Views of world religions on issues of life and death. Problems of life and death, attitudes towards death in various historical epochs and in various religions

Problems of life and death and attitudes towards death

in different historical epochs and in different religions

Introduction.

1. Measurements of the problem of life, death and immortality.

2. Attitude towards death, problems of life, death and immortality

in the religions of the world.

Conclusion.

Bibliography.

Introduction.

Life and death are the eternal themes of the spiritual culture of mankind in all its divisions. Prophets and founders of religions, philosophers and moralists, figures of art and literature, teachers and physicians thought about them. It is unlikely that there will be an adult who, sooner or later, would not think about the meaning of his existence, impending death and the achievement of immortality. These thoughts come to the mind of children and very young people, which is what poetry and prose, dramas and tragedies, letters and diaries say. Only early childhood or senile insanity save a person from the need to solve these problems.

In fact, we are talking about a triad: life - death - immortality, since all the spiritual systems of mankind proceeded from the idea of ​​the contradictory unity of these phenomena. The greatest attention was paid here to death and the acquisition of immortality in another life, and human life itself was interpreted as a moment allotted to a person so that he could adequately prepare for death and immortality.

With few exceptions, people of all times and peoples spoke quite negatively about life, Life is suffering (Buddha: Schopenhauer, etc.); life is a dream (Plato, Pascal); life is the abyss of evil (Ancient Egypt); "Life is a struggle and wandering in a foreign land" (Marcus Aurelius); "Life is a fool's story told by an idiot, full of noise and fury, but devoid of meaning" (Shakespeare); "All human life is deeply immersed in untruth" (Nietzsche), etc.

Proverbs and sayings of different peoples such as "Life is a penny" speak of the same. Ortega y Gasset defined man not as a body and not as a spirit, but as a specifically human drama. Indeed, in this sense, the life of every person is dramatic and tragic: no matter how successful life is, no matter how long it is, its end is inevitable. The Greek sage Epicurus said this: "Accustom yourself to the idea that death has nothing to do with us. When we exist, death is not yet present, and when death is present, then we do not exist."

Death and potential immortality is the strongest lure for the philosophical mind, for all our life's affairs must, one way or another, be commensurate with the eternal. Man is doomed to think about life and death, and this is his difference from the animal, which is mortal, but does not know about it. Death in general is a retribution for the complication of the biological system. Unicellular are practically immortal and the amoeba is a happy creature in this sense.

When an organism becomes multicellular, a mechanism of self-destruction at a certain stage of development, associated with the genome, is built into it, as it were.

For centuries, the best minds of mankind have been trying, at least theoretically, to refute this thesis, to prove, and then to bring real immortality to life. However, the ideal of such immortality is not the existence of an amoeba and not an angelic life in a better world. From this point of view, a person should live forever, being in a constant prime of life. A person cannot accept the fact that it is he who will have to leave this magnificent world, where life is in full swing. To be an eternal spectator of this grandiose picture of the Universe, not to experience "saturation of days" like the biblical prophets - could anything be more tempting?

But, thinking about it, you begin to understand that death is perhaps the only thing before which everyone is equal: poor and rich, dirty and clean, loved and unloved. Although both in antiquity and in our days, attempts were constantly made and are being made to convince the world that there are people who have been "there" and returned back, but common sense refuses to believe this. Faith is required, a miracle is required, which the gospel Christ performed, "trampling death by death." It has been noticed that the wisdom of a person is often expressed in a calm attitude towards life and death. As Mahatma Gandhi said: "We do not know what is better - to live or die. Therefore, we should neither overly admire life, nor tremble at the thought of death. We should treat both of them equally. This is ideal." And long before that, the Bhagavad Gita says: "Indeed, death is meant for the born, and birth is inevitable for the deceased. Do not grieve about the inevitable."

At the same time, many great people realized this problem in tragic tones. An outstanding domestic biologist I.I. Mechnikov, who thought about the possibility of "educating the instinct of natural death", wrote about L.N. Tolstoy: "When Tolstoy, tormented by the impossibility of solving this problem and haunted by the fear of death, asked himself if family love could calm his soul, he immediately saw that this is a vain hope. Why, he asked himself, should I bring up children who will soon find themselves in the same critical condition as their father? Why should I love them, raise them and watch over them? For the same despair that is in me, or for stupidity? Loving them, I cannot hide the truth from them - every step leads them to the knowledge of this truth. And the truth is death. "

1. Measurements of the problem of life, death and immortality.

1. 1. The first dimension of the problem of life, death and immortality is biological, for these states are, in essence, different aspects of the same phenomenon. The hypothesis of panspermia, the constant presence of life and death in the Universe, their constant reproduction under suitable conditions, has long been put forward. The definition of F. Engels is known: "Life is a way of existence of protein bodies, and this way of existence consists essentially in the constant self-renewal of the chemical constituents of these bodies," emphasizes the cosmic aspect of life.

Stars, nebulae, planets, comets and other cosmic bodies are born, live and die, and in this sense no one and nothing disappears. This aspect is most developed in Eastern philosophy and mystical teachings, proceeding from the fundamental impossibility of understanding the meaning of this universal circulation with the mind alone. Materialistic concepts are built on the phenomenon of self-generation of life and self-causation, when, according to F. Engels, "with iron necessity" life and a thinking spirit are generated in one place of the Universe, if it disappears in another.

Awareness of the unity of human and human life with all life on the planet, with its biosphere, as well as potentially possible life forms in the Universe, is of great ideological significance.

This idea of ​​the sanctity of life, the right to life for any living being, by virtue of the very fact of birth, belongs to the number of eternal ideals of mankind. Ultimately, the entire Universe and the Earth are considered as living beings, and interference with the still poorly known laws of their life is fraught with an ecological crisis. Man appears as a small particle of this living Universe, a microcosm that has absorbed all the richness of the macrocosm. The feeling of "reverence for life", the feeling of one's involvement in the amazing world of the living, is inherent in any worldview system to one degree or another. Even if biological, bodily life is considered an inauthentic, transitive form of human existence, then in these cases (for example, in Christianity), human flesh can and should acquire a different, flourishing state.

1.2. The second dimension of the problem of life, death and immortality is connected with understanding the specifics of human life. and its differences from the life of all living things. For more than thirty centuries, sages, prophets and philosophers from different countries and peoples have been trying to find this watershed. Most often it is believed that the whole point is the realization of the fact of impending death: we know that we will die and are feverishly looking for a path to immortality. All other living things quietly and peacefully complete their journey, having managed to reproduce a new life or serve as fertilizer for the soil for another life. A person is doomed to painful lifelong thoughts about the meaning of life or its meaninglessness, torments himself, and often others, and is forced to drown these damned questions in wine or drugs. This is partly true, but the question arises: what to do with the fact of the death of a newborn child who has not yet had time to understand anything, or a mentally retarded person who is not able to understand anything? Whether to consider the beginning of a person's life the moment of conception (which cannot be accurately determined in most cases) or the moment of birth.

It is known that the dying Leo Tolstoy, addressing those around him, said,

so that they turn their eyes to millions of other people, and not look at one

lion. An unknown death that touches no one except the mother, the death of a small creature from starvation somewhere in Africa and the magnificent funeral of world-famous leaders in the face of eternity have no difference. In this sense, the English poet D. Donn is deeply right when he said that the death of each person detracts from all mankind and therefore "never ask for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for you."

It is obvious that the specifics of life, death and immortality of a person are directly related to the mind and its manifestations, to the successes and achievements of a person throughout life, to the assessment of his contemporaries and descendants. The death of many geniuses at a young age is undoubtedly tragic, but there is no reason to believe that their subsequent life, if it took place, would give the world something even more brilliant. There is some kind of not quite clear, but empirically obvious pattern, expressed by the Christian thesis: "God takes away the best first of all."

In this sense, life and death are not covered by the categories of rational knowledge, do not fit into the framework of a rigid deterministic model of the world and man. To talk about these concepts in cold blood is possible up to a certain limit. It is due to the personal interest of each person and his ability to intuitively comprehend the ultimate foundations of human existence. In this respect, everyone is like a swimmer jumping into the waves in the middle of the open sea. One must rely only on oneself, despite human solidarity, faith in God, the Higher Mind, etc. The uniqueness of a person, the uniqueness of personality is manifested here to the highest degree. Geneticists have calculated that the probability of the birth of this particular person from these parents is one chance in a hundred trillion cases. If this has already happened, then what amazing diversity of human meanings of being appears before a person when he thinks about life and death?

Let's consider these problems in relation to the three world religions - Christianity, Islam and Buddhism and the civilizations based on them.

The Christian understanding of the meaning of life, death and immortality comes from the Old Testament position: "The day of death is better than the day of birth" and the New Testament commandment of Christ "... I have the keys to hell and death." The divine-human essence of Christianity is manifested in the fact that the immortality of the individual as an integral being is conceivable only through the resurrection. The path to it is opened by the atoning sacrifice of Christ through the cross and resurrection. This is the sphere of mystery and miracle, for man is taken out of the sphere of action of the natural-cosmic forces and elements and is placed as a person face to face with God, who is also a person.

