Characteristic features in the disclosure and presentation of St. Apostle John Christian teaching

Speech before the defense of the dissertation for the degree of Master of Theology “The First Council Epistle of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian. Isagogical-exegetical research. Poltava 1903,” delivered on May 8 in the assembly hall of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. On the day dedicated by the Church to the memory of St. Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, and before judging the research regarding his first conciliar letter, it would be timely and appropriate to draw a holistic image of the great personality of the sacred writer; and this is all the more natural since the first epistle, having a primary significance in a number of sources for illuminating Christian truth from the side in which it is presented by the “Theologian” of the Church of Christ, since in it from beginning to end we read the direct expression of the Christian teaching of the Apostle himself, stands in close connection and dependence on the individual characteristics of the Apostle John. But in a short speech it is impossible to accomplish this important and difficult task. Therefore, I will allow myself to focus your enlightened attention only on some aspects of the theology of the Apostle John, which are of direct importance for understanding the content of his first epistle. It should be noted that the features of the theological teaching of the Apostle John elude precise definition, which explains that researchers of the writings of the Apostle John did not come to a consensus as to the main position of his teaching, from which it could be possible. to reveal its entire content, as well as regarding the characteristic feature in its depiction of Christian truth - a feature that could illuminate all the most particular features. But regarding the first question, the answer was given a long time ago: the Church called the Apostle John “Theologian” and thereby indicated the main and essential point of his teaching. He is a “Theologian” because in his writings he reveals the inner secrets of the life of the Divine; It is to him that the great sayings that define the divine nature belong: “God is spirit,” “God is light,” and “God is love,” and although he does not reveal these sayings, the teaching contained in them lies at the basis of his entire theology. Everything that God does in revelation and redemption is in accordance with His essence and has its deepest basis in it. In the same way, the entire essence of the life of Christians and its manifestation in external actions must be entirely determined by the moral nature of God. This thought runs through the entire first letter of the Apostle John. He is a “Theologian” also because he was destined to express the last word of revelation regarding God the Word, Who “from the beginning to God” is the true God and Who, having appeared, revealed to the world the depths of divine life and gave reason to the knowledge of the True. But although none of the Apostles dwells in such detail on the underlying existence of the Word as the Apostle John, it does not constitute the basis and ultimate goal of his gospel: the key of his theology lies in the doctrine of the incarnation of God the Word, since only by becoming incarnate could He “confess” God before people and be the Savior of the world. The Gospel begins with the doctrine of the divinity of the Word in the closest connection with His incarnation (I, 1, 14); The epistle begins with the same teaching (I, 1, 2). The “confidant” of the Lord, the Apostle John, clinging to His bosom, with a loving heart comprehended Him as the Only Begotten Son of God, the Eternal Word, and from the inexhaustible source of Being in the bosom of the Father, he wore out the riches of his theology. For the Apostle John, the proof of the truth comes to the fore that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, the Divine Word, who was with the Father before the ages and one with the Father, as the true God. Therefore, the person and life of Jesus Christ, as God the Word incarnate, constitute the heart, root and source of the religious ideas of the Apostle John. For him, the divine dignity of Jesus Christ is the one absolute truth, and whoever denies it is the enemy of all truth, the enemy of Christ, the Antichrist. In the incarnation of the Word, man is given everything he needs. The incarnate Son of God Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, giving it life. He is not only the source of natural life, as the Creator of the world, but especially the source of its spiritual life, as the Redeemer, the Intercessor to the Father and the Propitiation, whose blood cleanses from all sin (1 Jn. P, 1, 2; 1. 7). He gives eternal life to everyone who comes to Him - the inexhaustible source of eternal life, and this is accomplished through living faith in Him as the incarnate Word, the Son of God - faith in that broad, deep and vital meaning in which it is only conceivable in the Apostle John. As for the characteristic features in the disclosure and presentation of Christian teaching by the Apostle John, Western researchers of John’s writings call his theology mystical and the Apostle himself the father of Christian mysticism. With this name, they invariably mean healthy mysticism, which has at its basis certain concepts about God and His relationship to the world and man and only highlights the internal relationship between God and man, precisely that aspect that does not fit into any predetermined framework of rational considerations. As in general, true mysticism in religion is a religious system based more on feeling than on the activity of reason; so this is also applied to the theology of the Apostle John. It is, of course, true that the Apostle John reveals the deepest secrets in the divine plan of redemption, clarifies the mysterious relationship between God and man, the world and the devil, notes the basic principles of inner Christian life - in a