I. There are two kinds of divine revelation: revelation in the general and broad sense, and revelation in the narrow and proper sense. God reveals Himself in all of His creation, especially in the God-like soul of man, and in the actions of His providence in the world and man. This revelation is otherwise called natural revelation (revelatio generalis or naturalis), because God reveals Himself here in the nature or nature of His creatures, and moreover naturally, just as, for example, the artist reveals himself in his work, the author in his work, etc. But this kind of revelation can only serve as a source for science, with great and essential limitations. which has as its subject the exposition of Orthodox Christian doctrine. In many Christian dogmas it cannot and does not reveal anything, but can only lead to the realization of the necessity of a special, higher, direct revelation of God, which makes up for the weakness of man in his natural search for the Divinity, and serve as "a kind of aid to the knowledge of God from His special revelation" (Catech. Sn. § 13). Such a revelation is given to men in a supernatural revelation, a revelation in the proper and strict sense (revelatio specialis or supernaturalis). It consists in the fact that God, condescending to the weakness of the human spirit, directly revealed Himself to people, independently of his (man's) own cognitive activity, revealed Himself first through the law and the prophets, and then through the incarnate Son of God Himself and the Holy Spirit sent down. The Apostle teaches, "God, in many parts (πολυμερώς — in different divisions of time) and manifold (πολυτρόπως — in various ways) of old, spoken by the Father in the prophets, in the last days of these days, spoke to us in the Son (Hebrews 1:1-2), who, appearing on earth in the flesh, gave us light and understanding, that we might know the true God (Jn 5:20). God has revealed to us what is by His Spirit! – says the same Apostle on the mystery of redemption, – for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God (1 Cor 2:10). It is this revelation of God that serves in particular as the source of Christian knowledge of God and at the same time of the truths revealed in Dogmatic Theology. It is given to us in the Holy Scriptures. It is also contained in the Holy Scriptures. Traditions, the guardian and interpreter of which, and consequently of revelation itself, is the Church.

II. Under the name of St. The Scriptures are understood as "books written by the Spirit of God through men sanctified by God, who are called prophets and apostles" (Katikh.). These books, called the Bible (βίβλος — a book; plural τα βιβλία, from the single diminutive το βιβλίον — a small book, signifies a whole series or collection of such small books as form a single book), [p. 10} therefore are not ordinary human literary works, nor are they the same as the religious monuments of non-Christian peoples (e.g., the Koran, Zend-Avesta, the Vedas, etc.), but holy writings (γραφαί άγίαι — Rom. 1, (2) the Holy Scriptures (ιερά γράμματα 2 Tim 3:15), the very word of God (Mk 7:13; cf. Mt 15:6; Rom 3:2; 9:6; 1 Thessalonians 4:15; Hebrews 13:7; Apoc 19:9, etc.). Canon of St. The Scriptures consist of the books of the Old Testament, the number of twenty-two according to the Hebrew reckoning (according to our reckoning, 38), and the books of the New Testament, the number of twenty-seven [4]. All these books (canonical), as written according to a special illumination and enlightenment from the Holy Scriptures. belongs to the property of divine inspiration (θεοπνευστία, inspriratio) [5].

