Maccabee brothers. Maccabees, brockhaus bible encyclopedia

Eleazar Avaran †
Simon Fassi
John Gaddis †

The beginning of the uprising

Warfare of Judas Maccabee

Israel under Judas Maccabee

At the head of the greatly increased detachment was his third son, Judas, a talented military leader. Trying to establish administrative order in Judea, Apollonius, the governor of the Seleucids in Samaria, advanced to Jerusalem to join the local Greek garrison. The raid was unsuccessful, Apollonius himself fell in battle. The attempt to suppress the uprising, undertaken by General Seron, also ended in failure, whose detachment was defeated by Judas in the Beth Horon Gorge in northwestern Judea. The same fate befell the expeditionary corps of Ptolemy, the royal governor in Coele-Syria, taken by surprise; detachment of Lysias, the royal governor of the western provinces, defeated by Judah at Bet-Zur (in the south of Judea). Failures in the fight against the rebels prompted Lysias to issue a decree abolishing the prohibitions regarding the performance of Jewish rituals, and an amnesty was promised to the rebels who laid down their arms in due time. This situation did not save, in December 164 BC. e. Judah captured almost all of Jerusalem, with the exception of the city's citadel.

Lysias, who by this time had become regent under the infant king Antiochus V, in turn laid siege to the rebels in Jerusalem, but, not wanting to waste time on a siege due to urgent internal problems in the kingdom, he concluded a truce that canceled the anti-Jewish religious policy. Lysias executed the high priest Menelaus, an ardent supporter of the Hellenization, and put the moderate Alcim in his place. Judas did not receive official recognition and did not recognize Alkim as high priest.

In 162 BC. e. Demetrius I ascended the throne of the Seleucids. To restore order in Judea, he sent an army there under the command of Bakhid, one of his best military leaders. Jerusalem was taken, but the policy of the Greeks was distinguished by the search for a compromise with religious Jews. However, the leaders of the uprising did not recognize any high priests appointed by the civil authorities. Appointed governor over Judea, Nicanor tried to liquidate the surviving centers of the uprising. In 161 BC. e. there was a decisive battle near Beth Horon, the detachment of the governor was defeated, he himself fell in battle. The rebels re-entered Jerusalem. Desiring the legitimacy of his power and the independence of Judea from the Seleucid kingdom, Judas concluded an alliance agreement with Rome on neutrality and mutual military assistance. For the next restoration of order in the rebellious province, Greek troops entered Judea under the command of Bakhida. The rebels were defeated, Judas died in battle (160 BC)

Ethnarchy of Jonathan

Acquisitions of Jonathan

After the death of Judah, his brothers Jonathan and Simon gathered the remnants of the rebels and continued the guerrilla tactics, taking control of most of the provincial settlements and rural areas of Judea. Meanwhile, the struggle for power within the Seleucid state allowed Jonathan to receive the appointment of a high priest from Demetrius I's rival Alexander Balas, who made the city of Akko his residence and sought the support of the local population to ensure the safety of his rear when attacking Antioch. Jonathan was granted the title "friend of the king" (152 BC). The post of high priest became one of the most important political positions in Judea under the Hasmoneans. For the military support of Alexander Balas, Jonathan received from him the city of Ekron with its surroundings in personal possession (147 BC)

After the death of Alexander Balas, Diadotus Tryphon, an opponent of Demetrius II, the son and heir of King Demetrius I, became regent under his young son Antiochus VI. Demetrius II confirmed the inclusion in Judea of areas in the south of Samaria, in which Jews made up the majority of the population. The king also promised the transfer of the Jerusalem citadel to Judea, but this issue was never resolved. Dissatisfied with the Greek presence in Jerusalem, Jonathan responded by supporting Tryphon, who appointed Jonathan's brother, Simon, ruler of a small coastal strip near the Mediterranean Sea; A Jewish garrison was stationed in the port of Jaffa.

Jonathan began to actively strengthen the cities of Judea, established friendly relations with Sparta, a delegation was sent to Rome to renew the alliance concluded by Judas. Concerned about the strengthening of the Hasmoneans, Tryphon treacherously lured Jonathan and his two sons to him and, leaving them hostage, began a military campaign against Judea. However, Simon's military actions forced Tryphon to leave Judea. Jonathan and sons were put to death (143 BC).

Simon's reign

Simon's conquests

In 142 BC. e. Demetrius II, interested in supporting Judea, freed her territory from paying tribute, which de facto meant recognition of her as an independent country.

After the death of Jonathan, Simon became the head of the Maccabees, who had already helped the brothers a lot before. In 141 BC. e. he collected in Jerusalem the so-called. The "Great Council", at which he was proclaimed ethnarch, high priest and commander-in-chief of Judea with the right to conclude international treaties on his own behalf. This power was to be inherited by the decision of the council to the descendants of Simon "until the time when the true prophet appears."

Simon's policy was to strengthen the cities under his rule, encourage trade and crafts, the Greek population was expelled from the conquered territories, replaced by Jewish settlers. The anti-Seleucid era was introduced. Simon conquered the harbor of Joppa, captured the strategically important Gezer, and drove the Syrian garrison out of the Jerusalem citadel (Acre).

