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 beliefs about Christ arise on the pages of the Old Testament There was a history teacher in my school who liked to sum up with the words: "Everything is interconnected" This rule is perfect for the study of the Holy Scriptures. Look for interconnected, 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. What we need to see is both the heterogeneity and the integrity of Scripture—a comprehensive conclusion on a par with the split primary sources. 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 foreshadowing all aspects of His earthly life and preaching, throughout the Old Testament. but already in the New Testament itself by His apostles (Heb. 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, the person of the righteous Joseph occupies such an important place in the readings of the Old Testament from the Book of Genesis.7 Why do we read the Book of the Saints of Righteous Job during Holy Week? For both Joseph and Job are innocent sufferers, and in their long-suffering are types of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose innocent sufferings on the Cross the Church is preparing in those days to glorify "All things are connected"

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 the Christian who knows the Bible, and it is he who, wherever he looks, 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 Mark, "humble in thought and engaged in spiritual work, will, when reading the Bible, attribute everything to himself, and not to his neighbor" We, as Orthodox Christians, should strive throughout the Holy Scriptures to apply his words to ourselves personally. 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, Adam is me. (Genesis 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?" (Genesis 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 (Genesis, 4:15) and thereby renounce my human nature

The reading of the Holy Scriptures can be divided into three stages. First, to perceive the Holy Scriptures as sacred history, the history of the world from its creation, the history of the chosen people, the history of God Incarnate in Palestine, the history of "great deeds" after the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles

Then let's take the second step. The history of the Bible is the history of specific individuals We see God manifesting Himself at certain times and in certain places by engaging in conversation with individuals. He addresses everyone by name. We are confronted with concrete, individual calls from God to Abraham, Moses and David, to Rebekah and Ruth, to Isaiah and the prophets, and then to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the apostles. a certain time and a certain Mother for His divine incarnation

We must, therefore, feel as fully as possible in all the details of the special circumstances in which God's deeds take place according to the Holy Scriptures. A person who loves the Bible loves chronological and geographical details Orthodox zealously revere the Holy Land, those places where Christ Himself lived and taught, died and rose again The best way to delve more deeply into what you read in the Holy Scriptures is to undertake a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and Galilee, Walk where the Lord Jesus Christ walked Go down to the Dead Sea, sit alone on the stones, Be imbued with what the Lord Jesus Christ was surrounded by during the forty days of His fasting in the wilderness Drink water from the well at which He talked with the Samaritan woman Go to the Garden of Gethsemane in the evening, sit in the dark under the ancient olive trees and look at the lights of the city shining beyond the plain Experience the concrete reality of this historical area to the fullest and take what you have experienced with you, keeping it in mind during the daily reading of the Holy Scriptures

Then there is the third step. Having experienced the biblical story in all its features and everyday details, we must attribute it directly to ourselves. One should say to oneself: "All these places and events are not just something distant and ancient, but part of my own personal rapprochement with the Lord Jesus Christ. I kind of become part of these events, these narratives."

Betrayal, for example, is part of everyone's biography. Have you not betrayed others at some time in your life, do you not know what it is to be betrayed, and does not the memory of these moments leave forever scars on yours, on every soul? So, reading about how the holy Apostle Peter betrayed and denied the Lord Jesus Christ and was forgiven after His Resurrection, you can see yourself in the place of each of the participants in these events. Imagine what both the Apostle Peter and the Lord Jesus Christ experienced immediately after the betrayal, share their feelings and make them your own, I am Peter; can I be like the Lord Jesus Christ in a similar situation? As you ponder the path to reconciliation in this way, as you see the resurrected Christ lovingly and condescendingly bring Peter back into the ranks of His friends, as you see how Peter, for his part, has the courage to accept the restoration of their relationship, ask yourself: How much am I like Christ to those who have betrayed me? And after my acts of betrayal, am I able to accept forgiveness from others, am I able to forgive myself?

Or let us cite St. Mary Magdalene as another example. Do I see myself in it? Will I have the generosity, the spontaneity, the rush of love that she showed by pouring the precious myrrh from the alabaster vessel on the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ? "Her many sins are forgiven, because she loved much." Or am I timid, petty, always restrained, never fully surrender to anything, neither good nor bad? In the words of the Desert Fathers: "Better is a sinner who is aware of his sin and repents of it, than a non-sinner, who thinks of his righteousness."