HOW TO READ THE HOLY BIBLE (Part III)

My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,

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

HOW TO READ THE HOLY BIBLE (Part III)
By Archimandrite Justin Popovic’

FROM DEATH TO LIFE

In the Savior’s words there is a certain elixir of immortality, which drips drop by drop into the soul of the man who reads His words and brings his soul FROM DEATH TO LIFE, from IMPERMANENCE TO PERMANENCE. The Savior indicated this when He said: "Truly, truly I say unto you, whoever listens to My word and believes in the One Who sent Me has eternal life, …and has passed over FROM DEATH to LIFE" (John 5:24). Thus the Savior makes the crucial assertion: "Truly, truly I say unto you, whoever keeps My words WILL NEVER SEE DEATH" (John 8:51).

Every word of Christ IS FULL OF GOD. Thus, when it enters a man;s soul IT CLEANSES IT FROM EVERY DEFILEMENT. Frome each of His words comes a power that cleanses us from sin. Hence at the Mystical ("Last") Supper the Savior told His Disciples, who used to listen to His word without ceasing: "You have already been cleansed by the word which I have spoken to you" (John 15:3).

Christ the Lord and His Apostles call everything that is written in the Holy Bible the word of God, the word of theLord (John 17:14; Acts 6:2, 13:46, 16:32; 19:20; II Corinthians 2:17; Col. 1:15, II Thessalonians 3:1), and unless you read it and receive it as such, you will remain in the mute, stuttering words of men, vain and idle.

THE SANCTIFYING WORD

EVERY WORD OF GOD IS FULL OF GOD’S TRUTH, which sanctifies the soul for all eternity once it enters it. Thus does the Savior turn to His heavenly Father in prayer: "Father! Sanctify them with Thy Truth; Thy word is truth" (John 17:17). If you do not accept the word of Christ AS THE WORD OF GOD, AS THE WORD OF THE TRUTH, THEN FALSEHOOD AND THE FATHER OF LIES WITHIN YOU IS REBELLING AGAINST IT.

GRACE-FILLED WORD

In every word of the savior there is SUPERNATURAL and FULL OF GRACE, and this what sheds grace on the soul of man when the word of Christ visits it…

THE BIRTH-GIVING WORD

Because every word of God contains the Eternal Word of God — the Logos — it has the power TO GIVE BIRTH AND REGENERATE MEN. And when a man is born of the Word, he is born of the Truth… (Cf. I Peter 1:23) … By living the Word, A MAN BRINGS HIMSELF FROM DEATH TO LIFE. By filling himself with Eternal Life, a man becomes A CONQUERER OF DEATH AND "A PARTAKER OF THE DIVINE NATURE" (II Peter 1:4), and of his blessedness there shall be no end.

The main and most important point of all this IS FAITH and FEELING LOVE TOWARDS CHRIST THE LORD, because the mystery of every word of God is opened beneath the warmth of that feeling, just as the petals of a fragrant flower are opened beneath the warmth of the sun’s rays. Amen.

[Address Given at the Meeting of the Seminary Brotherhood of Saint Sava at Sremski Karlovci on December 22, 1929]

The body of Christ and the COMMUNION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT is responsible for writing the Gospel … "Having received all the spiritual illumination of the Holy Spirit…" the Fathers who proclaimed Christ "Set forth the faith taught by God" [Verses at Lauds, Sunday of the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council] …The Church is not producing literature when it writes the Gospel nor engaging in philosophy when it formulates dogma, but in both cases IT IS EXPRESSING THE FULLNESS OF THE NEW LIFE WITHIN IT. For this reason, the Gospel CANNOT BE UNDERSTOOD OUTSIDE THE ORTHODOX CHURCH NOR DOGMA OUTSIDE WORSHIP. [Archimandrite Vasileios.  Hymn of Entry]
[Resources: The Bible and the Holy Fathers For Orthodox]

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"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George