How to Read the Holy Scriptures ( Father Seraphim Rose )

From a lecture delivered by Hieromonk Seraphim Rose at the 1979 St. Herman Summer Pilgrimage Platina, CA


IT IS WELL known that Protestants spend a great deal of time on Holy Scripture, because for them it is everything. For us Orthodox Christians the Scripture also holds an essential place. Often, however, we do not take advantage of it, and do not realize what importance it has for us; or if we do, we often do not approach it in the right spirit because the Protestant approach and Protestant books about the Scriptures are widespread, while our Orthodox approach is quite different.

The fact that Scripture is an essential part of our Faith can be seen in our Orthodox services. There are daily readings from the New Testament from both the Epistles and Gospels. In one year we read through almost the entire New Testament. In the first three days of the week before Pascha--the feast of Christ's Resurrection, the four Gospels are read in church, and on Thursday night of Passion Week twelve long selections from the Gospels are read concerning the Passion of our Lord, with verses sung in between, commenting on these passages. The Old Testament is also used in the services. In the vespers for every great feast three parables are read prefiguring the feast. And the Divine services themselves are filled with Scriptural quotations, Scriptural allusions and inspiration coming directly from Holy Scripture. Orthodox Christians also read the Scripture outside the services. St. Seraphim, in his monastic life, read the entire New Testament every week. Perhaps it is because we have such a richness of Scripture in our Orthodox tradition that we are often guilty of taking them for granted, of not valuing and making use of the Scriptures.

One of the leading interpreters of Holy Scripture for us is St. John Chrysostom, an early 5th century Holy Father. He wrote commentaries on practically the whole of the New Testament, including all of St. Paul's epistles and also many Old Testament books. In one sermon concerning Scripture, he addresses his flock:

'I exhort you, and I will not cease to exhort you to pay heed not only to what is said here, but when you are home also you should occupy yourselves attentively with the reading of Holy Scripture. Let no one say to me such cold words-worthy of judgment---as these: 'I am occupied with a trial, I have obligations in the city, I have a wife, I have to feed my children, and it is not my duty to read the Scripture but the duty of those who have renounced everything.' What are you saying?! It is not your duty to read Scripture because you are distracted by innumerable cares? On the contrary, it is your duty more than those others, more than the monks; they do not have such need of help as do you who live in the midst of such cares. You need treatment all the more, because you are constantly under such blows and are wounded so often. The reading of Scripture is a great defense against sin. Ignorance of the Scripture is a great misfortune, a great abyss. Not to know anything from the word of God is a disaster. This is what has given rise to heresies, to immorality; it has turned everything upside down."

Here we see that the reading of Holy Scripture provides us with a great weapon in the fight against the worldly temptations surrounding us – and we do not do enough of it. The Orthodox Church, far from being against the reading of Scripture, greatly encourages it. The Church is only against the misreading of Scripture, against reading one's own private opinions and passions, even sins into the sacred text. When we hear that the Protestants are all excited about something that they say is in the Scripture--the rapture, for example, or the millennium--we are not against their reading the Scripture but against their misinterpretation of the Scripture. To avoid this pitfall ourselves we must understand what this sacred text is and how we should approach it.

The Bible --the Holy Scripture, the Old and New Testaments---is not an ordinary book. It is one that contains not human but divinely revealed truths. It is the word of God. Therefore, we must approach it with reverence and contrition of heart, not with mere idle curiosity and academic coldness. Nowadays one cannot expect a person who has no sympathy for Christianity, no sympathy for the Scriptures to have a proper attitude of reverence. There is, however, such power in the words of Scripture--especially in the Gospels-that it can convert a person even without this proper attitude We have heard of cases in communist countries; the police go out in special squads to persecute believers and break up their meetings; they confiscate all their literature: Bibles, hymn books, patristic texts---many written out by hand. They're supposed to burn them, but sometimes either the person who is assigned to bum them or the person collecting them gets curious and begins reading the condemned materials. And there have been cases where this has changed the person's life. All of a sudden he meets Jesus Christ. And he's shocked, especially if he has been raised with the notion that this is a great evil; here he discovers that there is no evil here but rather something quite fantastic.

