Bulgakov in The Master and Margarita does not describe all of Yeshua's disciples. He deviates from tradition and depicts only one thing on the pages of the novel - Levi Matvey. However, Yeshua himself does not consider Levi Matthew his disciple and even expresses doubts about the correctness of his notes. Interesting in this context is the conclusion of B. M. Gasparov that the “disciple-evangelist”, just like Judas, becomes a traitor to Yeshua, “he also ... betrays his teacher by being unable to tell truthfully about him.” Bulgakov and Judas is not a disciple of Yeshua at all, he is little known in the city - almost a shadow, an inconspicuous person. After all, even Pilate - a man endowed with unlimited power and having access to any information - calls the "dirty traitor" old, at the moment when Judas is young and handsome.
In Andreev's work, the relationship between the Traitor and other disciples of Christ is shown ambiguously. Just as in the gospel text, Andreev has twelve of them. But in the story "Judas Iscariot" itself, Andreev introduces the reader to only five students, whose images play a certain, rather important role in the work. The apostles in Andreev's text are completely different: each has his own character, his own vision of the world, his own special attitude towards Jesus. But all of them are united by one thing - love for their teacher and ... betrayal.
To reveal the essence of betrayal, the author, along with Judas, introduces such heroes as Peter, John, Matthew and Thomas, and each of them is a kind of image-symbol. Each of the students emphasizes the most striking feature: Peter the stone embodies physical strength, he is somewhat rude and “uncouth”, John is gentle and beautiful, Thomas is straightforward and limited. Judas competes with each of them in strength, devotion and love for Jesus. But the main quality of Judas, which is repeatedly emphasized in the work, is his mind, cunning and resourceful, capable of deceiving even himself. Everyone thinks Judas is smart.
The author repeatedly emphasizes the animal principle in Judas. Peter compares Judas to an octopus: “I once saw an octopus in Tyre, caught by the fishermen there, and I was so frightened that I wanted to run. And they laughed at me, a fisherman from Tiberias, and gave it to me to eat, and I asked for more, because it was very tasty ... Judas is like an octopus - only one half. The author draws a parallel between the Traitor and the mollusk, his skill, mobility. In addition, octopuses have a strange habit - to eat themselves, they also have such a "means" for salvation from enemies, like tearing off their own limbs. The author, calling Judas a mollusk, symbolically sets the theme of suicide, betrayal of oneself.
The disciples of Jesus compare Judas with a scorpion: “He quarrels us all the time,” they said, spitting, “he thinks something of his own and climbs into the house quietly, like a scorpion, and leaves it with noise” “There is a legend that this animal, being surrounded by a ring of burning coals, inflicts a fatal blow to himself with a sting in order to avoid a painful death. Comparison with a scorpion once again emphasizes the propensity of the hero to self-destruction.
However, Judas also calls the rest of the disciples cowardly dogs that run as soon as a person bends over a stone.
Judas and the rest of the disciples are united by another common feature - they are all characterized to varying degrees by the presence of a dark, inspirited beginning, in contrast to Jesus. But only Judas does not hide his duality, his so-called "ugliness", his dark sides. This makes him stand out from other students. Peter, John do not have an opinion. They do what they are told. Everyone except Judas cares what they think of them.
However, Andreev also has the opposite: if a person betrays another, he thereby betrays himself. Judas, having committed betrayal, accuses the rest of the disciples of betrayal. He, the only one of the apostles, cannot come to terms with the death of his beloved teacher. Jude reproaches the disciples that they can eat and sleep, they can continue their former life without Him, without their Jesus.
Surprisingly, Judas himself betrayed so that everyone would know that Jesus was innocent. Why is he so persistently trying to slander his beloved Teacher? Judas does this consciously: perhaps, in the depths of his soul, he hopes for a miracle - the salvation of Jesus - he wants to be deceived. Or perhaps he betrays in order to open the eyes of the rest of the disciples to himself and force them to change - after all, he persistently offers them the path to the salvation of Jesus.
The result was not what Iscariot wanted to see it. Jesus dies in public. The disciples, having renounced the teacher, become apostles and carry the light of the new teaching all over the world. Judas the traitor betrays and deceives, ultimately, himself.
Thus, the relationship between Judas and other disciples of Christ not only reveals many of the qualities of his personality, but also largely explains the reasons for his betrayal.
He [Thomas] carefully looked at Christ and Judas,
sitting nearby, and this strange closeness of the divine
beauty and monstrous ugliness, a man with a meek look
and an octopus with dull, greedy eyes oppressed his mind,
like an unsolvable riddle.
L. Andreev. Judas Iscariot
Judas, perhaps the most mysterious (from a psychological point of view) gospel character, was especially attractive to Leonid Andreev with his interest in the subconscious, in the contradictions in the human soul. In this area, L. Andreev, I recall the words of M. Gorky, was "terribly quick-witted."
In the center of L. Andreev's story is the image of Judas Iscariot and his betrayal - "experiment". According to the Gospel, Judas was driven by a mercantile motive - he betrayed the Teacher for 30 pieces of silver 1 (the price is symbolic - this is the price of a slave at that time). In the Gospel, Judas is greedy, he reproaches Mary when she buys precious ointment for Jesus - Judas was the keeper of the public treasury. Andreevsky Judas is not peculiar to the love of money. From L. Andreev, Judas himself buys expensive wine for Jesus, which Peter drinks almost all of.
The reason, the motive for the terrible betrayal, according to the Gospel, was Satan, who entered Judas: "Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, .. and he went and spoke with the high priest" (Gospel of Mark, chapter 14: 1-2). The gospel explanation seems, from a psychological point of view, mysterious: since all the roles were already distributed (both the victim and the traitor), then why did the heavy cross fall on Judas to be a traitor? Why did he then hang himself: could not bear the severity of the crime? Did he repent of his crime? The "crime-punishment" scheme here is so generalized, abstracted, reduced to a general model that, in principle, allows for various psychological concretizations.
In contrast to Yu. Nagibin's story "Beloved Disciple" published in the early 1990s, where the author's position is expressed definitely (in particular, already in the title itself), L. Andreev's story is contradictory, ambivalent, its "answers" are encrypted and are paradoxical, which determines the contradictory, often polar nature of reviews of the story. The author himself spoke about this as follows: "As always, I only pose questions, but I do not give answers to them ..."
The story is symbolic and parable. Parables are the beginnings: "And then Judas came...", union repetitions And that sound epic: "And there was evening, and there was evening silence, and long shadows lay on the ground - the first sharp arrows of the coming night ..."
