On August 14, the Orthodox Church honors the memory of the holy Maccabee martyrs. What do we know about them?
The seven holy Maccabean martyrs: Abim, Antoninus, Gurias, Eleazar, Eusevo, Adim and Marcellus, as well as their mother Solomonia and teacher Eleazar, suffered in 166 BC. e. from the Syrian king Antiochus Epiphanes. Antiochus Epiphanes, pursuing a policy of Hellenization of the population, introduced Greek pagan customs in Jerusalem and all of Judea. He desecrated the Temple of Jerusalem by placing in it a statue of Olympian Zeus, to whose worship he forced the Jews.
The ninety-year-old elder, the teacher of the law Eleazar, who was judged for his adherence to the Mosaic Law, with firmness went to torture and died in Jerusalem. The same courage was shown by the disciples of Saint Eleazar: the seven Maccabean brothers and their mother Solomonia. They, fearlessly recognizing themselves as followers of the True God, refused to sacrifice to the pagan gods.
The eldest of the boys, who was the first to give an answer to the king on behalf of all seven brothers, was given over to terrible torture in front of the other brothers and their mother; the other five brothers, one after another, suffered the same torment. There is a seventh brother left, the youngest. Antiochus proposed to Saint Solomonia to persuade him to renounce, so that she could have at least his last son, but the courageous mother strengthened him in the confession of the True God. The boy endured the torment just as firmly as his older brothers.
After the death of all the children, Saint Solomonia, standing over their bodies, raised her hands with a grateful prayer to God and died.
The feat of the holy seven Maccabean brothers inspired the priest Mattathias and his sons, who rebelled against Antiochus Epiphanes, which lasted from 166 to 160 BC. e. and, having won the victory, they cleansed the Jerusalem temple of idols.
The Maccabean war against the invaders was a guerrilla war. The beginning of the uprising was the murder of Mattathias a Jew who made a sacrifice on an altar built by the Greeks. After this, Mattathias and his family fled to the mountains and soon united and led the rebel groups that had previously operated in Judea and Southern Samaria. Priest Mattathias, who stood at the head of the rebels, interfered with the activities of the royal administration, raided neighboring areas, destroying altars, punishing apostates from the faith of their ancestors and Jews loyal to the new policy.
Soon Mattathias died, and the rebels were led by his son Judah.
Initially, this nickname was given to Judas Maccabee from the Hasmonean dynasty, who led the uprising against the yoke of the Syrian Greeks. Later it began to be applied to the other sons of Mattathias, a Jewish priest from the family of Joarib: John, Simon, Eleazar and Jonathan, who also took an active part in the uprising. Then it was extended to all defenders and confessors of the faith during the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes.
An important result of the uprising under the leadership of the Hasmoneans is considered to be the creation of an independent Jewish state centered in Jerusalem and the restoration of temple worship. In honor of this event, an eight-day holiday called Hanukkah (Hebrew “sanctification”) was established. The Hasmonean dynasty ruled Judea (first under Syrian control, then independently) for almost 120 years (from 152 to 37 BC).
If you have a Protestant edition of the Holy Scriptures, you will not find them there. The martyrdom of the seven Maccabean brothers and the Maccabean revolt are described in the Books of Maccabees. They belong to the deuterocanonical ones, i.e. books of the Old Testament, the Hebrew text for which was not known in the first centuries of our era, but they were included in the Septuagint.
The First Book of Maccabees consists of 16 chapters, where, after a brief mention of the conquests of Alexander the Great and the collapse of his empire, it tells about the terrible persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes against the Jews who strictly observed their religion, which ultimately caused an uprising under the leadership of the priest Mattathias, and then his sons Judas, Jonathan and Simon. The narrative ends with a general note about the merits of Simon's son and successor, John.
The text of the Second Book of Maccabees is not a continuation of the First, but only an addition to it. If the first book of Maccabees is an almost documentary narrative, then the second book is replete with dramatic episodes, dialogues, descriptions of miracles that occurred during the expulsion of the Seleucids and Hellenists from Judea and the formation of the independent kingdom of the Maccabees. The martyrdom of the seven brothers whose memory we celebrate today is described in the Second Book of Maccabees (6:18 – 7:42).
The third book of Maccabees has nothing in common with the first two books, since the events described in it refer to a different time and place: we are talking about the persecution of Palestinian Jews during the time of the Egyptian king Ptolemy IV Philopator. It consists of seven chapters.
The Fourth Book of Maccabees refers to the apocrypha - works of late Jewish and early Christian literature that were not included in the biblical canon and contained gross distortion of historical facts and/or non-Christian ideas. However, you will not find this book in any edition of the Bible.
The word “Maccabee” comes from the Aramaic “makkaba” - “hammer” (as a weapon against enemies), and is also associated with the Hebrew “makkevet”, which has the same meaning. This word is simply consonant with the Russian “winnow poppy,” but in the popular consciousness the memory of the Maccabean martyrs is firmly associated with the consecration of poppy seeds and the preparation of dishes from it.
However, let us not rush to condemn our “semi-pagan” ancestors. It is unknown whether people would even know about the existence of the holy brothers if not for this tradition. Plus, well-prepared dishes with poppy seeds are simply delicious. But drivers should not forget that for some time after using them, an opiate test may show that you are under the influence of drugs.
From the word “Maccabee” the surnames Maccabees, Makoveychuk, Makovetsky and others were formed.
I.
The nickname "Maccabeus" was originally borne by Judas, the third son of the priest Mattathias. (1Mac 2:4). Then it spread to the whole family. Usually this nickname is traced back to ancient Hebrew. McKevet or Aram. makkawa - "hammer". acc. same traditional jud. interpretation, it is an abbreviation of ancient Hebrew. original verse Exodus 15:11: “Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods?”
II:
1)
During the period of persecution against Jud. people from the sire side. King Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-164 BC), the priest Mattathias from Modin (10 km southeast of Lydda) raised an uprising against foreign power, which after his death was led by five of his sons. Of these, Judas especially distinguished himself at first. He managed to recapture Jerusalem from the Syrians and reconsecrate the temple desecrated by Antiochus. This happened in December 164 BC. In memory of this, the Jews established the Feast of Renewal - Hanukkah (see John 10:22). In 160 BC. Judah fell in battle with the Syrians. His brother Eleazar, the fourth son of Mattathias, died even earlier, so the youngest of the brothers, Jonathan, took over the leadership of the uprising. The eldest, John, was soon after killed by the sons of Jambre, members of a robber tribe in Transjordan. Taking advantage of the lack of unity among the Syrians, Jonathan managed to achieve this. successes, but he, too, in 143 BC. Ser was killed. military leader Tryphon. After this, leadership passed to the last surviving brother, Simon, the second son of Mattathias. He received from Demetrius II, Tryphon's opponent, the complete liberation of Judea from taxes, thereby practically achieving its independence from Syria (142 BC), and finally exterminated the last sires. garrisons in Judea;
2)
in 140 BC. for celebrations. At the meeting of the people, Simon was proclaimed inheritor. high priest and prince. This was the beginning of the Hasmonean dynasty, as this family now became known. When the Syrians again attacked the Jews, Simon's sons Judas and John prevailed over them. victory. In 135 BC. Simon was killed by his son-in-law Ptolemy. Together with him, his sons Mattathias and Judas fell victims of the conspiracy, but John escaped and seized power. He received the nickname John Hyrcanus. During his long and successful reign (135-105 BC), he conquered the Edomites. His son Aristobulus I succeeded him. The spiritual uplift that initially accompanied the Hasmonean rule gradually waned. Already John Hyrcanus was inclined towards the Sadducees, who were under the influence of the Greek. culture, Aristobulus appropriated it to himself as king. title. He reigned in 105-104. BC, then he was replaced on the throne by his brother, Alexander Yannai (in 104-78). During the reign of Alexander, there was a violent struggle between the Pharisees and Sadducees. He married Alexandra, the widow of Aristobulus I, who ruled in 78-69 after the death of her husband. BC and patronized the Pharisees. A power struggle began between her sons Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II. Aristobulus in 69-63. had a political power, while Hyrcanus was the high priest. Then the Romans intervened in the struggle between them, and in 63 BC. Pompey captured Jerusalem. Aristobulus was overthrown from the throne and taken to Rome, and Hyrcanus in 63-40. remained a high priest and at the same time a ruler, dependent, however, on Rome. Hyrcanus was a weak man, and his close associate, the Edomite Antipater, managed to exert increasing influence over him. The Romans appointed Antipater procurator of Judea (under Hyrcanus), and he also achieved high positions for his sons Phasael and Herod the Great. Antigonus, the son of Aristobulus II, with the support of the Parthians who invaded Palestine, managed to reign and rule in 40-37. However, already in 40, when Antipater and Phasael were gone, the Romans made Herod king of Judea. Herod married Mariamne, the granddaughter of Hyrcanus II, and in 37 BC. captured Jerusalem. Representatives of the Hasmonean house, who were still alive, one after another fell victims to his insidious intrigues.
III.
The history of the Maccabees is reflected in the Books of Maccabees. The First Book of Maccabees sets out the history of the Jews from the invasion of Antiochus Epiphanes to the death of Simon, i.e. in the period 175-135. BC The book was preserved only in Greek. translation, the original, however, it was compiled in ancient Hebrew. or Aram. language and appeared around 100 BC. The Second Book of Maccabees was written around 50 BC. It is an extract from the work of Jason of Cyrene (Jason of Cyrene), a work consisting of five books. Both books are usually classified as Apocrypha (see Apocrypha). (In the Orthodox and Catholic traditions, they are ranked among the hagiographs - the “deuterocanonical” books of Holy Scripture - and are included in the Bible).
Brockhaus Biblical Encyclopedia. F. Rinecker, G. Mayer. 1994 .
MACCABEES, the general name of representatives of the Hasmonean dynasty, leaders and rulers of Judea from 167 to 37 BC. uh... encyclopedic Dictionary
Maccabees- (Maccabees), a Jewish dynasty founded by Judah Maccabee (from Aramaic “hammer”). In 167 BC. The Seleucid king Antiochus IV plundered the Jerusalem Temple and installed a Greek altar in it. god Zeus and banned the Hebrews. religious rituals. Uprising... ... The World History
See also: Hasmoneans Revolt of the Maccabees Date 167–160 BC e. Place Judea Cause Antiochus' decrees prohibiting Jewish religious practices ... Wikipedia
- @font face (font family: ChurchArial ; src: url(/fonts/ARIAL Church 02.ttf);) span (font size:17px;font weight:normal !important; font family: ChurchArial ,Arial,Serif;) (Heb. who is like God) 1) seven brothers tortured by Antiochus Epiphanes... ... Dictionary of Church Slavonic language
Maccabees- The family of Mattathias Maccabee is known under this name in the Old Testament history of the Jews. The Maccabees valiantly defended their fatherly faith during the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes. Of the rulers of Macc. especially glorified. John Hyrcanus and Judas... Complete Orthodox Theological Encyclopedic Dictionary
From ev. makkabi hammer (against enemies) was originally the nickname of one Judas Maccabee (see), then extended to all generally defenders and confessors of the faith during the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes. Particularly famous are: 1) St. martyrs 90 year old man... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron
General name for representatives of the Hasmonean dynasty, leaders and rulers of Judea from 167 to 37 BC. The name Maccabee was originally a nickname for Judah, one of the sons of Mattathias, but later it began to designate all members of his family and their... ... Collier's Encyclopedia
Maccabees- Hasmonean Judah. priest genus; in 142 40 BC ruling dynasty in Judea. In 167 BC the head of this family, Mattathias, ext. revolt of Judah peasants and crafts. The uprising was directed against Hellenistic rule. The Seleucid rulers of Syria, to... Ancient world. encyclopedic Dictionary
Maccabees- a family of Jewish kings and high priests, named after the nickname of its representative Judah Maccabee, the leader of the uprising that broke out in response to the religious persecution of the Jews by Antiochus IV (166-160 BC). After winning independence... ... Dictionary of Antiquity
