"With its unsophisticated teachings on Scriptural inerrancy and infallibility, Evangelical bibliology is a witless and unwitting idolization of the Christian Scriptures. Saint Hilarion the New Hieromartyr compares the Protestant attitude toward the Bible to the backward superstitions of Mohammedahism: "When people take the Gospel book, forgetting that the Church gave it to them, then it becomes like the Koran, said to have been dropped by Allah from the sky." (Holy New-Martyr Archishop Ilarion (Troitsky), Christianity or the Church? (Jordanville, NY: Holy Trinity Monastery, 1985), p. 35.). Truly the Scriptures were produced by the Energy of the Holy Sprit, for all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. (II St. Timothy 3:16.). But not only did the Spirit of God inspire the Holy Prophets and the Holy Apostles to author the various books of the Bible; He also inspired the Holy Fathers to canonize the Holy Scriptures, and He continuously inspires the Holy Church to interpret them for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. (Ibid.). Saint Ignatios of Caucasus sumarizes this plainly:
... [T]he rules of the Church require that Scripture be understood oas the holy Fathers explain it, and not at all arbitrarily. By being guided in our understanding of the Gospel by the explanation of the holy Father, by the explanation received and used by the Church, we keep the tradition of [the] holy Church. [Bishop Ignatius (Brianchaninov), The Arena: An Offering to Contemporary Monasticism, trans. Archimandrite Lazarus, with an introduction by Archimandrite [Bishop] Kallistos (Jordanville, NY: Holy Trinity Monastery, 1982), p. 21.].
"For Evangelicals, consulting the Patristic witness is optional; for Orthodox, hwoever, it is imperative. The edifying exchange which took place between Saint Philip the Apostle and Saint Saint Djan Darada, the eunuch of Queen Candace of Ethiopia, serves as a pattern for the spiritual dependency which Orthodox have for the Holy Fathers. As the Apostle Philip catechized the Ethiopian eunuch, so did the Fathers instuct their disciples in Biblical exegesis, for they read in the book of the Law of God distinctly and gave the sense, and cause them to understand the reding. (Nehemiah 8:8.). To this day the Fathers ask of one reading the words of Scripture, "Understandest thou what thou readest?" (Acts 8:30.). An Orthodox Christian must respond to this paternal question with humbleness: "How can I, except some man should guide me?" (Ibid., v. 31.). An Evangelical, on the other hand, responds to it with haughtiness: "I myself possess the Holy Spirit; therefore I can understand what I read in the Bible without your guidance."
"In contrast to Evangelical arrogance, Saint Irenaeus of Lyonds indicates that "... where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God; and where the Spirit is, there is the Church, and every kind of grace. ..." [ [St.] Irenaeus, "Irenaeus Against Heresies," ed. the Rev. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, in Vol. 1 of The Ante-Nicene Fathers, American ed., rev. A. Cleveland Coce (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1885), p. 458.]. Without the Church an individual cannot possess the Spirit of God or receive His illuminating Grace, and therefore cannot properly understand the Holy Scriptures, for no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. (II St. Peter 1:20.). Evangelicals pertinaciously ignore the Biblical maxim by adamantly advocating the self-sufficiency of Scripture, which in practice translates into a self-reliant interpretation of the Bible according to their own understanding. (Hosea 13:2.). Thus they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts ... heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears. (II St. Timothy 4:3.). Exercising personal prerogative in interpreting the Scriptures, as Evangelicals do is a disastrous pitfall, for in the Holy Bible are some things had to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest ... unto their own destfuction." (II St. Peter 3:16.)". [pp. 17-19: Hierodeacon Gregory. (1994). THE CHURCH, TRADITION, SCRIPTURE, TRUTH, AND CHRISTIAN LIFE: Some Heresies of Evangelicalism and an Orthodox Response. Etna, CA: Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies.].
God bless you Elizabeth(619). Take care. In Erie PA Scott R. Harrington August 2011 AD