At the beginning of the story, a negative characterization of Judas is given, it is stated, in particular, that "He had no children, and this once again said that Judas is a bad man and God does not want offspring from Judas", "He himself has been wandering senselessly among the people for many years, .. and everywhere he lies, grimaces, vigilantly looks out for what with his thief's eye" etc. From a certain point of view, these characteristics are fair; they are often cited as evidence of the author's negative attitude towards the central character of his story. And yet it must be remembered that these rumors do not belong to the author, but to some "knowing" Judas, as evidenced by the author's references to the point of view of others: "Jesus Christ many times warned that Judas of Carioth is a man of very bad reputation and must be guarded against…"; " Told further, that ... [highlighted in both cases by me. - V.K.]". This initial knowledge about Judas is further supplemented and corrected by the author.
Intentionally at the beginning of the story, a repulsive portrait of the ugly red-haired Judas is also given:
And then Judas came ... He was thin, of good height, almost the same as Jesus ... and strong enough in strength, he was apparently, but for some reason he pretended to be frail and sickly ... Short red hair did not hide a strange and unusual shape his skull: as if cut from the back of the head with a double blow of the sword and recomposed, it was clearly divided into four parts and inspired distrust, even anxiety: behind such a skull there can be no silence and consent, behind such a skull one can always hear the noise of bloody and merciless battles. The face of Judas also doubled: one side of it, with a black, keenly looking out eye, was lively, mobile, willingly gathering into numerous crooked wrinkles. The other had no wrinkles, and it was deathly smooth, flat and frozen; and although it was equal in size to the first, it seemed huge from the wide-open blind eye ...
What was the motive for the villainous act of Judas? S.S. Averintsev in the encyclopedia "Myths of the peoples of the world" calls the main motive "the painful love for Christ and the desire to provoke the disciples and the people to decisive action" 2 .
It follows from the text of the story that one of the motives is not psychological, but philosophical and ethical in nature, and it is associated with the satanic nature of Judas ( "Satan entered into Judas..."). It's about who knows people better: Jesus or Judas? Jesus, with his idea of love and faith in a good beginning in a person, or Judas, who claims that in the soul of every person - "every untruth, abomination and lie" even in the shower good man if you scrub it well? Who will win this tacit dispute between Good and Evil, i.e. what will be the outcome of the "experiment" set up by Judas? It is important to emphasize that Judas does not want to prove, but to verify his truth, which was rightly noted by L.A. Kolobaeva: “Judas does not need to prove that the disciples of Christ, like people in general, are bad - to prove to Christ, to all people, but to find out for himself what they really are, to find out their real value. Judas must decide the question - is he deceived or right? This is the edge of the problematics of the story, which is of a philosophical and ethical nature: the story asks the question about the basic values of human existence" 3 .
To this end, Judas decides on a terrible "experiment". But his burden is painful for him, and he would be glad to make a mistake, he hopes that "and others" will defend Christ: "Betraying Jesus with one hand, Judas diligently sought to thwart his own plans with the other".
The duality of Judas is connected with his satanic origin: Judas claims that his father is a "goat" 4 ie. devil. If Satan entered Judas, then the satanic principle should have manifested itself not only at the level of the act - the betrayal of Judas, but also at the level of philosophy, ethics, and also appearance. Judas, with his characteristic (and explained by the author of the story) insight, as if from the outside, sees and evaluates people. The author deliberately gives Judas "serpentine" features: "Judas crawled away", "And, walking, as everyone walks, but feeling as if he was dragging along the ground". In this case, we can talk about the symbolic nature of the story - about the duel of Christ and Satan. This conflict is essentially evangelical, it expresses the opposition between Good and Evil. Evil (including the recognition of ontological evil in the human soul) wins in the story. It could be argued that L. Andreev comes to the idea of the global impotence of man, if (paradox!) It were not for the ability of Judas to repent and self-sacrifice.
L. Andreev does not justify the act of Judas, he tries to unravel the riddle: what guided Judas in his act 5 ? The writer fills gospel story betrayal of psychological content, and among the motives are the following:
- rebellion, rebelliousness of Judas, an irrepressible desire to solve the riddle of a person (to find out the price of "others"), which is generally characteristic of the heroes of L. Andreev. These qualities of Andreev's heroes are to a large extent a projection of the soul of the writer himself - a maximalist and a rebel, a paradoxicalist and a heretic;
- loneliness, abandonment Jude 6. Judas was despised, and Jesus was indifferent to him. Only on a short time Judas received recognition - when he defeated the strong Peter in throwing stones, but then again it turned out that everyone went ahead, and Judas again trailed behind, forgotten and despised by everyone. By the way, the language of L. Andreev is extremely picturesque, plastic, expressive, in particular, in the episode where the apostles throw stones into the abyss:
Peter, who did not like quiet pleasures, and with him Philip, were engaged in tearing large stones from the mountain and letting them down, competing in strength ... Straining, they tore off the old, overgrown stone from the ground, lifted it high with both hands and let it go down the slope. Heavy, it struck short and dull and thought for a moment; then hesitantly made the first leap - and with each touch to the ground, taking speed and strength from it, he became light, ferocious, all-destroying. He no longer jumped, but he flew with bared teeth, and the air, whistling, passed his dull, round carcass. Here is the edge, - with a smooth last movement, the stone soared upwards and calmly, in heavy thought, roundly flew down to the bottom of an invisible abyss.
The picture is so expressive that we follow the jumps with tension and, finally, the flight of the stone, accompanying each stage of its movement with our eyes. The Messiah completely stopped paying attention to Judas: "for everyone he (Jesus) was a tender and beautiful flower, but for Judas he left only sharp thorns - as if Judas had no heart". This indifference of Jesus, as well as disputes about who is closer to Jesus, who loves him more, became, as a psychologist would say, a provoking factor for Judas' decision;
- resentment, envy, immeasurable pride, the desire to prove that it is he who loves Jesus the most is also characteristic of Andreev's Judas. To the question put to Judas, who will be in the Kingdom Heavenly first near Jesus - Peter or John, follows the answer that struck everyone: the first will be Judas! Everyone says they love Jesus, but how they will behave in the hour of trials is what Judas wants to test. It may turn out that "others" love Jesus only in words, and then Judas will triumph. The act of a traitor is the desire to test the love of others for the Teacher and prove their love.
The plot-compositional role of Judas is ambiguous. He is destined by the author to be a catalyst for events in order to highlight and give a moral assessment to the actions of "others". But the plot is also driven by Judas' personal desire to be understood by the Teacher, to induce him to pay attention to him, to appreciate his love. Judas creates an existential situation - a situation of choice, which should become a moment of psychological, moral revelation for all participants in this great test.
At the same time, the personality of Judas becomes significant in the story, and its significance is evidenced by the correct indicator - the speech of the central character, in contrast to the speech of "and other" characters. R. S. Spivak discovers the priority in the story creativity and distinguishes in it (and on the basis of speech too) two types of consciousness: inert, uncreative("faithful" students) and creative, liberated from the pressure of dogma (Judas Iscariot): "The inertia and futility of the first consciousness - based on blind faith and authority, which Judas does not get tired of mocking - is embodied in the unambiguous, poor, at the everyday level, the speech of the" faithful "disciples. The speech of Judas, whose consciousness is focused on creativity free personality, replete with paradoxes, allusions, symbols, poetic allegories" 7. Replete with metaphors, poeticisms, for example, Jude's appeal to Jesus' beloved disciple John:
Why are you silent, John? Your words are like golden apples in transparent silver vessels, give one of them to Judas, who is so poor.
This gave R. S. Spivak reason to assert that creative personality in Andreev's concept of man and in Andreev's worldview, a central place belongs to.
L. Andreev is a romantic writer (with a personalistic, that is, a deeply personal type of consciousness, which was projected onto his works and, above all, determined their character, range of topics and features of the worldview) in the sense that he did not accept evil in the world around him, the most important justification his existence on earth was creativity 7 . Hence the high value of a creative person in his the art world. In L. Andreev's story, Judas is the creator of a new reality, a new, Christian era, no matter how blasphemous it sounds for a believer.
Andreevsky's Judas takes on grandiose proportions, he becomes equal with Christ, is regarded as a participant in the re-creation of the world, its transformation. If at the beginning of the story Judas "dragged along the ground like a punished dog", "Judas crawled away, hesitated hesitantly and disappeared", then after what he did:
... all the time belongs to him, and he walks slowly, now the whole earth belongs to him, and he steps firmly, like a sovereign, like a king, like one who is infinitely and joyfully alone in this world. He notices the mother of Jesus and says to her sternly:
Are you crying, mother? Weep, weep, and for a long time all the mothers of the earth will weep with you. Until then, until we come with Jesus and destroy death.
Judas understands the situation as a choice: either he will change the world with Jesus, or:
Then there will be no Judas of Carioth. Then there will be no Jesus. Then it will be... Thomas, stupid Thomas! Have you ever wished you could take the earth and lift it up?
Thus, it is about the transformation of the world, no less. Everything in the world yearns for this transformation, nature yearns for it (see the expressive landscape picture in the story before the start of the tragic events):
And ahead of him [Judas. - V.K.], and from behind, and from all sides, the walls of the ravine rose, cutting off the edges of the blue sky with a sharp line; and everywhere, digging into the ground, towered huge gray stones- as if a stone rain had once passed here and its heavy drops froze in an endless thought. And this wild-desert ravine looked like an overturned, chopped off skull, and every stone in it was like a frozen thought, and there were many of them, and they all thought - hard, boundlessly, stubbornly.
Everything in the world longs for transformation. And it happened - the course of time changed.
What are tears? Judas asks and pushes furiously still time, beats him with his fist, curses him like a slave. It is alien and therefore so naughty. Oh, if only it belonged to Judas - but it belongs to all those weeping, laughing, chatting, as in the bazaar; it belongs to the sun; it belongs to the cross and the heart of Jesus dying so slowly.
And one more important feature of Andreev's hero (Andreev's concept of man) is emphasized by the researchers: "This is a potential rebel, a rebel who challenges earthly and eternal existence. These rebels are very different in their vision of the world, and their rebellions have different colors, but the essence of their existence is one : they die, but do not surrender" 8 .
From artistic features novel by L. Andreev "Judas Iscariot" attracts the attention of literary critics system of paradoxes, contradictions, innuendo, which has the most important pictorial function. The system of paradoxes helps to understand the complexity and ambiguity of the gospel episode, constantly keeping the reader in suspense. It reflects the emotional storm that swept over the soul of the betrayer of Christ, and then repentant and hanged Judas.
The paradoxical duality of the appearance and the inner essence of Judas is constantly emphasized by the author. The hero of the story is deceitful, envious, ugly, but at the same time the most intelligent of all the students, and smart with a superhuman, satanic mind: he knows people too deeply and understands the motives of their actions, while for others he remained incomprehensible. Judas betrays Jesus, but he loves him like a son, the execution of the Teacher for him is "horror and dreams." Paradoxical duality gives multidimensionality, ambiguity, psychological persuasiveness of Andreev's story.
In Judas, there is undoubtedly something of the devil, but at the same time, his personal (not from the devil, but from a man) amazing sincerity, the strength of feeling for the Teacher at the hour of his tragic trial, the significance of his personality cannot but affect the reader. The duality of the image lies in the fact that it is inextricably linked with that terrible thing that is assigned to it by the religious and cultural world tradition, and that sublimely tragic that equates it with the Teacher in the image of L. Andreev. It is the author of the story that pierces in meaning and emotional power of the words:
And from that evening until the very death of Jesus, Judas did not see any of his disciples near him; and among all this crowd there were only the two of them, inseparable until death, wildly bound by a community of suffering - the one who was betrayed to reproach and torment, and the one who betrayed him. From the same goblet of suffering, like brothers, they both drank, the betrayer and the devotee, and the fiery moisture equally seared clean and impure lips 9 .
In the context of the story, the death of Judas is as symbolic as the crucifixion of Jesus. In a reduced plan, and at the same time as significant, rising above ordinary reality and ordinary people the event described the suicide of Judas. The crucifixion of Jesus on the cross is symbolic: the cross is a symbol, a center, a convergence of Good and Evil. On a broken, crooked branch of a wind-worn, half-dried tree, but on a mountain (!), high above Jerusalem, Judas hanged himself. Deceived by people, Judas voluntarily leaves this world after his teacher:
Judas had long ago, during his solitary walks, outlined the place where he would kill himself after the death of Jesus. It was on a mountain, high above Jerusalem, and there was only one tree standing there, crooked, tormented by the wind tearing it from all sides, half-withered. It stretched out one of its broken crooked branches towards Jerusalem, as if blessing it or threatening it with something, and Judas chose it in order to make a noose on it ... [Judas] muttered angrily:
No, they are too bad for Judas. Do you hear Jesus? Now will you believe me? I am going to you. Meet me kindly, I'm tired. I am very tired. Then together with you, embracing like brothers, we will return to earth. Fine?