On the throne of the Seleucid kingdom, Demetrius II was replaced by Antiochus VII Sides. The king confirmed the status of Simon as the leader of Judea, recognized Judea for the occupied territories and the right to mint its own coin. However, later Antiochus demanded that Simon return to the Seleucid state the territories taken away from it (including the Jerusalem citadel) or become a vassal. It was not possible to agree. The governor of Antiochus in the Riverside was ordered to occupy Judea, but his army was driven back by Jewish forces of twenty thousand soldiers, led by the sons of Simon.

In 136 BC. e. Simon was killed during a feast by his power-hungry son-in-law Ptolemy, the governor of Jericho, who, with the support of Antiochus VII, sought to become the ethnarch of Judea. He also killed Simon's wife and two of his sons.

Reign of John Hyrcanus I

Ptolemy's plan against the third son, John Hyrcanus I, failed and the latter took the high priesthood. The troops of Antiochus laid siege to John in Jerusalem and forced him to make peace on the condition of surrendering all weapons and tearing down the walls of Jerusalem, but leaving freedom of religion for the Jews. When Antiochus died in Parthia, John immediately began to take the cities of Syria, subjugated the Samaritans and Edomites and forcibly forced them to accept circumcision and other Jewish rites. Since that time, the tribal nobility of the Edomites (from which the future Herod the Great was) has gained influence in the Hasmonean state. The Temple of the Samaritans on Mount Gerizim was destroyed. The Jewish army was replenished with mercenaries. Hyrcanus maintained an alliance with the Romans, inside he relied on the Pharisees; but when the latter began to demand from him the addition of the high priesthood, he began to oppress them, which caused him and his family to become very bitter. Died in 107 BC. e.

Maccabean kings

Maximum territory of the Maccabean state

The eldest son of John Hyrcanus I, Aristobulus I Philellinus, the first of the Maccabees, put on the royal diadem, but reigned only a year; in this short time, he managed to imprison three brothers, starve his mother and convert most of the inhabitants of Iturea to Judaism.

Symbolic interpretations of the name "Maccabee" in Judaism

in Jewish sources macabi(Maccabee) - a nickname exclusively for Yehuda, while his family is called Hashmonaim(Hasmoneans).

According to the traditional religious Jewish interpretation, "מכבי" ("Makabi") is an abbreviation of the first letters of the Hebrew verse from the Bible:

מִ י-כָ מֹכָה בָּ אֵלִם יְ הוָה

« M and To amoha B a-elim, Y Jehovah" - Who is like You, Lord, among the gods? (var.: Who is like you, Jehovah!) (Exodus 15:11)

Rabbi Moshe Schreiber writes that the nickname is an acronym for the name of Judah's father, Mattityahu Cohen Ben Yohanan. Some scholars believe that this name is an abbreviation of the Hebrew phrase Makkab Yagu(from nakab, "mark, designate"), and carries the meaning "designated by Jehovah". Both the Jewish Encyclopedia and the New Catholic Encyclopedia note that none of the versions put forward is entirely satisfactory.

Maccabees in Russian folk customs

Maccabees, in the Christian tradition, have become a symbol of inflexibility and the desire to observe the maximum severity in keeping the commandments. In the Orthodox Church, the feast day of the Seven Holy Martyrs of Maccabees, August 1 (14), usually coincides with the beginning of the Dormition Fast, and is popularly called Honey Savior or "Wet Maccabee".

In Russian peasant culture, the name "Maccabee" is consonantly associated with poppy, which is ripening by this time. In the dishes served at the festive table, poppy seeds and honey were always present.

In areas where the customs of their ancestors are still preserved, Makans, machniks are baked on this day - lean pies, rolls, buns, gingerbread with poppy seeds and honey. The meal began with pancakes with poppy seeds. In a special dish for rubbing poppy seeds, poppy milk was prepared - a poppy-honey mass, into which pancakes were dipped. This utensil was called Makalnik in Russia, Makitra in Ukraine, Makater in Belarus.

On the day of Macavey, young people danced round dances with the song “Oh, poppy on the mountain”, with playful round dances.

From the word "Maccabee" the "seminary" surnames Makaveev, Makkaveev, Makkaveisky, Makoveev were also formed [ ] .

Hasmoneans, the collective name (along with Maccabees) of the leaders of the rebellion that began in 167 B.C. against Seleucid Syria: Mattityahu ben Johanan Maccabee, Yehuda Maccabee, Shimon Hasmoney, Jonathan Hasmoney and members of their royal house.

The Hasmoneans were descended from the priestly family of the Jehoyarevs, who lived in Modiin, which was located on the border of Judea and Samaria.
In 167 BC The Seleucid Syrian king Antiochus IV Epiphanes forbade, under threat of death, the execution of the laws of the Torah, in particular, circumcision and observance of the Sabbath. The Temple in Jerusalem was desecrated and turned into a sanctuary of Olympian Zeus.
These decrees and the religious persecutions that followed them, unprecedented in the ancient world, not only did not lead to the desired results, but also provoked armed resistance from the Jewish population.
When the royal emissaries of Antiochus IV arrived in Modiin to introduce a pagan cult there, Mattityahu and his sons refused to change their faith, and Mattityahu killed a Jew who agreed to sacrifice on a Greek altar erected by the emissaries.

