September 8 - Holy Nativity of the Ever-Virgin Mary

My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

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ON SEPTEMBER 8th OUR HOLY ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH COMMEMORATES THE HOLY FEAST OF THE NATIVITY OF THE EVER VIRGIN MARY, THE MOTHER OF GOD.

Mary (Mariam), the child of God and Theotokos, whose nativity the Church commemorates on this day, was born of her aged parents Joachim and Anna. Saint Andrew of Crete (660-740 A.D.) chants, "O Bride of the Father, immaculate Mother of the Son, and Holy and resplendent Temple of the Holy Spirit; O Most chaste of all creation, Most suitable to His ultimate purpose, on this account the universe was created, and by thy birth was the eternal will of the Creator fulfilled." (Theotokarion of Nikodemos the Hagiorite)

What was God's ultimate purpose for us and how did her birth fulfill the Eternal Will? It is our unification with God and our divinization. Suffice it to add these thoughtful words of Saint Ambrose (339-397 A.D.), Bishop of Milan: "Unless man were redeemed, it would avail him nothing to be born." (Vide Saint Ambrose in Luke)

Saint Andrew of Crete also comments, "This day is for us the beginning of all holy days. It is the door to kindness and truth." He adds; "Let both the barren and mothers dance for joy; make bold and leap up in gladness, O ye childless: for the barren and childless woman brings forth the Theotokos who is to deliver Eve from her pains in travail and Adam from the curse" (Genesis 3:16-19).

Israel as a community was not to give birth to the Messiah by means of natural generation, that is, by man's seed. By natural means, they would produce the Virgin-mother, who is the beauty and excellency of Israel. The Prophets prophesied of her, yet most Israelites were unaware that they were awaiting the birth of a virgin daughter from their stock who, virginally, without father, would bring forth the Messiah, the Incarnate Son of God and Only-begotten of His Father without mother.

Saint John of Damascus (676 A.D.) writes: "On the birth of the Mother of God, the sorrow of our first mother Eve is turned to joy.  While one heard, 'in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children' (Genesis 3:16), the other heard, 'Rejoice, thou who hast been shown grace' (Luke 1:28); one heard, 'thy turning shall be thy husband,' and the other heard, 'the Lord is with thee.' "

Old Testament types clearly manifest the Virgin Mary; for, "She is the Fountain of Life that gushes forth from the flinty rock" (Exodus 17:6); she is the Bush (Exodus 3:2) springing from barren ground and burning with the immaterial fire that cleanses and enlightens our souls." Saint John of Damascus adds to this, chanting, "Inspired by God, the divine choir (the Patriarchs and Prophets of the Old Testament) spoke of thee in prophecy as the Mountain (Daniel 2:45), the Gate of heaven (Ezekiel 44:2), and the spiritual Ladder (Genesis 28:12-17); for out of thee was hewn a stone, not cut by the hand of man; and thou art the gate through which passed the Lord of wonders, the God of our fathers." And, "The East gate (Ezekiel 44:1-3), newly born, awaits the entrance of the Great Priest."

The ninth-century hymnographer, Sergios of the holy city wrote: "She is the treasure of virginity, the rod of Aaron (Numbers 17:8) springing from the root of Jesse, the preaching of the Prophets, an offshoot of the righteous Joachim and Anna. She is born, and with her is the world become new again. She is born, and the Church clothes herself in majesty. She is the Holy Temple, the receiver of the Godhead: the instrument of virginity, the bridal chamber of the King, wherein was accomplished the marvelous mystery of the ineffable union of the natures which come together in Christ."

Saint Andrew of Crete then compares the holy Anna to the righteous foremother Sarah, saying, "O Lord, Thou hast opened the womb of Sarah, giving her Isaac as fruit in her old age (Genesis 21:1-3). Today, O Savior, Thou hast likewise given to godly Anna a fruit born from her womb, even Thine own Mother without spot."

Nevertheless, as the following hymn affirms: "Although by the will of God other women who were barren have brought forth famous offsprings, yet among all such children Mary has shone brightly with Divine glory."