Recall that the word brothers has already been uttered in the speech of the author-narrator earlier, and this indicates the closeness of the positions of the author and his hero. Distinctive feature novels - lyricism and expressiveness, an emotionally high degree of narration, conveying the tension of Judas' expectations (the embodiment of "horror and dreams"). At times, especially when describing the execution of Christ, the narrative takes on an almost unbearable tension:
When the hammer was raised to nail to the tree left hand Jesus, Judas closed his eyes and for a whole eternity did not breathe, did not see, did not live, but only listened. But then, with a creaking sound, iron struck against iron, and time after time dull, short, low blows - one can hear how a sharp nail enters soft wood, pushing its particles apart ...
One hand. Not too late.
Another hand. Not too late.
Leg, other leg - is it all over? Hesitantly opens his eyes and sees how the cross rises, swaying, and is installed in the pit. He sees how, trembling tensely, the painful arms of Jesus stretch out, expand the wounds - and suddenly the fallen stomach goes under the ribs ...
And again, the author - together with the central character of the story, and as a result of the closest approach to the suffering Jesus, the depicted picture grows to enormous sizes (in reality, Jesus could hardly be seen so close - he was on the cross, the guards did not let him in), reaching an extraordinary expressiveness. The expressiveness and emotional contagiousness of L. Andreev's story prompted A. Blok to say: "The author's soul is a living wound."
A few words about Leonid Andreev
Once, in the Russian National Library, I happened to get acquainted with the first issue of the journal Satyricon, which, as is well known, came out in 1908. The reason was the study of the work of Arkady Averchenko or, more likely, the collection of materials for writing a novel in which the action of one of the chapters takes place in St. Petersburg in 1908. On the last page of the Satyricon a portrait caricature of Leonid Andreev was located. The following was written:
“Rejoice that you are holding a number of the Satyricon in your hands. Rejoice that such a person is your contemporary... He once looked into the Abyss, and horror froze forever in his eyes. And since then he has laughed only with blood-curdling Red laughter.
The cheerful magazine was ironic over the gloomy-prophetic image of Leonid Andreev, referring to his stories "The Abyss" and "Red Laughter". Leonid Andreev was very popular in those years: his elegant style, expressiveness of presentation, and bold subject matter attracted the reading public to him.
Leonid Nikolaevich Andreev was born on August 9 (21 n.s.) 1871 in the city of Orel. His father was a tax surveyor, his mother was from the family of a bankrupt Polish landowner. Learned to read at the age of six “and read extremely much, everything that came to hand”. At the age of 11 he entered the Oryol Gymnasium, from which he graduated in 1891. In May 1897, after graduating from the law faculty of Moscow University, he was going to become a barrister, but unexpectedly received an offer from a lawyer friend to take the place of a court reporter in the Moskovsky Vestnik newspaper. Having received recognition as a talented reporter, two months later he had already moved to the Kurier newspaper. Thus began the birth of the writer Andreev: he wrote numerous reports, feuilletons, and essays.
Literary debut - the story "In the cold and gold" (zh. "Star", 1892, No. 16). At the beginning of the century, Andreev became friends with A.M. Gorky and together with him joined the circle of writers united around the Znanie publishing house. In 1901, the St. Petersburg publishing house "Knowledge", headed by Gorky, publishes "Stories" by L. Andreev. In the literary collections "Knowledge" also published: the story "The Life of Vasily of Thebes" (1904); the story "Red Laughter" (1905); the dramas "To the Stars" (1906) and "Sava" (1906); the story "Judas Iscariot and Others" (1907). In "Rosehip" (an almanac of a modernist orientation): the drama "The Life of a Man" (1907); the story "Darkness" (1907); "The Tale of the Seven Hanged Men" (1908); pamphlet "My Notes" (1908); drama Black Masks (1908); the plays "Anfisa" (1909), "Ekaterina Ivanovna" (1913) and "The One Who Gets Slaps" (1916); story "The yoke of war. Confessions of a Little Man About Great Days (1916). Andreev's last major work, written under the influence of the World War and the Revolution, is Notes of Satan (published in 1921).
I. Repin. Portrait of L. Andreev
Andreev did not accept the October Revolution. At that time, he lived with his family in a dacha in Finland, and in December 1917, after Finland gained independence, he ended up in exile. The writer died on September 12, 1919 in the village of Neivola in Finland, in 1956 he was reburied in Leningrad.
More detailed biography of Leonid Andreev can be read , or , or .
L. Andreev and L. Tolstoy; L. Andreev and M. Gorky
With L.N. Tolstoy and his wife Leonid Andreev mutual understanding is not found. "He scares me, but I'm not afraid" - So Lev Tolstoy spoke about Leonid Andreev in a conversation with a visitor. Sofia Andreevna Tolstaya in a “Letter to the editor” of Novoye Vremya accused Andreev of “ loves to enjoy the baseness of vicious phenomena human life ". And, contrasting the works of Andreev with the works of her husband, she called " to help those unfortunates come to their senses, from whom they, gentlemen Andreevs, knock off their wings, given to everyone for a high flight to the understanding of spiritual light, beauty, goodness and ... God". There were other critical reviews of Andreev's work, they made fun of his gloominess, as in the above micropamphlet from the Satyricon, he himself wrote: “Who knows me from the critics? It seems no one. Loves? Nobody either."
Interesting statement M. Gorky , very closely acquainted with L. Andreev:
« Andreev, a person seemed to be spiritually poor; woven from the irreconcilable contradictions of instinct and intellect, he is forever deprived of the opportunity to achieve any inner harmony. All his deeds are "vanity of vanities", decay and self-deception. And most importantly, he is a slave of death and all life
The story of Leonid Andreev is also "Gospel of Judas" as the Traitor is in charge there actor and performs the same function as in the heretical treatise, but the interaction between Jude and Jesus is more subtle:
Jesus does not ask Judas to betray him, but by his behavior compels him to do so;
Jesus does not tell Judas about the meaning of his atoning sacrifice, and therefore dooms him to the pangs of conscience, i.e., to put it in the language of the secret services, “uses the dark” unfortunate Judas. Andreev's "shifters" are not limited to this:
Judas not only overshadows many heroes of the gospel narrative, since they are clearly more stupid and primitive than him, but also replaces them with himself. Let's take a closer look at Andreev's "gospel inside out".
