Content:

§1. The Branches of Apologetics. §2. The Brief Course on the History of Apologetics. §3. Russian Apologetics

§1. Man, World, Religion. §2. What is Religion? §3. Meaning of the Word "Religion." §4. Basic Truths of Religion §5. Essence of Religion. §6. Views of Some Philosophers on Religion. §7. Origin of Religion. §8. The First religion. §9. Diversity of Religions §10. Pseudo-religious Thought Systems: Deism, Pantheism, and Theism §11. Views of Some Philosophers on Religion

§1. Proof §2. There Is No God, Because... §3. God Exists

§1. Science. §2. The Path of Reason In Search of the Truth. §3. The Basis of Social Service to the Church. §4. A Christian’s freedom, the Church’s freedom and religious freedom.

§1. Types of revelations. §2. General Revelation and Its Indications. §3. Individual revelation and its signs. §4. Exorcism. §5. Assessment of the Natural Knowledge of God [71].

§1. Naturalism. §2. Idolatry. §3. Mysticism. §4. Magic. §5. The Origins and Essence of Heathenism. §6. Assessment Of Heathenism.

§1. Teaching. §2. The Religion of the Old Testament and Christianity.

§1. Basics of Spiritual Life [1]. §2. About sanctity in Orthodoxy.

§1. Two Views of the World. §2. The Christian Understanding of the World. §3. Christian Ecology. §4. The Hypothesis of the Antiworld. §5. The Boundaries of the Universe. §6. Creation or / and Evolution.

§1. The Notion of Eschatology and Its Different Aspects. §2. Antichrist. §3. 666 and The Individual Taxpayer Number (ITN).

It is natural for a Christian "to know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed" (Luke 1:4). But as the Apostle Paul writes, he must "be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear" (1 Pet. 3:15). For the Lord Himself commands: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you" (Math 28:19-20).

The preaching of Christianity is a difficult and responsible act, because the salvation of many people depends on its success. It demands the knowledge of the truths of Christianity in relation to the teaching of faith and morals, the understanding of spiritual life and the specific acquaintance with the basic aspects of human life and activity, first of all, with the religious, philosophic, and scientific ones. It necessarily supposes that one knows the answer to the main and more disturbing questions of our contemporaries. All this requires special preparation, which is primarily the subject of apologetics (Basic Theology).

Apologetics is orientated towards people of different convictions and levels of belief: both those, who have just come into the Church and still have many doubts, and those, who are "near the Church walls," but are looking for the Truth, the meaning of life, and are interested in Christianity. Both the first and the second, who in the majority do not have any spiritual experience and have not yet "experienced" God within themselves, need the substantiation of the truths of faith, need proofs, inasmuch as they are one of the natural means towards acquiring and strengthening faith. The following work, examining many questions on apologetics, both those common to all religions as well as those of a specifically Christian character, is orientated towards this goal.

The present work consists of the following parts:

• The concept of apologetics, its aims, tasks and place in the system of theological sciences; also a brief review of the history of apologetics (Chapter 10).
• Religion and its origin. — The positive disclosure of the question, and the analysis of the negative points of view (Chap. II-III).
• The Existence of God. — The basic arguments and the analysis of counter-arguments (Chap. IV).
• Religion and human activity. — Science, philosophy, Orthodoxy; the problem of cognition; the social activity of the Church; freedom of man, the Church and religious freedom; exorcism and the attitude towards it of the holy fathers of the Church (Chap. V).
• The Revelation — The natural and supernatural search for God; its types, signs and criteria of verity; the holy fathers’ teaching about the attitude towards miracles, visions, etc. (chap. VI).
• Spiritual life. The bases of Orthodox spiritual life, sanctity. (Chap.VII).
• Heathenism. —The origin, basic types, assessment. (Chap.VIII).
• The Religion of the Old Testament. — Faith and life; the Old and New Testaments (Chap. IХ).

APOLOGETICS (Greek apologia— protection, justification, intercession; a speech, said or written in someone’s defense; apologeomai — to defend oneself, to justify oneself, to state or present in one’s personal defense) in the general sense is any kind of defense of Christianity from the accusations and criticism of its enemies; in the specific sense — a branch of theology, whose goal is to reveal and substantiate the truths of Christian faith, and which has to give an answer to anyone asking, or to refute the incorrect religious, philosophic or other world views which stand in opposition to Christianity. Apologetics as the defense of Christianity has existed since its very appearance and continues as such to this day. As a special branch of theology, or as a separate science, apologetics appeared with the development of scholastic theological education. Throughout history its range and content have changed greatly, and has appeared under various names: the apologetics of Christianity, natural theology, philosophical or basic dogmatics, speculative theology, general theology, introductory theology, basic theology. In the second half of the 19^th century, such independent disciplines from the field of apologetics gradually appear as the History of Religion, Biblical archeology and textology, Biblical history, Exposal (Comparative) theology. In the 19-20^th centuries, in theological schools both in the West and in Russia, apologetics was included in the courses of basic theology or was treated as the same discipline (for example, I. Nikolin. "The Course on Basic Theology or Apologetics." Sergiev Posad, 1904).

In 1996, the reformed study program of theological schools of the Russian Orthodox Church treats apologetics and basic theology as two separate subjects. In addition, apologetics preserves its specificity, and is mainly orientated towards the defense of Christianity from the criticism of other world-views and systems of thought. The task of basic theology is the examination and analysis of the main Christian truths of faith and life from the point of view of the intellectual, moral, cultural and other generally accepted norms and criteria.

It is possible to distinguish three main branches in apologetics: Theological, Historical-Philosophical and Natural-Scientific.

The object of Theological Apologetics is primarily the basic Christian truths of faith and life. However, unlike Dogmatic and Moral Theology, their analysis and examination is not taken from the authority of the Holy Scripture and the Church tradition, but mainly from the point of view of the intellectual, moral, cultural and other commonly accepted norms and criteria. This is caused by the necessity of revealing Christian truths to people who rarely go to the Church, or to unbelievers who are in the state of searching, so that they could have an optimal opportunity of accepting these truths as basic world-view principles. Such an approach serves as a defense of the basic values of Christian religion in the face of criticism, and simultaneously as an optimal condition for the constructive dialogue with other religious systems of thought.

The field of Theological Apologetics includes the examination of such questions as: dogmatic (the understanding of God, the Triunity of God, the Incarnation of God, Salvation, Resurrection, the sacraments and others) in comparison to the non-Christian analogies of other religions and religious trends; theodicy (the cooordination of Divine love and the existence of eternal tortures, the origin of evil, individual freedom and Divine Providence, etc.); spiritual-moral (the understanding of the Christian postulates of spiritual life in comparison with the non-Orthodox ones), and some others.

At the present time, the topics of theological apologetics are assigned to the sphere of basic theology.

This branch of apologetics encompasses a very wide range of problems of a historical and, mainly, philosophical character. The historical aspect includes questions about the origin of religion and its types, the appearance of Christianity, different forms of mysticism, and so on, and the understanding of the essence of these phenomena. Historical subject matter effectively appeared in apologetics only in the 18^th century, when the activists of the so-called era of Enlightenment and the Great French revolution, in their struggle with Christianity, reached the point of negating the historical existence of Christ and the reality of the events, described in the New Testament and other Biblical books (the so-called "Mythological School"). This and other hypotheses about the origin of Christianity (the Neo-Tubingen School, political-economical, syncretistic) defined the content and the character of a multitude of apologetic works. At present, historical subject matter can still be found in the majority of teaching aids on apologetics and basic theology.

Questions of critical analysis of different atheistic hypotheses about the origin of religion ("the invention of religion," naturalistic, animistic, social, anthropotheistic, etc.) play a great role in the historical aspect of apologetics, as well as the evaluation of the views of some more well-known thinkers upon religion, its origin and its place in the life of man and society.

The philosophical aspect of this branch of apologetics has, first of all, as its object the corresponding disclosure and substantiation of those postulates of Christian faith, which are common with or related to philosophy, and in this capacity are problematic both for theology and philosophy, and also the theological comprehension and assessment of many questions of ontology, gnoseology, anthropology, eschatology.

The understanding of existence, or being (ontology), is key for both Christianity and philosophy, inasmuch as it determines the principal opinion toward all the other problems concerning faith and knowledge. In Christian apologetics, it includes the sphere of questions, which are connected to the religious-philosophical comprehension of the teaching about God and His Existence, the existence of the extra-sensual world, about creation and the relations between God and the world (and man). Constant attention, beginning with the times of scholasticism and to the present, is paid to the question of proving the existence of God.

A great number of apologetic works are devoted to the analysis of alternative views to the question of understanding God and of His attitude to the world, which are suggested by deism, dualism, monism, pantheism, polytheism, theism and other philosophical and religious-philosophical trends.

The problem of cognition and, first of all, of knowing God, the conditions, criteria, goal and means of this process (gnoseology) is central both to Christianity and philosophy. It is very extensive and multifaceted. In theology, this problem is examined unclearly, especially ever since the times of the 11^th century schism. The West sees the solution to this problem primarily in the activity of ratio, while the East (Orthodoxy) — in the integrity of the cognizing spirit. A.S. Khomyakov precisely defined this divergence, pointing out the main error of Western mentality: "Rome broke all ties between cognition and the inner perfection of the spirit" [1].

I.V Kireevsky emphasized this also: "Striving for the truth of conjecture, Eastern thinkers first of all worry about the correctness of the inner state of the thinking spirit; the Western ones -- more about the external connection of ideas. The Eastern thinkers, in order to reach the fullness of truth, look for the inner unity of reason: that is, for that concentration of mental forces, where all separate spiritual activities merge into one living and supreme unity. The Western thinkers, on the contrary, believe, that it is possible for divided powers of reason, acting independently in their solitary individualism, to reach the truth" [2].

Thus, Orthodoxy sees true cognition and knowledge of the Truth only through resembling God. The main question of philosophical and Christian gnoseology -- about the truth and delusion (prelest’, or self-delusion) is solved in Orthodoxy not by turning to ratio in and of itself, but to the purity of the entire spiritual-moral state of the cognizing person.

The origin of man, the understanding of the individual, soul, spirit, immortality, freedom, sin and virtue, salvation and perfection, sanctity, attitude towards the body, the meaning of life and death, sufferings and creativity — these are the questions of anthropology, which only represent a small part of this branch of philosophical apologetics. This is that sphere which, together with the teaching about God, takes center stage in Christian theology and around which constant world-view discussions arise.

