What is dogma in Orthodox Christianity. Why are dogmas needed?

Basic tenets:

1. Dogma of the Holy Trinity.

2. Dogma about the creation of the world.

3. Dogma of Angels.

4. Dogma of the Fall.

5. Dogma about the ever-virginity of the Most Holy Theotokos.

6. Dogma of the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

7. Dogma of the Redemption of mankind from sin.

8. Dogma of the Passion on the Cross and the death of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9. Dogma of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

10. Dogma of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ.

11. Dogma about the Second Coming of the Savior and the Last Judgment.

12. Dogma of the procession of the Holy Spirit.

13. The dogma of one (one), holy, catholic Church and the continuity in it of the teachings and priesthood from the apostles.

14. Dogma about the sacraments of the Church.

15. Dogma about the general resurrection of people and the future life.

16. Dogma of the two natures of the Lord Jesus Christ (adopted at the IV Ecumenical Council in Chalcedon).

17. Dogma of two wills and actions in the Lord Jesus Christ (adopted at the VI Ecumenical Council in Constantinople).

18. Dogma on the veneration of icons (adopted at the VII Ecumenical Council in Nicaea).

19. The dogma of divine energy or Grace.

Structure of Dogmatic Theology:

1. Dogmas about God and His general relationship to the world and man

General properties of the being of God

God is incomprehensible and invisible. God revealed himself to people in creation and in the supernatural Revelation, which was preached by the only begotten Son of God through the Apostles. God is one in being and threefold in persons.

God is the Spirit, eternal, all-good, all-knowing, all-powerful, all-present, unchangeable, all-satisfied, all-blessed.

The nature of God is completely immaterial, not involved in the slightest complexity, simple.

God, as a Spirit, in addition to spiritual nature (substance), has mind and will.

God, as Spirit, is infinite in all respects, otherwise, all-perfect, He is original and independent, immeasurable and omnipresent, eternal and unchangeable, omnipotent and omnipotent, perfect and alien to any deficiency.

Particular properties of the being of God

Originality - everything that has, has from itself.

Independence - in being, in strength and in actions is determined by Himself.

Immeasurability and omnipresence - not subject to any limitation by space and place.

Eternity - He has neither beginning nor end of his existence.

Immutability - He always remains the same.

Omnipotence - He has unlimited power to produce everything and rule over everything.

Properties of God's Mind

The property of the mind of God in itself is omniscience, i.e. He knows everything and knows it most perfectly.

The property of God's mind in relation to his actions is the highest wisdom, i.e. perfect knowledge of the best purposes and the best means, the most perfect art of applying the latter to the former.

Properties of God's Will

The properties of God's will in itself are extremely free and all-holy, i.e. pure from all sin.

The property of God's will in relation to all creatures is all-good, and in relation to rational creatures it is true and faithful, since it reveals itself to them as moral law, and also just, since he rewards them according to their deserts.

Unity of God in essence

God is one.

2. Dogmas about God, trinitarian in persons

There are essentially three Persons or Hypostases in the One God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The three persons in God are equal and consubstantial.

The three persons are different in their personal properties: the Father is not begotten of anyone, the Son is begotten of the Father, the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father.

The hypostases are inseparable and unmerged; the birth of the Son never began, never ended, the Son was born from the Father, but was not separated from him, He abides in the Father; God the Holy Spirit eternally emanates from the Father.

3. Dogmas about God as Creator and Provider for the spiritual world

The spiritual world is made up of two kinds of spirits: good, called Angels, and evil, called demons.

Angels and demons were created by God.

Demons became evil from good spirits of their own free will with the connivance of God.

God, as a Provider, gave both Angels and demons nature, powers and abilities.

God assists the Angels in their good activities and controls them in accordance with the purpose of their existence.

God allowed the fall of demons and allows their evil activity, and limits it, directing it, if possible, to good goals.

Angels

By their nature, Angels are disembodied spirits, the most perfect of the human soul, but limited.

The angelic world is unusually great.

Angels glorify God, serve Him, serve people in this world, guiding them to the kingdom of God.

The Lord gives a special Guardian Angel to each of the believers.

Demons

The devil and his angels (demons) are personal and real beings.

Demons by their nature are ethereal spirits, the highest of the human soul, but limited.

Demons cannot use violence against any person unless God allows them.

The devil acts both as an enemy of God and as an enemy of man.

God is destroying the kingdom of demons on earth through the ceaseless expansion of His blessed kingdom.

God gave people Divine powers against demons (prayer, etc.).

God allows the activities of demons aimed at the destruction of humanity for the moral benefit of people and their salvation.

4. Dogmas about God as Creator and Provider to man

Man is created in the image and likeness of God.

God created man so that he would know God, love and glorify Him, and through this he would be eternally blissful.

God created the first people, Adam and Eve, in a special way, different from the creation of His other creatures.

The human race originated from Adam and Eve.

Man consists of an immaterial soul and a material body.

The soul, the highest and most excellent part of man, is an independent being, immaterial and simple, free, immortal.

The purpose of man is that he invariably remain faithful to the high covenant or union with God, to which the All-Good One called him at the very creation, so that he strives for his Prototype with all the forces of his rationally free soul, i.e. knew his Creator and glorified him, lived for Him and in moral unity with Him.

The fall of man was allowed by God.

Heaven was a place to live a happy and blissful life, both sensual and spiritual. Man in heaven was immortal. It is not true that Adam could not die, he could not die. Adam was to make and maintain heaven. To instruct the truth of faith, God honored some people with His revelations, appeared to them Himself, talked with them, and revealed His will to them.

God created man fully capable of achieving the goal He established, i.e. perfect, both in soul, mentally and morally, and perfect in body.
In order to exercise and strengthen moral powers in goodness, God commanded man not to eat fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

A person did not keep the commandments, then he lost his dignity.

All people came from Adam and his sin is the sin of all people.

God has given His grace to man from the very beginning.

The devil was hidden in the snake that seduced Adam and Eve. Eve was carried away by the dream of becoming equal to God, Adam fell due to addiction to his wife.

Death came to man from the envy of the devil towards God.

Consequences of a fall in the soul: dissolution of union with God, loss of grace, spiritual death, darkening of the mind, degradation of the will and its inclination towards evil rather than good, distortion of the image of God.

Consequences of a fall for the body: illness, sorrow, exhaustion, death.

Consequence for the external state of a person: loss or decrease in power over animals, loss of fertility of the earth.

The consequences of the fall extended to all of humanity. Original sin universal

After the fall of Adam and Eve, God did not stop thinking about man. He is the king of the whole earth, he rules over the peoples and watches over them. He places kings over the peoples, grants them Power and strength, and rules earthly kingdoms through kings. Supplies lower authorities through kings, supplies for the creation of happiness human societies His servants (Angels).

God provides for individual people and, in particular, for guides, protects us throughout our lives, assists us in our activities, and sets a limit for our earthly life and activities.
God provides in natural ways (preserves people and helps them) and supernaturally (miracles and actions of Divine economy).

5. Dogmas about God the Savior and His special relationship to the human race

God sent His Only Begotten Son into the valley of the earth, so that He, having received flesh from the Most Pure Virgin through the action of the Holy Spirit, would redeem man and bring him into His kingdom in much greater glory than what he had in paradise.

God is our Savior in general, since all Persons participated in the work of our salvation Holy Trinity.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Author and Finisher of our faith and salvation.

In the Person of Jesus Christ, each of His natures transfers its properties to another, and precisely, what is characteristic of Him in humanity is assimilated to Him as God, and what is characteristic of Him in Divinity is assimilated to Him as a man.

The Most Holy Virgin Mary, Mother of the Lord Jesus, not according to His Divinity, but according to humanity, which, however, from the very moment of His incarnation, became inseparably and hypostatically united in Him with His Divinity, and became His own Divine Person.