Illustration by A. Zykina.
The appearance of Judas in the text of the story does not bode well: “Jesus Christ was warned many times that Judas of Carioth is a man of very bad reputation and must be guarded against. Some of the disciples who were in Judea knew him well themselves, others heard a lot about him from people, and there was no one who could tell about him. good word. And if the good ones condemned him, saying that Judas was greedy, cunning, inclined to pretense and lies, then the bad ones, who were asked about Judas, reviled him with the most cruel words ... And there was no doubt for some of the disciples that in his desire to approach Jesus was hiding some secret intention, there was an evil and insidious calculation. But Jesus did not listen to their advice, their prophetic voice did not touch his ears. With that spirit of bright contradiction, which irresistibly attracted him to the rejected and unloved, he resolutely accepted Judas and included him in the circle of the elect.».
The author at the beginning of the story tells us about some oversight of Jesus, excessive gullibility, hindsight, for which he had to pay later, and that his disciples were more experienced and far-sighted. Enough, but is he God after this, to whom the future is open?
Three options:
either he is not God, but a beautiful-hearted inexperienced person;
either He is God, and specially brought close to Himself a person who would betray Him;
or he is a man who does not know the future, but for some reason it was necessary to be betrayed, and Judas had a corresponding reputation.
The discrepancy with the Gospel is obvious: Judas was an apostle from among the twelve, he, like the other apostles, preached and healed; he was the treasurer of the apostles, however, a money-lover, and the apostle John directly calls him a thief:
« He said this not because he cared for the poor, but because there was a thief. He had a cash box with him and wore what was lowered there"(John 12, 6).
IN it is explained that
« Judas not only carried the donated money, but also took it away, i.e. secretly took a significant part of them for himself. The verb standing here (?????????), in Russian translated by the expression "carried", is more correctly translated "carried away". Why was a box of money entrusted to Judas by Christ? It is very likely that by this manifestation of trust, Christ wanted to influence Judas, to inspire him with love and devotion to Himself. But such trust did not have favorable consequences for Judas: he was already too attached to money and therefore abused the trust of Christ.».
Judas was not deprived of free will in the Gospel, and Christ knew in advance about his betrayal and warned about the consequences: “ However, the Son of Man goes as it is written about Him; but woe to that man through whom the Son of Man is betrayed: it was better that man would not be born » (Matthew 26, 24). This was said at the Last Supper, after Judas visited the high priest and received thirty pieces of silver for betrayal. At the same Last Supper, Christ said that the traitor was one of the apostles sitting with Him, and the Gospel of John says that Christ secretly pointed him to Judas (John 13, 23-26).
Earlier, even before entering Jerusalem, referring to the apostles, “ Jesus answered them: Have I not chosen twelve of you? but one of you is the devil. He spoke about Judas Simonov Iscariot, for this one wanted to betray Him, being one of the twelve "(John 6, 70-71). IN "Explanatory Bible" A.P. Lopukhin given the following interpretation of these words: So that the apostles do not fall into excessive arrogance in their position as constant followers of Christ, the Lord points out that among them there is one person who, by his disposition, is close to the devil. Just as the devil is in a constant hostile mood towards God, so Judas hates Christ as destroying all his hopes for the foundation of the earthly Messianic Kingdom, in which Judas could take a prominent place. This one wanted to betray Him. More precisely: "this one had - he was going, so to speak, to betray Christ, although he himself was not yet clearly aware of this intention of his" ».
Further on in the plot of the story, St. Andrew's Jesus constantly keeps Judas at a distance, forcing him to envy other disciples who are objectively more stupid than Judas, but enjoy the favor of the teacher, and when Judas is ready to leave Christ or the disciples are ready to expel him, Jesus brings him closer to himself, does not let him go. There are many examples, let's highlight a few.
The scene when Judas is accepted as one of the apostles looks like this:
Judas came to Jesus and the apostles, he tells something, obviously false. “John, without looking at the teacher, quietly asked Pyotr Simonov, his friend:
Are you tired of this lie? I can't take it any longer and I'm out of here.
Peter looked at Jesus, met his gaze, and quickly stood up.
- Wait! he said to a friend. Once again he looked at Jesus, quickly, like a stone torn from a mountain, moved towards Judas Iscariot and loudly said to him with wide and clear affability:
“Here you are with us, Judas.”.
Andrew's Jesus is silent. He does not stop the clearly sinning Judas, on the contrary, he accepts him as he is, among the disciples; moreover, verbally he does not call Judas: Peter guesses his desire and formalizes it in word and deed. In the Gospel, it was not so: apostolate was always preceded by a clear call by the Lord, often by the repentance of the one called, and always a radical change in life immediately after the call. So it was with the fisherman Peter: “ Simon Peter fell on Jesus' knees and said, Get out of me, Lord! because I am a sinful man... And Jesus said to Simon: Do not be afraid; from now on you will catch people "(Luke 5, 8, 10). So it was with the publican Matthew: Passing from there, Jesus saw a man sitting at the toll booth named Matthew, and he said to him, Follow me. And he got up and followed Him» (Matthew 9, 9).
Leonardo da Vinci. Last Supper
But Judas does not leave his way of life after the calling: he also lies and makes faces, but for some reason Andreev's Jesus does not speak out against it.
« Judas lied all the time, but they got used to it, because they didn’t see bad deeds behind a lie, and she gave Judas’ conversation and his stories a special interest and made life look like a funny, and sometimes terrible fairy tale. He readily admitted that sometimes he himself was lying, but assured with an oath that others lie even more, and if there is anyone in the world who is deceived, it is he, Judas.". Let me remind you that the gospel Christ spoke quite definitely about lies. He characterizes the devil thus: When he speaks a lie, he speaks his own, for he is a liar and the father of lies "(John 8, 44). But for some reason, Judas of St. Andrew's Jesus allows him to lie - except for the case when Judas lies for salvation.
To protect the teacher from the angry crowd, Judas flatters her and calls Jesus a mere deceiver and a vagabond, diverts attention to himself and lets the teacher go, saving Jesus' life, but he gets angry. There was no such thing in the Gospel, of course, but they really wanted to kill Christ for preaching more than once, and this was always resolved safely solely thanks to Christ himself, for example, by exhortation:
« Many good works have I shown you from my Father; for which of them do you want to stone me?” (John 10, 32) or just a supernatural departure away:« When they heard this, everyone in the synagogue was filled with rage, and they got up and drove him out of the city and led him to the top of the mountain on which their city was built to overthrow him; but he passed through the midst of them and withdrew"(Luke 4, 28-30).