After nine months, Anna brought forth. She said to the midwife, "What have I brought forth?" And she told her, "A girl." Then Anna said, "My soul has been magnified this day." And she laid her down. When the days of her purification had been fulfilled, and Anna was purified, she called her name Mary (Miriam in Hebrew, Mariam in Greek), in accordance with the prophecy uttered by the Archangel. (Source: The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church)

(To be continued)

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" - Saint John Chrysostomos

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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George

September 6 - The Miracle in Colossae of Phrygia by the Archangel Michael (Part II)

My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

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THE MIRACLE OF ARCHANGEL MICHAEL (Part II) (+ September 6th)

After this, the unbelievers devised something worse: a plan to destroy the Christian church to its foundation and usher in death for the righteous man. What did they contrive? Nearby the church of the Archangel, where the holy waters were located, from the left side, there ran a river name Chryssos. The unbelievers wished to divert the river so that the deluge might come down upon the holy waters and the church. They believed that by mixing the waters of the river with the holy water they could dissolve its therapeutic powers utterly so that the Christians might not drink and find healing. Having considered how this might be engineered, they cut off the first current of the river that it might flow into the holy waters. But, "Who shall tell of the mighty acts of the Lord? Who shall make all His praises to be heard" (Psalm 105:2)?" The river, as though it were animate, fearing the grace of the Archangel, straightway turned far over toward the right part of the church; and there the course of the river remains to this day, thus certifying the miracle. When those most profane ones beheld their unjust enterprise taking the opposite course from that intended, the words of the Prophet David applied: "The Lord scattereth the plans of the heathens, He setteth aside the devices of the peoples" (Psalm 32:10). The unrelenting pagans, nonetheless, conspired a second time; indeed, something more terrible than before, which we shall explain to you from the beginning.

Two great rivers gush forth from out of the east; one is called the Lykokastros River, and the other is called the Kouphos. They run separately in the direction of the church and then encircle it from afar, as an island. Then they converge and travel a long distance, as one river, until they separate in Lycia and pour out into the sea against the island of Rhodes. The devil, envious of all good, plotted to let loose the waters of these two rivers. He sowed in the minds of his minions that the rivers could be made to flood the church and the holy waters of the Archangel so that not even a trace might remain. This seemed very plausible to the pagans because the land where the church stood sloped downward. Thus, by employing the downward tendency of water, they could fulfill their aim. Now, at a distance from the church, there was a massive and high rock. The impious hewed the stone and dug down deep in one place so that the waters would divert and collect with great force. Then, after they dug huge irrigation ditches and fortified collecting basins, they close off the area. They damned the waters that collected by the rock until they were ready to break the seals of the gates. With malignant glee, they anxiously awaited for the water level to rise that they might discharge its mighty its mighty power against the church, the sanctified healing waters, and Archippos.

Night and day, men, women, and children labored to accomplish their murderous desire. The servant of God, Archippos, beheld the madness of the impious. He fell prostrate on the bare earth, entreating God and the Archangel Michael that the counsel of the ungodly might prove vain and unworkable against the strength and power of God. Archippos heard the clamor of the people and the roaring of the approaching waters.

Thus did the Saint pray, and a divine vision was made manifest. He heard a voice descending from out of the heavens and calling him by name, "Archippos." He was unable to gaze long at the vision of the Archangel and fell on his face to the ground. Then the one speaking said, "Rise and stand on thy feet and come here outside in order to behold the invincible might of God." Regaining courage then from the voice, he exited and beheld a fiery column which went from earth to heaven. He heard a voice from thence telling him to stand to the left side and not to fear. Then the Archangel raised his right hand and made the sign of the Cross upon the rock, the one above the church, saying, "Up to this point is thy flux." Then, with what appeared as a javelin in his hand, he struck the place mightily and sundered the rock form the top to the bottom. O Thy power, Christ God! We cry with the Prophet David, "The waters saw Thee, O God, the waters saw Thee and were afraid; the abysses were troubled. Great was the resounding sound of the Archangel, again, made the sign of the Cross, and said, "Funnel (χωνευθήτωσαν) the waters here." A great earthquake occurred and instilled fear. The Archangel subdued the raging flow and the thundering of the river. This phenomenon may be seen to this day. The rivers pour into the funnel in the rock which lies above the church, toward the vema (pulpit). Thus this place, formerly called Colossae, from then was named Chonae (Χώναι), a Greek word signifying the funneling of the rivers in that place.

Archippos continued living a God-pleasing life in that sacred precinct for 70 years. He was then laid to rest from the labor of his virtues and hastened to his beloved Christ rejoicing, even as the good cultivator sows with godly tears that he might reap the fruits of his toils in the joy of everlasting life.

