Cover of the modern edition of the Russian Orthodox Bible 2004.

The word “Bible” is not found in the holy books themselves and was first used in relation to the collection of holy books in the east in the 4th century by John Chrysostom and Epiphanius of Cyprus.

Bible Composition

The Bible consists of many parts, united in Old Testament  and New Testament.

Old Testament (Tanah)

The first portion of the Bible in Judaism is called Tanah; in Christianity it was called the "Old Testament", in contrast to the "New Testament". Also used is the name " jewish bible". This part of the Bible is a collection of books written in Hebrew long before our era and selected as sacred from other literature by Hebrew law teachers. It is the Holy Scripture for all Abrahamic religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam - however, it is canonized only in the first two named (in Islam, its laws are considered to be invalid, but also distorted).

The Old Testament consists of 39 books, in the Jewish tradition artificially counted as 22, according to the number of letters of the Hebrew alphabet, or 24, according to the number of letters of the Greek alphabet. All 39 books of the Old Testament are divided into three sections in Judaism.

• “Teaching” (Torah) - contains the Pentateuch of Moses:

• "Prophets" (Neviim) - contains books:
  • 1st and 2nd Kingdoms, or 1st and 2nd Samuel ( are considered one book)
  • 3rd and 4th Kings, or 1st and 2nd Kings ( are considered one book)
  • Twelve Small Prophets ( are considered one book)

• “Scripture” (Ktuvim) - contains books:
  • Ezra and Nehemiah ( are considered one book)
  • 1st and 2nd Chronicles, or Chronicles (Annals) ( are considered one book)

Combining the Book of Ruth with the Book of Judges in one book, as well as the Crying of Jeremiah with the Book of Jeremiah, we get instead of 24 books 22. The ancient Jews considered twenty-two holy books in their canon, as Josephus testifies. This is the composition and order of books in the Hebrew Bible.

All these books are also considered canonical in Christianity.

New Testament

The second part of the Christian Bible is the New Testament, a collection of 27 Christian books (including 4 Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles of the Apostles and the book of Revelation of St. John the Evangelist (Apocalypse)), written in c. n e. and come down to us in the ancient Greek language. This part of the Bible is most important for Christianity, while Judaism does not consider it inspired.

The New Testament consists of books belonging to eight inspired writers: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, Paul, James, and Jude.

In the Slavic and Russian Bibles, the books of the New Testament are placed in the following order:

• historical

educational

• Epistles of Peter
• Epistles of John
• Epistles of paul
  • to the Corinthians
  • to the Thessalonians
  • to Timothy

prophetic

In this order, the books of the New Testament are placed in the ancient manuscripts - the Alexandria and Vatican, the Rules of the Apostles, the Rules of the Cathedrals of Laodicea and Carthage, and among many ancient Church Fathers. But this order of placing the books of the New Testament cannot be called universal and necessary, in some Bible collections there is a different placement of books, and now in the Vulgate and in the editions of the Greek New Testament, Cathedral messages are placed after the Epistles of the Apostle Paul before the Apocalypse. When this or that arrangement of books was guided by many considerations, but the time of writing the books did not matter much, which is most clearly seen from the placement of the Messages of the Pavlovs. In the order indicated by us, we were guided by considerations regarding the importance of the places or churches where the messages were sent: first, messages were written that were written to whole churches, and then letters that were written to individuals. An exception is the Epistle to the Hebrews, which is in last place not because of its low significance, but because it was doubted for a long time in authenticity. Guided by chronological considerations, one can place the Epistles of the Apostle Paul in this order:

• to the Thessalonians
  • 1st
• to the Galatians
• to the Corinthians
  • 1st
• to the Romans
• to philemon
• to the Philippians
• to Titus
• to Timothy
  • 1st

Deuterocanonical Old Testament Books

Apocrypha

Jewish lawmakers since the 4th century BC e., and the Fathers of the Church in the II-IV centuries. n e., selected books in the "Word of God" from a considerable number of manuscripts, writings, and monuments. Not included in the selected canon remained outside the Bible and compiles apocryphal literature (from Greek ἀπόκρυφος   - hidden) accompanying the Old and New Testaments.

At one time, the leaders of the Hebrew "Great Assembly" (the administrative and theological scholar of the synclite of the 4th-3rd centuries BC) and subsequent Jewish religious authorities, and in Christianity, the Church Fathers who formalized it on the initial path, worked hard, cursing prohibiting both heretical and divergent with the generally accepted text, and simply exterminating books that did not meet their criteria. Relatively few apocrypha have survived - just over 100 Old Testament and about 100 New Testament. The latest excavations and discoveries in the area of \u200b\u200bthe Dead Sea Caves in Israel have enriched science especially. The Apocrypha, in particular, helps us understand what paths the formation of Christianity took, and from what elements its dogma was formed.

Bible story

page from the Vatican Codex

Bible Writing

• Code of Alexandria (lat. Codex Alexandrinus), stored in the library of the British Museum
• Vatican Codex (lat. Codex Vaticanus), stored in Rome
• Sinai Codex (lat. Codex sinaiticus), stored in Oxford, previously - in the Hermitage

All of them date back (paleographically, that is, on the basis of the "style of handwriting") IV century. n e. The language of the codes is Greek.

In the XX century, the Qumran manuscripts, discovered, starting from the year, in a number of caves of the Judean desert and in Masad became widely known.

Division into chapters and verses

The ancient Old Testament text was not divided into chapters and verses. But very early (probably after the captivity of Babylon) for divine service purposes, some divisions appeared. The oldest division of the Law into 669 so-called parashes adapted for public reading is found in the Talmud; the current division into 50 or 54 parats originates from the time of Masorah and is not found in the ancient synagogical lists. Also in the Talmud there are already divisions of the prophets into goftaras - the final departments, this name was acquired because it was read at the end of the service.