word, reveals truths that have a basis not in this transitory world, but in the infinite and eternal. It is also correctly noted that the theology of the Apostle John is the theology of the heart, for it has its root not in rational work, but in direct contemplation, in feeling, in inner experience. Therefore, he rather turns to feeling than to intellect, and in his message he repeatedly appeals to the inner experience of his readers, finding in it support for recognizing the unshakable truth of what he communicates. But, in addition to that inconvenient connotation that, despite any reservations, still remains in the term “mysticism,” when calling the theology of the Apostle John mystical, the important circumstance is ignored that the Apostle borrows his knowledge of God from the historical facts of the earthly life of God the Word; he resolutely denies the possibility of direct knowledge of God, apart from the only path to it - revelation in Christ (John I, 18), and the most “mystical” from the point of view of Western theologians is the writing of the Apostle John, it is his first letter that begins with a solemn indication of the facts from the history of the earthly life of the incarnate Word of Life (I John I, 1-3). Therefore, it is more correct to call the theology of the Apostle John spiritual (πνευματικ ή), as Clement of Alexandria called his Gospel, which certainly applies to the first epistle: The Apostle always ascends from external manifestation to spirit, to the invisible principle. In this feature lies the key to understanding much that is very significant in his presentation of Christian teaching. First of all, this explains the fact that the Apostle John considers all things in their inner being, in comparison with which external phenomena, with their changeable diversity, lose their meaning as random. This also explains why the Apostle everywhere sees only the decisive oppositions of God and the devil, light and darkness, truth and lies, life and death, love and hatred, raising all phenomena to their deepest foundation, to their final principle. In each given case, the Apostle often puts forward a certain side of the subject with that exclusivity in which to put forward the other side would apparently mean falling into sharp self-contradiction. Therefore, finally, he does not pay attention to the difference in stages in development and at each of them looks only at the essence of the object it expresses. Seeing in everything the realization of the highest ideal reality, the Apostle John does not allow any opposition between theoretical and practical, knowledge and deed, faith and life. He always sees before him the image of the Divine Teacher, with whom word and deed do not constitute two different areas; hence, in the Apostle John, theory and practice are not separated, but are contained in one another and together form a wondrous whole, an image of walking as Christ walked. Every action of a person includes his entire personality. This determines the view of the Apostle John on the essence of knowledge in general and religious knowledge in particular: what is not. embraces the entire spiritual life, does not act on it in a determining way, then it is not known, for knowledge is precisely the comprehension of an object that includes not only the penetration of the knower into the very essence of the knower, but also, on the contrary, the penetration of the object of knowledge into the inner being of the knower. Mere intellectual possession of truth has no power or meaning. The Apostle John never thinks of the truths of religion as dead, cold forms that can be known without putting them into practice. Religion is life in the full sense of the word, embracing the activities, powers and gifts of the whole person - life according to the model that is fully realized in Jesus Christ. In the field of religious knowledge, there must be a spiritual inner affinity between the knower and the known, complete, uninterrupted communication, the perfect expression of which is love. Hence the foundation, object and goal of all knowledge, as full of life and life-giving, the Apostle John believes in love: it is the driving nerve of all his contemplations. Everything in the redemption of man is traced back to the inexhaustible source of divine love. If the Apostle John sees in Jesus Christ the eternal Word, the Son of God, then with this he has an inseparable thought about the love with which God loved the world, sending his only begotten Son for its salvation: God so loved the world, as He gave His only Son to eat, that whoever believes in Him may not perish, but may have eternal life (John III, 16; cp. 1 John. IV, 9), and precisely “in this was revealed the love of God for us, that it was not we who loved God, but He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (I John IV, 10). In Christ is the full revelation of divine love; for us He gave the highest example of it, laying down His life for us (1 John III, 8, 9, 10); and in humanity it brings forth the life of love. The more the Apostle John contemplates this love, the more he penetrates to its depth, the more he loves; and the more he loves, the more he discovers new depths of this love. He is completely immersed in love, in it he feels the breath and essence of divine life; therefore, the essence of his exhortations to love and his view of it are expressed in such inspired and deeply meaningful words: beloved, let us love one another, as love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. But do not love without knowing God, for God loves, and abide in love, abiding in God and God abiding in him (1 John IV, 7, 8, 16); By virtue of the same spirituality, the Apostle John destroys the boundaries between the present and the future. Observing the present, the temporary, he does not stop at it, but transfers his gaze to both ends of this temporary - to the eternal in the past and to the eternal in the future - and from the point of view of this eternal he evaluates all things and phenomena. Hence, he presents the