Andrew's Jesus is weak, cannot cope with the crowd on his own, and at the same time condemns the man who made great efforts to save him from death; The Lord, as we remember, “welcomes intentions”, i.e. white lie is not a sin.
In the same way, Andrew's Jesus refuses to help Peter defeat Judas in throwing stones, and then pointedly does not notice that Judas defeated Peter; and he is angry with Judas, who proved the ingratitude of people in the village where Jesus preached earlier, but for some reason allows Judas to steal from the money box ... He behaves very contradictory, as if tempering Judas for betrayal; he inflates the pride and love of money of Judas and at the same time wounds his vanity. And all this is silent.
“And for some reason it used to be that Judas never spoke directly to Jesus, and he never directly addressed him, but on the other hand he often looked at him with kind eyes, smiled at some of his jokes, and if he had not seen him for a long time, he would ask : where is Judas? And now he looked at him, as if not seeing him, although as before, and even more stubbornly than before, he looked for him with his eyes every time he began to speak to his students or to the people, but either sat with his back to him and threw words over his head. his own against Judas, or pretended not to notice him at all. And no matter what he said, even if today it is one thing, and tomorrow it is completely different, even if it is the very thing that Judas also thinks, it seemed, however, that he always speaks against Judas. And for everyone he was a delicate and beautiful flower, a fragrant Lebanese rose, and for Judas he left only sharp thorns - as if Judas had no heart, as if he had no eyes and nose and no better than everyone else, he understands the beauty of tender and immaculate petals.
Naturally, Judas eventually grumbled:
« Why is he not with Judas, but with those who do not love him? John brought him a lizard - I would have brought him a poisonous snake. Peter threw stones - I would turn a mountain for him! But what is a venomous snake? Here a tooth is pulled out from her, and she lies like a necklace around her neck. But what is a mountain that can be torn down with hands and trampled underfoot? I would give him a Judas, a brave, beautiful Judas! And now he will perish, and Judas will perish with him.". Thus, according to Andreev, Judas did not betray Jesus, but took revenge on him for inattention, for dislike, for a subtle mockery of the proud Judas. What love of money is there! .. This is the revenge of a loving, but offended and rejected person, revenge out of jealousy. And Andrew's Jesus acts as a completely conscious provocateur.
Until the last moment, Judas is ready to save Jesus from the inevitable: With one hand betraying Jesus, with the other hand Judas diligently sought to frustrate his own plans". And even after the Last Supper, he tries to find an opportunity not to betray the teacher, he directly addresses Jesus:
"Do you know where I'm going, sir? I am going to deliver you into the hands of your enemies.
And there was a long silence, the silence of the evening and sharp, black shadows.
Are you silent, sir? Are you ordering me to go?
And again silence.
- Let me stay. But you can't? Or don't you dare? Or don't you want to?
And again silence, huge as the eyes of eternity.
“But you know that I love you. You know everything. Why are you looking at Judas like that? Great is the secret of your beautiful eyes, but is mine less so? Order me to stay!.. But you are silent, are you still silent? Lord, Lord, then, in anguish and torment, I searched for you all my life, searched and found! Set me free Take off the heaviness, it is heavier than mountains and lead. Do you not hear how the breasts of Judas of Carioth are cracking under her?
And the last silence, bottomless, like the last look of eternity.
- I'm going.
And who betrays whom here? This is an “inside-out gospel,” in which Jesus betrays Judas, and Judas prays to Jesus in the same way that Christ in the present Gospel prays to His Father in the Garden of Gethsemane to take the cup of suffering away from him. In the present Gospel, Christ prays to His Father for disciples, while St. Andrew's Jesus dooms the disciple to betrayal and suffering.
The Prayer for the Chalice icon by Caravaggio. Kiss of Judas
Even in the Gnostic "Gospel of Judas," Jesus is not so cruel:
Video clip 2. National Geographic. Gospel of Judas"
In general, Judas in Andreev often replaces both the disciples, and Christ, and even God the Father. Let's look at these cases briefly.
We have already said about the prayer for the cup: here Judas replaces the suffering Christ, and Andrew's Jesus acts as the Sabaoth in the Gnostic sense, i.e. like a cruel demiurge.
Well, according to Andreev, it is Judas who contextually acts as a loving “father God”: it is not for nothing that he, observing the sufferings of Jesus, repeats: “Oh, it hurts, it hurts a lot, my son, son, son. It hurts, it hurts a lot."
Another substitution of Judas for Christ: Judas asks Peter who he thinks Jesus is. " Peter whispered in fear and joy: "I think he is the son of the living God." And the Gospel says: Simon Peter answered Him: Lord! who should we go to? You have the words of eternal life: and we believed and knew that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God"(John 6, 68-69). The highlight is that Peter's gospel remark is addressed to Christ, not Judas.
Appearing after the death of Jesus to the apostles, Andrew's Judas again creates an inverted situation and replaces the resurrected Christ. "The disciples of Jesus sat in sad silence and listened to what was happening outside the house. There was still a danger that the revenge of the enemies of Jesus would not be limited to them alone, and everyone was waiting for the guards to invade ... At that moment, slamming the door loudly, Judas Iscariot entered».
And the gospel describes the following: On the same first day of the week in the evening, when the doors of the house where His disciples gathered were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the middle, and said to them: Peace be with you! "(John 20, 19).
Here the quiet and joyful appearance of the risen Christ is replaced by the noisy appearance of Judas, denouncing His disciples.
Judas' denunciations are permeated by this refrain: "Where was your love? ... Who loves ... Who loves! .. Who loves! Compare with the Gospel: “While they were eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter: Simon of Jonas! do you love me more than they do? Peter says to Him: Yes, Lord! You know I love you. Jesus says to him, feed my lambs. Another time he says to him: Simon Jonin! do you love me? Peter says to Him: Yes, Lord! You know I love you. Jesus says to him, feed my sheep. Says to him for the third time: Simon Jonin! do you love me? Peter was sad that he asked him for the third time: do you love me? and said to Him: Lord! You know everything; You know I love you. Jesus says to him, feed my sheep."(John 21:15-17).
Thus, after His resurrection, Christ restored the apostolic dignity to Peter, who had denied Him three times. In L. Andreev we see an inverted situation: Judas denounces the apostles three times for not loving Christ.
