The process of adoption of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed is well documented and studied in modern literature. As a rule, it becomes the subject of research in religious studies or theological discourses. However, it raises philosophical problems. Interdisciplinary research allows us to see a tool in the struggle for church authority and power in a theoretical debate on the central principles of Christian dogma: “copyright” on the ontological basis of the teachings of the Church automatically increased the importance of its owners in the church hierarchy. Acknowledging the growing cultural influence of the Church, the confrontation of the opposing groups during the First Ecumenical Council was an important milestone in the struggle for the right to form the central meanings of the new social reality, as well as identities and institutions, which were based on it. The article analyzes the factors that ensured the victory of the party of Alexander Athanasius and ultimately led to the adoption of the Orthodox Symbol of Faith. This victory was due to: 1) the tradition of the Alexandrian theological school; 2) the political influence of the emperor, who took the side of Athanasius; 3) the more successful linguistic formula for fixing confessional foundations. However, the strategic victory of the Christian “ontological canon” was ensured by the adoption of the Church-wide procedure by its adoption in the form of the Creed, which became the single semantic standard universally binding on the whole Church. The strategy of its development was determined by the victorious party, and the function of the Church now included the duty to closely monitor its observance, uncompromisingly stopping all world outlook alternatives and tabooing them as heresy. The foregoing allows us to conclude that the social conditions are important (inevitably) for the establishment of the “ontological canon”. It can be reasonably assumed that such a relationship does not only apply to Christian social reality.
Keywords: ontology, Creed, social reality, meaning, Church, orthodoxy, heresy
DOI: 10.22250/2072-8662.2020.3.69-77
About the author
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Viktor S. Levytskyy – PhD (Philosophy), Director of Ukrainian Institute of Strategies of Global Development and Adaptation; |