"Books written by the Spirit of God through men sanctified by God, who are called prophets and apostles. Usually these books are called the Bible" [43].

Where did this name come from? About 20 km north of Beirut on the Mediterranean coast there is a small now Arab, formerly Phoenician, city of Gibel. In the Holy Scriptures he is mentioned under the name of Ebal (Ezekiel 27:9). The Greeks called this port city "Byblos". Since writing material was delivered to Greece through this port, the very word "byblos (βίβλος)" came to mean a book among the Greeks. "The Bible (βιβλία)" is the plural of βίβλος. Thus, the literal meaning of the word "Bible" is books [44]. The word βίβλος; in Greek, neuter. Over time, the word βιβλία (plural, cf. p.)

"turned into a singular word of the feminine gender, began to be written with a capital letter and applied exclusively to the Holy Scriptures, becoming its own name: the Bible. As such, it has passed into all the languages of the world. It wants to show that Holy Scripture is a book par excellence, that is, it surpasses all other books in its significance because of its divine origin and content. that all the heterogeneous elements included in it contain the revelation of one and the same fundamental truth: the truth about God, who reveals himself in the world and builds our salvation" [45].

2.2. The Inspiration of Holy Scripture

A distinctive feature of the books of Holy Scripture is their divine inspiration (2 Tim. 3:16), that is, the only true author of these books is God Himself.

It is necessary to say a few words about the misunderstanding of inspiration. Sometimes inspiration is understood in a purely negative way. The work of writing sacred books is completely assimilated to man, and the action of the Holy Spirit is limited only by the fact that He is guaranteed to protect the author from possible heretical errors. In fact, such an understanding leads to the denial of inspiration as such, for in terms of their content, the sacred books turn out to be purely human works, and the activity of the Holy Spirit is reduced to a kind of spiritual censorship that "does not allow through" any false opinions.

The opposite extreme is expressed in the denial of all freedom for man in general, and the authors of the sacred books are regarded as some kind of automatons, mechanically carrying out the will of the Deity who possesses them completely. Of course, God inspires the authors of sacred books, puts into their consciousness a certain dogmatic and moral content, but the personal independence of man is not eliminated. The creation of sacred books is a creative process that requires intense intellectual work from a person. To be convinced of this, it is enough to turn to the first verses of the Gospel of Luke (Luke 1:1-3). The biblical books vary considerably in style and language, conveying the vivid individual characteristics of their authors.

It seems almost impossible to give an exhaustive definition of inspiration. Let's try to explain the meaning of this concept with the help of an example. Why do we call the books of Holy Scripture divinely inspired, while other writings worthy of respect, for example, the works of Sts. Fathers or hymnographic works, we deny this right, although often they were also created by people filled with the Holy Spirit? The difference between the books of the Holy Scriptures and other works can be expressed in part through such concepts as authorship and co-authorship. In the works of Sts. In the liturgical hymns, man acts as the author, the subject of creativity, and God only inspires man, helps him. In the case of the creation of sacred books, the true author is God Himself, He determines their dogmatic and moral content, and man only embodies, though not automatically, but creatively, God's plan, acting as a co-author.