Many modern scholars approach the Scriptures with a cold, academic spirit; they do not wish to save their souls by reading Scripture: they only want to prove what great scholars they are, what new ideas they can come up with; they want to make a name for themselves. But we who are Orthodox Christians must have utmost reverence and contrition of heart; i.e., we must approach the word of God with a desire to change our hearts. We read the Scripture in order to gain salvation, not, as some Protestants believe, because we are already saved without the possibility of falling away, but rather as those desperately trying to keep the salvation which Christ has given us, fully aware of our spiritual poverty. For us, reading Scripture is literally a matter of life and death. As King David wrote in the Psalms: Because of Thy words my heart hath bee, afraid. I will rejoice in Thy sayings as one that hath found great spoil.

The Scripture contains truth, and nothing else. Therefore, we must study the Scripture believing in its truth, without doubt or criticism. If we have this latter attitude we shall receive no benefit from reading Scripture but only find ourselves with those "wise" men who think they know more than God's revelation. In fact, the wise of this world often miss the meaning of Scripture. Our Lord prayed: I thank Thee, O Father ..that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes (Luke 10:21). In our approach we must not be sophisticated, complicated scholars; we must be simple. And if we are simple the words will have meaning for us.

Church services ( Papa Dimitri Gagastathis )

 The good chanter and the priest play a great role in good church services.
When chanting, you must understand and feel what you say. Don't get proud that you supposedly chanted beautifully.You must live what you say.

Once I was chanting a hymn of Apostle Peter that was about his denial.

 Then I said '' ...and he cried bitterly, '' I saw tears coming out from his icon. The saint must have been pleased.
The priest's cassock is superior to trousers, it's got double grace.....

Papa Dimitri Gagastathis
Life, Miracles and Spiritual Counsels of a Simple Priest of Our Days. pg 98..

Saint Paisios the Athonite: Come to your senses

God is very near us, but also very high. In order for someone to have God bend to descend and remain with him, he must be humbled and repent. Then, the greatly-compassionate God, beholding his humility, lifts him up to the Heavens and loves him greatly. There is joy in heaven over the repentance of a sinner, says the Gospel.

God granted man a mind to contemplate his fault, to repent and to seek forgiveness. The unrepenting man is a hard thing. He is very senseless, because he does not wish to repent, in order to eliminate the small hell that he is experiencing, which leads him to something worse, eternity. Thus, he is barren of the heavenly joys on earth, which continue in Paradise, near God, with the much greater joys, eternal ones.

As long as man is far from God, he is outside of himself. Do you see, that the Gospel writes that the Prodigal Son "came to himself", saying: "I will go to my Father." In other words, when he came to his senses, when he repented, he said: "I will return to my Father." As long as he was living in sin, he was outside of himself, he was not in his right mind, because sin is irrational.

-Elder, Abba Alonios says: "If a man wishes, he can reach a divine measure from morning until the evening." What does he mean?
The spiritual life does not desire time. In one second, one can be found in Paradise from hell, if he repents. Man is responsible. He can become an angel, he can become a devil. My, my, my, what power repentance has! It attracts divine Grace. A humble thought that a man brings to mind can save him.

A prideful thought can come to his mind, and if he does not repent, death will find him, he is gone, he is lost. Of course, the humble thought must be followed by internal groaning, by internal contrition. Because the thought is a thought, but there is also the heart. The hymn says: "With all my soul and mind and heart...", I think, however, that the Abba here is thinking here of a more permenant state. It requires some time, in order for one to reach a good state.

I err, I repent, and I am forgiven that instant. If I have a struggling spirit, slowly I will achieve a more stable situation, but until then, I can be swayed.

-Elder, can an older person help himself spiritually?
Yes, barely, for when someone gets old, he is granted the strength to repent, because all illusions flee. Formerly, because he had bodily strength and nothing was difficult for him, he did not understand his weaknesses and he thought that he was in a good state. Now that he has difficulties and grumbles, he is helped to understand that he is not well, that he is limping, that he must repent. If he spiritually utilizes the little remaining years of his life, and if he uses his experience that shows that most of the years of his life have passed him by, [he learns that] Christ will not leave him, He will have mercy on him.