Maccabees- See “Jews”... Dictionary of Biblical Names
(continuation)
(about the religious persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, which became the cause of the Maccabean uprising, see the article “Judea in the Hellenistic Age”)
Among those faithful to God who fled from Jerusalem was the priest Mattathias, who came from a noble Hasmonean family. He and his five sons retired to Modaim, a small city west of Jerusalem. The city authorities ordered the sacrifice to be made on a pagan altar; he firmly refused; when another Jew approached to offer a sacrifice, Mattathias killed him, destroyed the altar and fled with his sons into the desert, calling on all the faithful to follow him. Soon many people gathered to see him. But on Saturday, when the Jews, according to the commandment of the law, could not fight, the Syrians attacked them and killed up to a thousand people. At the suggestion of their leader, who had risen in spirit above the letter of the law, his surviving companions decided to defend their lives on the Sabbath day. Soon the uprising spread throughout Judea: the people destroyed pagan altars, and in many places drove out those who apostatized from the faith. The number of God's soldiers increased every day. After the death of Mattathias, their leader became the third of his sons, Judas, called Maccabee (“hammer”), a man animated by firm trust in God; his enthusiasm captivated many people who until then had not dared to take up arms. The Syrian commander Apollonius, who entered Judea from Samaria, was defeated by Judas and himself fell in battle; Judas took his sword and carried it from then on. Terribly angry at the defeat of the Syrian detachment, Antiochus sent a large army to exterminate the rebellious ones. It stood on a hill near Emaus; Phoenician slave traders came with him to buy captives. Many Jews joined the Syrians out of fear. But no matter how great the danger, Jehovah’s soldiers did not lose heart. In Mizpah, the ancient holy city, they asked for the help of the Lord by fasting, prayer and repentance; Judas led them against their enemies; the Syrians had previously sent a detachment into the mountains to look for Jewish insurgents; Judas, with a quick attack, defeated the main army, burned its camp, and in the second battle defeated a detachment going to the mountains. The Syrians were driven to the sea; the Jews took enormous booty. Great was the glory of Judas Maccabee. The following year Lysias, a relative of the king, came to avenge these defeats; The strength of his army extended, they say, to 60,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry. He entered southern Judea: but at Bethsur, near Hebron, he was defeated by Judah, whose number of soldiers was six times less. The enemies fled. Judas entered Jerusalem and cleansed the temple, the courtyard of which was overgrown with grass and bushes. The ancient service of Jehovah has been restored. In place of the desecrated altar, a new one was built from rough stones brought from different places in Judea.
The successes of the Jews aroused envy and fear in the neighboring pagan peoples. The Ammonites, who lived beyond the Jordan, united with the Arab tribes and began to strongly press the Gilead Jews, and the Galilean Jews were attacked by enemies from the seaside. Judas went beyond the Jordan, delivered the Jews of Gilead from the attack, and his brother Simon saved the Jews of Galilee. Many families who did not want to live among hostile neighbors moved to Judea. This area, protected by mountains and fortifications, became a stronghold of holy war.
The following year, Antiochus Epiphanes died suddenly on a campaign against the Parthians, whom he thought to conquer. He was succeeded by his nine-year-old son, Antiochus V Eupator, until Philip was to rule the state until he came of age. But Lysias, in whose power the child king was, also wanted to become the ruler of the state; Wanting to end the war with the Jews before Philip returned to Antioch, he again went to Judea with a huge army. Judas and his brave companions entered the battle and fought heroically; Judah's younger brother, Eleazar, sacrificed his life to kill the elephant on which he believed the young king was sitting; everything was in vain: the Jews were suppressed by the numerous enemies; The victors besieged the Temple Mount, which Judah surrounded with fortifications. Soon both the besieged and the besiegers began to suffer a shortage of food supplies: having heard that Philip had come to Antioch, Lysias wanted to end the war as soon as possible and made peace: the Jews surrendered the Temple Mount to the Syrians, Lysias granted them freedom of worship and promised royal protection to the Temple. Returning to Syria, Lysias defeated Philip, but did not achieve the goal of his ambition: the son of Seleucus Philopator, Demetrius, who lived as a hostage in Rome, came to Antioch; the Syrians greeted him with delight and proclaimed him king; he ordered to kill both his cousin, Eupator, and Lysias, who ruled the state on behalf of the child. The Jewish party, disposed to Greek customs, wanted to be on good terms with the new king; its head was the high priest Alcimus (Eliakim), the successor of Menelaus, who was killed by order of Lysias; he hoped, with the patronage of the king, to stay in his place; this seemed all the more possible since he was from a priestly family. Many zealous adherents of antiquity were satisfied with the freedom of worship given to them and behaved themselves all the more submissively because the royal commissioner, who came to Jerusalem to restore order, executed, in agreement with Alkim, sixty ardent Hasidim. But Judas and his brothers rejected the deceptive world, did not recognize the new high priest, and stirred up the people to resist the apostates who had adopted Greek customs. At the request of Alcimus, the Syrian king ordered his general Nicanor to occupy Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. But Judas and his followers did not lay down their weapons. Nicanor went to suppress them; they defeated him in the place where they won the first battle [March 161]. Nikanor was killed, his army was scattered. The high priest fled to Antioch. But the next year Bacchides came to Jerusalem with a new army. Judas led his few soldiers into battle; the battle took place at Eleas; the Jews fought courageously all day long; but their fearless leader was killed, and they fled. Jonathan and Simon managed to carry away their brother's body. Alcimus, under the protection of the Syrians, returned in triumph to Jerusalem. And “great tribulation came” throughout all Israel. The adherents of the Maccabees were persecuted; the lives of every faithful servant of Jehovah were in danger.