Same scene: “Judas fell silent, raising his hand, and suddenly noticed the remnants of the meal on the table. And with a strange astonishment, curiously, as if for the first time in his life he saw food, looked at it and slowly asked: “What is this? Did you eat? Perhaps you also slept? Compare: " When they still did not believe for joy and wondered, He said to them: Do you have any food here? They gave Him a piece of baked fish and honeycomb. And he took and ate before them"(Luke 24, 41-43). Again, Judas repeats exactly the opposite of the actions of the risen Christ.
« I'm going to him! - said Judas, stretching up his imperious hand. “Who is behind Iscariot to Jesus?” Compare: " Then Jesus said to them directly: Lazarus is dead; and I rejoice for you that I was not there, that you might believe; but let's go to him. Then Thomas, otherwise called the Twin, said to the disciples: let's go and we will die with him."(John 11, 14-16). To the courageous statement of Thomas, who, like the other apostles, could not confirm his deed on the night when Judas betrayed Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, L. Andreev contrasts the same statement of Judas, and Judas fulfills the promise, showing greater courage than other apostles.
By the way, Andreev's apostles are shown as fools, cowards and hypocrites, and against their background Judas looks more than profitable, he overshadows them with his sharp paradoxical mind, sensitive love for Jesus. Yes, this is not surprising: Thomas is stupid and cowardly, John is arrogant and hypocritical, Peter is a complete donkey. Jude describes him thus:
« Is there anyone stronger than Peter? When he shouts, all the donkeys in Jerusalem think that their Messiah has come, and also raise a shout". Andreev fully agrees with his favorite hero, as can be seen from this passage: “A rooster crowed, resentfully and loudly, as during the day, a donkey woke up somewhere, and reluctantly, with interruptions, fell silent.
The motif of the rooster crow in the night is associated with Peter's denial of Christ, and the roaring donkey, obviously, correlates with Peter weeping bitterly after the denial: And Peter remembered the word that Jesus had spoken to him: Before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times; and started crying» (Mark 14, 72).
Judas replaces even Mary Magdalene. According to Andreev, it was Judas who bought the myrrh with which Mary Magdalene anointed the feet of Jesus, while in the Gospel the situation is absolutely opposite. Compare: " Mary, taking a pound of pure precious ointment, anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the world. Then one of His disciples, Judas Simonov Iscariot, who wanted to betray Him, said: Why not sell this world for three hundred denarii and give it to the poor?"(John 12, 3-5).
Sebastian Richie. Mary Magdalene washing the feet of Christ
And in the light of what has been said above, the trick of Judas does not look at all strange, who, in response to the public question of Peter and John about which of them will sit next to Jesus in the Kingdom of Heaven, answered: “I! I'll be with Jesus!"
One can, of course, also talk about the inconsistency of the image of Judas, which was reflected in his behavior, and in his speeches, and even in his appearance, but the main intrigue of the story is not in this, but in the fact that the silent Andreevsky Jesus, without uttering a word , was able to make this intelligent, contradictory and paradoxical person become a great Traitor.
« And all - good and evil - will equally curse his shameful memory, and among all the peoples, what they were, what they are, he will remain lonely in his cruel fate - Judas from Kariot, the Traitor". The Gnostics, with their theory of "gentleman's agreement" between Christ and Judas, never dreamed of such a thing.
Soon, a domestic film adaptation of Andreev's story "Judas Iscariot" - "Judas, a man from Kariot" - should be released. I wonder what accents the director made. For now, you can only watch the trailer for the film.
Video fragment 3. Trailer "Judas, a man from Kariot"
M. Gorky recalled the following statement by L. Andreev:
“Someone argued to me that Dostoevsky secretly hated Christ. I don't like Christ and Christianity either, optimism is a nasty, thoroughly false invention... I think that Judas was not a Jew - a Greek, a Greek. He, brother, is an intelligent and daring man, Judas... You know, if Judas had been convinced that Jehovah himself was before him in the face of Christ, he would still have betrayed Him. To kill God, to humiliate Him with a shameful death - this, brother, is not a trifle!
It seems that this statement most accurately defines the author's position of Leonid Andreev.
The story "Judas Iscariot" summary which is set out in this article, was created on the basis of a biblical story. Nevertheless, even before the publication of the work, Maxim Gorky said that few would understand it and would cause a lot of noise.
Leonid Andreev
This is a rather ambiguous author. Andreev's work Soviet times readers were unfamiliar. Before proceeding to a summary of "Judas Iscariot" - a story that causes both delight and indignation - let's recall the main and most Interesting Facts from the writer's biography.
Leonid Nikolaevich Andreev was an extraordinary and very emotional person. As a law student, he began to abuse alcohol. some time the only source income for Andreev was writing portraits to order: he was not only a writer, but also an artist.
In 1894 Andreev tried to commit suicide. An unsuccessful shot led to the development of heart disease. For five years, Leonid Andreev was engaged in advocacy. Writer's fame came to him in 1901. But even then, he evoked conflicting feelings among readers and critics. Leonid Andreev welcomed the revolution of 1905 with joy, but soon became disillusioned with it. After the secession of Finland, he went into exile. The writer died abroad in 1919 from a heart defect.
The history of the creation of the story "Judas Iscariot"
The work was published in 1907. The plot ideas came to the mind of the writer during his stay in Switzerland. In May 1906, Leonid Andreev informed one of his colleagues that he was going to write a book on the psychology of betrayal. He managed to realize the plan in Capri, where he went after the death of his wife.
"Judas Iscariot", a summary of which is presented below, was written within two weeks. The author showed the first edition to his friend Maxim Gorky. He drew the author's attention to historical and factual errors. Andreev re-read more than once New Testament and edited the story. Even during the life of the writer, the story "Judas Iscariot" was translated into English, German, French and other languages.
The man of notoriety
None of the apostles noticed the appearance of Judas. How did he manage to gain Master's trust? Jesus Christ was warned many times that he was a very notorious man. He should beware. Judas was condemned not only by “right” people, but also by villains. He was the worst of the worst. When the disciples asked Judas about what motivates him to do terrible things, he answered that every person is a sinner. What he said was in tune with the words of Jesus. Nobody has the right to judge another.
This is the philosophical problem of the story Judas Iscariot. The author, of course, did not make his hero positive. But he put the traitor on a par with the disciples of Jesus Christ. Andreev's idea could not but cause a resonance in society.
The disciples of Christ asked Judas more than once about who his father was. He replied that he did not know, perhaps the devil, a rooster, a goat. How can he know everyone with whom his mother shared a bed? Such answers shocked the apostles. Judas insulted his parents, which means he was doomed to perish.