To the glory of the Holy Trinity and the Chief Commander, Archangel Michael, a boundless number of wonders (miracles) took place daily at the place of the holy waters; which miracles, if we were to describe in detail, should make us appear to like him who wishes to count the stars or the sands of the sea. O Supreme Commander of the armies of Heaven, we, the unworthy ones, entreat thee, that by thy prayers thou dost ever surround us with the protection of the wings of thine immaterial glory! (Source: The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church)

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!"--Saint John Chrysostomos

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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George

September 6 - The Miracle in Colssae of Phryrgia by the Archangel Michael

My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

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ON THE 6TH OF SEPTEMBER, THE HOLY CHURCH COMMEMORATES THE MIRACLE IN COLOSSAE OF PHRYGIA BY THE ARCHANGEL MICHAEL.

Archangel Michael, the Great Commander of God's bodiless Hosts, both before the Incarnation and after, showed compassion and solicitude toward the race of man (Josh. 5:13-15; Dan. 10:13, 12:1; Jude 1:9; Rev. 12:7). He bestowed many benefits on earth before the coming of Christ, and afterward, he showed even greater care and love toward the Christians.

Colossae was an ancient city of Southern Phrygia, the extensive Western part of Anatolia, overhanging the Lykos (a tributary of the Meander) and on the upper part of its course. The city was ten miles from Laodikeia and thirteen fro Hierapolis (Col. 2:1, 4:13, 15, 16; Rev. 1:11). The three cities formed a single sphere of missionary labor for Epaphras, an inhabitant of Colossae (Col. 1:7, 4:12, 13). The city originally lay on the main trade route from Ephesus to the Euphrates and the East, at the junction of the highways to Sardis and Pergamon. Colossae was catastrophically weakened in the 7th and 8th centuries with the gradual breakdown of Byzantine power in Asia Minor, leaving the Colossians exposed to Saracen raiders. The remaining population moved to Chonae (the modern Chonas), a fortress about three miles further south, with an impregnable castle upon the steep slope of Mount Cadmus (summit 8,013). Final destruction came in the 12th century with the Turkish invasion. The site is presently unoccupied.

There was a certain rich Greek pagan in the city of Laodikeia. He had an only daughter who suffered from speechlessness and was dumb from her mother's womb. The father experienced great sorrow concerning this, and would gladly have given her his soul just to behold her speak. One day, he beheld a favorable vision. In his sleep he observed a certain man telling him to go the holy waters (Agiasma) of the Archangel Michael; for he would not return embittered. Indeed, he was told that his daughter would receive healing and that he himself would gain the salvation of his soul. Now he beheld this vision not because he was found worthy (since he was benighted utterly with the impiety of idolatry), but rather because God, Who wishes to save all men and have them come to a full knowledge of the Truth, dispensed in His economy this vision, so that through the working of the miracle the Greek pagan would be converted and others, too, would be strengthened in godliness. When the Greek pagan awoke, with fear and trembling, he took along his daughter and went to the holy waters of the Archangel. Having arrived, he found many people had gathered who were afflicted with various illnesses. Straightway, only by drinking the water or pouring it over their afflicted bodies, they were delivered from whatever ailment possessed them.

The Greek father, observing all these wonders (miracles), asked certain of the people what name they were invoking while drinking or pouring the water over themselves that they should find healing. They said to him, "We utter the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one in essence, and the Chief Commander Michael, the slave of the Trinity." As he heard this, without hesitation, he believed with all his heart. Thus, entreating the God Who is praised in the Holy Trinity and His Archangel Michael, he took up that holy water with faith and gave it to his daughter to drink. Immediately--O the wonder!--not only was the girl delivered from the bond of speechlessness, but both father and daughter were loosed from the bond of disbelief. They began in uplifted voices to offer thanksgiving and praise to the True God and to magnify His servant Michael. What happened after this? The Greek nobleman and his daughter, and all those with them, were baptized and became Christians; in addition, the nobleman built a costly church. He also erected at the site of the sanctified waters a beautiful building with vaulted roof, so that he might say with the Prophet David, "O Lord, I have loved the beauty of Thy house" (Psalm 25:7). Hence, after showing much faith and gratitude for the benefaction he received from the Archangel, he returned to his own house, glorifying God not only for the wonderworking which he beheld in his daughter but more so for his own conversion.

After the passage of ninety years, a certain child of Hierapolis, the offshoot of good Orthodox parentage, at ten years old, left for the church of the Archangel, so as to be directed by divine providence from above. His name was Archippos, after the Apostle (Col. 4:17; Phile. 1:2). He became to church's sexton. Possessed of much self-mastery and other virtues, he was vouchsafed divine gifts.

Archippos, now ecclesiarch, with such a mode of life, never-ceased to have before his eyes the working out of his salvation, having a heart that is broken and humbled (Psalm 550:17). He ever strove that God might create in him a clean heart and that the meditation of his heart might be pleasing before the Lord, for the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a contrite heart. He entreated God, "May my eyes never behold the dainties of this world, nor may mind be confounded with temporal vanities. Only do Thou, O Lord, most compassionate, fill my eyes with spiritual tears; make humble my heart and make straight my steps in Thy law. For what gain have I from this clay body which, on the one hand, today is, but, on the other hand, tomorrow perishes, even as the grass withers with the coming evening? O Lord Almighty, grant me to be striving for the everlasting good and the salvation of the soul."

Such was the daily thoughts and meditations of Archippos, and God hearkened readily to his entreaty. Living at that time in the neighborhood of these holy waters was a multitude of unbelievers who daily witnessed the wonderworking (miracles). Envy and malice mounted in them on account of the miracles and the virtuous manner of life of righteous Archippos. Maddened by the holy man's asceticism and struggles, they were speaking evilly of him. Then, one day, those pagans, of one accord, gathered and, in a maniacal rage, charged against the righteous man. They intended to put him to death and utterly destroy the holy waters. While some were dragging Archippos by force, by the hairs of his head and beard, and beating him with rods and pieces of wood, others were attempting to cover up and choke the course of the holy waters. But, O Thine indescribable judgments, O Christ! A flame emitted there from and frightened all of them so that they left running; thus, they departed unsuccessful. (Source: The Great Synaxaristes of the Greek Orthodox Church)

(To be continued)

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!"--Saint John Chrysostomos

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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George

About Respect

My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

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ABOUT RESPECT

Turning to the Holy Scripture for guidance so as to how to live according to the will of God we are advised by Saint Paul the following: "Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem (respect) others better than himself" (Philippians 2:3). "Conceit", of vainglory, is a common and fatal vice. It obstructs spiritual growth and of striving to attain spiritual maturity.

"Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son" (St. Matthew 21:37). Respect is another virtue that a Christian believer must adhere to and practice daily. Respect of others, no matter their status or office, should be taught not only to adults but especially to children.

There can be no relationship with others, whether relatives, friends or coworkers if there is no mutual respect. Respect indicates trust, love, patience, humility, and gentleness. In Saint Paul's First Letter to the Christians of Corinth Chapter 13 speaks on the superiority of love over all other gifts. How do we know we are genuinely acting with love? Saint Paul writes, "Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in the truth; bears all things...endures all things. Love never fails..." (vs. 4-8).

Our greatest example is our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. We, as His followers and disciples must emulate Him in everything. His respect and even obedience to His Holy Mother, the Ever-Virgin Mary throughout His earthly life. His respect for the Temple where He would worship in and teach. His respect for the Divine Law. His respect for Saint John the Baptist and His Forerunner.

There is an interconnection between all God-given virtues including respect. We, as Christians, must always respect our fellow man, our co-worker, our teachers, our parents, our friends, our spiritual leaders, persons of authority, our Church, and we must always be willing to put up with everything and everyone, no matter what comes our way.  

Furthermore, we must always keep alive and strong our own self-respect. Our words and actions will reveal if truly have self-respect. One who has self-respect will respect others no matter who they are. One who has kept his/her self-respect is a person of dignity and great worth. One who has self-respect is one who has self-restraint and is not easily provoked by the words or actions of another.  

Finally, respect is not demanded by one, but it is earned!

Respectfully,

+Father George

Where Did the Holy Bible Come From? (Part II)

My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

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WHERE DID THE HOLY BIBLE COME FROM? (Part II)

As the Church spread, it also became necessary to commit the central core of the events of Our Lord's life and His teaching to writing, to provide a written Gospel for those who came to the Faith far from the little out-of-the-way province of the Empire in which the Lord had lived and died. So it was that the four written Gospels came into being. But this came to pass only after the Gospel had been proclaimed and passed from the believer to another by word of mouth, by tradition ("handing-on") for many years. It is readily apparent upon comparison that no one of the written Gospels contains the entire story. Just as important, perhaps more so...as one would assume, had he no prejudice to the contrary, all four of them together yet less than the totality of the Tradition of which they are part. As the Gospel of Saint John concludes: "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written" (St. John 21:25).

To be sure, all that is essential of the Lord 's life and reaching is to be found in the Gospels--but not all that is desirable or helpful to our salvation. Neither anyone nor all four of the Gospels together was written to be absolutely exhaustive and final. Were that the case, of course, we would have no need of the rest of the New Testament, nor the Old Testament either. (There have been heretics who claimed just such outrageous foolishness.)

The Revelation of Saint John the Theologian (more properly translated the "Apocalypse") and the Acts of the Apostles are of course "special cases". The former, almost certainly the last book of the New Testament to be written, is agreed by most scholars to have been written by Saint John near the end of his life, during the reign of the Roman Emperor Domitian, probably about A.D. 95 (although parts of it may perhaps have been written at an earlier date). It is the only book of the New Testament concerning which there was significant disagreement in the Church... there were parts of the Church for several centuries in which it was not accepted as part of the Scripture (of this, later). The Acts of the Apostles, written by the Evangelist Luke, of course, could not have been completed any earlier than A.D. 63, as it refers to Saint Paul's imprisonment at Rome which continued into that year.}

THE CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT: THE "TABLE OF CONTENTS"

The earliest known list of books which apparently were regarded as "Scripture" in the Church's history comes from about A.D. 130 and is known as the Muratorian Canon. Portions of the work have been lost, but it is apparent that it includes the four Gospels and most of the Epistles (Letters) of Saint Paul, as well as various other books. But doubts existed in portions of the Church concerning the Epistle (Letter) to the Hebrews, the Epistle of Jude, the 2nd Epistle of Peter, the 2nd and 3rd Epistles of John, and the Apocalypse (Revelation) (this last right up to the council which finally confirmed the canon). As noted earlier, there were portions of the Church in which other books than those we now recognize as part of the New Testament were accepted as such.

It is not until A.D. 369, with Saint Athanasius's "Festal Epistle" for that year, that we can find a "table of contents" for the New Testament which corresponds exactly to that which we now accept. For 336 years of the Church had been living, growing, developing under the guidance of the Holy Spirit...and only then would it have been possible (though not even yet with universal acceptance) to print "the Holy Bible" as we now know and accept it!

This, of course, is already four decades after the Ecumenical Council (Synod) of Nicaea, after the Creed had been written, after the Church (as many Protestants would have it) had been finally an ultimately corrupted by Saint Constantine. The formal liturgical worship of the Church is already well-defined and so similar to that of the Orthodox Church today (a fact readily established by reference to indisputable historical documents) that a believer transported in time from then to an Orthodox Church service now would find himself completely at home.

What can one make of this? We shall have to come back to this momentarily...but first, let us conclude the history of the "table of contents".

Only five years earlier than Saint Athanasius' Epistle, however, the Council of Laodicea (the canons of which were confirmed by the Sixth Ecumenical Council) promulgated a list of the books of the New Testament which was identical...except that it did not include the Apocalypse (Revelation) amongst "all the books that are to be read" (Canon 60). It was not for quite some time yet that there was truly universal agreement as to the books of the New Testament, and it was yet to be another thousand years before there would be a single book identical in contents to what we now call the Bible.

(To be continued)

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!"--Saint John Chrysostomos

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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George

Where Did the Holy Bible Come From?

My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

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WHERE DID THE HOLY BIBLE COME FROM?

Perhaps the days are gone when very many people have the impression that the Holy Bible was somehow mysteriously written in the English of the King James Version (KJV), all ready-made and bound in a book, at some unknown point since the day of the Apostles. Certainly, such a notion would be hard to find amongst Orthodox Christians. But in the society in which we live, perhaps many Orthodox Christians included, there is often a "that's the way it is" attitude, attached to whatever concept of "the Bible" one happens to have.

A truly Christian understanding of the Holy Scripture, however, must found in Truth...not in a thoughtless acceptance of the "received" notion in one's own circle...be that circle Orthodox, Roman Catholic, or Protestant. But Truth is a harsh master. If relentlessly pursued, it often forces dramatic changes in one's preconceived notions, religious or otherwise...and therefore, in one's whole life. Perhaps this is the reason for which it is so seldom pursued!