Thus, the goal of human life is deification, the movement towards eternal life. Without realizing this, earthly life turns into a dream, an empty and idle dream, a soap bubble. In essence, it is only a preparation for eternal life, which is not far off for everyone. That is why it is said in the Gospel: "Be ready: for at what hour you do not think, the Son of Man will come." So that life does not turn, according to M.Yu. Lermontov, "into an empty and stupid joke," one must always remember the hour of death. This is not a tragedy, but a transition to another world, where myriads of souls, good and evil, already live, and where each new one enters for joy or torment. According to the figurative expression of one of the moral hierarchs: "A dying person is a setting star, the dawn of which is already shining over another world." Death does not destroy the body, but its perishability, and therefore it is not the end, but the beginning of eternal life. immortality religion christian islamic

Christianity associated a different understanding of immortality with the image of the "Eternal Jew" Ahasuerus. When Jesus, exhausted under the weight of the cross, went to Golgotha ​​and wanted to rest, Ahasuerus, standing among the others, said: “Go, go,” for which he was punished - he was forever denied the rest of the grave. From century to century he is doomed to wander the world, waiting for the second coming of Christ, who alone can deprive him of his loathsome immortality.

The image of "mountainous" Jerusalem is associated with the absence of disease, death, hunger, cold, poverty, enmity, hatred, malice and other evils there. There is life without labor and joy without sorrow, health without weakness, and honor without danger. All in blooming youth and the age of Christ are comforted by bliss, they partake of the fruits of peace, love, joy and fun, and "love one another as themselves." Evangelist Luke thus defined the essence of the Christian approach to life and death: "God is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. For with him all are alive." Christianity categorically condemns suicide, since a person does not belong to himself, his life and death are "in the will of God."

Another world religion - Islam - proceeds from the fact that man was created by the will of the almighty Allah, who, above all, is merciful. To the question of a man: "Will I be known when I die, will I be known alive?", Allah gives the answer: "Will not a man remember that we created him earlier, but he was nothing?" Unlike Christianity, earthly life in Islam is regarded highly. However, on the Last Day, everything will be destroyed and the dead will be resurrected and brought before Allah for the final judgment. Belief in an afterlife is necessary, because in this case a person will evaluate his actions and deeds not from the point of view of personal interest, but in the sense of an eternal perspective.

The destruction of the entire universe on the day of Judgment implies the creation of an entirely new world. A "record" of deeds and thoughts, even the most secret, will be presented about each person, and an appropriate sentence will be passed. Thus, the principle of the supremacy of the laws of morality and reason over physical laws will triumph. A morally pure person cannot be in a humiliated position, as is the case in the real world. Islam categorically forbids suicide.

The descriptions of heaven and hell in the Quran are full of vivid details, so that the righteous can be fully satisfied, and the sinners get what they deserve. Paradise is the beautiful "gardens of eternity, below which rivers flow from water, milk and wine"; there are also "pure spouses", "big-breasted peers", as well as "black-eyed and big-eyed, adorned with bracelets of gold and pearls." Those sitting on carpets and leaning on green pillows are bypassed by "forever young boys", offering "bird meat" on dishes of gold. Hell for sinners is fire and boiling water, pus and slop, the fruits of the zakkum tree, similar to the head of the devil, and their lot is "screams and roars." It is impossible to ask Allah about the hour of death, since only he has knowledge of this, and "what is it given to you to know, maybe the hour is already close."

The attitude towards death and immortality in Buddhism is significantly different from Christian and Muslim. The Buddha himself refused to answer the questions: "Is the one who knows the truth immortal or is he mortal?", and also: can the knower be mortal and immortal at the same time? In essence, only one kind of "wonderful immortality" is recognized - nirvana, as the embodiment of the transcendent Superexistence, the Absolute Beginning, which has no attributes.

Buddhism did not refute the doctrine of the transmigration of souls developed by Brahmanism, i.e. the belief that after death any living being is reborn again in the form of a new living being (human, animal, deity, spirit, etc.). However, Buddhism introduced significant changes to the teachings of Brahmanism. If the Brahmins argued that it is fashionable to achieve “good rebirths” through different rites, sacrifices and spells for each class (“varna”), i.e. become a raja, a brahmin, a wealthy merchant, etc., then Buddhism declared all reincarnation, all kinds of being, inevitable misfortune and evil. Therefore, the highest goal of a Buddhist should be the complete cessation of rebirth and the achievement of nirvana, i.e. non-existence.

