Thus, Christianity is the religion of the Incarnation of God and, moreover, the only true religion of the Incarnation of God (if by God we understand the true One God). Otherwise, Christianity is one of the monotheistic religions (along with Judaism and Islam) professing faith in the One Almighty God. More precisely, Christianity ceases to be itself at all. The difference between Christianity and other religions lies not so much in the field of the doctrine of God ("after all, God is one for all"), but in the field of the teaching of how God and man are correlated.

From this it is clear that the term "incarnation" (or, to specify, "Incarnation") is "the most Christian," i.e., the most characteristic of Christianity as a religious worldview and theological doctrine. This term owes its appearance to St. John, who wrote in the Prologue of the Gospel:

And the Word was made flesh (John 1:14),

and then repeated in his 1st Conciliar Epistle:

2 ... every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ come in the flesh is from God; 3 And every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God, but is the spirit of antichrist... (1 John 4:2-3; cf. 2 John 7).

Born in John's contemplation, the term "incarnation" became the pinnacle and expression of the meaning of the entire New Testament, both as a collection of Scriptures and as the New Union of God with man. References to the Incarnation in other New Testament Scriptures (for example, the Pauline Epistles) seem to be echoes of John's confessions (cf. Col. 2:9; 1 Tim. 3:16).

Prologue (1:1-18)

Here it is appropriate to dwell in more detail on the famous Prologue of John, for it is precisely this Prologue that is the first and defining context in which the concept of the incarnation appears.

E-1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. E-2 It was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. E-4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not enveloped it. 6 There was a man sent from God; his name was John. 7 He came for a testimony, to bear witness of the Light, that all might believe through him. E-8 He was not a light, but was sent to bear witness to the Light. E-9 And there was a true Light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own received him not. 12 And to those who received him, to them that believe in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were not born of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; and we have seen His glory, the glory as the Only Begotten of the Father. 15 John testifies of Him, and crying out, he says, "This was the One of whom I said, that He who came after me stood before me, because he was before me." 16 And of his fullness we have all received, and grace for grace, 17 for the law was given through Moses. but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; The Only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has revealed.

Prologue Jn. is the most famous of all the prologues of the canonical Gospels. To a large extent, it is the Prologue of Jn. along with the general theological character of the Fourth Gospel, he earned the Evangelist John the nickname "the Theologian." It's a good idea to learn the Prologue of Yin. By heart (in Slavonic or in Russian, or even better in Greek, at least individual verses, for example, verses 1 or 14) is a truly beautiful, concise and theologically rich text.

Strictly speaking, the Prologue of Jn. is the only true prologue, if compared with the other Gospels (using the term "Prologue" without qualification, it is usually the John Prologue that is meant). Speaking of prologues in the Synoptic Gospels, we used this term with a certain stretch, since they are narrative texts, i.e. narratives, albeit of a preliminary nature (anticipating the story of the Lord's public ministry). The prologue of Jn. — a classical introduction of a general theological character, which can even be regarded as a poetic text in its own right[856] or a liturgical hymn in its own right.

The importance of this text in the Orthodox Church is emphasized by the fact that on Pascha the cycle of liturgical Gospel readings begins with it. This is the only Gospel text which, in the tradition of the Russian Orthodox Church, is read during the Paschal Liturgy not only in Church Slavonic, but also in the original language, Greek, as well as in Russian, among other foreign languages. True, in the liturgical version, the Prologue as the reading of the 1st day of Pascha (the 1st conception) ends with verse 17, and verse 18 begins the reading on Bright Monday.

The solemnity, unhurriedness, and doctrinality of the Prologue are its main external, stylistic features. A number of researchers are even inclined to think that we have before us another early Christian liturgical hymn[858] (see § 20.2). Sometimes it is even bolder to conclude that this hymn was not created by the evangelist himself, but before him, so that he only used it as an introduction to his Gospel. However, it is impossible to deny that, for all the obvious "theoretical," general theological, doctrinal character of the Prologue, which seems to contrast so much with the rest of the Gospel as a narrative of events, there are surprisingly many correspondences between the Prologue and the rest of the Gospel, both at the level of vocabulary and at the level of theological ideas. For example, many of the key words that form the basis of the theological lexicon of the Gospel are found in the Prologue (they are underlined in the text). At least 16 such words can be counted in the Prologue[860].

Almost every word of the Prologue resonates with a whole background, a whole world of religious and philosophical thought, associated primarily with the Bible. Researchers have put forward various hypotheses about the ideological prehistory of the Prologue, and therefore the entire Gospel of John: Gnosticism, Hellenism... (cf. § 45.1) But in the end, it becomes more and more clear that the main and most nourishing and closest background of the Prologue and the entire Gospel of John is the Old Testament and the Jewish theology of the first generation of Christians.