Divisions into chapters of Christian origin and made in the XIII century. or Cardinal Hugon, or Bishop Stephen. When compiling a concordance on the Old Testament, Hugon divided the book of the Bible into several small sections, which he designated by the letters of the alphabet, for the most convenient indication of the places. The current division was introduced by the Canterbury Bishop Stephen Langton (died in). In the city, he divided the text of the Latin Vulgate into chapters, and this division was transferred to the Hebrew and Greek texts.

Then in the XV century. Rabbi Isaac Nathan, when compiling a concordance in Hebrew, divided each book into chapters, and this division is still kept in the Hebrew Bible. The division of poetic books into verses is already given in the very property of Jewish versification and therefore of very ancient origin; it is found in the Talmud. The New Testament was first divided into verses in the 16th century.

The poems were numbered first by Santes Panino (died in), then, around the city - by Robert Etienne. The current system of chapters and verses first appeared in the English Bible in 1560. Division is not always logical, but it is too late to refuse it, all the more so to change something: for four centuries it has settled in links, comments and alphabetic indexes.

Bible in the religions of the world

Judaism

Christianity

If 27 books of the New Testament are the same for all Christians, then in the views on the Old Testament, Christians have major disagreements.

The fact is that where the Old Testament is cited in the books of the New Testament, these quotes are most often quoted in the Greek translation of the Bible of the 3rd-2nd centuries. BC e., referred to, thanks to the legend of 70 translators, the Septuagint (seventy in Greek), and not according to the Hebrew text adopted in Judaism and called scholars masoretic  (by the name of the ancient Jewish biblical scholars who ordered the holy manuscripts).

In fact, it was the list of books of the Septuagint, and not the late "purified" collection of masorets, that became traditional for the Ancient Church as a collection of books of the Old Testament. Therefore, all the Ancient Churches (in particular, the Armenian Apostolic Church) revered equally blessed and inspired all the books of the Bible that the apostles and Christ himself read, including those called in modern biblical studies “deuterocanonical.”

The Catholics, also trusting the Septuagint, accepted these texts into their Vulgate - an early medieval Latin translation of the Bible, canonized by Western ecumenical councils, and equated them with the rest of the canonical texts and books of the Old Testament, recognizing equally inspired ones. These books are known to them as deuterocanonical, or deuterocanonical.

The Orthodox ones include 11 deuterocanonical books and insertions into the rest of the books in the Old Testament, but with a note that they “came to us in Greek” and are not part of the main canon. They put parentheses into canonical books and make notes in notes.

Non-canonical book characters

• Archangel Sariil
• Archangel Jerahmiel

Bible Studies and Studies

see also

• Tanah - The Jewish Bible

Literature

• Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg: 1890-1907.
• McDowell, Josh.  Evidence of the authenticity of the Bible: a reason for reflection and a basis for a decision: Per. from English - SPb .: Christian Bible for All Society, 2003. - 747 p. - ISBN 5-7454-0794-8, ISBN 0-7852-4219-8 (en.)
• Doyel, Leo.  Testament of eternity. In search of biblical manuscripts. - St. Petersburg: "Amphora", 2001.
• Nesterova O. E.  The theory of the plurality of "meanings" of Holy Scripture in the medieval Christian exegetical tradition // Genres and forms in the written culture of the Middle Ages. - M .: IMLI RAS, 2005 .-- S. 23-44.
• Kryelev I.A.  The book is about the Bible. - M .: Publishing house of socio-economic literature, 1958.

Footnotes and Sources

References

Bible texts and translations

• Over 25 translations of the Bible and its parts and quick search in all translations. Ability to create hyperlinks to places in the Bible. The ability to listen to the text of any of the books.
• Literal translation from Greek of some books of the New Testament into Russian
• Overview of Russian Bible translations (with the ability to download)
• “Your Bible” - Russian Synodal translation with search and comparison of versions (Ukrainian translation of Ivan Ogienko and English King James Version
• Interlinear translation of the Bible from Greek into Russian
• The text of the Old and New Testaments in Russian and Church Slavonic
• Bible at algart.net - online Bible text with cross-references, including the full Bible on one page
• Electronic Bible and Apocrypha - repeatedly verified text of the Synodal translation
• Superbook is one of the most comprehensive Bible sites with non-trivial but very powerful navigation.

Scripture in Christianity is the Bible. Translated from ancient Greek, it means the word "books". It is from books that it consists. In total there are 77, most of which, namely 50 books, are attributed to the Old Testament and 27 books are included in the New Testament.

According to the Biblical account, the age of the Holy Scripture itself is about 5.5 thousand years, and its transformation in the form of a literary work is not less than 2 thousand years. Despite the fact that the Bible was written in different languages \u200b\u200band by several dozens of Saints, it retained its internal logical sequence and compositional completeness.

The history of the older part of the Bible, called the Old Testament, for two thousand years prepared the human race for the coming of Christ, while the narrative of the New Testament is dedicated to the earthly life of Jesus Christ and all his closest associates and followers.

All Bible books of the Old Testament can be divided into four epochal parts.

The first part is devoted to the Law of God, presented in the form of the Ten Commandments, and transmitted to the human race through the prophet Moses. Every Christian, by the will of God, must live according to these commandments.

The second part is historical. It fully reveals all the events, episodes and facts that occurred 1300 years before our era.

The third part of the Holy Scripture consists of “teaching” books; they are characterized by a moral and edifying character. The main goal of this part is not a strict definition of the rules of life and faith, as in the books of Moses, but a soft and encouraging disposition of the human race to a righteous way of life. “Teacher's books” help a person to learn to live in prosperity and peace of mind according to the Will of God and with His blessing.

The fourth part includes books of prophetic character. These books teach us that the future of the entire human race is not a matter of chance, but depends on the lifestyle and faith of each person. Prophetic books not only open the future for us, but also appeal to our own conscience. This part of the Old Testament cannot be neglected, for it is necessary for each of us to gain firmness in our desire to accept the newly pristine purity of our souls.

  The New Testament, which is the second and later part, of the Holy Scriptures, tells about the life of the earth and the teachings of Jesus Christ.

The books that serve as the basis of the Old Testament include, first of all, the books of the “Four Gospels” —the blessings from Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, bearing the good news of the coming of the Divine Redeemer into the earthly world for the salvation of the whole human race.