Eschatology is the problem, which always arouses increased interest and many questions. It has several aspects, though only two of them are usually discussed in philosophical apologetics. The first of them can be called the "antinomy of Gehenna." The main antinomic postulate of eschatology has to do with the fact that the eternal life of immortality and glory can coexist with eternal death and destruction, and both of them, to a different extent, are included in existence. [3] This problem has been a subject for consideration ever since the first centuries of Christianity to the present day. Origen, St. Gregory of Nyssa, Sts. John Chrysostom and Isaac the Syrian, Archpriest A. Tuberovsky, Priest A. Zhurakovsky, Prince E. N. Trubetskoi and many other fathers of the Church, theologians and thinkers suggested interesting and profound ways of solving it.

The second aspect of the eschatological problem concerns the final fate of this world. This aspect includes a wide range of questions and closely borders on historiosophia, sociology, the analysis of scientific-technical progress, cultural development, etc. At the present time, in connection with the increasing ecological crisis, the intensification of globalization processes and the expanding opportunities of total control over man and his behavior, it is acquiring greater and greater relevance.

The main task of this branch of apologetics is to inspire man to contemplation about the reason of the Origin of the world’s visible and ascertainable expediency of order. Basically, the driving idea of natural-scientific apologetics is what is traditionally called the teleological proof of the existence of God. The main questions here are the problems of the correlation of science and religion, science and atheism.

The sources and basis of natural-scientific apologetics are the familiar words of the Apostle Paul: "Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse" (Rom. 1:19-20). The Apostle writes with a certain reprehensibility here about those who, while analyzing the world, do not see God’s presence in it. The Fathers and teachers of the Church of different eras were also convinced that the contemplation of the natural world’s phenomena and the use of data from natural sciences for the sake of apologetics is both right and useful, inasmuch as it reveals the existence of God and many of His features to man in its own way. Venerable Ephraim the Syrian wrote, for example: "The Scripture teaches us what we see in nature. If we delve into it correctly, both nature and Scripture show the same things" [4]. The same thing is said by Sts. Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa in his "Hexameron," the Venerable John Damascene in the "Precise Discourse on Orthodox Faith" and many others. One of the Russian Saints, Tikhon of Zadonsk, writes a great work "Spiritual Treasure, Gathered From the World." The fact that the overwhelming majority of the most outstanding scientists-naturalists of all times and nations, including the present era, saw God while studying the world, is no less important. Their basic opinion is well expressed by M. Lomonosov: "The Creator gave mankind two books. The first is the visible world… The second book -- is the Holy Scripture… Both of them not only certify God’s existence, but also His indescribable blessings to us. It is a sin to sow tares and discords among them" [5].

. However, together with this main line of theological and scientific thought, beginning with the 15-17^th centuries and especially in subsequent times, the idea of the world’s self-development, the self-origination of life and man himself, is growing more actively in certain social circles. This was the source, which produced pseudo-religious, atheistic and anti-religious moods and whole philosophic systems. The notion of the incompatibility and the struggle of science and religion arose from this, which is still important for natural-scientific apologetics to this day. Now, when natural sciences convincingly testify that all levels of micro-, macro-, and mega-worlds: material, biological, mental, moral and spiritual — are so reasonably organized and correlated, both together and individually, that in fact no doubt remains of the anthropic principle of world organization, natural-scientific apologetics attains its goal as never before, showing that science and religion are not only not enemies, but each of them reveals to man the existence of a highest Reason – God -- with the help of its own means.

Natural-scientific apologetics may have as many aspects as there are separate sciences in natural science. But some of them have greater priority. This depends on the amount of "attention" given to this or that science by the atheistic critics. These are usually anthropology, psychology, biology, cosmology. The main problem in the discussion between religion and atheism (but not between religion and science!) throughout these sciences is the cause, or the source (God or matter?) of the appearance of the Universe, the origin of life and man.

So, apologetics takes on the task of revealing and substantiating Christian faith in such a way that would allow each person, searching for the meaning of life, to see that Christianity is not blind faith, but a religion which truly answers the main questions of life of human existence. This explains the specifics of the given theological science, which consists, first of all, in the fact that it resorts not only to the Bible and the teachings of Holy Fathers, but to the non-Christian religious and philosophical thought, the achievements of natural sciences and humanitarian sciences, history, art — i.e. culture in general.

At the same time, the warning of the Lord remains in effect: "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you" (Matt. 7:6). This is the commandment, concerning the discerning attitude to preaching, so that it would not become an irritating challenge for those unprepared and spiritually incapable of understanding it. Apostle Paul admonishes his disciple Timothy, and through him, every Christian: "But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth " (2 Tim. 2:23-25).

[1] Khomyakov A.S. The Complete works. Part 2. Publ.3. Mosc.1886. P.55

[2] Kireevsky I.V. About the character of Enlightenment in Europe.// Criticism and Aesthetics. Mosc.1979. P.274

[3] Bulgakov S, Archpriest. The Bride of the Lamb. Paris, 1946. P.508.

[4] Ephraim the Syrian, Holy Works. Part 3. Mosc.1852. P.48.

[5] Lomonosov M. Poems// Moscow "The Soviet Writer," 1948. P.7.

For greater convenience, the history of apologetics is usually divided into periods. Inasmuch as there is no strictly set division into periods, the following division is suggested in the given review:

• Early Christianity and the Epoch of the Ecumenical Councils (the 2nd-7^th centuries)
• The Middle Ages and the Epoch of the Renaissance (the 8^th -15^th centuries)
• The New Age (the 16^th -19^th centuries)
• The 20^th century
• The History of Russian Apologetics

The necessity of defending one’s faith existed even before the appearance of Christianity. In Judaic circles, it was expressed, for instance, in the works of Philo of Alexandria, Joseph Flavius and the others. Christian writers were not only acquainted with the methods, arguments and ideas of Jewish apologetics, but used them [6]. The first Christian elements of apologetics can be seen in various extracts of the Gospel, the Acts and epistles of the Apostles, especially in those of the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Peter appeals to every Christian to "be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope" (1 Pet. 3:15).

In the first centuries of Christianity’s existence, a special genre of theological-polemical works appeared — apologia. The apologias of early Christianity address two groups: Judaism and heathenism, which oppose Christianity for various reasons. "But we preach Christ crucified," — writes the Apostle Paul, — unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness" (1 Cor. 1:23). Protection from both Jews and heathens had its own clearly expressed specificity. If the discussion with the Jews was mainly about the Messianic worth of Jesus Christ, about His Divinity, then with heathens — it was about the unity of God, the unique character of Theophany in Christ, the falsity of different types of accusations against Christians and the unjustness of persecutions against them. As V. Bolotov wrote, those apologias were one "of the forms of appeal to public opinion." They, "though slowly, but surely reached their goal: they made society acquainted with Christianity and destroyed the prejudices and biases against Christians" [7]. The main thing that attracts our attention in the apologias of the early period is their spiritual strength, witnessed in the sermon and martyrdom of many of Christian writers themselves and their disciples.

When the persecutions of Christians stopped in the 4^th century, the character of apologetics changed— it slowly turned from battling with external enemies to the defense of the purity of faith and morality from distortion within the Church. Mainly, this struggle was purely theological and ended with the decisions of the Councils of the 4-8^th centuries. However, this sphere of theological activity goes beyond the boundaries of apologetics themselves.

The apologetics of this period is oriented, on the one hand, towards the polemics of Christianity which appeared in the 7^th century with a new and very active religion — Islam (though the previous questions, concerning Neo-Platonism and especially Judaism, were not set aside), and on the other hand — towards the struggle with revived heathenism and anthropocentrism, which were the result of the Renaissance epoch. Still, there are only a few apologetical works remaining from that period. The first of the Byzantine works, entering into polemics with Islam, is "A Discussion Between a Saracen and a Christian," which was written by the Venerable John Damascene. He also writes "The Origin of Knowledge" — an enormous work, which summarizes and classifies the fruits of Christian theology of the preceding centuries, and also includes ideas of an apologetical and philosophical character. Among the other works, devoted to the struggle against Islam, one can note the works of Nikita of Byzantium and the Emperor John VI Kantakuzen. At the beginning of the 7^th century, Nicholas of Methona writes a vast apologetical treatise "The Refutation of the Theological Teachings of Proclus Platonicus."

At the time, Spain was the center of apologetic activity in the West. There, in 1250, a special institute was opened for preparing apologists, who would battle with Islam and Judaism, and attention was mostly paid to the studies of Hebrew and Arabic. The work of Cardinal Nicholas Kuzansky "The Refutation of the Koran," in which he pointed out the close ties of Islam with Christianity, was unusual for that time.

The political might of the Catholic Church at that time, the absence of the external enemies and the broad interest of the flock and educated circles of society in ancient thought, contributed to the intensive development of philosophical and theological thought and the rise of so-called scholasticism. The latter set the systematizing of theology and its philosophical substantiation as the one of its most important tasks. Scholastics formulated many proofs of God’s existence; they suggested the concept of the so-called "double truth," which presumed the non-contradictory and independent co-existence of the truths of faith and reason, which in principle produced the opportunity of rational substantiation of all Christian truths; much was done towards the creation of theological systems and the development of methods of theological-philosophical analysis.

In the grandiose "Sums of Theology" (by Peter Lombardsky, †1160, and Thomas Aquinas, †1274) an attempt was made to encompass all questions, relating to the teaching about God, the world and man, and to substantiate the truths of the Revelation, from the position of "pure" reason. The most important role in those works played the parts which were called rational, basic, natural, (sometimes — main) theology. The famous pillars of scholasticism, Anselm of Canterbury and Thomas Aquinas, did much for the development of those areas.

But, by its attitude to theology, scholasticism was also laying the foundation of that profound rationalism, which led Western thought to many of the most negative consequences. In scholasticism, "a practically total desecration of the content of faith" was occurring. "Proclaiming the primacy of Divinely revealed truth over the truth of positive knowledge and the indisputable authority of the Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition, scholasticism, in its real intellectual effort, in fact remains a purely rational activity on a logical-speculative plane" [8]. The commandment of the apostle "through faith we understand" (Hebr. 11:3), in spite of the outwardly declared "Credo, ut intelligam," was directly transformed into the statement: "We experience, in order to believe."

Inasmuch as man’s salvation depends not only on the orthodox character of his faith, but on the correctness of the state of his soul, a battle for the truth of life takes place in Church history, which is just as serious and acute as the struggle for the truth of faith. The defense of the principles of spiritual life is one of the most serious and subtle courses in apologetics. It appeared gradually. But it began to develop greatly as a result of the scholastic development of theology in the Western Church, and its break from the experience of the holy fathers.