Since the personality is understood as the sum of drachmas, which are in a constant stream of reincarnation, this implies the absurdity, the meaninglessness of the chain of natural births. The Dhammapada states that "being born again and again is sad." The way out is the path of gaining nirvana, breaking through the chain of endless rebirths and achieving enlightenment, a blissful "island" located in the depths of a person's heart, where "they do not own anything" and "thrive for nothing." the essence of the Buddhist understanding of death and immortality As the Buddha said: "One day of the life of a man who has seen the immortal path is better than a hundred years of the life of a man who has not seen the higher life."

For most people, it is impossible to achieve nirvana immediately, in this rebirth. Following the path of salvation indicated by the Buddha, a living being usually has to reincarnate again and again. But this will be the path of ascent to the "higher wisdom", having reached which the being will be able to get out of the "circle of being", to complete the chain of his rebirths.

A calm and peaceful attitude towards life, death and immortality, the desire for enlightenment and liberation from evil is also characteristic of other Eastern religions and cults. In this regard, attitudes towards suicide are changing; it is considered not so sinful as meaningless, because it does not free a person from the circle of births and deaths, but only leads to birth in a lower incarnation. One must overcome such attachment to one's personality, for, in the words of the Buddha, "the nature of personality is continuous death."

Concepts of life, death and immortality, based on a non-religious and atheistic approach to the world and man. Irreligious people and atheists are often reproached for the fact that for them earthly life is everything, and death is an insurmountable tragedy, which, in essence, makes life meaningless. L.N. Tolstoy, in his famous confession, painfully tried to find in life that meaning that would not be destroyed by death, which is inevitably coming to every person.

For a believer, everything is clear here, but for an unbeliever, there is an alternative of three possible ways to solve this problem.

The first way is to accept the idea, which is confirmed by science and just common sense, that in the world it is impossible to completely destroy even an elementary particle, and conservation laws apply. Matter, energy, and, it is believed, information and organization of complex systems are conserved. Consequently, the particles of our "I" after death will enter into the eternal cycle of being and in this sense will be immortal. True, they will not have a consciousness, a soul, with which our "I" is associated. Moreover, this kind of immortality is acquired by a person throughout his life. It can be said in the form of a paradox: we are alive only because we die every second. Every day, erythrocytes in the blood, epithelial cells die, hair falls out, etc. Therefore, it is impossible in principle to fix life and death as absolute opposites, not in reality or in thoughts. These are two sides of the same coin.

The second way is the acquisition of immortality in human affairs, in the fruits of material and spiritual production, which are included in the treasury of mankind. To do this, first of all, you need confidence that humanity is immortal and is on a cosmic destiny in the spirit of the ideas of K.E. Tsiolkovsky and other cosmists. If, however, self-destruction in a thermonuclear ecological catastrophe is real for humanity, as well as due to some kind of cosmic cataclysms, then in this case the question remains open.

The third path to immortality, as a rule, is chosen by people whose scale of activity does not go beyond their home and immediate environment. Not expecting eternal bliss or eternal torment, not going into the "tricks" of the mind that connects the microcosm (i.e. man) with the macrocosm, millions of people simply float in the stream of life, feeling themselves to be its particle. Immortality for them is not in the eternal memory of blessed humanity, but in everyday affairs and worries. "Believing in God is not difficult. No, believe in man!" - Chekhov wrote this, not at all assuming that it was he, himself, who would become an example of this type of attitude to life and death.

Perhaps only those who understand how fragile life is know how precious it is. Once, when I was attending a conference in Britain, the BBC was interviewing participants. At this time, they were talking with a really dying woman.

She was in fear because in everyday life she didn't think that death was real. Now she knew it. And she wanted to tell those who survived her only one thing: take life and death seriously.

Take life seriously...

There was an article in a newspaper about a Tibetan spiritual teacher. He was asked, "Doesn't it seem unfair that for past life sins that I know nothing about, I suffer today in this life?" And the teacher replied: “Can you cancel it, young man?” - "Not".

“But you have a good chance to make your next life normal if you start behaving normally in this one.”

To this one could add: “Yes, and it is also in your power to make this life happy. After all...

At night, before you fall asleep, do this 15-minute meditation. This is death meditation. Lie down and relax. Feel like you are dying and that you cannot move your body because you are dead. Create the feeling that you are disappearing from the body.

Do this for 10-15 minutes and in a week you will feel it. As you meditate in this way, fall asleep. Don't destroy it. Let meditation turn into sleep. And if sleep overcomes you, enter into it.

In the morning, the moment you feel awake, don't...

It is strange, of course, that the notion of death as "the country from which no traveler returns" is so widespread among us and so firmly rooted in our minds. We need only remember that in all countries of the world and in all times of which we know anything at all, travelers constantly returned from that world, and it becomes very difficult for us to explain the popularity of this out of the ordinary delusion.