After the incident, Mattityahu and his family took refuge in the mountains; soon he became the generally recognized leader of the uprising, heading the armed detachments already operating in Judea and Southern Samaria.
Under his leadership, small partisan groups prevented the Greek tsarist administration from exercising control over the provincial cities and punished Jews who collaborated with the tsarist authorities. This tactic led to the fact that the royal administration actually lost control over the country, and only Jerusalem remained under its rule.
After the death of Mattityahu in 167/166. BC. at the head of the uprising was his son Yehuda Maccabee, who had an outstanding military talent. The rebel forces led by him began to threaten Jerusalem.
In response to this situation, the Greek authorities launched a campaign to regain control of Judea. The Seleucid governor in Samaria, Apollonius, moved towards Jerusalem in order to restore contact with the Greek garrison stationed there, but the rebel forces managed to stop the advance of the enemy troops into Judea; Apollonius died in battle.

A second attempt to invade Judea, this time under the command of the Seleucid general Seron, ended in the defeat of the Seleucid forces in the Beth Horon Gorge in northwestern Judea. The successes of the rebels forced the royal governor of Celesiria, Ptolemy, to send a significant expeditionary force to Judea, which began to advance towards Jerusalem, but Yehuda inflicted a crushing defeat on the enemy with an unexpected attack.
This victory of the Jewish forces showed that the revolt in Judea seriously threatened the integrity of the Seleucid state. Lysias, the governor of the western provinces of the kingdom, expected to invade the country from the south through the territory of Edom, which was hostile to Judea.
However, Yehuda managed to prevent the invasion by defeating Lysias at Bet-Zur. The military failure prompted Lysias to seek reconciliation with the rebels: he issued a decree lifting the prohibitions on Jewish worship and observance of the laws of the Torah, and promised amnesty to the rebels who lay down their arms by the deadline.
However, Yehuda, taking advantage of his military superiority, took possession of Jerusalem (December 164 BC); only in the city citadel of Acre remained the Greek garrison.

Yehuda cleared the Temple of the paraphernalia of the pagan cult and resumed Jewish worship; to commemorate the consecration of the Temple, an eight-day feast was established - Chanukah.
In 162 BC Demetrius I came to power in the Seleucid kingdom. In an effort to consolidate the kingdom and put an end to the uprising in Judea, he sent significant forces there under the command of one of his best military leaders, Bakhida.
In 161 BC, after a series of military clashes, a decisive battle took place near Beth Horon. The Greek forces were defeated.
Soon after the defeat, the Seleucid troops again entered Judea under the leadership of Bakhida, who inflicted a heavy defeat on the rebel forces; Yehuda fell in battle (160 BC).
His brothers, Jonathan and Shimon, led the fight, consolidating the remnants of the defeated rebel forces. They resumed their old guerrilla tactics and gradually regained control over most of the rural areas and most of the provincial cities of Judea.
When the rival of Demetrius I, Alexander Balas, made Acre his residence and began to prepare for a decisive offensive against Antioch, he, in an effort to secure a quiet rear, appointed Jonathan as high priest and granted him the title of “friend of the king” (152 BC), which meant recognition of him as an ethnarch - the head of the ethnos (people) of the Jews.

The appointment of Jonathan as high priest turned this post into one of the main sources of Hasmonean political power, they held it for 150 years.
The years of Jonathan's reign were a decisive period for the formation of an independent Hasmonean state: during these years, the Hasmoneans managed to strengthen their political positions, strengthen the military power of Judea and expand its borders.
In 142 BC. Demetrius II agreed to release Judea from paying tribute, which actually meant recognition of its independence.
Thus, as a result of a 25-year struggle, after a break of more than 440 years, Judea regained its independence.

The activities of the Hasmoneans reduced the successes of the Hellenistic cultural expansion achieved under the Seleucid rule, put an end to the cultural and political hegemony of the Greek cities and Hellenized Semitic circles in the interior regions of Eretz-Israel, restored the territorial and political unity of the Jewish population of Eretz-Israel and consolidated it through the religious assimilation of non-Jewish Semitic peoples countries.

This is one of the heroic pages of the struggle of the Jewish people for freedom and independence.

Being 22 years old, Alexander the Great started a war with the Persian kingdom. Skillfully commanding the combined Greco-Macedonian troops, he conquered Asia Minor and marched victoriously to northern India. Among the conquered lands was the territory of Israel, which lay on the path of the conquest of Egypt. During the 12 years of the war, Alexander the Great created a huge empire in the conquered territories. But he did not have to rule it for a long time: a year after the end of the military campaign in the summer of 323 BC. he died.

Division of the empire

After the death of the commander, the Macedonian empire was divided between two Hellenistic states. The territory of Egypt was ruled by the Ptolemaic dynasty, and the rest went to the Seleucids. So Eretz Israel ended up in a disputed territory between the two ruling dynasties. Then the partition took place, from 301 to 200 BC. was under the rule of the Ptolemaic dynasty, and after, before the Roman domination - under the rule of the Seleucids.

"Good and Evil" Ruler

Under Persian rule until the conquest of Israel by Alexander the Great, and during his invasion of Israel, the authorities treated the Jews favorably. They were allowed to lead the usual temple service and life, subject to the laws of the Torah. There is a legend according to which Alexander the Great agreed not to tax autonomous Judea in exchange for giving newborn boys the name "Alexander" (Alex).

This situation continued under the Ptolemies, although the Hellenization of the local population gradually proceeded. Taxation was introduced. On the land where they used to live, conquering soldiers began to settle. They built cities, introduced their culture and erected statues of Zeus and other Greek gods. Some sections of the Jewish nobility liked the freedom of the Greek way of life, they readily served the new government.

Violent politics and persecution of the Jews began under King Antiochus IV of the Seleucid dynasty. Taxes were increased, high priests were shifted and appointed for a large fee. The execution of the laws of the Torah, circumcision, kashrut and observance were forbidden. The last test was the desecration of the Jerusalem temple, its looting and the establishment of the statue of Zeus. It has become impossible to avoid mass unrest among the people of Israel.

Popular outrage and uprising

Armed detachments appeared in the settlements, at first spontaneous, and then they were led by Matityahu from the family of Hasmonean priests (hashmonaim) *. Only the strength of his spirit, his willingness to sacrifice himself for the Torah, allowed him to gather disparate detachments, unite them and win the battle. The sons of Matityahu, who continued the struggle after the death of their father, especially distinguished themselves in this uprising. All of them received the nickname "Maccabees" **. They managed to re-consecrate the Temple, clean it from statues and other objects of pagan worship. In honor of this victory, it was installed.

Hanukkah today

The celebration of Hanukkah has become a fun tradition among the people. For 8 days, Jews light candles in special lamps, which are called Hanukkah. Large lamps are installed in the squares of many cities around the world. This holiday falls on the Gregorian calendar in cold December. Although I had to visit such a holiday in Australia, when it is summer there, and the holiday becomes just a massive colorful walk in the park.

Maccabean wars within man

The Hasmoneans (Hashmonaim) ruled Israel in constant wars: civil (with the Jews who adopted Greek customs) and with the Greek authorities - until the establishment of the dominance of the Roman Empire. Ancient Rome ended the existence of Israel, completely destroyed the Temple and sent the Jews into exile. Two thousand years have passed, we have forgotten that we were waging a spiritual war. The uprising of the Maccabees is a symbol of the war against the egoistic approach, it is the war of the high spirit against the cult of the body, the war of the ancient wisdom of the Torah against the cult of pagan gods, the war of a united people against isolation and alienation from each other. Many of us have become like those Jews who served the Greeks with subservience. So it was in Germany before the World War, and now in many countries of the world we support the anti-Israel policy.

Civil wars continue in every person. Each of us is faced with a choice: is he ready to collect sparks of love in his heart in order to light a spiritual lamp. We must put an end to hostility and disunity in our midst so that the light of our unity will illuminate the whole world. This is the path indicated by Kabbalah for the realization of the great mission to become a “light for the peoples” and lead everyone to prosperity.

Dora Bloom

* “Hashman” (plural “hashmonaim”) is a title given to an outstanding person, remarkable for his origin, talents, behavior.

**Makabi (plural "Makabim") is the title of those who fought for the word of God, those who wrote on their banner: Mi kamoha baelim, Adonai ("Who is like You in strength, Lord"). The abbreviation of these words is Macabi.

Losses

unknown

The beginning of the uprising

Warfare of Judas Maccabee

Ethnarchy of Jonathan

Simon's reign

In 142 BC. e. Demetrius II, interested in supporting Judea, freed her territory from paying tribute, which de facto meant recognition of her as an independent country.

Reign of John Hyrcanus I

Maccabean kings

Symbolic interpretations of the name "Maccabee" in Judaism

in Jewish sources macabi(Maccabee) - a nickname exclusively for Yehuda, while his family is called Hashmonaim(Hasmoneans).

According to the traditional religious Jewish interpretation, "מכבי" ("Makabi") is an abbreviation of the first letters of the Hebrew verse from the Bible:

מִ י-כָ מֹכָה בָּ אֵלִם יְ הוָה

« M and To amoha B a-elim, Y Jehovah" - Who is like You, Lord, among the gods? (var.: Who is like you, Jehovah!) (Exodus 15:11)

Maccabees in Russian folk customs

On the day of Macavey, young people danced round dances with the song “Oh, poppy on the mountain”, with playful round dances.

The surnames Makovey, Makkovey, Makovetsky and Makkaveev were also formed from the word "Makkavey".

In art and literature

The Maccabean Revolt had a major impact on Western culture.

In literature

The heroic struggle of the Maccabees inspired many writers to create literary works. Among the first works of this kind is the lyrical tragedy Maccabees by Antoine Oudard de La Mothe (1722). The history of the Hasmoneans gained particular popularity among the writers of the 19th century.

In 1816, the epic of I. B. Schlesinger "Ha-Hashmonaim" ("Hasmoneans") was published in Hebrew.
In 1820, Zacharias Werner's historical drama The Mother of the Maccabees was published in Vienna.
In 1822 in Paris - the tragedy of Alexander Guiro "Maccabees".
In 1854, the drama Maccabees by Otto Ludwig appeared.
In 1856 - the drama of J. Michael "Hasmoneans".
In his drama The Hasmoneans (1859), Leopold Stern gave the traditional Jewish interpretation of events.
The history of the Hasmoneans underlies the historical novel The First Maccabees (1860; in English) by A. M. Wise and Seligman Heller's cycle of verse The Last Hasmoneans (1865; in German).
In 1921, Yosef David (Penker) published a drama written in the Indian Marathi language, The Maccabees.
The Hasmonean rebellion was the subject of a novel by Antonio Castro (1930) and a drama by Izak Goller (1931).

