There are ordinary paremias, which are taken from one or another book of the Holy Scriptures. Scriptures in succession, for example, paremias from the Book of Genesis, Proverbs, Isaiah's prophecies, read during the Lent of the Forty Days. Other paremias are taken from the Holy Scriptures. Scriptures in relation to this or that event commemorated in the church service. Each of these paremias, in addition to the fact that it must be explained in itself, also requires remarks on why it was introduced into this or that church service, what can be common between the content of the paremia and the event being commemorated. But with regard to ordinary paroemias, there is no need to make such remarks; it is enough to say only a few words about why from the books of St. The Scriptures from which the ordinary paremias are taken are chosen and not the other.

For a closer acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures, for the study in sequential order of the revelations of God and events contained in it, we will set forth the paremias in the order of the books of St. John. Scriptures, beginning with the book of Genesis.

PAREMIAS FROM THE BOOK OF GENESIS

The Concept of This Book

The Book of Genesis occupies the first place in the order of the Old Testament sacred books. It was written by Moses. He is also the writer of the books: Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. All these five books of Moses have been known from ancient times under the common name of the Law, the Law of the Lord, and also the Book of Moses (Deuteronomy 31:26, Joshua 6:24, 2 Chronicles 34:14, Luke 24:27, 44). The exposition of the laws given by God through Moses is contained in the books of Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy, but the name of the Law does not refer to them alone, but together to the Book of Genesis, because it indicates the original foundations for the laws of Moses, for the law of faith in the one true God, the Creator and Master of all, for the moral and ceremonial laws (Gen. 1:1). 14; 2,3; 4,3 — 4; 7,2 — 3; 17:11). From the time of the translation of the Holy Scriptures. books from Hebrew into Greek, the collection of books of Moses is also called the Pentateuch.

The title of the first book of Moses: Genesis, was given to it by those who translated the Holy Scriptures. Scripture from Hebrew into Greek. Being (γενεσις) means birth, origin. The book that bears this name is so called because it depicts the original history of the world, the human race, and the original fate of the chosen people, in the person of its ancestors.

Chapter: I. Paremia at Vespers on the eve of the feasts of the Nativity of Christ, Theophany, Pascha, and also on Monday of the first week of Great Lent (Gen 1:1-13).

This paremia contains an account of the first three days of the creation of the world.

1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

In the beginning. God alone is without beginning. "He is above all" (Col 1:17). Everything that exists outside of God received the beginning of existence, happened in time. The actual existence of the beings who fill the world was preceded by non-existence, although there is no doubt that they existed from eternity in the mind of God, as predestined to real being. The word in the beginning indicates the first moment of the transition from non-existence to being, and means: at the beginning of time, and of all temporal things.

How did the transition from non-being to being take place? How did peace come about? How did it begin its existence? By the creative power of the Being without beginning: in the beginning created God. Creation here refers to the giving of existence to that which did not exist, or, as the Apostle puts it, "the dispensation of the ages, so that out of the invisible things came the visible" (Heb 11:3). Ancient pagan sages said: nothing comes from nothing. In fact, something can never come from nothing by itself, and consequently the world could not come from nothing by itself, or give itself existence. But this is precisely what distinguishes the revealed teaching about the origin of the world from the philosophies of reason unenlightened by revelation, that it does not recognize the originality of the world, that it ascribes originality to God alone (Exodus 3:15, Psalm 35:10, Acts 17:15), and calls the world the product of His omnipotence. Nothing is impossible for the Almighty, and consequently it is possible for Him to produce everything out of nothing. "He calls non-existent as being" (Rom 4:17).

God created. The combination of these concepts in the Hebrew text of the Bible is significant. The subject God is used in the plural form Elohim, while the predicate create is in the singular. How could this combination of concepts happen? It cannot be said to explain this that the Hebrew name of God Elohim is not used in the singular; in the Scriptures there are many examples of the use of this name (Eloah) in the singular, for example, it is said of Israel: "He forsook God (Eloah) his Creator" (Deuteronomy 32:14; cf. Psalm 49:22). According to the probable opinion of some, the plural name of God expresses partly the union in one God of the highest perfections inherent in Him, and partly a special reverence for Him. As a sign of reverence, a person is sometimes spoken of in the plural: thus, Joseph's brothers, telling their father about their meeting with Joseph in Egypt, call him lords of the earth (in the original text of the Bible) (Gen 42:30). To this we can add that the indicated combination of words also hints at the unity of the Creator in essence, and at the plurality of persons, i.e. at the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. And indeed, the creation of the world is the work of all the Persons of the Holy Trinity. Of God the Father it is said in the Scriptures: "To us is one God the Father, from Whom all things are" (1 Corinthians 8:6). About the Son: "By Him were created all things, both in heaven and on earth" (Col 1:16). On the participation of St. The Spirit in creation is said, as we shall see, in the next verse.

Heaven and earth. These names, taken together, signify the whole world (Gen 24:3, 2 Chronicles 2:12, Psalm 68:35, Mt 5:18; 24:35). It is true that in the composition of the universe the earth is the most insignificant part in its size, but the sacred writers, when the universe is called heaven and earth, apply it to the usual usage, and at the same time let the attentive understand that before the greatness of the Creator the huge and innumerable heavenly bodies and the earth, scarcely conspicuous in comparison with them, are equally insignificant. It must be assumed that the writer of Genesis, when he said that God created the heavens and the earth, also had in mind the whole world, and in particular he had in mind the immovable, at first dark, stars filling the entire celestial space, among which is the earth. Both the stars and the planets, according to the mania of the Creator, suddenly received existence, although they were not yet delimited by sharp outlines and did not receive the proper density in their structure. Both, as we shall see, followed on the second day of creation. In addition, when speaking of the creation of the heavens, the writer of Genesis probably had in mind not only the material heaven, but also the so-called heaven of heavens (1 Kings 8:2), i.e. the highest heaven, or the third heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2), so called in contrast to the sky in the air (hence the expression "birds of heaven"), and from the starry sky. This highest heaven is the spiritual heaven proper, the dwelling place of the bodiless and the place of God's pre-eminent dwelling (Job 22:12), from which the expression "Heavenly Father" is derived. Moses does not mention the time of the creation of the Bodiless Ones, although they are often found in the Book of Genesis; but it can be surmised that they were created, if not before, then not after the creation of the heavens and the earth, for, according to the words of God Himself in the Book of Job, they were already shouting (with a voice of praise and joy) when He founded the earth (Job 38:4-7). To the period of the existence of the newly-created heavens and earth in their original state, we can also attribute the rebellion against the Creator of some angels and their punishment.