The Book of Enoch is a mysterious source of magical and religious knowledge. See what the “Book of Enoch” is in other dictionaries

24. Enoch's piety and his taking into heaven alive. 23 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. 24. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not found, because God took him. “And he was not, because God took him...” “And was not found” (LXX, Slavic) - Enoch, i.e. he's not absolutely

4.1.2. The First Book of Enoch A number of intertestamental pseudepigraphic works are united by the name of the biblical patriarch Enoch. The book of Genesis notes the special righteousness of Enoch, and speaks vaguely about his death: “... and he was not, because God took him” (Genesis 5: 23-24). IN

4.1.4. The Second Book of Enoch The Second Book of Enoch is also called “Slavic”, since it came to us only in the Slavic translation of the 9th-11th centuries. The Slavic version of the book bears traces of Christian adaptation, probably carried out in the 6th century, but in its essence it goes back to

Book of Enoch First Section 1. The words of Enoch's blessing, with which he blessed the elect and the righteous, who will live in the day of trouble, when all the wicked and wicked will be rejected. And Enoch, the righteous man whose eyes were opened by God, answered and said that he

The Book of Enoch was written on behalf of the seventh descendant of Adam - Enoch. You can read more about it in the article “”. The Bible does not describe the death of Enoch, it only says that God “took” him. This biblical formulation gave rise to the belief that Enoch went to heaven alive. The Book of Enoch tells the story of Enoch's journey to heaven, where he perceived the future. The book is a prophecy.

The Book of Enoch in the Ethiopian translation that has survived to this day is divided into 20 chapters of unequal length. In general, such a division more or less corresponds to the content of the book, but often it is based on an external rather than an internal connection; Moreover, dividing the book into 20 chapters is not entirely convenient either for the reader or for the researcher of the apocrypha. Within the chapters, the content is divided into verses. The numbering of verses is continuous - the numbering of a new chapter begins not from one, but from the number at which the previous chapter ended. There are 108 verses in the Book of Enoch.

In the first part of the book of Enoch, the story of fallen angels who took women as wives is described. The fruit of such marriages were the Nephilim. The second part of the book describes Enoch's journey to heaven in the form of visions, dreams and revelations.

Researcher Dillman, in an attempt to make the reading of the text more logical, divided the apocrypha into 5 parts; but in proposing this division, Dillmann was guided by his personal view of the original composition of the apocrypha. Although its division has also taken root and is often used in Russian editions.

According to Dillman, the Book of Enoch is usually divided into five independent sections / structural parts:

• Book of Watchers / Book of Guardians (1-36)
• Book of Proverbs of Enoch or Book of Secrets of Enoch (37-71)
• Astronomical book or book of celestial bodies (72-82)
• Book of Dreams / Book of Visions (83-90)
• The Epistle of Enoch (91-108)

Most scholars believe that these five sections were originally independent works, and only later were compiled into a single text, which became the Book of Enoch. According to Western scientists, the first part – Book of Observers– was written in the 4th or 3rd century BC. e.

The second structural part is Book of Proverbs, most likely, was written based on the first part and represents a further development of ideas concerning not only the fate of fallen angels, but also the kings of the earth. In the book of Proverbs, Enoch uses the expression “Son of Man,” “righteous,” “chosen,” and “Messiah.” It is He who sits on the throne of glory during the Last Judgment. The Book of Enoch probably played an important role in the early Christian understanding of the term “Messiah.” Some Bible scholars believe that the second part of the Book of Enoch is connected with the historical events of 260 - 270; this opinion was expressed back in the 19th century.

According to this theory, the second structural part of the book of Enoch was written in later Christian times by adherents of Christianity among the Jews in an attempt to strengthen the position of Christianity with the authoritative name of Enoch. This fact is confirmed by the absence of these passages in the Qumran chronicles. In addition, parts 37-71 are also missing from the early Greek translation. It is also believed that the second structural part of the book of Enoch was written between 50 BC. e. and 117 AD

Book of Enoch. 4th century Greek manuscript

Four excerpts Astronomical book– The third part of the Book of Enoch was found at Qumran. They date from the beginning of the 2nd century BC. e. The fragments found at Qumran also include material not contained in later versions of the Book of Enoch.

