The Bible with commentaries of the holy fathers. The Bible is not arbitrarily interpreted
A few years ago on Vvedensky’s website stauropegic monastery Optina Pustyn began work on the project “Interpretation of the Holy Scriptures”. On at the moment the project, which can safely be called unique, is already operating and has a large, rapidly growing audience of users. The author of the project, a resident of the monastery, editor of the Optina website, Hieromonk Daniil (Mikhalev), spoke about how this idea was embodied and is now developing.
— Father Daniil, please tell us about the project. What prompted you to take up it?
— Collect explanations of all the holy fathers separately for each verse Holy Scripture was my very old dream.
How many times have you had to read a lot of books to understand the meaning of a verse? In addition, it was very disappointing when I wanted to accurately reproduce an important interpretation of one of the holy fathers and could not remember exactly where I read it. After all, many holy fathers did not leave us line-by-line interpretations of the Bible, but at the same time in their works one can find huge amount wonderful and deep explanations different places Holy Scripture.
Naturally, without the help of a computer it is impossible to systematize such a huge material, therefore, when I was entrusted with obedience to the monastery website, this dream - to collect in one place the precious beads of interpretations of the word of God scattered throughout the patristic works - gradually began to come true.
— Did you have any assistants in this matter?
— Before launching this project into the public domain, it was first necessary to fill it minimally. In this we, several enthusiasts, were greatly helped by the participants of the Optina forum, who happily responded to our request. We are very grateful to them for the fact that with their help the project moved forward dead center.
— Is work on the project currently ongoing, or has everything already been done?
“Only a small part has been done; there is still a lot of work to be done.” We now have a fairly large group of volunteers who are posting interpretations to the best of their ability.
— How is the selection of sources carried out?
— Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) wrote: “The word spoken by the Holy Spirit is explained only by the Holy Spirit,” therefore, the main guideline for the correct understanding of the word of God should be the bearers of the Spirit of God - the holy fathers of the Orthodox Church. It is their interpretations that we try to place first. And then we take the interpretations of other authors that correspond to the Orthodox patristic tradition of understanding the Holy Scriptures.
Personally, when I read the Holy Fathers now, I always try to make notes in those places in the text where there are interesting explanations of passages of Scripture, so that later I can add all this to the general collection. This work is very exciting and useful; over time, you begin to understand that for the holy fathers, the Holy Scriptures were like a golden thread on which, like beads, all their sayings were held.
It must be said that when creating this project, we did not initially set as our goal a scientific approach to translations of interpretive texts. The main thing for us was to provide readers with only a selection of texts available in the public domain, which anyone can compare with other sources if desired. For example, there is a project on the Internet called ekzeget.ru. There is a broader topic; not only interpretations of the holy fathers are published, but various exegetical materials and studies are published. From the very beginning, we wanted to make everything as simple, accessible and understandable as possible when you first access the site.
Of course, I would like to hope that over time someone will be able to create a more serious resource with scientific approach and related comments.
—Who are your readers? Was the project created for those interested in monasticism, or for everyone?
- Of course for everyone. After all, “ignorance of Scripture,” according to the words of Saint Epiphanius of Cyprus, “is a great rapids and a deep abyss.” And, unfortunately, the danger of falling into this abyss threatens everyone, both monks and laity. If a person bases his temple on stone (see Matt. 7: 24 - 25) - on the word of God, then no matter what happens, he will only grow. It’s like in the first psalm: “…one will learn in His law day and night. And it will be like a tree planted when the waters come up, it will yield its fruit in its season, and its leaf will not fall away, and everything that it does will prosper (Ps. 1:3). Faith begins to grow and strengthen through the word of God. The very word of God says: “My sheep hear my voice” (John 10:27). That is, Christ calls His disciples, those who listen to His voice. “If you have My commandments and keep them, you will love Me...” Before doing the commandments, you need to know them; this is a sign of a disciple of Christ. It is impossible to imagine a disciple who follows Christ, but does not know what He is talking about.
If a person studies the word of God, then to some extent this person is chosen by God - this is my personal point of view. A person's attitude toward the Holy Scriptures can be used to judge how God treats him. The Psalter also says: “Listen, O My people, to My law” (Ps. 77:1). If a person listens to the law, then he is already God's. This, of course, may sound somehow strange in our world, but if you read the holy fathers, they all talk about it. You can take a striking example - Venerable Mary Egyptian. The Monk Zosima was surprised when she began to speak in the words of Holy Scripture: she had not studied the Gospel, had never heard anything from people. That is, she had within her the Spirit of God, Who spoke in her with the words of Holy Scripture. She received a gift and was accepted by God. Therefore, when a person approaches God and joins the ranks of His disciples, the words of the Gospel begin to sound in his heart. But for this to happen, he must first read the Scriptures, sow the gospel words in the field and wait for them to sprout. They will definitely sprout if the soil is ready!
— Are there any user responses on the forum? What do your readers write to you?
— To our surprise, despite the fact that we did not announce this project anywhere, people began to be interested in it almost from the very moment of its opening. Judging by the statistics, currently the number of “unique visitors” is more than one and a half thousand people per day, and this number continues to constantly grow. We often receive emails from kind words gratitude. All this is evidence to us that this project can benefit those who seek to study the word of God. And this is very joyful!
— Do your readers on the forum ask questions regarding difficult passages of Holy Scripture? Who answers their questions?
— On the forum, for the most part, issues related to the technical part of the correct placement of texts, cross-references, etc. are resolved. The fact is that very often it happens that to answer a question concerning a particular place of Scripture, it is enough to give only a link to existing interpretations. Thus, the very content of the project, in a sense, is already a preventive response to possible questions and confusion.
— Today the Internet provides a wide opportunity to get acquainted with primary sources different religions, explore different religious traditions. What can a person seeking spiritual life say about the truth that the Holy Scriptures bring?
— The Word of God cannot be treated as some kind of system and compared with other texts. The Word of God, as some fathers say, surpasses all other miracles that the Savior performed. Therefore, in order for a person to love Scripture, something must happen in the soul. And when the desire to study the word of God appears, the first thing we encounter is work, effort and overcoming. Because the enemy also knows that through reading the Spirit of God penetrates the soul and begins its work in it...
“Now we are offered in abundance electronic devices and programs that allow us to read the Holy Scriptures in any conditions. Some believe that this leads to a loss of reverence and is completely unacceptable...
“For many Orthodox Christians, the Gospel, all its beauty and power lies in the fact that it lies on the lectern, and on Sunday we kiss it. Everything is beautiful and reverent: we kiss ourselves, anoint ourselves and go about our business. But the Gospel is life! You really need to study the word of God day and night. It’s good, of course, to maintain reverence to read while standing and from a book. But sometimes we are sick, sometimes we are tired... - still, it is our duty to practice studying the Holy Scriptures.
"The Holy Synod of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania met on January 4, 2019 and carefully considered the letter of His Divine All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in connection with the Ukrainian church issue. After this, on January 14, 2019, the following response letter was sent.
From that moment on, the positions of various Orthodox Churches were made public. We recently learned that the above letter is being circulated in fragments, accompanied by conjectures and conjectures. In this regard, the Synodal decision was made on March 7, 2019, that this letter should be published in full. Previous letters from the Church of Albania, which were sent on October 10 and November 7, 2019 to His Beatitude Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Church, were made public...
As our website already reported, a few days ago four Athonite monasteries entered into prayerful communication with Ukrainian schismatics, the Kinoto of Holy Mount Athos condemned the actions of the St. Panteleimon Monastery, which refused to accept the delegation of the HCU-PUPETS, and also, according to the authors of the statement, developing unnecessarily close ties with the Moscow Patriarchate.
The other day, the Greek website vimaorthodoxias.gr published a message that the Holy Kinot met to discuss this joint statement of the Great Lavra, Iveron, Cutulmus and New Esphigmen. As a result, the general meeting condemned the views expressed in the message of these four monasteries, calling it overly politicized. "The vast majority...