holiness of Christians as if perfect on earth and solemnly proclaims the position that everyone born of God does not sin (1 John V, 18, cp. III, 9). In the same way, he sees all eschatology as complete and taking place already on earth. It seems that the Apostle John moved into the realm of the eternally present: for him, heaven came to earth, or, better to say, the earth, despite its rough shell, became enlightened and reflects the radiance of heavenly glory. If anything separates heaven from earth, earthly life from the future, eternal life, it is not physical life, but sin. These briefly noted main features of the theology of the Apostle John reveal in him an invariable striving from the material to the spiritual, from the earthly to the heavenly, to the heavenly world. That is why church symbolism depicts him with an eagle. With this symbol, the Church wants to figuratively represent the sharp, insightful mind, not blinded by the light of truth, the prophetic foresight and irresistible strength of spirit of the Apostle John. The peculiarities of the theology of the Apostle John were entirely reflected in his presentation of Christian teaching and in his first epistle. The contemplative thinking of the Apostle is not characterized by the method of logical constructions and conclusions. He does not seek the truth or explore it; he feels and comprehends it with his heart. The apostle contemplates the eternal truth and, as he sees it, communicates it to his beloved children. Truth requires only description, not logical analysis; therefore, the Apostle simply affirms or denies and always speaks with absolute accuracy, with an authority that excludes all doubt about the truth of what he says. He has placed his foot on a stone and feels solid ground beneath him; he examined and. has touched all the points of the doctrine about which he writes, and knows that they are such as he represents them. The Apostle always seems to hear the voice of the Lord, revealing to him what He Himself hears from the Father. What depends on all this is that the structure of thoughts in the message is not periodic, but purely Jewish, aphoristic. Expressions are short. The sentences stand next to each other for the most part without any conjunctions that would indicate their mutual relationship. In view of this, it is sometimes very difficult to discern a strictly defined and undoubted connection in particulars; the transition from one thought to another is often more implied than clearly expressed - the connection is more internal, psychological than external-syntactic. Hence the unanimous statement of all researchers of the messages that at first glance it seems completely understandable: the image of expression is clear, the connection of thoughts is simple, unartificial; but that under this simplicity lies an unexplored depth and incalculable richness, which even for the educated reader provides inexhaustible material for research. Having abandoned the syllogistic method in his presentation, the Apostle John groups his thoughts around several great and central truths, revealing new aspects and new depths in them. Usually he puts at the beginning a general position expressing a whole view, and then gradually reveals its content in new relations and turns and from new sides in a number of circles to its most specific discoveries and applications. The apostle seems to fear that the expressions he used do not fully exhaust the essence of what he wanted to say. Therefore, he returns to the same thing again and again in order to add something else. At first glance, it seems that the message unnecessarily repeats the same idea. In accordance with the peculiarities of the theological views of the Apostle John, the epistle's vocabulary, which is not rich in the number of terms, sharply distinguishes it from other New Testament writings. These features in the disclosure and written presentation of Christian truth by the Apostle John create great difficulties for the researcher. To eliminate all kinds of exegetical hobbies, in the absence of guidance in the interpretations of the fathers and teachers of the Church, a reliable support is the philological study of the text. The words of the Apostle serve for us as a perfect expression of his thoughts, and therefore only with this method of explanation can we hope to achieve the living truth of the apostolic teaching. It is necessary to pay attention to the slightest shades of language and construction. In this regard, we have an authoritative and experienced leader—St. John Chrysostom, who says: “just as in gold ores someone experienced in this matter will not leave the slightest vein unattended, because it can bring great wealth, so in the divine scriptures it is not harmless to omit even one line or iota, but it is necessary to examine everything.” In this case, it is necessary to take the original Greek text as the starting point, and not the translation. How skillfully and fruitfully I applied this method to the explanation of the first conciliar letter of the Holy Apostle John the Theologian is not for me to judge. In conclusion, I allow myself to take advantage of this meeting to express my warm gratitude to my venerable leader Nikolai Nikanorovich (Glubokovsky), who, with encouraging attention, followed my work throughout the long period that has passed since the time when I chose the now well-developed topic. In the entire study there is not a single part, not a single question of any importance, regarding which I would not receive advice and instructions from Nikolai Nikanorovich. Only someone who lived and worked in a provincial town in the setting of a seminary teacher will understand how valuable the messages regarding the literature of the subject being studied are, which I also received from Nikolai Nikanorovich, often with the books themselves. I am very grateful to Fr. Timofey Aleksandrovich (Nalimov) for the instructions and comments that were given in the review of my research and which, if possible, I took into consideration when printing it.