In Jesus Christ not the entire Holy Trinity was incarnated, but only one Son of God, the second Person of the Holy Trinity.

The attitude of the second Person of the Most Holy Trinity did not change in the least through His incarnation, and after the incarnation, God the Word remains the same Son of God as He was before. The Son of God the Father is natural, not adopted.

Jesus Christ was anointed as high priest, king and prophet for the threefold ministry of the human race, through which he accomplished his salvation.

6. Dogmas about Christ the Savior

The One Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, for the sake of man and the human race of salvation, came down from heaven and was incarnated by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became man.
Jesus Christ, perfect in Godhead and perfect in humanity; truly God and truly man; also from soul and body; consubstantial with the Father in Divinity and consubstantial with people in humanity; in every way similar to people, except for sin; born before the age from the Father according to Divinity, in the last days born for our sake and for the sake of our salvation from Mary the Virgin Mother of God, according to humanity; The Only Begotten, in two natures unfused, unchangeable, inseparably, inseparably cognizable; not into two persons, cut or divided, but one Son and the Only Begotten God the Word.

How the two natures in Jesus Christ, Divine and human, despite all their differences, were united into one Hypostasis; how He, being perfect God and perfect man, is but one Person; this, according to the Word of God, is the great mystery of piety, and, therefore, inaccessible to our mind. The Lord performed prophetic ministry directly, having assumed the office of a public Teacher, and through His disciples. The teaching consists of the law of faith and the law of activity and is entirely aimed at the salvation of humanity.

The law of faith is about God, the highest and most perfect Spirit, one in essence, but threefold in Persons, original, omnipresent, all-good, omnipotent, Creator and Provider of the universe, Who fatherly cares for all His creatures, especially for the human race.

About Himself as the Only Begotten Son of God, who came into the world to reconcile and reunite man with God.

About His saving suffering, death and resurrection; about fallen, damaged man and about the means by which he can rise and assimilate salvation for himself, become sanctified, reunite with God through his redeemer and achieve an eternally blissful life beyond the grave.

Christ expressed the law of activity in two main commandments: the eradication in us of the very beginning of all sin - pride or self-love, cleansing from all filth of the flesh and spirit; love for God and neighbors with the goal of rooting in us, instead of the previous sinful one, the seed of a new life, holy and pleasing to God, to bring into us a union of moral perfection.

In order to excite people to accept and fulfill the laws of faith and activity, the Lord Jesus pointed to the greatest disasters and eternal torment, which all sinners will inevitably undergo if they do not follow His teachings, but also to the greatest and eternal blessings that the Heavenly Father has prepared, also for the sake of His merits beloved Son, for all the righteous who follow His teaching.

Jesus Christ gave the law for all people and for all times.

Jesus Christ taught the law that is saving and therefore necessary for achieving eternal life.

As a prophet, Christ the Savior only announced to us about salvation, but had not yet accomplished salvation itself: he enlightened our minds with the light of true knowledge of God, testified about himself that he is the true Messiah, explained how he would save us, and showed us the direct the path to eternal life.

The high priestly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ was the work through which eternal life was earned for us.

He did this, following the custom of the Old Testament high priests, offering Himself as a propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of the world, and thus reconciled us with God, delivered us from sin and its consequences, and acquired eternal blessings for us.

Christ the Savior, in order to satisfy the eternal Truth for all these human sins, deigned, in return for them, to fulfill God’s will for people in its entirety and breadth, to show in himself the most perfect example of obedience to it and to humble and abase Himself for our sake to the last degree.

Christ, the God-man, in order to save people from all these disasters and suffering, deigned to take upon Himself all the wrath of God, to endure for us everything that we deserved for our iniquities.

The high priestly ministry of Jesus Christ embraces His entire earthly life. He constantly bore His cross of self-sacrifice, obedience, suffering and sorrow.

The death of Jesus Christ is the atoning sacrifice for us. He paid with His blood the debt to the Truth of God for our sins, which we ourselves were not able to pay, and He himself was not in debt to God. This replacement was the will and consent of God, because The Son of God came to earth to do not His own will, but the will of the Father who sent Him.

The sacrifice made for us by Christ the Savior on the cross is a comprehensive sacrifice. It extends to all people, to all sins and to all times. By His death He earned the kingdom for us, not the Royal ministry of the Lord Jesus is that He, having the power of a King, as proof of the divinity of His gospel, performed a number of signs and wonders - without which people could not believe in Him; and, in addition, to destroy the realm of the devil - hell, to truly defeat death and open for us the entrance to the kingdom of heaven.

In His miracles He demonstrated power over all nature: He transformed water into wine, walked on waters, tamed the storm of the sea with one word, healed all kinds of diseases with one word or touch, gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, tongue to the dumb.

He demonstrated his power over the forces of hell. With one command He cast out unclean spirits from people; the demons themselves, learning about His power, trembled at His power.

Jesus Christ defeated and destroyed hell when He abolished by His death the ruler of the power of death - the devil; He descended into hell with His soul, like God, to preach salvation to the captives of hell, and brought from there all the Old Testament righteous people to the bright abodes of the Heavenly Father.

Jesus Christ conquered death by His resurrection. As a result of the resurrection of Christ, we will all one day be resurrected, since through faith in Christ and through communion with His holy sacraments we become partakers of Him.

After the liberation of the Old Testament righteous from hell, Jesus Christ solemnly ascended to heaven with the human nature He assumed and, thus, opened for all people free entry into the kingdom of heaven.

7. Dogmas of Sanctification

In order for every person to become a partaker of salvation, it is necessary to sanctify the person, i.e. the actual assimilation by each of us of the merits of Christ, or such a thing in which the all-holy God, under certain conditions on our part, really cleanses us from sins, justifies us and makes us sanctified and holy.

All Persons of the Holy Trinity participate in the work of our sanctification: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Father appears to be the source of our sanctification. The Holy Spirit appears to be the accomplisher of our sanctification. The Son appears to be the author of our sanctification.

The grace of God, i.e. the saving power of God is communicated to us for the sake of the merits of our Redeemer and accomplishes our sanctification.

Particular types of grace: external, acting through the Word of God, the Gospel, miracles, etc.; internal, acting directly in a person, destroying sins in him, enlightening the mind, directing his will to good; transitory, producing private impressions and contributing to private good deeds; a constant that constantly dwells in a person’s soul and makes him righteous; preceding, preceding good deed; accompanying, which accompanies good deeds; sufficient gives a person sufficient strength and convenience to act; effective, accompanied by human action that bears fruit.

God foresaw that some people would use their free will well, and others poorly: therefore, He predestined some to glory, and condemned others.

The prevenient grace of God, like a light illuminating those who walk in darkness, guides everyone. Therefore, those who wish to freely submit to her and fulfill her commands, which are necessary for salvation, therefore receive special grace. Those who do not want to obey and follow grace, and therefore do not keep the commandments of God, but, following the suggestions of Satan, abuse their freedom given to them by God so that they arbitrarily do good, are subject to eternal condemnation.

The grace of God extends to all people, and not only to those predestined to a righteous life; God's predestination of some to eternal bliss, others to eternal damnation, is not unconditional, but conditional, and is based on the foreknowledge of whether they will or will not use grace; God's grace does not restrict human freedom and does not act irresistibly on us; man actively participates in what the grace of God accomplishes in him and through him.

8. Dogmas about the Holy Church

The Church of Christ is called either the society of all rationally free beings, i.e. angels and people who believe in Christ the Savior and are united in Him as their single head; or a society of people who believed and believe in Christ, whenever they lived and wherever they are now; either only the New Testament and militant Church or the grateful Kingdom of Christ.

The Lord Jesus wanted people, having accepted the new faith, to maintain it not separately from each other, but for this purpose to form a certain community of believers.

Christ laid the beginning and foundation for His Church by choosing His first twelve disciples, who formed His first Church. He also established an order of teachers who would spread His faith among the nations; established the Sacraments of baptism, Eucharist and repentance.