State Duma deputies in the first reading adopted amendments to the law “On combating legalization of proceeds from crime and the financing of terrorism.” They allow banks to obtain complete data about individuals or legal entities by their number mobile phone. For this purpose, a unified subscriber information system will be created in Russia, information to which will be sent by all mobile operators without the consent of subscribers, reports a Nakanune.RU correspondent.
The amendments were needed to eliminate the possibility of fraud when identifying bank clients by phone number, said the authors - deputies from United Russia. Distribution of "toxic" (numbers that belonged to other subscribers) and illegal...
“My dream is to level the very place where Russia was...” – said the vulgar Russophobe Zhvanetsky, who has been on duty around the country on the central state channel “Russia” for the second decade. Rek and received the second Order for Services to the Fatherland from the hands of the President of the Russian Federation. The previous one was granted to him 10 years ago. Of course, for his outstanding contribution to Russian culture.
The cultural policy of the Russian Federation is increasingly reduced to cynical disregard for the Russian people in the face. At a little respected institution, proudly bearing the name of “parliament”, another council appeared. By culture. And - oh wonderful wonder! - what new faces, if I may say so, we saw in him! Mikhail-without the Russian language-Shvydkoy! The best (like Zhvanetsky) friend of all Maidan-Ukrainians, Makarevich! And... - drum roll - Cord! As they say, the next bottom was very close and was easily broken...
- March 11
Events dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the Vyoshensky uprising were held on the Don. The events of a century ago, reflected in Sholokhov’s book “Quiet Don”, were remembered in the village of Shumilinskaya.
In the village, where one of the most famous uprisings of the Civil War period broke out a hundred years ago, Cossacks from six districts of the All-Great Don Army gathered. U Worship cross, established in memory of the Cossacks who stood up a hundred years ago to defend their villages and farms, they served a funeral litany for the Cossacks who fell during the Civil War. Ataman of the Great Don Army Viktor Goncharov addressed the residents of the village of Shumilinskaya with greetings. He emphasized that the uprising on the Upper Don in 1919 was the Cossacks’ response to the lawlessness that befell the Don land after the revolution. A hundred years later...
Your opinion
Do you consider the Cretan Council heretical?
I. Feast of Renewal, i.e. consecration of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ, which is taking place today, is established as follows. The place where the Lord accomplished our salvation, i.e. Mount Golgotha, where He was crucified, and the burial cave from which He resurrected, were over time abandoned and even desecrated by Jews and pagans who hated I. Christ and His disciples. Thus, Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century ordered the Holy Sepulcher to be covered with rubbish and earth, and erected a pagan temple on Golgotha. In the same way, other places consecrated by the Savior were desecrated pagan temples and altars. Of course, this was done in order to erase holy places from memory; but this is what helped their discovery. When, in the 4th century, they accepted Christian faith Emperor Constantine and his mother Helen, then they wanted to renew St. the city of Jerusalem and discover holy places for Christians. Queen Helena with a lot of gold went to Jerusalem for this. She, with the assistance of the Patriarch of Jerusalem Macarius, destroyed the idolatrous temples and renovated Jerusalem. She found the cross of the Lord and the coffin, and on Mount Golgotha, over the places of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, she built a large one and magnificent temple in honor of the resurrection. The temple took ten years to build. In 335, on September 13, it was solemnly consecrated, and it is customary to celebrate this consecration or renovation of the temple every year. This holiday is colloquially called verbal, that is, called only, resurrection.
II. The holiday of renewal, i.e. consecration, of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ reminds us, brethren, of such an event in the earthly life of Christ, which serves as undoubted proof of His Divinity. I. Christ, in the words of the Apostle, through the resurrection from the dead, was revealed in all power as the Son of God (Rom. 1:4). And truly, of all the evidence cited by theologians to confirm the divinity of I. Christ, there is not a single one that would prove it as obviously and powerfully as His resurrection from the dead.
- March 5
The saint's parents, Theodore and Migethusa, were pious people, came from a noble family and were distinguished by a virtuous life1. Being childless, they fervently prayed to God to give them children, and only in their old age did the Lord fulfill their prayer. A voice from heaven announced to them the birth of their son, named him and predicted that the one born would be awarded the grace of bishopric. A son was born. This was Reverend George.