Soon the eldest of Judas' brothers, John, was killed in a battle with the Arabs who attacked the Jews beyond the Jordan. But the youngest of the Maccabees, Jonathan, chosen as the leader of the army, avenged his death and, taking a fortification in the southern part of the desert, made successful raids on enemies. Some time later Alkim died a sudden death; then Bacchides, tired of the war and pressed by Jonathan, made peace and left with his army. Only in the citadel of Jerusalem remained the Syrian garrison, to which the Jews had given hostages. Thus ended the war. Jonathan settled in Michmash, began to rule Judea and eradicate pagan worship in it.
This was the situation of the Jewish grandfathers when Alexander Balas, posing as the son of Antiochus Epiphanes, raised, with the help of the Egyptians, an uprising against Demetrius and took possession of Ptolemais; The Romans, who had previously concluded an alliance with the Jews and did not recognize Demetrius as the legitimate king of Syria, patronized Alexander. Both rivals tried to gain the help of the Jews, one before the other made them promises of their favors. Jonathan was well able to take advantage of these circumstances. He made an alliance with Alexander, who sent him a purple robe and a golden crown, appointed him high priest and called him his friend. Demetrius was killed in battle, Alexander took possession of all Syria and continued to be very supportive of Jonathan, upon his marriage to the daughter of Ptolemy Philopator, he invited him to Ptolemais for a wedding celebration and at this magnificent holiday showed him great honor in front of all the people, gave him the rank of military leader and the prince. Six years after Alexander took possession of the kingdom, Demetrius Nicator, the eldest son of the king Demetrius he killed, who fled at the death of his father to Crete, landed on the Phoenician coast, and acquired so many supporters that Alexander had to flee from his capital, Ptolemais, to northern part of the state. But Jonathan remained faithful to him, in a stubborn battle he defeated the army of Demetrius, captured Ashdod and Ascalon, destroyed all the pagan sanctuaries there, including the Ashdod temple of Dagon. In gratitude for his loyalty, Alexander gave him the district of the Philistine city of Ekron. But the Egyptian king sent help to Demetrius, Alexander fled to Arabia and was treacherously killed there. Judea was in danger; but Jonathan, as skilled a diplomat as he was a brave warrior, managed to turn them away. He sent an embassy to Demetrius with rich gifts; Demetrius confirmed him in the rank of high priest, granted him the administration of Judea and the receipt of all the income of the country, with the obligation to pay 300 talents of tribute to the royal treasury. Thus, Jonathan retained his rule over Judea and strengthened it during the new civil strife that began in Syria, and his brother Simon ruled the coastal region.
Jonathan Maccabee's acquisitions (highlighted in lilac)
Wanting to strengthen his position with new alliances, Jonathan sent embassies to the Romans and Spartans (so, at least, says the 1st book of Maccabees), but the Syrians treacherously took him captive along with his sons and a detachment of 1,000 people, and killed them all. This was done by the cunning Syrian Tryphon, who wanted to enthrone a young man, the son of Alexander Balas, to rule in his name. For all his caution, Jonathan was deceived by Tryphon. Soon after, Tryphon also killed the young man, whose servant he called himself.
After the death of Jonathan, the Jews chose Simon, the only surviving brother of Judah, as their leader. He was a cautious man; he entered into negotiations with Demetrius, received from him confirmation in the rank of high priest and the title of royal friend. Having become the ruler of Judea, Simon managed to take possession of those fortresses that still remained in the hands of adherents of paganism; in 144, he forced the garrison of the Jerusalem citadel to surrender by starvation. Now the work of liberating Judea could be considered completed. Simon also captured Gaza and captured the port city of Joppa (Joppa). There was no serious danger to the Jewish people from the Syrian kingdom: it was completely upset, and the king (Demetrius) was captured by the Parthians. Simon calmly ruled the country for several years with the authority of a high priest and prince; his reign was wise and fair; he restored national worship everywhere and cared for the welfare and safety of the people. He minted a coin with his name. – After some time, the brother of the captive king, Antiochus VII, forced the usurper Tryphon to flee and became king. Tryphon united with the sea robbers who then dominated the Syrian coast, then was killed in his hometown, Apamea. – Antiochus demanded that Simon pay tribute, from which he was released by Demetrius. Simon did not agree, and Antiochus went to war against Judea. Simon's son John, sent by his father against the Syrians, defeated them at Ashdod. The freedom of the Jews was now secured. The assembly of the Jewish people gave Simon the title of high priest and prince, gave him the right to appoint all dignitaries, and entrusted him with the management of the temple forever. A certificate of this decree of the people was placed for preservation in the temple. Simon entered into an alliance with Rome, patronized agriculture and trade, and observed justice and fear of God.
Simon erected monuments in his hometown of Modeim to his father and four brothers killed in the struggle for the freedom of the fatherland; these were stone pyramids so high that they could be seen from the sea. He and his coins, beautifully minted, testify that the arts were not alien to the Jewish people “during the years of the liberation of Zion.” Simon cared for the welfare of the people, and the land of Judea rested all the days of Simon; The Jews calmly cultivated their land, and the land yielded its produce, and the trees in the fields yielded my fruit. The elders, sitting in the streets, all consulted about the benefits of society, and the young men dressed themselves in magnificent and military clothes. He delivered food supplies to the cities and made them fortified in places, so that his glorious name was pronounced to the end of the earth. He restored peace to the land, and Israel rejoiced with great joy. And every man sat under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no one made them afraid. And there was no one left on earth who would fight against them, and the kings humbled themselves in those days. He strengthened all the poor among his people, demanded the fulfillment of the law, and destroyed every lawless and evildoer. He decorated the sanctuary and multiplied the sacred utensils" (I book of Maccabees, XIV, 4 - 15).
The Jews compared the reign of Simon Maccabee with the reign of David. But he did not die peacefully, like David. His son-in-law, Ptolemy, whom he appointed ruler of the Jericho plain, wanted to seize power, invited Simon and his sons Mattathias and Judas to a feast and killed them. But the crime did not bring any benefit to the villain. The son of Simon Maccabee, John Hyrcanus, killed the assassins sent by Ptolemy, took power in Jerusalem, became high priest and prince, besieged and after a long siege took Jericho. The siege lasted, as Josephus says, for a long time because every time Hyrcanus approached the city, Ptolemy ordered his mother and brothers to be taken to the wall and tortured, and threatened to throw them off the wall if he did not retreat. Hyrcanus’s mother asked her son not to pay attention to the threats, saying that she would willingly die so that the villain would receive the deserved punishment; but the son, seeing his mother’s torment, retreated from the walls each time. Having killed his mother and two brothers of Hyrcanus, Ptolemy fled across the Jordan. The new ruler of Judea concluded an agreement with the king of Syria (Antiochus), according to which he undertook to pay tribute and help Antiochus with an army, for this he was confirmed by the king in his father's rank. The tribute was not onerous. Taking treasures from the tomb of David, Hyrcanus recruited mercenaries into the service and with this army completed the liberation of the country, even expanded the borders of his state: he conquered Samaria and Galilee, destroyed the temple on Mount Gerizim, the service in which, according to the concepts of the Jews, was lawlessness, he forced the Edomites ( Edomites) either accept the Jewish law and be circumcised, or leave their homeland.
Antiochus was killed in the war with the Parthians. His brother Demetrius, released from captivity by the Parthians, again became king. To protect himself from danger from the returning Demetrius, John entered into an alliance with the Romans, and they, according to their unchanged political system, protected the small Jewish state until they decided that the time had come to annex it to their possessions along with a larger state, from which they guarded him.
Thanks to the alliance of John Hyrcanus with the Romans, the Jewish people lived happily for some time before losing their independence. The reign of Hyrcanus, which lasted nearly thirty years, was a period of peace and prosperity; the Jews enjoyed independence; no one stopped them from living according to their laws. The calm of their theocratic state was disturbed only by mutual hostility of parties and discord, which was caused by the religious pride of the Jews, which offended the Samaritans and Galileans.
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At the head of the greatly increased detachment was his third son, Judas, a talented military leader. Trying to establish administrative order in Judea, Apollonius, the Seleucid governor in Samaria, moved towards Jerusalem to join the local Greek garrison. The raid was unsuccessful, Apollonius himself died in the battle. The attempt to suppress the uprising undertaken by General Seron, whose detachment was defeated by Judah in the Beth Horon gorge in northwestern Judea, also ended in failure. The same fate befell the expeditionary force of Ptolemy, the royal governor in Coelesyria, who was taken by surprise; the detachment of Lysias, the royal governor of the western provinces, defeated by Judah at Beth Tzur (in the south of Judea). Failures in the fight against the rebels prompted Lysias to issue a decree abolishing the prohibitions regarding the practice of Jewish rituals; within the prescribed period, amnesty was promised to the rebels who laid down their arms. This situation did not save, in December 164 BC. e. Judah captured almost all of Jerusalem, with the exception of the city citadel.
Lysias, who by this time had become regent under the young king Antiochus V, in turn besieged the rebels in Jerusalem, but, not wanting to waste time on a siege due to pressing internal problems in the kingdom, concluded a truce abolishing the anti-Jewish religious policy. Lysias executed the ardent supporter of Hellenization, the high priest Menelaus, and installed the moderate in his place. Alkima. Judas did not receive official recognition and did not recognize Alcimus as high priest.
In 162 BC. e. ascended the Seleucid throne Demetrius I. To restore order in Judea, he sent an army there under the command of Bacchides, one of his best military leaders. Jerusalem was taken, but the Greek policy was distinguished by the search for a compromise with religious Jews. However, the leaders of the uprising did not recognize any high priests appointed by the civil authorities. Nicanor, appointed governor of Judea, tried to eliminate the remaining pockets of the uprising. In 161 BC. e. A decisive battle took place near Beth-Horon, the governor’s detachment was defeated, and he himself fell in the battle. The rebels re-entered Jerusalem. Wanting the legitimacy of his power and the independence of Judea from the Seleucid kingdom, Judas entered into an alliance treaty with Rome on neutrality and mutual military assistance. To once again restore order in the rebellious province, Greek troops under the command of Bacchides entered Judea. The rebels were defeated, Judas died in battle (160 BC)
After the death of Judah, his brothers Jonathan and Simon gathered the remnants of the rebels and continued guerrilla tactics, taking control of most of the provincial settlements and rural areas of Judea. Meanwhile, the struggle for power within the Seleucid state allowed Jonathan to receive the appointment of high priest from Demetrius I's rival Alexander Balas, who made the city of Acre his residence and sought the support of the local population to ensure the safety of his rear during the attack on Antioch. Jonathan was given the title "friend of the king" (152 BC). The office of high priest became one of the most important political positions in Judea under the Hasmoneans. For the military support of Alexander Balas, Jonathan received from him the city of Ekron and its surroundings as his personal possession (147 BC)
After the death of Alexander Balas, Diadotus Tryphon, an opponent of Demetrius II, the son and heir of King Demetrius I, became regent for his young son Antiochus VI. Demetrius II confirmed the inclusion of areas in southern Samaria, in which Jews made up the majority of the population, into Judea. The king also promised to transfer the Jerusalem citadel to Judea, but this issue was never resolved. Unsatisfied with the Greek presence in Jerusalem, Jonathan responded by supporting Tryphon, who appointed Jonathan's brother, Simon, as ruler of a small coastal strip near the Mediterranean Sea; A Jewish garrison was stationed in the port of Jaffa.
Jonathan began to actively strengthen the cities of Judea, established friendly relations with Sparta, and a delegation was sent to Rome to renew the alliance concluded by Judas. Concerned about the strengthening of the Hasmoneans, Tryphon insidiously lured Jonathan and his two sons to himself and, leaving them hostage, began a military campaign against Judea. However, Simon's military actions forced Tryphon to leave Judea. Jonathan and sons were executed (143 BC).