Christ founded or established His Church only on the cross, where He acquired it with His blood. For only on the cross did the Lord redeem us and reunite us with God, only after suffering on the cross did He enter into the glory of God and could send down the Holy Spirit to His disciples.

Endowed with power from above, the holy Apostles from among those who believe in different places they tried to form societies that were called churches; commanded these believers to have meetings to hear the word of God and offer prayers; exhorted them that they all formed one body of the Lord Jesus; they were commanded not to leave their meeting under fear of excommunication from the Church.

All people are called to be members of the Church, but not all are actually members. Only those who are baptized belong to the Church. Those who have sinned but profess the pure faith of Christ also belong to the church, so long as they do not become apostates. Apostates, heretics, renegades (or schismatics) are cut off as dead members by the invisible action of God's judgment.

The purpose of the Church, for which the Lord founded it, is the sanctification of sinners, and then reunification with God. To achieve this goal, the Lord Jesus gave His Church Divine teaching and established the order of teachers; He established holy sacraments and sacred rites in general in His Church, and established spiritual administration and rulers in His Church. the church is obliged to preserve the precious deposit of the saving doctrine of faith and to spread this teaching among the nations; preserve and use the Divine sacraments and sacred rites in general for the benefit of people; preserve the governance established by God in it and use it in accordance with the intention of the Lord.

The church is divided into flock and hierarchy. The flock consists of all believers in the Lord Jesus, while the hierarchy, or hierarchy, is a special God-established class of people whom the Lord has authorized alone to manage the means that He has given to the Church for its purpose.

The three degrees of the Divinely established hierarchy are bishops, priests and deacons. The bishop in his diocese is the locum tenens of Christ and, therefore, the main commander over the entire hierarchy subordinate to him and over the entire flock. He is the main teacher for both ordinary believers and pastors. The bishop is the first celebrant of the holy sacraments in his private church. He alone has the right to ordain a priest on the basis of the word of God, the rules of the holy Apostles and holy Councils. The priest has the power to perform the sacraments and generally sacred rites, except those belonging to the bishop. He is subject to the constant supervision, authority and judgment of his archpastor. Deacons are the eye and ear of the bishop and priest.

Twice a year, a council of bishops, private or local, should meet to discuss the dogmas of piety and resolve church disagreements that occur.

The concentration of spiritual power for the universal Church is in the Ecumenical Councils.

The true Head of the Church is Jesus Christ, who holds the helm of the rule of the Church and revives it with the one and saving grace of the Holy Spirit.

The Church is one, holy, catholic and saving. It is united in its beginning and foundation, in its structure, external (division into shepherds and flocks), internal (the union of all believers in Jesus Christ as the true Head of the Church); according to your goal. It is holy in its origin and foundation; according to its purpose, according to its structure (its Head is the All-Holy Lord Jesus; the Holy Spirit dwells in it with all the grace-filled gifts that sanctify us; and a number of others). It is conciliar, otherwise catholic or universal in space (intended to embrace all people, no matter where they live on earth); in time (intended to lead to faith in Christ and exist until the end of time); according to its structure (the teaching of the Church can be accepted by all people, educated and uneducated, without being associated with civil order and therefore to no specific place and time). It is apostolic in origin (since the Apostles were the first to accept the power to spread the Christian faith and founded many private churches); according to its structure (the Church originates from the Apostles themselves through the continuous succession of bishops, borrows its teaching from the writings and traditions of the apostles, rules the believers according to the rules of the holy apostles).

Outside the Church there is no salvation for a person, since faith in Jesus Christ is necessary. who reconciled us with God, and faith remains intact only in His Church; participation in the holy sacraments, which are performed only in the Church; a good, pious life, cleansing from sins, which is possible only under the leadership of the Church.

9. Dogmas about the Sacraments of the Church

A sacrament is a sacred action that is visibly communicates to the soul of the believer the invisible grace of God.

The essential accessories of each sacrament are considered to be the Divine institution of the sacrament, some visible or sensory image, and the communication of invisible grace to the soul of the believer by the sacrament.

There are seven sacraments in total: baptism, confirmation, communion, repentance, priesthood. marriage, unction. In baptism a person is mysteriously born into spiritual life; in anointing he receives restoring and strengthening grace; in communion he is nourished spiritually; in repentance one is cured of spiritual illnesses, i.e. from sins; in the priesthood he receives the grace to spiritually regenerate and educate others through teaching and sacraments; in marriage he receives grace that sanctifies marriage and the natural birth and upbringing of children; in the consecration of oil, one is healed from bodily diseases through healing from spiritual diseases.

10. Dogmas about the Sacrament of Priesthood

So that people could become shepherds of Christ's Church and receive the power to perform the sacraments, the Lord instituted another special sacrament - the sacrament of the priesthood.

Priesthood is such a sacred act in which, through the prayerful laying on of the hands of the bishops on the head of the chosen person, God's grace is brought down to this person, sanctifying and placing him on a certain level of the church hierarchy, and then assisting him in the passage of hierarchical duties.

11. Dogmas about God as Judge and Rewarder

God accomplishes the great work of sanctifying people or assimilating the merits of Christ in no other way than with the free participation of the people themselves, under the conditions of their faith and good deeds. For the accomplishment of this work, God has appointed a limit: for private individuals it continues until the end of their earthly life, and for the entire human race it will continue until the very end of the world. At the end of both periods, God is and has to appear as the Judge and Rewarder for every person and all of humanity. He demands and will demand from people an account of how they used the means given for their sanctification and salvation, and will reward everyone according to their deserts.

The entire Holy Trinity participates in the matter of judging us and rewarding us.

The death of a person is an essential circumstance preceding this trial.

Death is the separation of the soul from the body, the cause of death lies in its fall into sin, death is the common destiny of the entire human race, death is the limit by which the time of exploits ends and the time of retribution begins.

The souls of the dead are blissful or tormented, depending on their deeds. However, neither this bliss nor this torment is perfect. They receive them perfect after the general resurrection.

Retribution to the righteous by the will of the heavenly Judge has two types: their glorification in heaven and their glorification on earth - in the militant Church.

The glorification of the righteous, after their death, on earth is expressed by the fact that the earthly Church honors them as saints and friends of God and calls them in prayers as intercessors before God; honors their very relics and other remains, as well as their sacred images or icons.

Sinners go with their souls to hell - a place of sadness and sorrow. Full and final reward for sinners will be at the end of this age.

Sinners who repented before death, but did not have time to bear fruits worthy of repentance (prayer, contrition, consolation of the poor and expression of love for God in their actions), still have the opportunity to receive relief from suffering and even complete liberation from the bonds of hell. But they can only be received by the goodness of God, through the prayers of the Church and charity.

12. Dogmas about the General Court

The day will come, the last day for the entire human race, the day of the end of the century and the world, the day established by God, who wants to carry out a general and decisive Judgment - the day of judgment.

On this day Jesus Christ will appear in His glory to judge the living and the dead. The Lord did not reveal to us when this great day would come, for our own moral benefit.

Signs of the coming of the Great Judgment: extraordinary successes of good on earth, the spread of the Gospel of Christ throughout the world; extraordinary successes of evil and the appearance on earth of the Antichrist, an instrument of the devil.

per day universal judgment The Lord will come from heaven - the Judge of the living and the dead, Who will abolish the Antichrist by the appearance of His coming; at the voice of the Lord the dead will rise for judgment and the living will be changed; the very judgment of both will take place; the end of the world and the gracious kingdom of Christ will follow.

At the conclusion of the general judgment, the righteous Judge will pronounce His final verdict on both the righteous and sinners. This retribution will be complete, perfect, decisive.

The reward for both the righteous and sinners will be proportionate to their good deeds and their sins and will extend from different degrees eternal bliss to varying degrees of eternal torment.