When he reached adolescence, what was predicted about him began to come true, for he showed brilliant success in secular and spiritual sciences, and his parents, seeing this, glorified God.
Having reached the age of perfection and having completed his education, the Monk George left his fatherland and retired to the Syriac Mountains. Here he met one pious elder, received monastic tonsure from him, and under his guidance began to undergo monastic life. After the death of the elder, the monk went to Vonissa and here devoted himself to the harsh deeds of fasting life.
The pious life of Saint George soon became known to everyone, and when the bishop of the city of Amastris died, by the will of God he was elected bishop by the clergy and people. Arriving in Constantinople for ordination, he gained the favor of Emperor Constantine VI and his mother Irina and was dedicated by Patriarch Tarasius. Thus, everything that the Lord had once predicted about him to his parents finally came true - the monk was elevated to the see of the Bishop of Amastris, like a lamp that is not hidden under a vessel, but placed on a candlestick (Matthew 5:15).
The monk was so successful in his knowledge of the Holy Scriptures that after the death of his parents he collected the wealth that remained after them (about 1633 liters1) and, having called the poor, orphans and widows, distributed everything to them in one day.
After this, in one of the monasteries, he accepted monasticism and devoted himself to monastic deeds, day and night, working tirelessly to please God and praying for the whole world.
He labored so zealously in virtue that he was awarded the gift of great miracles from the Lord.
The virtuous life of Saint Agathon could not hide from people, and he was appointed archbishop of the city of Rome.
Having instructed his flock in virtue and become famous for his miracles, the monk, in the rank of bishop, departed to the Lord2.
_______________________________
Notes:
1 Liter is the name of the weight. A Jewish liter contained 72 spools. See 1 Kings. 10:17.
Saint Demetrius of Rostov
Orthodox Church honors the memory of the Venerable Elders of Optina Pustyn - one of the most famous monasteries in Russia, and all over the world too. The host of God-bearing lights that the monastery raised is an example for us to follow in faith and piety. However, how surprised the venerable Elders of Optina would be if they learned that from their native monastery what is coming to the people today is not the true Teaching of the Church, but the views of heretics and schismatics!
A group of volunteers reported on the pages of the official website of the monastery that in the Vvedensky stauropegial monastery of Optina Pustyn, work on the creation of the section “Interpretations of the Holy Scriptures” has been completed, which is now also available as a mobile application for iOS in offline mode.
The idea of collecting all known interpretations of Holy Scripture in one place began to materialize in 2010. It seems, as it seems at first glance, that the creators of the site intended a good cause. However, in reality, it turned out that readers, along with the works of the holy fathers, discovered among the interpreters heretics and schismatics, whose teachings were condemned by the Ecumenical Councils.
Sevirus of Antioch, the founder of the heresy of Sevirianism, which is an intermediate form between classical miaphysitism and Chalcedonism. The Miaphysite doctrine of the Sevirians teaches not only about the difference between the divine and human properties in Christ with a single nature, but also, like Chalcedonian Dyophysitism, teaches about the perishability of the Body of Christ. This doctrine is still supported, for example, by the Copts.
Theodore of Mopsuestia, Bishop of Mopsuestia, who was once a friend of St. John Chrysostom. Condemned posthumously at the V Ecumenical Council for views consonant with Nestorianism. With a sharp distinction between Divinity and humanity, Theodore viewed Jesus Christ during His earthly life as common man as the son of God by grace. He taught about two sons of God: one Son is consubstantial with God the Father, the other, born of the Virgin Mary, gradually through struggle and temptation moved forward along the path of moral improvement, until finally, through the resurrection, he became completely blameless and was worthy of union with the true Son God's. Thus, Theodore of Mopsuestia taught about two persons in Jesus Christ. He resolutely rejected the hypostatic union of Divinity and humanity in Him, because he could not conceive of Divinity and humanity as perfect without independent hypostases. Jesus son, Holy Virgin Mary and God the Word were for him two separate persons, morally united with each other.
