In recent times our free-thinkers, following the new scholars of the Christian West, have begun to treat the dogmas of the Orthodox faith not only without reverence, but even without respect.
Some deny dogmas as beliefs accepted without reasoning and without scientific grounds. Others accept them selectively, with limitations and arbitrary interpretations.
They try to adapt them to modern conditions of knowledge and life, and in this direction to supplement and develop them.
Still others mix them with the religious and philosophical teachings of Indian antiquity, and of pagan antiquity in general. They introduce them piecemeal into their historical, philosophical investigations and systems.
We do not intend to persuade thinkers to return to faith when they have wholly renounced it, or have lost reverence for Divine Revelation. Nor do we intend to dispute with them.
That is the task of theologians who undertake extensive investigations in the realm of faith.
We wish only to warn careless Orthodox Christians. They themselves lack sufficient knowledge of the dogmas of faith, yet repeat false thoughts about them from another’s voice.
In this way they harm the integrity of their faith and deprive themselves of the saving guidance of divine truth.
Saint Paul, not only a God-inspired Apostle but also the most learned man of his time, was acquainted with classical literature.
He spoke to Bishop Timothy, likewise a learned man: “O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you. Turn away from profane empty talk and contradictions of knowledge falsely so called, by professing which some have strayed from the faith.”
What the Apostle commanded Bishop Timothy was said to all of us, “servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God” (1 Cor 4:1).
Of course, it was not said for us alone, but also for all Christians entrusted to our care.
In fulfillment of this great commandment, brethren, I offer you a meditation on the inviolability of the sacred dogmas of the Orthodox faith.
But before approaching the explanation of the tradition of which the Apostle speaks, I wish to draw your attention to two special features in his saying.
First, what does he mean by “knowledge falsely so called”? Second, why does he call this knowledge “profane empty talk and contradictions”?
By first calling this knowledge “falsely so called,” the Apostle makes clear that people vainly lay claim to omniscience.
They imagine that they possess it, or hope someday to attain it. Full and perfect knowledge belongs only to the all-knowing God.
He is the Cause of all that He created according to His creative thought, plan, and purpose.
People can have concerning all this only certain forms of knowledge. These are limited, unstable, wavering, and changing.
Therefore people vainly, unjustly, or “falsely,” call their limited knowledge by the name of knowledge. The best pagan philosophers understood this.
The Apostle himself possessed supernatural, God-inspired knowledge, yet did not call his knowledge complete.
“Now we understand in part,” he said, while awaiting full illumination in the life to come (1 Cor 13:12).
The second feature is the angry tone in the expression of the holy Apostle.
He calls the assaults of “falsely named” knowledge against the purity and integrity of sacred dogmas “profane empty talk and contradictions.”
Such an expression may seem offensive to the hearing of modern people, who pride themselves on their knowledge.
But recall the first age of the apostolic preaching. The teaching of Christ was accompanied by the wondrous actions of the Holy Spirit.
There were rapturous movements toward faith in Christ among pagans exhausted by ignorance of the true God.
There were also Jews oppressed by Pharisaic commandments and superstitions. There were the labors of the Apostles, the sufferings of confessors and martyrs, and the rapid success of the spread of faith throughout the world.
Then you will understand the holy Apostle’s anger against these empty talkers.
They paid no attention to the will and power of God manifested in events. By their disputes they tried to harm the great and holy work of enlightening the world with true knowledge of God.
But look. Does not the present religious and moral condition of our Orthodox fatherland present a similar picture?
Our people love their holy faith, which created their moral strength and the greatness of their state. They thirst for enlightenment in the spirit of faith and the Church.
Yet educated people, who have come forth from this very people, ought to be its teachers and guides in true Christian enlightenment.
Having lost faith themselves, they wish to replace it for the people with human science.
They deliberately confuse its religious concepts. They support sects that undermine Orthodox beliefs and customs at the root.
They give room and freedom for the spread of such views as those by which our notorious self-appointed theologian has especially disgraced himself before the whole world.
He has shown himself an enemy of Christianity and of the right ordering of the state.
He has invented his own faith, composed his own gospel, his own catechism, and his own commandments.
He preaches resistance to everything except evil, and to everything dear to an Orthodox Russian person.
His like-minded followers unite with the so-called Stundists, Pashkovites, and foreign sectarians. They are scattered throughout all Russia.
And now we already know that thousands of our peasants denounce and blaspheme the Church and her holy things.
They reject the holy mysteries. Among other things, they do not even baptize children.
They refuse to swear allegiance to the king, to defend the fatherland with arms, and to recognize the rights of authorities and courts.
In all this, under the guise of education, criminal attempts are visible. They seek to retrain and remake our great people, and to turn it from Christian into pagan.