Presentation of dogmas based on the book: “Guide to the study of Christian, Orthodox dogmatic theology”, M.A.L., M., Synodal Printing House, 1913. - 368 + VIII p. According to the definition of the Holy Governing Synod. Reprint edition of the Center for the Study, Protection and Restoration of the Heritage of Priest Pavel Florensky, St. Petersburg, 1997.

"and the decrees of Christian ecumenical councils).

Christian dogma was formed in continuous disputes and the struggle of opinions of theologians over four centuries and was adopted as a “Creed”, consisting of 12 points, at the first two Christian ecumenical councils - Nicaea (325) and Constantinople (381).

1. The first paragraph talks about the divine trinity - faith in one God, appearing in three persons (hypostases): God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. God the Father is not begotten of anyone, exists from eternity, but he himself begets the Son and produces the Holy Spirit; The Son is eternally born from the Father; The Holy Spirit comes from God the Father according to Orthodoxy, and in Catholicism from both God the Father and God the Son.

2. The dogma of the Incarnation, according to which Jesus Christ, while remaining God, at the same time became a man, born of the Virgin Mary.

3. The dogma of atonement is faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who with his death atoned for the sins of mankind.

4. Dogma of Resurrection - belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after execution and burial.

5. The dogma of the ascension is the belief in the bodily ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven.

6. Belief in the second coming of I. Christ to earth.

7. Faith in one, holy, catholic and apostolic church.

8. Belief in the sacrament of baptism.

9. Belief in the resurrection of the dead.

10. Belief in the afterlife, in heavenly reward.

11. Belief in the immortality of the soul, angels and the devil.

12. Belief in the end of the world.

Cult in Christianity is expressed mainly in rituals-sacraments, during the administration of which, according to the teachings of the church, special divine grace descends on believers. They are called sacraments because, according to the teachings of the church, their essence and meaning are inaccessible human consciousness, the real action takes place in heaven with God (for example, they say: “Marriages take place in heaven”). In total, there are 7 sacraments in Christianity.

Baptism - one of the most important rituals, without which a person cannot be counted among the Christian faith. The baptism procedure consists of immersing the baby three times in a font of water (Orthodox), dousing with water (Catholics), sprinkling with water (Protestants) with the invocation of God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, which means spiritual birth. During Orthodox baptism, the priest also reads three prohibition spells, addressing them to the devil, blows into the mouth, forehead and chest of the newborn, calling on God to drive out the evil spirit. Then a ritual of “cleansing from the devil” is performed, during which the priest and the newborn’s godsons spit on the floor three times - as if on Satan. After baptism, the child is named after, most often the saint whose memory is celebrated on the day of baptism.

According to Christian doctrine, baptism cleanses a newborn from the sin of his forefathers and drives away the devil, as a result of which a person is born again and receives the right to eternal life in the heavenly kingdom.

The theory of the “second birth” of man is attributed to Jesus Christ himself (Gospel of John). The letters of Paul explain in detail the meaning of the Christian teaching about the second “birth” of a person through baptism: it is associated with faith in the resurrection, and baptism itself is considered as death in Christ, which guarantees the believer at the same time a joint resurrection with Christ into a new life.

Communion - (holy Eucharist - from Greek eucharistia - thanksgiving sacrifice). In the sacrament of communion, the believer, under the guise of bread and wine, eats the Body and Blood of Christ for Eternal Life.

The sacrament of communion, according to Christian doctrine, was established by Christ himself at the Last Supper, and thereby he “gave praise to God and the Father, blessed and consecrated the bread and wine, and, having communed with his disciples, finished last supper prayer for all believers.” In memory of this event, the church performs the sacrament of communion. The priest takes the prosphora and cuts out a cube on the sacrificial table, which is called “lamb.” At the same time, he says: “Like a sheep being led to the slaughter.” Then he cuts the “lamb” into four parts, pronouncing out loud the words: “The lamb of God is being sacrificed,” pierces it with a spear and says: “Take, eat, this is my body, and drink from it, all of you, this is my blood.”

In Catholicism, the clergy receive communion with bread and wine, and the laity only with (unleavened) bread. In Orthodoxy, both clergy and laity receive communion in the same way: wine and leavened bread. In Protestantism, people receive communion only with bread (breaking of bread).

Confirmation - anointing with myrrh (specially prepared and consecrated olive-based oil) on individual parts of the body and thereby transmitting the “grace of the holy spirit.” Anointing the “brow” means the sanctification of the mind, the anointing of the chest means the sanctification of the heart or desires, the anointing of the eyes, ears and lips means the sanctification of the senses, the anointing of the hands and feet means the sanctification of the deeds and all behavior of a Christian.

In Orthodoxy, chrismation is performed on an infant, in Catholicism (confirmation) on children aged 8 or more years, and in Protestantism it is completely absent.

Repentance (confession) - this is an admission of one’s sins before the priest, who absolves them in the name of Jesus Christ.

Priesthood (ordination) is a sacred act consisting in the fact that the bishop, who has the monopoly right of ordination, lays hands on the person being ordained to the clergy.

Marriage - takes place in the temple at the wedding, the marital union of the bride and groom is blessed.

Blessing of oil (unction) - anointing the body with oil, while calling upon the sick the grace of God, healing mental and physical infirmities. This sacrament is intended for seriously ill believers and those near death.

In the Christian cult great place reserved for holidays and fasting. As a rule, fasting is preceded by great church holidays. The essence of fasting, according to Christian doctrine, is the “purification” and “renewal of the human soul.” In Christianity, there are 4 multi-day fasts: before Easter (Lent), before the day of Peter and Paul (Petrov Fast), before the Dormition of the Virgin Mary (Assumption Fast) and before the Nativity of Christ (Rozhdestvensky). The most revered general Christian holidays include Easter, and the so-called “twelfth” holidays: the Nativity of Christ, the Presentation, the Baptism of the Lord, the Transfiguration, the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord, the Annunciation, the Nativity of the Virgin, the Entry into the Temple of the Virgin, the Dormition of the Virgin.

Word "dogma" comes from the Greek verb - think, believe, believe (the past form of this verb means: decided, decided, determined).

Tenets- these are truths that contain the teaching about God and His relationship to the world and man, defined by the Church and taught by it as indisputable and obligatory rules of faith for all believers. The expression “dogma”, used in modern Orthodox dogmatic theology, means the truth of faith precisely formulated for the general church consciousness, which has 4 characteristic features: theological, divine revelation, churchliness, legality.

1.Theological dogmas indicates that the content of dogmatic truths is the teaching about God in Himself and His relationship to the world and man. The main subject is man and his relationship to God. God. Moral (commandment). The Church called the abbreviated statement of dogmas the Creed and begins it with the word “I believe.”

2.Godly revelation - characterizes dogmas as truths revealed by God Himself, for the Apostles received teaching not from men, but through the revelation of Jesus Christ (Gal. 1:12). In their content, they are not the fruit of the activity of natural reason, like scientific truths or philosophical statements. If philosophical, historical and scientific truths are relative and can be refined over time, then dogmas are absolute and unchangeable truths, for the word of God is truth (John 17:17) and abides forever (1 Pet. 1:25).

3. Churchness dogmas indicates that only Universal Church at its Councils it gives the Christian truths of faith dogmatic authority and meaning. This does not mean that the Church itself creates dogmas. She, as “the pillar and foundation of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15) only unmistakably establishes behind this or that truth of Revelation the meaning of the unchangeable rule of faith.

4. Legality .

dogmas means that these dogmas reveal the essence of the Christian faith necessary for the salvation of man. Dogmas are the unshakable laws of our faith. If in the liturgical life of individual Orthodox Local Churches There is some originality, then in dogmatic teaching there is strict unity between them. Dogmas are obligatory for all members of the Church, therefore it is patient with any sins and weaknesses of a person in the hope of his correction, but does not forgive those who stubbornly seek to muddy the purity of the apostolic teaching.

