CHAPTER FIVE. The origin of the Zaporozhye Cossacks and their history before the impostor. - Description of their country and settlement. - Impostor on the Don. - The origin of the Don Cossacks and their relationship to the Moscow state. - The impostor enters the service of Prince Vishnevetsky. - Everyday life

Very early, attempts began to group the myths about the numerous gods of Ancient Greece through genealogies, to bring ideas about them into a system corresponding to the course of phenomena in the real world. In these theosophical constructions religious concepts physical revolutions, traces of which were still visible or preserved by echoes of ancient myths, were presented in the form of wars that different tribes or generations of gods waged among themselves, and from which Zeus and other Olympian gods emerged victorious, taking possession of the universe and giving it its present order. So, myths about the origin of the gods Ancient Greece they represented the cosmos in the current perfection of its improvement as the result of a long development from rough elemental principles into a harmonious organism; The course of the history of the universe, according to the Greeks, was an ascension, not a descent, an improvement, perfection, and not corruption. The light region of the ether (sky) was the most important department of the universe in all the myths about the gods of Ancient Greece; whoever possesses the shining throne of the kingdom of heaven is the ruler of the rest of the universe; everything in the entire universe receives a form consistent with the qualities of the one who rules in the realm of the ether. The most ancient myths about the origin of the gods and the universe were collected by Hesiod. He was from the Boeotian city of Ascra. His systematic collection of myths is called "Theogony". This is a poem. Summary The theogony is:

The beginning of the origin of the gods

Initially, before the emergence of the gods, there was Chaos, a formless primeval space in which Tartarus (matter, the dark void) and Eros (Eros, Eros, the generative force) were located. The movements of Tartarus under the influence of Eros gave birth to Erebus (primordial fog) and Night. Eros began to act in them, and they gave birth to Ether and day (Hemera). Matter, which was in Chaos, formed into the first goddess - the “broad-breasted” Gaia (earth), the mother and nourisher of everything, producing all living things, and receiving everything produced again into her dark bosom. Gaia, having risen, gave birth to Uranus (the starry sky), and he spread his arch over her; having descended, she gave birth to the sea (Pontus), and it spread out under her; She also gave birth to mountains.

Origin of the Titans

Then the next stage of origin began ancient greek gods. Eros began to act in the universe again, attracting the male and female elements to unite, and she, combining with Uranus spread over her, gave birth to the gods; these gods were the Titans, Cyclops and Hecatoncheires - volcanic and neptunian forces of nature, whose activity still continued on the continent of Greece, and especially on the islands, but seemed weakened compared to what it had been before. There were twelve Titans: six male and six female. Some of them chose the sky as their home, others the earth, and others the sea. The titan and titan who settled in the sea were Oceanus and Tethys (water), from which, according to other theogonic systems, everything came. According to the myths about the origin of the gods of Ancient Greece, the Ocean is a river flowing around the earth and the sea covered by the earth; it is a deep and ring-shaped belt of flowing water; its flow is circular; he is the boundary of the world, and he himself is limitless. When the concept of the Ocean River is personified in the image of Titan, this god, who retains the name Ocean, is a kind, gentle old man. This titan and his wife, the progenitor of rivers and streams, live in the far west, which was generally a wonderland in ancient Greek myths. All rivers rushing through gorges, like mighty bulls or victorious heroes making their way through the barriers of mountains, all quiet rivers of the plains, all streams and springs were considered in the myths of Ancient Greece to be the sons and daughters of the gods Ocean and Tethys. Their first-born children were Styx and Aheloy. The Styx (in Greek, a feminine name) was the Black River; her personification, the ancient Greek goddess Styx, lived in the distant west, where the sun hides, where the land of night is; her home was a magnificent house standing between the rocks with silver columns that rose to the very sky. In the myths of Ancient Greece, she was the guardian of the sacred river flowing in a dark gorge, the waters of which the gods swore when they made an unbreakable promise. – Achelous, the “silver river,” was in mythology a representative of rivers that feed vegetation. Ancient Greek myths located the source of this sacred, great river at Dodona, and the Dodona region, irrigated by Achelous, the homeland of the Pelasgians, was “full of grass and bread, goats, sheep and herds of heavy-paced cattle.” At the Ocean, where the garden of the Hesperides and where the sources of ambrosia are, Zeus combined with Hera, the goddess of the clouds, the queen of the sky, who was raised by Ocean and Tethys.

In the shining sky, according to ancient greek mythology, lived the titan Hyperion “high-walking” and the titan Theia (brilliance); from them were born the gods Helios (Sun), Selene (Moon) and Eos (Dawn; Eos is a feminine word in Greek); Also in the sky lived another couple, Kay and Phoebe (the bright one), the parents of Leto (the silence of the night) and Asteria (the Starlight). The children of the Titan Eos were the Wind gods; there were four of them: Zephyr, Boreas, Noth and Eurus.

