Religion (from the Latin religio, (possibly from the Latin religare – to combine, or relegere – to isolate, or reeligere – to re-elect) .
1) a special form of human (society) interaction with the “supernatural”;
2) the true religion is Orthodoxy.
Religion seeks to answer the question of the meaning of life that is of paramount importance to every person. Unlike science, which only establishes the necessary cause-and-effect relations and impersonal laws of natural life, religion reveals to man the purpose of his being, indicates his predestination in the world – a predestination, the fulfillment of which means the fulfillment of man’s mission on earth. Without the definition of this predestination, human life loses all meaning and is tantamount to an unconscious animal life.
Religion can reveal the meaning of human existence only by revealing the true Origin of existence, which created the world and endowed it with its own meaning. Religion is called upon to point to the Eternal Absolute Being, which is beyond all forms of convention and limitation, possessing all the perfection compared to the limited and conditional existence of man. Having determined the Original Cause of existence, religion must give a clear teaching about it.
But this does not exhaust the essence of religion, for it is called not only to point to the Supreme Being, but also to reveal the way of cognizing the Supreme Being – the way of connecting (religare – to connect) the Absolute Being and man. It is in revealing the way of connection between the Supreme Being and man that the essence of religion lies, for it is in this connection that man’s life has meaning.
Christianity is the true religion, for Christianity reveals the Primordial Cause of creation in the Supreme Divine Being, defining God as a Spirit who dwells outside the phenomena of the created world. Christian theology clearly teaches of God as the All-Perfect, the Infinite, the Self-Existent, the Unmeasurable, the Eternal, the Unchanging, the Holy Being, manifesting Infinite Goodness and Infinite Justice, whose Infinite Spiritual Being is entirely distinct from the limited existence of all the beings of the world He created.
At the same time, Christianity does not speak of an abstract, alien to human cognition god. Christianity teaches that it is possible to know God because God Himself is revealed to man in His fullness, because God Himself is incarnate in Man. The center of Christian cognition is the God-man Jesus Christ, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, because He unites in Himself the divine and human natures, opening the possibility of union with God for everyone who believes in Him.
Christianity is the religion of the union of God and man, the religion that gives man the right concept of God in inseparable connection with the possibility of deification – union with Him.