Page:Nikolai Bukharin - Programme of the World Revolution (1920).djvu/78

 of how the heavens were sprinkled with a vast number of eggs. Such instances may be quoted endlessly. The same thing holds true as regards religion. People saw that there are those who obey and those who are obeyed. They constantly witnessed the following picture—the elder (and later on the prince) surrounded by his followers, more experienced, wiser, stronger and richer than the others, orders others and reigns over them: the others act according to his wish: he is obeyed by all.

This kind of thing witnessed daily and hourly appeared to explain all that takes place in the world. There is on the earth, they said, one commander and those who obey him. Consequently, they reasoned, the whole world is built up on the same scheme. There is a master of the world, a great, strong, terrible master upon whom everything is dependent, and who punishes his servants severely for disobedience. This master over the world is God. And so the idea of a god in the heavens arises only in those cases when people are accustomed to the power of the elders over the tribe.

It is an interesting fact that all the names given to God confirm the same origin of religion. The Russian words for God and for rich are of the same origin; thus "Bog" (God) and "Bogat" (rich) are derived from the same root. God is great, powerful, and rich. God is called Lord or Master. What does "Lord" signify but the contrary to servant or slave? In prayers we have: "We are thy servants." God is further called the "Heavenly King." All the other titles point in the same direction: "sovereign," "ruler," and so on. And so, what does "God" really mean? It means, as we are told, a rich, strong master, a slave owner, a "heavenly king," a judge—in short, an exact copy, a reproduction of the earthly power of the elders, and later on of the princes. When the Jews were governed by their princes, who punished and tortured them, there arose the teaching of a cruel and terrible God. Such is the God of the Old Testament. He is a vicious old man, who chastises his subjects severely. Let us now consider the God of the Greek Orthodox Church. The teachings concerning this god arose in Byzantium, in the country which served as a model of despotism. At the head stood a despotic monarch surrounded by his ministers; these, in their turn, were surrounded by high officials; next followed a whole host of avaricious officials. The Greek orthodox religion is an exact model of this system. The "Heavenly King" sits above. Around him are gathered the