As an example of what the liturgical method of interpreting Scripture consists of, guided by the way it is used during church feasts, let us consider the paremia - readings from the Old Testament that are based on the vespers of the feast of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos - March 25 (April 7 in the civil calendar). There are three of them: 1) from the Book of Genesis, 28:10-17 - Jacob's dream about a ladder ascending from earth to heaven; 2) from the book of the prophet Ezekiel, 43:27 - 44:4 - the prophet's vision of the Jerusalem sanctuary with closed gates, through which no one except the prince can pass; 3) from Proverbs 9:1-11 - beginning with the words: "Wisdom has built herself a house."

All these Old Testament texts chosen for the services of March 25 (April 7) and other feasts of the Mother of God should be understood as prophecies about the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ from the Virgin. The Most Holy Virgin Mary is the ladder of Jacob, who gave flesh to the incarnate God, Who entered our human world. The Most Holy Virgin Mary - the closed gates; She is the only woman who conceived in virginity and remained immaculate. The Most Holy Virgin Mary is the house which Christ "the Wisdom of God" (1 Corinthians 1:24) accepts as a dwelling place. If we trace in this way how the readings for the various feasts are selected, we reveal the versatility of the biblical interpretation, through the comparison of images and examples that are not at all obvious at the first reading.

Let us take as another example the Vespers of Great Saturday, which many centuries ago was the first part of the Paschal All-Night Vigil. It contains at least 15 readings from the Old Testament. Unfortunately, in very many churches most of them are omitted, and therefore the people of God are deprived of the opportunity to be satiated with their Biblical meaning. These 15 paremias, one after the other, reveal to us the entire plan of sacred history, at the same time revealing the deep meaning of the resurrection of Christ. The first of the readings, from Genesis 1:1-13, is about the first three days of Creation. The Resurrection of Christ is a new Creation. The fourth reading is the entire book of the holy prophet Jonah, in which it is described how the prophet was in the belly of the whale for three days, which anticipates the three-day resurrection of Christ (compare: Matt. 12:40). The sixth reading tells of the Israelites' crossing of the Red Sea (Exodus 13:20-15:19), which heralds Christ's new Passover transition from death to life (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:7, 10:1-4). The last reading is the story of the three holy youths thrown into a fiery furnace (Dan. 3), another prototype of Christ's resurrection from the tomb.

Such is the effect of the conciliar reading of Holy Scripture in the Church and together with the Church. Studying the Old Testament in parallel with the liturgics of the Holy Church and resorting to the works of the Holy Fathers, we everywhere discover new guiding signs leading us to the knowledge of the great mysteries surrounding the Lord Jesus Christ and His Most-Pure Mother. By reading the Old Testament in comparison with the New and the New Testament in comparison with the Old (which is indicated by our church calendar), we discover the unity of Holy Scripture.

In parish Bible study circles, it is helpful to assign someone a special activity: to find out on which feasts a particular passage from the Old or New Testament is read during worship. You could then discuss together why this particular passage was chosen. Other members of the group can be given an assignment on the works of the Holy Fathers of the Church, using primarily the sermons and teachings of St. John Chrysostom. But you should remember that you will need to be diligent in your search before you find what you are looking for. The Holy Fathers of the Church addressed people of a different time, and one must read them with the ability to delve into their epoch. Archpriest George Florovsky used to say that modern Orthodox Christians need to acquire a patristic way of thinking. And in order to achieve this, we must penetrate deeper than the superficial understanding of the words of the Holy Fathers into the very essence of their inner meaning.

The Soul of the Bible is Christ

The third feature of our Bible reading is that Christ must be the center. If at the Moscow Conference of 1976 it was said that "the books of the Holy Scriptures are one inseparable whole," then in what can we find this unity and inseparability? In the person of Christ, He is the connecting thread that runs through the entire Holy Scriptures, from the first verse to the last. We have already mentioned how prophecies about Christ arise in the pages of the Old Testament. I had a history teacher at school who liked to sum up with the words: "Everything is interconnected." This rule is great for studying the Holy Scriptures. Look for interconnecting, repeating chords and gradually everything will unfold. Often, Western critical studies of Scripture employ a methodology of analysis in which each book is broken down into different source units. The connection between them is destroyed, and the Bible is reduced to a multitude of original components. We need to see both the heterogeneity and the integrity of the Holy Scriptures, a comprehensive conclusion on a par with the split primary sources. The Orthodox generally prefer a synthetic rather than an analytical method of research. The Holy Scriptures are considered by us as a single whole, in which the constant presence of Christ is a constant connecting principle.

We are always looking for common ground between the Old Testament and the New, and we find them in Jesus Christ. In Orthodoxy, special importance is attached to the "typological" method of interpretation, built on the difference between the types of Christ, events and symbols that foreshadow all aspects of His earthly life and preaching, throughout the Old Testament. A striking example of this is Melchizedek, king of Selim, "priest of the Most High God", who offered Abraham bread and wine (Gen. 14:18) and who is considered as a prototype of Christ not only by the Holy Fathers of the Church, but already in the New Testament itself by His apostles (Hebrews 5:6; 7:1). Another example (as we have already seen) is the Old Testament Passover, which foreshadows the New Passover: Israel's deliverance from Pharaoh on the Red Sea, anticipating our deliverance from sin by the death and Resurrection of the Savior. This is the method of interpretation that we should apply to the entire Bible. Why, for example, in the second half of Great Lent, in the readings of the Old Testament from the Book of Genesis, does the personality of the righteous Joseph occupy such an important place? Why do we read the Book of St. Righteous Job during Holy Week? Because both Joseph and Job are innocent sufferers, and in their long-suffering they are types of the Lord Jesus Christ, Whose innocent sufferings on the Cross the Church is preparing to glorify in those days. "Everything is interconnected."

Archpriest Alexander Schmemann defines a Christian as a person who, wherever he looks, sees the Lord Jesus Christ and rejoices in Him. This can be said especially of a Christian who knows the Bible. It is he, wherever he looks, who sees Christ on every page of the Holy Scriptures.

Reading the Holy Bible is a purely personal process

In the words of the early ascetic writer of Eastern Christianity, the ascetic St. Mark, "humble in thought and engaged in spiritual work, will, reading the Bible, relate everything to himself, and not to his neighbor." We, as Orthodox Christians, must strive throughout the Holy Scriptures to relate his words to ourselves personally. The Scriptures are a personal conversation between the Savior and me: the Lord Jesus Christ speaks to me, and I answer. This is the fourth criterion for a correct reading of the Bible.

I should look at all the accounts of Scripture as part of my own personal life. Who is Adam? The name "Adam" means "man," and so the story of Adam's fall in Genesis is also a story about me. (Gen. 3:9). We often ask, "Where is God?" But what is really more important is the question that God in the person of Adam asks each of us: "Where are you?"

When, in the story of Cain's envy of Abel, we read the words of God to Cain: "Where is Abel your brother?" (Gen. 4:9), they are addressed to each of us. Who is Cain? And God asks the Cain in each of us: "Where is your brother?" The way to God is through love for other people, and there is no other way.

By renouncing my brother, I accept the seal of Cain instead of the image of God (Gen. 4:15) and thereby renounce my human nature.