V. N. Lossky notes: "It was necessary for some division to occur between experience and common faith, between personal life and the life of the Church, in order for spiritual life and dogma, mysticism and theology, to become two different spheres, so that souls, which do not find enough food in the theological "Sums," could greedily search for stories of individual mystical experience" [9].

The outstanding expert of spiritual literature of the East and West, St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), points to the definite coordinates of time of the rise of the false direction in the depths of the Western church. He writes: "Venerable Benedict [†544 г.], and St. Pope Gregory the Dialogist [†604] still agree with the ascetics of the East; but Bernard Klervossky (12^th century) already differs from them harshly; and the later ones diverged even more." He thus assesses their mystical experience: "They lead themselves and their readers to such peaks, which are inaccessible to a beginner; they become haughty and make others haughty. The passionate…dreaminess is, for them, a substitute for everything spiritual, about which they do not have the least idea. They believe such dreaminess to be grace" [10].

The schism of the Ecumenical spiritual tradition led to the appearance of many ascetics-mystics, often distant from the Church, and of mystical tendencies. John Scott Eriugena (approx. †877), Abbot Joachim of Flora (†1202), Francis of Assisi (†1226), blessed Angela (†1309), Meister Ekhart (†1328), Katherine of Sienna (†1380) and others, greatly influenced the forthcoming (right up to the present time) development of both Church-Catholic and out-of-Church mysticism. The battle for the purity and steadfastness of spiritual life, the polemics with different mystical teachings, which led away from Christ, is one of the brightest pages of apologetics.

The epoch of the Renaissance, which began in the 14^th century, fully revealed the concealed rationalism, mysticism and mundane character of Western theology. The translations of ancient Greek and Roman philosophers, which revealed to the West the ancient culture in a new and more attractive light than Christian values, helped in this. As a result, more and more, Man and his reason occupy a more important place in the society than God and faith, with all the resulting consequences. In the Western world, open estrangement from Christianity and unbelief begins. The Renaissance anthropocentrism was the most serious challenge to Christianity. However, there it could not form any worthy opposition to the ever-increasing wave of the desecration of God, man and the world. Among the works of the more famous apologists and their works in this period one can mention: "The Glory of the Cross Against the Wise Men of the Century" by Geronimo Savonarola and "Natural Theology" by Raymond Sabundsky, in which he undertakes an attempt to logically trace the Biblical truths of faith from the examination of nature and its laws.

The Reformation and the religious battle associated with it turned out to be the "sui generis" statement of the development of that serious spiritual crisis of the Western Church and society on the whole, which became especially obvious ever since the time of the 11^th century Schism. The reformation not only undermined the foundations of the Catholic Church, but also provided a strong impulse for the development of many non-Church and anti-Christian ideas and philosophical teachings. The more significant among these were deism, pantheism, materialism, which greatly influence all subsequent history of thought. The notion of a Personal, Living God begins to be replaced more and more by either an eternal Substance (the pantheism of Spinoza), or by a "Divine Clock-Master" that is detached from the world (deism) or altogether by lifeless matter (Hobbs, Golbach, Moleshott). Apologetics developed with those teachings accordingly.

The English school of apologetics is known for its struggle with deism, though the activity of this school was very ambiguous. Its representatives, among whom many were Unitarians, actively defended the existence of God, the immortality of the soul, and other common religious truths, but remained silent on specific Christian truths. In their scholastic interpretation, Christianity often turned out to be just one of those religions, in which there was nothing new, exceptional, in comparison with other monotheistic religions. In this respect, the work of the famous scientist D. Locke "Experience of Human Reason" is very indicative.

Professor Archpriest N. P. Rozhdestvensky characterized the activity of this school in this way: "A one-sided, scholastic tendency dominated English apologetics in the 17^th and 18^th centuries…. The best thing that was done by the English apologetics in the 17^th and 18^th centuries belongs to the historical-apologetic activity, i.e. the defense of the historical authenticity of the Biblical books, the reliability of the Gospel history, and of the Biblical testimonies of miracles, prophecies, etc." [11].

Apologetic activity also developed in other European countries at that period of time. Thus, one of the most impressive apologetic works of the 17^th century appeared in the Netherlands by the lawyer, historian and government figure Hugo Grotius "About the Veritability of the Christian Religion," which was translated not only into all the European languages, but even into Chinese for the missionaries. In France, in the 17-18^th centuries, there was an entire apologetic theological-philosophical school of Bossuet and Fenelon, which was under the influence of Descartes’ philosophy. The work of Fenelon "About Existence and Divine Qualities" was greatly renowned, directed mainly against the pantheism of Spinoza. B. Pascal was an outstanding representative of this school, and he left many marvelous thoughts about religion, published after his death under the title of "The Thoughts of Pascal about Faith and Some Other Subjects," which was translated into many languages, including Russian, and which did not lose its apologetic significance to this day.

Germany, in the 17-18^th centuries, did not have, practically, any of its own apologetic thoughts. It basically used French translations. The main contribution was made by philosophers, and not theologians. These were, first of all, Leibniz and Wolfe. Leibniz in his "Monadology" develops the teaching about a pre-set harmony of the world, and also gives the philosophical basis of the proofs of the God’s existence, especially of the cosmological and teleological ones, and the immortality of the soul. His philosophy became the foothold in the struggle against materialism, atheism and partially deism. In "Theodicy," as an introduction, he suggests the experience of rational substantiation of faith and of its coordination with reason. Wolfe writes "Natural Theology," in which he tries to define the truths of faith and connect them with pure logic. But the formal-logical method, applied by Leibniz and Wolf, made their works dry and hard to master.

In the 18^th century, the French "enlighteners" sharply posed the question of the correlation of religious faith and knowledge. Actively opposing Christianity, they unreservedly gave primacy to human reason. Their influence upon public opinion turned out to be so strong that religion, or more precisely — Christianity, began to be considered as the main obstacle in the path of mankind’s prosperity. A direct ideological, and afterwards a bloody battle, with Christianity begins.

On account of this, at the end of the 18^th —the beginning of the 19^th century in France, there appeared another popular apologetic school, founded by Chateaubriand, which defined its direction in its main work "The Spirit of Christianity." Unfortunately, this spirit was seen by Chateaubriand not within the spiritual content of Christian faith, but in the cultural-aesthetical forms of its manifestation. The name of famous scientist and researcher Bonne especially stands out, who, in the work "The Contemplation of Nature," provides rich material which testifies to the existence of a reasonable Creator of the world.

The appearance of the so-called mythological school at the end of the 18^th century, the founders of which were the Leaders of the Great French revolution K.F. Volney and Ch. Dupuis, caused an energetic apologetic reaction, which lasted for many decades in France, and later in other countries. The mythological school not only denied the historical existence of Christ and other Biblical figures, but presented Christianity as nothing more than another variation of the myths and religions of ancient nations.

Arthur Drews, who became one of the more well-known "mythologists," wrote "The Myth about Christ" in 1909. The book aroused indignation in Protestant circles in Germany, though essentially Drews did not say anything new, "except the same mistakes" [12]. Drews became famous due to the German-Jewish so-called "Union of Monists," which made the ideas of Drews the subject of passionate propaganda and threw them to the crowd as "the last word" of historical science. Both the debates and the extensive literature, which appeared in connection with "The Myth about Christ", showed the absolute scientific incompetence of the author. [13].

In spite of the total historical insolvency of this school, its ideas soon invaded many countries: England, Italy, Germany, Holland, U.S.A, etc. It was sharply criticized there as well. In England, for instance, Bishop Whately writes the apologia-pamphlet "Historical Doubts Relative to Napoleon Bonaparte," in which, using the method of the mythological school, "proves" that Napoleon Bonaparte never existed. In France J.B. Perez writes an outstanding parody concerning "the proofs" of mythologists "Why Napoleon never existed, or the Great Error — the Source of the Endless Number of Mistakes, Which Must Be Noted in the History of the 19^th Century" (Moscow, 1912). As a reaction to these new ideas, E. Presanse wrote his work, "Jesus Christ and His Time" (S.P. 1871).

By the middle and the second part of the 19^th century, the negative critical thought of Germany took another direction. The so-called Neo-Tubingen negative historical-critical school appeared, which tried to contest the authenticity of the Biblical books of the Old and New Testaments and of many events described there. Its activity, on the wave of common infatuation with atheistic ideas, contributed to the ever-growing increase of negativism towards Christianity. Naturally, the apologists of that time gave the corresponding answer to such literature. From among their works, the following should be mentioned: those of H. Hettinger ("Apology of Christianity," in 2 parts, Russian translation published in 1872-73), E. Jerusalem ("Thoughts about the Main Truths of Religion," in 5 parts, Russian translation published in 1806, 1817, 1831, 1833, etc.), H. E. Luthardt ("Apologia of Christianity," Russian translation St.-P. 1892).

In the 19^th century, in connection with the appearance of Darwin’s theory and its use in atheistic propaganda, a great number of apologetic works appear that are devoted to this subject. Their main attention was focused on the inability to substantiate atheistic evolutionism, and, simultaneously, on the possibility of even the evolutional development of the world under the condition of God’s existence.

Western theology in the 19^th century becomes more and more dependent on the more popular philosophical systems of thought: those of Kant, Hegel, Shelling, etc. Rationalism, atheism, pantheism, various mystical ideas and movements continued to spread. This fact in its turn caused the intensive development of apologetic activity. (Extensive critical literature on the given questions can be found in the works of Russian apologists).

The prominent German philosopher E. Kant made his contribution to apologetics. In his "Criticism of Pure Reason," he comes to the conclusion, that the existence of God cannot be proved rationally, but neither can it be refuted. At the same time, in the "Criticism of Practical Reason" Kant states that the acceptance of the existence of God is a necessary postulate of the moral consciousness of man. The moral argument ("proof") of the existence of God was quickly included in the arsenal of apologetics. But many statements of Kant, for example, the denial of Divine Providence in the world, of Revelation, the de facto equating of morals and religion, and so forth, were unacceptable to Christian understanding. They, like his criticism of the traditional proofs of the existence of God, were met with strong opposition on the part of apologists.

Another prominent philosopher who influenced the development of apologetic thought in the 19^th century was Hegel. In his "pan-logism" ("everything is thought"), Hegel tried to overcome the deistic understanding of God and eliminate the gap between faith and reason. However, in his system, the living, personal God dissolves and disappears in an impersonal, abstract, philosophically-cold Absolute, while faith is replaced with dialectics. For Hegel, the dialectic method, with the help of which he tried to find answers to all questions, turned out to be in its way a kind of logical magic [14]. The pantheism of Hegel’s philosophy turned out to be favorable soil for the growth of extremely rationalistic views.

