Principle One: Suffering as a Cause for Development
No one is immune to pain, worry and discomfort. Buddhists say that depression and despair are caused by our inability to control our desires. Meditation, strict adherence to simple rules, and most importantly, accepting and using your pain as a valuable resource can help you achieve nirvana.

Principle Two: Responsibility
Everything you do, think and feel is solely the result of your desires and efforts. There is no higher power or providence that can determine your destiny, but you alone are responsible for how your life turns out. The adherents of Buddhism are sure: the highest goal of a person who has decided to tie his life to this doctrine in one way or another is to achieve Enlightenment. And the first step on the way to the final point is to learn to be responsible for each of your deeds.

Principle Three: The Variability of Life
Life energy is not static. And he who makes attempts to grasp this or that form, no matter how beautiful it is, is doomed to suffer. Only impartiality and the ability to observe will help a follower of the Buddhist teachings to accept all changes with equal serenity, as if they were only small pieces of a giant mosaic.

Principle Four: There is no separate self
The Buddhist law of change also applies to the separate self. Just like everything else that touches our eyes, the individual is subject to permanent transformation. It takes place, however, in close connection with all universal processes – in other words, it is not possible to exist on its own. So it would be fundamentally wrong to believe in a separate “I” and its selfish desires, because it will bring nothing but disappointment.

Principle Five: Love is joy and goodwill
Buddhists believe there are four elements of love that make it true. Benevolence allows you to be tolerant of your loved ones, compassion allows you to understand your partner’s worries and pain, tranquility allows you to avoid unnecessary conflict, and the joy that your feeling brings you will preserve your spiritual unity for years to come.

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The appearance of Christianity occurred in the first century A.D. among Jews living in Palestine, which at that time was one of the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire. At that time Judaism had a special status in the Empire, being the only monotheistic religion in the Mediterranean. The state religion was paganism, which united the features of different regions and peoples by worshipping the king as a god, an exception was made only for Judaism. But despite the concessions made by Rome, the Jews were still eager to get rid of imperial rule and were genuinely waiting for the Messiah (Christ [Greek]), so the seeds of the teachings of Jesus Christ immediately found fertile ground for themselves.

Jesus began to preach at age 30 (the age at which Jews are permitted to teach others), although we know of his visit at age twelve to the Temple of the Wise of Jerusalem, where many wise men marveled at his words and learned from him. He was in the service of his parents until the age of 30 and worked as a carpenter. During his three years of public service, Jesus preached the will of God, spoke about God, healed the sick and raised the dead, and explained the Scriptures of the Old Testament. As he wandered, he chose twelve apostles to accompany him.

However, though many people were attracted to Christ’s teachings, not all could accept him and believe the prophecies he spoke. Very few of the Jewish leaders believed that Jesus was the messiah they had been waiting for, so they had him crucified. On the third day after his crucifixion, Jesus resurrected and appeared to his disciples for another 40 days, instructing them in the correct understanding of Scripture, then he ascended, promising to return before the end of the world. And the apostles began to preach the teachings of Christ, attracting more and more new followers of the new religion.

During the first three centuries, Christians were persecuted, the apostles and their followers were considered a Jewish sect and persecuted from the synagogues. They were vilified in every way possible, accused of various crimes: debauchery, infanticide, misant slaughter, misanthropy, etc. While Jews in the Roman Empire were allowed not to honor the king as god and not to offer sacrifices, Christians were not allowed to do so. From a state perspective, Christianity was not a allowed religion and its followers were atheists.

The Edict of Milan of 313 became a turning point in the history of Christianity. This became possible thanks to Emperor Constantine the Great, who promoted the development of the new religion.

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A way of life;
A basis for family and legal relations;
A body of traditions and customs.

In Arabic, Islam means “submission.”

Basic Principles, Essence of Islam
Islam is considered the youngest of the world’s religions. It emerged in the south-west of the Arabian Peninsula in the beginning of VII century in Hijaz among the tribes of Western Arabia. The founder of Islam was the Prophet Muhammad (570-632). He created a community, which formed the basis of the state system – the Arab Caliphate.
Among the principles of Islam is monotheism: “There is no deity but Allah, and Muhammad is the prophet of Allah.
According to Islam, Allah gave Muhammad the Quran through the angel, which became sacred scripture for Muslims.
The Holy Book of Muslims – the Quran consists of 114 chapters (surahs). Surahs are named according to the principle of the most striking phrase from the chapter, which became an aphorism or the main theme of the surah.

Another source of religious doctrine is the Sunna – stories about the life of Muhammad and his statements in the form of hadith (stories).
Read also – Orthodoxy and Islam: dialogue in the colony
The main subjects of faith in Islam:

Faith in the Almighty.
Faith in the angels of the Most High.
Faith in the scriptures of the Most High.
Belief in the prophets and messengers of the Most High.
Belief in the predestination of the Almighty.
Belief in life after death.

The Pillars of Islam:

Recitation of the shahada (“there is no deity but Allah, and Muhammad is a prophet of Allah”);
The five obligatory prayers a day (“namaz”), performed in Arabic with a strictly defined ritual;
fasting during the month of Ramadan, when Muslims must abstain from all food and drink from sunrise to sunset;
Going on a pilgrimage (hajj) to Mecca at least once in a Muslim’s life;
donations to the needy and to the community (“zakat”).

Currents of Islam
Islam is divided into two main currents:

Sunnis
Shiites

The vast majority of Muslims are Sunnis. The Sunnis adhere to their accepted set of hadiths, religious practices, and rules of conduct for a Muslim in all situations of life, calling this set the Sunnah. This is not just a custom, but a principle of life on the basis of which the entire life of a person who professes Islam is built.

The Shi’a in turn believe that authority in the community should belong only to the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad (that is, the children of Fatima, his daughter, and Ali, his cousin) and not to those who are chosen, as is the case with the Sunnis. They do not accept the Sunnah unconditionally and supplement it with the instructions of the Imams, whom they regard as mediators between man and Allah.

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