When we speak of "the Bible", we speak of a collection of books. The earliest of these existed in oral form long before they were written down, but attained a written form many centuries before the Birth of Our Lord. The latest of these books were written many years after His Resurrection...the very latest, probably, as late as the end of the First Century, some 60 or more years after the Resurrection. The former, of course, comprise the Old Testament, and the latter the New Testament. When Saint Paul speaks of "Scripture", it is to the Old Testament that he refers...few of the New Testament books had even been written yet, and complete agreement in the Church as to which books comprised the "New" Testament was yet several centuries off.

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The Church existed...for nearly 500 years before anything identical to what we now call "the Bible" could have been printed.

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Yes...the Church existed in all her majesty and glory for nearly 500 years before anything identical to what we now call "the Bible" could have been unquestionably printed (had there been any printing presses). In fact, the many individual books, of both Old and New Testaments, existed first in papyrus scrolls, then later in hand-copied huge volumes containing one or a very few books on vellum or similar material. A complete "Bible", had it been possible to assemble one, would have occupied a good-sized set of bookshelves.

But the contents of those shelves would have varied considerably from place to place, as we shall see. In this regard, however, the history of the Old and New Testaments differ considerably. Curiously, nonetheless, the notion common amongst many Protestants that "Catholics" have a "different Bible" from that which they acknowledge (and therefore, presumably, Orthodox Christians as well) pertains exclusively to the Old Testament. This question, that of the "different Bible", is likely to be one of the first to arise in any fundamental conversation between Orthodox Christians and Protestants.

The Old Testament

The books of the Old Testament are quite varied in character and have discrete histories. Generally speaking, they fall into four broad groups: the books of the Law (the Pentateuch or Gr. Pentateuchos); the history books (e.g., the books of King)s; the Prophets; and the books of Wisdom. It might be interesting to note in passing that the first "disagreement" concerning the "table of contents" of the Old Testament long pre-dated the Christian era: the Samaritans were distinguished from the Jews by their refusal to acknowledge as "scripture" any books other than those of Moses, the Pentateuch (Gr. five books).

Most of the books of the Old Testament were written originally in Hebrew Aramaic or a mixture of the two. There is, however, a whole group of books which are an exception, having been originally written (or at least only known to us) in Greek. These books are usually called the "Apocrypha", or "hidden books"--a complete misnomer, as there is nothing hidden about them; they were an integral part of the Greek text of the Old Testament as it was in use at the time of our Lord, the Septuagint (the translation of 70 Hebrew Scholars). Many quotations from the Scripture--the Old Testament--in the books of the New Testament are identifiably from this Greek text. (A glance at any reliable reference edition of the New Testament will readily confirm this...quotations which are clearly from the Greek text are usually identified as e.g..."Psalm 145:5 LXX.) Nowhere, of course, do any of the New Testament books make any distinction between the various books of the Old Testament. It is of all this material that the holy Apostle Paul writes when he says "All Scripture is given by inspiration from God" (2 Timothy 3:16).

The New Testament

In the first weeks, months, years of her existence, the Church had no written documents whatever, except the books of the Old Testament as indicated. The events of the Gospel were related from one believer to another by word of mouth; those who came to accept the Faith heard them from the believers. This was entirely in keeping with the culture. Relatively few people were able to read, let alone write...and so they heard the word of God and kept it (cf. Luke 8:21; 11:28). The holy Apostle Paul insists upon the matter: "Therefore brethren, stand fast and hold to the traditions which you have been taught, whether by word or our letter" (2 Thess. 2:15).

In due course, as the Church began to spread beyond her place of origin in Jerusalem and Galilee, communications between the local churches became necessary...and letters were written. Some of these were of such great importance to "the things you have learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, practice these things" (Phil. 4:9).

Understanding the Faith that then began to be read in church services, along with the Scripture (the Old Testament). But copies existed initially only in the local churches to which they had been addressed, although in time in many others as well. As travelers moved from one place to another they carried hand-written copies of the letters for the edification of other believers. Some of these letters were written by the Apostles, but there were others, written by other believers as well. Eventually, some of them came to have the character of what we now call "open letters"...addressed to the Church as a whole, rather than to any particular congregation. These are the "universal" or "catholic" or "general Epistles." (Source: The St. John of Kronstadt Press)

(To be continued)

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!"--Saint John Chrysostomos

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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George