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Notes

An excerpt characterizing the Maccabees

Seeing his face and meeting his gaze, Princess Mary suddenly slowed down the speed of her step and felt that her tears had suddenly dried up and her sobs had stopped. Catching the expression on his face and eyes, she suddenly became shy and felt guilty.
“Yes, what am I guilty of?” she asked herself. “In the fact that you live and think about the living, and I! ..” answered his cold, stern look.
There was almost hostility in the deep, not out of himself, but looking into himself look, when he slowly looked around at his sister and Natasha.
He kissed his sister hand in hand, as was their custom.
Hello Marie, how did you get there? he said in a voice as even and alien as his eyes were. If he had squealed with a desperate cry, then this cry would have horrified Princess Marya less than the sound of this voice.
“And did you bring Nikolushka?” he said, also evenly and slowly, and with an obvious effort of recollection.
- How is your health now? - said Princess Marya, herself surprised at what she said.
“That, my friend, you need to ask the doctor,” he said, and, apparently making another effort to be affectionate, he said with one mouth (it was clear that he did not think at all what he was saying): “Merci, chere amie , d "etre venue. [Thank you, dear friend, for coming.]
Princess Mary shook his hand. He winced slightly as he shook her hand. He was silent and she didn't know what to say. She understood what had happened to him in two days. In his words, in his tone, and especially in that look—a cold, almost hostile look—one could sense an estrangement from everything worldly that is terrible for a living person. He apparently had difficulty understanding now all living things; but at the same time it was felt that he did not understand the living, not because he was deprived of the power of understanding, but because he understood something else, something that the living did not understand and could not understand and that absorbed him all.
- Yes, that's how strange fate brought us together! he said, breaking the silence and pointing to Natasha. - She keeps following me.
Princess Mary listened and did not understand what he was saying. He, sensitive, gentle Prince Andrei, how could he say this in front of the one he loved and who loved him! If he had thought to live, he would not have said it in such a coldly insulting tone. If he did not know that he was going to die, how could he not feel sorry for her, how could he say this in front of her! There could only be one explanation for this, that it was all the same to him, and all the same because something else, something more important, had been revealed to him.
The conversation was cold, incoherent, and interrupted incessantly.
“Marie passed through Ryazan,” said Natasha. Prince Andrei did not notice that she called his sister Marie. And Natasha, calling her that in his presence, noticed this for the first time.
- Well, what? - he said.
- She was told that Moscow was all burned down, completely, as if ...
Natasha stopped: it was impossible to speak. He obviously made an effort to listen, and yet he couldn't.
“Yes, it burned down, they say,” he said. “It’s very pitiful,” and he began to look ahead, absentmindedly smoothing his mustache with his fingers.
“Have you met Count Nikolai, Marie?” - said Prince Andrei suddenly, apparently wanting to please them. “He wrote here that he was very fond of you,” he continued simply, calmly, apparently unable to understand all the complex meaning that his words had for living people. “If you fell in love with him too, it would be very good ... for you to get married,” he added somewhat more quickly, as if delighted with the words, which he had been looking for a long time and found at last. Princess Mary heard his words, but they had no other meaning for her, except that they proved how terribly far he was now from all living things.
- What can I say about me! she said calmly and looked at Natasha. Natasha, feeling her gaze on her, did not look at her. Again everyone was silent.
“Andre, do you want ...” Princess Mary suddenly said in a trembling voice, “do you want to see Nikolushka?” He always thought of you.
Prince Andrey smiled slightly perceptibly for the first time, but Princess Marya, who knew his face so well, realized with horror that it was not a smile of joy, not tenderness for her son, but a quiet, meek mockery of what Princess Mary used, in her opinion. , the last resort to bring him to his senses.
– Yes, I am very glad to Nikolushka. He is healthy?

When they brought Nikolushka to Prince Andrei, who looked frightened at his father, but did not cry, because no one was crying, Prince Andrei kissed him and, obviously, did not know what to say to him.
When Nikolushka was taken away, Princess Mary went up to her brother again, kissed him, and, unable to restrain herself any longer, began to cry.
He looked at her intently.
Are you talking about Nikolushka? - he said.
Princess Mary, weeping, bowed her head affirmatively.
“Marie, you know Evan…” but he suddenly fell silent.
- What are you saying?
- Nothing. There is no need to cry here,” he said, looking at her with the same cold look.

When Princess Mary began to cry, he realized that she was crying that Nikolushka would be left without a father. With great effort on himself, he tried to go back to life and transferred himself to their point of view.
“Yes, they must feel sorry for it! he thought. “How easy it is!”
“The birds of the air neither sow nor reap, but your father feeds them,” he said to himself and wanted to say the same to the princess. “But no, they will understand it in their own way, they will not understand! They cannot understand this, that all these feelings that they value are all ours, all these thoughts that seem so important to us that they are not needed. We can't understand each other." And he was silent.

The little son of Prince Andrei was seven years old. He could hardly read, he knew nothing. He experienced a lot after that day, acquiring knowledge, observation, experience; but if he had then mastered all these later acquired abilities, he could not have better, deeper understood the full significance of the scene that he saw between his father, Princess Mary and Natasha than he understood it now. He understood everything and, without crying, left the room, silently went up to Natasha, who followed him, looked shyly at her with beautiful, thoughtful eyes; his upturned ruddy upper lip quivered, he leaned his head against it and wept.
From that day on, he avoided Dessalles, avoided the countess who caressed him, and either sat alone or timidly approached Princess Mary and Natasha, whom he seemed to love even more than his aunt, and softly and shyly caressed them.
Princess Mary, leaving Prince Andrei, fully understood everything that Natasha's face told her. She no longer spoke to Natasha about the hope of saving his life. She took turns with her at his sofa and wept no more, but prayed incessantly, turning her soul to that eternal, incomprehensible, whose presence was now so palpable over the dying man.

Prince Andrei not only knew that he would die, but he felt that he was dying, that he was already half dead. He experienced a consciousness of alienation from everything earthly and a joyful and strange lightness of being. He, without haste and without anxiety, expected what lay ahead of him. That formidable, eternal, unknown and distant, the presence of which he had not ceased to feel throughout his life, was now close to him and - by that strange lightness of being that he experienced - almost understandable and felt.
Before, he was afraid of the end. He twice experienced this terrible tormenting feeling of fear of death, the end, and now he no longer understood it.
The first time he experienced this feeling was when a grenade was spinning like a top in front of him and he looked at the stubble, at the bushes, at the sky and knew that death was in front of him. When he woke up after the wound and in his soul, instantly, as if freed from the oppression of life that held him back, this flower of love blossomed, eternal, free, not dependent on this life, he no longer feared death and did not think about it.
The more he, in those hours of suffering solitude and semi-delusion that he spent after his wound, thought about the new beginning of eternal love revealed to him, the more he, without feeling it, renounced earthly life. Everything, to love everyone, to always sacrifice oneself for love, meant not to love anyone, meant not to live this earthly life. And the more he was imbued with this beginning of love, the more he renounced life and the more completely he destroyed that terrible barrier that, without love, stands between life and death. When, for the first time, he remembered that he had to die, he said to himself: well, so much the better.
But after that night in Mytishchi, when the woman he desired appeared before him half-delirious, and when he, pressing her hand to his lips, wept quiet, joyful tears, love for one woman crept imperceptibly into his heart and again tied him to life. And joyful and disturbing thoughts began to come to him. Remembering that moment at the dressing station when he saw Kuragin, he now could not return to that feeling: he was tormented by the question of whether he was alive? And he didn't dare to ask.

