Why is faith, and not knowledge only, necessary in religious instruction?
A measure of faith is indispensable because Orthodox catechetical instruction concerns the invisible and incomprehensible God, and “the Wisdom of God hidden in a Mystery” (1Co 2:7; see Q252). Many parts of this teaching cannot be grasped by intellectual effort alone, but may be received by faith, through the grace of the Holy Spirit. As the mystical writer known as St Dionysius the Areopagite counsels:
In the earnest exercise of mystic contemplation, leave the senses and the activities of the intellect and all things that the senses or the intellect can perceive… and strive, as far as you may, toward a union with Him whom neither being nor understanding can contain. (St Dionysius the Areopagite, Mystical Theology, 1)
As St Cyril of Jerusalem explains:
Faith is the eye that enlightens every conscience; it gives knowledge. As the prophet says, ‘If you will not believe, you will not understand.’ (St Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, 5.4, citing Isa 7:9 LXX)
St Cyril further illustrates the universality of faith in these words:
It is not only among us who bear the name of Christ that faith is made so great a thing. Everything that is done in the world, even by people who are unconnected with the Church, is done by faith! Agriculture is founded on faith, for no one who did not believe that he would gather in the fruits of the earth would undertake this labor. Sailors are guided by faith when they entrust their fate to a structure of wood and prefer the agitation of the unstable waters to the more stable element of the earth… retaining for themselves nothing but faith, to which they trust more than to any anchors. (St Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, 5.3)
Our anchor is nothing less than the life, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus: “We have this hope as an anchor of the soul, a hope which is both sure and solid. It reaches beyond the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek” (Heb 6:19–20; see Q092, Q225). It is for good reason that the divine services conclude with the exclamation, “Glory to You, O Christ our God, our hope, glory to You!”, and as St Ignatius, the God-bearer, reminds us:
Let us not be insensible to His kindness. Truly, if He were to repay us according to our works, we should cease to exist! Therefore, having become His disciples, let us learn to live according to the principles of Christianity. (St Ignatius of Antioch, To the Magnesians, 10)