The dialectics of Hegel were taken as a basis for atheistic Marxism. One of Hegel’s followers, L. Feuerbach, in his work "The Essence of Christianity," develops the idea of the anthropological understanding of God as the projection of man and his qualities into infinity, and undertakes the attempt to create some new religion with the cult of man. This idea was brought by F. Nietzsche to the extreme forms of man-Godliness, which "is the conclusion of the internal dialectics of humanism" [15]. The battle against atheism and materialism was taken up by the apologetic school, which had appeared in Germany under the influence of theology and philosophy of F. Schleiermacher, who first placed apologetics in the field of so-called philosophical theology. Schleiermacher actively defended Christianity. But his method and the pantheistic character of his philosophy, clearly revealed in his "Discourses on Religion," do not let us highly assess his apologetic activity. This school was not distinguished by any strictness in the questions of faith, or by any consistency in the expression of its ideas.

The theistic philosophical school, founded by Fichte the Younger, made a more significant contribution to the apologia of Christianity. In his works, Fichte defends the existence of a personal God in the face of openly aggressive atheism. Among the representatives of his school, the most significant was G. Ulrizzi. In his works "God and Nature," "The Teaching about Man," "The Soul and Body" and others, he shows himself to be very competent and an active combatant against materialism.

By the beginning of the 20^th century, using the apt expression of de Lubac, mankind as never before "began to experience the tortures, caused by the necessity of living without God" [16].

The distinguishing feature of the apologetics of the 20^th century and its development was determined by the following basic factors.

The first was the wide dissemination and, in many traditionally Christian countries, the dominance of an atheistic and materialistic world-view. Even in those countries, where religion is formally a priority world-view, Christianity, in fact, is being forced out of life and atheism turns out to be a real faith of the overwhelming majority. Therefore, the questions of reason and faith, the correlation of scientific knowledge and atheistic and religious world-views, the proofs of the existence of God and the soul, or, like I. Ilyin noted, why it is "not stupid and not harmful" to believe in God even for an educated man [17] are found most often in the foreground of apologetics.

The second factor was the sensational discoveries in physics, genetics, astronomy, psychology, mathematics, archeology and other sciences, which brought completely new evidence of the amazing wisdom of the physical world’s arrangement, thanks to which the defenders of Christianity received serious arguments for the substantiation of the existence of God, the existence of the soul and its immortality, the existence of the extra-sensual world, etc.

The third factor is the special attention paid in the 20^th century to the problem of Man, human existence. The development of scientific-technical progress caused the appearance of many new questions, connected to the essential changes of both the inner world of man (his psychology, morals, culture, and the attitude to the surrounding world on the whole) as well as the natural world. In the modern society of consumption, the processes of estrangement of one man from another, from society, and even from himself, began to take on a terrible scale. Man found himself facing a great number of such crises, and first of all, moral-spiritual and ecological, which carry a real threat to life on earth. Therefore again, but on a principally different level than before, the problem arises of finding the answer to the question about the meaning of one’s existence and activity. Theological and philosophical-apologetic thought in this way received a powerful stimulus for its activity. The question about the meaning of life took on a particularly relevant meaning and came to the foreground. An abundance of many-faceted Christian literary works appeared on this subject.

The next and specifically religious factor is the unusually strong development of the theosophical (or so-called pan-religious) idea of soteriological equality and identity, in essence, of all religions, in the 20^th century. This idea was manifested, in part, in the rise of the ecumenical movement, the goal of which was to bring all Christian confessions together. The battle over the elimination of the boundaries between confessions and principally different religious world-views on the one hand, and the theological opposition to religious fanaticism, the aggressive denial of other religious views on the other, became one of the most vital tasks of modern apologetics. These factors and a number of others caused the appearance of a great number of apologetic works.

Among the more well-known, to the Russian reader, works of the Western apologists of the 20^th century, one should mention the works of the American, Orthodox ascetic Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose) and the Anglican theologian Clive S. Lewis, whose books quickly gained great popularity in Russia.

[6] See: Ivanitsky V.F. Philo of Alexandria. Life and Review of the Works. Kiev, 1922, p.591-592.

[7] V.V. Bolotov. Lectures on the Ancient History of the Church. Vol.2. S.-P. 1910. P.165.

[8] Mozheiko M.A. Scholasticism.//The Newest Dictionary of Philosophy. Minsk, 1999, p. 695.

[9] Lossky V. The Essay on the Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church. Theological Works. №8. Moscow, 1972. P.16.

[10] Ignatius (Bryanchaninov), Bishop, Works in 5 parts. S.-P. 1905. Vol. IV. P.498.

[11] Rozhdestvensky N.P. Christian Apologetics. A Course on Basic Theology. S.-P. 1893. P.74-75.

[12] Bulgakov S.N. Modern Aryanism.// "Silent Thoughts." M.1918, p.160.

[13] See: Sakharov N., Professor. The Union of Monists and the Struggle against It in Germany. "The Theological Bulletin," 1911, December, p. 775-785. S.M. Zorin. "The Mythological Theory of Drews and Its Analysis"// The Pilgrim. 1911, July-August, p.67.

[14] S. Bulgakov. The Non-Evening Light. Sergiev Posad, 1917, p.83.

[15] N.A. Berdyaev. About Man’s Designation. Moscow, Republic, 1993, p.276.

[16] Henri de Lubac. The Drama of Atheistic Humanism. Moscow-Milan, 1997.

[17] Ilyin I.A. The Crisis of Atheism. — Works in 10 parts. Vol. 1, Moscow, 1993, p. 337.

Apologetic thought appears in Russia at the time of its conversion into Christianity. But, in fact, until the end of the 19^th century, it did not have that specificity which is inherent to modern apologetics, and which encompassed all the questions concerning the defense of Orthodoxy and the struggle with other confessions, heresies, false teachings and superstitions, schisms, sects, "free thinking," atheism, etc. In the first centuries, the Russian Church had two main tasks: the positive disclosure of the essence of Christianity and the struggle with the heathenistic remnants in people’s souls. The resolutions to these problems took many forms: oral sermons and accusations, teachings and epistles, special literary works, etc.

One of the first of such works belongs to Metropolitan Leontius (Leon, 11^th century). It was written against the Latin Church, and besides listing multiple proofs of the erroneousness of the Roman tradition of performing the Eucharist with unleavened bread, it briefly analyzes other deviations of the Roman Church. Apologetic elements were often included in works that were not themselves apologetic in character. Such, for instance, is the word of the Presbyter Hilarion, subsequently the Metropolitan of Kiev, "About the Law, Given by Moses, and About the Grace and Truth, Being Jesus Christ," in which he showed the superiority of the New Testament grace over the law of the Old Testament. An outstanding writer, the Venerable Theodosius, (†1074), abbot of the Kiev-Pecherskaya Lavra, in his "Epistles" to the great prince of Kiev, Izyaslav Yaroslavovich, shows the spiritual roots of the misfortunes that come upon man, exposes heathen folk superstitions, reveals the meaning of the Sabbath in the Old and New Testaments, calls for freedom from the ritual law and to act by the spirit of the Gospel. In the 2nd epistle, the venerable Theodosius lists the deviations of the Latin Church from the Orthodox faith and teaches how to treat members of other confessions.

The first ideological anti-Church opponent, which caused a corresponding apologetic reaction, was the so-called strigolnik heresy, which appeared in Pskov in 1371 and which soon reached Novgorod. Here, for the first time, the Russian Church is faced with open attacks on the Church hierarchy. In 1394, an epistle against the strigolnik heresy appeared, which, as Archbishop Philaret (Gumilevsky) thinks, was written by the disciple of the Venerable Sergius of Radonezh, the Venerable Athanasius, who was living in Constantinople since 1392. In that epistle it specifically says: "Tell us, heretics: where do you wish to get a priest? If you say: the Patriarch and the Metropolitans are not worthy, then according to you, there are no priests on earth…Where will you get a priest through your anathematical faith? Shall Christ come down to earth for you a second time? Thieves and robbers kill people with weapons, but you, strigolniks, kill people with spiritual death, leading them away from the Holy Gifts of the Blood and Body of Christ… He who rejects these most Holy Gifts is not a Christian…" [18]

The appearance of the Judaizing heresy in Novgorod at the end of the 15^th century, which engulfed the church and state circles and infiltrated the people, was a serious test for the Russian Church. "Now, monks and laymen all gather, all ask questions about faith: at home, and in the roads, and in the markets," - writes the Venerable Joseph of Volotsk. The Judaizers denied the basic Christian truths and Church rules, giving preference to the Old Testament in everything, which they interpreted incorrectly. St. Gennady of Novgorod actively refuted their false teaching. The Venerable Joseph of Volotsk, on the request of St. Gennady, wrote "The Enlightener," in which he revealed the main truths of Christian faith and replied to the accusations of the Judaizers. "The Enlightener" was the first major apologetic work in Russia. And though the heresy was externally overcome, nevertheless, its ideas continued to live.

The heresy of Matthew Bashkin, which appeared in the 16^th century, was similar to the Judaizing heresy in many ways, though Bashkin called the Latin followers his teachers, and not the Jews. In the transposition of his followers, Theodosius Kosoy and Ignatius, this heresy took the form of extreme rationalism. Their teaching was thoroughly analyzed by the Monk Zynovius of Otensk, the disciple of the Venerable Maxim the Greek. In his book, "Evidence of Truth to Those Asking about the New Teaching," Zynovius thoroughly explains many disputable points; his refutations are well thought out, the arguments are based on vast Biblical and historical materials. Zynovius wrote another apologetic work, "The Many-Worded Epistle of a Monk," which supplements "Evidence of Truth…" with its analysis of some other confessionary and church-practical questions, touched upon by the heretics.

In the 13^th-15^th centuries in Russia many apocryphal books appeared, coming mainly from Bulgaria (apocryphal stories about Adam, Enoch, Lamech, the Patriarchs, "The Songs of Solomon," "The Vision of Isaac," "The Story of Jacob," "The Sufferings of the Theotokos," "The Commandment of the 12 Patriarchs," etc.). These works, which contain many fantasies, superstitions, astrological ideas and various dogmatic and moral errors, were zealously criticized by Maxim the Greek. He wrote many works of a dogmatic-polemical character as well, which were directed against the members of other confessions and heretics. Five short articles of his are directed against the Jews. In "An Expository Word Concerning the Hellenistic Delusion," the Venerable Maxim shows the superiority of Christianity over heathenism. He especially underlined the important fact, that the faith of Christ was spread throughout the world not by the power of weapons, but through the meek word and example of Christians of high moral life. To the polemics with the Latin Church, were devoted "The Word Against the False Work of Nicholas Nemchin about the Union of the Orthodox with the Catholic," "The Word of Praise to Apostles Peter and Paul, and the Exposure of the Three Great Latin Heresies," and as well the epistle to the nobles Theodore Karpov and Nicholas Nemchin, and others. Venerable Maxim did not neglect Islam either, to which he devoted three works. His last work — "The Word on the Armenian Misbelief" is the refutation of the teaching of monophysites that Christ died on the Cross with His Divine nature.