Apollinaris of Laodicea which in the 370s. began to express views that caused condemnation. Apollinaris came to the conclusion that human mind Christ the Savior was replaced by the Divine Mind. “If the Lord,” wrote Apollinaris, “had accepted everything, then, without a doubt, he would have human thoughts; in human thoughts it is impossible not to be sin.” Thus, Apollinaris encroached on the doctrine of the Divine-Humanity of the Savior, leaning towards Monophysitism.
Origen, famous for his heresy about the “finality of hell”. He was a supporter of the idea of the final salvation of all things (apokatastasis). In 543, Emperor Justinian the Great issued an edict in which Origen was declared a heretic, and the local council of the Church of Constantinople in 553 unanimously condemned Origen and extended the condemnation of Origenism to Evagrius and Didymus. At the Fifth Ecumenical Council, Origen and all who do not wish to anathematize him are anathematized:
We ourselves, having the commandment to edify the people with sound doctrine (Titus 2:1) and to speak in our hearts to Jerusalem (Isaiah 40:2), that is, to the Church of God, hasten to sow worthily in righteousness (Hosea 2:23), gathering the fruit of life and kindling for ourselves the light of knowledge from the Divine Scriptures and the teachings of the holy fathers. We considered it necessary to briefly outline point by point both the preaching of the truth and the condemnation of heretics and their wickedness. […] 11. If anyone does not anathematize Arius, Eunomius, Macedonius, Apollinaris, Nestorius, Eutyches and Origen, with their wicked writings, and all other heretics who were condemned and anathematized by the holy Catholic and Apostolic Church and the holy four aforementioned councils, and those who have philosophized or are philosophizing like the above-mentioned heretics, and continued in their wickedness until death: let him be anathema.
Origen's condemnation was confirmed by the Sixth Ecumenical Council. At the Lateran Council of 649, all of Origen's writings were anathematized, and those who did not wish to anathematize and reject works in defense of Origen were also anathematized:
If anyone does not reject and, in agreement with the Holy Fathers, with us and with faith, does not anathematize with soul and lips all those whom the holy, catholic and apostolic God's Church(that is, the five Ecumenical Councils and all the Fathers of the Church unanimously recognized by them) rejected and anathematized along with their writings, to the very last line, as wicked heretics, namely: […] Origen, Didymus, Evagrius and all other heretics taken together [... ]. So, if anyone does not reject and anathematize the wicked teaching of their heresy and what was wickedly written by anyone in their favor or in their defense, as well as the mentioned heretics themselves […]: let such a person be anathema.
Pelagia, the founder of the Pelagian heresy - the doctrine of the relationship between grace and free will in the matter of human salvation, one of the most influential heresies in the West. Condemned at the Third Ecumenical Council (431). Pelagius argued that free will is the natural property of man, which was not destroyed by the sin of Adam, and the role of grace lies only in divine help to man in his good deeds. “And in general there would be no virtue in anyone who is in goodness if he did not have the opportunity to go over to the side of evil... otherwise he will not do good out of his own impulse if he cannot also choose evil.” The essence of Pelagius's statements is that a person is able to earn his own salvation, which is given to the worthy, otherwise it would turn out that he does not play any role in his own salvation.
Donatista Tychonia- the instigator church schism in the Carthaginian church, beginning in the first decade of the 4th century. The Donatists created their own ecclesiology. according to their teaching, the main feature true church is holiness, and that only those sacraments are valid which are performed by a righteous bishop.
And others...
It should be noted that the bible.optina.ru section is updated daily with new interpretations, including not only the texts of the holy fathers of the Orthodox Church, but also other, both ancient and modern authors. In the near future, it is planned to create a similar application for Android.