All subsequent New Testament books (except the last) were called the Apostle. They talk about the Holy Apostles, about their great deeds and about the instructions to the Christian people. The last, closing the general cycle of the writings of the New Testament, is a prophetic book called the Apocalypse. This book speaks of prophecies related to the fate of all mankind, the world and the Church of Christ.

Compared with the Old Testament, the New Testament has a more rigorous moral - edifying character, because in the books of the New Testament not only the sinful acts of man are condemned, but even the thoughts themselves about them. A Christian must not only live godly, according to all the commandments of God, but also uproot in himself that evil that lives within each person. Only by defeating him will man be able to defeat death itself.

The New Testament books speak of the main thing in Christian doctrine - the great resurrection of Jesus Christ, who defeated death and boiled the gate to eternal life for all mankind.

The Old Testament and the New Testament are one and inseparable part of all scripture. The Old Testament books are evidence of how God made a promise to man about the coming of the Divine Savior of the universal to the earth, and the New Testament writings embody the proof that God kept His word before humanity and gave him His Only Begotten Son to save the whole human race.

The meaning of the Bible.

  The Bible has been translated into the largest number of existing languages \u200b\u200band is the most widespread book in the whole world, for our Creator has expressed his will to reveal Himself and bring His Word to every person on earth.

The Bible is the source of God's revelations; through it, God gives humanity the opportunity to know the true truth about the universe, about the past and future of each of us.

Why did God give the Bible? He brought it to us as a gift so that we can improve, do good deeds, and follow the life path not by touch, but in a firm awareness of the grace of his actions and his true purpose. It is the Bible that shows us our path, it illuminates it and predicts it.

The only true purpose of the Bible is the reunion of man with the Lord God, the restoration of His image in every person and the correction of all the inner properties of man according to the original plan of God. Everything that we learn from the Bible, everything that we seek and find in the books of the Holy Scriptures, helps us achieve this goal.

Orthodoxy Titov Vladimir Eliseevich

Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition

Orthodox theologians insist on the inspired nature of their doctrine, convince their followers that it was given to people by the Lord God himself in the form of a revelation.

This divine revelation is distributed and supported among believers through two sources: "scripture" and "sacred tradition." Orthodoxy considers the first source of its doctrine to be “Holy Scripture,” “books written by inspired men in the Old Testament by the prophets, and in the New Testament by the apostles, and making up the so-called Bible.”

The second source is “sacred tradition,” by which the ideologists of Orthodoxy understand, “when true believers who honor God by word and example pass on one another and the ancestors and descendants — the teaching of faith (that is, how to believe), God's law (as it should to live), how to perform sacraments and sacred rites. ”

What are these inspired sources of the creed of Orthodoxy? “Holy Scripture” is a Bible, a collection of books of the Old and New Testaments recognized by the church as inspired, that is, written by holy men by suggestion and with the assistance of the spirit of God. It should be noted that the Orthodox churches are not considered all parts of the Bible as inspired or canonical. Orthodoxy includes 38 books of the Old Testament and all 27 books of the New Testament in the canon of inspired books. The following books are considered canonical in the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges (together with her the book of Ruth), four books of Kings, two books of Chronicles, two books of Ezra, books of Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalter , Proverbs of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, book of the prophet Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and the book of the Twelve Prophets.

The remaining books placed in the Bible are considered by the Orthodox churches to be non-canonical (for example, the book of the Wisdom of Jesus, the son of Sirakhov, Tobit, Judith, etc.). In addition, there are separate places in the canonical books that are not recognized as inspired. For example, the prayer of King Manasiah at the end of the 2nd book of Chronicles, the parts of Esther not indicated by the verse, the song of the three youths in the 3rd chapter of the book of the prophet Daniel, the story of Susanna in the 13th chapter, the story of Vila and the dragon in 14 chapter of the same book.

I must say bluntly that, from the point of view of an open-minded reader, the canonical and non-canonical books of the Bible are not much different from each other in content. Some frivolity of the content of the story of Susanna and the elders can in no way be considered an obstacle to its inclusion in the canon, given the great sensuality and eroticism of the famous canonical Song of the song. The main argument of Christian theologians against the inclusion of certain places in the biblical canon is not objections to their content, but that they are absent in the Hebrew text of the Bible and appear only in the Septuagint (Greek translation of “70 Explanators”) and then in the Vulgate (medieval Latin transfer). The Catholic Church and Orthodox churches consider non-canonical Bible passages to be useless for reading and include them in their Bible editions. Protestant churches adhere only to the canon.

The canon of the New Testament is as follows: the four gospels, (from Matthew, from Mark, from Luke, from John); Acts of the Apostles; seven conciliar epistles (one of James, two of Peter, three of John, one of Judah); Fourteen Pauline Epistles (to the Romans, two to the Corinthians, to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, to the Philippians, to the Colossians, two to the Thessalonians, two to Timothy, to Titus, to Philemon, to the Jews); Revelation of John the Evangelist.

Biblical scientific criticism has established that the Old Testament portion of the Bible was created by various authors over several centuries. The oldest parts of the Old Testament (Deborah’s song from the 5th chapter of the book of Judges, David’s funeral song on the death of Saul and his son Jonathan from the second book of Kings) date back to the 13th century. BC e. At first they were transmitted as an oral tradition. The recording of such oral traditions began among the Jews at the turn of the 2nd and 1st millennia BC. e., when they adopted the Phoenician script. The first prophetic books included in the Bible appeared no earlier than the 8th century. BC e. (books of Hosea, Amos, Micah, First-Isaiah). By the 6th century BC e. researchers carried the books of Judges and Kings, only in the middle of the II century. BC e. the Psalter was composed. And only by the beginning of the 1st century BC e. the Old Testament part of the Bible was completed in approximately the same form in which it has come down to our time.

The analysis of the Old Testament, carried out by many generations of scholars, leads to the firm conviction that the "holy spirit" had nothing to do with the creation of the Bible. It is enough to give an example of the book of Genesis, which opens the famous five-book book of Moses. Two primary sources are clearly traced in this book. The book, which was included in biblical criticism called Yahwist, was compiled by a follower of the god Yahweh, originally the god of the tribe of Judah, and then all the Jewish tribes united around this tribe. The second book of the Elohist is compiled by the followers of the Elohim gods (plural in the name of the god Eloh). These primary sources give similar, but at the same time different in essential details descriptions of the "creation" of the universe, the history of mankind and the Jewish people.

And in relation to the New Testament - part of the Bible created by Christians - scientific analysis also convinces us that we are dealing here with a purely earthly document. For example, Christian theologians claim that the New Testament books were born in the order in which they are listed in the New Testament canon (the first is the gospel, the last is the Apocalypse). In fact, the order of appearance of the New Testament books is exactly the opposite. And the composition of the canon of the New Testament was approved only in 364 at the Laodicean Cathedral, that is, more than three centuries after the events that it describes.

And in order to elevate the earthly document - the Bible to the rank of a divine document, Orthodox theologians are trying to reinforce the authority of "Holy Scripture" with the authority of "Holy Tradition."

In contrast to Protestantism, which rejects "sacred tradition", and Catholicism, which adheres to the point of view of the incompleteness of the "holy scripture", Orthodoxy recognizes both sources of their creed as equal. “Holy tradition is the same divine revelation, the same word of God, orally transmitted to the church by Jesus Christ as the scripture, with the only difference being that it is the word of God orally transmitted to the church by Jesus Christ and the apostles, and the holy scripture is the word of God , enclosed in books by inspired men and in letters handed over to the church. "

Orthodox theologians believe that comprehension of the “deepest” secrets of “divine revelation” is possible only within the framework of a close combination, mutual coordination of the main provisions of “holy scripture” and “sacred tradition”. According to their point of view, “in order for the divine revelation to be preserved more accurately and invariably, the sacred is given. the scripture. " And the need for tradition is visible even if only a smaller part of people (literate only) can use books, and that’s all.

The main meaning of “sacred tradition”, from the point of view of Orthodox theologians, is that it is necessary for a correct understanding of “scripture”, in which many thoughts are presented concisely and without explanation. The disciples of the apostles and their successors allegedly heard a detailed sermon of the apostles and knew how the apostles themselves understood the meaning of the written teaching. Therefore, the interpretation of "holy scripture" without resorting to "sacred tradition", Orthodox theologians caution believers, can lead and leads to a distortion of the truths of faith, to heresy. Tradition, from the point of view of Orthodox theologians, is also necessary for the correct fulfillment of the sacraments and rituals in their initial establishment, since often in the "holy scripture" there is no exact mention of how to perform them. And the “all-wise" apostles, of course, knew the formulas for the sacraments and rituals and reported this to the “grateful descendants” in the legend.

What is the second source of the creed of Orthodoxy, the so-called "sacred tradition"? The composition of the “holy tradition” is diverse and complex, the Orthodox theologians themselves comprise 9 parts. These are, firstly, the creeds of the oldest local churches (Jerusalem, Antioch, etc.); secondly, the so-called "apostolic rules", they were not written by the apostles, but contain, according to Orthodox theologians, the practice of apostolic times, although they were brought together no earlier than the 4th century; thirdly, the definitions and rules of the first seven ecumenical councils and three local, the authority of which is recognized by the sixth ecumenical council; fourthly, confessions of faith made by the fathers of the church (symbols of the faith of Gregory of Neocaesarea, Basil the Great, exposition of the Orthodox faith of Gregory Palma, etc.); fifth, the acts of ecumenical and local councils; sixth, ancient liturgies, of which many, according to the belief of Orthodox theologians, date back to the apostles; seventh, acts of martyrs; eighth, the creations of fathers and teachers of the church (“The Announcing Word” by Gregory of Nyssa, “The Theology” of John Damaskin, etc.); ninth, the ancient practice of the church regarding sacred times, places, rites, etc., partially reproduced in writing.

However, further in Christian theology, strange things happen with “sacred tradition”. We have already mentioned that one of the three main directions in Christianity - Protestantism generally does not recognize the authority of "sacred tradition." Protestant theologians consider “sacred tradition” a creation of church leaders, not a holy spirit. And therefore, from their point of view, it can in no way be put on a par with the Bible. Endless debate about the composition of the "sacred tradition" is also going on between representatives of two other main movements of Christianity - Orthodoxy and Catholicism. The Catholic Church includes in the composition of the "holy tradition" the decision of all ecumenical councils (after the 7th Ecumenical Council, only the Catholic Church collected those) and decisions of the popes. Orthodox churches strongly reject these additions. These disputes of representatives of the main currents of Christianity undermine the authority of “sacred tradition” and devalue its significance. It is difficult for Orthodox theologians to reinforce the authority of the Bible, the "holy scripture" with the authority of "holy tradition." And then a new substantiation of the enduring significance of the Bible is launched: the idea of \u200b\u200bthe inspiration of “holy scripture” is used. Consider this argument of Orthodox theologians.

Whether the Orthodox clergy wants or does not want it, it is quite clear from the theological interpretation of the need for “sacred tradition” that theologians subconsciously feel the insufficiency, inferiority of “scripture”, a source which, in their opinion, should give an answer to all the inquires of the inquiring human mind. But even involuntarily pronouncing themselves, Orthodox theologians highly value the "holy scripture" and try to confirm its truth by referring to its God-revealed, "inspired" character. For theologians, “inspiration” is the undoubted proof of the truth. Who, if not God, should know the truth ?!

How do Orthodox theologians understand "inspiration"? On this occasion, various points of view were expressed in Christian theology, basically they can be reduced to three. Some theologians (Athenagoras, Justin Martyr, Tertullian and theologians of the old Protestant school of the 17th century) believed that the authors of biblical books were only organs of the “holy spirit” that inspired them and reported the “wisdom” of God's revelation in an ecstatic state, without any participation of their own consciousness and the will. According to this view, the “holy spirit” bears full responsibility for the biblical texts, and since he is a member of the holy trinity, he naturally could not be mistaken, and therefore not only all legends are true in the Bible, but also every word, every letter.

Another direction in Christian theology (Origen, Epiphanius, Jerome, Basil the Great, Zlatoust) was more cautious in determining the nature of the “inspiration” of the Bible. Representatives of this direction understood inspiration only as insight and enlightenment emanating from the “holy spirit”, in which the consciousness and personal activity of the authors of biblical books remained intact. To the great regret of modern theologians, representatives of this trend did not express “a separate view of the inspiration of the sacred books, is everything inspirational in them”.

And, finally, it is necessary to point out the third direction in the interpretation of the issue of the “inspiration” of “scripture”. When, as a result of the blows of scientific criticism of the Bible, it became clear that there was a rather small fraction of the truth in the content of “Holy Scripture”, among the theologians who wanted to save the Christian dogma, a whole school of so-called modernists appeared, which began to limit the “inspiration” of their “holy” books general content, not recognizing particular details in biblical texts.

Orthodox theologians are most attracted to the second of these three points of view. The first direction in the interpretation of “inspiration” seems to them somewhat limited, since the authors of biblical books that say divine truth “turn into mechanical tools, into machines that are alien to personal understanding and attitude to the reported truths.” The point, of course, is not the insufficiency of this understanding of "inspiration." It’s just nowadays it’s difficult to prove that every word and every letter is true in the Bible, too much is found in the “scripture” of contradictions and absurdities.

As for the third direction with its extreme conclusions, it seems to Orthodox theologians too “revolutionary” and is rejected, since it “breaks the inner need, the connection between thought and word, between the subject of revelation and its external presentation and expression.” Orthodox theologians are frightened that such views “little by little, and all scripture reduces to human works, and inspiration recognizes him as a clueless, obsolete concept”.

Modern Orthodox theologians formulate their attitude to the character of “inspiration” of biblical books as follows: “Inspiration is that St. writers whatever they wrote, wrote by direct excitement and instruction of St. spirit, moreover, they received from him both a thought and a word, or an external form of expression (as far as it is inextricably linked with the content of revelation), but without any embarrassment and violence of their natural abilities. ”

However, the absence of any constraint and violence over the natural abilities of earthly authors very much brings theologians. Reading the Bible can baffle anyone: it is full of contradictions. For example, according to the first chapter of Genesis, a man and a woman were created by God at the same time, the second chapter of this book claims that Adam was first molded from clay, and then Eve was created from his rib. It is impossible to understand how long the flood lasted. “The flood continued on earth for forty days - this is one message of the Bible. “Water intensified on the earth for one hundred and fifty days,” says another verse of “scripture.” Many are familiar with the biblical myth of David's struggle with Goliath. However, the same Bible in another place reports: "Then Elkhanan, the son of Jagar-Orgim of Bethlehem, Goliath Hephianin, killed." No less controversial is the New Testament, the part of the Bible that is worshiped only by Christians. It is enough to give the genealogy of Jesus Christ. According to the Gospel of Matthew, 42 generations have passed from the patriarch of Abraham to Jesus, and the Gospel of Luke has 56 generations. Scientific criticism of the Bible shows how many such contradictions and historical inconsistencies exist in the so-called "scripture".

How to explain the numerous contradictions of biblical texts, how to explain the irreconcilable contradiction of biblical legends and the achievements of modern science? Indeed, even according to the point of view of modern theologians, "truth is one and objective." Armed with the above understanding of “inspiration”, Orthodox theologians try to fight against scientific criticism of the Bible.

It turns out that you can explain and justify anything. To do this, one must only be sufficiently savvy in theology. It has already been said that, according to the point of view of Orthodoxy, “inspiration” in writing biblical books did not at all impede the natural abilities of earthly authors of “scripture”. “But since human nature is imperfect, the participation of free human activity in the writing of Holy. books may introduce some imperfections into them. Therefore, the scriptures found in St. books, thoughts and feelings are purely human, inaccuracies, disagreements, and so on. Works of the Holy writers are only as perfect as necessary for divine purposes. Where, for the cause of human salvation, enough and imperfect human knowledge is enough, God allowed imperfections to appear. The same can be said about the form in which God is stated. revelation".

This is a very important recognition of Orthodox theologians. We have already seen that when interpreting the necessity of “sacred tradition”, Orthodox theologians, although not wanting to, spoke about the inferiority of the “holy scripture,” in which allegedly “many thoughts are presented concisely and without explanation”. Here, theologians themselves clearly and unambiguously speak out about the imperfection of the “holy scripture” from the point of view of both the content of individual places and the form of presentation. True, all these "imperfections" of the Bible are recognized with purely theological caution. The gravest chronological errors are called “inaccuracy”, the flashy contradictions of biblical texts - “disagreements”, the utter intransigence of the biblical picture of the creation of the world with the achievements of modern natural science is modestly related to the heading “and so on.” But in this case we are not interested in the cautiousness of theologians, but in the fact that they recognize the imperfection of the "holy scripture",

With this understanding of “inspiration”, Orthodox theologians try to protect the Bible from the blows of scientific criticism. They are well aware that today, when even a little educated person can see many flaws of biblical ideas against the background of the scientific picture of the world, it is impossible to save the biblical text in its entirety. But the holy spirit, “dictating” biblical legends to the prophets and apostles, must be saved. But a deity cannot tell a lie. Therefore, Orthodox theologians "found in St. books, thoughts and feelings are purely human, inaccuracies, disagreements, etc. ”, that is, all kinds of mistakes are attributed to the imperfection of earthly authors of the Bible, to the imperfect human nature, which managed to leave its imprint even on the“ inspired ”“ scripture ”. From the fact that the responsibility for the imperfections of “scripture” is shifted from the shoulders (so to speak) of the holy spirit to the conscience of earthly authors of the Bible, the biblical contradictions themselves do not disappear.

Despite the forced recognition of the imperfection of “scripture”, the significance of the Bible by Orthodox theologians is still rated very highly. Bible books, they say, “are more important than all books for man, as they communicate the will of God, which you must know to please God and save the soul. The Bible is a book of books. ”

In the second collection of Theological Works, published in 1961, there appeared a review of the candidate of theology, E. A. Karmanov, on the book of Catholic theologians E. Galbiati and A. Piazza “Difficult Pages of the Bible (Old Testament)”. We will still dwell on this review when we consider the relationship between Orthodoxy and science. Now I would like to consider several program provisions of E. A. Karmanov. He is very sympathetic to the rejection of “literal meaning in favor of the spiritual and symbolic” in the interpretation of biblical texts. He believes that the contradiction of the two stories about the creation of the world is easily removed, since the first story is written in a religious and moral plane, and the second in a psychological and didactic one. Both stories, they say, do not claim to be an objective statement of facts, the order of events is not included in the circle of the author’s statements. According to the author, the biblical description of the Flood does not at all affirm its “universality” and applies only to Palestine, Egypt and neighboring countries. In the famous Babylonian pandemon, it turns out, you can see "a standard hyperbole like our skyscraper." In conclusion, the author expresses the conviction that "the correct application of the historical-critical method, painstaking and comprehensive study of the biblical text without hasty and unreasonable conclusions gives excellent results." But who will determine whether conclusions are hasty or unhappy, are they justified or unfounded? The author of the review found it possible to admit that the narration of the book of Genesis about the creation of the world does not pretend to be an objective statement of facts. But what about the contradictions in the gospels, these biographies of Jesus Christ? Perhaps the Gospel texts also do not pretend to be objective statements of facts? Perhaps they are only religiously edifying stories? Perhaps there was no immaculate conception of Jesus Christ, his crucifixion, his miraculous resurrection and ascension to heaven? Unpleasant questions for theologians. The path of the symbolic interpretation of the Bible is very dangerous for them, but they are forced to step on it, driven by the blows of scientific criticism of the "Holy Scripture".

The situation is no better with another source of dogma - “sacred tradition”. The dogmas, decrees, canons of ecumenical councils, as we have already seen, were created over the course of more than one hundred years by various people in different settings. And here we also meet with interesting facts that refute the theological concept of “inspiration” of “sacred tradition”. Take, for example, the creed of Orthodoxy, its symbol of faith and the “secret of secrets” of Christianity - the dogma of the Holy Trinity.

     From the book Language and Religion. Lectures on the Philology and History of Religions   the author    Mechkovskaya Nina Borisovna

63. The Talmud, the Holy Tradition of Judaism. The consequence of the principle ipse dixit ‘he said’, so organic for communication in the religions of the Scriptures (see §56), was that the circle of authors of the Scriptures was initially extremely limited. He included only the highest religious authorities, and

   From the book Orthodox Dogmatic Theology   the author    Pomazansky Protopresbyter Michael

Holy Tradition Holy Tradition in the original exact sense of the word is a tradition coming from the ancient Church of the apostolic times: it was called in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. "Apostolic Tradition." It must be borne in mind that the ancient Church carefully guarded against

   From the book Dogmatic Theology   the author    Davydenkov Oleg

Section II. Holy Tradition 1. Holy Scripture about Holy Tradition Holy Tradition is a general form of preservation and dissemination by the Church of her teaching. Or another formulation - the preservation and dissemination of Divine Revelation. This form itself

   From the book Orthodoxy   the author    Titov Vladimir Eliseevich

“Holy Scripture” and “Holy Tradition” Orthodox theologians insist on the inspired nature of their creed, convince their followers that it was given to people by the Lord God himself in the form of a revelation. This divine revelation extends and

   From the book Catholicism   the author    Rashkova Raisa Timofeevna

Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition Catholicism as one of the directions in Christianity finally took shape only after the separation of the Western and Eastern churches in 1054. Therefore, in its dogma and creed it is common with Orthodoxy (and then with Protestantism),

   From the book Bibliological Dictionary   author Men Alexander

TRADITION OF THE SACRED AND SACRED SCRIPTURE There are many attempts to give an exact definition of the Holy. P., but not one of them is recognized as exhaustive. The complexity of the task, apparently, is due to the fact that the concept of Holy. P. as the Word of God revealed to the Church cannot be

From the book Ladder, or the Tablets of the Spiritual   the author    Climber John

Scripture The ceaseless teaching of the day in the word of God serves to avert the sleepy, thin dreams. . By more labor, and not by a naked word, should learn the Divine. Hearing the narratives of the exploits of the holy fathers and teaching them excites the soul to jealousy

   From the book Dogmatic Theology   the author    (Kastalsky-Borozdin) Archimandrite Alipy

IV. SACRED TRADITION The concept of “tradition” means the continuous transfer from generation to generation of any knowledge or teaching. The early Church is characterized by a very broad understanding of Holy Tradition. The Apostle Paul unites in this concept all the creeds,

   From the book of the Catechism. Introduction to dogmatic theology. Lecture course.   the author    Davydenkov Oleg

1. SACRED TRADITION “By the name of the Holy Tradition it is understood that when true believers and who honor God in word and example pass on to one another, and ancestors to descendants, the teaching of faith, the law of God, sacraments and sacred rites.” The very word "tradition" (Greek ?????????) means

   From the book St. Theophan the Recluse and his doctrine of salvation   the author    Tertyshnikov George

3.6. Why should we keep the Holy Tradition even when we have the Holy Scripture? The need to keep the Tradition even when we possess the Holy Scripture is due to three reasons: a) The Holy Tradition also includes that which, in principle, cannot

   From the book of Teaching   the author    Kavsokalivit Porfiry

Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition, the creations of the Holy Fathers In the Old Testament, God sent prophets to the earth to whom He informed His will, and the prophets, moved by the Holy Spirit, interpreted and informed people the law of God, "pre-imagining having atonement" and

   From the book Fundamentals of the Art of Holiness, Volume 1   the author    Barnabas Bishop

Holy Scripture Everything has its foundation in the eternal book - Holy Scripture. The source of monastic life is scripture, the gospel. What does the Old Testament say? Go out of your land, from your kindred, and from your father’s house and go to the land that I will show you ... (Genesis 12, 1). And

   From the book 300 words of wisdom   the author    Maximov George

A. Scripture. If the Holy Scripture, or, as it is often called, the Bible, as such a source of knowledge of God has such an indisputable significance for us, then the first question is: what is it in its essence? What is the Bible? A few words about

   From the book Fundamentals of Orthodoxy   the author    Nikulina Elena Nikolaevna

B. Sacred Tradition. * (* The section devoted to Sacred Tradition and patristics is available only in outline. - Note, compiled.) Another positive source of revelation is the Sacred Tradition - the unwritten Word of God. So far, the Word of the Living God has been spoken,

   From the author’s book

Holy Tradition 63. “If someone wants to protect himself from fraud and remain sound in the faith, he must protect his faith, firstly, by the authority of the Holy Scriptures, and secondly, by the Tradition of the Church. But maybe someone will ask: the canon of Scripture is perfect and sufficient

   From the author’s book

The meaning of the concepts "Divine Revelation", "Holy Tradition", "Holy Scripture", "Bible", "Old and New Testament" The purpose of Divine economy, that is, the care of God about His creation, is the salvation of man and his connection with the Creator. Certificate

Our knowledge of God is strengthened most of all when considering all of our surrounding and wisely arranged nature. God reveals himself even more in the divine revelation that is given to us in scripture and scripture.

  Scripture is a book written by prophets and apostles with the help of the Holy Spirit of God, revealing to them the secrets of the future tense. These books are called the Bible.

The Bible is a historical collection of books that covers - according to the Bible account - an age of about five and a half thousand years. As a literary work, she had been going for about two thousand years.

It is divided by volume into two unequal parts: the larger - the ancient, that is, the Old Testament, and the later - the New Testament.

The history of the Old Testament has been preparing people for the coming of Christ for about two thousand years. The New Testament covers the earthly period of the life of the God-man Jesus Christ and his closest followers. For us Christians, of course, the history of the New Testament is more important.

The subjects of Bible books are very diverse. At the beginning, it is devoted to the historical past in terms of the philosophy of history and Theology, the origin of the world, and the creation of man. This is what the oldest part of the Bible is dedicated to.

Bible books are divided into four parts. The first of them speaks of the law that God left for the people through the prophet Moses. These commandments are dedicated to the rules of life and faith.

The second part is historical, it describes all the events that took place over 1100 years - until the II century. ad.

The third part of the book includes moral edifying. They are based on instructive stories from the lives of people who are famous for certain deeds or in a special way of thought and behavior.

There are books of very high poetic, lyrical content - for example, the Psalter, Song of Songs. The Psalter is especially interesting. This is a book of the history of the soul, a person’s inner life, covering a range of internal states from spiritual take-off to deep despair due to one or another wrong act.

It should be noted that of all the Old Testament books, the Psalter was the main one for the formation of our Russian worldview. This book was educational - in the pre-Petrine era, all Russian children learned to read and write from it.

A fourth of the books are prophetic books. Prophetic texts are not just reading, but revelation is very important for the life of each of us, as our inner world is constantly in motion, striving to achieve the pristine beauty of the human soul.

The story of the earthly life of the Lord Jesus Christ and the essence of his teachings are contained in the second part of the Bible - the New Testament. The New Testament consists of 27 books. First of all, these are the four Gospels - the story of life and three and a half years of the sermon of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then there are books telling about His disciples — the books of the Acts of the Apostles, as well as books of His disciples themselves — the Epistles of the Apostles, and finally, the book Apocalypse, which tells about the final destinies of the world.

The moral law contained in the New Testament is more stringent than the Old Testament. Here not only sinful deeds are condemned, but also thoughts. The goal of each person is to eradicate evil in himself. Having defeated evil, man conquers death.

The main thing in Christian doctrine is the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, who conquered death and opened the way for all mankind to eternal life. It is with this joyful sense of liberation that New Testament narratives are imbued. The word "Gospel" itself is translated from Greek as "Good News."

The Old Testament is an ancient union of God with man in which God promised the people of the Divine Savior and for many centuries prepared them for His acceptance.

The New Testament consists in the fact that God really gave the people the Divine Savior, in the person of His Only Begotten Son, who came down from heaven and was embodied by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, who suffered and was crucified for us, buried and Risen on the third day according to the Scriptures.

  The sources of Christian doctrine are: Holy Tradition and Holy Scripture.

Holy Tradition

Holy Tradition  literally means successive transmission, inheritance transfer, as well as the very mechanism of transmission from one person to another, from one generation of people to another.
Holy Tradition is the original way of spreading knowledge about God, preceding the Holy Scriptures. From the creation of the world to the activity of the prophet Moses there were no sacred books; the doctrine of God and faith was transmitted orally, by tradition, that is, by word and example, from ancestors to descendants. Jesus Christ imparted His divine teaching to His disciples with a word (sermon) and an example of His life. Thus, by Holy Tradition it is understood that, by word and example, true believers pass on to each other, their ancestors pass on to their descendants: the doctrine of faith, the law of God, the Sacraments and sacred rites. All true believers consistently make up the Church, which is the guardian of the Holy Tradition.
  Holy Tradition is the spiritual experience of the Church of Christ, the operation of the Holy Spirit in the Church. It is recorded in the decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, the dogmatic and moral teaching of the Church, expressed in the consensus of the holy fathers and teachers of the Church, exists as a given in the form of the foundations of the liturgical, canonical structure of church life (priesthood, fasting, holidays, rites, etc.).

Holy Bible

Scripture, or the Bible, is a collection of books written by prophets and apostles inspired by the Holy Spirit. The word Bible comes from the Greek word for the book (in the plural), and it in turn is from byblos, meaning papyrus. The name Holy Scripture, or Divine, is taken from Holy Scripture itself. The apostle Paul wrote to his disciple Timothy: “From childhood you know the scriptures” (1 Tim. 3, 15).
  Holy Scripture is a part of Holy Tradition, is a part of it.
  A distinctive feature of scripture books is their inspiration (2 Tim. 3, 16), that is, God Himself is the only true author of these books.
  Scripture has two sides - the divine and the human. The divine side is that the Holy Scriptures contain the revealed Divine Truth. The human side is that this Truth is expressed in the language of people of a certain era, belonging to a certain culture.
Bible books originally arose within the framework of Holy Tradition and only then became part of the Holy Scriptures. The list of books that the Church recognizes as inspired is called the canon, from the Greek "rule, the norm", and the inclusion of the text in the generally accepted canon - canonization. Formally, the canon of the Holy Books took shape in the 4th century. The canonization of the text is based on the testimonies of authoritative theologians and Church Fathers.
  Depending on the time of writing, the books of Scripture are divided into parts: books written before the Nativity of Christ are called the Books of the Old Testament, books written after the Nativity of Christ are called the books of the New Testament.
  The Hebrew word "covenant" means "agreement, union" (agreement, union of God with people). In Greek, this word was translated as diatheke, which means testament (Divine teaching, bequeathed by God).
  The canon of the Old Testament was formed on the basis of the Greek translation of the holy books of Judaism - the Septuagint. It also included some books originally written in Greek.
  The Jewish canon itself (Tanach) itself did not include some of the books that were part of the Septuagint, and, of course, it does not include books written in Greek.
  During the Reformation of the XVI century. Martin Luther believed that only books translated from Hebrew were inspired. Luther was followed in this matter by all Protestant churches. Thus, the Protestant canon of the Old Testament, consisting of 39 books, coincides with the Hebrew Bible, while the Orthodox and Catholic canons, which differ slightly from each other, also include books translated from Greek and written in Greek.
  The Orthodox canon of the Old Testament includes 50 books. However, the Catholic Church does not recognize any differences in status between the Hebrew and Greek books of the Old Testament.
  In the Orthodox Church, the Greek books of the Old Testament have the status of non-canonical, but are included in all editions of the Old Testament, and in essence their status differs little from books translated from Hebrew.
  The main content lines of the Old Testament - God promises the people of the Savior of the world and for many centuries prepares them for His acceptance through the commandments, prophecies and types of the Messiah (Greek: the Savior). The main theme of the New Testament is the coming into the world of the God-man, Jesus Christ, who gave the people the New Testament (new union, agreement), realized the salvation of the human race through incarnation, life, teaching, sealed by His death on the Cross and Resurrection.
The total number of Old Testament books of scripture is 39. According to the content, they are divided into four directions: legislative, historical, educational and prophetic.
  Legislative books (Pentateuch): Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy (narrate about the creation of the world and man, about the fall, about God's promise of the Savior of the world, about the life of people in the initial times, contain mainly a statement of the law given by God through the prophet Moses) .
  Historical books: Book of Joshua, Book of Judges, Book of Ruth, Books of Kings: First, Second, Third and Fourth, Books of Chronicles: First and Second, First Book of Ezra, Book of Nehemiah, Book of Esther (contain the history of the religion and life of the Jewish people who preserved faith in the true God, the Creator).
  Educational books: The Book of Job, the Psalter, the book of Proverbs of Solomon, the Book of Ecclesiastes, the Book of the Song of Songs (contain information about faith).
  Prophetic books: The Book of the Prophet Isaiah, The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, The Book of the Prophet Daniel, The Twelve Books of the "Small" Prophets: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Naum, Habakkuk, Sophonia, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi ( contain prophecies or predictions about the future, mainly about the Savior, Jesus Christ).
  In addition to the above Old Testament books, there are non-canonical books in the Bible (written after the list of sacred books - the canon): Tobit, Judith, the Wisdom of Solomon, the Book of Jesus, the son of Sirachov, the Second and Third Books of Ezra, three Maccabees Books.
  The New Testament consists of 27 works written in Greek during the first hundred years of the existence of Christianity. The earliest of them were probably written in the late 40s. I century., And the latest - at the beginning of II century.
  Four Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - open the New Testament. As a result of scientific study of the Gospel in the last two centuries, researchers have come to the conclusion that the earliest is the Gospel of Mark (c. 70).
  The authors of the Gospel of Matthew and Luke used the text of Mark and one more source that did not reach us - a collection of the sayings of Jesus. These Gospels were written independently of each other in the late 80s. I c. The Gospel of John dates back to a different tradition and dates from the very end of the 1st century.
  The Gospels are followed by the Acts of the Apostles, then the Epistles of the Apostles, instructing the addressees in matters of faith: 14 Epistles, the author of which is considered to be the Apostle Paul, as well as the Epistles of other apostles: James, 1, 2, 3 John, 1 and 2 Peter, Jude.
The New Testament corps is completed by the Revelation of John the Theologian, better known under the Greek name Apocalypse, where the end of the world is described in the language of allegories and symbols.
  In content, like the Old Testament books, the books of the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament (27 - all canonical) are divided into legislative, historical, educational and prophetic.
  Four gospels are related to the law books: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The word gospel is Greek. euaggelion means good news, good news (the principles of the New Testament are described: the coming of the Savior into the world, His earthly life, death on the cross, resurrection, ascension, divine teaching and miracles).
  The historical book is the Book of the Acts of the Holy Apostles (written by the Evangelist Luke, testifies to the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles, to the spread of the Church of Christ).
  The teaching books (revealing important issues of Christian doctrine and life) include: Seven conciliar epistles (letters to all Christians): one apostle James, two apostles Peter, three apostles the Evangelist John and one apostle Judas (Iakovlev). Fourteen Epistles of the Apostle Paul: to the Romans, two to the Corinthians, to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, to the Philippians, to the Colossians, two to the Solunians, two to Timothy, Bishop of Ephesus, to Titus, Bishop of Crete, to Philemon, and to the Hebrews.
  A prophetic book containing mysterious visions and revelations about the future of the Church and the Second Coming to the earth of the Savior, is the Apocalypse, or Revelation of John the Theologian.