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Selma Lagerlöf
Legends about Christ

1858–1940

Old childhood hat
(About Selma Lagerlöf)

“Most people throw off their childhood like an old hat and forget it, like a telephone number that has become unnecessary. Real man only one who, having become an adult, remains a child.” These words belong to the famous German children's writer Erich Köstner.

Fortunately, there are not many people in the world who forgot or did not want to throw off the old hat of childhood in their youth. Some of them are storytellers.

A fairy tale is the first book that comes to a child. First, parents and grandparents read fairy tales to children, then children grow up and begin to read them themselves. How important it is that good fairy tales fall into the hands of adults - because they are the ones who buy and bring books into their homes.

Swedish parents are very lucky in this regard. Folk tales, legends and fairy tales have always been loved in Sweden. It is on the basis folklore works, works of oral folk art, a literary, or author's, fairy tale was created in the North.

We know the names of Selma Lagerlöf, Zacharius Topelius, Astrid Lindgren and Tove Jansson. These storytellers wrote on Swedish. They gave us books about Nils Holgersson, who went on a trip to home country together with the gander Martin (or Morten), fairy tales about Sampo the Loparenka and the tailor Tikka, who sewed Sweden to Finland, funny stories about the Kid and Carlson, about Pippi Longstocking and, of course, the magical saga about the Moomintroll family.

Perhaps the work of Selma Lagerlöf is least known in our country. She is considered primarily an “adult” writer. However, this is not at all true.

Selma Lagerlöf became famous all over the world (and in our country) primarily as children's writer his book “The Amazing Journey of Nils Holgersson with wild geese in Sweden" (1906–1907), which used fairy tales, traditions and legends from the provinces of Sweden. But did you know that this book is not just a fairy tale, but a novel, and even a real geography textbook for Swedish schools?

This textbook for a long time were not accepted in schools, teachers and strict parents believed that there was no need for their children to enjoy studying. However, the writer Lagerlöf had a different opinion, because she was brought up in a completely unusual environment. late XIX century family, where older generation There was no doubt about the need to develop imagination in children and tell them magical stories.

Selma Louise Ottilie Lagerlöf (1858–1940) was born into a friendly and happy family a retired military man and teacher, in the Morbakka estate, located in the south of Sweden, in the province of Värmland.

Life in Morbakka fabulous atmosphere old Swedish manor left an indelible mark on Selma’s soul. “I would never have become a writer,” she later admitted, “if I had not grown up in Morbakka, with her ancient customs, with its wealth of legends, with its kind, friendly people.”

Selma's childhood was very difficult, although she was surrounded loving parents, four brothers and sisters. The fact is that at the age of three she suffered infantile paralysis and lost the ability to move. Only in 1867, at a special institute in Stockholm, the girl was able to be cured, and she began to walk independently, but remained lame for the rest of her life.

However, Selma did not lose heart, she was never bored. Her father, aunt and grandmother told the girl the legends and fairy tales of her native Värmland, and the future storyteller herself loved to read, and from the age of seven she already dreamed of becoming a writer. Even at such a young age, Selma wrote a lot - poems, fairy tales, plays, but, of course, they were far from perfect.

The home education received by the writer was beyond all praise, but it had to be continued. And in 1882, Selma entered the Royal Higher Teachers' College. That same year, her father dies, and her beloved Morbakka is sold for debts. It was a double blow of fate, but the writer was able to survive, graduate from college and become a teacher at a girls' school in the city of Landskrona in southern Sweden. Now in the city there is a memorial plaque hanging on one of the small houses in memory of the fact that it was there that Lagerlöf wrote her first novel, thanks to which she became a writer, “The Saga of Göst Berling” (1891). For this book, Lagerlöf received the Idun magazine award and was able to leave school, devoting herself entirely to writing.

Already in her first novel, the writer used the tales of her native Southern Sweden, known to her from childhood, and subsequently invariably returned to the folklore of Scandinavia. Fabulous, magical motives appears in many of her works. This is a collection of short stories about the Middle Ages “Queens of Kungahella” (1899), and a two-volume collection “Trolls and People” (1915–1921), and the story “The Tale of a Country Estate”, and, of course, “The Amazing Journey of Nils Holgersson with Wild Geese Sweden" (1906–1907).

