3. Догматические темы

“The teaching of faith should turn the school into a church” (19–1:43) In the history of Russian Theology, Saint Philaret is known as a teacher of faith. But in his letters little attention is paid to dogmatic issues - only in theses - moreover, the truths of faith are almost always considered by him under the sign of Christian morality, which, however, is very valuable. This method demonstrates and teaches caution in the “part of the introduction to Theology,” which was especially necessary to observe in correspondence with people of different states, varying degrees of preparation for the perception of the Truth. “Isn’t it enough for the mind,” writes the Saint, “for it to be a small ladle with which to draw from a source. We must be careful in allowing the power of the mind in the introduction of science, so that it does not become stubborn when in science you prove its fall and corruption, the darkness of thought, the desecration of the mind and conscience” (4:264). There is the Triune God as a circle, “the center of which is everywhere, and the surroundings are nowhere.” In His essence, He is the highest Love: Crucifying (the Love of the Father), Crucified (the Son) and Triumphant with the power of the cross, the light of faith and warmth of the Holy Spirit (St. Philaret of Moscow. Extracts. “Russian Monk, 2008, January. P. 24). When we talk about God’s being or essence, we say “this in contrast to hypostasis, namely birth and procession. Consequently, to talk about the origin of both in essence means to confuse the concepts that the Fathers worked so hard to distinguish between” (4:289). God the Son is eternally begotten and is not just like God, “but God himself” (29:241). The soul “desires to glorify our Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten, eternal Son of God” (29:375). The Holy Trinity is the greatest mystery, surpassing our understanding, and it must be accepted with reverence and humility. “The idea of ​​the Most Holy Trinity is Divine, as given to God, and human artificial mental constructions of this Sacrament are always imperfect and never achieve their object. The Gospel teaches to do holy things in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and not to test what and how about the Divine” (21:55). The Triune God has the highest – all-perfect properties. He is omnipresent. – And this property already instills in the heart of the believer such a joy that does not need any earthly replenishment. “The world has become empty,” you say. And so not a large number of kind souls made up the completeness of the world. Is this true? Why is it empty where, just as before, it remains: “He is everywhere and fulfills everything? “I am with you all the days, even to the end of the age”: when could it become empty? “Christ is with you, “full of grace and truth!”” (3:5) He who is present everywhere is also omnipotent. Those who object that God cannot create something like Himself must say: “This is not a lack of omnipotence; on the contrary: this is why God is omnipotent, because there cannot be another equal power... Imagine that someone came to a sovereign and, not in jest, said to him: “If you are sovereign in your state, then make another sovereign sovereign in it.” – Isn’t this crazy? For the sovereignty of the sovereign consists in complete power over his subjects, and to make another sovereign sovereign would mean to destroy his own sovereignty. The one who says to God: “If You are omnipotent, then make another omnipotent God” is just as crazy. For the omnipotence of God consists in the fact that in His endless Kingdom He can do whatever He pleases, in accordance with His wisdom, and not in making gods, which in itself is absurd” (29:241). The Almighty sees everything and knows everything. - “The eyes of the Lord “in those darknesses... brighter than the sun” (Sir. 23:27) and in those darknesses purer than any eye of the purest heavenly creatures, they see all the secrets of the human heart” (29:323). God is long-suffering and abounding in mercy. – And these properties of God’s being are considered from the moral side, strengthening and elevating the human spirit, calling for new further achievements. “Instead of marveling at God’s long-suffering, to which we are immensely indebted,” the saint reflects, “we want to compete with God as to why He is long-suffering. Let us humble ourselves and ask forgiveness from Him who is long-suffering and ready to forgive” (29:373). “Which man is worthy? “But the Lord is merciful to everyone.” Let us not only remove His mercy from ourselves through negligence or impatience, but let us embrace it with faith, hope and love” (21:70). God alone is rich in “mercy for sinners.” We are all poor, and he is closer to wealth who knows and feels his poverty more. So, let it not be boring for us to point out our poverty, let it not be hard to feel it with hope in Him who “is rich for our poverty, that we through His poverty may be enriched”... In your weakness, whether mental or physical, may the power of God be perfected, healing and saving” (3:7). “Glory to the mercy of God” (9:252). Angels are endowed with high spiritual properties, but as created spirits they have limitations, first of all, in place and time. “You say,” answers the holy Hierarch, “that the incorporeal is not contained by either time or space. Is that really true? – To be uncontained by time is eternity; to be uncontained by space is omnipresent. St. John of Damascus says that “Even if an angel does not remain in