In 142 BC. e. Demetrius II, interested in supporting Judea, freed its territory from paying tribute, which de facto meant recognition of it as an independent country.
After the death of Jonathan, Simon became the head of the Maccabees, who had already helped his brothers a lot before. In 141 BC. e. he gathered in Jerusalem the so-called. The “Great Council”, at which he was proclaimed ethnarch, high priest and commander-in-chief of Judea with the right to conclude international treaties on his own behalf. This power was to be inherited by the descendants of Simon, by decision of the council, “until the time when the true prophet appears.”
Simon's policy consisted of strengthening the cities under his rule, encouraging trade and crafts, and expelling the Greek population from the conquered territories, replacing them with Jewish settlers. The anti-Seleucid era was introduced. Simon conquered the harbor of Joppa, captured the strategically important Gazer, and drove the Syrian garrison out of the Jerusalem citadel (Acre).
Demetrius II was replaced on the throne of the Seleucid kingdom by Antiochus VII Sidetes. The king confirmed Simon's status as the leader of Judea, recognized Judea's captured territories and the right to mint its own coins. However, later Antiochus demanded that Simon return the territories seized from it to the Seleucid power (including the Jerusalem citadel) or become a vassal. It was not possible to reach an agreement. The governor of Antiochus in the Coastal Strip received orders to occupy Judea, but his army was driven back by Jewish forces of twenty thousand soldiers, led by the sons of Simon.
In 136 BC. e. Simon was killed during a feast by his power-hungry son-in-law Ptolemy, governor of Jericho, who, with the support of Antiochus VII, sought to become ethnarch of Judea. He also killed Simon's wife and two sons.
Ptolemy's plan against the third son, John Hyrcanus I, failed and the latter accepted the high priesthood. The troops of Antiochus besieged John in Jerusalem and forced him to make peace on the condition of surrendering all weapons and demolishing the walls of Jerusalem, but leaving freedom of religion for the Jews. When Antiochus died in Parthia, John immediately began to take the Syrian cities, subjugated the Samaritans and Edomites and forcibly forced them to accept circumcision and other Jewish rites. From this time on, the ancestral nobility of the Edomites (from which the future Herod the Great was) gained influence in the Hasmonean state. The Samaritan Temple on Mount Gerizim was destroyed. The Jewish army was replenished with mercenaries. Hyrcanus supported an alliance with the Romans, internally he relied on the Pharisees; but when the latter began to demand that he resign as high priest, he began to oppress them, which caused strong bitterness against him and his family. Died 107 BC e.
Eldest son of John Hyrcanus I, Aristobulus I Philhellinus, the first of the Maccabees to wear the royal diadem, but reigned only for a year; in this short time he managed to imprison three brothers, starve his mother to death and convert most of the inhabitants of Iturea to Judaism.
In Jewish sources Macabee(Maccabeus) - nickname exclusively Yehuda, while its genus is called Hashmonaim (Hasmoneans).
According to traditional religious Jewish interpretation, "מכבי" ("Makabi") is an abbreviation of the first letters of the Hebrew verse from the Bible:
מִ י-כָ מֹכָה בָּ אֵלִם יְ הוָה« M And TO amoha B ha-elim, Y Jehovah" - Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? (var.: Who is like You, Jehovah!) (Exodus 15:11)
Rabbi Moshe Schreiber writes that the nickname is an acronym for the name of Judah's father, Mattityahu Cohen Ben Yochanan. Some scholars believe that this name is an abbreviation of the Hebrew phrase maccab-yahu(from naqab, “mark, designate”), and carries the meaning “designated by Jehovah.” Both the Jewish and New Catholic Encyclopedias note that neither version put forward is completely satisfactory.
The Maccabees, in the Christian tradition, have become a symbol of inflexibility and the desire to maintain maximum strictness in observing commandments. IN Orthodox Church Day of Remembrance Seven Holy Martyrs of Maccabees, August 1 (14), usually coincides with the beginning of the Assumption post, and is popularly called Honey Spas or "Wet Maccabee".
In Russian peasant culture, the name “Maccabeus” is consonantly associated with poppy seed, which by this time matures. The dishes served at the festive table always included poppy seeds, as well as honey.
In areas where the customs of their ancestors are still preserved, on this day the Macans and Machniks bake Lenten pies, rolls, buns, gingerbread with poppy seeds and honey. The meal began with pancakes with poppy seeds. In a special bowl for grinding poppy seeds, milk of the poppy was prepared - a poppy-honey mass in which the pancakes were dipped. This dishware was called makalnik in Russia, makitra in Ukraine, and makater in Belarus.
On Macabee’s Day, young people danced in circles with the song “Oh, there’s a poppy on the mountain,” with playful round dance flourishes.
From the word “Maccabee” the surnames Makovey, Makkovey, Makovetsky and Makkabeev were also formed.
The Maccabean Revolt had a major impact on Western culture.
The heroic struggle of the Maccabees inspired many writers to create literary works. Among the first works of this kind is the lyrical tragedy by Antoine Oudard de La Mothe “The Maccabees” (1722). The history of the Hasmoneans gained particular popularity among writers of the 19th century.
When they brought Nikolushka to Prince Andrei, who was looking at his father in fear, but was not crying, because no one was crying, Prince Andrei kissed him and, obviously, did not know what to say to him.
When Nikolushka was taken away, Princess Marya went up to her brother again, kissed him and, unable to resist any longer, began to cry.
He looked at her intently.
-Are you talking about Nikolushka? - he said.
Princess Marya, crying, bowed her head affirmatively.
“Marie, you know Evan...” but he suddenly fell silent.
- What are you saying?
- Nothing. There’s no need to cry here,” he said, looking at her with the same cold gaze.
When Princess Marya began to cry, he realized that she was crying that Nikolushka would be left without a father. With great effort he tried to return to life and was transported to their point of view.
“Yes, they must find it pathetic! - he thought. “How simple it is!”
“The birds of the air neither sow nor reap, but your father feeds them,” he said to himself and wanted to say the same to the princess. “But no, they will understand it in their own way, they will not understand! What they cannot understand is that all these feelings that they value are all ours, all these thoughts that seem so important to us are that they are not needed. We can't understand each other." - And he fell silent.
Prince Andrei's little son was seven years old. He could barely read, he didn't know anything. He experienced a lot after this day, acquiring knowledge, observation, and experience; but if he had then possessed all these later acquired abilities, he could not have understood better, more deeply the full meaning of that scene that he saw between his father, Princess Marya and Natasha than he understood it now. He understood everything and, without crying, left the room, silently approached Natasha, who followed him out, and shyly looked at her with thoughtful, beautiful eyes; his raised, rosy upper lip trembled, he leaned his head against it and began to cry.
From that day on, he avoided Desalles, avoided the countess who was caressing him, and either sat alone or timidly approached Princess Marya and Natasha, whom he seemed to love even more than his aunt, and quietly and shyly caressed them.
Princess Marya, leaving Prince Andrei, fully understood everything that Natasha’s face told her. She no longer spoke to Natasha about the hope of saving his life. She alternated with her at his sofa and did not cry anymore, but prayed incessantly, turning her soul to that eternal, incomprehensible, whose presence was now so palpable over the dying man.
Prince Andrei not only knew that he would die, but he felt that he was dying, that he was already half dead. He experienced a consciousness of alienation from everything earthly and a joyful and strange lightness of being. He, without haste and without worry, awaited what lay ahead of him. That formidable, eternal, unknown and distant, the presence of which he never ceased to feel throughout his entire life, was now close to him and - due to the strange lightness of being that he experienced - almost understandable and felt.
Before, he was afraid of the end. He experienced this terrible, painful feeling of fear of death, of the end, twice, and now he no longer understood it.
The first time he experienced this feeling was when a grenade was spinning like a top in front of him and he looked at the stubble, at the bushes, at the sky and knew that death was in front of him. When he woke up after the wound and in his soul, instantly, as if freed from the oppression of life that held him back, this flower of love, eternal, free, independent of this life, blossomed, he was no longer afraid of death and did not think about it.
The more he, in those hours of suffering solitude and semi-delirium that he spent after his wound, thought about the new beginning of eternal love that had been revealed to him, the more he, without feeling it himself, renounced earthly life. Everything, to love everyone, to always sacrifice oneself for love, meant not loving anyone, meant not living this earthly life. And the more he was imbued with this principle of love, the more he renounced life and the more completely he destroyed that terrible barrier that, without love, stands between life and death. When, at first, he remembered that he had to die, he said to himself: well, so much the better.
But after that night in Mytishchi, when the one he desired appeared in front of him in a semi-delirium, and when he, pressing her hand to his lips, cried quiet, joyful tears, love for one woman imperceptibly crept into his heart and again tied him to life. Both joyful and anxious thoughts began to come to him. Remembering that moment at the dressing station when he saw Kuragin, he now could not return to that feeling: he was tormented by the question of whether he was alive? And he didn't dare ask this.
His illness took its own physical course, but what Natasha called: this happened to him happened to him two days before Princess Marya’s arrival. This was the last moral struggle between life and death, in which death won. It was the unexpected consciousness that he still valued the life that seemed to him in love for Natasha, and the last, subdued fit of horror in front of the unknown.
It was in the evening. He was, as usual after dinner, in a slight feverish state, and his thoughts were extremely clear. Sonya was sitting at the table. He dozed off. Suddenly a feeling of happiness overwhelmed him.
“Oh, she came in!” - he thought.
Indeed, sitting in Sonya’s place was Natasha, who had just entered with silent steps.
Since she began following him, he had always experienced this physical sensation of her closeness. She sat on an armchair, sideways to him, blocking the light of the candle from him, and knitted a stocking. (She learned to knit stockings since Prince Andrei told her that no one knows how to take care of the sick like old nannies who knit stockings, and that there is something soothing in knitting a stocking.) Thin fingers quickly fingered her from time to time the clashing spokes, and the pensive profile of her downcast face was clearly visible to him. She made a movement and the ball rolled off her lap. She shuddered, looked back at him and, shielding the candle with her hand, with a careful, flexible and precise movement she bent, raised the ball and sat down in her previous position.
He looked at her without moving, and saw that after her movement she needed to take a deep breath, but she did not dare to do this and carefully took a breath.
In the Trinity Lavra they talked about the past, and he told her that if he were alive, he would forever thank God for his wound, which brought him back to her; but since then they never spoke about the future.
“Could it or could it not have happened? - he thought now, looking at her and listening to the light steel sound of the knitting needles. - Was it really only then that fate brought me so strangely together with her that I might die?.. Was the truth of life revealed to me only so that I could live in a lie? I love her more than anything in the world. But what should I do if I love her? - he said, and he suddenly groaned involuntarily, according to the habit that he acquired during his suffering.
Hearing this sound, Natasha put down the stocking, leaned closer to him and suddenly, noticing his glowing eyes, walked up to him with a light step and bent down.
- You are not asleep?
- No, I’ve been looking at you for a long time; I felt it when you came in. No one like you, but gives me that soft silence... that light. I just want to cry with joy.
Natasha moved closer to him. Her face shone with rapturous joy.
- Natasha, I love you too much. More than anything else.
- And I? “She turned away for a moment. - Why too much? - she said.
- Why too much?.. Well, what do you think, how do you feel in your soul, in your whole soul, will I be alive? What do you think?
- I'm sure, I'm sure! – Natasha almost screamed, taking both his hands with a passionate movement.
He paused.
- How good it would be! - And, taking her hand, he kissed it.
Natasha was happy and excited; and immediately she remembered that this was impossible, that he needed calm.
“But you didn’t sleep,” she said, suppressing her joy. – Try to sleep... please.
He released her hand, shaking it; she moved to the candle and sat down again in her previous position. She looked back at him twice, his eyes shining towards her. She gave herself a lesson on the stocking and told herself that she wouldn't look back until she finished it.