The main tenets of Orthodoxy are as follows:

• Dogma of the Holy Trinity
• Dogma of the Fall
• Dogma of the Redemption of Mankind from Sin
• Dogma of the Incarnation of Our Lord Jesus Christ
• Dogma of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ
• Dogma of the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ
• Dogma of the Second Coming of the Savior and the Last Judgment
• Dogma on the unity, conciliarity of the Church and the continuity of teaching and priesthood in it
• Dogma about the general resurrection of people and the future life
• Dogma of the two natures of the Lord Jesus Christ. Adopted at the IV Ecumenical Council in Chalcedon
• The dogma of two wills and actions in the Lord Jesus Christ. Adopted at the VI Ecumenical Council in Constantinople
• Dogma on icon veneration. Adopted at the VII Ecumenical Council in Nika

Canons of the Orthodox Church

Church canons- these are the main church rules, determining the order of life of the Orthodox Church (its internal structure, discipline, private aspects of the life of Christians). Those. Unlike the dogmas in which the doctrine of the Church is formulated, the canons define the norms church life.

The canons are the same for everyone Orthodox people all countries, approved at the Ecumenical and Local Councils and cannot be canceled. Those. the authority of the sacred canons is eternal and unconditional. The canons are the indisputable law that determines the structure and governance of the Church.

Canons of the Church They represent a model for every believer, on the basis of which he must build his life or check the correctness of his actions and actions. Anyone who moves away from them moves away from correctness, from perfection, from righteousness and holiness.

The schism on canonical issues in the Church is just as fundamental as on dogmatic issues, but it is easier to overcome because it concerns not so much the worldview - what we believe in, how much of our behavior - how we believe. Most schisms on canonical issues concern the topic of church authority, when some group, for some reason, suddenly considers the existing church authority “illegal” and declares its complete independence from the Church, and sometimes even considers only itself the “true church”. Such was the schism with the Old Believers, such are the schisms in Ukraine today, such can be many marginal groups calling themselves “true” or “autonomous” Orthodox. Moreover, in practice, it is often much more difficult for the Orthodox Church to communicate with such schismatics than with dogmatic schisms, because people’s thirst for power and independence is very often stronger than their desire for the Truth.

Nevertheless, canons can be modified in history, however, maintaining their inner meaning . The Holy Fathers did not respect the letter of the canon, but precisely the meaning that the Church put into it, the thought that it expressed in it. For example, some canons that are not related to the essence of church life, due to changes historical conditions, sometimes lost their meaning and were abolished. In their time, both the literal meaning and instructions of the Holy Scriptures were lost. Thus, the wise teaching of St. ap. Paul about the relationship between masters and slaves lost its literal meaning with the fall of slavery, but the spiritual meaning underlying this teaching has, one might say, enduring significance and the words of the great Apostle and now can and should be a moral guide in the relationships of Christians standing at different levels of the social ladder , despite the proclaimed principles of freedom, equality and fraternity.

In the Russian Orthodox Church, all canons are published in "Book of Rules".

The “Book of Rules” is a set of laws that came from the Apostles and St. Church Fathers - laws approved by the Councils and laid down as the basis of Christian society, as the norm of its existence.

This collection contains the rules of St. The Apostles (85 rules), the rules of the Ecumenical Councils (189 rules), the ten Local Councils (334 rules) and the rules of the thirteen saints. Fathers (173 rules). Along with these basic rules, several canonical works of John the Faster, Nicephorus the Confessor, Nicholas the Grammar, Basil the Great, John Chrysostom and Anastasius (134 rules) are still valid.

Total canons Orthodox Church - 762 .

In a broad sense, canons refer to all the decrees of the Church, both related to dogma and those relating to the structure of the Church, its institutions, discipline and the religious life of church society.

Theological opinion

Of course, the experience of Christianity is broader and fuller than the dogmas of the Church. After all, only the most necessary and essential for salvation is dogmatized. There is still a lot that is mysterious and unrevealed in the Holy Scriptures. This conditions the existence theological opinions.

Theological opinion is not a general church teaching, like dogma, but is the personal judgment of one or another theologian. The theological opinion must contain a truth that is at least consistent with Revelation.

Of course, any arbitrariness in theology is excluded. The criterion for the truth of this or that opinion is its agreement with the Holy Tradition, and the criterion for admissibility is not a contradiction with it. Orthodox and legitimate theological opinions and judgments should be based not on logic and rational analysis, but on direct vision and contemplation. This is achieved through the feat of prayer, through the spiritual formation of a believer...

Theological opinions are not infallible. Thus, in the writings of some Church Fathers there are often erroneous theological opinions, which nevertheless do not contradict the Holy Scriptures.

Translation from Serbian by Sergei Fonov

Rev. Justin Popovich

§ 1. The concept of dogma

The very term “dogmatics” contains the subject of dogmatics and the concept of it, which themselves suggest a logical definition: dogmatics is the science of the dogmas of the Christian faith. But since in different Christian denominations dogmas can be understood and interpreted differently, the Orthodox Church, expounding and interpreting divinely revealed dogmas in the evangelical, apostolic and ecumenical spirit, calls its dogma Orthodox, thereby distinguishing it and protecting it from non-evangelical, non-apostolic, non-ecumenical, non-Orthodox understandings of the dogmas of salvation. Consequently, Orthodox dogmatics is a science that systematically and in the spirit of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church expounds and interprets the tenets of the Christian faith.

§ 2. The concept of dogmas

Dogmas are God-revealed eternal truths of faith, contained in Holy Revelation and preserved, explained and communicated by the Church as Divine, life-giving and unchangeable rules of salvation. The word “dogma” itself is of Greek origin, it is formed from the verb dokein (to think, to believe, (in the 3rd person dedoktai - decided, to consider, to believe) in its form dedogmai defined) and etymologically means a thought that has received its definition and established as an indisputable logical truth in any sphere human activity: philosophical, religious, legislative. Ancient Greek and Roman writers use the word “dogma” in a philosophical, moral, legislative sense with the meaning of “teaching”, “rule”, which, due to its undeniable truth, for many acquired the meaning of a logically and factually obligatory truth, commandment, law, prescription (command).

In the Old Testament, the word “dogma” means, on the one hand, political orders, state decrees and laws (see: Dan. 2, 13; 3, 10; 6, 8–9; Esther 3, 9), and on the other - the commandments of the Mosaic Law (see: Ezek. 20, 24) or regulations relating to religious life in general (see: 2 Mac. 10, 8; 15, 36).

In the New Testament, the word “dogma” is used five times in a double sense: politically - and means royal decrees and commands (see: Luke 2:1; Acts 17:7) - and religiously, reflecting the requirements of the Mosaic Law, which had in due time, binding force for every Jew (see: Col. 2, 14), as well as New Testament decrees, binding for all members of Christ’s Church. For in the Acts of the Holy Apostles it is said that the apostles Paul and Timothy commanded the faithful to observe the decrees decreed by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem (Acts 16:4). Drawing a distinction between the prescriptions of the Mosaic Law and the New Testament truths and dogmas, the Apostle Paul says that the Lord Jesus Christ abolished the law of the commandments (of Moses) with dogmas (cf. Eph. 2:15).

