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Orthodox Doctrine (Summary of Christian Divinity)

Metropolitan Platon of Moscow, tr. Pinkerton, 1814

All the doctrines necessary to salvation, and held by the church, are presented to us in …

All the doctrines necessary to salvation, and held by the church, are presented to us in the Holy Scriptures; and, in order that every one may more easily understand them, and distinguish orthodox doctrines from heterodox, the holy fathers have abridged them.

The books of the Holy Scriptures, in which the doctrines of the church are contained, are not few in number, and, because of the mysteries which they contain, cannot be perfectly understood by every one. Moreover, in consequence of the different stations and abilities of men, all cannot so easily exercise themselves in reading the Holy Scriptures, though it is highly desirable that they should. On this account, it was plainly requisite for the advantage of more common Christians, that all the necessary points of faith should be presented in an abridgment, as it were in a kind of mirror, in which every one might see what he must believe, in order to his salvation; and that he might fix the same forever upon his memory, without farther difficulty.