Indeed, soon after that he closed his eyes and fell asleep. He did not sleep for long and suddenly woke up in a cold sweat.
As he fell asleep, he kept thinking about the same thing he had been thinking about all the time - about life and death. And more about death. He felt closer to her.
"Love? What is love? - he thought. – Love interferes with death. Love is life. Everything, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love. Everything is, everything exists only because I love. Everything is connected by one thing. Love is God, and to die means for me, a particle of love, to return to the common and eternal source.” These thoughts seemed comforting to him. But these were just thoughts. Something was missing in them, something was one-sided, personal, mental - it was not obvious. And there was the same anxiety and uncertainty. He fell asleep.
He saw in a dream that he was lying in the same room in which he was actually lying, but that he was not wounded, but healthy. Many different faces, insignificant, indifferent, appear before Prince Andrei. He talks to them, argues about something unnecessary. They are getting ready to go somewhere. Prince Andrey vaguely remembers that all this is insignificant and that he has other, more important concerns, but continues to speak, surprising them, some empty, witty words. Little by little, imperceptibly, all these faces begin to disappear, and everything is replaced by one question about the closed door. He gets up and goes to the door to slide the bolt and lock it. Everything depends on whether he has time or not time to lock her. He walks, he hurries, his legs don’t move, and he knows that he won’t have time to lock the door, but still he painfully strains all his strength. And a painful fear seizes him. And this fear is the fear of death: it stands behind the door. But at the same time, as he powerlessly and awkwardly crawls towards the door, something terrible, on the other hand, is already, pressing, breaking into it. Something inhuman - death - is breaking at the door, and we must hold it back. He grabs the door, strains his last efforts - it is no longer possible to lock it - at least to hold it; but his strength is weak, clumsy, and, pressed by the terrible, the door opens and closes again.
Once again it pressed from there. The last, supernatural efforts were in vain, and both halves opened silently. It has entered, and it is death. And Prince Andrei died.
But at the same moment as he died, Prince Andrei remembered that he was sleeping, and at the same moment as he died, he, making an effort on himself, woke up.
“Yes, it was death. I died - I woke up. Yes, death is awakening! - his soul suddenly brightened, and the veil that had hitherto hidden the unknown was lifted before his spiritual gaze. He felt a kind of liberation of the strength previously bound in him and that strange lightness that has not left him since then.
When he woke up in a cold sweat and stirred on the sofa, Natasha came up to him and asked what was wrong with him. He did not answer her and, not understanding her, looked at her with a strange look.
This was what happened to him two days before the arrival of Princess Marya. From that very day, as the doctor said, the debilitating fever took on a bad character, but Natasha was not interested in what the doctor said: she saw these terrible, more undoubted moral signs for her.
From this day on, for Prince Andrei, along with awakening from sleep, awakening from life began. And in relation to the duration of life, it did not seem to him slower than awakening from sleep in relation to the duration of the dream.
There was nothing scary or abrupt in this relatively slow awakening.
His last days and hours passed as usual and simply. And Princess Marya and Natasha, who did not leave his side, felt it. They did not cry, did not shudder, and lately, feeling this themselves, they no longer walked after him (he was no longer there, he left them), but after the closest memory of him - his body. The feelings of both were so strong that the external, terrible side of death did not affect them, and they did not find it necessary to indulge their grief. They did not cry either in front of him or without him, but they never talked about him among themselves. They felt that they could not put into words what they understood.
They both saw him sink deeper and deeper, slowly and calmly, away from them somewhere, and they both knew that this was how it should be and that it was good.
He was confessed and given communion; everyone came to say goodbye to him. When their son was brought to him, he put his lips to him and turned away, not because he felt hard or sorry (Princess Marya and Natasha understood this), but only because he believed that this was all that was required of him; but when they told him to bless him, he did what was required and looked around, as if asking if anything else needed to be done.
When the last convulsions of the body, abandoned by the spirit, took place, Princess Marya and Natasha were here.
– Is it over?! - said Princess Marya, after his body had been lying motionless and cold in front of them for several minutes. Natasha came up, looked into the dead eyes and hurried to close them. She closed them and did not kiss them, but kissed what was her closest memory of him.
“Where did he go? Where is he now?..”
When the dressed, washed body lay in a coffin on the table, everyone came up to him to say goodbye, and everyone cried.
Nikolushka cried from the painful bewilderment that tore his heart. The Countess and Sonya cried out of pity for Natasha and that he was no more. The old count cried that soon, he felt, he would have to take the same terrible step.
Natasha and Princess Marya were also crying now, but they were not crying from their personal grief; they wept from the reverent emotion that gripped their souls before the consciousness of the simple and solemn mystery of death that had taken place before them.
The totality of causes of phenomena is inaccessible to the human mind. But the need to find reasons is embedded in the human soul. And the human mind, without delving into the innumerability and complexity of the conditions of phenomena, each of which separately can be represented as a cause, grabs the first, most understandable convergence and says: this is the cause. In historical events (where the object of observation is the actions of people), the most primitive convergence seems to be the will of the gods, then the will of those people who stand in the most prominent historical place - historical heroes. But one has only to delve into the essence of each historical event, that is, into the activities of the entire mass of people who participated in the event, to be convinced that the will of the historical hero not only does not guide the actions of the masses, but is itself constantly guided. It would seem that it is all the same to understand the significance of the historical event one way or another. But between the man who says that the peoples of the West went to the East because Napoleon wanted it, and the man who says that it happened because it had to happen, there is the same difference that existed between the people who argued that the earth stands firmly and the planets move around it, and those who said that they do not know what the earth rests on, but they know that there are laws governing the movement of it and other planets. There are no and cannot be reasons for a historical event, except for the only cause of all reasons. But there are laws that govern events, partly unknown, partly groped by us. The discovery of these laws is possible only when we completely renounce the search for causes in the will of one person, just as the discovery of the laws of planetary motion became possible only when people renounced the idea of \u200b\u200bthe affirmation of the earth.
