Number DOI: http://doi.org/10.33209/2519-4348-2707-9627-2021-9-94

VB. – № 9, 2021. – P. 39-55

Summary

One of the most important questions that has troubled mankind throughout its history has been the question of what, in fact, is man, what is his purpose. And so, depending on the basic answer to this question, the purpose and meaning of his life acquired their specific outlines. For many centuries, various philosophical systems were created that tried to study human nature. But all of them were inherently wrong. And in general, this is due to the fact that all these philosophical systems, given the limited and narrow thinking of its representatives, could not consider man in its entirety. Only with the full revelation of the Divine Revelation in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ was it possible to understand man as created according to the Divine plan, which has a very special purpose. In order to understand the process of formation of the true doctrine of man, it is necessary to resort to the works of the first theologians of Christendom – the early Christian apologists. They, in contrast to the apostolic men, who directed their works mainly to Christians, argued with the pagan audience, which left its mark on the range of issues they considered. The main task of the apologists was to reveal the basic principles of Christianity – the truth of God’s existence, the truth of the immortality of the human soul and the truth of Divine Revelation, because these provisions are the basis of the Christian religion. The apologists formed a new, Christian culture with its very special anthropology and eschatology. Thus, being pioneers in many respects, 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 on the basis of the works of early Christian apologists of the II – III centuries. Given the volume of the article, the author resorted to its conditional division into three parts. In particular, the third part is devoted to issues related to eschatology, which occupies a prominent place in the theology of Christian apologists.

Key words: Second Coming, millennial kingdom, resurrection, judgment, apocatastasis.

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