ent division of the creeds into twelve
or fourteen "articles" or heads of belief (see below). In saying that
all doctrines rank as "dogmas" during the Greek period, we ought to add
a qualification. They do so, in so far as they are held to be of
authority. Clement of Alexandria or Origen would not call his
speculations dogmas. Yet these audacious spirits start from a basis of
authority, and insist upon [Greek: orthotomia dogmaton] (_Stromata_,
vii. 763). The "dogma" or "dogmas" of heretics are frequently mentioned
by orthodox writers. There can be no question of confining even orthodox
"dogma" to conciliar decisions in an age when definition is so
incomplete; still, we do meet with references to the Nicene "dogma"
(e.g. letter in Theodoret, _H.E._ ii. 15). But dogma is not yet
technical for what is Christian or churchly. The word which emerges in
Greek for that purpose is "orthodox," "orthodoxy," as in John of
Damascus (d. 760), or as in the official title still claimed by the Holy
Orthodox Church of the East.

Latin Fathers.

Medieval usages.

Latin Fathers borrow the word "dogma," though sparingly, and employ it
in all the Greek usages. Something novel is added by Jerome's phrase (in
the _De viris illustribus_, cc. xxxi., cix.) _ecclesiastica
dogmata_,--found again in the title of the treatise now generally
ascribed to Gennadius, and occurring once more in another writer of
southern Gaul.[3] The phrase is a serviceable one, contrasting _church_
teachings with _heretical_ "dogmas." But the main Latin use of dogma in
patristic times is found in Vincent of Lerins (d. c. 450) in his brief
but influential _Commonitorium_; again from southern Gaul. Thereafter
the usage gradually drops. In Thomas Aquinas[4] it does not once occur.
On the other hand Thomas has his own technical name--doctrine (sing.) or
rather _sacra doctrina_; and this expression holds its ground, though
the usage of Abelard, _Theologia_, was destined to an even more
important place (see THEOLOGY). Another medieval usage of importance is
the division of the creed into twelve articles corresponding to the
number of the apostles, who, according to a legend already found in
Rufinus (d. 410) _On the Apostles' Creed_, composed that formula by
contributing each a single sentence. The division is found applied also
to the "Nicene-Constantinopolitan" creed, both in East and West.
Sometimes fourteen articles are detected (in either creed), 7 + 7; the
sacred