What is truth? (about the novel "The Master and Margarita"). What is truth? (according to the pages of the novel M

The simplicity with which this concept is revealed by Bulgakov. Yeshua's conversation with Pontius Pilate gives a very simple answer to such a complex question. To the procurator's question, "What is truth?" Yeshua says: “The truth is, first of all, that your head hurts, and it hurts so badly that you cowardly think about death. .You can't even think of anything and only dream of your dog coming, the only, apparently, creature to which you are attached. Here it is, the truth of Yeshua does not seek it in lofty words and feelings, but sees it in simple and, at first glance, ordinary things. It is simply necessary for him to live a true life, this is the only state possible for him.
Creating this image, Bulgakov showed that kindness, and mercy, and love for people are a consequence of true life, a consequence of honesty with others and with oneself.
In the scene of Yeshua’s conversation with Pontius Pilate, two truths collide: the timeless, eternal truth of Yeshua and Pilate’s “Yershalaim” truth. The procurator tries to push the prisoner into a lie, not understanding his convictions: “Answer! Said?. Or. Not. said?". Only for a moment he seems to comprehend the eternal truth of Yeshua, but casts it out like a vision. Pilyat does not accept her, and therefore does not show mercy to his prisoner.
False life, which does not accept the truth, is represented “in all its glory” by the inhabitants of Moscow. They lie, never show their true feelings. Only two people in the whole city are not afraid to oppose the general lies of those around them with their own honesty - Margarita and Ivan Bezdomny. The latter managed not only to recognize his own poems as terrible, but also to refuse, forever refuse to write them. Both of these heroes, however, do not survive the "battle" with false life. In the epilogue, Ivan Bezdomny already “knows that in his youth he became a victim of criminal hypnotists, was treated after that and was cured.” However, the truth does not leave him completely, like a handkerchief to Frida, she constantly returns to him. And Margarita also suffers defeat in the city, and finds the truth together with the Master already in eternity.
The novel "The Master and Margarita" depicts the true life and the false life. Like Tolstoy in his time, Bulgakov contrasts these two lives with each other. In the epilogue, he shows the life of the city, which, as it were, closes in a circle. The city has lost everything spiritual and talented that left it along with the Master. He lost everything beautiful and eternally loving, who left with Margarita. He lost everything that was true. Finally, Woland left him with his retinue, who, oddly enough, is also the hero of true life, because it is he who exposes the lies and pretense of the inhabitants of Moscow. What is left in the city as a result? People living ordinary, devoid of any feelings, untrue life. People doomed to communicate only with the material side of life.
All his life a person strives for the goal, looking for his own truth, his own meaning of life. And how he lives his life depends on what he will gain after death. This is also the truth that Bulgakov reveals on the example of all the heroes of The Master and Margarita. Recall what Woland says at the ball: “You have always been an ardent preacher of the theory that after cutting off the head, life in a person stops, he turns into ashes and disappears into oblivion. .Your theory is both solid and witty. However, after all, all theories stand one another. There is also one among them, according to which each will be given according to his faith. May it come true!”

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Where is the truth in M. Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita"?

For M. Bulgakov, religion was the main source of truth. He was convinced that only through communion with God does a person acquire spiritual shelter, faith, without which it is impossible to live. Spiritual and religious quest for creative people is a sign that marks their works. For a writer, the bearers of such a sign are the heroes of his books.

Bulgakov's heroes are realistic and modern. They help the reader to understand the position of the author, his attitude to good and evil, his deep conviction that a person must make decisions and be responsible for his actions. The problem of moral choice, responsibility and punishment become the main problems of the novel.

The novel "The Master and Margarita" begins with a dispute between two writers, Berlioz and Bezdomny, with a stranger they met at the Patriarch's Ponds. They argue about whether God exists or not. To Berlioz's statement about the impossibility of the existence of God, Woland objects: "Who governs human life and the whole routine on earth?" Ivan Bezdomny's answer: "The man himself governs."