It is true that these startlingly misconceptions are more...

The ending.

A touch to personal freedom, awareness of it, will arise in you only if you feel the temporality of existence, the temporality of the current personality. Temporality. You must understand. This is the detail most often overlooked by those who are interested in spiritual processes.

But the fact remains. The speed of cognition depends on the level of consciousness with which we come here. Each of us carries something that can be defined as "potentiality". We all have qualities...

The concept of death began to excite a person since he realized himself as Homo Sapiens, that is, a rational person, that is, he began to bury his dead. Man is the only living being on earth who knows about death, but is not yet fully aware of its significance.

Death is realized only by those lives that have self-consciousness, and unfortunately misunderstood only by human beings.

What is there behind the veil, if there is another life or everything ends here? These...

Both are true. When I call death the greatest of all truths, I draw your attention to the fact that the phenomenon of death has a great reality in this life - in what we call "life" and understand by "life"; in terms of the human personality, which consists of what I describe as "I".

This person will die; what we call "life" will also die. Death is inevitable. Of course, you will die, and I will die, and this life will also be destroyed, turned to dust, erased. When I call death...

We are constantly asked this question about life in the afterlife: "Will we find our friends and recognize them?". Of course, yes, because they will not change any more than we do; why not recognize them then? Attachment remains, attracting people to each other, but in the astral world it becomes stronger.

It is also true that if a loved one has left the earth for a long time, he may already rise above the astral plane. In this case, we need to wait and we will reach this level to join it...

“Until we have determined our attitude to the fact of our own death, the fear of death inevitably accompanies and colors everything that we do. If, on the contrary, there is a “memory of death”, it is this memory that can reveal to us the meaning and importance of every moment of life. For example when a loved one dies, my word may be the last for him, and with this word he will go to another world.

Fundamentals of the social concept of the Russian Orthodox Church

XII. Problems of bioethics

XII.8. The practice of removing human organs suitable for transplantation, as well as the development of resuscitation, give rise to the problem of correctly ascertaining the moment of death. Previously, the criterion for its onset was considered irreversible cessation of breathing and circulation.

However, thanks to the improvement of resuscitation technologies, these vital functions can be artificially maintained for a long time. The act of death is thus transformed into a process of dying, dependent on the decision of the doctor, which imposes a qualitatively new responsibility on modern medicine.
In Holy Scripture, death is presented as the separation of the soul from the body (Ps. 145:4; Lk. 12:20). Thus, we can talk about the continuation of life as long as the activity of the organism as a whole is carried out. The prolongation of life by artificial means, in which only individual organs actually function, cannot be regarded as an obligatory and in all cases desirable task of medicine. Delaying the hour of death sometimes only prolongs the suffering of the patient, depriving a person of the right to a decent, “ shameless and peaceful » death, which Orthodox Christians ask the Lord for worship. When active therapy becomes impossible, palliative care (pain relief, care, social and psychological support) and pastoral care should take its place. All this is aimed at ensuring a truly human completion of life, warmed by mercy and love.
The Orthodox understanding of a shameful death includes preparation for death, which is seen as a spiritually significant stage in a person's life. The patient, surrounded by Christian care, in the last days of earthly existence is able to experience a grace-filled change associated with a new understanding of the path traveled and a repentant stand before eternity. And for the relatives of the dying and medical workers, patient care for the sick becomes an opportunity to serve the Lord Himself, according to the Savior: “ Because you did it to one of my least brothers, you did it to me » (Matthew 25:40). Withholding information from a patient about a grave condition under the pretext of preserving his spiritual comfort often deprives the dying person of the opportunity to consciously prepare for death and spiritual comfort gained through participation in the Sacraments of the Church, and also darkens his relationship with relatives and doctors with distrust.
Near-death physical suffering is not always effectively eliminated by the use of painkillers. Knowing this, the Church in such cases turns to God in prayer: Allow Your servant unbearable sowing diseases and bitter infirmities containing him and rest him, where the righteous Dusi"(Trebnik. Prayer for the long-suffering). The Lord alone is the Master of life and death (1 Sam. 2:6). " In His hand is the soul of all living things and the spirit of all human flesh "(Job. 12:10). Therefore, the Church, remaining faithful to the observance of the commandment of God, dont kill ”(Ex. 20:13), cannot recognize as morally acceptable the attempts to legalize the so-called euthanasia, which are now widespread in secular society, that is, the deliberate killing of hopelessly ill patients (including at their request). The patient's request to hasten death is sometimes due to a state of depression that deprives him of the opportunity to correctly assess his situation. Recognition of the legality of euthanasia would lead to a derogation and perversion of the professional duty of the doctor, who is called upon to preserve, and not to stop, life. The “right to die” can easily turn into a threat to the lives of patients for whom there is not enough money to treat.
Thus, euthanasia is a form of murder or suicide, depending on whether the patient participates in it. In the latter case, the relevant canonical rules apply to euthanasia, according to which intentional suicide, as well as assisting in its commission, are regarded as a grave sin. A deliberate suicide who “did this out of human insult or on some other occasion from cowardice” is not honored with a Christian burial and liturgical commemoration (Timothy Alex. rights 14). If a suicide unconsciously took his own life "out of his mind", that is, in a fit of mental illness, church prayer for him is allowed after the investigation of the case by the ruling bishop. At the same time, it must be remembered that the guilt of a suicide is often shared by the people around him, who turned out to be incapable of effective compassion and the manifestation of mercy. Together with the Apostle Paul, the Church calls: Carry one another's burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ "(Gal.6:2).