Consequently, since apostolic times there has been formed ecclesiastical significance the word “dogma” as the Divine, indisputable, absolute and universally binding truth of faith. The great zealot of the God-given, apostolic Tradition, Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, calls the basic truths of faith contained in the Symbol of the Church of Jerusalem necessary dogmas, dogmas of piety, and the feat of faith by which they are acquired, he calls the dogmatic image of faith. He calls the entire New Testament teaching about God dogmas about God, and considers the personal and life-giving assimilation of these dogmas to be active faith a necessary condition salvation, concluding: “The greatest benefit is the study of dogmas.” Having listed all the New Testament truths about God, Son of God, the Holy Spirit, about good and evil and in general about the economy of salvation, Saint Gregory the Theologian calls on the catechumens to affirm their good, their salvation, their new life “on the basis of these dogmas.” Saint Gregory of Nyssa divides all Christian teaching into two parts: the moral part and the exact dogmas. Saint John Chrysostom understands the Christian doctrine by dogmas, and Vincent of Lerins calls the universal faith the universal dogma. At the Ecumenical Councils, the word “dogma” was used in the meaning of “the truth of Christian doctrine,” and the holy fathers at the Councils called their definitions of faith dogmas, while all other decisions and regulations were called canons and rules. This is partly reflected in the fact that the Church gives the name dogmatist to those liturgical stichera that contain the doctrine of the Most Holy Theotokos, the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the two natures in one Person of the God-Man.

Thus, in the language of the Church, dogmas in the strict sense of the word are called only those revealed truths that relate to faith, in contrast to divinely revealed truths of a moral, ritual and canonical nature, but one should never lose sight of the fact that all of them, in the end, , form one indivisible whole.

§ 3. Properties of dogmas

What makes dogmas eternal Divine truths and characterizes them as such are their special properties: revelation of God, churchliness, universal bindingness and immutability.

a) Divine revelation is the main property that makes dogmas dogmas, for it affirms their Divine origin. According to this, dogmas are not only truths of faith, but truths of faith revealed by God Himself. Their divine origin makes them irrefutably true, eternal, saving, incomprehensible, super-intelligent. If God Himself had not revealed the dogmas, neither rational humanity as a whole, much less the mind of an individual person, would ever have been able to reach them through any effort. Consequently, dogmas are the subject of faith; they are accepted by faith as supra-rational divine truths, which the Church emphasizes by beginning the Creed with the word “I believe...”. Having Divine origin, dogmas contain divinely revealed truths about the Trinity Divinity and His relationship to the world and man, that is, about God as Creator, about God as Provider, about God as Redeemer, about God as Sanctifier and about God as Judge. And in all this, only God knows Himself, therefore only He can reveal Himself and His truths (see: Matt. 11:27). He does this through His incarnate Only Begotten Son (see: John 1:18, 14), in Whom dwells all the fullness of the Divinity bodily (Col. 2:9), and thereby all the fullness of the Divine truths that He reveals according to His Divine favor to those who believe in Him, live by Him and for His sake. Due to the fact that these dogmatic truths are the truths of Christ, they are Divine, eternal, unchangeable and absolutely reliable (see: John 14, 6; 1, 17; 8, 12; 12, 35, 46). They are the perfect and complete Revelation of God, that is, last word which God directly proclaims to people through His Only Begotten Son (see: Heb. 1:1).

Divine origin distinguishes Christian dogmas as eternal Divine truths from the dogmas of non-Christian religions and philosophical teachings as human, relative, transitory truths. Outside of Christ's Revelation there are no eternal, Divine dogmatic truths and there cannot be. Divine dogmas are given once and for all in Holy Revelation, and the Church as such preserves and confesses them. Bearing in mind the Divine origin of dogmas and everything that follows from this, the Holy Fathers and teachers of the Church call dogmas the dogmas of God, the dogmas of Christ, the dogmas of the Lord, the dogmas of the Gospel, the Divine dogmas, the apostolic dogmas, the dogmas of truth, the dogmas of heavenly philosophy. Saint Basil the Great writes: “Of the dogmas and sermons preserved in the Church, some we have from written teaching (that is, Holy Scripture), and others that have come to us from the Apostolic Tradition, we have received mysteriously, but both have the same power for piety."

b) Churchness is the second distinctive property of each dogma. Due to the fact that dogmas are the work of Revelation, they are also the work of the Church. For the Church is the Body of Revelation. Undoubtedly, Divine Revelation contains all the dogmatic truths of faith, but since Revelation resides only in the Church, the verbal formulation and interpretation of holy dogmas belongs to the Church as the Theanthropic Body of Christ living and working by the Holy Spirit. In this activity she is infallible, for her Head is the sinless Lord Jesus Christ, and her soul is the Holy Spirit of truth, who guides into all truth (cf. Eph. 1:23; 5:23; Col. 1:18, 24; John 16, 13). It is obvious that churchliness as a property of dogmas is organically and logically determined by their revelation to God and vice versa. However, no human logic can draw a dividing line between revelation of God and churchliness as properties of dogmas, just as it cannot be drawn between Revelation and the Church. For Revelation is Revelation by the Church and in the Church, just as the Church is the Church by Revelation and in Revelation. By the immutability of their natures, they are internally inextricably connected and interdependent. There can be no dogmas outside the Church, because outside of it there can be no true Divine Revelation. Dogma is dogma only by the Church, in the Church, through the Church. Since the Church is the only guardian and interpreter of the Holy Revelation appointed by God, she is also the only authorized judge who, by Divine gift and right, infallibly distinguishes true Revelation from false, determines the canonicity of the sacred books and proclaims divinely revealed truths as dogmas. Outside of it, without it, bypassing it, the eternal truths of Revelation themselves, losing their Divine truth, constancy and immutability, become the prey of self-willed human morals. We see an example of this in heretics, who are usually distinguished by the fact that they interpret the eternal and supramental truths of Revelation according to their own understanding, not at all guided by the holy, conciliar, apostolic, universal reason of the Church. The Lord Jesus Christ made the Church His Theanthropic Body, filled it forever with the Spirit of Truth and determined for it to be the pillar and foundation of the truth (cf.: 1 Tim. 3, 15; see: John 16, 13; 8, 32, 34, 36) , so that through all centuries she will serve as a fearless guardian and infallible interpreter of the eternal, Divine truths of the Holy Scriptures and Holy Tradition. As such, she can neither sin, nor deceive, nor be mistaken. Her word in all matters of Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition is the word of God Himself. In it and by it the Lord Jesus Christ speaks by His Holy Spirit, guiding believers to all the truth of Holy Revelation. The first proof of this is contained in the book of the Acts of the Holy Apostles, when the Church, represented by its representatives, guided by the Holy Spirit, promulgates dogmatic decrees that are binding on all members of the Church, with the words: For it was good for the Holy Spirit and for us (Acts. 15, 28; cf.: 16, 4).

In accordance with this divinely revealed, apostolic principle, all the Holy Ecumenical Councils of the Orthodox Church took place, infallibly interpreting and proclaiming the Divine dogmas of the Holy Revelation. Since the Church has such God-given power and the right to establish holy dogmas, the holy fathers call the dogmas dogmas of the Church, church dogmas. Consequently, only one who believes and accepts all the dogmas of faith can be a member of the Church as the Church contains and explains them; and the one who opposes this, rejecting them or distorting them, is cut off by the Church from her Theanthropic Body and excommunicated. Having listed all the dogmas of the previous Ecumenical Councils, the Holy Fathers of the Sixth Ecumenical Council decree: “If anyone of all does not contain and accept the above-mentioned dogmas of piety, and does not think and preach like this, but attempts to go against them: let him be anathema... from the Christian class, as an alien, let him be excluded and cast out" (Rule 1 of the Sixth Ecumenical Council).

c) The universality of dogmas, commanded by the holy fathers of the Sixth Ecumenical Council, is a natural consequence of their Divine origin and necessity for the salvation of every member of the Church. Revealed by the Trisolar Deity, approved and promulgated by the Church of Christ as eternal, Divine truths, immutable for salvation, the dogmas are thereby obligatory for everyone who wants to be saved. Renunciation of them is a renunciation of the Savior and His redemptive feat of salvation [of the human race]. The assimilation of dogmas by faith as eternal, saving and life-giving truths of God brings salvation and eternal life to every person. In their divinely revealed purity and truth, dogmas are necessary for salvation; anyone who attempts to replace or alter them incurs a terrible apostolic anathema: If we, or an angel from heaven, bring you good news, let him be anathema (Gal. 1:8; cf. 1 John 2:21-22). By the authority given to her by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself (see: John 20:21–23; Matt. 18:17–18), the Church has acted and always does this (see: Rule 1 of the Sixth Ecumenical Council). From everyone who approaches it, it requires confession of all Divine dogmas of faith; and if he tolerates various sinners within himself, trying to correct and save them, then in accordance with the commandments of the Savior (see: Matt. 18, 17-18; 10, 32-33; Mark 8, 38; Luke 9, 26; 12:9; cf. 2 Tim. 2:12), excommunicates those who oppose the holy dogmas or pervert them.