Selma Lagerlöf believed in fairy tales and legends and could skillfully retell and invent them for children. She herself became a legendary figure. So, they say that the idea of ​​“The Amazing Journey of Nils...” was suggested to the writer by... a gnome who met her one evening in her native Morbakka, which the writer was able to buy out, already famous, in 1904.

In 1909 year Lagerlöf the Nobel Prize was awarded. At the award ceremony, the writer remained true to herself and, instead of being serious and judicious, acceptance speech told... about a vision in which her father appeared to her “on the veranda in the garden, full of light and flowers, over which birds were circling.” Selma, in a vision, told her father about the prize being awarded to her and about her fear of not living up to the enormous honor bestowed upon her by the Nobel Committee. In response, the father, after a little thought, slammed his fist on the armrest of the chair and menacingly answered his daughter: “I’m not going to rack my brains over problems that cannot be solved either in heaven or on earth. I'm too happy with what they gave you Nobel Prize, and don't intend to worry about anything else."

After the award, Lagerlöf continued to write about Värmland, its legends and, of course, about family values.

She loved children very much and was a wonderful storyteller. She managed to tell even the most boring things, such as a Swedish geography course, in a fun and interesting way.

Before creating “The Amazing Journey of Nils...”, Selma Lagerlöf traveled almost the entire country and carefully studied folk customs and rituals, tales and legends of the North. The book is based on scientific information, but it is presented in the form of an adventure novel. Nils Holgersson looks like Thumb, but he is not a fairy-tale hero, but a naughty child who brings a lot of grief to his parents. Traveling with a flock of geese allows Nils not only to see and learn a lot, to get to know the animal world, but also to re-educate. From an angry and lazy tomboy he turns into a kind and sympathetic boy.

Selma Lagerlöf herself was exactly such an obedient and sweet child as a child. Her parents not only loved their children, they tried to raise them correctly, to instill in them faith in God and the desire to live according to God’s commandments.

Selma Lagerlöf was a deeply religious person, and therefore Christian legends occupy a special place in her work. These are, first of all, “Legends of Christ” (1904), “Legends” (1904) and “The Tale of a Fairy Tale and Other Tales” (1908).

The writer believed that by listening to fairy tales and stories from adults in childhood, the child develops as a personality and receives basic ideas of morality and ethics.

The image of Jesus of Nazareth is clearly or invisibly present in all the writer’s works. Love for Christ as the meaning of life is the main motive in such works as the short story “Astrid” from the “Queens of Kungahella” series, in the book “Miracles of the Antichrist” and the two-volume novel “Jerusalem”. In Jesus Christ Lagerlöf saw central image human history, its meaning and purpose.

“Legends of Christ” is one of the most important works Selma Lagerlöf, written in a simple and accessible manner for children.

This cycle is important for understanding not only Lagerlöf’s entire work, but also the personality of the writer herself, for it is in “Legends of Christ” that the image of one of Lagerlöf’s most beloved people appears - her grandmother.

Little Selma, deprived of the opportunity to run and play with her peers, was always an enthusiastic listener to her grandmother's stories. The world of her childhood, despite the physical pain, was filled with light and love. It was a world of fairy tales and magic, in which people loved each other and tried to help their neighbors in trouble, lend a helping hand to the suffering and feed the hungry.

Selma Lagerlöf believed that you need to believe in God, honor and love Him, know His teachings about how to relate to the world and people in order to live holy, achieve salvation and eternal bliss. She was convinced that any Christian should know the Divine teaching about the origin of the world and man and what will happen to us after death. If a person does not know any of this, the writer believed, then his life is deprived of all meaning. One who does not know how to live and why one should live one way and not another is like one walking in darkness.

State the doctrine Christian faith and it is very difficult to make it understandable to a child, but Selma Lagerlöf found her way - she created a cycle of legends, each of which reads as an independent fascinating story.

Lagerlöf turns in turn to the gospel events of the earthly life of Jesus Christ: this is the worship of the Magi (“Well of the Wise Men”), and the massacre of the infants (“The Child of Bethlehem”), and the flight to Egypt, and the childhood of Jesus in Nazareth, and His coming to the temple, and His suffering on the cross.

Every event in the life of Jesus Christ is presented not in a strict and dry canonical form, but in a manner that is fascinating to a child, often from a completely unexpected point of view. Thus, the sufferings of Jesus on the cross are narrated by a small bird from the legend “Redthroat”, and the reader learns about the story of the flight of the Holy Family to Egypt from... an old date palm.

Often a legend grows from just one detail or mention that is in Holy Scripture, nevertheless, the writer invariably follows the spirit of the gospel descriptions of the earthly life of Jesus.

Since not everyone now knows the story of the life and ascension of Jesus Christ, we consider it necessary to tell here briefly about His earthly days, since preliminary information will help you better understand the legends of Selma Lagerlöf.

Jesus Christ is the Son of God and God, who lived on earth as a man for 33 years. Until the age of 30, He lived in the poor Galilean city of Nazareth with His Mother Mary and Her betrothed Joseph, sharing his household labors and craft - Joseph was a carpenter. Then He appeared on the Jordan River, where he received baptism from His Forerunner (predecessor) - John. After baptism, Christ spent forty days in the desert in fasting and prayer; here He withstood temptation from the devil and from here He appeared into the world with a sermon about how we should live and what we should do to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Sermon and all earthly life Jesus Christ was accompanied by numerous miracles. Despite this, the Jews, convicted by Him of their lawless life, hated Him, and the hatred increased to the point that after many torments, Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross between two thieves. Having died on the cross and buried by secret disciples, He, by the power of His omnipotence, resurrected on the third day after His death and after His Resurrection, over the course of forty days, He repeatedly appeared to believers, revealing to them the secrets of the Kingdom of God. On the fortieth day, in the presence of His disciples, He ascended into heaven, and on the fiftieth day He sent them the Holy Spirit, enlightening and sanctifying every person. On the part of the Savior, suffering and death on the cross were a voluntary sacrifice for the sins of people.

The Lord wanted man to change, to learn to live in love and humility, and therefore the writer ends her cycle of legends about Him with the story “The Candle from the Holy Sepulcher” - about the transfiguration violent temperament Crusader knight. He is reborn, becomes a completely different person, kind and meek, ready to sacrifice for the good of another person.

Selma Lagerlöf, who never forgot the old hat of childhood, always believed that a person can change for the better, like the knight Raniero di Ranieri or like Nils Holgersson.

Try to change yourself by reading this book!

Natalia Budur

Holy night

When I was five years old, I experienced a very great sorrow. Perhaps this was the greatest grief that has ever befallen me. My grandmother died. Until her death, she spent all her time sitting in her room on the corner sofa and telling us fairy tales. I remember very little about my grandmother. I remember that she had beautiful hair, white as snow, that she walked completely hunched over and was constantly knitting a stocking. Then I also remember that, while telling some fairy tale, she would put her hand on my head and say: “And all this is true... The same truth as the fact that we are seeing each other now.”

I also remember that she knew how to sing nice songs, but she didn’t sing them often. One of these songs talked about some kind of knight and mermaid. This song had a chorus:

And across the sea, and across the sea, a cold wind blew!

I remember another prayer and psalm that she taught me. I have a faint, vague memory of all the fairy tales she told me, and only one of them I remember so clearly that I can retell it. This small legend about the Nativity of Christ.

That, it seems, is all I remember about my grandmother, except, however, the feeling of terrible grief that I experienced when she died. This is what I remember best. It’s like it was yesterday - that’s how I remember the morning when the sofa in the corner suddenly turned out to be empty and I couldn’t even imagine how this day would go. I remember this quite clearly and will never forget.

I remember how they brought us to say goodbye to our grandmother and told us to kiss her hand, and how we were afraid to kiss the deceased, and how someone said that we should thank her in last time for all the joys that she brought to us.

I remember how all our fairy tales and songs were put together with my grandmother in a long black coffin and taken away... taken away forever. It seemed to me that something had disappeared from our lives then. It's like a door to a wonderful place, magical land, where we used to roam freely, has closed forever. And then no one managed to open this door.

We children gradually learned to play with dolls and toys and live like all other children. And from the outside, one might think that we stopped grieving about our grandmother, stopped remembering her.

