DOCTRINE
89
DOGMA
bius were probably not very old when he wrote. The
"Doctrine of Addai " is yet later. The Finding of the
Cross must be dated some time later than St. Helena;
the miraculous picture of Christ was not seen by the
Abbess Etheria when she visited Edessa c. 385. Hence
the date of the work may be c. 400.
The "Doctrine of Addai" was first published in Syriac in a fragmentary form by Cureton, "Ancient Syriac documents" (London, 1804, a posthumous work), with a translation; another translation in " Ante-Nicene Chr. Libr.", XX. The full Syriac te.xt was published by Phillips, with a translation (London, 1876). An Armenian version and (separately) a French translation, by the Mechitarist Father Leo Alishan, "Laboubnia, Lettre d'Abgar" (Venice, 1868).
The literature of the subject (including the Abgar legend, the Finding of the Cross, the Greek legend in the Acta Thaddcei, and the origins of the Church of Edessa) is very large. The following works may be specially mentioned: Lipsius, Die edessenische Ahgarsage kritisch untersucht (Brunswick, 1880); TlXERONT. Les origines de VEglise d'Edesse et la legends d'Abgar (Paris, 1888); Martin, Les origines de VEglise d'Edesse et des eglises syriennes (extr. from Revue des sc. eccl., Paris, 1889); BuRKiTT, Early Eastern Christianity (London, 1904); Nestle, De sancta cruce (Berlin, 1889); on the picture of Christ, Von DoBsCHUTZ, Christusbilder (Leipzig, 1899). Further references will be found in Bardenhewer. Gesck. der allkircht. Litt., I, 458; Chevalier, Repertoire, s. v. Abgar.
John Chapman.
Doctrine of the Twelve Apostles. See Didache.
Dodd, Charles. See Tootell, Hugh.
Dodone. See Bodone.
Doering, Henry. See Poona.
Dogma. — I. Definition. — The word dogma (Gr. S6yij,a, from SoKCiv) signifies, in the writings of the ancient classical authors, sometimes, an opinion or that which seems true to a person; sometimes, the philosophical doctrines or tenets, and especially the distinctive philosophical doctrines, of a particular school of philosophers (cf. Cic. Ac, ii, 9); and some- times, a public decree or ordinance, as Sdyna Troieiffdai. In Sacred Scripture it is used, at one time, in the sense of a decree or edict of the civil authority, as in Luke, ii, 1: "And it came to pass, that in those days there went out a decree [edictum, 567/na] from Csesar Au- gustus" (cf. Acts, xvii, 7; Esther, iii, .3); at another time, in the sense of an ordinance of the Mosaic Law, as in Eph., ii, 15: "Making void the law of command- ments contained in decrees" (567/io(ni'); and again, it is applied to the ordinances or decrees of the first Apostolic Council in Jerusalem: "And as they passed through the cities, they delivered unto them the de- crees [dofjinata] for to keep, that were decreed by the apostles and ancients who were at Jerusalem" (Acts, xvi, 4). Among the early Fathers the usage was prev- alent of designating as dogmas the doctrines and moral precepts taught or promulgated by the Saviour or by the .Apostles; and a distinction was sometimes made between Divine, Apostolical, and ecclesiastical dogmas, according as a doctrine was conceived as hav- ing been taught by Christ, by the Apostles, or as hav- ing been delivered to the faithful by the Church. But according to a long-standing usage a dogma is now understood to be a truth appertaining to faith or morals, revealed by God, transmitted from the Apos- tles in the Scriptures or by tradition, and proposed by the Church for the acceptance of the faithful. It might be described briefly as a revealed truth defined by the Church ; but private revelations do not consti- tute dogmas, and some theologians confine the word defined to doctrines solemnly defined by the pope or by a general council, while a revealed truth becomes a dogma even when proposed by the Church through her ordinary magisterium or teaching office. A dogma therefore implies a twofold relation: to Divine revela- tion and to the authoritative teaching of the Church.
Theologians distinguish three classes of revealed truths: truths formally and explicitly revealed; truths
revealed formally, but only implicitly; and truths only
virtually revealed. A truth is said to be formally re-
vealed , when the speaker or re vealer really means to con-
vey that truth by his language, to guarantee it by the
authority of his word. The revelation is formal and
explicit, whenmadeinclearexpressterms. Itisformal
but only implicit, when the language is somewhat
obscure, when the rules of interpretation must be
carefully employed to determine the meaning of the
revelation. And a truth is said to be revealed only vir-
tually, when it is not formally guaranteed by the word of
the speaker, but is inferred from something formally re-
vealed. Now, truths formally and explicitly revealed
by God are certainly dogmas in the strict sense when
they are proposed or defined by the Church. Such
are the articles of the Apostles' Creed. Similarly,
truths revealed by God formally, but only implicitly,
are dogmas in the strict sense when proposed or defined
by the Church. Such, for example, are the doctrines
of Transubstantiation (q. v.), papal infallibility
(q. v.), the Immaculate Conception (q. v.), some of the
Church's teaching about the Saviour, the sacraments,
etc. All doctrines defined by the Church as being
contained in revelation are understood to be formally
revealed, explicitly or implicitly. It is a dogma of
faith that the Church is infallible in defining these two
classes of revealed truths; and the deliberate denial
of one of these dogmas certainly involves the sin of
heresy. There is a diversity of opinion about virtu-
ally revealed truths, which has its roots in a diversity
of opinion about the material object of faith (see
Faith). It is enough to say here that, according to
some theologians, virtually revealed truths belong to
the material object of faith and become dogmas in the
strict sense when defined or proposed by the Church;
and according to others, they do not belong to the
material object of faith prior to their definition, but
become strict dogmas when defined; and, according
to others, they do not belong to the material object of
Divine faith at all, nor become dogmas in the strict sense
when defined, but may be called mediately-Divine or
ecclesiastical dogmas. In the hypothesis that virtu-
ally revealed conclusions do not belong to the material
object of faith, it has not been defined that the ("hurch
is infallible in defining these truths; the infallibility
of the Church, however, in relation to these truths is a
doctrine of the Church theologically certain, which
cannot la\\'fully be denied; and though the denial of
an ecclesiastical dogma would not be heresy in the
strict sense, it could entail the sundering of the bond
of faith and expulsion from the Church by the
Church's anathema or excommunication.
II. Divisions. — The divisions of dogma follow the lines of the divisions of faith. Dogmas can be (1) general or special; (2) material or formal; (3) pure or mixed; (4) symbolic or non-i3ymbolic; (5)and they can differ according to their various degrees of necessity. — • (1) General dogmas are a part of the revelation meant for mankind and transmitted from the Apostles; while special dogmas are the truths revealed in private revelations. Special dogmas, therefore, are not, strictly speaking, dogmas at all; they are not re- vealed truths transmitted from the Apostles; nor are they defined or proposed by the Church for the accept- ance of the faithful generally. — (2) Dogmas are called material (or Divine, or dogmas in themselves, in se) when abstraction is made from their definition by the Church, when they are considered only as revealed; and they are called formal (or Catholic, or "in relation to us", quoad nos) when they are considered both as revealed and defined. Again, it is evident that mate- rial dogmas are not dogmas in the strict sense of the term. — (3) Pure dogmas are those which can be known only from revelation, as the Trinity (q. v.). Incarna- tion (q. v.), etc. ; while mixed dogmas are truths which can be known from revelation or from philosophical reasoning, as the existence and attributes of God