The holy fathers and teachers of the Church of Christ left quite a few of their works, among which is the interpretation of the Bible. Analyzing the context of the Holy Scriptures, they expressed the correct understanding difficult places for human perception when reading.The Bible as an inspired book is divided into 2 periods of human history before the Birth of Jesus Christ and after. Or in other words, Old and New Testament. The Gospel is a New Covenant with people between God and means good news. This message about the Resurrection of Christ and His atoning sacrifice was carried by the apostles, who left various messages. Apostle Luke even wrote the book Acts of the Apostles about their lives after the Ascension of Jesus Christ to Heaven. John the Theologian had a dream about the end of the world. All this is significant for every person. Saint John Chrysostom, more than all the fathers and teachers of the Church, left works on the interpretation of the Bible - the Holy Scriptures.
Interpretation of the Old Testament
Interpretation of the New Testament
Interpretation of John Chrysostom
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Saint Ignatius Brianchininov says:
“Do not dare to interpret the Gospel and other books of Holy Scripture yourself. Scripture was spoken by the holy Prophets and Apostles, not spoken arbitrarily, but by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. How could it not be crazy to interpret it arbitrarily?
The Holy Spirit, who spoke the Word of God through the Prophets and Apostles, interpreted it through the Holy Fathers. Both the Word of God and its interpretation are the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is the only interpretation accepted by the Holy Orthodox Church! Only this one interpretation is accepted by her true children!
Whoever explains the Gospel and all Scripture arbitrarily: thereby rejects the interpretation of it by the Holy Fathers and the Holy Spirit. Who rejects the interpretation of Scripture by the Holy Spirit; he, without any doubt, rejects the Holy Scripture itself.
And the word of God, the word of salvation, for its daring interpreters, stinks into death, like a two-edged sword, with which they pierce themselves into eternal destruction. With it Arius, Nestorius, Eutyches and other heretics, who fell into blasphemy through an arbitrary and impudent interpretation of Scripture, killed themselves forever.”
The Bible is not arbitrarily interpreted.
The Bible is interpreted by the Church
From this it can be noted that all Scripture is inspired by God ( 2 Tim. 3-16) and it is especially wrong for a beginning Christian to try to interpret the Bible with his own mind. The person who came to faith did not receive the Holy Spirit and it would be reckless that without experience in Christian life he would interpret the Holy Scriptures. Only those Christians. who went through a certain path of repentance and acquired the Holy Spirit, could actually interpret the Holy Scriptures. Only those who had long years of repentance and purified their hearts through repentance throughout their lives could resort to the interpretation of the Bible. But this is not enough. Only the Church together can interpret Holy Scripture, and if the interpretation of even the saint himself did not correspond to the opinion of the Church, then such an interpreter was rejected.
Arbitrary interpretation produces disagreement and many heretical teachings and sects
Further, Ignatius Brianchaninov recalls the heretics who misinterpreted the Bible and this led to disagreement and excommunication of the heretics from the Church. Today in our time there are quite a few sects that arbitrarily interpret the Holy Scriptures and this stems from their self-will. As a result, they come up with many teachings that are completely at odds with the creed and even contradict the creed. This comes from their self-will and delusions.
The Bible as a beginner to read?
The recommendations are simple; first you need to familiarize yourself with the entire text of Holy Scripture. Read one or two chapters a day, without any interpretation.
The Bible consists of many different books. These books are sometimes interconnected. practically duplicated, and sometimes independent of each other.
As a beginning Christian, you need to start reading the Bible - from the Gospel and from the Psalter. Just read these books, but without arbitrary interpretation, but to get acquainted with the text.
How to interpret the Bible?
When reading Scripture, sometimes real questions arise. to which you want to find answers. This is good, as it should be over time.
The Bible is a very complex book, we can only interpret it based on what the Church says, and for this we need to attend services and listen to sermons.
In addition, reading Patristic literature, also helps in interpretation. The Bible has been interpreted by the Holy Fathers of the Church for hundreds of years and they are recognized by the Church, for example, John Chrysostom, Ephraim the Syrian, Theophan the Recluse, Theophylact of Bulgaria and many others.
For interpretation, you can take several recognized Orthodox authoritative sources and by comparing them you will understand a lot. But in no case should the Bible be the source of your fantasies; you should not interpret it with your own mind; this leads to error and excommunication from the Church.
If you suddenly have any questions, you can ask them in the comments. Because the information here is quite general.
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