But the development of the plot of the novel refutes this thesis, reveals the dependence of a person on a thousand accidents. For example, the absurd death of Berlioz. And if a person's life really depends on accidents, is it possible to vouch for the future? What is the truth in this chaotic world?

This question becomes the main one in the novel. The reader finds the answer to it in the “gospel” chapters, where the author reflects on the responsibility of man for all the good and evil that happens on earth, for his own choice of the path leading either to truth and freedom, or to slavery and inhumanity.

“In a white cloak with a bloody lining,” the procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate, appears. He has a difficult task ahead of him. He must decide the fate of another person. The Roman procurator has no desire to ruin the life of a wandering philosopher. Pontius Pilate knows in his heart that Yeshua is not guilty. But Mikhail Bulgakov shows the dependence of the procurator on the state, he has no right to be guided by moral principles. Pontius Pilate is a strong man, and he understands that he can survive and succeed only by remaining a slave and servant of Caesar. His image is dramatic: he is both the accuser and the victim. By sending Yeshua to death, he destroys his soul. When he passes judgment, he exclaims: “We perished!” This means that he perishes with Yeshua, perishes as a free person. But in the dispute between Pontius Pilate and Yeshua about truth and goodness, the latter wins, because he goes to his death, but does not give up his convictions, remaining truly free.

Bulgakov's Yeshua is an ordinary mortal man, insightful and naive, wise and simple-hearted, but he is the embodiment of a pure idea, a herald of new human ideals. Neither fear nor punishment can force him to betray the idea of kindness, mercy. He affirms "the kingdom of truth and justice", where there will be "no authority of Caesars, or any other authority." Yeshua believes in the predominance of a good beginning in any person, and that the “kingdom of truth” will surely come.

In the novel by Mikhail Bulgakov, Yeshua is a prototype of Christ, but he is not a God-man, but the One who knows and brings the truth to people.

And then Satan-Woland appears with his retinue, to whom the world around him is open without embellishment, and this ironic view of Woland on the environment is close to the author. Woland peers into people, trying to reveal the imperfect in them. He ridicules, destroys, with the help of his retinue, everything that has departed from goodness, lied about, corrupted, and lost its lofty ideal. Woland and his retinue stay in Moscow for only three days, but the cover of gray everyday life falls off people, and the person appears before us in his nakedness: “They are people like people. They love money, but it has always been... Well, they are frivolous... well, well... and mercy sometimes knocks on their hearts... ordinary people... in general, they resemble the former ones... the housing problem only spoiled their".

Woland determines the measure of evil, vice and self-interest by the measure of truth, beauty and goodness.

He restores the balance between good and evil and thereby serves good. But is it possible to consider that vice is punished in the novel? Changes are imaginary: Styopa Likhodeev now manages not a variety show in Moscow, but a grocery store in Rostov. So the all-seeing Woland claims that no course of history changes human nature. It is these pages of the novel that make the reader think about the question: is a person completely dependent on chance and everything in him is unpredictable? What can resist the elements of life, and is it possible to change this world? The author answers these questions by telling us the romantic story of the Master and Margarita.

The behavior of romantic heroes is determined not by a combination of circumstances, but by following their moral choice. The master establishes historical truth by writing a novel about Yeshua and Pontius Pilate. Reading it, we understand why "manuscripts do not burn." But the Master is not a hero, he is only a servant of the truth.

The feat is performed by Margarita. She overcomes her own fear in the name of faith in the talent of the Master. She goes to self-sacrifice, pawning her soul to the devil. So Margarita herself creates her own destiny, guided by high moral principles.