The inspiration of the books of Moses, which are law-positive, is revealed from the fact that, according to the testimony of the Bible, God Himself first pronounced the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20), and then other decrees. concerning the internal, social, ecclesiastical, and family life of the Jewish people (Exodus 21-23; 25-31; ch. 34). David, in whose name many psalms are inscribed, testifies to himself: "The Spirit of the Lord has spoken in me, and His word is in my tongue" (2 Samuel 23:2). It is said of the prophets that they were instruments of God, whom He Himself called to ministry (Isaiah 6; Jonah 1:2), that they received revelations directly from God. In their books there are constant expressions: "The Lord spake unto me, and the word of the Lord came unto me," and others. Peter says to the Old Testament writers that not by their own will, but by the Holy Spirit, they are enlightened (φερόμενοι — carried, moved, i.e. by the Holy Spirit) by the holy men of God (2 Pet 1:21; cf. 1 Peter 1:10-12). Up. Paul, having in mind the Old Testament writings, says to his disciple Timothy: "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God (πασα γραφή θεόπνενοτος) and is profitable for doctrine, which is in righteousness (2 Tim 3:15-16). In the preaching of the Apostles, therefore, the words of the Old Testament revelation are often identified with the words of God Himself, when, instead of the expression "Scripture speaks," the following expressions are used: God spoke (2 Cor 6:16; Hebrews 1:1; 8:8, etc.), God spoke to the mouth of the saints, His prophet (Luke 1:70; Matthew 1:22; 2:15; Acts 4:25; 3:18, 21, etc.), the Holy Spirit spoke through the prophets (Acts 1:1). 16; 28, 25; 2 Peter 1:21; And Christ the Saviour Himself called the writings of the Old Testament the word of God (Mk 7:13; cf. Mt 15:6), and often spoke of these writings in the way that one can only speak of the word of God, and not at all human, e.g., "Scripture cannot be destroyed" (Jn 10:35); until heaven and earth pass away, one jot, or one tittle does not pass away from the law, until all shall be (Matthew 5:18; cf. 26:54; Luke 24:44, etc.). In particular, he remarked to David on one occasion: "That (David) said by the Holy Spirit, 'The Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit at my right hand' (Mk 12:36). All the apostolic writings, the New Testament, are also divinely inspired. Jesus Christ promised to send down to the Apostles, and indeed did, the Holy Spirit, that He might teach them all things, that He might remember all things, and that He might proclaim things to come (Jn 14:26; 16:13); he also promised to give them mouth and wisdom (Lk 21:15), which, no doubt, if they needed them at all times, how much more so when they were putting down in writing the teachings of Jesus Christ for all subsequent times (1 Cor 2:12-13). And the apostles themselves say to themselves that they have the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16), and that in the work of serving the new covenant they can conceive of nothing of themselves, but contentment, i.e. their ability from God (2 Cor 3:5-6), that their preaching is not the word of man, but truly the word of God (1 Thessalonians 2:11). 13; Ch. 1 Cor 2:7-13).

And in himself, the Holy Spirit. Scripture bears the indelible stamp of its divine origin. To people who are capable of perceiving divine truth, it testifies to its divine inspiration by a special effect on the soul, peculiar only to God's power. The word of God is alive, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, limbs and brains, and judging by the mind and the thought of the heart (Hebrews 4:12). It is the power of God unto the salvation of everyone who believes (Rom 1:16; cf. Eph 6:17). Under certain conditions, it completely and instantly conquers the heart of man. The history of the church is full of examples of this. A comparison of the teaching contained in it with the teaching of natural religions and philosophy testifies to the immeasurable superiority of the biblical teaching over all natural religious and philosophical teachings, thereby showing that it could not have been invented by human reason. Its influence on entire nations and on the whole of humanity, which has not diminished after four thousand years of its dominion over men, must also clearly tell the unprejudiced human mind that the Bible is an exclusive, universal and eternal book, incomparable to any human works, in short, that it really contains the words of eternal life (Jn 6:68).

From the canonical books of St. The Scriptures must be distinguished by non-canonical books. The Universal Church has always made a distinction between them in meaning and authority: canonical books are divinely inspired, i.e., contain the true word of God, while non-canonical books are only edifying and useful, but are not alien to the personal, not always infallible opinions of their writers; In ancient times, the latter were intended for reading to those entering the church (catechumens). There is not a single non-canonical book among the books of the New Testament, but there are non-canonical books only among the books of the Old Testament, namely, nine [6].

