THE LITERAL SIXTH DAY OR EVOLUTION: ON THE QUESTION OF THE IMAGE OF THE CREATION OF THE WORLD AND MAN IN THE SYSTEM OF ORTHODOX DOGMATIC THEOLOGY

Evgeny Gennadievich Veselov

Kostroma theological seminary, Kostroma, Russia

Email: ev23@yandex.ru

ORCID: 0000-0001-5141-1879

Issue: № 2 (22), 2023

Pages: 32

Annotation

The article examines the theological and patrological aspects of the Orthodox doctrine of the creation of the world. The Holy Fathers saw in the image of the co-creation a great dogmatic significance and coordinated the first chapters of the book of Genesis primarily not with the arguments of reason and experience, but with the idea of the omnipotence of God, His wisdom and goodness. Therefore, for svt. St. Basil the Great and the other holy fathers analyzed in the article, each act of creation was instantaneous, but all of them together took place within six days. In turn, the evolutionary reading of the Book of Genesis distorts the way of action of all Persons of the Trinity at the creation of the world, as well as the manifestation of the properties of omnipotence, wisdom and goodness of God. It also destroys the connection generally accepted by the holy fathers between the first world (before Adam's fall) and the renewed world after the Second Coming of Christ. The denial of the literal creation of Adam and Eve by God leads to the destruction of the unity of the entire human race, the overthrow of church dogmas about original sin, Incarnation and Redemption.

Keywords

Shestodnev, Orthodox evolutionism, theory of evolution, creation of the world, origin of the world, creation of man, omnipotence of God, Wisdom of God, goodness of God, Providence of God

For citation

Veselov E.G, priest. The Literal Sixth Day or Evolution: on the Question of the Image of the Creation of the World and man in the System of Orthodox Dogmatic theology // Ipatievsky vestnik. 2023. № . 2. Р. 32–59 (In Russian). https:// doi.org/10.24412/2309–5164–2023–2–32–59