Among the Western-Russian apologists of the 16^th century the elder Artemius, the ex-abbot of the Trinity monastery, attracts attention, who actively fought against the Protestants and Aryans in Lithuania. His letters testify to his profound understanding of Christianity. In them, the author constantly cites the holy fathers and tells them to "test the scriptures," for they are filled with the spirit of tolerance and love.

Another famous Orthodox apologist of that time in Western Russia — Prince A. Kurbsky — "strived for the creative renewal of the legends of the holy fathers, to the revival and continuation of the Byzantine tradition" [19]. He zealously worked towards the enlightenment of the Orthodox, the strengthening in them of the reasonable understanding of faith. For him "the theology of the holy fathers and wisdom of Hellenes become one: "Our ancient teachers are wise and skillful in both, that is, in the external philosophical teachings and in the Holy Scriptures." [20].

The Brest Unia greatly sharpened the apologetic struggle, in the defense of which Orthodox fraternities played a particularly large role. Active theological-polemical and translating work was done by the fraternities in Vilna and Ostrog, then later in Lvov, and at the beginning of the 17^th century — in Kiev. Among the most active apologists, one should mention Archim. Zachariah (Kopystensky) (†1626), who knew the works of the holy fathers extremely well and fought both against Protestantism, which was very successful in southwest Russia at that time, as well as the Latin Unia. His "Palinode," written in reply to the book of the Uniate Archbishop L. Krevza "The Defense of Unia," was an outstanding independent work, revealing the Orthodox understanding of Christian unity.

During the time of the Metropolitan Peter Mogila of Kiev (†1647), the spiritual and theological dependence of Orthodox literature on Catholic sources became notably stronger. The school founded by him— the College of Kiev — was organized like Latin colleges, which naturally left a deep imprint on the character of the upbringing, teaching and theological education of its students. This was reflected in apologetic works. In the Kiev College, apologetic theology was not taught as a separate subject, but was included in the course of lectures on philosophy, which was taught using Catholic textbooks.

The non-critical attitude to Western theological thought tangibly influenced "The Orthodox Confession" of Peter Mogila. Purely Catholic ideas can be found in this catechism. Archbishop Basil (Krivosheyin) calls it "a clearly Latin document in its form, and sometimes in its content and spirit." [21]. Archpriest G. Florovsky writes: "On the whole, "Orthodox Confession" is nothing but an "adjustment" or "adaptation" of Latin material and exposition (to Orthodox teaching, it) …is much more connected to Roman-Catholic literature than to the spiritual life of Orthodoxy." [22]

Archimandrite Joannikius (Galyatovsky), the rector of the Kiev College (†1688), wrote not only against Jesuits and Uniates ("White Church Discourse," "About the Origin of the Holy Spirit," "The Answer" to the book of the Jesuit Skarga "The Basis of Faith"), but also against the Muslims ("The Ruined Alkoran," "The Swan") and the Jews ("The True Messiah").

But the greater part of the South-Russian apologetic literature of the 16^th-17^th centuries was not noted for originality. The Orthodox often used Protestant sources to polemicize with Catholics and Uniates, and for polemics with Protestants —Catholic ones, which made Orthodox literature just as scholastic and ineffective.

The second part of the 17^th century is highlighted by the reforms of Patriarch Nikon and the schism of the old believers, which caused tense discussion. A great amount of anti-schismatic literature appeared, very dissimilar in its content and worth. The more significant works appeared in the 18^th-19^th centuries.

In Moscow, in 1685, the Slavonic-Greek-Latin school opened (in 1814 it became the Moscow Spiritual Academy), which marked the beginning of systematic theological and social education in Russia.

In the 17^th-18^th centuries, the Church faced new phenomena. In connection with the reforms of Peter the Great, the ideas of materialism, atheism, deism, Masonry, mysticism, etc. actively infiltrated Russia. And the struggle with them, as a rule, was difficult. Thus, the entire printing of the polemical book of Eustaphius Stanevich: "The Discussion about the Soul’s Immortality over the Coffin of a Baby" (1818), written against the ideas of pietism and Masonry, was seized by order of the chief-prosecutor Prince Golytsin, who said the following about it: "The discussion about the soul’s immortality is connected with defending the Eastern church, when no one is attacking it… The author, incorrectly understanding, does not sense that he can make people worry that the Church is truly in danger" [23].

But though theology was severely bound by the politics of Peter and his followers, some apologetic works still appeared. Metropolitan Stephan Yavorsky (†1722) wrote one of the most interesting apologetic works of this era, "The Stone of Faith," directed against the Lutheran innovations in Peter’s Russia. He wrote "The Signs of the Coming of the Antichrist and the End of Days from the Holy Scriptures" against the apocalyptical mood of schismatics. His "Answer to the Sorbonne Academy about the Union of Churches," which anticipated later ecumenical discussions of the Orthodox with the representatives of other confessions, is of much interest.

Many sermons of the Archbishop Theophan Prokopovich (†1806), Bishop Anastassiy Bratanovsk (†1806), Metropolitan Plato (Levshin) (1812) are of an apologetic character. The manuscript, "Answers to 16 Questions of Voltaire," is thought to be written by Metropolitan Plato. In his work "Comments about Atheism," Archbishop Theophan states proofs of God’s existence, criticizes the deism of the Enlighteners and the pantheism of Spinoza.

The "Apostolic Reply to the Folly of the Age of Free Thinking" [24] of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk (1724 -1782) is known for its resistance to the stormy surge of unbelief in the 18^th century. Thanks to St. Tikhon, the meeting of a pillar of the Orthodox faith and Russian atheism happens for the first time. With his works "About True Christianity," "Spiritual Treasure, Gathered in the World," St. Tikhon tries to raise the reader’s thought from this life to the phenomena of the spiritual world. "This was the first experience of living theology, and experienced theology, -- in contrast to and as counterbalance to scholastic erudition without real experience…"[25]. The publishing of the Philokalia in Moscow in 1793, in the translation of the Venerable Paisius Velichkovsky (†1794), was of great importance in the struggle against the spreading of the ideas of Enlightenment in Russia.

Not only the hierarchs of the Church, but its separate members come out in defense of faith in the face of spreading atheistic propaganda, the more demagogical thesis of which was the declaration of the conflict between religion and science. One of those apologists was the great scientist M.V. Lomonosov. In a number of his works and poems, he insists on the absence of any contradictions between religion and science. "A mathematician does not think soundly, — he wrote, — if he wants to measure Divine will with a pair of compasses, the same with a teacher of theology, if he thinks, that the Psalms can teach him astronomy and chemistry" [26].

G. Skovoroda (†1794) was an outstanding apologist-pilgrim. His discourses, poetry and very life did much for the strengthening of the faith of his contemporaries. He paid special attention to the criticism of atheism and materialism. The teaching, developed by him, about two "natures" ("Visible nature is called creature, and the invisible —God" [27]), which witness about God to man, stemmed from the familiar words of the Apostle Paul (Rom. 1:19-20).

St. Philaret (Drozdov) of Moscow (†1867) did much in the matter of overcoming the destructive infatuations of the Russian aristocracy and the educated circles of society. He saw as the task of education the fact that it should become an active beginning of Christian life for man: "Christianity is not foolishness or ignorance, but Divine Wisdom" [28]. His works bear an apologetic character: "An Exposition of the Differences between the Eastern and Western Churches in the Teaching of Faith" (1811), "Discussions Between the Testing and the Sure in Orthodoxy of the Eastern Greek-Russian church" (1815) and "Discussions to a Speaking Old Believer" (1830).

In the second half of the 19^th century in Russia, the development of a distinctive religious-philosophical idea begins. This is, first of all, the slavianophilic movement, which was closely connected to theological traditions of the Moscow Spiritual Academy. [29]. A.S. Khomyakov (†1860) was one of the first Russian philosophers to appeal to philosophical thought to "return to the forgotten path of experienced knowledge of God" which is kept in the Church. In his work, "One Church," he tries to outline the living image of the Church, in contrast to the scholastic one. The Church for him is "the unity of Divine grace, which is living in a multitude of reasonable creatures, submitting to grace." Such a view of the question about the Church was completely novel for scholastic theology. Khomyakov posed the question of the authorship and Divine inspiration of the Holy Scripture in a new way as well: "The Scripture is not the Scripture of Paul or Luke, but the Scripture of the Church," that is why for apologetics the proven authenticity of the Scripture is not as important as the internal belonging to the Church, because this, and not the authorship of this or that person in itself, canonizes books. The letters of Khomyakov about the West have a great value in the defense of Orthodoxy in the face of Western confessions.

The fellow campaigner of Khomyakov, I.V. Kireevsky (†1856) in his program article "About the Necessity and Possibility of New Beginnings for Philosophy" expresses a dream about the appearance of a new philosophy, which does not yet exist either in the west, or in the East, but the foundation of which is in the inheritance of the holy fathers. Another article of his, "About the Character of Enlightenment of Europe and About Its Attitude to the Enlightenment of Russia," precisely reveals the difference in the approaches to the education and upbringing of man in the West and in Russia.

The slavianophilic movement had a definite influence on the formation of Russian apologetic thought, inasmuch as many apologetic questions were first discussed in philosophy courses in spiritual seminaries and academies. The departments of the introduction into theology and basic theology appear later. Their main task was the justification of the holy fathers’ faith. When, according to the Regulations of Spiritual Academies of 1869, the departments of physics and mathematics were abolished, Prof. D.F. Golubinsky founded in their stead the Department of the Apologetics of Natural Science in the Moscow Spiritual Academy. The main questions, over which the Russian apologists-theologians toiled at that time, were connected with the analysis and criticism of the ideas proceeding from the West. Those were, first of all, "Voltairianism," rationalism and new "revelations" of German philosophers (Kant, Hegel, Schleiermacher, etc.)

The first professor of the Moscow Spiritual Academy of the Department of Philosophy, whose lectures included questions of philosophic apologetics, was Archpriest F.A. Golubinsky (since 1818 till 1854). In the lectures on "Speculative Theology," he analyzed in detail the proofs of the existence of God and the views of deists, pantheists, materialists.

