3. The Holy Scriptures

It is no secret that in modern Russia Protestant sects are quite popular, the main weapon of which is the Bible. In a clash between an Orthodox Christian and a Protestant missionary, the latter will almost certainly demonstrate superiority in knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. As for Orthodox Christians, not all of them read the Bible regularly; even fewer people are interested in commentaries on biblical texts; And the number of those who are familiar with the achievements of modern biblical scholarship is absolutely negligible.

The question of the role of Holy Scripture in the Orthodox Church acquires special acuteness today. The Bible is not a part of the lives of most Russian Orthodox Christians. Orthodox Christians like to say that, unlike Protestants, who have sola Scriptura ("Scripture alone"), they have Scripture and Tradition. However, Tradition (Tradition with a capital letter, and not the "traditions of the elders" that many Orthodox Christians today prefer to be guided by) includes Scripture as an integral part: to be an Orthodox Christian and not to know the Bible is absurd and sinful.

In order for the Bible to become a part of the life and experience of a modern Christian, a new translation is needed. It can be either a "corrected synodal" translation or a completely new one, not genetically related to the synodal one. It is important that it meets several criteria. First, it must be based on a modern critical edition of the biblical text. Secondly, it must be as accurate as possible in terms of conveying the spirit and letter of the original. Thirdly, and finally, he must not be divorced from church tradition.446

Translation of biblical texts can be authorial, experimental, and designed for a certain audience. But the Russian Orthodox Church needs a translation that would be the fruit of the co-creation of several translators with the participation of experts both from among biblical scholars and from the ecclesiastical environment. The work of biblical translation could be directed by the Synodal Bible Commission.

It is necessary that access to the achievements of modern biblical criticism be opened to the Russian ecclesiastical environment, and above all to the theological schools where pastors of the Church are formed. It is necessary to get rid of prejudices in relation to this science, to get rid of such an approach in which the sacred text is perceived almost as having fallen from heaven in the same form in which it is recorded in the textus receptus (medieval "generally accepted" text) and in which it is transmitted in the Synodal translation.

It is no less important that the Russian reader should have access to the works of modern Western specialists in the field of biblical translation, biblical criticism and textual criticism. Some of these works are already appearing on bookshelves, but this is still only a drop in the ocean.

Finally, it is necessary to prepare a commented Bible that would reflect the entire path traveled by biblical scholarship since the appearance of A. Lopukhin's "Explanatory Bible." A new explanatory Bible should include several levels of commentary: textual (based on the achievements of modern biblical criticism), historical-archaeological (taking into account the data of modern biblical archaeology), exegetical (containing a theological interpretation of the text based on the internal characteristics of the text itself), and ecclesiastical-theological (based on patristic exegesis and taking into account both literal and allegorical interpretations of the Fathers of the East and West). Such a grandiose project is beyond the power of one or several scientists. For its implementation, as well as for the development of other similar projects, an institute of biblical studies or, at least, a center for the study of the Bible at one of the theological academies is needed.

4. Patristic heritage

It is necessary to raise the study of the patristic heritage to a qualitatively new level. The teaching of the Fathers is the foundation on which the Church must be built. Without a firm patristic foundation, the revival of Russian theology is unthinkable, for, in the words of Archpriest George Florovsky,

... patristic writing is not only the inviolable treasury of Tradition... The works of the Fathers are for us a source of creative inspiration, an example of Christian courage and wisdom. This is a school of Christian thought, of Christian wisdom... the eternal world of ageless experience and speculation... Only in and out of it is the right and true path to the new Christian synthesis that the modern age yearns for and seeks. The time has come to churchify one's mind and to resurrect for oneself the sacred and grace-filled principles of ecclesiastical thought.447

In order for the study of the heritage of the Fathers to rise to a new level, it is necessary first of all to introduce critical editions of the works of the Holy Fathers into scientific circulation. To work with these publications, in turn, people are needed who would know ancient languages (first of all, Greek and Latin, but also Syriac, Ethiopian, Coptic, etc.). Russian theologians at the turn of the millennium found themselves in a happy situation, when all the painstaking "rough" work on the preparation of patristic texts was done in the West, multi-volume collections of the works of the Fathers were created (such as Sources Christiennes, Griechische Christliche Schriftsteller, Corpus Christianorum, etc.). All we have to do is take advantage of this wealth and put it to work.