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."

Did I achieve the courage of St. Mary Magdalene, her constancy and devotion when she went to anoint the body of the Lord Jesus Christ in the tomb (John 20:1)? Do I hear the resurrected Savior calling me by name, as He called her, and do I call out "Master" in her simplicity and complete selflessness (John 20:16)?

By reading the Holy Scriptures in this way—with obedience, as members of the Holy Church, by finding the Lord Jesus Christ everywhere in them, by perceiving everything as part of our own lives—we will be able to feel the versatility and depth of the Holy Bible to some extent. Yet we will never leave the feeling that we have only just begun to study the Holy Bible. We are like a man who sails out in a small boat into the boundless ocean.

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path" (Psalm 118:105).