Acceptance of dogmas is a universally obligatory, indispensable condition for salvation also because it depends on moral life people. Having assimilated by faith the eternal dogmatic truths of Revelation, man, through the gospel deeds of prayer, fasting, love, hope, meekness, humility, mercy, love of truth and the Holy Sacraments, transforms them into his nature, gradually growing in the age of God in order to come to the measure full age Christ (Eph. 4:13; cf. Col. 2:19). Since holy dogmas are eternal and saving Divine truths by the life-giving power of the Trinity Divinity, from Whom they are taught, then they contain all the power of new life according to Christ, all the power of grace-filled gospel morality. They are truly the words of eternal life (John 6:68). Due to the fact that these are the words of Christ, they are spirit and life (John 6:63). Without believing in them, no one can know eternal meaning this temporary life, nor to be rewarded with blessed immortality and eternal life (see: John 6:69; 14:6; 1 John 5:20). Only when, through the feat of active faith, a person assimilates the eternal dogmatic truths of Christ, only then does he become a branch on the Divine vine - Christ, and the juices of eternal, Divine life begin to flow through him, strengthening him to bear much fruit for eternal life (see: John 15, 2–7). This is the only path along which a person fertilizes his nature, which has been deprived of fruitfulness by sin, with immortality and eternity. There is no other way. A person is capable of growing into the height of Divine perfections (see: Matt. 5:48) if, through the feat of selfless faith, he makes himself a sharer of the root of Divine, Christ truths (cf.: Rom. 11:17).

In reality, dogmas are Divine commandments, Divine rules of new life in the Holy Spirit: after all, with their imperishable light they illuminate the believer’s entire path from the dark cave of the flesh into the heavenly azure of Christ’s eternity. It follows from this that Orthodox ethics is nothing more than dogmatics embodied in life. The new life in Christ is entirely woven from the dogmatic truths of Holy Revelation. For the Church is the Body in which divine dogmatic truths flow like blood, reviving with eternal life all parts of the divine-human organism. In the mysterious, grace-filled Body of the Church, everything - by the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit - is connected into one miraculous Divine-human whole. Whoever, through the Orthodox feat of faith, integrates himself into the Theanthropic Body of Christ's Church, will feel with his whole being that dogmas are holy, life-giving forces, gradually regenerating him from mortal to immortal, from temporary to eternal. At the same time, he will begin to realize with all his soul that life-giving dogmatic truths are absolutely necessary in the sphere human life and thinking and that therefore the Church is absolutely right in excommunicating those who reject dogmas or those who distort and reinterpret them. Rejection or distortion of dogmas is tantamount to spiritual suicide, for such a person cuts himself off from the life-giving Body of the Church, thereby interrupting the vital connection between himself and the grace-filled forces of the Church, which alone can fill a person with eternal, Divine life and transfer him from death to this eternal life. The indispensability of holy dogmas justifies all the zeal of the Church regarding the truths of the faith and explains all its God-wise determination in excommunicating those who reject or pervert the Divine dogmas. If the Church became indifferent to this, it would cease to be the Church, since it would thereby confirm that it does not realize the indispensability, life-giving and saving power of the eternal, Divine truths contained in the holy dogmas of Revelation.

Dogmas are generally binding truths of faith also because they are God-given norms of correct religious thinking and correct religious feeling. Relying on them, every Christian can elevate his thoughts and feelings to unattainable divine perfections. Outside of them, he constantly drowns in the quicksand of human relativism until it completely swallows him. Nowhere - neither on earth nor in heaven - is there greater freedom and more favorable opportunities for the immortal activity of human thought and feeling, as in the Divine, dogmatic truths of the Church, for they introduce man into the Kingdom of the Trinity Divinity, in which everything is infinite, eternal and immeasurable . Is there anywhere greater freedom than in the inexhaustible depths and boundless heights of God’s Spirit? The Apostle, who says: where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom, proclaims eternal truth (2 Cor. 3:17; cf. 1 Cor. 2:10-12; Rom. 8:16).

d) Immutability as a property of dogmas follows from their divine revelation, churchliness and necessity for human life and salvation. As God-given rules of faith, on the assimilation of which the salvation of people depends, dogmas are unchangeable and inviolable, therefore the Ecumenical Church of Christ anathema protects their immutability from those who encroach on it (see: Rule 1 of the Sixth Ecumenical Council). Just as God does not change, so His truths are immutable. Since dogmas are eternal, Divine truths, they do not change and cannot change, for they are from God, with whom there is no change or shadow of turning (James 1:17). The dogmas taught to the Church by God Himself, formulated and approved by the Church, are alien to any evolution, multiplication or reduction. “The dogmas of God are unchangeable,” says Saint Basil the Great. “The dogmas of heavenly philosophy,” writes Vikenty Lerinsky, “cannot be subject to any change, reduction or distortion, unlike earthly decrees, which can only be improved by constant amendments and notes.”

From the indicated properties that characterize dogmas as eternal, Divine truths, it follows that dogmas are the truths of Revelation, given by God to the Church as Divine, unchangeable and obligatory for all true rules of faith, without which and outside of which there is neither salvation nor knowledge of eternal life, no meaning in life.

§ 4. Dogmas and Holy Revelation

Divine Revelation is the only source of dogma. The Trinity Deity revealed Himself and His truths to people, so that they, having a correct idea of ​​Him and correct faith in Him, and also living by Him and His Divine truths, would find salvation for themselves from evil and sin and eternal life. God taught this Revelation gradually, through the holy Old Testament patriarchs and prophets, in order to finally fully announce it and complete it with His Only Begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. In many parts and in many ways in ancient times, God, who spoke to the Father as a prophet, in these last days spoke to us in the Son, Who set the heir to all, and in Him created the eyelids. In announcing His Revelation, God did not inflict any violence on the human mind and feelings, for He announced such Divine truths that people would never have comprehended either by the impulse of their thoughts or by the strength of their own sensations. By His Holy Spirit God taught people what human eye could never see, nor ear hear, nor feel the heart, - he revealed the wisdom hidden in the mystery of His Most Holy Being (see: 1 Cor. 2, 9, 10, 7). This God's wisdom - eternal, infinite, surpassing reason - could be taught to people only through God's direct Revelation (cf. Eph. 3:3; Gal. 1:12). And what is most amazing is that it is not expressed in words, but is revealed embodied in the Person of the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ - therefore Revelation reveals and preaches Christ, God’s power and God’s wisdom (1 Cor. 1:24; cf. Rom. 1:16 ), in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:3). Consequently, the Revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ is one in nature, in perfection, in completeness, for He in His Theanthropic Person really reveals God and all God’s truths contained within the boundaries human body and in the temporal and spatial category of human life (see: Col. 2, 9; John 14, 9; 1 John 1, 1–2). The Word became flesh (John 1:14), and with Him all Divine truths, for in Christ dwells all the fullness of the Divinity bodily (Col. 2:9). Having become flesh, He announced to us, revealed, showed God, which no one, neither before nor after Him, could or can do. Therefore, the apostle truly preaches the gospel: no one has ever seen God; The Only Begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has revealed (John 1:18; cf.: 6:46; 5:37; 12:45). The Savior Himself testifies to this: No one knows the Son except the Father; no one knows the Father but the Son, and whatever the Son wills to reveal (Matt. 11:27; cf. John 3:34–35; 6:46; Matthew 16, 17).

Such a Revelation, Divine in everything, perfect, surpassing reason, serves as the only source of holy Divine dogmas. “We are not given the power to affirm anything we want,” testifies Saint Gregory of Nyssa, “in every dogma we are guided by the Holy Scripture as a rule and law... Therefore, we refuse to postulate our dogmas, guided by the rules of dialectical art, on the basis of conclusions and decomposition of concepts, built by knowledge - after all, such an image of presentation is unreliable and suspicious when verifying the truth. For everyone understands that dialectical pomp has the same power for both one and the other - both for the overthrow of truth and for the condemnation of lies. Since the Trinity Lord, having taught Revelation orally and in writing, handed it over to His Church for safekeeping, explanation and preaching, Divine Revelation is the source of holy dogmas in its two forms: Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition. Holy Scripture and Sacred Tradition in their Divine purity and completeness is preserved, explained and preached by the One Holy Catholic Apostolic infallible Orthodox Church of Christ. That's how they talk about it in modern times Orthodox first hierarchs: " Orthodox Christian must accept as true and undoubted that all members of the faith of the Catholic and Orthodox Church were betrayed to it by our Lord Jesus Christ through His Apostles, explained and approved by the Ecumenical Councils, and believe in them, as the Apostle commands: Therefore, brethren, stand and hold traditions, which you will learn either by word or by our message (2 Sol. 2:15). From this it is clear that members of the faith receive their importance and firmness partly from the Holy Scriptures, partly from Church Tradition and the teachings of the Holy Councils and Holy Fathers... that is, dogmas are of two kinds: some are handed down in writing and are contained in the books of Holy Scripture, while others are handed down orally the apostles; and these were explained by the Holy Councils and Holy Fathers. Our faith is based on these two kinds of dogmas... Although the Church is a creation of God, made up of men, its head is Christ Himself, the true God, and the Holy Spirit, Who constantly teaches her and makes her, as the Apostle says, the bride of Christ, without spot or wrinkle (Eph. 5:27) and a pillar and ground of the truth (cf. 1 Tim. 3:15). And its dogmas and teachings do not come from people, but from God. Therefore, when we say that we believe in the Church, we mean that we believe in the Scriptures, given to her by God, and in her God-inspired dogmas... This very thing encourages us to believe not only in the Holy Gospel, accepted by the Church, which Christ commanded, saying: believe in Gospel (Mark 1:15), but also in all other Scriptures and Council definitions." “We believe,” testify Orthodox patriarchs in the “Message of the Patriarchs of the Eastern Catholic Church on the Orthodox Faith” - that the Divine and Holy Scriptures are inspired by God; therefore, we must believe it unquestioningly, and, moreover, not in our own way, but exactly as it was explained and transmitted by the Ecumenical (Catholic) Church. For the superstition of heretics accepts the Divine Scripture, but only misrepresents it... Therefore, we believe that the testimony of the Catholic Church has no less power than the Divine Scripture. Since the author of both is one and the same Holy Spirit, it makes no difference whether one learns from Scripture or from the Universal Church. A person who speaks from himself can sin, deceive and be deceived, but the Universal Church, since she has never spoken and does not speak from herself, but from the Spirit of God (Whom she continually has and will have as her Teacher until the ages), in no way cannot sin, nor deceive, nor be deceived, but, like Divine Scripture, is infallible and has everlasting importance.”

References

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Christian dogma was formulated and generalized in IV- VIIIcenturies on Ecumenical Councils - congresses of representatives of Christian churches around the world, in the process of intense struggle between different directions in Christianity, theological schools, with the active participation of the imperial authorities, interested in church, and therefore state, unity.

The First Council of Nicaea made the divine origin of Jesus Christ (the first part of the Creed) a dogma. The First Council of Constantinople formulated the second part of the Creed, recognizing the divinity of the Holy Spirit. The Council of Ephesus made a dogma of the definition of Jesus Christ as the incarnate Logos - the Word of God, and also legalized the veneration of the Virgin Mary as the Mother of God. At the Council of Chalcedon, the church made a dogma of the understanding of Jesus Christ as true God and true man in one person. The dogma of the Trinity and Jesus Christ as the “consubstantial” Son of the Father was finally formalized at the Second Council of Constantinople.

The Third Council of Constantinople, in order to combat heresies, recognized the human will of Christ, and the Second Council of Nicea, condemning the iconoclasts who denied the veneration of icons as heresy, made the cult of icons mandatory.

Result of activity Ecumenical Councils - Creed, in a concentrated form containing all Christian dogma:

1. I believe in One God the Father, Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.

2. I believe in the One Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Only Begotten, from the Father before all ages, Light from Light, True God, begotten of True God, not created, Consubstantial with the Father.

I believe in the mystery of the incarnation and atonement of Jesus Christ.

I believe in the suffering of Jesus Christ, crucified for us under Pontius Pilate.

5. I believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day according to Scripture.

I believe in the ascension of Jesus Christ to heaven.

I believe in the Second Coming and the Last Judgment.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Life-Giving One, who proceeds from the Father.

9. I believe in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

10. I confess baptism and remission of sins.

11. I look forward to the coming resurrection of the dead.

12. I look forward to eternal life.

2.3. Holy Scripture of Christianity

The Holy Scriptures of Christians - the Bible (Greek books), consisting of Old Testament and the New Testament. According to Christian teaching, Holy Scripture is “inspired by God,” i.e. received as a result of divine revelation, and its texts are canonical (Greek law), binding on believers.

The Old Testament of Christians is a translation of the Jewish Tanakh. For Christians, it is inseparable from the later New Testament, which is categorically rejected by Judaism. Unlike Judaists, who read the Tanakh in the original, in Hebrew, Orthodox and Catholics revere the Old Testament, which goes back to the text of the Septuagint (Greek translation of 70 interpreters) - the translation of the Tanakh from Hebrew into Ancient Greek, carried out in the 3rd-2nd centuries. BC This translation contains not only the canonical Jewish Tanakh (39 books), but also 11 non-canonical books created by Diaspora Jews in a later era, as well as Greek additions to the canonical texts. Among Orthodox and Catholics, the number of revered books and additions to them differs slightly. Protestants consider the exact translation of the Old Testament from the Hebrew language to be canonical.

The New Testament, consisting of 27 books, is dedicated to the activities of Christ and his closest associates - the apostles (Greek messenger), and therefore bears the name New - in contrast to the Old, concluded by God only with the Jews. The apostles and their disciples are credited with the authorship of all the books of the New Testament. The structure of the New Testament can be divided into three parts:

Gospels	From Matthew, from Mark, from Luke, from John	A description of the birth, preaching activity, death and resurrection of Christ based on oral traditions	Middle I end of the 2nd century
Epistles of the Apostles	2 Epistles of James, 2 Epistles of Peter, 3 Epistles of John, Epistle of Jude, 14 Epistles of Paul	Messages exchanged by leaders of Christian communities in various cities for the purpose of preaching and developing common dogma	End I – beginning of the 2nd century
Other books	Acts of the Apostles	A late attempt to create a history of the preaching activities of the apostles
	Revelation of John (Apocalypse)	Part of the New Testament containing eschatological prophecies

There are some contradictions between the canonical texts of the Bible due to the fact that they were created at different times by representatives various trends in early Christianity. It is generally accepted that the oldest of the books of the New Testament is the Apocalypse; The oldest of the Gospels is the Gospel of Mark.

In addition to canonical texts, Christian texts have also been preserved. apocrypha (Greek hidden) - works that, for one reason or another, were rejected by the official church and were not included in the canon. As a result of archaeological searches, the Gospels of Peter, Philip, Thomas, the Gospel of Truth, the Apocalypse of Peter and other apocrypha were discovered.