Divine revelation has been disseminated among men, and is preserved in the true church, not only through the Holy Spirit. Scriptures, but also through the Holy Scriptures. Lore. Tradition constitutes "the most ancient and original method of spreading the revelation of God. From Adam to Moses, there were no sacred books. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself transmitted His divine teaching and ordinances to His disciples by His word and example, and not by a book. In the same way, in the beginning, the apostles spread the faith and established the church of Christ" (Catech. Many of them did not leave any of their writings at all. In the apostolic writings themselves, which appeared later, only a brief reminder of the detailed oral teaching is given (2 John 12; 3 John 13 and 14; 1 Corinthians 11:34). Many of the events of the earthly life of the Saviour are not even described in them: but there are many other things, says St. John, which Jesus did, if it were written alone, neither for me to contain the books that are written for the whole world (Jn 21:25). Ev. Luke was not a disciple of Christ, but wrote the whole Gospel according to the oral tradition of Christ's disciples (Luke 1:1). Jesus Christ appeared to His disciples for forty days after His resurrection and taught them about the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3), but this teaching is nowhere recorded in the holy books, but is faithfully transmitted by the Apostles to the believers in Christ orally. The Lord said, for example, that it is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35), but these words are not literally recorded in the Gospels (similar so-called agrafs, i.e. the sayings of the Lord not recorded in the Gospels, are found in other ancient written monuments), and the writer of Book II. Acts of Ap. (Ev. Luke), who brings them, undoubtedly heard them from the mouth of one of Christ's disciples. Finally, the Apostolic Writings, written in various places and to various private churches or even to private individuals, did not become generally known throughout the Church of Christ very soon, and even in the days of St. Irenaeus there were entire peoples converted to Christianity, who did not have any books of the Holy Scriptures. Scriptures, and were content with the Holy Scriptures alone. Tradition (Irina, Prot. Heresy. III book. IV, 2). This is the revelation of God received by the Apostles from Jesus Christ and transmitted to the Church by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The Apostles themselves, in addition to the Holy Spirit. Scriptures, and compiles the Holy Scriptures. Tradition in the proper or narrow sense. For the cognition of Christian truth, the Holy Scriptures. Tradition, as the word of God, has the same importance and significance as the Holy Scriptures. Writing. Up. Paul directly commands: "Brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions, which you have learned either by word or by our epistle" (2 Thessalonians 2:15; cf. 3:6). I praise you, brethren, for you remember all that is mine, and as I have delivered it to you, you keep the tradition, wrote the same Apostle in his first Epistle to the Corinthians, and evidently meaning not written traditions, but only oral traditions (1 Corinthians 11:2). He convinces Timothy: O Timothy, preserve the tradition... As thou hast heard from me many witnesses, deliver this to a faithful man, who shall be able to teach others (1 Tim 6:20; 2 Tim 2:2; cf. 1:13). To materially determine the composition (in its entirety and with all accuracy) of the Holy Scriptures. Traditions in the narrow sense are extremely difficult. Its content enters the general consciousness of the Church, manifesting itself in the witness or voice of the Universal Church.

From Tradition, understood in this sense, it is necessary to distinguish Tradition in the general or broad sense, or the witness of the Universal Church. The Lord Jesus Christ entrusted the preservation of divine revelation (written down by the apostles and not written by them) not to individuals, but to the church founded by Him. "In it, as a rich man in a treasury, the apostles put in fullness everything that pertains to the truth," says St. Irenaeus (Prov. heres. III book. IV, 1). She herself, according to the divine promise, is constantly preserved by Jesus Christ, who is inseparably with her all the days until the end of the world (Matthew 28:20), and by the Holy Spirit, who guides her into all truth (John 14:16, 26), so that "she can neither fall away from the faith, nor sin in the truth of the faith, or fall into error" (Katich. 9). Being the pillar and foundation of the truth, it preserves in itself or transmits from age to age the divine revelation (Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition) in its entirety and intact, in the form in which it was given to it by God; it preserves and transmits from age to age its understanding or understanding of divine revelation, or it is an infallible interpreter of it, and in particular of the Holy Spirit. Hagiographa. This transmission in the Christian Church of divine revelation by the letter, or the preservation of it, and its transmission in spirit and meaning, or the interpretation and understanding of it, is Tradition in the broad sense of the word. In other words, Tradition in this sense is the witness or voice of the Universal Church, in other words, that spirit of truth and faith, that consciousness of the Church, which has lived in it as the body of Christ, from the time of Christ and the Apostles. It is not the source of divine revelation, like Tradition in the narrow or proper sense, but is a necessary guide to the use of divine revelation, a rule for the proper understanding of the truths given in revelation.