Finally, they seek to distort its life, so beneficently established and directed for a thousand years by the Providence of God.
At the sight of this calamity, we consider ourselves obliged to tell our sorrow to the whole Church of God, in hope of her prayers.
We also call each of her members to cleanse the senses of spiritual sight and hearing.
Then each may understand that “the empty talk and contradiction of modern knowledge falsely so called,” as in ancient paganism, is becoming a demonic power.
It threatens our faith, our salvation, and our welfare.
Our state now has indisputable power and greatness, which is a matter of amazement to foreigners.
This we must especially value and carefully preserve. Yet carried away by the development of every great and small branch of public life, we do not notice the danger threatening us.
Let us explain it by an example from visible nature.
A beautiful ancient oak stood on a plain. Passersby stopped before it and admired it.
But at the height of summer, yellow leaves began to appear at its top. The next year dry branches appeared.
Then thick bare limbs appeared, like the bones of a skeleton. Then all its bark fell away. It dried up, and a storm crashed it to the ground.
Who destroyed it? Insects barely visible to the eyes, known to gardeners, ate through its bark.
By their multitude and unceasing labor they overcame the giant.
Such are these spreaders of sects and false teachings, who corrupt our people orally and in writing.
We lift up our heads and look only at the heights. We do not notice what abyss our enemies are digging beneath our feet.
But let us seek consolation in fulfilling the duty laid upon us by the holy Apostle.
We do not doubt that we shall find sympathy for our sorrow and concern for the good of the Church and the people.
We shall find it among all our compatriots who have preserved faithfulness to their faith and firmness in confessing it.
“O Timothy, guard the tradition.” By the name of tradition the Apostle here means the whole Christian teaching.
For elsewhere he says to the same Timothy: “Hold fast the pattern of sound teaching which you heard from me, in faith and love in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim 1:13).
This pattern of sound teaching is the totality of the dogmas of faith. We have it, among other places, in the Creed learned by heart from childhood.
Why does the Apostle call the dogmas of faith tradition?
Because they contain no human teaching invented from time to time and preached by its inventors themselves.
They contain divine teaching, delivered by the Only-begotten Son of God Himself.
Before His Incarnation He delivered it to the patriarchs and prophets. After His Incarnation He delivered it to the apostles.
For this reason it is called Divine Revelation.
In this above all we must find an impulse to receive it reverently, understand it accurately, and preserve it whole and unchanged.
It must be preserved for tradition, that is, for transmission to coming generations until the end of the world, while the Church of God stands and acts in it.
Here is the explanation of this truth given by Jesus Christ Himself and by His Apostles.
The holy Evangelist John says, “No one has ever seen God. The Only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (Jn 1:18).
And Jesus Christ Himself said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me” (Jn 7:16).
“For I have not spoken on My own authority, but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what to say and what to speak” (Jn 12:42).
In what, then, did the ministry of the prophets and Apostles consist in communicating Divine Revelation?
What relation did their mind, heart, conscience, and all spiritual faculties have to the teaching they proclaimed?
They were only faithful and firm instruments of the Word of God. They were witnesses of the works of God and transmitters of divine teaching.
The prophets said, “Thus says the Lord God” (Isa 28:16), or, “The mouth of the Lord has spoken these things” (Isa 1:20).
Before His Ascension into heaven, Jesus Christ Himself commanded the Apostles: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.”
“And you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
And so the ministers of Divine Revelation speak of themselves only as witnesses.
Saint John the Baptist said after the Baptism of the Lord, “I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of God” (Jn 1:34).
The holy Evangelist John, who was at the Cross during the Lord’s sufferings, says, “He who saw has testified, and his testimony is true.”
“He knows that he speaks the truth, that you may believe” (Jn 19:35).
That these witnesses were faithful, honest, incorruptible, and guarded by reverent fear in precision and perfect truthfulness of speech is sufficiently confirmed by Saint Paul for all of them.
“I take account of nothing,” he says, “nor do I count my life dear to myself.”
“My only desire is to finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the Gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:21).
In reverent fear and concern that the truth might someday be changed, distorted, or wrongly interpreted by someone, he pronounced this significant threat.
“There are some who trouble you and want to pervert the Gospel of Christ.”
“But even if we, the apostles, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you other than what we preached to you, let him be anathema” (Gal 1:7-8).
Therefore every learned Christian who searches the Scriptures must follow the indication of Jesus Christ Himself: “Search the Scriptures, for they are they which testify of Me” (Jn 5:39).
While studying Divine Revelation, he must remember first of all that he is not dealing with philosophers or with writers of different centuries and branches of knowledge.
He is dealing with God Himself, who speaks heavenly truth to him through His chosen messengers.
These messengers were guided and enlightened by the Holy Spirit for our eternal salvation and earthly happiness.
THEOSIS