Since ancient times, man has been thinking about what is truth, and does it exist at all? Why is life given to man and what is its meaning? These are the eternal questions of philosophy. Some people believe that truth is in knowledge, others in faith. There are those who claim that the truth is in the feelings of people. And each of them will be right in their own way. There is no clear definition of what truth is. Each person transforms this rather abstract concept in his own way.
Always, at all times, people have been looking for truth in complex and sublime things. Against this background, the simplicity with which this concept is revealed by Bulgakov is especially striking. Yeshua's conversation with Pontius Pilate gives a very simple answer to such a complex question. To the procurator's question, "What is truth?" Yeshua says: “The truth is, first of all, that your head hurts, and it hurts so badly that you cowardly think about death. ... You can't even think of anything and only dream of your dog coming, the only creature you seem to be attached to.” Here it is, the truth of Yeshua does not seek it in lofty words and feelings, but sees it in simple and, at first glance, ordinary things. It is simply necessary for him to live a true life, this is the only state possible for him.
Creating this image, Bulgakov showed that kindness, and mercy, and love for people are a consequence of true life, a consequence of honesty with others and with oneself.
In the scene of Yeshua’s conversation with Pontius Pilate, two truths collide: the timeless, eternal truth of Yeshua and Pilate’s “Yershalaim” truth. The procurator tries to push the prisoner into a lie, not understanding his convictions: “Answer! Spoke?.. Or... didn't... speak? Only for a moment he seems to comprehend the eternal truth of Yeshua, but casts it out like a vision. Pilyat does not accept her, and therefore does not show mercy to his prisoner.
False life, which does not accept the truth, is represented “in all its glory” by the inhabitants of Moscow. They lie, never show their true feelings. Only two people in the whole city are not afraid to oppose the general lies of those around them with their own honesty - Margarita and Ivan Bezdomny. The latter managed not only to recognize his own poems as terrible, but also to refuse, forever refuse to write them. Both of these heroes, however, do not survive the "battle" with false life. In the epilogue, Ivan Bezdomny already “knows that in his youth he became a victim of criminal hypnotists, was treated after that and was cured.” However, the truth does not leave him completely, like a handkerchief to Frida, she constantly returns to him. And Margarita also suffers defeat in the city, and finds the truth together with the Master already in eternity.
The novel "The Master and Margarita" depicts the true life and the false life. Like Tolstoy in his time, Bulgakov contrasts these two lives with each other. In the epilogue, he shows the life of the city, which, as it were, closes in a circle. The city has lost everything spiritual and talented that left it along with the Master. He lost everything beautiful and eternally loving, who left with Margarita. He lost everything that was true. Finally, Woland left him with his retinue, who, oddly enough, is also the hero of true life, because it is he who exposes the lies and pretense of the inhabitants of Moscow. What is left in the city as a result? People living ordinary, devoid of any feelings, untrue life. People doomed to communicate only with the material side of life...
All his life a person strives for the goal, looking for his own truth, his own meaning of life. And how he lives his life depends on what he will gain after death. This is also the truth that Bulgakov reveals on the example of all the heroes of The Master and Margarita. Recall what Woland says at the ball: “You have always been an ardent preacher of the theory that after cutting off the head, life in a person stops, he turns into ashes and disappears into oblivion. ... Your theory is both solid and witty. However, after all, all theories stand one another. There is also one among them, according to which each will be given according to his faith. May it come true!”

Dmitry Zakharov

“The voice of the answerer seemed to prick Pilate in the temple, was inexpressibly tormenting, and this voice said:
- I, hegemon, said that the temple of the old faith would collapse and a new temple of truth would be created. I said it so it would be clearer.
- Why did you, a vagabond, embarrass the people in the market, talking about the truth, about which you have no idea? What is truth?

Although many people around the world claim to have the truth, the question "what is truth?" at some point in life, it confronts each of us. And even more pressing is the question of whether what someone else says or writes is true for us. Can anyone convey the truth?

Continuing the dialogue of the heroes of the novel M.A. Bulgakov, let's follow them. One small detail: for the first time the word "truth" appears in the phrase "temple of truth", the creation of which on the ruins of the temple of the old faith foretells Yeshua. Therefore, truth is something sacred, sublime, something in the name of which temples are created. I recall the ancient saying of the Indian rajas, taken by our great compatriot E.P. Blavatsky as a motto: "There is no religion higher than truth."

But if the Truth is so high, can it be conveyed? In words - no, which was perfectly expressed by F.I. Tyutchev: "The thought uttered is a lie." Everything that is stated in a form accessible to others becomes false, since it is descended from Heaven to Earth, translated into another language - understandable, but ... simplified. It's like trying to explain higher mathematics to a first grader.

About the same - the thought of Lao Tzu: “He who knows does not speak. The one who speaks does not know.

But does this mean that it is impossible to know the Truth, that it is impossible to talk about it? No, because it can reach us through everything that surrounds us, with which we come into contact.

“The truth is, first of all, that your head hurts, and it hurts so badly that you cowardly think about death,” Yeshua says to his interlocutor, realizing that he is focused on his hemicrania and cannot think about anything else. The understanding of the Truth is limited not only by the intellect of the knower, but also by what his thoughts are directed to. Therefore, in order to convey deeper truths to the hegemon, it was necessary to remove his headache and thereby make untrue what had previously filled his mind.

“A walk would be of great benefit to you, and I would gladly accompany you. Some new thoughts have occurred to me that might, I believe, seem interesting to you, and I would gladly share them with you, especially since you give the impression of a very intelligent person, ”advises the defendant to the procurator. This walk will be for many centuries the only desire of Pilate, but he still does not know about it.

Truth does not come in formal clothes, it is modest and looks ordinary - but often simply because we do not pay attention to it.

Did Yeshua answer Pilate's question, "what is truth"? Yes, when he identified his main problem: “The trouble is,” the unstoppable bound man continued, “that you are too closed off and have completely lost faith in people. After all, you must admit, you can’t put all your affection in a dog. Your life is meager, hegemon, - and here the speaker allowed himself to smile.

The truth turns out to be connected with the core of human life, with the main thing in it, and its reverse side is the definition of what prevents this main thing from manifesting itself. Truth is what makes it possible to be a Human and at the same time indicates the obstacles to this. Truth shines like the star of the Magi, appearing at the most difficult, critical stages of a person's life path, and its appearance can change as a person goes forward.

Speaking the truth is easy and pleasant. Let us remember when even during the conversation a smile appeared on the lips of Yeshua:

“Well, at least by your life,” answered the procurator, “it's time to swear by it, since it hangs by a thread, know that!
- Don't you think that you hung her, hegemon? asked the prisoner. If so, you are very mistaken.

Pilate shuddered and answered through his teeth:
- I can cut this hair.
“And in this you are mistaken,” the prisoner objected, smiling brightly and shielding himself from the sun with his hand, “accept that only the one who hung it up can probably cut the hair?”

Yeshua already knows his fate, he knows in whose hands it is, and this truth fills him with peace and joy.

Truth is not attached to material things, it exists in the realm of the spiritual. ON THE. Berdyaev wrote: “Truth is not the entry of objects into us. Truth presupposes the activity of the human spirit, the knowledge of Truth depends on the degree of community of people, on communion in the Spirit. Therefore, Truth always bears the idea of community, brotherhood of all people. Thanks to her, Yeshua calls everyone a “good person” and explains to Pilate that his life is meager, since there is no place for other people in it.

If we want to know what the Truth is, then we must rise and see our life, our Path from spiritual heights. M.A. tells us about this. Bulgakov, and this truth is revealed in the novel by his characters.

From the first magazine publication, Mikhail Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita" has become one of the most widely read works of modern fiction. The chapter of the novel about the beggar sage Yeshua Ha-Nozri is perceived by many readers as a variant of sacred history on an equal footing with the Gospel. In fact, a blasphemous substitution took place, a distortion not only of the real events of the earthly life of Jesus Christ, but also a deification of the image of the Savior.

In The Master and Margarita, Christ is reduced to the level of an ordinary literary character. This idea was picked up by some modern writers (V. Tendryakov, Ch. Aitmatov, and others). It is obvious that the Orthodox consciousness cannot but perceive this phenomenon in literature as a kind of spiritual clouding.

Themes and plots of sacred history have long occupied secular art. It is natural to ask the question: why? There is a version that art is a closed self-valuable system; appeal to any topic in art should be subordinated to its main goal - the creation of highly aesthetic images. At the level of everyday consciousness, this is understood even more simply: the task of art is to entertain the public, distract them from worldly worries and life's hardships, and so on. But whatever the level of comprehension, with such an approach, any phenomenon chosen by art will inevitably play only the role of ancillary material. Will the religious feeling be reconciled if the ideas and images sacred to it are subjected to artistic manipulations, even with the most beneficent goals from the point of view of the artist?

With what thoughts do contemporary writers turn to the image of Jesus Christ? Give “your own” interpretation of the events told by the evangelists? But from the point of view of religious consciousness, that is blasphemy and heresy. The artistic use of the image of the Savior in the arbitrary filling of certain plots of the New Testament with details created by the writer’s imagination is possible only in one case: if we consider the Gospel only as a literary monument, and the person of Christ as a literary image created by the fiction of some obscure authors hiding behind pseudonyms, which we take to be the names of evangelists.

And there were no evangelists! There was only one ridiculous half-mad Levi Matvey, who did not understand the words of his idol-teacher at all and distorted all the events of his life.

Already the first critics who responded to the appearance of Mikhail Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita could not fail to notice the remark of the vagrant truth-teller Yeshua Ha-Nozri regarding the notes of his student: “In general, I begin to fear that this confusion will continue for a very long time. And all because he incorrectly writes down after me. ... He walks, walks alone with goat parchment and continuously writes. But once I looked into this parchment and was horrified. Absolutely nothing of what is written there, I did not say. I begged him: burn your parchment for God's sake! But he snatched it out of my hands and ran away.” Through the mouth of his hero, the author denied the truth of the Gospel.

And even without this replica, the differences between Scripture and the novel are so significant that a choice is imposed on us against our will, because both texts cannot be combined in consciousness and in soul. The writer called on all the power of his talent to help, in order to make the reader believe: the truth is that which made up the content of the novel. It must be admitted that the glamor of verisimilitude, the illusion of certainty, are extraordinarily strong in Bulgakov. Undoubtedly: the novel "The Master and Margarita" is a true literary masterpiece. And it always happens: the outstanding artistic merit of the work becomes the strongest argument in favor of what the artist is trying to inspire.

Let us not dwell on the many striking differences between the evangelists' account and the novelist's version: one list without any comment would take up too much space. Let us focus on the main thing: before us is a different image of the Savior. It is significant that Bulgakov carries this character with a special sound of his name: Yeshua. But this is Jesus. No wonder Woland, anticipating the story of the events of two thousand years ago, assures Berlioz and Ivanushka the homeless: "Keep in mind that Jesus existed." Yes, Yeshua is Christ, presented in the novel as the only true one, as opposed to the gospel, allegedly invented, generated by ridiculous rumors and stupidity of the disciple.

Yeshua differs from Jesus not only in the name and events of his life - he is essentially different at all levels: sacred, theological, philosophical, psychological, physical.

He is timid and weak, simple-hearted, impractical, naive to the point of stupidity, he has such a perverted idea of life that he cannot recognize in the curious Judas from Kiriath an ordinary provocateur-informer (here any “simple Soviet person” will proudly feel his unconditional superiority over the poor sage ). By the simplicity of his soul, Yeshua himself becomes a voluntary scammer, because without suspecting it, he “knocks” Pilate on his faithful disciple, blaming him for all misunderstandings with the interpretation of his own words and deeds. Here, indeed, “simplicity is worse than theft.” And is he a sage, this Yeshua, ready at any moment to have a conversation with anyone and about anything?

His motto: “It is easy and pleasant to tell the truth.” No practical considerations will stop him on the path to which he considers himself called. He will not beware even when his truth becomes a threat to his own life. But we would be deluded if we denied Yeshua any wisdom on this basis. It is precisely here that he reaches a true spiritual height, for he is guided not by practical considerations of reason, but by a higher striving. Yeshua proclaims his truth contrary to the so-called "common sense", he preaches, as it were, over all specific circumstances, over time - for eternity. Therefore, he is not only supernaturally wise, but also morally lofty.

Yeshua is tall, but his height is human in nature. He is tall by human standards. He is a man, and only a man. There is nothing of the Son of God in him. The divinity of Yeshua is imposed on us by the correlation, in spite of everything, of his image with the person of Christ. However, if we make a forced concession, contrary to all the evidence provided in the novel, then we can only conditionally recognize that we are not dealing with a God-man, but a man-god.

The Son of God showed us the highest image of humility, truly humbling His Divine power. He, who with one glance could have scattered all the oppressors and executioners, accepted from them reproach and death of his good will and in fulfillment of the will of His Heavenly Father. Yeshua has clearly left to chance and does not look far ahead. He doesn't know the Father, he doesn't know his parents at all - he admits it himself. He does not carry humility in himself, for there is nothing for him to humble. He is weak, he is completely dependent on the last Roman soldier. Yeshua sacrificially bears his truth, but his sacrifice is nothing more than a romantic impulse of a person who has a poor idea of his future.

Christ knew what awaited Him. Yeshua is deprived of such knowledge, he ingenuously asks Pilate to let him go and believes that it is possible. Pilate was indeed ready to have mercy on the poor preacher, and only the primitive provocation of Judas from Kiriath decides the outcome of the matter to the disadvantage of Yeshua. Therefore, in truth, Yeshua lacks not only volitional humility, but also the feat of sacrifice.

Yeshua does not have the sober wisdom of Christ either. According to the testimony of the evangelists, the Son of God was laconic in the face of his judges. Yeshua, on the other hand, is overly talkative. In irresistible naivety, he is ready to award everyone with the title of a good person and agrees in the end to the point of absurdity, arguing that it was precisely “good people” who mutilated the centurion Mark. Such ideas have nothing to do with the true wisdom of Christ, who forgave His executioners for their crime. Yeshua, on the other hand, cannot forgive anyone or anything, for only guilt, sin can be forgiven, and he does not know about sin. He generally seems to be on the other side of good and evil. Therefore, his death is not an atonement for human sin.

But even as a preacher, Yeshua is hopelessly weak, for he is not able to give people the main thing - faith, which can serve as their support in life. What can we say about others, if even the “evangelist” disciple cannot stand the first test, in despair sending curses to God at the sight of the execution of Yeshua.

Yes, and having already discarded human nature, almost two thousand years after the events in Yershalaim, Yeshua, who finally became Jesus, cannot overcome the same Pontius Pilate in a dispute - and their endless dialogue is lost in the depths of the boundless future on the path woven from the moon Sveta. Or is Christianity showing its failure here?

Yeshua is weak because he does not know the truth. That most important, central moment of the entire conversation between Yeshua and Pilate in the novel is a dialogue about truth.

What is truth? - Pilate asks skeptically.

Christ was silent here. Everything has already been said, everything has been proclaimed. Yeshua is extraordinarily verbose:

The truth is, first of all, that you have a headache, - he begins a long monologue, as a result of which Pilate's headache is pacified.

Christ was silent - and this should be seen as a deep meaning.

But if you have spoken, then answer the greatest question that a person can ask, for you are speaking for eternity, and not only the procurator of Judea is waiting for an answer. But it all comes down to a primitive psychotherapy session. The sage-preacher turned out to be an average psychic (let's put it in a modern way). And there is no hidden depth behind those words, no hidden meaning, which was contained even in the silence of the true Son of God. And here - the truth turned out to be reduced to the simple fact that someone has a headache at the moment.

No, that is not a belittling of truth to the level of everyday consciousness. Everything is much more serious. Truth, in fact, is denied here at all, it is declared only a reflection of the fast-flowing time, subtle changes in reality. Yeshua is still a philosopher. The word of the Savior has always gathered minds in the unity of truth. The word of Yeshua encourages the rejection of such unity, the fragmentation of consciousness, the dissolution of truth in the chaos of petty misunderstandings, like a headache. He's still a philosopher, Yeshua. But his philosophy, outwardly opposed as if to the vanity of worldly wisdom, is immersed in the element of "the wisdom of this world."

“For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God, as it is written: It catches the wise in their deceit. And one more thing: the Lord knows the philosophies of the wise that they are vain” (1 Cor. 3:19-20). That is why the beggarly philosopher, in the end, reduces all the sophistication not to insights into the mystery of being, but to dubious ideas of the earthly arrangement of people. Yeshua appears as the bearer of utopian ideas of socio-political justice: “... the time will come when there will be no power of either Caesars or any other power. Man will pass into the realm of truth and justice, where no power will be needed at all.” Realm of truth? "But what is truth?" - only one can ask after Pilate, having heard enough of such speeches.

There is nothing original in this interpretation of the teachings of Christ. Even Belinsky, in his notorious letter to Gogol, asserted about Christ: “He was the first to proclaim to people the doctrine of freedom, equality and fraternity, and sealed with martyrdom, approved the truth of his teaching.” The idea, as Belinsky himself pointed out, goes back to the materialism of the Enlightenment, that is, to the very era when the “wisdom of this world” was deified and raised to the absolute. Was it worth it to fence the garden in order to return to the same thing? For the sake of what was the gospel to be twisted?

But the majority of our reading public is completely perceived as insignificant. The literary merits of the novel, as it were, atone for any blasphemy, make it even invisible - all the more so since the admirers of the work are set, if not strictly atheistically, then in the spirit of religious liberalism, in which every point of view on anything recognizes the legitimate right to exist and be numbered according to the category of truth . Yeshua, on the other hand, elevating the headache of the fifth procurator of Judea to the rank of truth, thereby provided a kind of ideological justification for the possibility of an arbitrarily large number of ideas-truths of this level. In addition, Bulgakov's Yeshua provides anyone who only wishes with a tickling imagination the opportunity to look down on the One before Whom the Church bows down as the Son of God, the ease of free treatment of the Savior Himself, which is provided by the novel The Master and Margarita, we agree, also what - it's worth it! For a relativistically tuned consciousness, there is no blasphemy here.

The impression of the reliability of the story about the events of the gospel is provided in the novel by the veracity of the critical coverage of the contemporary reality of the writer, with all the grotesqueness of the author's techniques. The revealing pathos of the novel is recognized as its undoubted moral and artistic value. The spirit of The Master and Margarita, which was in opposition to official culture, as well as the tragic fate of Bulgakov himself, helped raise the work created by his pen to a height inaccessible to any critical judgment. Everything was curiously complicated by the fact that for a significant part of our semi-educated readers, the novel for a long time remained almost the only source from which it was possible to draw information about the life of Christ. The authenticity of Bulgakov's narration was verified by him himself - the situation is sad and funny. The encroachment on the holiness of Christ itself turned into a kind of intellectual shrine.

The thought of Archbishop John (Shakhovsky) helps to understand the phenomenon of Bulgakov’s masterpiece: “One of the tricks of spiritual evil is to mix concepts, tangle the threads of different spiritual fortresses into one ball and thereby create the impression of spiritual organicity of what is not organic and even anti-organic in relation to the human spirit." The truth of the denunciation of social evil and the truth of one's own suffering created a protective armor for the blasphemous untruth of the novel The Master and Margarita.

Yeshua, let's say again, does not carry anything from God. There would be nothing original in such an understanding of Christ if the author remained on the positivist level of Renan, Hegel or Tolstoy from beginning to end. But Bulgakov's novel is oversaturated with the mysticism of the "black mass". The satanic liturgy - “the liturgy in reverse”, a caricature, a blasphemous parody of the sacral Eucharistic communion with Christ taking place in His Church - is the true deep content of Bulgakov's work. It is not dedicated to Yeshua at all, and not even primarily to the Master with his Margaret, but to Satan. Woland is the undoubted protagonist of the work, his image is a kind of energy node of the entire complex compositional structure of the novel. The supremacy of Woland is initially affirmed by the epigraph to the first part: “I am part of that force that always wants evil and always does good.”