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen! 

http://agapienxristou.blogspot.ca/search/label/SENSE

We must confess correctly ( Bishop of Kerniki and Kalavryta )

If, with God’s Grace, you manage to confess without shame and without making excuses for yourself , and in following your confessor reads you the forgiveness prayer,and you receive his blessing and depart from the confession room, is there anything else left for you to do? Yes. There are still two things of paramount importance for you to do. First, you must carry out the penance that the spiritual father has given you; and, second, you must make every effort to correct your life
and wrongful deeds. Otherwise, according to St. Basil the Great, what you did is not termed a confession, but idle chatter: “When one confesses
without subsequently correcting himself, he has
actually spoken idle words.”

There are three things chiefly you must correct. First:
If you on bad terms with anyone for whatever reason, regardless of whether or not the other person is at fault, you must forgive him with all your heart. For, if you do not forgive, you will
not be forgiven either. It is a decision and ruling
given from Christ Himself:
“If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Mt. 6:14-15)
. Unfortunately, today people mimic what two Athenians once did in ancient Greece. Themistocles and Aristidis were dire enemies and always at odds with each other. At one point, the Greek nation appointed them as ambassadors to represent Greece on a particular matter.
What could they do in this instance? 
They necessarily had to be in agreement and work together.
Having set off for their journey, just before
crossing over into the foreign land, Aristidis turned to Themistocles and asked,
“Would you like to leave our enmity here at the borders for now, and, if you like, take hold of it again upon our return?” This is indeed what they did. They dropped off their enmity and hatred at their nation’s borders, they cooperated with each
other and executed their republic’s directive, and when they returned to Greece they took hold of their enmity and became spiteful enemies as before.
Today, this is what Christians who are bitter enemies and always at odds do as well when it comes time for them to go to confession. They drop off their enmity for a time. Where? Right at the entrance of the church. They ask each other for forgiveness so they can go receive Holy Communion.  However, as soon as they exit the
doors of the church, where they temporarily set down their enmity, they take hold of it again and become enemies once more. Can their visit to the spiritual father be deemed a true confession? Certainly not! On the contrary, it was idle chatter.

Second: 
Do you have an immoral tie and sinful relationship with someone?
Sever the bond once and for all, and cut it off permanently. Because it is not possible to love God and fornication simultaneously. A certain philosopher was once travelling by sea. During the course of the journey, such a fierce storm
developed that the ship sank and he was able to save his life by the skin of his teeth. He returned to his home.
Wanting to ensure that he would never be
overcome with the desire to travel by ship again,
he proceeded to close off one of the windows in his house that had a view of the ocean.
If you similarly have run the risk of losing your soul on account of lustful relationships, and have up until now been spared from death of the body and the soul, flee from the causes of sin, no longer walk down that road, never again enter that house, no longer peer through that window, and close your eyes shut, so that the serpent, the devil, does not slither into your heart again. Otherwise, you did not confess; you spoke idle chatter.
 
Finally:  
Do you have in your possession anything that rightfully belongs to another person? Have you wronged or cheated anyone? Return it immediately, restore what you have acquired unjustly, because otherwise it is not possible for
you to receive forgiveness.

Dear Christian:
Do you want to make a true and perfect confession? 
First, before going to the confessor, examine your conscience. 
Second, when you are standing before the spiritual father, confess without shame and without making
excuses. 
Third, when you leave from the spiritual father, carry out the penance he has given you, wholeheartedly forgive your enemies, abandon your immoral and ungodly relationships, repay what you have acquired through injustice, and
then you will indeed be completely forgiven. Then the deaf and mute evil spirit will depart from you
(vid. Mt. 9:17).
O Holy Spirit! Grant to me first, and to everyone who will hear these words in following, Your Divine Grace, so that we may understand them,
and give us the strength to execute them, for they are words containing Your Divine Truth.



adapted from the writings of Elias Miniatis
         (Bishop of Kerniki and Kalavryta)
                                        
                                                   http://www.stnektariosmonastery.org/

Doctors and God ( Saint Maxim the Confessor )

 

Like doctors, when treating various physical ailments, do not prescribe one medicine to everyone, so does God, in treating our spiritual ailments, apply more than one suitable type of ministration. But He does cure every soul with medicines that are specifically beneficial to it. Let us thank Him for curing us, even though the medicine did inflict suffering upon us.


Saint Maxim the Confessor