Anthropological-eshatological paradigm of christian apologists. Part I

• Main Author: priest Alexander Khoroshko
• Format: Article
• Language: Ukrainian
• Published: EIKΩN, publishing house of the Volyn Orthodox Theological Academy 2019-10-01
• Series: Волинський благовісник
• Subjects: anthropology; man; creation; purpose; soul; spirit; image and likeness of god; fall; salvation
• Online Access: http://vb.vpba.edu.ua/1751

One of the major questions that have plagued humanity throughout its history has been the question of what kind of person it is for its purpose. Depending on the answer, outlines of purpose and meaning of life were obtained. Over the centuries, various philosophical systems have been created that sought to explore human nature. And they were all wrong. This is because you explain that all these philosophical systems, because of the narrowness of thinking, could not see the person in its entirety. Only with the revelation in the fullness of the Divine Revelation in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ was it possible to understand man as created by the Divine design, which has a very special purpose. In order to understand the process of becoming a true doctrine of man, one must resort to the works of the first theologians of the Christian world, the early Christian apologists. Unlike the apostolic men, who addressed their works mainly to Christians, they had a controversy with the pagan audience, which left a mark on the range of problems they considered. The main task of the apologists was to unveil the basic truths of Christianity - the truth of God's existence, the truth of the immortality of the soul of man, and the truth of Divine Revelation, since these provisions form the basis of the Christian religion. The apologists formed a new, Christian culture with its absolutely special anthropology and eschatology. Thus, being many pioneers in many issues, they paved the way for the further Christianization of Hellenism and the formation of a holistic system of Christian theology. The article traces the specifics of the formation of the Holy Father's doctrine of man, the purpose of his life on earth and the afterlife based on the works of early Christian apologists I-III centuries. Given the volume of the article, the author resorted to its conditional division into three parts. The first part of the paper deals with the questions concerning the creation and purpose of man, the image and likeness of God in him, the balance of soul and spirit, sin and salvation.