But even now, although forty years have passed since then, a small legend about the Nativity of Christ, which my grandmother told me more than once, clearly emerges in my memory. And I myself want to tell it, I want to include it in the collection “Legends of Christ.”

* * *

It was on Christmas Eve. Everyone except grandma and me went to church. It seemed like just the two of us were left in the whole house. One of us was too old to go and the other was too young. And we were both sad that we wouldn’t have to hear the Christmas carol and admire the glow of Christmas candles in the church. And grandmother, in order to disperse our sadness, began to tell.

- One day dark night“,” she began, “one man went to get some fire.” He walked from one house to another, knocked and said: “Help me, good people! My wife gave birth to a baby... We need to light a fire and warm her and the baby.”

But it was at night, everyone was already asleep, and no one responded to his request.

And so the man who needed to get fire approached the sheep and saw that three big dogs. At his approach, all three dogs woke up, opened their wide mouths as if about to bark, but did not make the slightest sound. The man saw how the hair on the dogs’ backs stood on end, how their white teeth sparkled, and how they all rushed at him. He felt that one dog grabbed his leg, another grabbed his arm, and the third grabbed his throat. But the jaws and teeth did not obey the dogs, and they, without causing him the slightest harm, moved aside.

Then the man headed towards the fire, but the sheep were pressed so tightly together that it was impossible to get between them. Then he walked along their backs to the fire, and not one of them woke up or even moved.

Until now, my grandmother had been talking without stopping, and I had not interrupted her, but then a question involuntarily escaped me:

- Why, grandmother, did the sheep continue to lie quietly? Are they so shy? - I ask.

– Wait a little, you’ll find out! - says the grandmother and continues her story.

“When this man almost reached the fire, the shepherd raised his head. He was a gloomy old man who was suspicious and unfriendly towards everyone. When he saw a stranger approaching him, he grabbed a long staff, pointed at the end, with which he always followed the herd, and threw it at him. The staff flew with a whistle straight towards the stranger, but, before reaching him, it deviated and, flying past, fell into the field with a ringing sound.

Grandma wanted to continue, but I interrupted her again:

“Why didn’t the staff hit this man?”

But the grandmother, not paying attention to my question, already continued the story:

“Then the stranger approached the shepherd and said to him: “Help me, my friend. Give me some light. My wife gave birth to a baby, and I need to light a fire to warm her and the baby!”

The shepherd wanted to refuse him, but when he remembered that the dogs could not bite this man, the sheep were not afraid and did not run away from him, and the staff did not touch him, he felt terrible, and he did not dare refuse the stranger.

“Take as much as you want!” - said the shepherd. But the fire had almost burned out, and not a single log, not a single twig was left - only a large pile of hot coals lay, and the stranger had neither a shovel nor a bucket in which to carry them.

Seeing this, the shepherd repeated: “Take as much as you want!” - and rejoiced at the thought that he would not be able to carry the heat with him. But the stranger bent down, scooped out the coals from under the ashes with his hand and put them in the hem of his clothes. And the coals did not burn his hands when he took them out, and did not burn through his clothes. He carried them as if they were not fire, but nuts or apples.

At this point I interrupt my grandmother for the third time:

“Why, grandma, didn’t the coals burn him?”

- You will hear, you will hear! Wait! - says the grandmother and continues to talk further.

“When the angry and gloomy shepherd saw all this, he was very surprised: “What kind of night is this that evil shepherds don’t bite, the sheep don’t get scared, the staff doesn’t kill, and the fire doesn’t burn?!”

He stopped the stranger and asked him: “What kind of night is it today? And why is everyone treating you so kindly?”

“If you don’t see it for yourself, I can’t explain it to you!” - the stranger answered and went his way to quickly make a fire and warm up his wife and baby.

The shepherd decided not to lose sight of the stranger until he found out what it all meant, and followed him until he reached his camp. And the shepherd saw that this man did not even have a hut, and his wife and baby were lying in an empty cave, where there was nothing but bare stone walls.

And then the shepherd thought that the poor innocent child might freeze in the cave, and although he did not have a tender heart, he felt sorry for the baby. Deciding to help him, the shepherd took his bag from his shoulder, took out a soft white sheepskin and gave it to the stranger so that he could place the baby on it.

And at that very moment, when it turned out that he, a hard-hearted, rude man, could be merciful, his eyes opened, and he saw what he could not see before, and heard what he could not hear before.