the likeness of a body in place, it is said to be in the place of being.” And that it will “soon pass away.” And the word “soon” shows time, although sometimes it is very short” (4:445). Man is made less than an angel by God. Judging by the available letter to Archbishop Alexy of Tver, when he was Rector of the Moscow Theological Academy, Saint Philaret shared the opinion about the tripartite composition of man, not considering this opinion to be contrary to true dogma and liturgical theology. “I cannot, Father Rector, give you help in your battle with the thought of the tripartite composition of man. Enough is the need to fight against enemies, with teachings contrary to dogmas: what is the need to fight against opinions that are not hostile to any true dogma? In the monthly menia of June 25, in the canon, you will find the following words: wash the body, cleanse the spirit, and sanctify my soul. Wouldn't you like to fight with this church book? For the word spirit is placed here in such a way that it cannot be understood in the sense of a gift of grace, in order to evade the concept of the composition of the being. I think that the solution to this dispute lies in the depths to which the disputants do not penetrate” (14:27-28). Attracting attention is the theological judgment of the Saint about the circumstances of the fall of the first people in response to the assertion that arose that sin in paradise consisted in the marriage of Adam and Eve, and not in the proud exaltation of the mind, which, through the temptation of evil power, desired to become equal to God. The Moscow Archpastor considered this issue so important that he wrote, one after the other, two detailed letters entirely devoted to its disclosure. “You (A.N. Muravyov - K.S.) point out to me what you have encountered in the movement, in some minds, the opinion that eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, original sin, the fall of the first people, is nothing more than the marital copulation of Adam and Eve... - It is not reliable to rely on your own philosophizing mind, but you must follow the Divine Revelation, and the explanation of it given by people who prayed more than us, ... in which the image of God became more clear and pure contemplation was revealed”; check “your opinion with the teaching of the Universal Church.” St. John Chrysostom speaks about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil: “... It brought so much evil... It drove me out of paradise.” It is not for nothing that the Holy Church has been singing with St. for so many centuries. John of Damascus: “By the tree of Adam was driven out of paradise, and by the tree of the cross the thief was brought into paradise.” And there is no allegory here. “Did Eve understand the allegory she was saying? If she understood, who explained it to her when there was no experience yet, no untimely retelling, so unfortunate now? And if she did not understand, what is the use of giving an allegorical, incomprehensible commandment?.. Was it not the thought of the imperfection of the birth of children of a fallen person that led to the idea that this itself consisted of original sin? – If this is so, then there is no correct logical conclusion. The birth of children is imperfect not because this was original sin, but because man was damaged in all abilities and phenomena of life by preliminary original sin. To talk about this in more detail, it would be necessary to experience the former life of paradise and its possible continuation without the Fall, and compare it with the present life of fallen man. For lack of this, it is better not to give excessive unreliable and unsafe freedom to your curious wisdom, but to humbly and obediently listen to the word of God.” Conclusion: “The first sin of the forefathers was actually eating the fruit of the forbidden tree, and the severity of this sin was ingratitude and disobedience against God, and thereby insulting His greatness. In this mind, Saint Chrysostom speaks, turning his speech to Eve: “Why do you make a husband an accomplice of this destructive fall, and to whom you were a helper, you become a slanderer, and for a small meal you alienate him from the mercy of God?” (4: 172, 173, 174,175, 177, 174)... After a few. days, the saint added a second letter to the letter: “I was told that in relation to the doctrine of original sin, some were confused by the words of St. Zinon: “She (not true love) kindled an unclean desire in the heart of Eve, she killed Adam with her arrows”... St. Zinon speaks here not only of the unlawful love of two sexes, but, in a more extensive sense, of love for objects of the sensory world, and of lust in all its forms. It is obvious from the following words: “The Word of God forbids loving what is done in the world.” And for this is given the saying of St. John the Theologian about threefold lust - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the hair and the pride of life... By the same unclean desire, and the subsequent transgression of the commandment of God, Adam was killed” (4:178, 179). The only Doctor who heals all our infirmities - souls and bodies - is our Lord Jesus Christ. And the Saint commands: “Go to Him, without stopping at the means. Receive medicine from Him, always equally life-giving, no matter what instrument He uses to teach it to you” (21:40). All theologies in the world speak about Him as our Intercessor (1 Tim. 2:5–6) - as “Prophet, Priest and King”, regardless of the doctrine of His Divinity; and this is necessary because