THE INTERPRETATIONS of the Symbol of Faith,
or the "Symbolic Guides" (from the Greek symballo, meaning
"to unite"; symbolon, a uniting or conditional sign) of the
Orthodox Faith, in the common meaning of this term, are those expositions of
Christian faith which are given in the Book of Canons of the Holy Apostles,
the Holy Local and Ecumenical Councils, and the Holy Fathers. The theology
of the Russian Church also makes use, as symbolical books, of those two
expositions of the Faith which in more recent times were evoked by the need to
present the Orthodox Christian teaching against the teaching of the unorthodox
confessions of the second millennium. These books are: The Confession of the
Orthodox Faith compiled by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Dositheus, which was
read and approved at the Council of Jerusalem in 1672 and, fifty years later,
in answer to the inquiry received from the Anglican Church, was sent to that
church in the name of all the Eastern Patriarchs and is therefore more widely
known under the name of "The Encyclical of the Eastern Patriarchs on the
Orthodox Faith." Also included in this category is The Orthodox
Confession of Peter Mogila, Metropolitan of Kiev, which was examined and
corrected at two local councils, that of Kiev in 1640 and Jassy in 1643, and
then approved by four Ecumenical Patriarchs and the Russian Patriarchs Joachim
and Adrian. The Orthodox Christian Catechism of Metropolitan Philaret of
Moscow enjoys a similar importance in the Russian Church, particularly the part which contains an exposition of the
Symbol of Faith. This Catechism was "examined and approved by the Holy
Synod and published for instruction in schools and for the use of all Orthodox
Christians."
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