Analysis of the work of the doctor theologian, Bishop Macarius, entitled “Orthodox Dogmatic Theology”

See also: Orthodox Dogmatic Theology Volume 1, Volume 2 The work we are considering is a rare and most gratifying phenomenon in our theological literature, the like of which it has not seen on its horizon for a long time and, in all likelihood, will not see again soon. The most foreign theological literatures, despite their long-standing development and centuries-old improvements, do not represent, especially in modern times, creations with such merits as the Orthodox dogma of the Right Reverend Macarius. Theology, as a science, has been moved far forward by this multi-learned creation and has gained a lot by the fact that it is completely exposed from scholasticism and the Latin language and thus introduced into the circle of Russian literature and offered, so to speak, for general use for all lovers of theological knowledge. But the greatest merit of the author is that in his work for the first time he depicts with all the power and persuasiveness, in a learned and at the same time in an easily understandable language, those dogmas and provisions by which the Eastern Orthodox Church differs from all other Christian faiths. After this, a foreign theologian cannot say that in the Eastern Church they are accustomed to believing in their opinions unaccountably: for the new Orthodox dogma contains such an account in everything, the like of which most of the non-Orthodox Churches, starting with the English one, have not yet presented. Let the following undoubted information and considerations serve to support these opinions. 1) All experiments in Russian theology that have been published so far can be divided into two classes: some are compiled without a strict system, in the form of separate treatises, not closely connected with each other by any common thought, apparently in the book, just as the late scholastics did in their works. This includes the dogmatists of the archimandrites: Joseph Karpinsky, Sylvester Lebedinsky, Makariy Petrovich and Hieromonk Juvenaly Medvedsky. Others, somehow eminent: Irenaeus Falkovsky, Theophylact Gorsky, Archpriest Ternovsky and Archimandrite Anthony - adhered to a well-known system, following the plan outlined by Feofan Prokopovich, who divided dogmatics into two halves: the doctrine of God in himself (de Deo ad intra) and the doctrine of God outside, that is, in His actions (de Deo ad extra). The plan is very substantial, but not in application to Christian Theology; for it is not at all taken from the essence of Christianity, as it should be, which is why it is not convenient for a systematic presentation of Christian dogmas. For the second part of the Theology, according to this plan, there are too many subjects left in comparison with the first; and, moreover, in this case there is no thought with which it would be possible to connect and penetrate all the treatises included in it. The Right Reverend Macarius was able to fully notice and successfully avoid this deficiency common to theologies. As the starting point for dogma, or as the beginning of it, he accepted the very concept of the Christian religion, which, in its essence, is not just a primitive religion, or the natural union of man with God, as it was before the fall of man, but religion in its supplemented through revelation and corrected form; – as the union of fallen man with God, restored supernaturally through the sacrament of redemption and grace; and therefore it consists of two kinds of dogmas, some of which belong to it, as religion in general, others, as a restored, supernatural, Christian religion. The first sets forth the doctrine of God and his relationship to man - natural and general, which God had towards him even in the primitive, natural religion and has equally to all other creatures of the world, as their Creator and Provider. Others set forth the doctrine of God as the Savior of fallen men and of His special, supernatural relationship to the human race, which God has exclusively for us sinners in the restored religion, as our Redeemer, having completed the work of salvation on the cross, as our Sanctifier, who assimilates this salvation to us through the grace of the Holy Spirit, and finally, as our Judge and Rewarder, who has to reward each by death, depending on how he took advantage of salvation acquired for him. – Such a division of dogmas and dogmatics, coming, one might say, from the very essence of the Christian religion, being distinguished by its naturalness, is fully consistent with its subject: there are no inconveniences of the previous plan; The parts of the system are equal, are derived from one beginning, are imbued down to the smallest details with one dominant thought, and thus truly represent a harmonious and self-developed matter - science. This division of dogma, while fully satisfying the requirements of logic, receives a new value from the fact that the ancient method of presenting Christian dogmas, which was constantly adhered to (as the author himself shows) by the Holy Fathers and universal teachers, and which fell out of use and was left in oblivion only because they did not know how to adequately evaluate it and give it a scientific systematic treatment, receives a new value from the fact that it has thus been brought out from under the bush and put back into use. 2) The dogmatics we are considering has even more advantages over all previous dogmatic creations in relation to the method or method of revealing theological truths. Here each dogma is surveyed and revealed from all sides from which only it can usefully appear in science: the attentive reader, after reading each treatise, is put in a position to judge for himself (the dogma) both in its beginning and foundations, and in its historical development, and in its relation to the principles of reason, and in its practical consequences for the heart and life. The examination always opens with a detailed presentation of the subject of the teaching of the Church, as the guardian of Orthodoxy, a condition without which Orthodox Theology would obviously not be worthy of its name, and which, however, was very little fulfilled in all previous theologies. The author, on the contrary, fulfills it with all constancy and diligence, not only in relation to each treatise, but also each chapter, and sometimes even paragraph. Thus, his teacher of dogmas is the Church itself, and he serves her only as a faithful interpreter and obedient instrument. This is what many have long wanted to see in dogmatics and have not seen before: now this desire has been completely satisfied. For the author in this regard did not limit himself to citing only the main points of church teaching regarding the main dogmas, but presented it (the first) with clarity regarding all others, even in relation to some particular truths. In this way, the completely sad necessity, after reading any theological treatise, is eliminated to ask: is this what St. Church? The author’s presentation of the teachings of the Church is always followed by confirmation of it from Holy Scripture: for the Church does not teach us its teachings or from itself, but conveys only what is revealed by God himself through the prophets and apostles in their Scriptures or Traditions. All previous compilers of dogmas were concerned with this presentation of the biblical teaching on dogmas, and most of them limited the whole matter to this. Despite the fact that this side of dogma is more excellent in the Reverend Macarius than it was in the previous ones. Not only the abundance of texts, but also their choice, especially the disclosure and application to the subject being proven, deserve full praise and leave nothing more to be desired. Something similar to this could previously only be found in Feofan Prokopovich, and then in a smaller size and not with such art. The presentation of dogmas according to the meaning of Holy Scripture is elevated and always receives a new value from the Right Reverend Macarius in that, following the indication of their existence in Holy Scripture, it is always presented in detail how these same dogmas constantly existed in the Tradition of the Universal Church. For this purpose, in each chapter there are whole rows of witnesses to this Tradition - the Fathers and teachers of the Church of the first six centuries. Without this, the question could always arise in the mind of the reader: did the Ecumenical Councils and former teachers of the Church understand the Holy Scripture as it is explained in dogmatics? His Eminence Macarius (the first) fully answered this important question, with all completeness and thoroughness, and thereby rendered an important service to Theology as a science. It also serves no little to explain the author’s dogmas that he (which has not been done before, with the exception of two or three cases by Feofan Prokopovich) calls for help the history of dogmas, which, due to its importance, has long constituted even a special science in foreign literature, but in our country remained in oblivion. Thanks to the extensive historical information, examples of which were shown in the previous historical works of the author, in his Dogmatics we see on every occasion how and why the teaching of the Church regarding well-known dogmas was defined from one side or another, in such and not other expressions, which helps a lot to a deeper understanding of Church teaching. Bearing in mind the property of the spirit of the time, the author also acted prudently, giving in his Dogmatics a place for the impartial look of a common mind on Christian dogmas. On the one hand, this serves to calm mental inquisitiveness, especially in young listeners; on the other hand, it constitutes constant proof that faith and revelation are not afraid of any judgments and objections of reason, and in any case only exceed its concept (logical), but never contradict its principles, which themselves, when thought deepens into their source, all ultimately come down to faith in the truth of what necessarily appears as such in our consciousness. The author's theoretical considerations about the truths of Christianity are always distinguished by maturity, clarity, thoroughness and often a wealth of the most heterogeneous information, especially in those cases where he refutes the objections of wrong-thinkers, borrowed from various branches of natural science, history and other sciences. In these considerations, which in the previous Dogmatists had almost no place at all due to their very brevity, the author very successfully avoided two shortcomings: the rationalistic direction, which is now dominant especially in Germany, which, rejecting the authority of the Church and the Bible itself, makes reason the supreme judge of faith and, as a result, rejects everything that is incomprehensible in Christianity - and the scholastic direction, according to which those who discussed dogmas according to the principles of reason went into usually in excessive dialectical subtleties and were engaged in resolving issues that not only did not relate to the positive teaching of the Church and the Bible, but also did not contain any importance. In the moral conclusions from the dogmas, which the author contains in each chapter, there is, of course, no news, since this was often done in our dogmatists before: but in previous experiments they were usually presented in the form of short and dry propositions; but here they appear each time in decent fullness, imbued with a Christian feeling and, like a ripe juicy fruit, make you want to experience them with your own taste. Thus, the method followed by the author is the most complete and comprehensive, satisfying the requirements of the most inquisitive reader, and therefore very suitable for the academic department with which the author taught his lessons. 3) Due to such scholarly treatment and completeness, the work of the Right Reverend Macarius accomplished exactly what our theological literature lacked. Feofan Prokopovich began, as is well known, to expound dogmatics on an extensive scale; but he himself did not bring it even halfway. Subsequent treatises, completed according to his plan by others, are generally brief and not so thorough; Moreover, the size of the very first volume, especially that of Theophanes, depended, among other things, on the fact that here he also placed preliminary general treatises on the principles of Theology, which the Right Reverend Macarius formed the subject of a special extensive and multi-learned work: “Introduction to Orthodox Theology.” The experiences of the Right Reverend Irenaeus Falkovsky and Sylvester are also quite extensive; but they are inferior to the creation of Theophan, especially the Reverend Macarius. There is no need to mention other, even briefer experiments. Such completeness, in addition to the vastness of the method, by which the author also examined the dogmas of truth from new, previously untouched sides, depended on the fact that he gave a place in his Dogmatics to some subjects that had not previously appeared in it, such as, for example, an outline of the gradual revelation of dogmas in the Orthodox Church, the history of Dogmatics itself, etc.; and secondly, because he tried with particular thoroughness and strength to reveal and affirm those dogmas that constitute the distinctive character of the Orthodox teaching of the Eastern Church and are rejected or transformed in other Christian faiths, such as: the doctrine of the eternal origin of the Holy Spirit from God the Father, about the seven sacraments of the Church, about the veneration and calling for help of Angels and saints, about prayers for the dead, etc. In general, the Dogmatics of the Right Reverend Macarius represents a system of Orthodox dogmatic Theology from which anyone can study the truths of our Orthodox faith thoroughly and in its entirety, not only in relation to faith, but also in application to life. 4) This is all the more convenient and easier because the entire system is written in clear and generally understandable language. Of the previous dogmas, the largest part were written, in accordance with the then custom, in Latin, in the form of a textbook, according to a more or less scholastic method, and therefore could only be accessible to people familiar with the Latin language and accustomed to the forms of scholasticism, and for society, for the entire Russian Orthodox people, they did not exist. Other, later experiments, although written in Russian, were also in the form of actual textbooks and using a more or less school method, not easy and understandable for everyone. On the other hand, these experiments, due to the very brevity and conciseness of the style, do not always present the truths with the clarity and completeness that are necessary for the majority of our Orthodox readers. The dogmatics of the Right Reverend Macarius eliminated all these inconveniences. It is written in pure, correct, modern Russian language, which can be easily understood by every somewhat educated and intelligent Russian person; written not so much in the form of an academic textbook, but in the form of a national guide for the study of Orthodox dogmas, and therefore freed from all boring and heavy forms of scholasticism, almost inevitable in short school textbooks. Finally, with the completeness that the author chose for himself in presenting the truths of faith, with his special gift of expressing himself about the most sublime subjects simply and clearly, he was able to achieve in his work the highest degree of general intelligibility. With all fairness, we can say that the science of Orthodox dogmatic Theology, which hitherto as a science was exclusively the property of the school, was brought by the author out of its close walls into the realm of real life and proposed for public use. In general, the “Orthodox-Dogmatic Theology” of the Right Reverend Macarius, which we are considering, represents: a) The work is the most perfect of all that we have seen so far in the same field; and not only equal in scientific treatment to the best modern foreign experiences, but also in many respects far superior to them. b) The work is independent and original, because the author did not follow any of the domestic or foreign theologians either in the system, or in the method, or in the way of presenting the truths, but followed his own path, deeply thought out and truly intended, drawing information from the first sources, from which he himself found many and all of them were significantly developed by him, and thus, with tireless work, a harmonious and enormous whole was erected, which, with all the desire for such phenomena, in all likelihood, he will remain the only one for a long time. c) A work that satisfies all modern requirements of science, in terms of a harmonious system and the derivation of all parts and truths from one beginning, in terms of the deep and extensive scholarship of the author, in terms of the dominant historical direction, so akin to Theology as a positive science, in terms of excellent clarity and intelligibility in the way of revealing truths, even in a purely Russian style, which, moreover, constantly bears the stamp of sound taste. d) A work that constitutes an important merit not only for the science of Orthodox Theology, which the author undoubtedly moved very far forward, - not only for our spiritual education, in the history of which the birth of Dogmatics will once serve as one of the most remarkable eras: but also in general for the entire Russian Church, for all Orthodox compatriots, who receive in this work, what they have long desired, perhaps a complete, harmonious, thorough and publicly accessible presentation of the distinctive the dogmas of their Church, so precious to their minds and hearts. For all these merits, the “Orthodox-Dogmatic Theology” of the Right Reverend Macarius, in my opinion, has the full right to the full Demidov Prize, which the author’s previous historical and theological works, which attracted the attention of everyone involved in the movement of science and education in our Fatherland, have long deserved. You might be interested in: