Revelation of God. Holy Bible

In response to man's desire to know his Creator.

Man is part of the world. The world was created without human participation. A person is limited by the time of his birth and death and the space of his stay. Just as a part cannot know the whole, so a person cannot know the whole. He cannot himself, with his own mental powers, comprehend either the root causes of everything that exists, or the meaning of his own and the world’s life, or the purpose of the universe. These questions that arise and require resolution in the minds of every person are insoluble by the human mind. The only possible way to resolve these and many other pressing spiritual needs is through revelation. If God wants to reveal these unknowable truths to people, then and only then will man be able to know them.

The revelation happened gradually. The Lord did not reveal Himself and His will right away. First, He gave, through the miraculous phenomena of nature and its laws, the so-called natural revelation. Then he gave supernatural revelations through spirit-bearing prophets and through miraculous phenomena in human history. And finally, he gave the full gospel revelation in the Son, the God-man Jesus Christ.

Christ is the fullness of revealed truth. God Himself spoke through His lips; every word of His was absolute, pure truth. For He Himself, the Savior of the world, is the Son of God, the true God.

Types of Revelation

It is necessary to distinguish supernatural Revelation from the so-called. natural knowledge of God, often also called revelation.

Under supernatural revelation This means an action of God that gives a person the knowledge necessary for salvation. In this regard, Revelation is divided into general and individual.

General Revelation given through specially chosen people - prophets and apostles - to proclaim the truths of faith and life to a wide circle of people (individual people, all humanity). Such, firstly, in importance is the Holy Scripture and the Holy Tradition of the New Testament, and secondly, “the law and the prophets” (Matthew 7:12), the Old Testament Bible.

Individual revelation given to a person for the purpose of his edification (and, sometimes, those closest to him). Many of these revelations, especially those given to the saints, “cannot be told” (2 Cor. 12:4) to another person. Therefore, in the patristic writings and hagiographic literature, although they talk about various experiences, visions and states of the saints, they convey exclusively their external side. Individual revelations do not communicate any fundamentally new truths, but only provide deeper knowledge of what is already in general Revelation.

By natural revelation, or natural knowledge of God, are usually called those ideas about God, man and existence in general that arise in a person naturally on the basis of his knowledge of himself and the world around him. The Apostle Paul wrote about this: “For His invisible things, His eternal power and Godhead, have been visible from the creation of the world by looking at what has been made” (Rom. 1:20). This process of natural search for God and knowledge of God has always taken place in history; it is inherent in man. And to this day, many come to faith in God and in Christ, in fact, knowing nothing about religion, about Christianity, without even reading the Gospel.

The Church is the guardian of Revelation

By revealing himself to man, God imparts to him knowledge of Himself in a supernatural way. “Supernatural knowledge is that which comes into the mind in a way that exceeds its natural ways and powers,” teaches St. Theodore the Studite. “It comes from the only God, when He finds the mind cleansed of all material attachments and embraced by Divine love.” Supernatural knowledge of God is communicated to the human soul by Divine grace emanating from the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. It is through the Divine grace of the Holy Spirit that a person assimilates the truths of Divine Revelation. The Apostle Paul states that: “...no one can call Jesus Christ Lord except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:3). This means that only one whose mind and heart has been influenced by Divine grace can confess Christ as Lord.

Divine grace abides in the Church, is served in

The word "revelation" means God's supernatural revelation of unknowable truths to people. Man is part of the world. The world was created without human participation. A person is limited by the time of his birth and death and the space of his stay. Just as a part cannot know the whole, so a person cannot know the whole. He cannot himself, with his own mental powers, comprehend either the root causes of everything that exists, or the meaning of his own and the world’s life, or the purpose of the universe. These questions that arise and require resolution in the minds of every person are insoluble by the human mind. The only possible way to resolve these and many other pressing spiritual needs is through revelation. If God wants to reveal these unknowable truths to people, then and only then will man be able to know them.

God wanted this and revealed the truth to people. He sent to earth his Only Begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who brought people the truth, the way of knowing it (the method or way of knowing the truth) and true life (for without the help of God there can be no eternal life). “I am the way and the truth and the life,” said Christ (John 14:6).

Elsewhere He said: “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

No one has ever spoken as one who has the power to reveal the truth.

Christ is the fullness of revealed truth. God Himself spoke through His lips; every word of His was absolute, pure truth. For He Himself, the Savior of the world, was the Son of God, was the true God.

The revelation happened gradually. The Lord did not reveal Himself and His will right away. First, He gave, through the miraculous and wondrous phenomena of nature and its laws, the so-called natural revelation. Then he gave supernatural revelations through spirit-bearing prophets and through miraculous phenomena in human history. And finally, he gave the full gospel revelation in the Son, the God-Man Christ.

Any supernatural revelation certainly includes: prediction of the future, revelation of the secrets of God and clarification of such religious and moral truths that exceed all the possibilities and abilities of human knowledge.

The revelation of nature (both surrounding man and man himself, mainly his consciousness) suggests that outside man, above him, that is, above him, there is a reason, power and wisdom of the creative principle, testifying to the presence of a Supreme Being, having the character of a person, i.e. that God exists. All so-called proofs of the existence of God are the result of this natural revelation.

An honest and normal human mind, through consideration of the nature of the world and the nature of its own consciousness, comes to the conviction of the existence of God. And only an evil or abnormal mind can deny Him.

“The fool said in his heart: there is no God” (Ps. 13:2; 52:2)…

But in addition to the conviction in the existence of God, a person also desires personal communication with Him.

Religion begins not with the recognition of God (this, strictly speaking, is the task of philosophy), but with communication with Him. This communication between man and God is impossible without God’s help. This help is provided by the so-called supernatural revelation.

In addition to dividing revelation into natural and supernatural, other types of revelation are also distinguished: direct and mediocre, external and internal.

Direct revelation is the communication by God Himself of certain religious truths to chosen people (for example, the prophet-god-seer Moses).

Mediocre revelation occurs when it is communicated to people through divinely inspired persons (for example, prophets) or higher intelligent beings - Angels (for example, the gospel to the Virgin Mary).

External revelation is the very fact of communicating the truth, and internal revelation is the fact of assimilating what was communicated. The latter requires supernatural inspiration, which is usually defined by the word “divine inspiration.”

Usually “divine inspiration” refers to the supernatural influence of the Spirit of God on the prophets and apostles, under whose inspiration they correctly explained the revelations communicated to them and correctly set them out in the sacred books. Such sacred books were called “divinely inspired.”

False views have often been and are being expressed about the nature of revelation. They need to be exposed. The famous Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria and some Christian sectarians of antiquity (for example, the so-called Montanists) expressed the view that for the perception of revelation a special state of unconscious ecstasy should be recognized as a necessary condition. In modern times, a similar view was expressed in Protestant theology of the 17th–18th centuries. According to this teaching, persons who were honored to be the heralds of Divine revelations themselves were not aware of these revelations, but perceived them passively and were only technical transmitters of Divine grace. This teaching is deeply false. The very concept of revelation presupposes a mind that receives it. There is no reason to take away the light of reason from a person at the moment of revelation, for reason itself was given to man by God precisely for the knowledge of the truth!

Extremely rationalistic views on the nature of revelation come down to denying the possibility of supernatural revelation and attempts to reduce it to only natural revelation. All these attempts turn out to be fruitless, because they lead to insoluble contradictions. Analysis of the concept of absolute truth leads to a dilemma: either such truth is incomprehensible, or it can only be revealed and supernatural.

The pantheistic concept of revelation actually amounts to the denial of revelation. If nature is God, then He has no one and nothing to reveal Himself to. In philosophical pantheistic systems, revelation is understood as the self-revelation of God in the human spirit. According to the teachings of, for example, Hegel, the absolute spirit is eternally and variously revealed in various forms (in nature, in the human spirit, in the history of mankind); it reveals itself not to man, but in man, coming to self-consciousness in him. Thus, man's knowledge of God is, in essence, God's knowledge of Himself.

In the history of modern philosophy there have been attempts to construct entire complex theories about revelation.

One of these theories that gained significant popularity was that of the German philosopher Schleiermacher, who lived in the first half of the 19th century. Schleiermacher considered every life phenomenon a miracle, because not a single life phenomenon can be fully understood. By expanding the concept of a miracle in this way, he thereby denied the phenomenon of the miraculous, as Christianity understands it. Schleiermacher recognized as a revelation any new, outstanding phenomenon of the human spirit, characteristic of geniuses. Thus, the supernatural, in his opinion, is the same as the natural, only extremely rare and exceptional in significance in human life.

This mixture of deism and pantheism is full of contradictions. Arbitrarily and excessively expanding the concepts of miracle, revelation, inspiration, Schleiermacher makes them vague and does not explain anything.

Often among modern philosophers doubt was expressed about the possibility of supernatural revelation. The problem of supernatural revelation essentially runs into the problem of miracles in general. If a miracle is possible (see the chapter on the problem of miracles), then supernatural revelation is also possible. Belief in it depends on the good or evil will of a person. The truth of revelation, in addition to rationalistic justification, is finally proven pragmatically, through the experimental path of Christian life.

The question of the criterion of true revelation is one of the serious questions of Christian apologetics, and therefore is subject to more careful consideration.

31 / 07 / 2006

Divine revelation occurs to a person when God reveals Himself to each of us in a natural way - through the world we see, nature and through our conscience.

Considering the world around us, we come to know God through the beauty and harmony that fills it. We enjoy the sight of moving clouds and flowering plants, which come in many different colors and types. We listen to the singing of birds, woven from wonderful melodies... Looking into the depths of the sea, we enjoy the extraordinary beauty of the fish...

Looking at the stars scattered across the sky like beads, we never cease to be amazed that these are all separate worlds. Many of the stars are the same as our sun and moon, but there are some that are many times larger. They all move harmoniously and in harmony along their own trajectories.

Contemplating the space around us, a person asks himself the question - who is the Creator of all the diversity and splendor of our planet? After all, there is nothing random in nature, everything is thought out and interconnected. The entire world around us is the great book of God's revelation, testifying to the omnipotence and wisdom of God the Creator..

However, natural revelation through nature alone is not enough. Sin darkens a person's mind, conscience and will, the heart becomes callous, and a person becomes unable to notice the amazing harmony of the world. That is why the Lord supplements natural revelation with supernatural ones - miracles and words that He reveals to man Himself and through His Angels.

Not all people are worthy to accept revelation from God Himself, and the Lord chooses special, righteous people who can accept this revelation. The most complete revelation was brought to earth by the incarnate Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. This Divine revelation is now spreading among people and is preserved in the true Holy Orthodox Church through Holy Tradition and Holy Scripture.

From the beginning of the world until Moses there were no sacred books, and the teaching about the faith of God was transmitted orally - by Tradition, that is, by word and example, from one to another, and from ancestors to descendants. Subsequently, in order for the Divine Revelation to be preserved quite accurately, at the inspiration of the Lord, some holy people wrote down the most important things in books. God the Holy Spirit Himself invisibly helped them so that everything that was written in these books was correct and true. All these books, written by the Spirit of God through the prophets, apostles and other sanctified people, are called Holy Scripture, or the Bible.

We divide the Bible into two unequal parts - the more ancient, Old, or Old Testament, and the later, the New Testament. The Old Testament records a huge historical process that took place before the eyes of contemporaries for about two thousand years. The New Testament covers the period of the earthly life of the God-man Jesus Christ and his closest followers. For us Christians, of course, the New Testament is more important.

The main content of the New Testament is that God really sent people the promised Savior, His Only Begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave the New Testament to people. We need to study Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition in order to learn more about God, who created the world for the life and benefit of people - for each of us. God loves us so endlessly.

And if we love God and live according to His law, then much in the world will become clear and understandable to us. And our soul will be full of harmony, love and joy. This joy will never end, and no one will take it away, because God Himself will be with us...

THE MEANING OF THE WORD THEOLOGY

1) Theology as Divine revelation - God’s word about Himself

2) Theology as the teaching of the Church or some individual theologian about God

In the ancient Church, theology itself was called the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. The remaining parts of the doctrine (about the creation of the world, about the incarnation of God the Word, about salvation, about the Church, about the Second Coming, etc.) belonged to the field of Divine economy or Divine economy (οίκονομία) in Greek. - the art of home management; οίκος - house, νόμος - law), i.e., the activity of God in creation, Providence and salvation of the world. The word “theology” was first introduced into the Christian lexicon by the apologist of the second half of the 2nd century, Athenagoras of Athens.

TYPES OF DIVINE REVELATION

1) Natural, which is carried out through:

· self-knowledge;

· consideration of natural patterns;

· historiosophy.

2) supernatural - through Revelation, expressed in the Holy Scriptures. Scripture and Holy Legends.

SACRED TRADION IS THE PRESERVATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE DIVINE REVELATION BY THE CHURCH.

The bearer of Holy Tradition is the Church: “The living bearer and custodian of Tradition is the entire Church in its catholic fullness; and one must abide or live in the Church, in its fullness, in order to understand the Tradition, in order to own it. This means that the bearer and custodian of Tradition is the entire church people, in the words of the famous “Epistle of the Eastern Patriarchs” of 1848. The people, i.e. the whole Church, - the Church as a catholic body,” says Archpriest. Georgy Florovsky.

A special case of the relationship between two types of knowledge of God is the question of the Holy Scripture and the patristic heritage, which, by the method of origin, can be attributed to supernatural revelation, and by the method of assimilation (in any case, primary) - to natural knowledge of God.

· Composition of Sacred Tradition (Formal expression of Tradition):

1. Confessions of faith:

· St. Gregory of Neocaesarea. It was compiled approximately between 260-265. according to R.H. This confession deals primarily with the question of the Holy Trinity. Approved by the VI Ecumenical Council.

· St. Basil the Great (Against the Arians, 4th century)

· Rev. Anastasia Sinaita (VI century), short catechism.

· St. Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem (VII century) About the Holy Trinity, the two wills of Christ, approved by the VI Ecumenical Council.

· Confession of St. Gregory Palamas, 1351. This confession briefly expresses the general church teaching on all major theological issues, in particular, on issues relating to disputes regarding the nature of the Tabor light and the question of the boundaries of the knowledge of God; approved by the Council of Constantinople 1351

· Confession of St. Mark of Ephesus at the Ferraro-Florence Council of 1439-1440. A thorough presentation of Orthodox teaching, especially on issues controversial with Catholics, such as the primacy of the pope, filioque, etc.

· Confession of the Patriarch of Constantinople Gennady Scollarius in the 15th century, which was after the capture of Constantinople by the Turks. Patriarch Gennady Schollari introduced Mohammed II to the Turkish Sultan.

2. Articles of Faith:

· Apostles' Creed

· Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed

· Athanasian Creed (does not belong to St. Athanasius. Written in the 5th century)

Nota bene! The differences between confessions and symbols: 1) are usually more extensive than symbols; 2) very often have a polemical orientation; 3) have never been used in the liturgical life of the Church.

3. Apostolic Rules and canons of the ancient Church.

4. Definitions and rules of the Ecumenical Councils and some Local Councils, accepted by the entirety of the Ecumenical Church:

· IV Ecumenical Council - spoke about the mode of union of two natures in Christ;

· VI Ecumenical Council - presentation of the doctrine of two wills and two energies in Christ;

· VII Ecumenical Council - definition of faith on icon veneration.

· Council of Constantinople 879-880. under the Holy Patriarch Photius of Constantinople.

· Council of Constantinople 1076 against John Italus.

· Council of Constantinople in 1117. It examined the errors of the monk Nile and Metropolitan Eustathius of Nicaea.

· Council of Constantinople 1156-1157. examined the errors of Archdeacon Soterich Pantevgen, named Patriarch of Antioch. The dispute concerned his teaching on the Eucharist.

· Council of Constantinople 1166-1170. (it took place in two stages: in 1166 and 1170 the same issue was considered). The dispute concerned the interpretation of the verse from the Gospel of John (John 14:28) “...My Father is greater than I.” The accused party at the Council were Archimandrite John Irinikos and Metropolitan Constantine of Kerkyra.

· Council of Constantinople in 1180, the so-called council about the “God of Muhammad”.

· Councils of Constantinople of the 14th century. 1341, 1347, 1351 were devoted to disputes about the nature of the Tabor light.

What is Divine Revelation?

Divine Revelation- this is what God Himself revealed to people, so that they could rightly and savingly believe in Him and worthily honor Him (St. Philaret “Catechism”).

You might think that it would be easier if God revealed everything about Himself to everyone personally. Then people would not doubt the existence of God and would not invent their own religions. Everyone would believe in God and believe equally.

But are all people capable of receiving revelation directly from God?

St. Philaret says: “Not all people are able to accept revelation directly from God due to their sinful impurity and weakness of spirit and body.”

To whom did God Himself directly reveal and reveal Himself?

Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, other prophets, His disciples - the apostles, saints.

The Apostle Paul writes: “We preach the wisdom of God, secret, hidden, which God destined before the ages for our glory, which none of the authorities of this age knew;... But God revealed [this] to us by His Spirit”(1 Cor. 2:7-8,10).

Before the Nativity of Christ, God revealed Himself through the prophets. The incarnate Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, brought the revelation of God to earth in full. The revelation heard from Christ was spread throughout the entire universe by His disciples, called apostles.

In post-apostolic times, God supernaturally visited and visits individual people, mainly saints, and revealed and continues to reveal Divine mysteries to people through them. At the same time, in comparison with the Gospels, a person is not given any fundamentally new truths, but is given a deeper, more experienced knowledge of what has already been revealed to people by God.

About the vision of God

St. Ignatius Brianchaninov writes: “To see God, clearly visible in visible nature, to give Him worship, praise, and thanksgiving is given to all people: very few saw Him; Those who saw Him were those who had not deprived themselves of the ability to see through an absent-minded and sensual life.”

The experience of seeing God for a person is so personal and intimate that rarely any saint spoke about it in detail. The Apostle Paul limited himself to a few phrases about ineffable verbs that cannot be uttered by a person.

In this sense, it seems exceptional and unique in all patristic literature Venerable Simeon the New Theologian(XI century), who in his works with unprecedented frankness spoke about meetings with God, about the secrets of contemplation, about the numerous visions and revelations that he had. The Monk Simeon often contemplated God as light during prayer:

What new miracle is happening now?
God still wants to be visible to sinners...
I’m afraid to think, how can I express it in words?
How will the tongue describe everything or will the reed draw it?
As the word will tell, as my tongue will tell,
How can lips utter everything that I see today?..
In the middle of the deep night, in the midst of hopeless darkness
I contemplate Christ with amazement and fear.
Opening the heavens, He descends from there,
Appearing to me with the Father and the Divine Spirit.
He is one, but in three Persons:
Three in total unity,
Trisagion radiance in three Divine suns.
He illuminates the soul brighter than the earthly sun,
He enlightens my darkened mind with light...
To those who see He comes as light among light,
In the luminous radiance everyone contemplates Him.
For those who see see in the light of the Holy Spirit,
He who has seen the Spirit also beholds the Son,
And he who has seen the Son beholds the Father,
And the Father and the Son are contemplated together.
All this, as I said, is happening to me,
I barely understand the unspeakable miracle
In the distance, contemplating the beauty that is invisible
Because of the bright light of dazzling glory...
Trembling, horrified, I went into a frenzy
And I could not bear the unbearable fame
On this night of unspeakable and strange sensations.”

So, the teaching of the Orthodox faith is based on what God Himself revealed to people, i.e. on Divine Revelation.

Types of revelations

Natural revelation.

Supernatural revelation.

Supernatural revelation- this is an action of God that gives a person the knowledge necessary for salvation.

Supernatural revelation is knowledge from God about God, the world and man.

Supernatural revelation is divided into general And individual.

General revelation is given through specially chosen people - prophets and apostles - to proclaim the truths of faith and life to a wide circle of people (individual people, all of humanity).

Individual revelation is given to a person for the purpose of edifying him (and sometimes those closest to him). Individual revelations do not communicate any fundamentally new truths, but provide a deeper knowledge of what is already in general revelation.

Natural revelation- these are those ideas about God, man and existence in general that arise in a person naturally on the basis of his knowledge of himself and the world around him.

Natural revelation or natural knowledge of God is a person’s ideas about God, the world and man.

A person can, without a special supernatural revelation of God, know God from examining the things created by God.

The Apostle Paul says: “His invisible things, His eternal power and Godhead, have been visible from the creation of the world through the consideration of creation.”(Rom. 1:20).

By impartially reflecting on the harmonious order of the Universe, one can indeed approach the recognition of the existence of the all-wise Creator of the world. By examining world-historical processes, one can come to the conclusion about the action in the world of the righteous Judge who provides for humanity. By listening to the voice of your conscience, you can feel the closeness of Heavenly Father. The process of natural search for God and knowledge of God is inherent in man. And now many people come to faith in God, knowing virtually nothing about religion, about Christianity, without even reading the Gospel.

Many pagan thinkers of antiquity, ... who sought the truth and reflected on the essence of existence and the meaning of human life, came to the firm conviction of the existence of one God, Creator, Provider and Judge of the world (for example, Heraclitus, Socrates, Xenophon).”

After Darwin outlined his doctrine of the evolutionary development of the living world, he was asked where is the beginning of the chain of development of the living world, where is its first link? Darwin replied: “It is chained to the Throne of the Most High.”

The great founder of all modern bacteriology, Pasteur, says: “The more I study nature, the more I stop in awe at the works of the Creator.”

This is how the French yachtsman Bernard Moitessier turned to God, described in the book of Bishop Hilarion (Alfeev) “The Sacrament of Faith”: “As a participant in the round-the-world single races, the winner of which was expected to receive a huge cash prize and worldwide fame, he confidently moved towards the finish line and had every chance count on victory - they had already prepared a ceremonial meeting for him in England. Unexpectedly for everyone, he changed the route and sent the yacht to the shores of Polynesia... Only a few months later it was possible to find out why he dropped out of the game. Being alone with the ocean and sky for a long time, he thought more and more deeply about the meaning of life, and the goal that he had to achieve - money, success, fame - seemed less and less attractive to him. In the ocean, he felt the breath of eternity, felt the presence of God and no longer wanted to return to the usual worldly bustle.”

However, natural knowledge of God, even in its highest achievements, always suffers from significant incompleteness, great uncertainty, defectiveness, and vagueness, and therefore often leads a person away from the true religious path. Many so-called natural (pagan) religions (for example, modern African religions, Hinduism, Buddhism), a great variety of different religious and philosophical systems, sects are an illustration of what one natural “sense” of God can lead to. This is understandable. Where man is the measure of all things, everyone can consider their own understanding to be the truth.

It is necessary to constantly compare your ideas about God and spiritual life with what God Himself revealed to people directly, so that people would believe correctly, save Him and honor Him worthily.

Divine Revelation spreads among people and is preserved in the true Church through Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition.

Holy Bible

Holy Bible- books written by the Spirit of God, through people sanctified by God, called prophets and apostles.

Supernatural, Divine illumination, without destroying or suppressing the natural powers of man, raised them to the highest perfection, protected them from mistakes, imparted revelations, and guided the entire course of their work.

St. Gregory the Great teaches: “The Lord speaks to us in the language of the holy prophets and apostles.”

The books of Holy Scripture are called the Bible. They were written at different historical times and are divided into 2 parts: the books of the Old Testament, written before the Nativity of Christ, and the books of the New Testament, written after the Nativity of Christ.

Covenant- an alliance, an agreement, a testament of God to people.

The main content of the Old Testament was that God promised people the Savior of the world and prepared them to accept Him through gradual revelations, holy commandments, prophecies, prayers, and priesthood. The main content of the New Testament is that God really gave people the promised Savior, His Only Begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

The New Testament Christian Church accepted the holy books from the Old Testament Church.

1. Books legislative constitute the main basis.

The books of the Old Testament include: 5 books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.

The books of the New Testament include: 4 Gospels.

2. Books historical contain mainly a history of piety.

Books of the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Kings, Chronicles (book of daily events, chronicle), etc.

Book of the New Testament: Acts of the Holy Apostles.

3. Books teaching

Books of the New Testament: 7 Council Epistles and 14 Epistles of the Apostle Paul.

4. Books
prophetic, which contain prophecies or predictions about the future, most notably about Jesus Christ.

Books of the Old Testament: Books of the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, 12 others.

Book of the New Testament: Apocalypse or Revelation of John the Theologian.

About Sacred Tradition

Hold fast to the pattern of sound teaching which you have heard from me, with faith and love that is in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 1:13).

The teaching of the Orthodox faith is based on what God Himself revealed to people, i.e. on Divine Revelation.

If we take all the books of the world, then for a Christian the Bible will always remain the most important, central, because these are books written by the Holy Spirit through people chosen by God - prophets and apostles through a special supernatural action - revelation. The revelation of God is kept in them accurately and unchangeably.

But from Adam to Moses there were no sacred books. Divine revelation was preserved and transmitted orally or by example. The most ancient and original way of spreading the revelation of God is Sacred Tradition.

Noah heard Methuselah, who heard Adam, and told Abraham about it. Noah lived after the flood for 350 years, this is the 58th year of Abraham’s life, and witnessed the construction of the Tower of Babel and the dispersion (he lived 950 years in total). From Abraham through Jacob, Levi, Kohath, living tradition could naturally reach Moses.

Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself conveyed His Divine teaching and institutions to the disciples by His word and example, and not by book. In the same way, at first the apostles spread the faith and established the Church of Christ.

Divine Revelation is transmitted from one people to another and from ancestors to descendants not only through the Holy Scriptures, but also orally or by life example.

Sacred Tradition is the teaching of faith, the law of God, sacraments and sacred rituals transmitted from true believers, i.e. preserved in the Church.

The Holy Tradition includes: Liturgical Apostolic Tradition, Decrees (Tradition) of the Ecumenical and Local Councils, the works and sermons of the Holy Fathers.

1. Sacred Tradition teaches the correct, spiritual, true understanding of the Holy Scriptures.

“Man cannot comprehend the Divine with his mind,” says St. Silouan of Athos, - which is known only by the Holy Spirit, and therefore the Holy Scriptures, written by the Holy Spirit, cannot be comprehended through scientific research, to which only some external aspects and details are accessible, but not the essence.”

“No prophecy in Scripture can be resolved by itself,” teaches the Apostle Peter. For prophecy was never made by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet. 1:20-21).

2. Sacred Tradition teaches the correct performance of the Sacraments, the correct observance of external actions, rituals, preserves the purity of faith, the way of life according to the law of God.

The Holy Tradition is older than the Holy Scriptures and at the same time is “a continuation and development (explanation) of the Bible.” Sacred Tradition is “a testament to the life of the same Holy Spirit, the Life-Giving One, Who... will speak until the end of centuries in the Holy Church of Christ, belonging in all church property (dogmatics, morality, asceticism, exegesis, hagiography, apologetics, liturgics, etc.) “- writes Bishop Nathanael (Lvov) in the book “On the Holy Bible”.

The Holy Tradition includes the apostolic tradition, patristic literature, authentic church writing (interpretations of Holy Scripture) and preaching, liturgical texts created under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

In the Gospel of John we read: “The Spirit breathes where it wills, and you hear its voice, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes: this is what happens to everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).

God reveals the doctrine of faith, the law of God, the rules for performing sacraments and sacred rites through true believers.

Through true believers, God teaches how to believe correctly and savingly, how to live in a manner pleasing to God, and through them the Holy Tradition is preserved in the Church.

1. Apostolic tradition, Decrees of the Ecumenical, Local and Bishops' Councils, collected in the Book of Rules of the Orthodox Church.

The Book of Rules of the Orthodox Church is the name of the collection that makes up the so-called “church canon” - generally binding rules for believers of the Orthodox Church. It includes: the rules of St. the apostles, the rules of the Ecumenical and authorized (initiated and recognized) ecumenical - Local Councils and the rules of some holy fathers indicated by the Trullo Council. These are the basic laws of the current church law of the Orthodox Church.

2. Creations of the Holy Fathers.

3. The opinions of the elders.

4. Opinions of theologians.

5. Opinions of religious philosophers (O.P. Florensky, Vl. Solovyov, Prince Trubetskoy brothers, etc.).

6. Opinions of other Church members.

Why are the apostolic tradition, the decrees of the Ecumenical, Local and Bishops' Councils the most authoritative of all the books related to the Holy Tradition?

On the day of Pentecost, when, according to the word of the Savior, the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles, the Church was born.

A question arose in the Church: should pagan Christians be circumcised? For the first time, divisions arose among Christians. A council was convened to reveal the truth. (See: Acts 15:1-2,6,22-30). The apostles report the result of the council this way: “It has pleased the Holy Spirit and us.”

In the further history of the Church, when any teachings appeared that contradicted the faith of Christ, Councils were also held among Christians to establish the true teaching and deanery, at which the successors of the apostles - the bishops - were present. Just as at the Apostolic Council, the Fathers of the Church heard Divine revelation in a unanimous decision on this or that issue. When at the Council all or most of the Church Fathers, known for their holy lives, explained in the same way some place of Holy Scripture, dogma or rule of Christian piety, this was affirmed as a Divine revelation.

Ecumenical Council- this is a meeting of pastors and teachers of the Christian Catholic Church, if possible, from the whole universe, for the establishment of true teaching and decency among Christians; this is the highest authority on earth of the holy Church of Christ, exercised by the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

History shows that the first councils, which received the authority of ecumenical councils, were always convened in the face of danger threatening the unity of faith of people (through the distortion of the revealed truths of faith - dogmatic, and therefore immutable and unchangeable definitions of faith), and the unity of the Church.

During the first millennium, several such councils, which brought together the followers of the apostles - all the bishops of the Church, were held. At these councils, dogmas were determined and problems of church life that were relevant for that time were resolved.

The Church called seven such church councils Ecumenical; their decisions apply to the entire Church and are binding on it. The first of these councils took place in Nicaea in 325, and the seventh in Constantinople in 787.

In addition to the ecumenical councils, during the first and second millennia there were several Local Church Councils, which were significant for the entire Church. An example is the Council of Constantinople in 1351, which approved the practice of hesychasm or the so-called. unceasing heartfelt prayer. The Council also approved the teaching of St. Gregory Palamas about the uncreated light of the Holy Spirit.

What books and sermons can be classified as Sacred Tradition?- Those that do not contradict the Holy Scriptures, the Apostolic Tradition, the Decrees of the Ecumenical, Local and Bishops' Councils, and the works of the Holy Fathers.

The Creed, when it calls the Church Apostolic, “teaches its members to firmly adhere to the teachings and traditions of the Apostles and to move away from such teaching and such teachers who are not established in the teaching of the Apostles.”

The Holy Apostle Paul says: “Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold to the traditions which you were taught either by our word or by our epistle” (2 Thess. 2:15).

Compiled by Archpriest Alexander Zelenenko for students of the course “Fundamentals of the Orthodox Faith and Spiritual Life” for adult groups of the Sunday School of the Spaso-Pargolovsky Church.

Literature:
1. Explanatory Bible. St. Petersburg, 1911-13.
2. Charter of the Russian Orthodox Church. Based on materials from the Council of Bishops in 2000, St. Petersburg, 2008.
3. St. Filaret "Catechism". St. Petersburg, 1995.
4. Pavel, archbishop. Finnish. "As we believe." Kyiv, 2003.
5. Ep. Nathanael (Lvov). About the Holy Bible. St. Petersburg, 2007.
6. Ep. Hilarion (Alfeev) “The Sacrament of Faith.” Klin, 2004.
7. “The Law of God”, comp. prot. Seraphim Slobodskaya. St. Petersburg, 2005.
8. Nun Elena “On the action of God’s grace in the modern world.” M., 2002.