in the Old Testament He is often depicted as a King; because the doctrine of His sacrifice, and consequently of His priesthood, is essential in Christianity” (8:252). God the Word becomes incarnate for our sake and our salvation – “he enters into his image, wears flesh. God communes with my flesh in order to save both his image and his flesh to immortalize” (4:107). “The Lord and Author of life, communicating to humanity so that the spirit of man, mired in the flesh, would regain its primitive freedom, and so that the mortal would be clothed with immortality and the corruptible with incorruptibility, should defeat death with appropriate weapons. Through sin, death penetrated into man and prevailed over him, therefore, through sinlessness it was necessary to kill death, and for this purpose to present to it a body in which its sting would be forever crushed, having become attached to our primitive nature, pure from sin and therefore not subject to death, and at the same time being subjected to the reverse action of the Divine principle of life, united with humanity” (4:65). The Lord shed His blood “to wash away all the sins of all men who, by faith, bow under His side, flowing with blood and water, flowing to this day in the sacraments of Baptism, Penance and the Eucharist” (21:42). The Sacrifice He brought “is so great that at the sight of it all small human sacrifices should disappear” (29:281). And again we hear the Archpastoral call: “Let us purify our senses and see her, not being entertained by any lower objects and placing our small sacrifices at the foot of her altar, solely for their sanctification” (29:281). Also, the miracle of the Savior’s removal of the Old Testament righteous from hell and His resurrection has no equal. These two most important events were combined into one whole in the ancient icon. “The Resurrection of Christ on ancient icons is depicted not as a descent into hell, but as the removal of Old Testament believers from hell, which is why the gates of hell are depicted under the feet of the Savior, already overthrown” (4:258). The three-day resurrection of Christ is the confirmation of the truth of His saving messenger into the world. The same is true for all the miracles He performed. – “All the miracles of Jesus Christ constitute proof of His Divine messengership; and since He declared Himself to be the Son of God and God, then, in view of this, all His miracles relate to evidence of His Divinity” (14:22). However, to testify to the truth, many miracles are not required - one, but “sublime” one, is enough, as the Saint notes to the same addressee in a letter sent to him just ten days earlier: “Many miracles do not lead to any conclusion. – One miracle can be sufficient proof of Divinity. And thousands of miracles can only show a prophet. The resurrection of Lazarus reveals God as a miracle worker, but in order to see this, one must discover in it the features that elevate this miracle above similar, apparently, miracles of God-bearing people” (14:20). As if drawing a conclusion from judgments about the saving work of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saint turns to man: “Let the sinner grieve that he became the culprit in the suffering of Christ, but even more so let him love Christ and let him not put aside his hope; and the Lord will use this sorrow to cleanse the soul and to motivate the sinner to keep himself from stumbling” (21:42). “The merciful Lord does not refuse the gift of faith to anyone, if only a person strives for his part to acquire faith, and to live with it and according to it” (21:60). Salvation is in the Church militant - earthly. In the Heavenly Church there is the triumph of the saints. – “The Church of all saints was not built so that they would all rejoice in the assembly of the triumphant Church. There they rejoice, even if this church was not built” (4:141). For us, the Holy Church is “Native Mother,” and even more so for “the Bishop and the Council of Priests” (14:252). It is a School, and “the teaching of faith should turn the school into a church, and mixing language teaching with this turns the church into a children’s school” (19–1:43). And the Saint rejoices at its increase - at the entry of even one person into it. – “I rejoice that the Orthodox Church has acquired the good servant of God... and that he has decisively acquired Orthodoxy. May the Lord protect him on the right path he has found, and may he protect him with his peace from the contradictions of those who walk in the wrong. I want to send him an icon, but now I don’t have time” (4:146-147). Having learned the truth confessed by the Holy Church, one must confess it and preserve it carefully and strictly. “You know the legend of the Patericon,” recalls the Moscow Hierarch, “that when one elder was criticized for various vices, he answered calmly: he sinned, and when they said: you are a heretic, he could not stand it and said: no, although he knew that they were not telling the truth, but were testing his humility” (4:230). “If you find that this view is too ecclesiastical, that there is little patience here, I submit myself to this criticism and remain unconvinced” (4:136). But otherwise, you need to listen to the judgment of others. “I want to show you,” the saint is talking with the saint (Metropolitan Philaret with Archimandrite Anthony), “how, in my opinion, my words could be understood; then again tell me the judgment, so that out of bewilderment you do not spread a false word” (7:124). You might be interested in: