INSPIRATION

My beloved spiritual brothers and sisters in Christ God,

CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

INSPIRATION

The Latin West, beginning with St. Augustine, identifies revelation with the Bible. Inspiration is understood as dictation: the Holy Spirit dictates and the inspired writer puts down word per word what he hears. This understanding leads to the beliefs of a literal interpretation of the Holy Scripture and to ‘the heresy of three sacred languages.’ For us, the Sacred Scriptures are God-inspired (Theopneustoi), because they were written by holy people. We furthermore believe that these inspired texts lead unerringly to salvation, but only those who are holy. "God-inspired" means that "THEY UNERRINGLY GUIDE THOSE IN THE CHURCH WHO ARE WALKING ON THE PATH OF THE DEIFIED TOWARDS DEIFICATION (THEOSIS). Outside this path, THE SAME WORDS LEAD TO DECEPTION" (Protobresbter Ioannis Romanides). According to this understanding, the Holy Scriptures lead those who are already on this path of our ultimate goal, THEOSIS (a condition or state OF UNION WITH GOD). This presupposes that they are ACTIVE MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH, AND THAT THEY STRUGGLE TO SANCTIFY THEMSELVES THROUGH THE SACRAMENTS, PRAYER, AND THE ASCETIC LIFE OF THE CHURCH. THOSE WHO HAVE NOT YET ATTAINED THEOSIS (DEIFICATION) SHOULD FOLLOW THE INTERPRETATION OF THE HOLY FATHERS OF THE CHURCH.

This understanding of inspiration, expounded brilliantly by Father John Romanides of blessed memory, explains why so many biblical scholars and students CAN MISENTERPET THE HOLY SCRIPTURE AND BE LED TO HERESY. The one who interprets the Holy Scripture must be himself inspired IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND THEM AND EXPRESS THEM CORRECTLY:

" Not only he who writes about mathematics,
but also he who interprets what is written by
the mathematician must know mathematics.
The same holds true precisely for the delivered
texts of every science whatsoever. And for
what reason should Holy Scripture be exempt?
In it is recorded the experience of the deified
Prophets concerning God, His Kingdom, and
His glory. How does the general scientific rule
apply in this case? That, in other words, those
who correctly read and interpret this experience
of the deified be those who belong to the
community of those deified in Christ."

TO COMPREHEND THE HOLY SCRIPTURE, WE NEED DIVINE ILLUMINATION TO OPEN OUR MNDS AND OUR HEARTS (Luke 24:45) TO THE DIVINE LIGHT, THE SAME LIGHT THAT ILLUMINED THE INSPIRED WRITERS. We must have the necessary presuppositions TO COMPREHEND THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. WE MUST STRUGGLE TO CONQUER THE PASSIONS, CULTIVATE THE VIRTUES, FOLLOW THE DIVINE COMMANDMENTS, LEAD A LIFE OF HOLINESS IN THE FEAR OF GOD, PARTICIPATE IN THE DIVINE MYSTERIES (SACRAMENTS), DO ALL THESE THINGS THAT ARE PLEASING TO GOD, AND TO EXPERIENCE THE PRESENCE AND POWER OF THE LIVING CHRIST IN US THROUGH THE ACTION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. Otherwise, Saint Symeon the New Theologian (+ A.D. 1022) tells us, THE WORDS OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURE WON’T REACH US, THE TREASURE CONTAINED IN THEM WILL REMAIN HIDDEN FROM US.

"A man might pick up the entire chest [full of the knowledge of