The successor of Archpriest F.A Golubinsky in the Department of Metaphysics and the History of Philosophy was Professor V.D. Kudryavtsev-Platonov (†1891). He devoted all his scholarly activity to the problems of apologetics. It is hard to find a problem which interested his contemporaries and was not thoroughly analyzed by him from the Christian point of view. His Master’s thesis, "About the Unity of Mankind," and doctoral thesis, "Religion, Its Essence and Origin," research and essays on philosophy, especially on gnoseology, on the substantiation of God’s existence, the immortality of the soul, on cosmology and rational psychology, on natural theology, which are gathered in the three volumes of his works [30], speak of the enormous range of his creative activity. His comparatively small, but successfully combining philosophical and apologetic questions and many times re-published work, "The Basics of Philosophy" (the 9^th edition, Sergiev Posad, 1915), was very popular. Prof. A. Vvedensky writes that the basic problems, which interested Prof. Kudryavtsev, can be expressed in the following questions: 1. What can man know and in what should he believe? 2. What is the world, how did it originate and what is its goal? 3. How should man live and what can he hope for after death? [31] The apologetic works of Prof. Kudryavtsev are a great contribution to Russian apologetics. They organically combine a serious philosophical approach with deep religious piety, which endows them with special persuasiveness.

Subsequent development of Russian apologetics is found in the works of the professor of the Moscow Spiritual Academy of the Philosophy Department Al. Iv. Vvedensky (†1913). In his Master’s thesis, "Belief in God, Its Origin and Basis," Vvedensky performed the analysis of various philosophic views on the question of the origin of religion. The doctorate thesis "Religious Consciousness of Heathenism: the Experience of the Philosophical History of Natural Religions" (Mosc. 1902), although touching upon mainly Hindu religions, nevertheless still gives a basic assessment of heathenism on the whole. Other works of Vvedensky testify to the scale and multifaceted character of his apologetic creativity.

On of the most versatile and fruitful theologists-apologists of the end of the 19^th- 20^th century was the Professor of the MSA of the Department of "The Introduction into the Circle of Theological Sciences" S.S. Glagolev (†1937). His name is mainly connected with natural-scientific apologetics. His Master’s dissertation "About the Origin and the Primitive State of Mankind" (Moscow, 1894) was the first work in Russian apologetics of scientific criticism of the theory of Darwin, and was accompanied by a detailed explanation and analysis of various theories of evolutionists. In the doctorate dissertation, "The Extraordinary Revelation and Natural Knowledge of God outside the True Church" (Kharkov, 1900), he developed the idea about the possibility of heathens, in their way, entering the number of those saved in the Old Testament Church. In the work, "From Readings about Religion" (Holy Trinity-Sergius’s Lavra, 1905), he suggests the historical review of religions of both cultural and undeveloped nations, as well as the analysis of the view upon religion of various thinkers (Galileo, Descartes, Pascal, Cherberry, Hobbes, Leibniz, Voltaire, Kant, Schleiermacher, Hegel, Baader, F.A. Golubinsky, Hartman, Soloviev). The last part of this work is devoted to the analysis of general questions on the correlation of religion and natural science. Glagolev wrote other works: on the history of religion ("Essays on the History of Religion," M.1902; "Islam," M.1904) and on some other questions (e.g. "Matter and Spirit" (S.-P. 1906), "Man’s Past," Sergiev Posad, 1917), multiple articles of apologetic content in "The Orthodox Theological Encyclopedia" and different magazines. He prepared "The Textbook of Studies on Basic Theology" (M.1912) for the women’s theological courses in Moscow.

An immense contribution (which became the last in the pre-revolutionary period of the life of the Russian church) to the development of Russian, mostly philosophical, apologetic thought was made by the Priest Paul Florensky (†1937), who in 1914 became a professor of the MSA in the Philosophy Department. His theological-philosophical and apologetic legacy is great and multifaceted, but unfortunately, some of his ideas are non-Orthodox and even heretical.

The appearance of Apologetics as a separate subject in a Russian theological school is traditionally connected with the name of the professor of the St. Petersburg Spiritual Academy (opened in 1809) Archpriest N. P. Rozhdestvensky (†1882), who was one of the first to compile an independent and full-fledged course on Christian apologetics. After his brilliant graduation from the St. Petersburg Academy in 1865, he was appointed to the vacant chair of basic theology of the Kazan Academy, where, in 1867, the result of his scientific research was the defense of his Master’s dissertation "About the Antiquity of Mankind" (1866. Part 2. P. 134-466). When, in 1869, the chairmanship of Basic Theology in the St. Petersburg Academy became vacant, N.P. Rozhdestvensky returned to it and continued his apologetic work. He was appointed chairman of basic theology in the St. Petersburg Academy in 1883. His main work, published only after his death, is "Christian Apologetics. A Course of Basic Theology" (Parts 1-2. S.Pb.18840). Rozhdestvensky considered apologetics to be "the foundation of the whole building of theological science, including all of its separate branches." (The same source, p. 12). The method Rozhdestvensky proposed of presenting its system remains supreme to this day. It consists of the division of all apologetic problems into two main parts: questions which have common religious importance, and specifically Christian questions.

The Archbishop Innocent (Borisov) of Kherson, (†1857) is known for his apologetic activity. When he taught at the St. Petersburg Spiritual Academy, Archimandrite Innocent in his lectures "…boldly touched upon rationalistic ideas… The students were enthusiastic about those lectures, listened to them with pleasure and left the classroom absolutely fascinated by them" [32].

Another notable apologist of the St. Petersburg Spiritual Academy was Professor Ivan Sokolov (†1860), subsequently the Bishop of Smolensk. His lectures on dogmatic theology were more like apologetic discussions, in which he tried to stimulate students to the idea of reasonable substantiation of Divinely revealed truths. He sharply criticized various types of mysticism, outward rituals and other spiritual diseases of his era.

The Philosophy Department of the St. Petersburg Spiritual Academy was for many years led by Professor and Archpriest F. F. Sydonsky (†1873). His lectures were published under the title, "Genetic Introduction to Orthodox Theology."

In the Kiev Spiritual Academy (from 1702) from among the teachers, working in the field of philosophy and philosophical apologetics, besides the above-mentioned Archbishop Innocent, one can also mention Archimandrite Theophan (Avsenev, †1852), who was called "the humble philosopher," and also Professor F.F. Gusev (the ex-professor of the St. Petersburg Spiritual Academy), who wrote "The Presentation and Critical Analysis of the Moral Teaching of Schopenhauer, the Founder of Modern Philosophic Pessimism." The graduate of the Kiev Academy, O.M. Novitsky († 1884), wrote the first Russian history of philosophy in 4 parts — "The Gradual Development of Philosophical Teachings in Connection with the Development of Heathen Beliefs" (1850-1861).

The professor of the Kiev University, Archpriest Paul Svetlov, was a talented and versatile apologist. He wrote many works on various theological questions, which, as a rule, were scrutinized by him in an apologetic light. Among the more significant works of his one can mention: "The Origin of the Current Opinion About Faith, as the Opposition to Reason" (St.-P. 1869); "Mysticism at the End of the 19^th Century in Its Relation to Christian Religion and Philosophy" (2d Publ. St.-P. 1879), "Christian Faith in an Apologetic Exposition" (3d publ. Kiev 1910); "Religion and Science" (St. - P. 1912). He composed a very useful manual, "What to Read on Theology? The Systematic Index of Apologetic Literature" (Kiev 1907), which includes a vast list of works (1820 names), which were published before 1906, on practically all questions of apologetics.

Among the professors of the Kazan Spiritual Academy (opened in 1842), who studied apologetic questions, one should name, first of all, the professor of the department of "The Introduction into the Circle of Theological Sciences" A.F. Gusev, who expanded the library of Russian apologetics with such works as: "The Moral Ideal of Buddhism in its Relation to Christianity" (S.-P. 1874); "Morals as a Condition of Civilization"; "Christianity in its Relation to Philosophy and Science" (Orthodox Review, 1885 , № 10). He wrote a number of articles against the teaching of Leo Tolstoy.

Though Professor D.F. Gusev was a patrologist, he also had apologetic works: "The Teaching about God and Proofs of God’s Existence in Philo’s System," "The Apologia of the Hypostasis of Jesus Christ and His Earthly Life and Activity in the Work of Origen against Celsius."

Professor V.I. Nemeslov (†1937) is known as the author of the fundamental work in 2 volumes "Science of Man" (1896, 1903). Nemeslov turns Feuerbach’s main thought about the anthropological mystery of religion into a weapon for defending Christianity [33]. The work of Nikanor Brovkovitch (†1890), the Archbishop of Kherson, "The Positive Philosophy and Extra-sensual Existence’ (S.-P. in 3 parts) is interesting. During his activity in the Moscow, Petersburg and Kazan Academies, he was distinguished by his quick theological responsiveness to relevant contemporary problems. Bishop Nikanor analyses the newest rationalistic theories of religion’s origin, the essence of Christianity of famous German thinkers: Strauss, Bruno Bauer, Feuerbach, etc. His sermons are lively, bright, full of rich apologetic material.

In 1854, in the Kazan Spiritual Academy, Professor N.I. Ilminsky opened two missionary departments — the Tatar and Mongolian, the task of which was the preparation of missionaries and apologists for preaching among populations which professed Islam, Lamaism, and other Eastern religions.

A versatile, uncompromising, sometimes brusque apologetic was Archpriest T.I. Butkevich (†1925), the Professor of Theology in the Kharkov University and an active co-worker of the magazine "Faith and Reason." His master’s thesis "The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Experience of Historical-Critical Rendering of Evangelical History with the Refutation of Objections of the Negative Critics of the Present Time" (S.-P. 1887) was a serious scientific answer to negative Biblical criticism. Butkevich’s doctoral dissertation, "Religion, Its Essence and Origin" (Kharkov, v. 1-2. 1902-1904) is a fundamental work which is devoted to the analysis of different philosophic views upon the origin and the essence of religion. The following also belong in the list of his apologetic works: "A Historical Essay of Apologetic Development, or of Basic Theology" (Kharkov, 1899), "Evil, Its Essence and Origin" (Kharkov, 1897).

The positive disclosure and substantiation of Orthodox faith always had a special apologetic value. Two basic approaches exist: the theological-rational and the theological-ascetic. If the first was represented by all of the development of apologetics through the works of theologians-professionals, then the second mostly belonged to pastors-ascetics. There were always many of these in Russia. During the Synodal Period, one should mention, first of all, St. Tikhon of Voronezh (Works, v. 1-5. M. 1889), the Venerable Paisius Velichkovsky (The Life and writings… M. 1847), the Venerable Seraphim of Sarov and other venerable fathers. St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) (†1867) in his "Ascetic Experiences" (Works in 5 parts, 3d publ. S.-P. 1905) presented a particularly clear understanding of the Orthodox bases of spiritual life and the essence of the errors of Western mysticism and rationalism. In the word "My Cry" (Part 1) he gives a brief, sober Christian assessment of science and philosophy.

The longing for the rebirth of the patristic spiritual traditions inspires the activity of another bishop — Theophan (Govorov) (†1894). He translated "The Philokalia" into Russian, left an interpretation of the epistles of the Apostle Paul, wrote many works devoted to the inner exploit of a Christian ("Letters about Christian Life" (S.-P. 1862), "The Path to Salvation" (S.-P. 1868; "Letters to Different People on the Subjects of Faith and Life" (Moscow, 1882) and others. St. Theophan was very concerned about the passiveness of the spiritual authorities and the clergy concerning the preaching of Orthodoxy and defending it from destructive secularization, atheism, sectarianism, etc. He said straight out that such a state of Church life would inevitably lead to the disappearance of Christian faith in Russia: "In a generation, maybe two, our Orthodoxy will dry out…We should create a whole society of apologists, -- and write, and write…" [34]

It is hard to overrate the meaning of the apologetic activity of St. John of Kronstadt (†1908). By his way of life, sermons, countless miracles he defended Orthodoxy more powerfully than any professional apologist. His work "My Life in Christ" is a marvelous lesson in correct spiritual life.

Among the more significant courses of apologetics, or basic theology, for the educational institutions in pre-revolutionary Russia, the following works should be named. The first study guide for seminaries was written by Archimandrite (subsequently — the Bishop of Ekaterinoslav) Augustine (Gulyanitsky) (†1892). Though the structure of his "Guide to Basic Theology" (Vilna, 1876; 1884) fundamentally repeats the Western systems of apologetic theology, nevertheless it satisfactorily develops the main questions of Christian apologetics. The work of Prof. N.P. Rozhdestvensky "Christian Apologetics. A Course of Basic Theology" (S.-P. 1884, in 2 v.) can be considered normative. The other courses are: "The Lectures on the Introduction into the Circle of Theological Sciences," which was read to the students of the St. Petersburg Spiritual Academy in 1888-1889 by Archimandrite Michael (Gribanovsky), (subsequently a bishop) and published in "The Orthodox Interlocutor" in 1899; "A Course on Basic Theology," written by the professor of the history of philosophy of the MSA Archpriest Dimitry Tikhomirov (S.-P 1897); "A Course of Apologetic Theology" by Prof. Archpriest Paul Svetlov (Kiev 1905); "Lectures on Basic Theology" by the professor of the St.-P. University, Archpriest Basil Rozhdestvensky (S.-P. 1883); "About the Basic Truths of Christian Faith. Apologetic Public Readings" by the professor of the Moscow University, Archpriest Nicholas Sergievsky (M. 1872); "Theology in Apologetic Readings" by the professor of the Moscow University, Archpriest Nicholas Bogolyubsky (M. 1913); "The Scientific-Theological Self-Justification of Christianity. The Introduction to Orthodox-Christian Apologetics" by Prof. Archpriest Eugene Aquilonov (S.P. 1894); "A Course on Basic Theology or Apologetics" by I.P. Nikolin (Sergiev Posad, 1904); "An Essay on Christian Apologetics" by Prof. Archpriest Michael Albov (S.P. 1902), and others.

The means of apologetic activity of Russian theologians and thinkers were theological magazines, which began to be published in the second half of the 19^th century: in the MSA — "In Addition to the Works of the Holy Fathers" (1843-1891) and "The Theological Messenger" (from 1892), in the St. Petersburg Spiritual Academy — "Christian Reading" (from 1821), in the Kiev Spiritual Academy — "The Works of the Kiev Spiritual Academy" (from 1860), in the Kazan Spiritual Academy — "The Orthodox Interlocutor" (from 1855); "Faith and Reason" (from 1884); "The Orthodox Review" (1860-1891); "Faith and the Church" (Moscow, 1899-1910) and many others.

The 20^th century featured great upheavals. Russian apologetics, as a scientific discipline of spiritual schools, stopped existing soon after the revolution of 1917, together with the whole system of theological education. However, even under the conditions of persecutions, pastors and educated lay-people continued to support the faith of one another and to stand in opposition to aggressive atheism. In Siberian exile in 1928, Archpriest Valentine Sventsitsky wrote his apologetic "Dialogues" (M. 1993) about the existence of God, immortality, the Church, progress and spiritual life. In the 1930s, in Tver, living in extremely difficult conditions, Professor N.N. Phioletov (†1943) wrote "Essays on Christian Apologetics" (M. 1992), in which he mainly paid attention to natural-scientific apologetics, the questions of the correlation of religion and science. To the works which were illegally written in Soviet Russia, belong "By the Church Walls" by S.I. Fudel (it was published for the first time in the privately published collection "Hope"), and also the work, in many volumes, "The Basics of the Art of Sanctity" by Bishop Barnabas (Belyaev, first published in N. Novgorod 1995-2000), many chapters of which are dedicated to apologetic topics. At the end of the 1950-s, Metropolitan Benjamin (Fedchenkov) (1880-1961) finished his work of many years, "About Faith, Disbelief and Doubts" (S.P. —M. 1992).

In the diaspora, Archpriest George Florovsky answers the still troubling to some people question: "Did Christ exist? (The Historical Testimonies about Christ")//Christianity, Atheism and the Present. Paris, 1929). Prof. Archpriest V.V. Zenkovsky wrote "Apologetics," which was published in 1959 in Paris. In it, he attempted to examine the more vital problems of the modern world (the basic divisions: "Christian Faith and Modern Knowledge," "Christianity in History," "Christianity as the Church"). For philosophical apologetics the other works of Zenkovsky were significant: "The Problems of Upbringing in the Light of Christian Anthropology" (Paris 1934), "Russian Thinkers and Europe" (Paris 1955) and especially "The History of Russian Philosophy," (Paris 1948-1950), where he examined, in part, the development of theological and religious-philosophical thought in spiritual academies. In 1953, "Orthodox-Christian Apologetics" (New-York 1953) by Prof. A. Andreev appears. In the 1970s-80s, in the city of Jordanville, several apologetic reviews appeared ("About Life, Faith and the Church"); "The Dogma about Faith" and "Whatsoever the Lord Pleased, That Did He in Heaven, and in Earth" by the Professor of the Holy-Trinity Seminary Archpriest Michael Pomazansky.

The works of religious thinkers always had great significance for apologetics. Russian religious-philosophical thought did much for many of those searching for truth, and for their conversion to God and Christ.

Individual works of V.S. Soloviev (e.g. "The Justification of Goodness" M.1996), I.A. Ilyin ("The Religious Meaning of Philosophy," Paris 1925), "The Axioms of Religious Experience" (Paris 1953), "About the Resistance to Evil by Force" (1925), "The Singing Heart. The Book of Quiet Contemplations" (1958), "Our Tasks" (1956) and of many other Russian thinkers are of interest as well.

A great number of articles, also devoted to apologetic questions, was published in the magazine "The Path" — the leading publication of religious-philosophical society of Russians abroad.

Gradual rebirth of apologetics as a theological science began in the ex-USSR together with the renewal of activity of theological seminaries and academies. In the MSA, in the first few years, the course of basic theology was taught by the Assoc. Prof. Archpriest N.S. Nikolsky, Prof. Archpriest S.V. Savinsky, Prof. M.A. Starokadomsky, Assoc. Prof. V.I. Talyzin and Prof. A.V. Ushakov. Prof. Starokadomsky defended his master’s and doctor’s dissertations in philosophical apologetics: "Faith and Reason as the Paths of Knowing God through the Works of Church Writers of the First Three Centuries of Christianity" (Master’s Thesis, Mashinopis, 1961) and "The Experiences of Speculative Substantiation of Theism in the Works of the Professors of the MSA" (Doctoral Diss., Mashinopis, 1969).

In the St. Petersburg Spiritual Academy, the course of basic theology was taught by Professor K.A. Sborovsky, Assoc. Prof. A.F. Shishkin, Archbishop Michael (Mudyugin), who published his lectures under the title "Introduction to Basic Theology" (M. 1995).

Literature: Smirnov S. Archpriest. The History of the Moscow Slavonic-Greek-Latin Academy. M. 1855. The same author. The History of the MSA Before its Reformation. (1814-1870). M. 1870; Rozhdestvensky N.P., Archpriest. Essays on the History of Apologetics and Its Modern Scientific Position in Western Theological Literature // 1873. Part 3, Sept. P. 89-134; The same author. Christian Apologetics: The Course of Basic Theology. S.P. 1884. Part 1. Butkevich T. Archpriest. A Brief Review of Russian Apologetic Literature // F&R. 1899, № 19. P. 415-440. Svetlov P.J. What to Read on Theology? The Systematic Index of Literature (248-1906). Kiev, 1907. Zenkovsky V. Archpriest The History of Russian Philosophy. P. 1948, 1950. V. 1-2. Sarychev V.D. The Acquaintance with the Main Works of Russian Apologetic Literature/the MSA. Zagorsk, 1952-1954. V. 1-2. The Manuscript; Florovsky G. Archpriest. The Paths of Russian Theology; Russian Religious-Philosophical Thought in the 20^th century; Collection of articles/ Ed. N.P. Poltorazky. Pittsburg, 1975; Zernov N.M. Russian Religious Rebirth of the 20^th century. P. 1992.

[18] Philaret Gumilevsky, Archbishop. The History of Russian Church, p. 227 --- 229.

[19] George Florovsky, Archpriest. The Paths of Russian Theology. Paris. 1981. P.33.

[20] The same, p.32.

[21] Basil (Krivosheyin), Archbishop. Symbolic Texts in the Orthodox Church.// BT №4. M. 1968. P.21.

[22] Florovsky. The Paths…p. 50.

[23] The same, p. 151.

[24] The same, p. 124.

[25] The same, p. 125.

[26] M.V. Lomonosov. Collection of Articles, edited by V.V. Sypovsky. St. P. 1911. P.17.

[27] Gregory Skovoroda. Works. Vol. 1. Kiev, 1961. P.16.

[28] Florovsky. The Paths…p. 172.

[29] See: F. Andreev. The Moscow Spiritual Academy and Slavyanophils. Sergiev Posad, 1915.

[30] Collection of Works. Vol.1-3. Sergiev Posad, 1893 -94.

[31] A. Vvedensky. The Philosophy of V.D. Kudryavtsev in an Understandable Presentation. M. 1895, p. 3-4.

[32] Smolych I.K. The History of Russian Church. 1700-1917. M. 1996, p. 442-443.

[33] Florovsky p. 445.

[34] Florovsky, p. 398.

This manual on Basic Theology is drawn up in compliance with the curriculum, approved by the Teaching committee of Moscow Patriarchate, and intended for the first (of two) year of studying this subject in theological seminary. Therefore this manual covers mainly issues of general religious character relating to the introductory part of the fundamental theology. However, where required, assessments are given from the Orthodox viewpoint.

This second edition contains 2 topics relating to Orthodox understanding of the difference between Christianity and heathenism: "About sanctity of saints as signs of fulfillment of God’s promises to man" and "Basics of spiritual life."

The curriculum of the manual after explaining the notion about the subject of Fundamental theology and its basic tasks includes the following chapters:

Notion about religion and its origin — the chapter that not only explains this issue but also provides analysis of other viewpoints.

About the existence of God — the chapter that provides main traditional arguments on this issue.

Religion and human activity — analyses the problem of correlations of natural science and religion. It also provides analysis of natural ways of reason (philosophy and science) in the knowledge of the truth and Christian understanding of this issue.

The following chapters: Revelation, About sanctity, Basics of spiritual life are oriented at Orthodox understanding of the essence of religion itself, conditions and the nature of the unity of man and God.

Then the manual considers topics: Heathenism, Old Testament Religion and Origin of the world, as they are seen in the light of Biblical and patristic theology.

One of the natural tasks of every educated Christian is to absorb the truths of his faith so that he can not only know them but also be capable of revealing and grounding them to anyone who might inquire. "And be always prepared, writes the Apostle, — to give an answer to everyone that asks you to give an account of the hope that is in you, but with meekness and fear" (1 Peter, 3:15). Hence, for a Christian to be aware of "the certainty of things in which he has been instructed" (Luke 1:4) is not only a natural need, but also a commitment to fulfill Christ’s commandment to love people and make disciples of all the nations (Matthew 28:19). Preparation to such a mission is a very difficult and crucial task. Among theological sciences it is the Basic Theology that assumes to help accomplish this task.

Its aim is to show and prove the main Christian ideas (both those of general religious character, e.g. the existence of God, and those specifically Christian, e.g. the principle of Salvation) in a manner that would allow anyone who seeks the sense of life to comprehend the Christian answer in a proper way and evaluate it as compared to various non-Orthodox alternatives.

This explains the specifics of the Basic Theology and its methodology. However it is based on the dogmatic and moral premises of the Christian faith, it employs both separate ideas of other religions, and data of various sciences, philosophical and cultural achievements. Basic Theology is addressed to those who are not yet firm in their faith, which are in doubt and yet seek the Truth and are interested in Christianity. Having mainly no proper religious experience, not having experienced God inside oneself, such people often need a rational grounding of the basics of the faith, of the verity of Christianity and its answers to the main questions of human existence.

Thus, Basic Theology is primarily for those who are by the church walls, yet "alive." And though at first such people often make an error trying to find the Truth and explore the Christian faith only through reason, logic and religious philosophy, nevertheless, those who later on become spiritually capable of actual, i.e. empiric, comprehending Christianity, acquire this knowledge through prayer, fulfillment of the Commandments and repentance.

One should also be aware of two dangers arising from the possible use of this theological science. The first one is avoid giving a stone to one who asks a loaf of bread and a serpent to the one who asks a fish (Matthew 7:9-10). And the second, whereof the Lord also warned: "Give not that which is holy to the dogs, or cast your pearls before the swine, lest they trample them with their feet, and turning round rend you" (Matthew 7:6). The word of sermon can be addressed only to one who truly seeks, for only those who hunger and thirst after righteousness are capable of accepting Truth (Matthew 5:6-10). Apostle Paul instructs his disciple Timothy and every Christian: "But foolish and senseless questionings avoid, knowing that they beget contentions. And a bondman of the Lord ought not to contend, but be gentle towards all; apt to teach; forbearing; in meekness setting right those who oppose, if God perhaps may sometime give them repentance to acknowledgement of the truth" (2 Timothy 2:23-25).

What is human life? If it were possible to film it and then watch it in the fast mode we would get a rather depressing impression.

What is a usual day of a person? — He or she wakes up, eats, works, talks, fusses, laughs, quarrels — this is today, tomorrow, day after day, year after year. What is life in general? One graduates from school, works, gets married, has children, gets old and sick …and dies. His children and grandchildren have the same "story." Different events are overlaid on this general scheme, but none of them may stop the stream of life in its unrestrained flow to … death. And this is true of everyone, always and everywhere. Generation after generation passes away like autumn leaves.

Billions of lives, filled with joys and sufferings, love and despair, nobleness and meanness, glory and obscurity have gone into eternity. Which one? What is it? What is the meaning of life of a human being and human kind?

My life! A vain and accidental gift, what have you been given me for?

Or why have you been sentenced to execution by a mysterious fate?

Who has called me from the worthlessness by his hostile power?

Who has filled my soul with passion, who has surged my mind with doubt?

There is no aim before me: my heart is empty, my mind is idle,

And the monotonous noise of life oppresses me with misery.

With these biter words at the difficult moment of his life Alexander Pushkin expressed this paradox of human existence and its tragic mysteriousness for us.

The Metropolitan of Moscow Philaret (Drozdov), who was called Wise while still living, answered Pushkin with the following famous poem:

Not in vain and not by chance God has given me my life

Not unjustly He has secretly sentenced it to grief

I myself have called the evil from the dark abyss by my self-willed power

I myself have filled my soul with passion and have excited my mind with doubt.

Let me recall You, the One Who I have forgotten!

Shine to me through the haze of thoughts —

And You will make my heart pure and my mind clear.

An unexpected reply of the Metropolitan, which revealed the very essence of the tormenting question, deeply touched Pushkin. He wrote to the Metropolitan a long poetic reply in which there was a genuine sense of gratitude and affection:

I cried streams of unexpected tears,

And the pure balm of your fragrant words

Was a delight to the wounds of my conscience.

It is true that for each person the main question has always been and still remains the question about the meaning of life. Not everyone can find a final answer to this question, not everyone can give an answer to the skeptic. But in every normal person there is an ineradicable need to find this meaning and its reasonable explanation.

What options does a human being have when facing this main question of life?

First of all these are religion and atheism. Agnosticism, which is somewhere in between these two, cannot really claim to be a worldview, because it basically denies the person’s ability to give any reliable answer to the main worldview questions such as the existence of God and immortality of soul, the nature of good and evil, the truth and the meaning of life, etc.

How do we evaluate religion and atheism? To answer this question, it is reasonable to examine religion and atheism as two theories of existence (or non-existence) of God, because this issue is the main one for both of them. In this case the criteria for evaluation of religion and atheism may be found in two basic scientific requirements, which can be applied to any theory. First, there should be facts confirming the theory. Second, its basic premises and conclusions must be empirically verifiable. It is obvious that only the theory which satisfying these requirements can be considered as scientific and deserving serious attention.

What do religion and atheism have to offer in this respect? Speaking of religion, firstly it offers innumerable facts that directly testify to the existence of God, soul, angels, demons, supernatural forces, etc. To be convinced of this, it is enough to take a look at the lives of at least a few of the Russian saints and their numerous miracles, for example saint Xenia of St. Petersburg (†1803), Seraphim of Sarov (†1833), Ambrose of Optina (†1891) (whose wisdom and astuteness attracted the whole of Russia, the most famous writers, thinkers and public figures: Dostoyevsky, Gogol, Tolstoy, Vl. Solovyev); saint John of Kronshtadt (†1908), whose amazing miracles took place in front of great numbers of people.

Thus, first of all, religion offers facts. But, along with them, Orthodoxy provides each person with the means for verification of its statements, shows a specific and real way to personally experience the spiritual world. The most succinct expression of this is found in Christ’s words: "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." (Matthew 5:8)

What does atheism have to offer? First of all, it does not have and cannot have in principle any facts, testifying to non-existence of God and the spiritual world. Besides, the infinity itself of the cognizable world shows that these facts cannot exist, at least owing to the fact that all the human knowledge is just a tiny island in the ocean of the unknown. That’s why even if God did not exist, this would have always remained an eternal mystery for mankind, in which one could only believe, but never know for sure.

Secondly (and this is the most difficult issue for atheism), it is not able to answer the most important question: "What specifically should a person do to make sure that God does not exist?" And without this answer, atheism appears to be nothing but a blind faith. Yet the answer is obvious: there is only one way that allows an individual to make sure that God does or does not exist, and that is to live a life of religion. There is simply no other way.

Thus, taken together in a paradoxical unity, both religion and atheism call every person, who is seeking the truth, to study and experimentally examine something called "religion."

So, what is religion?

Religion as a phenomenon inherent in human society throughout its history and still characteristic of the overwhelming majority of the population of the Earth still appears to be an obscure area for a great many people. One of the reasons for this seemingly strange fact is that, as a rule, religion is evaluated by its outside features; by the way it is practiced by its followers in a church or temple, in private and social life. From this follows a wide range of different interpretations of religion, which perceive its essence either in the elements that are secondary and minor or even in its distorsions, which none of the world religions has managed to avoid.

Therefore the question of what the essence of religion is and what characteristics of it are defining and which ones are unimportant requires special consideration.

Religion has two sides, the external one — as an outsider sees it — and the internal one, which is visible to the believer, who lives in conformity with spiritual and moral principles of the given religion.

From the external side, religion represents first of all a worldview, which includes a number of specific premises (truths), without which (or at least without one of which) it loses its own essence, degenerating into either magic, occultism, and other similar pseudo-religious phenomena, which are just the products of its decay, degradation and distorsion; or into a religious philosophical thought system, which has little to do with a person’s everyday life. Religious worldview always has a social character and expresses itself in a more or less developed organization (church) with a certain structure, moral, rules of life for its followers, ritual, etc.

From the internal side, religion is a direct experience of God.

The etiology of the word "religion" itself gives a preliminary understanding of religion.

There exist several points of view on the origin of the word "religion" (from Latin "religio" — conscientiousness, godliness, reverence, religion, holiness, worship service...). Thus, Cicero, a famous Roman orator, writer and political figure of the 1-st century B.C., thought that it was the derivative of the Latin verb "releg