apparently, it is also inspired by Goethe's Faust.

Valery Karpunin. Christianity and philosophy. // “About M. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita” from a Christian point of view” (http://philosophica.ru/hrist/77.htm).

“Albert Camus on suicide” (http://bibliotekar.ru/encSuicid/6.htm)

Valery Karpunin. Christianity and philosophy. // “Philosophy as a madhouse” (http://philosophica.ru/hrist/77.htm).

For those wishing to find out more details, please refer to Anna Starobinets’ article “10 crazy people who infected us” (http://expert.ru/russian_reporter/2008/08/top_10_sumashedshih/).

For details, see: Anna Starobinets. 10 crazy people who infected us. (http://expert.ru/russian_reporter/2008/08/top_10_sumashedshih/).

Valery Karpunin. Christianity and philosophy. // “Philosophy as a madhouse” // http://philosophica.ru/hrist/77.htm).

Yuri Vorobievsky. Paper (M. Bulgakov and other unknowns). - M.: 2012, p. 155.

Konstantin Leontyev. Slavophilism and the future fate of Russia. - M.: Institute of Russian Civilization, 2010, p. 275.

Ibid., p. 274-275.

Ibid., p. 275.

Ibid., p. 269.

Ibid., p. 276.

Archbishop Hilarion (Trinity). Without the Church there is no salvation. - M.: Sretensky Monastery, publishing house “Znamenie”, 1999, p. 300-301.

Ibid., p. 299.

« For Jesus said to him, “Come out, O unclean spirit, from this man.” And he asked him: what is your name? And he answered and said, My name is Legion, for we are many" (

Baennik

Smoky and dilapidated, there are fragile bathhouses scattered across ravines and slopes, deliberately set out from the order of other village buildings, ready to burst into flames like gunpowder, fragile and short-lived. By all external signs it is clear that no one cared about them and, having lived out their short life in complete abandonment, the baths always look like buildings doomed to be demolished. Meanwhile, their smoky walls hear the first cries of the newborn of a Russian peasant family and the first sighs of the future breadwinner-plowman. Here, in the hot steam, he straightens, when he comes of age, the members of his body, worn out by hard work, and washes away the sweat of labor, so that, refreshed and invigorated, he can go to new endless labors. A young girl brings her melancholy here, doomed to devote her strength to someone else’s family and give her will into other hands; here, in last time she yearns for her parents’ home on the eve of the day when she accepts the “law” and the blessing of the church. Under such painful impressions, in one of the accounts counting the steam bath among the living ill-willed people, the following reproachful word was uttered about her:

On someone else's side, on the side,
On the villainess unknown:
In the swamp, a bathhouse was cut down,
A katana through the damp forest,
Driven by fierce beasts,
Placed in the damned place.

The reproaches are fair. Despite the fact that “the bathhouse soars, the bathhouse rules, the bathhouse will fix everything,” since ancient times it has been recognized as an unclean place, and after midnight it is even considered dangerous and scary: not everyone dares to look there, and everyone is ready to expect some kind of trouble, some kind of trouble. some chance and unexpected meeting. Such a meeting can happen with that unclean spirit from the undead, who, under the name of the baennik, settles in every bathhouse behind the heater, most often under the shelf on which they usually steam. He is known to all Russian people for his evil unkindness. “There is no meaner than the bannik, but no one is kinder,” they say in the indigenous Novgorod region near Belozersk; but here they firmly believe in his always readiness to do harm and strictly observe the rules of servility and ingratiation.

They believe that the baennik always washes after everyone, usually divided into three turns, and therefore everyone is afraid of the fourth break or the fourth steam: “he” will attack - he will throw hot stones from the heater, splash boiling water; If you don’t run away skillfully, that is, backwards, he can completely scald you. The spirit considers this hour to be its own and allows only devils to wash themselves: for people, bathing time in villages is usually around 5-7 o’clock in the afternoon.

After three changes of visitors, devils, goblins, barnyards and the banniki themselves wash in the bathhouse. If someone goes to the bathhouse at this time to take a steam bath, he will not come out alive: the devils will strangle him, and people will think that that person has gone crazy or been steamed. This belief about the fourth fatal bath “change” is widespread throughout Rus'.

They curry favor with the bannik by bringing him a treat from a piece of rye bread, steeply sprinkled with coarse salt. And in order to forever take away his strength and desire to harm, they bring him a black chicken as a gift. When a new bathhouse is built after a fire, such a chicken is strangled (not cut) without plucking its feathers and buried in this form in the ground under the threshold of the bathhouse, trying to time it for Maundy Thursday. Having buried the chicken, they leave the bathhouse backwards and all the time bow to the bathhouse to its permanent and angry tenant. Bannik strives to own the bathhouse indivisibly and is dissatisfied with anyone who encroaches on his rights, even if only temporarily. Knowing this, a rare traveler, caught at night, will decide to seek shelter here, except perhaps for Siberian tramps and runaways, who, as you know, don’t care about anything in the world. Those who go to work and have no means to pay for lodging for the night prefer to sleep somewhere in a haystack, under a barn, under a broom or juniper bush. How highly the baennik values ​​the direct purpose of his home is evident from the fact that he takes revenge on those owners who change this purpose. Thus, in many northern forest areas (for example, in Vologda province) they do not go to the bathhouse at all, preferring to steam in the stoves, which occupy a whole ⅓ of the hut. Although baths exist here, thanks to good harvests flax, and due to increased foreign demands for this product, sold through the Arkhangelsk port, they were turned into small factories, scutching and carding mills. Those who climb into the oven, the baennik, in addition to the power and permission of the brownie, sometimes forces the damper so tightly that they will either be pulled out fainting, or they will completely suffocate. Doesn't like the baennik. also those brave souls who boast of visiting his home outside the specified time. Since he has a direct responsibility to remove waste from the bathhouse, he has the right to cause waste to those with whom he is dissatisfied. There are many stories for such cases.

The baennik immediately punishes those who violate the rules and requirements established by him with his court, at least like the following one, which the narrator from the Penza peasants experienced. Once, being late on the road, before the holiday, he climbed into his bathhouse, after the midnight hour. But, undressing, he hurriedly grabbed the cross from his neck along with his shirt, and when he climbed onto the shelf to steam, he could not get down from there as quickly as possible. The brooms just hit the sides by themselves. Somehow, however, he got down and poked his head into the door, but it was so closed that you couldn’t open it. And the brooms do everything they want - they whip. The woman realized that her husband had been gone for a long time, she began to call at the window - there was no answer, she began to break on the door - she did not give in. She called with the roar of the neighbors. These came to help: they chopped down the door with axes - only sparks fly, but no chips. A woman healer came to the rescue, sprinkled the door with holy water, read her prayer and opened it. The man lay unconscious; They forcibly wiped it off with snow.

Experienced people ward off the evil slander of their fellow servants by the attention they receive every time they leave the bathhouse. Always leave a little water and at least a small piece of soap in the tubs, unless you wash with lye; brooms are never taken into the hut. That is why they often tell how, when passing by a bathhouse at night, they heard with what mischief and zeal the devils were whipping around there and at the same time buzzing, as if they were talking, but without words. One passer-by got bold and shouted: “Add a couple!” - and suddenly everything became quiet, and a chill ran through his body, and his hair stood on end.

In general, the baennik does not allow jokes with himself, but he allows people to come to him on Christmastide to be bewitched, and the fortune-telling itself takes place as follows: the fortuneteller sticks his bare back through the bathhouse door, and the baenik either hits him with a clawed paw (to disaster), or gently strokes him with a shaggy and soft, like silk, large palm (fortunately). The girls gathered about Christmas time (near Kadnikov, Vologda province) for a conversation, but the guys got angry with them for something - and didn’t come. It became boring, one girl said to her friends:

Let's go, girls, to the bathhouse and listen to what the baennik will tell us.

The two girls agreed and went. One says:

Stick your hand out the window, girl, and the bannik will put gold rings on your fingers.

Come on, girl, let’s stick it first, and then I’ll do it.

She put it in, and the bannik said:

So I got you.

He grabbed him by the hand and put rings on him, and iron rings: he chained all his fingers in one place, so that it was impossible to unclench them. Somehow she pulled her hand out of the window, ran home in a hurry and in tears, and her face was blank from pain. She barely composed herself with these words:

God, girls, look what kind of ring-bannik he planted. How can I live now with such a hand? And what a scary banner he is: he’s all furry and his hand is so big and also furry. As he put the rings on me, I kept bawling. Now I won’t go to the bathhouses to listen anymore.

In essence, the bannik tries to be invisible, although some claim that they have seen him, and that he is an old man, like all the spirits akin to him: it is not for nothing that they have lived in this world and in the Russian world for such an innumerable number of years.

However, although this spirit is invisible, its movements can always be heard in the silence of the night - under the shelf, and behind the heater, and in a pile of fresh, unsteamed brooms. Women in labor are especially sensitive to such sounds, but for this reason they are never left alone in the baths: there is always some woman with them, if not the midwife herself. Everyone is firmly convinced that the baennik loves it when postpartum women come to live with him until the third day after giving birth, and even more so for a week, as is usual with rich and kind men. In the same way, everyone undeniably believes that bathhouses are filthy and very dangerous places, and if a fire has to vacate and clean them, then not a single good owner will dare to build a hut here and settle in: either bedbugs will prevail, or a mouse will become deprived and ruin all the personal belongings . In the northern forest areas, they are firmly convinced that the baenik will not give rest and will strangle all the livestock: then neither putting money in the corners of the log house, nor setting up an anthill in the middle of the yard, and the like will help.

The invention of gunpowder. Circuit 12.
As soon as man “received fire from Prometheus” (according to legend), he began to use it not only for heating and cooking, but also as a weapon to fight enemies. Throwing cannonballs, and with them substances that are difficult to extinguish - tar, oil known since ancient times. But to throw cannonballs you needed gunpowder.
Its “invention” and production is attributed to the Chinese. The Arab writer Hassan Alrammah, in a manuscript dating back to 1285, writes about “Chinese arrows”, and calls the substance with which these arrows were thrown “Chinese snow”.
The Indians did not “lag behind” the Chinese, as Montsenu writes, but without saltpeter, as scientists testify, gunpowder cannot be made, and saltpeter “in its pure form” does not occur in nature.
During the construction of the Trojan Column, the engineer Apollodorus made a “pipe” to protect it, at the end of which hung a basket with hot charcoal. At the back of the pipe there were bellows, when inflated, hot particles flew at the enemy.
The first mention of a mixture of sulfur, coal and saltpeter is from the Frenchman Rogero Baco.
The German scientist Albertus Magnus introduced Germany to this mixture. As often happens, discoveries of something occur in different countries independently of each other. But we find the first reliable evidence of the cannon only in the manuscript of 1326. This manuscript of an unknown author is kept in England, in Oxford. There is also a drawing of this cannon.
In the 15th century, firearms were already used everywhere. Almost all great discoveries were accompanied by superstition, and their discoverers were persecuted.
A manuscript from 1410 reports about a certain monk Bertold the Black (Schwartz), who “was a master of black magic... He tried to “get” gold, took a mixture of selyrt, sulfur, lead, oil and mercury and put it all in a closed vat on the fire, but the vat exploded after it got very hot.” ​​When I say that his name is not exactly known, I mean that the monk’s name was really Berthold, but the surname “black” was not his surname, but rather a nickname that came from “master of BLACK magic,” but he went down in history precisely as Berthold Schwartz (Black).
Berthold was eventually imprisoned and executed for his “heretical, diabolical discoveries,” as master and fireworks artist Franz Helm writes “He lived in 1380.”
A Bernadier monk named Bertold the Black. For his invention, he was tried by Emperor Wenceslaus and sentenced to death.”
It is interesting that great poets sometimes also saw in such discoveries “ evil spirits" So the famous Petrarch wrote about “metal acorns falling with terrible thunder from the sky, which only God in his rage can do,” and the person who dares to do this is a heretic and blasphemer.
One way or another, in Europe the master and alchemist Berthold Schwartz is considered the “inventor of gunpowder.”

