INTRODUCTION

§ 1. The Concept of Dogmatic Theology

The general concept of the science of "Dogmatic Theology" is contained in its very name. It is called "theology." The word theology – θεολογία (from Θεός – God and λόγος – word, the word ο to God), borrowed by Christian writers from the ancient Greeks, is now used in a very broad sense. By the name of "theology" is now understood a whole set of sciences having as their subject God as He revealed Himself in the Christian religion, and divine economy in the broadest sense, in other words, everything that has a direct and immediate relation either to God or to people in their relation to God. The subjects of the particular theological sciences are now designated by those adjectives (or epithets) that are attached to the word "theology" or by other special names. The subject of Dogmatic Theology is indicated in the adjective "dogmatic," which shows that in this theological science Christian dogmas are expounded and clarified, which is why it itself is often called simply "Dogmatics." In the very name "Dogmatic Theology," therefore, the following concept is given: Dogmatic Theology is a science whose subject is the systematic exposition of the entire body of Christian dogmas.

Dogmas in the various Christian confessions existing today are not understood in the same way, and each of them has its own systems of Dogmatics, expounding the content of this science in the spirit of the peculiarities of its confession. Therefore, in order to denote the confessional point of view on the subject of these systems, the names "Dogmatic Theology" and "Dogmatics" are usually supplemented with the corresponding epithets. Orthodox Dogmatic Theology expounds its subject matter in spirit and under the guidance of the Orthodox Church [1].

§ 2. The concept of dogmas.

The word dogma – δόγμα – is a Greek word. Derived from the verb δοκείν — to think, to believe, to believe, more specifically — from the past. its form δέδογμαι (in 3 fol. δέδοκτας — decided, posited, determined), the word δόγμα denotes a thought that has been fully established in human consciousness, which has become a firm conviction of man, in general — an indisputable truth, and therefore universally binding, as well as a determined, firm, unchangeable decision of the human will [2]. Ancient writers, Greek and Roman, used this word to designate such principles or rules relating to the field of philosophy, morals, and civil legislation, as were recognized as indisputable and obligatory. The legitimation of state power is expressed by the word δόγμα and in the Holy Scriptures. (e.g., in Dan 2:13; 3:10; 6:8 and Acts 17:7 — royal decrees and laws, in Luke 2:1 — the command of Caesar and the national census). Up. Paul also applies the name of the dogma to the law of God, calling the writings of the law of Moses, which in their time were binding on every Jew, dogmas [3]. In the book of Acts Ap. the same word is used to designate the statutes (τά δόγματα) ordained by the Apostles and the Elders who were in Jerusalem (16:4; cf. 15:22-25), which had the meaning of law for all members of the Christian Church.

As a good expression from the formal side of the properties of Christian truth, as an indisputable, immutable and universally binding truth for Christians, the word δόγμα, as a conditional term, came into use among Christian writers to designate the truths of revealed religion. At first it was applied to Christian teaching in general, and then they began to express (the Fathers and teachers of the Church of the fourth and fifth centuries and later ecclesiastical writers) by this word not all truths contained in revelation without distinction, but also of the divinely revealed only those relating to a certain circle of ideas, i.e., to doctrine. In modern theological science, the essential features of dogmas that distinguish them from all other Christian truths, as well as from non-Christian teachings, are precisely the following: 1) the theological nature of the dogmas of faith, 2) the revelation of God, 3) the ecclesiastical nature, and 4) the law-binding nature for all members of the Church.

1. Theology. This sign, the dogmas assimilated, indicates the realm of truths embraced by dogmas. Of all the Christian truths, only those are called dogmas that relate to the essence of religion as the inner union of God with man, and moreover the union restored by the Lord Jesus Christ, i.e., truths that contain the teaching of the triune God and His relation to the world and rationally free beings, especially to man. All other truths which are found in revelation, but which have as their object the teaching of God and His relation to the world and rationally free beings, e.g., moral truths or commandments, ritual, canonical, historical truths of the Church of God in the Old Testament and partly in the New Testament, prophecies, etc., are no longer dogmas of faith, although in general and it is obligatory for a Christian to fully recognize them. Such content of the truths called "dogmas of faith" also shows why they are truths of faith, and the Church called its abbreviated exposition of the dogmas of faith "the symbol of faith" and begins it with the word "I believe."

2. Revelation of God. All the dogmas of the Christian religion are divinely revealed truths, they are the word of God Himself to people. This origin of dogmas distinguishes them from the truths and thoughts of any non-Christian religion and from philosophical teachings. To doctrine which is not contained in revelation (explicite or implicite) is not, and cannot be, a dogma of faith. In revelation, dogmas are not given in the form of only a few of the most general propositions, from which people have gradually deduced the rest of the particular dogmas in the usual logical way, but are given in full and once for all, to the extent and in the sense in which the Church confesses them. That is why the Church Fathers call Christian dogmas "dogmas of God," "dogmas of Jesus Christ," "dogmas of the Gospel," "dogmas of the apostles."

3. Churchliness. The truths of the faith, called dogmas, are truths recognized as such by the universal church and offered by it as dogmas to its members. That which is not confessed by the Church as a dogma cannot be a dogma for private persons either. The essential property of dogma, as a divinely revealed truth, is its unconditional truth and immutability (Mt 5:18; 2 Cor 1:19-20). The dogmas offered to the consciousness of believers and in their consciousness must be firm convictions. What can impart the necessary firmness to human convictions regarding the dogmas of the faith? (For this it is not enough that every single Christian dogma is contained in revelation. Individuals, borrowing directly from revelation a teaching, can easily misunderstand this or that utterance of the mind of God, or misunderstand, and even if they understood correctly, they could not be convinced that their understanding was correct.