The third part contains descriptions of the movement of the heavenly bodies and the firmament. Uriel told Enoch this knowledge. The text describes the solar calendar. The solar year consisted of 364 days, and was divided into four equal seasons of ninety-one days. Each season consisted of three equal months of thirty days, plus additional days at the end of the third month of each season. Thus, there were exactly fifty-two weeks in the year, and each calendar day always fell on the same day of the week. Every year and every season always started on Wednesday.

The fourth part of the book of Enoch, the Book of Visions, describes the history of Israel until the era of the Maccabees (circa 163-142 BC). The Ethiopian Orthodox Church believes that this part was written before. This part is an allegorical narrative about the history of Israel, where people appear in the form of animals and color has a special symbolism.

Today there is the following interpretation of images and colors:

• white color is the color of purity of morals;
• black color is the color of sin and defilement;
• red is the color of blood;
• white calf - Adam;
• female horned animal - Eve;
• black horned animal - Cain;
• red horned animal - Abel;
• sheep - faithful, believers;
• wild asses are the descendants of Ishmael, including the Midianites;
• boars are the descendants of Esau, incl. Amalekites;
• bears (hyenas/wolves) – Egyptians;
• dogs - Philistines;
• Tigers - Arimathea;
• Hyenas are Assyrians;
• Crows – Seleucids (Syrians);
• Snakes - Ptolemies;
• Eagles - possibly Macedonians;
• Foxes - Ammonites and Moabites.

As for the fifth structural part of the Book of Enoch, Epistles of Enoch, then scientists date it to the interval between 170 BC. e. and 1st century AD In this part we will read about ten historical periods, seven of which are associated with the past, and three with the future. The following is a list of Enoch's admonitions to his son Methuselah. Next comes a description of the wisdom of the Lord and the two paths - the righteous and the unrighteous. At the end of the Book of Enoch there is a small part - the Birth of Noah (106-107): in the Qumran manuscripts it is separated by a blank line, indicating that the part was probably inserted from another source. Here the story is told about and who was born with the appearance of an angel.

The Book of Enoch and attitude towards it

The text of the Book of Enoch was lost for a long time by Europeans. It is known that the book was familiar to Tertullian and Origen. The apocryphal book of Enoch was widely known in the first centuries of Christianity, both partly among Jews and mainly among Christians, which was largely due to the extremely gullible view of some readers on the apocrypha as a work that actually belonged to that same patriarch , whose name it bears, as a divinely inspired, canonical scripture. Such a trusting attitude towards the skillfully chosen title of the apocrypha could only take place in the complete absence of a critical assessment of the work; serious and close acquaintance with the book of Enoch soon led learned readers to a decisive conviction of its falsity, and, consequently, of its non-canonical nature.

As this view established itself in society, the apocrypha of pseudo-Enoch began to gradually fall out of use and lose its admirers; therefore, from the end of the 8th century. Any historical evidence of the apocrypha is completely lost until the 18th century, when the Ethiopian Bible was opened to Europe, where the Book of Enoch is included in the canon. The Book of Enoch was represented among the Qumran manuscripts by 25 scrolls. Since then, the book has been translated and republished many times. The first translation of the Book of Enoch was made from German in 1888.

The Book of Enoch: questions of textual authorship.

Based on dogmatic and moral teaching, researchers of the apocryphal book of Enoch considered its author either a Christian, an Essene, or an Orthodox Jew. A look at the book of Enoch, if not all, then most of it, as a work Christian author, in the past it was perhaps the most common.

The arguments given by these researchers in defense of their views, due to the lack of external historical evidence, are borrowed exclusively from the content of the apocrypha and mainly from its dogmatic and moral teaching. However, not everything is so simple.

In all the books of pseudo-Enoch, God, with all His infinite perfections, is nowhere the absolute Spirit; He is everywhere endowed with anthropomorphic features. Pseudo-Enoch describes the actual dwelling of the Lord as a spatial and corporeal being: Enoch sees this dwelling along with the repositories of the stars and heavenly bodies; between the darkness he contemplates with sensual eyes, he sees the dwelling of God as a concrete object subject to the perception of external senses. Needless to say, such a sensual representation of the Lord is too far from the sublime Christian view of God as an absolutely spiritual being.