The words of Mephistopheles, exalted above the text of the novel, are intended to reveal a kind of dialectic of the devilish nature, supposedly aimed in the end at the creation of good. An idea that needs to be considered. Satan acts in the world only insofar as he is allowed to do so by the permission of the Almighty. But everything that happens according to the will of the Creator cannot be evil, it is directed to the good of His creation, it is, by whatever measure you measure, an expression of the supreme justice of the Lord. “The Lord is good to all, and His mercy is in all His works” (Ps. 144:9). This is the meaning and content of the Christian faith. Therefore, the evil that comes from the devil is transformed into good for man thanks to God's permission, the Lord's will. But by its very nature, by its diabolical original intention, it continues to be evil. God turns him for good - not Satan. Therefore, stating: "I I do good, ”the servant of hell lies, appropriates what does not belong to him. And this satanic claim to what comes from God is perceived by the author of The Master and Margarita as an absolute truth, and on the basis of belief in the devilish deception of Bulgakov, he builds the entire moral, philosophical and aesthetic system of his creation.

Woland in the novel is an unconditional guarantor of justice, a creator of goodness, a righteous judge for people, which attracts the reader's ardent sympathy. Woland is the most charming character in the novel, much more likeable than the disabled Yeshua. He actively intervenes in all events and always acts for the good. Not from God - from Woland justice pours out on the world. Yeshua can give people nothing but abstract, spiritually relaxing discussions about not entirely intelligible goodness and vague promises of the coming kingdom of truth, which, according to his own logic, should most likely turn into a kingdom of headaches. Woland guides the actions of people with a firm hand, guided by the concepts of quite concrete and understandable justice and at the same time experiencing genuine sympathy for people. Even the direct envoy of Christ, Levi Matthew, at the end of the novel, rather asks, even “beseechingly turns”, rather than orders Woland. The consciousness of his rightness allows Woland to treat the failed “evangelist” with a measure of arrogance, as if undeservedly arrogating to himself the right to be near the Son of God. Woland persistently emphasizes from the very beginning: it was he who was next to Jesus at the time of the most important events, “unrighteously” reflected in the Gospel.

But why does he insist on his testimony so insistently? Why did he recreate the burnt manuscript of the Master from oblivion?

For the reason for which he arrived in Moscow with his retinue - not at all for good deeds, but for the performance of the “black mass”, outwardly presented on the pages of the novel as “the great ball at Satan's”, at which, to the piercing cry of “Hallelujah! ” Woland's associates rage. All the events of The Master and Margarita are drawn to this semantic center of the work. Already in the opening scene - on the Patriarch's Ponds - preparations for the "ball", a kind of "black proskomidia" begin.

It turns out that the death of Berlioz is not at all absurdly accidental, but is included in the magic circle of the satanic mystery: his severed head, then stolen from the coffin, turns into a chalice, from which, at the end of the ball, the transformed Woland and Margarita “commune” (here is one of the manifestations of the “black Mass” - the transubstantiation of blood into wine, the sacrament upside down). Many other examples of satanic ritual mysticism in the novel can be listed, but we will focus only on our topic.

The gospel is read at the liturgy in the church. For the "black mass" a different text is needed. The novel created by the Master is nothing more than the “Gospel of Satan”, skillfully included in the compositional structure of the work on anti-liturgy. In vain the Master is self-absorbedly amazed: how exactly he “guessed” the ancient events. Such books are not "guessed" - they are inspired from outside. And if the Holy Scriptures are inspired by God, then the source of inspiration for the novel about Yeshua is also easily visible. It is important to note that it is Woland who begins the story of the events in Yershalaim, and the Master's text becomes only a continuation of this story.

That's what the Master's manuscript was saved for. That is why the image of the Savior is slandered and distorted.

The high religious meaning of what happened on Golgotha was (consciously or not?) devalued in the novel The Master and Margarita. The incomprehensible mystery of Divine self-sacrifice, the acceptance of the shameful, most humiliating execution upon Himself, the denial of the Son of God from His power to atone for human sin, which showed the highest example of humility, the acceptance of death not for the sake of earthly truth, but for the salvation of mankind - everything turned out to be trivialized, arrogantly rejected.

What is truth? (about the novel "The Master and Margarita"). What is truth? (according to the pages of the novel M

Where is the truth in M. Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita"?

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