Aristotle's Patriarchal Theory of the Origin of the State and Its Significance for the Social Teaching of the Church

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to present such a view of the origin of the state, which would fully correspond to the Christian tradition. The author considers the patriarchal theory of the origin of the state in its classical Aristotelian version to be the closest to this tradition, along with the theological theory.
At the same time, neither secular nor ecclesiastical science, according to the author, seriously considers this theory, which gives rise to a philosophical and theological clarification of its principles. Thus, the article examines the theses of its generally recognized authors, including using the theological method – the method of correlating any ideas with the doctrine of the Church. In the light of patriarchal theory, the phenomena of state culture and ideology ("Fatherland", "Homeland-Mother", "tsar-father", "father of peoples", "katekhon" (κατέχων) and others) find their explanation. The results of the work, substantiating the idea of the original orderliness of family life (as opposed to the evolutionary hypothesis), are intended to contribute to the moral apologetics of the Church. As for the disclosure of the nature of the state, the patriarchal theory of its origin, as follows from the results of the article, has significant cognitive and axiological potential.