He saw small angels with silver wings standing in a tight ring around him and each of them holding a harp, and heard them singing loudly that on that night a Savior was born who would redeem the world from its sins.

And then the shepherd understood why no one could harm the stranger that night.

Looking around, the shepherd saw that angels were everywhere: they were sitting in a cave, descending from a mountain, flying across the sky; They walked along the road in huge crowds, stopped at the entrance to the cave and looked at the baby.

And joy, rejoicing, singing and gentle music reigned everywhere... And the shepherd saw and heard all this dark night, in which I had not noticed anything before. And he felt great joy because his eyes were opened, and, falling on his knees, he thanked the Lord.

At these words, the grandmother sighed and said:

- If we knew how to look, then we could see everything that the shepherd saw, because on Christmas night angels always fly across the heavens...

And, putting her hand on my head, my grandmother said:

– Remember this... This is as true as the fact that we see each other. The point is not in candles and lamps, not in the moon and the sun, but in having eyes that could see the greatness of the Lord!..

Legends of Christ Lagerlöf Selma

old hat childhood (Oh Selma Lagerlöf)

Old childhood hat

(About Selma Lagerlöf)

“Most people throw off their childhood like an old hat and forget it, like a telephone number that has become unnecessary. A real person is only one who, having become an adult, remains a child.” These words belong to the famous German children's writer Erich Köstner.

Fortunately, there are not many people in the world who forgot or did not want to throw off the old hat of childhood in their youth. Some of them are storytellers.

A fairy tale is the first book that comes to a child. First, parents and grandparents read fairy tales to children, then children grow up and begin to read them themselves. How important it is that good fairy tales fall into the hands of adults - because they are the ones who buy and bring books into their homes.

Swedish parents are very lucky in this regard. Folk tales, legends and fairy tales have always been loved in Sweden. It was on the basis of folklore works, works of oral folk art, that a literary, or author's, fairy tale was created in the North.

We know the names of Selma Lagerlöf, Zacharius Topelius, Astrid Lindgren and Tove Jansson. These storytellers wrote in Swedish. They gave us books about Nils Holgersson, who went on a trip to his native country with the gander Martin (or Morten), tales about Sampo-Loparenok and the tailor Tikka, who sewed Sweden to Finland, funny stories about the Kid and Carlson, about Pippi Longstocking and , of course, the magical saga about the Moomin family.

Perhaps the work of Selma Lagerlöf is least known in our country. She is considered primarily an “adult” writer. However, this is not at all true.

Selma Lagerlöf became famous throughout the world (and in our country) primarily as a children's writer with her book “The Amazing Journey of Nils Holgersson with Wild Geese in Sweden” (1906–1907), which used fairy tales, traditions and legends from the provinces of Sweden. But did you know that this book is not just a fairy tale, but a novel, and even a real geography textbook for Swedish schools?

This textbook was not accepted in schools for a long time; teachers and strict parents believed that there was no need for their children to enjoy studying. However, the writer Lagerlöf had a different opinion, because she was brought up in a family that was completely unusual for the end of the 19th century, where the older generation had no doubt about the need to develop imagination in children and tell them magical stories.

Selma Louisa Ottilie Lagerlöf (1858–1940) was born into a friendly and happy family of a retired military man and a teacher, on the Morbakka estate, located in southern Sweden, in the province of Värmland.

Life in Morbakka and the fabulous atmosphere of the old Swedish manor left an indelible mark on Selma’s soul. “I would never have become a writer,” she later admitted, “if I had not grown up in Morbakka, with its ancient customs, with its wealth of legends, with its kind, friendly people.”

Selma's childhood was very difficult, although she was surrounded by loving parents and four brothers and sisters. The fact is that at the age of three she suffered infantile paralysis and lost the ability to move. Only in 1867, at a special institute in Stockholm, the girl was able to be cured, and she began to walk independently, but remained lame for the rest of her life.

However, Selma did not lose heart, she was never bored. Her father, aunt and grandmother told the girl the legends and fairy tales of her native Värmland, and the future storyteller herself loved to read, and from the age of seven she already dreamed of becoming a writer. Even at such a young age, Selma wrote a lot - poems, fairy tales, plays, but, of course, they were far from perfect.