His illness followed its own physical order, but what Natasha called it happened to him, happened to him two days before Princess Mary's arrival. It was that last moral struggle between life and death in which death triumphed. It was an unexpected realization that he still cherished life, which seemed to him in love for Natasha, and the last, subdued fit of horror before the unknown.
It was in the evening. He was, as usual after dinner, in a slight feverish state, and his thoughts were extremely clear. Sonya was sitting at the table. He dozed off. Suddenly a feeling of happiness swept over him.
“Ah, she came in!” he thought.
Indeed, Natasha, who had just entered with inaudible steps, was sitting in Sonya's place.
Ever since she'd followed him around, he'd always had that physical sensation of her closeness. She was sitting on an armchair, sideways to him, blocking the light of the candle from him, and knitting a stocking. (She had learned to knit stockings ever since Prince Andrei had told her that no one knows how to look after the sick as well as old nannies who knit stockings, and that there is something soothing in knitting a stocking.) Her thin fingers quickly fingered from time to time spokes colliding, and the thoughtful profile of her lowered face was clearly visible to him. She made a move - the ball rolled from her knees. She shuddered, looked back at him, and shielding the candle with her hand, with a careful, flexible and precise movement, bent over, picked up the ball and sat down in her former position.
He looked at her without moving, and saw that after her movement she needed to take a deep breath, but she did not dare to do this and carefully caught her breath.
In the Trinity Lavra they talked about the past, and he told her that if he were alive, he would thank God forever for his wound, which brought him back to her; but since then they have never talked about the future.
“Could it or couldn’t it be? he thought now, looking at her and listening to the light steely sound of the spokes. “Is it really only then that fate brought me so strangely together with her in order for me to die? .. Was it possible that the truth of life was revealed to me only so that I would live in a lie?” I love her more than anything in the world. But what should I do if I love her? he said, and he suddenly groaned involuntarily, out of a habit he had acquired during his suffering.
Hearing this sound, Natasha put down her stocking, leaned closer to him, and suddenly, noticing his luminous eyes, went up to him with a light step and bent down.
- You are not asleep?
- No, I have been looking at you for a long time; I felt when you entered. Nobody like you, but gives me that soft silence... that light. I just want to cry with joy.
Natasha moved closer to him. Her face shone with ecstatic joy.
“Natasha, I love you too much. More than anything else.
- And I? She turned away for a moment. - Why too much? - she said.
- Why too much? .. Well, what do you think, how do you feel to your heart, to your heart's content, will I be alive? What do you think?
- I'm sure, I'm sure! - Natasha almost screamed, passionately taking him by both hands.
He paused.
- How nice! And taking her hand, he kissed it.
Natasha was happy and excited; and at once she remembered that this was impossible, that he needed calmness.
"But you didn't sleep," she said, suppressing her joy. “Try to sleep…please.”
He released her, shaking her hand, she went to the candle and again sat down in her previous position. Twice she looked back at him, his eyes shining towards her. She gave herself a lesson on the stocking and told herself that until then she would not look back until she finished it.
Indeed, soon after that he closed his eyes and fell asleep. He didn't sleep long and suddenly woke up in a cold sweat.
Falling asleep, he thought about the same thing that he thought about from time to time - about life and death. And more about death. He felt closer to her.
"Love? What is love? he thought. “Love interferes with death. Love is life. Everything, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love. Everything is, everything exists only because I love. Everything is connected by her. Love is God, and to die means for me, a particle of love, to return to the common and eternal source. These thoughts seemed to him comforting. But these were only thoughts. Something was lacking in them, something that was one-sidedly personal, mental - there was no evidence. And there was the same anxiety and uncertainty. He fell asleep.
He saw in a dream that he was lying in the same room in which he actually lay, but that he was not injured, but healthy. Many different persons, insignificant, indifferent, appear before Prince Andrei. He talks to them, argues about something unnecessary. They are going to go somewhere. Prince Andrei vaguely recalls that all this is insignificant and that he has other, most important concerns, but continues to speak, surprising them, with some empty, witty words. Little by little, imperceptibly, all these faces begin to disappear, and everything is replaced by one question about the closed door. He gets up and goes to the door to slide the bolt and lock it. Everything depends on whether or not he has time to lock it up. He walks, in a hurry, his legs do not move, and he knows that he will not have time to lock the door, but still painfully strains all his strength. And a tormenting fear seizes him. And this fear is the fear of death: it stands behind the door. But at the same time as he helplessly awkwardly crawls to the door, this is something terrible, on the other hand, already, pressing, breaking into it. Something not human - death - is breaking at the door, and we must keep it. He grabs the door, exerting his last efforts - it is no longer possible to lock it - at least to keep it; but his strength is weak, clumsy, and, pressed by the terrible, the door opens and closes again.
Once again, it pressed from there. The last, supernatural efforts are in vain, and both halves opened silently. It has entered, and it is death. And Prince Andrew died.
But at the same moment he died, Prince Andrei remembered that he was sleeping, and at the same moment he died, he, having made an effort on himself, woke up.
“Yes, it was death. I died - I woke up. Yes, death is an awakening! - suddenly brightened in his soul, and the veil that had hidden the unknown until now was lifted before his spiritual gaze. He felt, as it were, the release of the previously bound strength in him and that strange lightness that had not left him since then.
When he woke up in a cold sweat, stirred on the sofa, Natasha went up to him and asked what was wrong with him. He did not answer her and, not understanding her, looked at her with a strange look.
This was what happened to him two days before Princess Mary's arrival. From the same day, as the doctor said, the debilitating fever took on a bad character, but Natasha was not interested in what the doctor said: she saw these terrible, more undoubted, moral signs for her.
From that day on, for Prince Andrei, along with the awakening from sleep, the awakening from life began. And in relation to the duration of life, it did not seem to him more slowly than awakening from sleep in relation to the duration of a dream.

There was nothing terrible and sharp in this relatively slow awakening.
His last days and hours passed in an ordinary and simple way. And Princess Marya and Natasha, who did not leave him, felt it. They did not cry, they did not shudder, and lately, feeling it themselves, they no longer followed him (he was no longer there, he left them), but for the closest memory of him - for his body. The feelings of both were so strong that they were not affected by the outer, terrible side of death, and they did not find it necessary to exasperate their grief. They did not cry either with him or without him, but they never talked about him among themselves. They felt that they could not put into words what they understood.
They both saw him sinking deeper and deeper, slowly and calmly, away from them somewhere, and both knew that this was how it should be and that it was good.
He was confessed, communed; everyone came to say goodbye to him. When they brought him his son, he put his lips to him and turned away, not because he was hard or sorry (Princess Marya and Natasha understood this), but only because he believed that this was all that was required of him; but when told to bless him, he did what was required and looked around, as if asking if there was anything else to be done.
When the last shudders of the body left by the spirit took place, Princess Marya and Natasha were there.
- Is it over?! - said Princess Mary, after his body had been motionless for several minutes, growing cold, lying in front of them. Natasha came up, looked into the dead eyes and hurried to close them. She closed them and did not kiss them, but kissed what was the closest memory of him.
“Where did he go? Where is he now?..”

When the dressed, washed body lay in a coffin on the table, everyone came up to him to say goodbye, and everyone wept.
Nikolushka wept from the pained bewilderment that tore at his heart. The Countess and Sonya wept with pity for Natasha and that he was no more. The old count wept that soon, he felt, he was about to take the same terrible step.
Natasha and Princess Mary were weeping now too, but they were not weeping from their own personal grief; they wept from the reverent tenderness that seized their souls before the consciousness of the simple and solemn mystery of death that took place before them.

