Orthodox Dogmatic Theology

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Orthodox Dogmatic Theology

• Virgin Mary Coptic Orthodox Church
• St. Hubert, QC

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Module Outline

• Introduction
• Dogma of the Holy Trinity
• God and Creation
• Evil and Sin
• God and the salvation of Mankind
• The Church of Christ

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Introduction

• What is the purpose of Dogmas
• Dogmas are intended to guard the right path of
  faith.
• Dogmas relate to TRUTH
• "I have no greater joy than to hear that my
  children walk in truth (3 John 1 4)

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Sources of Dogmas

• Two sources
• Sacred Scripture
• Sacred Tradition
• Sacred Tradition is that which comes from the
  ancient church of the apostles. The ancient
  church carefully guarded the inner life of the
  church from those outside.
• St. Basil the great writes
• "Of the dogmas and sermons preserved in the
  Church, certain ones we have from written
  instruction, and certain ones we have received
  from the apostolic tradition handed down in
  secret".

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Where to find Sacred Tradition

• The canons of the Holy Apostles
• The liturgies, rite of Baptisms
• Ancient acts of the martyrs
• Ancient records of the church
• Works of the ancient fathers and teachers
• of the church.

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The Mind or Conscious of the Church

• We appeal to the works of the Holy Fathers of the
  church, acknowledging that the unanimous
  agreement of all of the fathers is an undoubted
  sign of truth.

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Dogmatics Faith

• Dogmatic theology is for believing Christians. In
  itself, it does not inspire faith, but
  presupposes that faith already exists

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Faith

• Faith is the path on which an encounter takes
  place between us and God. It is God who takes the
  first step.
• Faith is both a mystery and a miracle

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Faith

• People come to God in diverse ways
• Sometimes the encounter is sudden and unexpected
• Sometimes conversion is the result of meeting a
  true believer
• To be born in a believing family, and to be
  raised a believer

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From the sayings of the fathers

• How happy are we Christians ! What God is
  hours. How much to be pitied are those who do
  not know God. O, unhappy, erring peoples! They
  cannot know what true joy is But our joy is
  Christ. By His sufferings He has inscribed us in
  the Book of Life, and in the Kingdom of heaven we
  shall be with God for ever, and we shall see His
  glory, and delight in Him. Our joy is the Holy
  Spirit, so pleasant. He bears witness to the
  soul of her salvation

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God

• The name by which God revealed Himself is Yahweh,
  meaning the One who Exists I AM WHO I AM
• This means
• I live, I am here, I am together with you
• The superiority of Gods being over all other
  beings

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God

• After the Babylonian captivity, the Jews
  refrained out of reverential awe from uttering
  the name of Yahweh, and used instead Adonai
  (the Lord)
• St. Gregory the Theologian says The Divinity is
  unnamable

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Divine Names

• In the Scripture, we meet many names for God,
  each of which, while incapable of describing his
  essence, points to certain of His attributes
• God is to be praised both by every name and as
  the Nameless One

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Divine Names

• Lord His power, dominion glory
• Lord of Hosts
• King of Glory
• Almighty Pantokrator
• Holy, All-good
• LOVE
• There are also names that originate in human
  experience (Shepherd, Lamb, Way, Door)

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Attributes of God

• Uncreated without beginning
• No higher principle or cause of existence beyond
  Him. He is the cause of everything
• Being infinite boundless
• God exists beyond the categories of space and is
  free from all limitation. He cannot be measured

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Attributes of God

• Eternal
• Exists beyond the category of time.
• I am the first, and I am the last (Isa. 4812)
• I am the Alpha and the Omega
• Immaterial
• By nature, God is spirit
• Indefinable, invisible and inconceivable

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St. Gregory the Theologian

• O you who are beyond everything ! For what else
  can be sung about you?
• What word can glorify you? For you are
  unutterable by any word
• You alone are inexpressable, for you have
  begotten all things that can be described by
  words
• You alone are unknowable, for you have generated
  all that is knowable
• All exists because of you alone. All in its
  entirety longs for you

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Theology Summarized

• It is not by speculative knowledge but in the
  depths of prayerful silence that the soul can
  encounter God, who is beyond everything, and who
  reveals himself to her
• The truth encountered by the saints is what is
  formulated in the dogmas
• A theologian is one who prays