To the topical, unfortunately, the issue of modern bioethics is the question attitudes of the doctor, relatives and patient TO LIFE AND DEATH. Both students, and young doctors, and doctors with experience give an ambiguous answer to this question. Meanwhile, this is the question in the solution of which the essence of modern medicine is revealed. A Christian knows that for each specialist he will be a personal path to eternal life or to perdition. Therefore, it is important to first find out: What is the position of the Russian Orthodox Church on this issue?".

“Euthanasia, which until recently seemed like absolute nonsense in the context of the European Christian tradition, is becoming more and more common in the West. The number of countries where“ medical murder» including euthanasia for children.

By the end of 2017: Now the question is posed as follows: not even those who suffer from incurable diseases, but simply elderly people who feel longing and loss of the meaning of life, should have the right to euthanasia. In the event that a person, even being healthy, simply does not feel psychologically comfortable enough. And this idea is moving forward».

An active fighter against euthanasia - a well-known specialist in the field of bioethics and human rights in the United States and far beyond its borders, a lawyer, a conservative publicist, an author of a number of books and a blogger Wesley J. Smith. His most famous book is Culture of Death: An Attack on Medical Ethics in America"("Culture of Death: The Assault on Medical Ethics in America"). He is a consistent opponent of euthanasia, abortion, surrogate motherhood, cloning, the so-called "scientocracy", the radical ideology of environmental protection and the views on medical ethics that are dominant today.

In 2007, W. Smith converted to Orthodoxy and became a parishioner of the Orthodox Church in America. He often appears on American radio and television.

Here is what he writes: “In fact, behind the scientific definition of “euthanasia”, “medical service”, “suicide” hides a serious, unforgivable sin of suicide. Many people think that euthanasia and “ assisted suicide” apply exclusively to terminally ill people whose suffering can only be stopped by death. However, the very statement that “nothing more can be done” is no longer true: over the past few decades, palliative care has made a huge leap forward.

Meanwhile, euthanasia in practice is used not only in relation to dying patients.

The high-profile court case that opened the way for Dutch doctors to kill mentally ill patients was associated with the name psychiatrist Shabo, who helped commit suicide for Hilly Bosser, a middle-aged woman who lost two children (one to suicide and the other to illness) and wanted nothing more than to "be buried between them." Having accepted Hilly as a patient, Dr. Chabot did not even try to treat her. After four appointments within five weeks, instead of treatment, he simply helped her take her own life. The Dutch Supreme Court justified the actions of the psychiatrist on the grounds that suffering is suffering, whether physical or mental, so Hilly's murder is "acceptable medical practice".

In recent years Dutch professional journals began to encourage the country's psychiatrists to use euthanasia more actively. For example, an article published in the Dutch-language Dutch Journal of Psychiatry in 2011 openly recommends "assisted suicide" as a treatment for mental illness. "Death with medical assistance is acceptable today for mentally ill patients, since in this way both patients and psychiatry itself receive deliverance." Euthanasia and "assisted death" are called "deliverance" in the professional journal of psychiatry! Apparently, psychiatrists have heeded the call to get more involved in killing patients through euthanasia. In 2012, 14 patients with severe mental illness received an "easy death" at the hands of their psychiatrists in Holland. In 2013, the number of such patients tripled and reached 42 people.

Dutch doctors also commit infanticide, killing terminally ill newborn babies and newborns with pathology. According to a study published by the English weekly medical journal The Lancet, to date about 8% of the total number of dying newborns are killed by doctors. A bureaucratic protocol was even published with instructions on how to select infants for euthanasia.

If a The Netherlands "rolled down a slippery slope", then Belgium "jumped off a cliff headfirst". This country legalized euthanasia in 2002. The first case after its legalization was the murder of a patient with multiple sclerosis, which was a violation of the law. But it turned out that it's okay: the laws rather serve as guarantees, rather than limiting "medical killings." Since 2002, Belgium has come a long way in legalizing and committing more and more radical types of euthanasia.

Isn't that the logical consequence of accepting the idea that killing is a valid response to human suffering? Here are just a few examples. At least three couples of elderly spouses who did not want to live alone after the death of one of them received an "easy death" together by euthanasia. They feared widowhood and therefore chose death.

The first couple passed away in 2011. Both spouses were not seriously ill, and the "procedure" was performed with their informed consent. Another of the couples we mentioned was quite healthy, but the elderly people were simply "afraid of the future." Moreover, the euthanasia was performed by a doctor on the recommendation of their own son, who, in an interview with the British newspaper Daily Mail, stated that the death of his parents was "the best decision" as it would be "impossible" to take care of them. Almost every society perceives it as a tragedy when elderly married couples go to euthanasia. But in Belgium, it seems to be considered a legitimate solution to the problems of caring for frail old people.

In any morally sound society, "death doctors" would immediately lose their license/certificate and be tried for homicide, but clearly Belgium no longer falls into that category.

Anna J. Suicidal and anorexic, publicly accused a psychiatrist of forcing her to become his sex slave. The doctor pleaded guilty, but was not punished, and then Anna turned to another psychiatrist for euthanasia. She passed away at the age of 44. Nathan Verhelst, who underwent sex reassignment surgery, becoming a man, was extremely disappointed with the result of the operation and, out of desperation, decided to resort to euthanasia. Psychiatrists in Belgium, like those in the Netherlands, also use euthanasia to "treat" patients with suicidal tendencies caused by mental illness. Most recently, they officially approved a request for euthanasia of a physically healthy 24 year old Laura suffering from chronic depression and suicidal tendencies.

In 2014, Belgium legalized euthanasia for children from birth.. Belgian doctors, meanwhile, are doing well in harvesting organs from mentally ill patients and patients with certain disabilities who are being euthanized. Most of these patients had neuromuscular diseases or mental disorders, but " good quality organs". Ironically, one of the patients suffered from a mental illness in which he chronically self-mutilated. Death, removal and further transplantation of organs of deceased patients - and an international medical journal writes approvingly about all this!
I can't imagine anything more dangerous than telling a disabled, mentally ill, desperate person that his death will be more useful than his life. That's what happens when society accepts such a poisonous idea.

In Switzerland"legalized suicide" clinics also readily serve patients with mental disorders, depression and the disabled. Cases of "paired euthanasia" of elderly spouses who were afraid of becoming a widow and being left alone have been recorded. Last year, an elderly Italian woman came to Switzerland to be euthanized because she "became depressed because she became ugly." Moreover, the relatives found out about this only when the clinic sent them the ashes of the woman by mail.

In 2016, "thanks" to his Supreme Court Canada, most likely, will add to the sad list of states in which it is allowed to use euthanasia in relation to the mentally ill, the dying and the disabled. According to a recent decision by a Canadian court, any patient who is diagnosed with an incurable disease (including those cases of "incurable" when the patient himself refuses treatment) has the right to euthanasia. The court was proud to find that psychological pain is a justification for euthanasia.

When I tell all these stories, give various examples, I am often told: “ Well, in America it will definitely never happen.". But it has already happened! Some of the patients, or rather the victims Jack Kevorkian(famous American physician (1928–2011) and promoter of euthanasia, nicknamed " doctor Death".) suffered not from bodily ailments, but from mental disorders. One of his patients Marjorie Wanz- was hospitalized in a psychiatric department: she abused the sleeping pill "Halcyone", causing suicidal desires, and complained of pain in the pelvic area. An autopsy revealed that she had no physical illnesses. A well-known case in 1996, when Rebecca Badger, 39 turned to Dr. Kevorkian to help her end her life because she believed she had multiple sclerosis. And then the autopsy showed that Badger was physically absolutely healthy. Later it turned out that the woman was treated for alcoholism, suffered from depression and abused painkillers. And these two cases are not the only ones.

Despite the death of these and other people through his fault, Kevorkian's authority was and remains very high, and in 2010 a laudatory film about his life was released, in which the famous actor Al Pacino played the main role.

What conclusions can be drawn about euthanasia based on the facts I have given?

First, once euthanasia and "assisted suicide" become legal, they do not remain limited initiatives for long. This is not alarmism, not an alarmist assumption, but a conclusion drawn from knowledge of what happened during this time in the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland. Undoubtedly, once euthanasia gains widespread support - from the public, the medical community - then seemingly strict regulations aimed at preventing abuse become minor obstacles that can be easily circumvented or ignored.