is a solid explosive mixture of crushed pieces of coal, sulfur and saltpeter. When the mixture is heated, sulfur ignites first (at 250 degrees), then it ignites the saltpeter. At a temperature of about 300 degrees, saltpeter begins to release oxygen, due to which the process of oxidation and combustion of substances mixed with it occurs. Coal represents the fuel that delivers a large number of gases high temperature. The gases begin to expand with enormous force in different directions, creating great pressure and creating an explosive effect.

The Chinese were the first to invent gunpowder. There are assumptions that they and the Hindus discovered gunpowder 1.5 thousand years before the birth of Christ. The main component of gunpowder is saltpeter, which was abundant in ancient China. In areas rich in alkalis, it was found in its native form and looked like flakes of fallen snow. Saltpeter was often used instead of salt. When burning saltpeter with coal, the Chinese could often observe flashes. The Chinese physician Tao Hung-ching, who lived at the end of the 5th - beginning of the 6th centuries, first described the properties of saltpeter and began to use it as remedy. Alchemists often used saltpeter in their experiments.

One of the first examples of gunpowder was invented by the Chinese alchemist Sun Sy-miao in the 7th century. Having prepared a mixture of saltpeter, sulfur and locus wood and heated it in a crucible, he received an unexpectedly strong flash of flame. The resulting gunpowder did not yet have a great explosive effect, then its composition was improved by other alchemists who established its main components: potassium nitrate, sulfur and coal. For several centuries, gunpowder was used for incendiary projectiles, called “ho pao,” which translates as “fireball.” The throwing machine threw an ignited projectile, which, when exploding, scattered burning particles. The Chinese invented firecrackers and fireworks. A bamboo stick filled with gunpowder was set on fire and launched into the sky. Later, when the quality of gunpowder improved, it began to be used as an explosive in landmines and hand grenades, but still for a long time could not figure out how to use the power of gases generated by the combustion of gunpowder to throw cannonballs and bullets.

From China, the secret of making gunpowder came to the Arabs and Mongols. Already at the beginning of the 13th century, the Arabs, who had achieved the highest skill in pyrotechnics, staged amazingly beautiful fireworks. From the Arabs, the secret of making gunpowder came to Byzantium, and then to the rest of Europe. Already in 1220, the European alchemist Mark the Greek wrote down the recipe for gunpowder in his treatise. Later Roger Bacon would write quite accurately about the composition of gunpowder; he was the first to mention gunpowder in European scientific sources. However, another 100 years passed until the recipe for gunpowder ceased to be a secret.

Legend connects the secondary discovery of gunpowder with the name of the monk Berthold Schwartz. In 1320, an alchemist, while conducting experiments, allegedly accidentally made a mixture of saltpeter, coal and sulfur and began to pound it in a mortar, and a spark flying out of the fireplace, hitting the mortar, led to an explosion, which was the discovery of gunpowder. Berthold Schwarz is credited with the idea of ​​using gunpowder gases to throw stones and the invention of one of the first artillery pieces in Europe. However, the story with the monk is most likely just a legend.

In the middle of the 14th century, cylindrical barrels appeared, from which they fired bullets and cannonballs. Weapons were divided into handguns and artillery. At the end of the 14th century, large-caliber barrels were forged, intended for firing stone cannonballs. And the largest cannons, called bombards, were cast from bronze.

Despite the fact that gunpowder was invented in Europe much later, it was the Europeans who were able to derive the greatest benefit from this discovery. The consequence of the spread of gunpowder was not only the rapid development of military affairs, but also progress in many other areas of human knowledge and in such areas human activity, such as mining, industry, mechanical engineering, chemistry, ballistics and much more. Today this discovery is used in rocket technology, where gunpowder is used as fuel. It is safe to say that the invention of gunpowder is most important achievement humanity.