In addition, in the Book of Enoch, God is nowhere a God of love and infinite goodness: He is merciful and long-suffering, but in the Old Testament sense of these words, therefore He requires from people only strict obedience to His will, and not love: The God of pseudo-Enoch is rather God anger and vengeance than the God of Christian love. Often even He is depicted in the book of Enoch with human imperfections: He sometimes condemns his actions as wrong, listens to advice and comments from angels, remains calm and even rejoices at the sight of the suffering of His people, etc. How far is pseudo-Enoch from Christian concepts about God can already be seen from the fact that he nowhere hints at the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, which constitutes the essence of all Christianity.

Defenders of the Christian origin of the Book of Enoch most often refer to the doctrine of the Messiah, which is revealed here in particular detail, although not from all sides. The Messiah is in the book of Enoch primarily the Judge and Ruler of all mankind; He is superior to all other created beings, since He alone possesses the power and right of judgment over the world; however, he has this right not from Himself, but from God, who seated the Chosen One on the throne of His glory and gave Him the authority to judge everything.

By virtue of this power, the Messiah judges not only the pagan rulers who oppressed Israel, but also all Jews, both righteous and sinners. Even fallen angels are subject to His judgment; however, in all judgments He acts only in the name of the Lord, and not of His own will.

But this power is only the power of an earthly king who has received temporary authority from God. The Messiah is superior to all earthly kings only in volume, in the vastness of His power: the kingdom of the latter is limited to a certain territory, while the kingdom of the Messiah embraces all of humanity. All His glory and power are a temporary gift from the Lord, and in His nature He is no different from other created beings; therefore, pseudo-Enoch often places Him along with other chosen ones (righteous Jews) and with a host of celestials. And this is in no way a Christian understanding of the Messiah.

Moreover, the naming of Messiah Husband's son , used twice in the book of Enoch, says with complete clarity that the pseudo-Enoch did not know the historical Christ, born without the participation of a husband.

The teaching about the final destiny of the world set forth in the Book of Enoch, for all its similarities with the New Testament teaching, still remains Old Testament in essence. It is based on the canonical writings and especially. Pseudo-Enoch did not know and did not distinguish between the first and second coming of the Messiah, therefore His appearance on earth, according to the apocrypha, must be accompanied by a universal judgment.

The presented overview of the dogmatic and moral teaching of the book of Enoch seems to be quite enough to see in its author a Jew who is not at all familiar with the New Testament revelation.

It should be noted that pseudo-Enoch considers the institutions of the Old Testament to be eternal and immutable; so, according to him, the law of Moses is given for all future generations.

But if the author of the Book of Enoch was a Jew, then did he not belong to one of the sects that formed among Judaism before the appearance of the Savior? In his work, the pseudo-Enoch is a strict follower of Jewish beliefs and particularly strongly opposes the enemies of the chosen people. Such intolerance towards paganism was in the character pharisaism , which, as is known, especially strictly protected Jewish independence in the spheres of life and thought: the revealed law and national independence from other nations were the subject of constant concern for the true Pharisee. But this relationship of pseudo-Enoch with Pharisaism is still not so characteristic as to consider the apocrypha under study to be a Pharisaic work. The Pharisees wanted to bring their entire lives, every action, every step under the law, which replaced religion for them: apart from the external fulfillment of the law, sometimes even without any participation of the heart, they did not know any other relationship to God. The moral and religious views of pseudo-Enoch are of a completely different nature: legal righteousness for him was not true piety.

The book of Enoch has even less to do with Sadduceeism . Pseudo-Enoch offers in his work a detailed doctrine of angels and evil spirits; he believes in the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the dead and future reward after judgment; he admits the participation of Providence in the history of mankind, accepts the entire canon of sacred books, since he uses all the writings of the Old Testament; finally, he preaches strict morality, strongly arming himself against all luxury and wealth; all these are features in which nothing Sadducean is visible.