One day, a crowd attacks Christ and his disciples. They are accused of stealing a kid. But a person who will soon betray his teacher rushes to the crowd with the words that the teacher is not possessed by a demon at all, he just loves money just like everyone else. Jesus leaves the village in anger. His disciples follow him, cursing Judas. But after all, this small, disgusting man, worthy of only contempt, wanted to save them ...
Theft
Christ trusts Judas to keep his savings. But he hides a few coins, which the students, of course, will soon find out. But Jesus does not condemn the unlucky disciple. After all, the apostles should not count the coins that his brother appropriated. Their reproaches only offend him. This evening Judas Iscariot is very cheerful. On his example, the apostle John understood what love for one's neighbor is.
thirty pieces of silver
The last days of his life, Jesus surrounds with affection the one who betrays him. Judas is helpful with his disciples - nothing should interfere with his plan. An event will soon take place, thanks to which his name will forever remain in the memory of people. It will be called almost as often as the name of Jesus.
After the execution
When analyzing Andreev's story "Judas Iscariot", special attention should be paid to the finale of the work. The apostles suddenly appear before the readers as cowardly, cowardly people. After the execution, Judas addresses them with a sermon. Why didn't they save Christ? Why didn't they attack the guards in order to rescue the Teacher?
Judas will forever remain in the memory of people as a traitor. And those who were silent when Jesus was crucified will be venerated. After all, they carry the Word of Christ on earth. This is the summary of Judas Iscariot. To do artistic analysis works, you should still read the story in full.
The meaning of the story "Judas Iscariot"
Why did the author depict a negative biblical character in such an unusual perspective? "Judas Iscariot" by Leonid Nikolaevich Andreev is, according to many critics, one of the greatest works of Russian classics. The story makes the reader think first of all about what is true love, true faith and fear of death. The author seems to ask what is hidden behind faith, is there a lot of true love in it?
The image of Judas in the story "Judas Iscariot"
The hero of Andreev's book is a traitor. Judas sold Christ for 30 pieces of silver. He is the worst of all who has ever lived on our planet. Can you feel compassion for him? Of course not. The writer seems to tempt the reader.
But it is worth remembering that Andreev's story is by no means a theological work. The book has nothing to do with the church, faith. The author simply invited readers to look at the well-known story from a different, unusual side.
A person is mistaken, believing that he can always accurately determine the motives of the behavior of another. Judas betrays Christ, which means he is a bad person. This indicates that he does not believe in the Messiah. The apostles give the teacher to the Romans and Pharisees to be torn to pieces. And they do it because they believe in their teacher. Jesus will rise again, they will believe in the Savior. Andreev offered to look at the act of both Judas and the faithful disciples of Christ differently.
Judas is madly in love with Christ. However, it seems to him that those around him do not appreciate Jesus enough. And he provokes the Jews: he betrays the adored teacher in order to test the strength of the people's love for him. Judas is in for a severe disappointment: the disciples fled, and the people demand to kill Jesus. Even Pilate's words that he did not find the guilt of Christ were not heard by anyone. The crowd is out for blood.
This book caused indignation among believers. Not surprising. The apostles did not snatch Christ from the clutches of the escorts, not because they believed in him, but because they were afraid - that, perhaps, the main idea Andreev's story. After the execution, Judas turns to the disciples with reproaches, and at this moment he is not at all disgusting. It seems that there is truth in his words.
Judas took upon himself a heavy cross. He became a traitor, thus causing people to wake up. Jesus said that the guilty should not be killed. But wasn't his execution a violation of this postulate? In the mouth of Judas - his hero - Andreev puts words that, perhaps, he wanted to pronounce himself. Did not Christ go to death with the tacit consent of his disciples? Judas asks the apostles how they could allow his death. They have nothing to answer. They are confusedly silent.
Composition
"Psychology of betrayal" - the main theme of L. Andreev's story "Judas Iscariot" -. The images and motives of the New Testament, the ideal and reality, the hero and the crowd, true and hypocritical love - these are the main motives of this story. Andreev uses the gospel story about the betrayal of Jesus Christ by his disciple Judas Iscariot, interpreting it in his own way. If the focus Holy Scripture lies the image of Christ, then Andreev turns his attention to the disciple, who betrayed him for thirty pieces of silver into the hands of the Jewish authorities and thereby became the culprit of the suffering on the cross and the death of his Teacher. The writer is trying to find a justification for Judas' actions, to understand his psychology, internal contradictions that prompted him to commit a moral crime, to prove that there is more nobility and love for Christ in Judas's betrayal than among faithful disciples.
According to Andreev, by betraying and assuming the name of a traitor, “Judas saves the cause of Christ. True love is betrayal; the love for Christ of the other apostles is a betrayal and a lie.” After the execution of Christ, when “the horror and dreams came true”, “he walks slowly: now the whole earth belongs to him, and he steps firmly, like a ruler, like a king, like one who is infinitely and joyfully alone in this world.”
Judas appears in the work differently than in the gospel narrative - sincerely loving Christ and suffering from the fact that he does not find understanding for his feelings. The change in the traditional interpretation of the image of Judas in the story is complemented by new details: Judas was married, left his wife, who wanders in search of food. The episode of the competition of the apostles in throwing stones is fictitious. Opponents of Judas are other disciples of the Savior, especially the apostles John and Peter. The traitor sees how Christ shows great love towards them, which, according to Judas, who did not believe in their sincerity, is undeserved. In addition, Andreev depicts the apostles Peter, John, Thomas being in the power of pride - they are worried about who will be the first in the Kingdom of Heaven. Having committed his crime, Judas commits suicide, as he cannot bear his act and the execution of his beloved Teacher.
As the Church teaches, sincere repentance allows one to receive the forgiveness of sin, but the suicide of Iscariot, which is the most terrible and unforgivable sin, forever closed the doors of paradise before him. In the image of Christ and Judas, Andreev confronts two philosophies of life. Christ dies, and Judas seems to be able to triumph, but this victory turns into a tragedy for him. Why? From Andreev's point of view, the tragedy of Judas is that he understands life and human nature more deeply than Jesus. Judas is in love with the idea of goodness, which he himself debunked. The act of betrayal is a sinister experiment, philosophical and psychological. By betraying Jesus, Judas hopes that in the sufferings of Christ the ideas of goodness and love will be more clearly revealed to people. A. Blok wrote that in the story - "the soul of the author - a living wound."