The totality of the causes of phenomena is inaccessible to the human mind. But the need to find causes is embedded in the human soul. And the human mind, not delving into the innumerability and complexity of the conditions of phenomena, each of which separately can be represented as a cause, grabs at the first, most understandable approximation and says: here is the cause. In historical events (where the subject of observation is the actions of people), the most primitive rapprochement is the will of the gods, then the will of those people who stand in the most prominent historical place - historical heroes. But one has only to delve into the essence of each historical event, that is, into the activity of the entire mass of people who participated in the event, in order to be convinced that the will of the historical hero not only does not direct the actions of the masses, but is itself constantly guided. It would seem that it is all the same to understand the meaning of a historical event one way or another. But between the man who says that the peoples of the West went to the East because Napoleon wanted it, and the man who says that it happened because it had to happen, there is the same difference that existed between people who said that the land stands firmly and the planets move around it, and those who said that they do not know what the earth is based on, but they know that there are laws that govern the movement of both it and other planets. There are no and cannot be causes of a historical event, except for the single cause of all causes. But there are laws that govern events, partly unknown, partly groping for us. The discovery of these laws is possible only when we completely renounce the search for causes in the will of one person, just as the discovery of the laws of the motion of the planets became possible only when people renounced the notion of the affirmation of the earth.

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The Maccabean and Hasmonean period (from 152 to 37 BC) is the period in the history of Eretz Israel, when the dominion of the Seleucid Greeks was overthrown, the Hasmonean dynasty was liberated and ruled independent Judea for almost 120 years.

It was the Hasmoneans who brought new invaders to Judea. The Romans were invited to Judea to participate in the civil war that broke out between the supporters of the two Hasmonean brothers, who did not share the throne between themselves.

This intervention resulted in the occupation of Jerusalem, and subsequently the loss of Jewish statehood for 2,000 years.

The end of the Hasmonean dynasty was tragic. One of the slaves who served at the royal palace staged a coup - and he himself became king, founded a new dynasty, destroying all the descendants of the Hasmoneans.

His name was . And he came from those very Edomites whom the Hasmoneans forcibly converted to Judaism.

Hasmonean dynasty (152 - 37 BC)

Leaders of the uprising against the Greeks, high priests, ethnarchs and kings of Judea. Capital: Jerusalem.

Name (Russian/ transliter.)	Title	Years of life (BC.)	Governing body (BC.)
Maccabees
1.	Mattathia Hasmonaeus Matityahu ha-Hashmonai	rebel leader	? - 166	170 - 166
2.	Judas Maccabee, son of Mattathias Yehuda HaMaccabi	rebel leader	? - 161	166 - 161
Ethnarchs and High Priests of Judea
1.	Jonathan, son of Mattathias Jonathan ben Matityahu ha-Hashmonai	high priest and ethnarch	? - 143	152 - 143 marked the beginning of the high priestly dynasty of the Hasmoneans
2.	Simon, son of Mattathia Shimon ben Matityahu ha-Hashmonai (Tassis)	high priest high priest and ethnarch	? - 134	143 - 140 140 - 134initiated independent rule of the Hasmonean dynasty
3.	John Hyrcanus I, son of Simon Yochanan Hyrcanus	high priest and ethnarch		134 - 104
Kings and High Priests of Judah
4.	Aristobulus I, son of John Hyrcanus I Yehuda Aristobulus	king and high priest	? - 103	104 - 103 usurped the throne, laid the foundation for the Hasmonean royal dynasty
5.	Alexander I Jannaeus, son of Hyrcanus I	king and high priest	126 - 76	103 - 76
6.	Salome Alexandra Shlomtzion	queen	139 - 67	76 - 67 wife of Aristobulus, later wife of Alexander Jannaya
7.	Aristobulus II, son of Alexander Jannaeus	king and high priest	? - 49	67 - 63last independent Hasmonean king
63 BC e. - 6 n. e. vassal of Rome.
8.	John Hyrcanus II, son of Alexander Jannaeus Yochanan Hyrcanus	tsar ethnarch and high priest	103 - 30	65 63 - 40
	Alexander II, son of Aristobulus II	co-ruler		56 - 48
40-37 BC e. tetrarchy (dividing Judea into four parts)
9.	Mattathias Antigonus II, son of Aristobulus II Matityahu Antigonus	king and high priest	? - 37?	40-37last king of the Hasmonean dynasty
10.	Aristobulus III	high priest		36

Maccabee brothers. Maccabees, brockhaus bible encyclopedia

The beginning of the uprising

Warfare of Judas Maccabee

Ethnarchy of Jonathan

Simon's reign

Reign of John Hyrcanus I

Maccabean kings

Symbolic interpretations of the name "Maccabee" in Judaism

Maccabees in Russian folk customs

Division of the empire

"Good and Evil" Ruler

Popular outrage and uprising

Hanukkah today

Maccabean wars within man

The beginning of the uprising

Warfare of Judas Maccabee

Ethnarchy of Jonathan

Simon's reign

Reign of John Hyrcanus I

Maccabean kings

Symbolic interpretations of the name "Maccabee" in Judaism

Maccabees in Russian folk customs

In art and literature

In literature

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Hasmonean dynasty (152 - 37 BC)

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