; compare: "And my witnesses, saith the Lord, are ye and my servant, whom I have chosen, that ye may know and believe me, and understand that it is I: before me there was no God, neither shall there be after me" (Isaiah 43:10). This remnant faithfully fulfills the duty of a "slave" in this time of the end by taking the lead in preaching the good news of the Kingdom and by distributing spiritual food to the household of faith in a timely manner.

See what is said: "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations; and then shall the end come" (Matt. 24:14). You have read the text about the veil of ignorance, but you have not read it completely. See: "But when they turn to the Lord, then this veil is taken off. The Lord is Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" (2 Corinthians 3:16-17).

Christ is the "head" of the church of the anointed congregation of 144,000, and through them he provides the right instruction in the faith to the "great crowd." And who in your Orthodoxy provides believers with the correct understanding (interpretation) of biblical truths? Orthodox: We will consider many of the issues that you outlined in your speech when we talk about the Church.

In answer to your question about the correct understanding of the Bible, I want to draw your attention to the term "tradition." Sectarians of various trends for the most part do not have a correct idea of this concept. Jehovah's Witness: No! On the contrary! We have an idea of what tradition is. Christ said: "... why do you also transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?" (Matt. 15:3); and again: "...

you have removed the commandment of God by your tradition. Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied well of you, saying, These men draw near to me with their mouths, and worship me with their tongues, but their hearts are far from me. but in vain do they worship me, teaching doctrines, the commandments of men" (Matt. 15:6-7). You Orthodox, unfortunately, still hold to the tradition of the elders (Mark 7:5), "teaching the teachings and commandments of men" Orthodox: Speaking of Tradition (Holy Tradition)

, we have in mind, first of all, not the traditions of the elders and teachings, human commandments, but the Apostolic Traditions and the Teaching of the Church. The New Testament says enough about the apostolic tradition and its significance. Let us consider some of these texts: "I praise you, brethren, that you remember all my things, and keep the traditions as I have handed down to you" (1 Cor. 11:2).

Here we see that the Apostle Paul encourages with praise those who hold to tradition. Jehovah's Witness: I want to check this text against the translation of Novy Mir. Look, it is said here somewhat differently than in the Synodal translation: "I praise you for remembering me in all matters and holding fast to the traditions, as I have handed them down to you" (N.M.).

In some English translations, the word "tradition" in this text (1 Corinthians 11:2) is replaced by the word "teaching". Orthodox: This substitution is not authorized. Let's look at the ancient Greek version of this text: epainw deĀ�umaV otipantamoumemnhsqekai kaqwVparedwka umin taV paradoseiV katecete.

The literal translation would be as follows: epainw (praise) de (same) umaV (you) oti panta mou (that all is mine) memnhsqe (you remember), kai kaqwV (and how) paredwka (I gave it) umin (to you) taV paradoseiV (tradition) katecete (hold). "I praise you, brethren, that you remember all that is mine, and, as I have told you, keep the tradition." As we can see, we are not talking here about traditions or teaching.

Teaching and tradition can be created and established by any person personally, in contrast to tradition, which is accepted and passed on. An example of this is the following words of the Apostle Paul: "For I have received from the Lord Himself that which I have also delivered to you" (1 Corinthians 11:23). St. Vincent of Lirin taught: "Tradition is what you have accepted, and not what you have invented." Jehovah's Witness: What if the apostolic traditions are the very Scriptures of the New Testament? Orthodox: No.

Tradition, first and foremost, is oral instruction. It is said: "Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you have been taught, either by word or by our epistle" (2 Thess. 2:15). As we can see, the word comes first, and the message follows it. Holy Tradition is primary, and Holy Scripture is secondary. There is many confirmations of this from the Word of God itself: the first Scripture was the Pentateuch of Moses (Hebrew Torah).

It sets forth the Law of God – the doctrine of clean and unclean animals, the law of tithes, sacrifices, etc. However, from the Book of Genesis we learn that sacrifices were performed even before the written Law of God. We read: "After a while, Cain brought a gift to the Lord from the fruits of the earth, and Abel also brought from the firstlings of his flock, and from their fat..." (Gen. 4:3-4).

This text shows that ancient people knew not only the law of sacrifices, but also the ritual subtleties of the features of their offering - "from the fruits of the earth a gift to the Lord... from the firstlings of their flock, and from their fat." Noah knew which animals were clean and which were unclean. We read: "And of the clean birds, and of the unclean birds, and] of the clean beasts, and of the unclean beasts, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth" (Gen. 7:8). Abraham knew the law of tithing. It is said: "[Abraham] gave him (the priest Melchizedek) a tenth of all" (Gen. 14:20).

Jacob also knew the law of vow tithes, he said: "... and of all that Thou art God, O God, give Thee a tenth" (Genesis 28:22), etc. On this point, St. John. St. John Chrysostom wrote: "In fact, with Noah, Abraham and his descendants, as well as with Job and Moses, God did not converse through writing, but directly" (Commentary on Matthew, vol. 7, p. 5).