And all those pagan pilgrimages began in Christianity, which began to evaporate from formal Christians (the “salt, which loses its savor – is good for nothing”) a long time ago, still in the distant 4th century of the Christian era, when Christianity became an allowed “religion”, and then a state ideology (which became a catastrophe (= transformation into something worse, ineffective, dead) of Christianity). And it all started with the Lord’s Tomb and the Cross on which Christ was crucified.
In the apostolic epistles and the writings of the ancient holy fathers of the Church, who lived in the first three centuries of Christianity, nowhere is it mentioned about the Tomb of our Lord Jesus Christ: during the first centuries of Church history the Lord’s Tomb did not attract (did not appeal to anyone) any attention! It was uncovered by Empress Helena (mother of Emperor Constantine the Great) at the moment when Christianity became (more precisely, began to become) the state religion of the Byzantine (future) empire, and only since then it became the main Christian (as pagans believe) sanctuary.
In the first times this was not the case. Why a tomb, if the Lord is among us?! The first Christians (= true Christians by spirit, unlike pagans with baptism certificates issued by the same pagans (priest-pagans), which (pagans-Christians) appeared in a multitude (almost all) after the beginning of the 4th century) lived (and now live!!!), feeling so sharply (experiencing) the presence of the Risen Christ (“I am with you always” – always), that they simply did not think about the tomb. And indeed, if a person was considered dead and was buried, and then turned out to be alive (these are real facts!), why go to her grave (which will only be a reminder of the terrible experienced grief, and generally why)?! Would it be of any interest (attraction) to her relatives and close ones?! To the living (and Christ is Alive!) they do not go to the tomb – they go to the deceased!
In the first centuries of Christianity there was generally no worship of the Lord’s Tomb. But when Christianity came to the Greeks and Romans (pagans, religious people), the attitude towards this changed: it really became necessary, because the cult of a specific place was usual for ancient culture. It was not enough for a Greek (pagan) to know that Artemis turned Actaeon into a deer, – he needed to look at that rock under which Actaeon slept at that very moment. It was not enough for a Greek to know that Oedipus killed his father – he needed to visit that very crossroads where it happened. One ancient Greek scholar and writer says that some people doubt that Hercules killed the Erymanthian boar; but, – he exclaims, – everyone can go to such-and-such a temple and see the skull of this boar there! A concrete object – for a Greek is already proof!
Every event of religious history the Greeks tied to some specific, definite place or fetish (sacred object). They seriously showed the stone that once swallowed Cronus, the father of Zeus. Indeed, without this stone there would be no Greek, no Roman religion (paganism).
This peculiarity (religious inertia) of their nature the Greeks and Romans, who mostly became Christians (better to say: began to consider themselves Christians), brought and introduced into our faith (mistakenly considering Christianity one of the religions!?). Hence (from pagans, their religiosity and need for it) comes the custom of performing pilgrimages to holy (as pagans believe) places and the need arose for specific, material proofs of what is spoken in the Gospel of the Church!
Thus, paganism in Christianity (secularization of Christianity – orientation towards paganism not only in form, but also in spirit) began with the Lord’s Tomb (from here, from the pagan
consciousness and passions, – the so-called “sacred” Christian(!??) wars for Christian “sanctuaries”, crusades, whose goal was to liberate the Lord’s Tomb and other sanctuaries from infidels – what madness and catastrophe?!). Since the central event of Christianity – the Resurrection of Christ, then pagans, who came into the Church, brought and imposed on the Church (or the Church pedagogically wanted to use their language for proclamation – it does not matter, but the result is deplorable – the church paganized, and not pagans Christianized – by their fruits you shall know them…) paganism, the need for material (sanctuaries, holy objects, amulets…), spatial, topological (holy places, temples…), chronological (holy days, months, periods…) proofs, – first of all found the tomb (as proof of the Resurrection) and the Cross (as proof of death and killing) and made them sanctuaries (pagan)!
In Christianity there are no and cannot be sanctuaries (in the plural), but there is one only – it is the Body of Christ (all reality – deified, the whole created world – deified), which sits in the Glory of the Holy Trinity, in the heart of the Godhead! Pilgrimages (visiting and worshipping “sanctuaries” and “holy” places), holy places, sanctuaries, singling out part of the material world and granting them a special (sacred) status, unlike the mundane, profane world, holy days, months, periods… in a word, all special (sacred), not like other (profane) – this is paganism (= religiosity)! These are crutches (canes), wheelchairs for the infirm!!! Are crutches needed?! – Yes! For cripples, not for Christians (those who are saved, healed, and know about it; pagans are saved, healed, deified – but do not know about it, therefore they run around with crutches and cannot yet hear the Gospel, that all reality is already a Sanctuary – the Body of Christ (Eucharist – deified nature in the Hypostasis of the Son of God), that the last, Eighth, Endless Day has already come, which is (therefore for Christians there can be no talk of any days, months, years, periods – “I am afraid for you, you still observe days, times, new moons… clean – unclean… the law with its servile rules…”)). And everything that is in the Church visible, “singled out”, periods of fasting, holidays, weekdays… all this is for the proclaimed, pagans… In the language of pagans (thus, for example, Christian holidays arose – on the days of pagan holidays, fasts the Church, to enlighten pagans, established for them a holiday with Christian content. For example, the Nativity of Christ (Epiphany) – pagans celebrated the birthday of the Sun (god) on December 25, after the longest night and the smallest day – the day began to become larger, to grow. And Christians, in the language of pagans (celebrations and veneration), on this day December 25 (January 7 by the new style) began missionally (performing a mission, preaching the Gospel) to celebrate the birthday (Nativity) of the True Sun of Righteousness – the Son of God… and to enlighten, proclaim pagans, that the True Sun (Which created the sun and all visible and invisible) – it is the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Therefore, all holidays in the Church – are missionary holidays, which are established for the proclaimed, pagans, not for Christians!!!).