The voice of the Universal Church about the truths of faith has its external expression: 1) in the most ancient creeds; 2) in the so-called Apostolic Canons and in the Acts and Decrees of Councils, both Ecumenical and Local; 3) in ancient liturgies; 4) in the works of all the ancient fathers and teachers of the Church; 5) in the most ancient acts of martyrdom, and, finally, 6) in the entire practice of the ancient Christian Church concerning sacred times (fasts, feasts), places (the construction of churches with their accessories), sacred actions and rites, and in general in the surviving church rites. It goes without saying that not everything that is contained in these sources or monuments is therefore truly apostolic teaching or institution. The expression of the voice of the Universal Church is only that, being in agreement with the Holy Scriptures. It satisfies the conditions of universality, continuity, and universality. This is well explained by Vikenty of Lirin. "In the Universal Church itself," he says, "by all means it is necessary to adhere to that which has been believed everywhere (ubique), what has always been believed (semper), what has been believed by all, (quod ab omnibus creditum est), because that is only in reality and in the proper sense universal, which, as the very meaning and meaning of this word shows, embraces everything as much as possible... That all or many unanimously, openly, and constantly, as if by some prior agreement among themselves, unanimously receive, maintain, and transmit teachers, must be considered completely certain and indubitable" (Nap. I, 2 and 28).

The necessity of the Holy Scriptures. Tradition and the obligation to be guided by the witness of the Universal Church, although we have the Holy Scriptures. Scripture opens from the following.

St. Although Scripture is a true source of Christian teaching, it can be so for our consciousness only if we are convinced of the authenticity and inspiration of the books of the Holy Scriptures. The Holy Scriptures that make up the Holy Scriptures. Canon. But who can define the canon of the sacred books with indisputable persuasiveness and testify that the books that make up it are precisely inspired by God? Ordinary human witness, where there is always room for doubt and hesitation, is not enough in the present case, for all Christian beliefs must be based on this immutable truth. It is impossible to make the solution of this question dependent on reason and scientific research in general, as the example of the rationalists shows, who in their Biblical criticism have reached the point where there is no longer a single book that would be unanimously recognized by all of them as canonical. To base the solution of the same question on the inner testimony of the Holy Spirit. His Spirit and power, inherent in the holy books, would mean opening up wide scope for personal arbitrariness in determining the canon of the holy books, which we see in the example of Luther, who rejected the canonical dignity of some of the New Testament books (the Epistles of James, Jude, Peter and the Apocalypse). Finally, it is impossible to resolve this question convincingly on the basis of the testimony of the Scriptures themselves to their divine inspiration, for these testimonies are not always sufficiently definite (e.g. 2 Timothy 3:16; Mt 22:31), which is why they are subject to various interpretations, sometimes concern only one book, or even one part of it, sayings, etc. (e.g. Mark 12:12). 36). In order to determine the composition of the canon and the inspiration of the Holy Books, it is evident that a higher testimony is needed. Such a witness alone can be, and indeed is, the authoritative voice of the Universal Church, to which the writings belong. Only she can be an infallible judge in deciding which books are inspired by God and which are not inspired: no one is God's message, but the Spirit of God (1 Cor 2:11), who lives and works in the Church and through the Church. With the removal of her testimony, the only basis or beginning for determining the canon of the Holy Scriptures is lost. Hagiographa.

St. Tradition is necessary "for guidance to the correct understanding of the Holy Scriptures. Scriptures" (Katih.). In the Holy Scriptures. Scripture does not express all the truths of revelation with all fullness and clarity. Scripture is not equally intelligible and intelligible in all its passages. Up. Peter says in the epistles of St. Paul. Paul, that in them there is a certain inconvenient understanding (something incomprehensible), that the ignorant and unconfirmed turn to their own destruction, as do the rest of the Scriptures (2 Peter 3:16). Not a few in St. Scriptures and mysterious, incomprehensible truths, and in general such as the soul does not accept... for foolishness is for him, and cannot understand it (1 Cor 2:14; cf. 1:23). All this shows that for the correct understanding {p. 18} of the Holy Scriptures. Scripture needs external and authoritative guidance. Therefore, although "we must believe him (St. Scripture) unquestioningly, but only in the way it was explained and betrayed by the Catholic Church... Otherwise, if everyone were to interpret the Scriptures daily in his own way, then the Catholic Church would not remain, by the grace of Christ, to this day such a Church, which, being of one mind in the faith, always believes in the same way and unshakably; but it would be divided into innumerable parts, it would be subjected to heresies, and at the same time it would cease to be a holy church, a pillar and affirmation of the truth, but would become a church of the wicked, that is, as must be assumed, without a doubt, a church of heretics" (Epistle of the Eastern Pat. 2nd part).