Among scholarly scholars of the Book of Enoch, an opinion arose about Essene the origin of the apocrypha. As far as is known, a lot of secret (apocryphal) books like the pseudepigrapha of Enoch circulated among the Essenes; This one circumstance alone could lead scientists to believe that the book of Enoch was written by an Essene. Let us remember the main position of Esseneism: one must honor God only in spirit and truth, through the virtue of the heart. It is quite consistent with the general direction of the book of Enoch.

Further, the Essenes’ love for symbolism, the detailed doctrine of angels, which formed an essential part of Essene dogma, the ascetic direction in morality, which condemned all luxury and even the comforts of life, all this conceals features of the religious and moral views of the Essenes, which are very much reminiscent of the ideas of the apocrypha we are studying. But with all this, it is hardly possible to consider pseudo-Enoch an Essene. If the Essenes respected secret books, then these books, due to the strict isolation of the school, constituted the exclusive property of only this school: meanwhile, pseudo-Enoch does not write his work for a narrow circle and therefore intends it not only for his contemporaries, but also for future generations; he even expects to have his work translated into other languages, which cannot be expected from the Essenes, whose national prejudices are, perhaps, even stronger than in Pharisaism, so this sect could hardly allow the replacement of the national language with any foreign one.

Summarizing all that has been said, we come to the following conclusion: the apocryphal book of Enoch, both in terms of dogmatic and moral teaching, cannot be classified either as Christian works or as the writings of ancient Jewish sectarianism. Despite some, however very insignificant, admixture of foreign ideas, this book is purely Orthodox Jewish denomination, alien to the extreme rigorism of Pharisaism, the liberalism of Sadducees and the strict isolation of Esseneism.

The Book of Enoch is a monument of pre-Christian Judaism, which was most preserved and did not succumb to the influence of paganism and Jewish sectarianism. This view of the book of Enoch finds justification in the fact that its author everywhere wants to stand on the basis of the revealed Scriptures of the Old Testament.

This term has other meanings, see Book Two. The Slavic Book of Enoch (Enoch) is an apocryphal text, the probable date of creation of which is the 1st century AD. e. Currently known only in the Slavic version, which was found... ... Wikipedia

ENOCH ONE BOOK- [other name Ethiopian book of Enoch], the name of the apocryphal text accepted in scientific literature, dedicated to the Old Testament rights. Enoch and preserved only in Ethiopia. versions (in Ge'ez). The title is not indicated in the text of the book, however... ... Orthodox Encyclopedia

ENOCH THE SECOND BOOK- [other titles Slavic Apocalypse of Enoch, “Book of the Secrets of Enoch”], the name of an apocryphal book accepted in scientific literature, dedicated to the Old Testament rights. Enoch and preserved only in glory. translation. Slavic Russian manuscript tradition Text E... Orthodox Encyclopedia

ENOCH THE THREE BOOK- compilation of heb. mystical texts describing the hero’s journey through the 7 palaces (Hekhalot) of the levels of the heavenly world to the Throne of God. Hence the name of the entire text “Sefer Hekhalot”, i.e. “Book of Palaces”. However, in the Middle Ages. euro lit re known... ... Orthodox Encyclopedia

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Religious terms

GENESIS— It has been established that the whole Book of Genesis up to the death of Joseph is a barely altered version of the Cosmogony of the Chaldeans, as has now been re-proved by the Assyrian tablets. The first three chapters are rewritten from allegorical stories about... ... Theosophical Dictionary

It has always been recognized by the Church as apocryphal and, obviously, constitutes a creation of a later period of time. It is remarkable that each of the three most important religious eras in the history of the Old Testament and New Testament is marked by a miraculous event... ... Bible. Old and New Testaments. Synodal translation. Biblical encyclopedia arch. Nikifor.

The Book of Adam (Book of Adam and Eve) is an Old Testament apocrypha (some consider it a pseudepigrapha), according to legend, received by Adam from God. Mentioned in passing in the book of Enoch (33:10). Describes the life of Adam and Eve after their expulsion from Paradise. Text... ...Wikipedia