О БОГЕ-СПАСИТЕЛЕ И ОСОБЕННОМ ОТНОШЕНИИ ЕГО К ЧЕЛОВЕЧЕСКОМУ РОДУ

(Θ EO Λ OGIA ΟΙΚΟΝΟΜΙΚΗ) § 122. Connection with the previous one, the importance of the subject, the teaching of the Church about it and the division of teaching Hitherto we were, so to speak, in the sanctuary of Orthodox dogmatic Theology; Now we enter the very Holy of Holies. The Christian religion is not only a religion, but a restored religion. The dogmas about God in himself and in His general relationship to the world and man, which we previously tried to study, belong to Christianity in general as a religion, and would have taken place in the primitive religion if man had preserved it: because Adam knew no other God than the true God, trace. the trinitarian God the Creator and Provider, to whom he was obliged to obey and pay due veneration - which is how primitive religion was expressed on his part. Now we will expound the dogmas that belong to Christianity, in fact, as a restored religion - dogmas about God the Savior and about His special, supernatural relationship to fallen man, dogmas that could not have a place in the primitive religion, and constitute the very focus and essence of the preaching of the Gospel. We preach Christ crucified (1 Cor. 1, 23); We are not judges to see what is in you, but Jesus Christ and Him crucified (1 Cor. 2:2), said St. Apostle Paul, wanting to identify the most important subject of Christian evangelism. The importance of these dogmas is heightened for us by their special proximity to us. Previously, in the light of Revelation, we contemplated God as the highest Being, with His infinite perfections, in His unapproachable Trinity; contemplated God the Creator and Provider, common to all creatures, and among others, to us. Now we will see God approaching us to the most extreme degree, and sincerely communing with our flesh and blood (Heb. 2:14); We will see Him primarily as our God, as our Creator, our Provider, our Redeemer and Rewarder, who, if he extends the benefits given to us to other creatures, then he extends them only through us. The main features of the Orthodox teaching about this subject, so important and so close to us, are contained in the last ten members of the Nice-Tsaregrad symbol, and are stated as follows: “(I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God...) for our sake, man, and for our salvation, who came down from heaven, and became incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became human; crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried; and rose again on the third day according to the scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father; and again the coming one will be judged with glory by the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end” (parts III-VII). “(I believe) in the Holy Spirit, the life-giving Lord, who proceeds from the Father, who is worshiped and glorified with the Father and the Son, who spoke the Prophets. Into one holy, catholic and apostolic Church. I confess one baptism for the remission of sins. I hope for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the next century. Amen" (parts VIII-XII). Here the great work of our salvation is presented from two sides: firstly, as a work exclusively belonging to God the Savior, who accomplished it through his only begotten Son, who became incarnate and suffered on the cross, rose again and ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father (parts III-VI); and secondly, as a matter that is assimilated by God the Savior to man, with the participation of the person himself, the believer, the confessor, the expectant, - assimilated through the Church, through baptism and other sacraments by the grace of the life-giving Spirit, and for the assimilation or failure to assimilate the Lord will one day come to judge the living and the dead and reward each according to his deserts in the life of the next century (Parts VII-XII). In other words: here the teaching is set forth - I) about God the Savior in Himself, as having accomplished our salvation, and - II) about God the Savior in His special relationship to the human race. You might be interested in: