Blessed is he who believes - how to understand the expression?

Among the winged expressions there are those whose meaning has changed over time. This also applies to them: "blessed is he who believes." A wide circle of inhabitants knew it from the work “Woe from Wit” by A. Griboedov, but his teacher from Nazareth used it much earlier, at the dawn of our era.

In the mouth of Chatsky

All who read the immortal work of Alexander Griboedov "Woe from Wit" remember the vivid image of Alexander Chatsky. The young man is a maximalist, intelligent and deep, honest and direct, sincerely surprised at how Sofia could fall in love with another, and whom — Molchalin, a stupid and duplicitous careerist.

Arriving in Moscow and first visiting the house of Famusov, Chatsky understands that he is not very welcome, and expresses this claim to Sofya. She replies that, they say, they waited every day, every rustle, every guest aroused hope. Chatsky has no time and, probably, a desire to reflect on how sincere these words are. And then the author puts into his mouth an expression that fully describes the state of the young man in love, who will not tolerate even a shadow of doubt about his feeling: blessed is he who believes.

The meaning of these words is that he has to (and even easier) just to believe than to analyze and critically interpret what is happening. Therefore, it is better to take a word and forget these doubts that can torment your chest. Here you can see the roll call with the Pushkin lines "... Ah, it’s easy to deceive me, I’m glad to deceive myself."

Of course, blessed is he who believes. This eliminates a lot of suffering, but does not always give a correct understanding of what is happening, as with Chatsky. By the way, it is interesting to compare the name of the comedy of Griboedov, which proclaims that grief comes from the mind, with the quote put forward - bliss from faith.

Negative meaning of expression

This winged expression is most often used in public life in a negative context. For example, many articles on the Internet aimed at criticizing the existing political power cite Chatsky’s words ironically, with sarcasm: “Blessed is he who believes, it’s warm to him!” It makes fun of the excessive credulity and simplicity of a people who find it easier to live, to believe that everything will be in order, to trust the government and promises. Blessed - means happy. "Happy" are those who do not see enough to raise doubts, who do not analyze, do not disappoint, in other words, those who live "in pink glasses". Note that we use the word "happy" in quotation marks, hinting at its figurative meaning.

In the mouth of Christ

In the Gospel there is no pure literal expression "blessed is he who believes." But at the same time, we can say with confidence that the source of this statement is precisely there.

Jesus Christ preached the truths about the Kingdom of God in the villages of Palestine. One of his recorded sermons is called the "commandments of bliss." With his teaching, he turned over all the ideas of people of that time about happiness. For example, he said that blessed are those who cry, the poor in spirit, hungry and thirsty for truth, and so on.

But the phrase “blessed is he who believes” acquires a special meaning in another episode. After the death of the cross and the resurrection, Jesus appeared to the disciples. They told the rest that the teachers had seen. One of them, known to everyone since Thomas the Unbeliever, said: "... until I see Jesus with my own eyes and put my fingers in the wounds of nails, I will not believe." Soon, when the disciples were gathered together, the Lord appeared among them. First of all, he went to Thomas and offered to check his wounds from the torment of the cross. Of course, Thomas fell at the feet of Christ with the confession: "My Lord and my God!" In response, Jesus uttered the famous phrase: "Blessed are they who have not seen, but who have believed."

Gospel meaning

From the foregoing it becomes clear that faith was of great importance to faith. The fact is that both the people and the rulers constantly demanded signs and miracles, that is, evidence. Despite how many sick people Christ healed, resurrected, and satiated the hungry with a couple of cakes, the majority did not recognize the Messiah in him. Therefore, one day he placed a small child on a hill in the middle of the crowd and said, turning to those around him, that if you weren’t like children, you wouldn’t enter the Kingdom of the Father. And who is more open to sincere trust than children? In the true sense, the content of the expression “blessed is he who believes”!

Understand the meaning of what has been said

So, we found out that the expression in question can have a completely opposite meaning, depending on the surrounding verbal background. It by no means speaks in favor or in condemnation of faith. "Blessed is he who believes" - who said the phrase, in what context - this is the first thing to find out in order to understand the meaning of the expression. If we read or listen to a Christian sermon, or this is said by a clergyman or just a believer, then it sounds in the gospel sense. If with the help of this phrase they want to emphasize the reluctance of someone to delve into the problem, to understand it - then with irony and sarcasm, Chatsky’s words are used more negatively.