Second, the legalization of euthanasia is changing society.. Not only is the category of people “entitled” to euthanasia expanding, but the rest of society ceases to consider such a death as something meaningful. This loss of sensitivity, so to speak, in turn affects people's perception of the moral dignity of the seriously ill, the disabled and the elderly, and perhaps even themselves.

Thirdly, euthanasia completely perverts medical ethics and undermines the role of doctors, who, from stubborn fighters for our lives, are turning into "suppliers of death."

Fourthly, if a person is not lucky enough to be in the “caste sentenced to death” (that is, he falls into the category of people to whom euthanasia is applied), then his human dignity is very easy to belittle to biological material that can be used “for the good of society» .

These are harsh words, but let's not fall into despair. We have an antidote to the culture of death - and it's called love. We all age, get sick, weaken, become disabled. Life can be very hard.
Euthanasia raises a fundamental question: Will our civilization retain the moral capacity to care and give love to those who are going through a difficult period in life, or will we abandon them and condemn them to lethal injection and poison pill?
This question is very important, and on the answer to it, I believe, our moral future depends.

Wesley Smith
Translated from English by Dmitry Lapa

The mortal sins are the following: heresy, schism, apostasy from the Christian faith, blasphemy, sorcery and sorcery, homicide and suicide, fornication, adultery, unnatural fornication sins, drunkenness, sacrilege, robbery, theft and every cruel inhuman offense. Of the deadly sins, there is no repentance for only one suicide; other mortal sins, by the great, inexpressible mercy of God to fallen mankind, are healed by repentance ."

St. Ignaty Brianchaninov

An alternative to euthanasia is LOVE in the form of a manifestation of compassion, physical assistance (including pain relief and care), mental and prayer support to the sufferer

In the icon shops of the temples of the city of Barnaul you can buy a wonderful book " THERE WILL BE NO PARTITION" Frederica de Graaf (spiritual daughter of Metropolitan Anthony of Surozh), who shares her practical experience of working with dying patients. This book has already helped many people. Here is an interview with the author with excerpts from the book and chapters from the book

Meeting with Frederika de Graaf, where very difficult questions are raised and solved:

WHAT IS A CRISIS

COMPASSION AND SUFFERING,

IS HELP POSSIBLE

ABOUT DEPRESSION,

ABOUT HOPE AND PATIENCE,

ON THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PATIENT HIMSELF,

ABOUT SUPPORT IN TRANSITION TO ANOTHER WORLD,

ABOUT OUR FEARS and many others

Frederica de Graaf: "How does the personality of a doctor affect the patient's condition?"

“There will be no separation. Life and death through the eyes of a Christian psychologist

Meeting at the Russian Orthodox University

Nyuta Federmesser: "On the commandments of the hospice and all medical institutions in general"

SIMILAR EXPERIENCE OF A DOMESTIC PSYCHOLOGIST,

HOSPITAL WORKER

Nyuta Federmesser: “How to grow old in Russia?”

BUT IN THE REAL MEDICAL PRACTICE OF "CIVILIZED COUNTRIES" THIS IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT HAPPENING!

MEDICAL BIOETHICS STATES:

We offer another translated article by a famous American scientist who opposes the expansion of euthanasia in the world

practice of domestic medicine

in Barnaul, there are the following options for providing palliative care (inpatient and at home)

The Diocesan Sisterhood named after the Holy Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth was created in the Altai Territory. It was joined by about 60 women and three men, whose average age is 45 years old, reported in the Barnaul and Altai diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The basis of the diocesan sisterhood was the four-year experience of the parish work of the Mikhailo-Arkhangelsk community of Barnaul at the regional psychiatric hospital. Under the guidance of an experienced confessor, Hieromonk Paisios, the brothers and sisters of mercy provided assistance to the patients of the hospital. Corresponding courses have been opened on the basis of the Barnaul Orthodox Theological School to train brothers and sisters of mercy.

“Candidates for the sisterhood of mercy were elected from among the permanent parishioners of the churches of Barnaul. Many of them have higher medical and pedagogical education, extensive experience in medical and social institutions, and most importantly, a sincere desire to work for free for the benefit of their neighbor and the Church,” the diocese noted.

The plans of the diocesan sisterhood include the provision of all possible assistance to people who find themselves in a difficult life situation. In the future, after Barnaul, parish sisterhoods of mercy will be created in other cities and districts of the region. They are called upon to become assistants to parish priests in organizing interaction between the Church and medical and social state and public institutions.