The home education received by the writer was beyond all praise, but it had to be continued. And in 1882, Selma entered the Royal Higher Teachers' College. That same year, her father dies, and her beloved Morbakka is sold for debts. It was a double blow of fate, but the writer was able to survive, graduate from college and become a teacher at a girls' school in the city of Landskrona in southern Sweden. Now in the city there is a memorial plaque hanging on one of the small houses in memory of the fact that it was there that Lagerlöf wrote her first novel, thanks to which she became a writer, “The Saga of Göst Berling” (1891). For this book, Lagerlöf received the Idun magazine award and was able to leave school, devoting herself entirely to writing.

Already in her first novel, the writer used the tales of her native Southern Sweden, known to her from childhood, and subsequently invariably returned to the folklore of Scandinavia. There are fairy-tale and magical motifs in many of her works. This is a collection of short stories about the Middle Ages “Queens of Kungahella” (1899), and a two-volume collection “Trolls and People” (1915–1921), and the story “The Tale of a Country Estate”, and, of course, “The Amazing Journey of Nils Holgersson with Wild Geese Sweden" (1906–1907).

Selma Lagerlöf believed in fairy tales and legends and could skillfully retell and invent them for children. She herself became a legendary figure. So, they say that the idea of ​​“The Amazing Journey of Nils...” was suggested to the writer by... a gnome who met her one evening in her native Morbakka, which the writer was able to buy out, already famous, in 1904.

In 1909, Lagerlöf was awarded the Nobel Prize. At the award ceremony, the writer remained true to herself and, instead of a serious and judicious speech of gratitude, spoke... about a vision in which her father appeared to her “on the veranda in a garden full of light and flowers, over which birds were circling.” Selma, in a vision, told her father about the prize being awarded to her and about her fear of not living up to the enormous honor bestowed upon her by the Nobel Committee. In response, the father, after a little thought, slammed his fist on the armrest of the chair and menacingly answered his daughter: “I’m not going to rack my brains over problems that cannot be solved either in heaven or on earth. I am too happy that you have been given the Nobel Prize to worry about anything else.”

After the award, Lagerlöf continued to write about Värmland, its legends and, of course, about family values.

She loved children very much and was a wonderful storyteller. She managed to tell even the most boring things, such as a Swedish geography course, in a fun and interesting way.

Before creating “The Amazing Journey of Nils...”, Selma Lagerlöf traveled almost the entire country, carefully studying the folk customs and rituals, fairy tales and legends of the North. The book is based on scientific information, but it is presented in the form of an adventure novel. Nils Holgersson looks like Thumb, but he is not a fairy-tale hero, but a naughty child who brings a lot of grief to his parents. Traveling with a flock of geese allows Nils not only to see and learn a lot, to get to know the animal world, but also to re-educate. From an angry and lazy tomboy he turns into a kind and sympathetic boy.

Selma Lagerlöf herself was exactly such an obedient and sweet child as a child. Her parents not only loved their children, they tried to raise them correctly, to instill in them faith in God and the desire to live according to God’s commandments.

Selma Lagerlöf was a deeply religious person, and therefore Christian legends occupy a special place in her work. These are, first of all, “Legends of Christ” (1904), “Legends” (1904) and “The Tale of a Fairy Tale and Other Tales” (1908).

The writer believed that by listening to fairy tales and stories from adults in childhood, the child develops as a personality and receives basic ideas of morality and ethics.

The image of Jesus of Nazareth is clearly or invisibly present in all the writer’s works. Love for Christ as the meaning of life is the main motive in such works as the short story “Astrid” from the “Queens of Kungahella” series, in the book “Miracles of the Antichrist” and the two-volume novel “Jerusalem”. In Jesus Christ, Lagerlöf saw the central image of human history, its meaning and purpose.

“Legends of Christ” is one of the most important works of Selma Lagerlöf, written in a simple and accessible manner for children.

This cycle is important for understanding not only Lagerlöf’s entire work, but also the personality of the writer herself, for it is in “Legends of Christ” that the image of one of Lagerlöf’s most beloved people appears - her grandmother.