According to the myths about the origin of the gods of Ancient Greece, of the titans and titans who lived on earth, some were personifications of human qualities and phases of human development; This was the significance of Iapetus and his sons, who are also called titans: Atlas (or Atlas), supporting the sky; arrogant Menoetius; the cunning Prometheus; the feeble-minded Epimetheus; ideas about them provided rich material for thoughtful myths and great works of ancient Greek poetry. The Titans who lived on earth were personifications of beneficial forces that give human life improvement or noble pleasures; These were Themis, the goddess of justice and legal order; her daughters and Zeus were in the myths about the gods of Ancient Greece Ora (Horai, hours of the day, seasons), the goddess of the correct course of annual changes in nature and the correct structure of human life; Eurynome, mother of Charit (Grace), goddesses of everything sweet, attractive in nature and in human life: fun, beauty, grace; Mnemosyne, whose daughters from her union with Zeus were the goddesses of singing, the muses; the formidable Hecate, the goddess of fate, who was very highly respected; She was the first of all deities to be prayed to by those offering sacrifices of atonement; good and evil came from her to people. Subsequently, Hecate became the goddess of roads and crossroads in the myths of Ancient Greece; crossroads were burial places, and on them, near the tombs, in the mysterious light of the moon, ghosts appeared; therefore Hecate became the terrible goddess of witchcraft and ghosts, accompanied by the howling of dogs.

Cyclops and Hecatonchires

In the myths about the origin of the gods of Ancient Greece, Gaia, in addition to the Titans, gave birth to the Cyclops and Hecatoncheires from her marriage with Uranus. Cyclops, giants with a large, round, fiery eye in the middle of their forehead, were personifications of clouds flashing with lightning. There were three of them. There were also three Hecatoncheires, the “Hundred-Handed” giants, who personified earthquakes and stormy waves of the sea that flooded the earth. These huge monsters were so strong that, according to myths about the origin of the gods, Uranus himself began to fear them; therefore he bound them and cast them into the depths of the earth; They are now raging in its depths, producing eruptions of fire-breathing mountains and earthquakes.

Cyclops Polyphemus. Painting by Tischbein, 1802

Castration of Uranus by Cronus

Gaia, suffering from this, decided to take revenge on Uranus. She made a large sickle out of iron and gave it to Krona, the youngest of the titans, who alone of all of them agreed to fulfill his mother’s plan. When Uranus descended at night on the bed of Gaia, Cronus, hiding near that place, cut off his father’s penis with a sickle and threw it away. Gaia took the drops of blood that fell at the same time, and from them gave birth to three Erinyes, giants and Melian nymphs. In the myths of Ancient Greece, Erinyes, who had snakes instead of hair on their heads, walk with torches throughout the earth, pursuing and punishing evildoers; there are three of them: Tisiphone (the killing avenger), Alecto (the tireless pursuer) and Megaera (the terrible). Giants and Melian nymphs were personifications of vengeance, violence, and bloodshed in the myths of Ancient Greece. The penis cut off from Uranus fell into the sea and was carried along the waves; from the white foam of these waves, Aphrodite (Anadyomene, “rising from the water”) was born, who formerly formed part of the being of Uranus (formerly Urania), now becoming a special being. Uranus cursed the Titans. – According to the scientist Preller, Cronus was initially the god of the ripening of bread in Ancient Greece and became the personification of time, moving imperceptibly towards the time of ripening, and quickly cutting off what was ripe, “the god of the withering heat, which stops the rains of his father, the sky.”

Uranus and Gaia. Ancient Roman mosaic 200-250 AD.

Origin of Nereus and the Sea Deities

According to the myths about the origin of the gods, Gaia also had children from cohabitation with Pontus, the sea. The first of these children of hers was Nereus, kind and supportive of people, sea ​​god, father of numerous daughters, Nereids, beautiful sea nymphs, who were personifications of the calm sea, quiet bays, bright life near safe bays. The next children of Gaia from cohabitation with Pontus, the sons Thaumas and Phorcys and the daughter Keto, were personifications of the majestic and terrible phenomena of the sea. The daughter of Phorcys and the oceanid Electra (“brilliant”) was Iris, the rainbow; their other daughters were in ancient Greek myths the Harpies, the goddess of destructive storms, whirlwinds, and deaths.

Hercules and Nereus. Boeotian vessel ca. 590-580 BC.

Graia, Scylla and Gorgons

From the cohabitation of Phorkidas and Keto, the ugly Graias, the terrible monsters Scylla and Gorgons were born; they lived on the edge of the universe, where the sun sets, in the land of Night and its children. - The Grays, three sisters, were already gray-haired old women at birth; all three, they had only one eye and one tooth, which they used alternately. The Gorgons, of which the most terrible was Medusa, were winged monsters with human heads, on which there were snakes instead of hair, and with such a terrible expression on their faces that from their gaze all living things turned to stone.

Scylla. Boeotian red-figure crater of the second half of the 5th century. BC

Hesperides and Atlas

Not far from the Gorgons, at the border of eternal darkness, lived the Hesperides, daughters of Night; their singing was beautiful; they lived on a charming island, which was not reached by sailors, and where the fertile land produces its most excellent gifts to the gods”; The Hesperides guarded the golden apples that grew on this island. Next to the Hesperides gardens stood the titan Atlas (Atlas), the personification of the Atlas Range; he held on his head, supporting him with his hands, “the wide vault of heaven.” – Mother of the Hesperides, Night, was a good goddess who gave birth to light; at the end of each day, she covers the earth with her moist wings and gives sleep to all nature.

Moira

Moira, goddesses of the birth and death of people, were either also daughters of Night, or daughters of Zeus and Themis. In the myths of Ancient Greece there were three of them: Clotho spun the beginning of the thread of human life, Lachesis continued spinning the thread started by her sister, Atropos (inevitable) cut the thread. Goddesses of human destiny, they were the guardians of the laws of necessity, on the action of which order and improvement in nature and in human society are based.

Thanat and Kera

The children of the night were also the inexorable god of death, Thanat, and the terrible Kera, goddesses of fate, mainly the fate that gives people death in battles; on the battlefields they were “terrible in appearance, in bloody clothes,” dragging and tormenting the wounded and killed.

God Kron

Uranus, the sky that gives the rain that fertilizes the earth, was, according to the myths about the origin of the gods of Ancient Greece, deprived of dominion by Cronus, the personification of that power of the sky that gives ripening to the fruits of the earth. Cronus became ruler; his reign was a golden age; then “the fruit was ripe forever, and the harvest was forever.” But his father’s curse took away from him the power to be renewed with youth, so in the myths about the origin of the gods he is a symbol of old age, a pale, withered old man, with gray hair and a long beard, bent over, gloomy. It was predicted to him that his children would overthrow him, just as he overthrew his father; therefore, he absorbed all the children that his wife, Rhea, bore to him, the personification of the productive power of mountains and forests, “mother mountain,” later identified with the Phrygian goddess of nature, Cybele, the founder of cities, who wore a crown made in the form of a city wall.

Zeus and the fight of the gods with the titans

According to ancient Greek myths, Cronus absorbed all his children; but when the last son, Zeus, was born, the mother gave Cronus a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes to swallow and hid the beautiful baby in a cave. The nymphs fed him there with milk and honey, and the Curetes and Corybantes - the personification of thunderclouds - danced around, striking their spears on their shields so that the baby’s cry could not be heard by the parent. Zeus quickly grew up and, with the help of Rhea’s cunning, forced his father to disgorge the devoured children. The stone he had swallowed was also thrown out; Zeus placed it "for eternal remembrance at Delphi" on the winding slope of Parnassus. Zeus freed the Cyclopes; they gave him thunder and lightning, and he, according to ancient Greek myths about the origin of the gods, began a fight with Cronus for dominion over the universe.

"Zeus from Otricoli". Bust of the 4th century BC

All the gods of Ancient Greece took part in the struggle; some took the side of Cronus, others took the side of Zeus. The war of the gods lasted ten years. The titans' camp was on Othrid, the younger generation's deities' camp was on Olympus. The ancient Greek myth about this “war with the Titans” (Titanomachy) is based, perhaps, on memories of earthquakes during which a breach of the seaside ridge, the Tempeian Gorge, was formed, and the waters of the Thessalian plain flowed into the sea. Under the feet of the fighting gods the earth shook to the depths of Tartarus. God Zeus finally showed all his power, continuously throwing lightning, so that all the forests were on fire, the whole earth was on fire, the sea was boiling; the eyes of the titans were blinded by the brilliance of lightning, and the ancient Chaos itself stirred in its depths, thinking that the hour of its dominion had come, that both heaven and earth would be cast into it. But the titans still held out irresistibly. Zeus summoned the hundred-armed, fifty-headed Hecatoncheires to his aid; They began to throw huge rocks at the titans, three hundred rocks at a time, and overthrew the titans into Tartarus, which is as deep below the earth as the sky is high from it. According to ancient Greek myths, the overthrown titans were bound there in chains. But not all the Titans were against Zeus; Themis, Oceanus and Hyperion fought for him and were accepted among the celestials.

Division of the universe between Zeus, Poseidon and Hades

The victory was celebrated with a brilliant holiday, with military dances and games. After that, the myths about the origin of the gods of Ancient Greece continue, the sons of Cronus divided among themselves, either by lot or by choice, dominion over the universe. Zeus received supreme power in heaven and on earth, Poseidon dominion over the sea and all waters; Hades (Pluto) became the ruler in the depths of the earth, where the dark dwellings of the dead are. Earth and Olympus remained the common possession of all gods and goddesses. But some of them took under their special protection those countries and cities that they especially loved and in which they were especially honored. The titans thrown into Tartarus remained there, bound in chains. Poseidon fenced Tartarus with a strong wall with copper gates. Hecatoncheires, the terrible forces of earthquakes, in ancient Greek myths guard the titans so that they do not break out of Tartarus and destroy the bright world of the Olympian gods. And the titans, the children of the angry earth, the disorderly, evil elements of nature, who opposed the rule of the gods and the moral improvement of life, remained forever in Tartarus. That's what they said ancient myths about the origin of the gods. But when the morals of the ancient Greeks softened, poetry freed the titans from darkness and bondage, transferred them to the Islands of the Blessed, and installed there the “ancient” god Kronus as king over the chosen dead of the ancient blessed times.

Poseidon (Neptune). Antique statue of the 2nd century. according to R.H.

Typhon

Zeus had to defend his dominion against new enemies. Gaia combined with Tartarus and gave birth to her last child, the most terrible of all, Typhon (or Typheus), the personification of gases bursting from the bowels of the earth and causing volcanic upheavals. In ancient Greek myths, it was a colossal monster that had a hundred dragon heads with black tongues, flaming eyes and the hissing of its heads was terrible. Typhon was the most terrible of all the enemies who fought with the Olympians. He almost took over the universe. Zeus struck him with lightning. The struggle was such that it shook the heights of Olympus and the bowels of the earth to its deepest foundations. Zeus finally beat off all the heads of the monster with lightning, and it fell; his body burned with such fire that the earth became hot, like burning iron, and melted and flowed. Zeus cast the headless but living monster into Tartarus. But even from there Typhon sends destruction to land and sea, emitting scorching winds and other harmful effects of heat.

The fight of gods with giants. Pergamon Altar

The minds of great sages and philosophers throughout history have been interested in answers to fundamental questions -? Which one? and so on. Studying the works of these people, one can find different thoughts on this matter. But to the question of how God appeared, no one has yet been able to give a specific answer. For modern man, the answer that “God has always been” does not provide sufficient understanding.

Since childhood, looking at the world around us, we see that everything originates from somewhere: trees grow from seeds, fire appears from a lit match, water cools below zero degrees and forms ice, etc. Our thinking is accustomed to this formula: “if something exists, it means it came from somewhere.” Following this logic, humanity successfully explored the Universe, making all kinds of scientific discoveries and discovering the fundamental laws of the universe - the law of conservation of energy, the law of cause-and-effect relationships, etc.

Naturally, people of faith tend to apply the same logical formula to the source of their faith - God. Since God exists, then it means He came from somewhere. How did God appear? Where? To answer these questions, it is necessary to have a more or less specific understanding of who God is. ? All world religions agree that God is the creator of this world, the entire Universe. One of the most popular and scientifically accepted theories of the origin of the Universe, the big bang theory, says that space and time arose at one point 13.7 ± 0.13 billion years ago. Thus, God the creator of the Universe began to create this world 13.7 billion years ago. Accordingly, space itself and time itself are the creation of God. What happened before the big bang? It is impossible to answer this question correctly. The words “before” or “after” have their relevance only in connection with the concept of time. 13.7 billion years ago time appeared, but before that it did not exist. Therefore, the question – what happened before the big bang – has no answer.

Now let's return to the answer to our main question - where did God come from? The word “appeared” is inextricably linked with the concept of time: there was a time when something did not exist, then at a certain moment this something appeared. So how did God appear? The answer is that God did not appear. He could not appear because there was no time. God created the entire universe, including space and time.

We are part of the Universe. Our thinking is based on the world that exists around us. We are accustomed to the fact that there is time and space. Our worldview, the questions we have, the decisions we make, and our whole life are based on this. The answers to the questions: where and how God came from, obviously lie beyond the boundaries of our Universe. And in order to answer them clearly, you need to have a mindset based on what is outside our Universe, outside the framework of time and space, and not on the knowledge and experience gained within the framework of universal space during your life. But man, created by God, is not yet capable of this.

So how did God come into being? Where did God come from? The very word “appeared” is limited to the universe. And the answer to these questions lies outside the Universe created by God.