"Lectures" and "Treatises" of St. Innocent of Kherson (Borisov).

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Lecture

Lecture One. About religion in general

In discussing religion in general, we need to show where it comes from in man and how it originated; how it expresses itself and what its spirit is; what is the goal and what are its properties. From this its insufficiency and incompleteness will appear to us of itself, the need for another, higher and more perfect religion will be revealed, and thus the path to Christian theology will be paved. But since philosophy does not look at religion from the point from which we should look at it, so that the doctrine of religion in general can be a good preparation for theology, we will propose it here according to our purpose. Namely, we will consider religion from two sides: what is religion in itself, and is it sufficient in itself? That is why our treatise on religion in general will have two sections: 1) religion in itself; 2) religion according to its intrinsic dignity.

1. Religion in Itself

Before we show what religion is in itself, let us make a few remarks about the name of religion. Perhaps the concepts combined with its various names will contribute to our understanding of its essence.

Religion has various names. In the Holy Scriptures, it is called "covenant," "law," "service to God," "Jehovah's way," or simply "the way." Considered in the heart of man, it is called "walking with God, the fear of God"; among our ancestors it was called faith; now it is known among secular people under the name of "the law of God"; it is usually and more often called religion. The word religio has three word productions, each of which gives rise to thoughts about religion, one more edifying than the other. Thus, Cicero derives this name from relegre – to reread, to sort out, to investigate. For this reason, religion is nothing but erudition, knowledge, and is opposed to ignorance, is the daughter of light and is alien to all superstition. The Christian Cicero, Lactantius, produces religio from ligo to bind, to unite. Consequently, Lactantius calls religion the union between God and man; This name best expresses the essence of religion. Blessed Augustine characterizes religion even more, deriving it from religo – to reunite, to restore the union between two separated beings. According to this concept, religion is the connection of God with fallen man; This name expresses the essence of the religion that has existed since the fall of man, and consequently the Christian religion. The names of religion in Holy Scripture do not fully express its essence. Thus, a covenant, if by its name we mean promises on the part of God and their acceptance under certain conditions on the part of man, can most of all befit only the Jewish religion. The word law shows only the practical side of religion, which determines the way in which our activity is determined. "Service to God" is only the appearance of religion. "The way" is a significant expression: it also embraces the "descending" one on the part of God: God descended to man in creation, descends in providence, and will descend in the judgment to come; — and "ascending" on the part of man: man ascends to God through faith, hope, and love. "Walking" with God expresses the inner spiritual disposition of a person and the holy activity corresponding to it, from the feeling of God's omnipresence. "The fear of God" is a feeling that comes from the representation of God's justice, which curbs the evil inclinations of the will. Consequently, such a name is more appropriate to the Jewish religion, which restrained the stiff-necked Jews by fear, and not quite to the Christian religion. We call it "faith." Such a name characterizes religion from the point of view of its objects that exceed our understanding; but it embraces only the speculative part of theology. With the secular it is now called a "law," because they consider speculative knowledge unnecessary for themselves and understand religion only as the active teaching of faith. From these names it is evident that religion is the relation of man to God and of God to man. The question arises: what is it in itself? Where are the defendants to this question? There are two of them: the first is that "history" can and should answer; the second is that "philosophy" can and should answer.

1) In the field of world history, religion appears to us first of all as the "eternal companion" of all peoples in general.

For example, it is also present among the peoples who are most remote from the educated world, the Eskimos; the coarse inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego also have their own religion and their own gods. Although some travelers found peoples who seemed to have no traces of worship; but from this we should not in any way deny our position. For, in the first place, such examples are very rare.

It may be in the heart of the people, it may consist in some of their dark thoughts about the Divinity, on whom everything depends and by whom everything is governed. No coarseness can be inaccessible to religion. On the other hand, although there were enlightened people, philosophers, who rejected God's Providence and the dependence of the world on God and destroyed all religion, it is impossible to deny the truth of our previous position. Against this we can say the same as what has been said above, namely: first, these examples are very rare; secondly, the greater part of such philosophers were called by the name of atheists only because they rejected the gods of their fatherland; but they could confess other gods; thirdly, moreover, almost the majority of them spoke out of vanity, wrote godless systems out of a mere desire to show their wit. And even if there really were such freaks in the moral world, they destroy and overthrow the universality and necessity of religion as much as the freaks of the physical world overthrow the physical laws. Thus, the first property of religion, considered in the field of universal experience, is its universality. Therefore, it is not something accidental, but is a necessary attribute of the human race, a necessary element in the composition of our being.