Little Selma, deprived of the opportunity to run and play with her peers, was always an enthusiastic listener to her grandmother's stories. The world of her childhood, despite the physical pain, was filled with light and love. It was a world of fairy tales and magic, in which people loved each other and tried to help their neighbors in trouble, lend a helping hand to the suffering and feed the hungry.

Selma Lagerlöf believed that you need to believe in God, honor and love Him, know His teachings about how to relate to the world and people in order to live holy, achieve salvation and eternal bliss. She was convinced that any Christian should know the Divine teaching about the origin of the world and man and what will happen to us after death. If a person does not know any of this, the writer believed, then his life is deprived of all meaning. One who does not know how to live and why one should live one way and not another is like one walking in darkness.

It is very difficult to present the teachings of the Christian faith and make it understandable to a child, but Selma Lagerlöf found her way - she created a series of legends, each of which reads as an independent fascinating story.

Lagerlöf turns in turn to the gospel events of the earthly life of Jesus Christ: this is the worship of the Magi (“Well of the Wise Men”), and the massacre of the infants (“The Child of Bethlehem”), and the flight to Egypt, and the childhood of Jesus in Nazareth, and His coming to the temple, and His suffering on the cross.

Every event in the life of Jesus Christ is presented not in a strict and dry canonical form, but in a manner that is fascinating to a child, often from a completely unexpected point of view. Thus, the sufferings of Jesus on the cross are narrated by a small bird from the legend “Redthroat”, and the reader learns about the story of the flight of the Holy Family to Egypt from... an old date palm.

Often a legend grows from just one detail or mention that is in the Holy Scriptures, however, the writer invariably follows the spirit of the gospel descriptions of the earthly life of Jesus.

Since not everyone now knows the story of the life and ascension of Jesus Christ, we consider it necessary to tell here briefly about His earthly days, since preliminary information will help you better understand the legends of Selma Lagerlöf.

Jesus Christ is the Son of God and God, who lived on earth as a man for 33 years. Until the age of 30, He lived in the poor Galilean city of Nazareth with His Mother Mary and Her betrothed Joseph, sharing his household labors and craft - Joseph was a carpenter. Then He appeared on the Jordan River, where he received baptism from His Forerunner (predecessor) - John. After baptism, Christ spent forty days in the desert in fasting and prayer; here He withstood temptation from the devil and from here He appeared into the world with a sermon about how we should live and what we should do to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The preaching and entire earthly life of Jesus Christ was accompanied by numerous miracles. Despite this, the Jews, convicted by Him of their lawless life, hated Him, and the hatred increased to the point that after many torments, Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross between two thieves. Having died on the cross and buried by secret disciples, He, by the power of His omnipotence, resurrected on the third day after His death and after His Resurrection, over the course of forty days, He repeatedly appeared to believers, revealing to them the secrets of the Kingdom of God. On the fortieth day, in the presence of His disciples, He ascended into heaven, and on the fiftieth day He sent them the Holy Spirit, enlightening and sanctifying every person. On the part of the Savior, suffering and death on the cross were a voluntary sacrifice for the sins of people.

The Lord wanted man to change, to learn to live in love and humility, and therefore the writer ends her cycle of legends about Him with the story “The Candle from the Holy Sepulcher” - about the transformation of a violent crusader knight. He is reborn, becomes a completely different person, kind and meek, ready to sacrifice for the good of another person.

Selma Lagerlöf, who never forgot the old hat of childhood, always believed that a person can change for the better, like the knight Raniero di Ranieri or like Nils Holgersson.

Try to change yourself by reading this book!

Natalia Budur

An old couple and their goat Once upon a time there lived an old man and an old woman. They kept a goat, which they loved very much. Their house was built of clay bricks, and its door was of reeds. In this house they lived with a goat. One day, a lady who lived nearby in the desert was thirsty for blood and said about

Old and new morality All this is very important questions, and the way the Pharisees answered them was strikingly different from what Jesus Christ said. And today there are heated discussions on this topic, especially when it comes to the so-called “old morality” and

OLD HERMENEUTICS is a conventional name for hermeneutics, formed in *scholastic cf. - century. Biblical studies based on Jewish and patristic traditions. rules for interpreting the Bible. The most important feature of S.g. is the recognition of the *polysemanticism of Scripture. S.g. distinguishes in the Bible 1)