13.

 From where does the Bible ultimately derive its authority?

            The Bible was written within a time period of close to 1,500 years — that is, from Moses (1,400 years before Christ), until the writer of the Apocalypse, St. John the Theologian (nearly 100 years after Christ). A Romanian priest explains that the Orthodox Church recognizes that together with the entire content of Apostolic preaching, Sacred Scripture was produced under divine inspiration. He further expounds that Scripture is the result of a collaboration of a divine-human synergism whose internal working ever remains a mystery. The Bible's principal author is God Himself, but it was written down by divinely inspired sacred writers. As other writers explain, Scripture was produced by the energy of the Holy Spirit, for “all Scripture is given by the inspiration of God” (2 Tim 3:16). Thus, the words of Scripture are the words of the Holy Spirit.

            The Bible ultimately derives its authority from the Orthodox Church, which is the Body of Christ (Eph 1:23, 5:23) and the pillar and ground of the Truth (1 Tim 3:15). The Orthodox Church is the means by which God wrote the Scriptures. In other words, the Holy Spirit inspired the prophets and Apostles to author the various books of the Bible. Moreover, the Orthodox Church is the means by which God preserved the Scriptures. That is, the Holy Spirit inspired Orthodoxy's Holy Fathers to canonize Scripture, or to determine which books form a part of Scripture. And again, the Holy Spirit continually inspired the Church to interpret Scripture “for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16).

            As noted in chapter one, the Orthodox Church is subdivided into the Old Testament and the New Testament, although they both constitute one organic whole representing the divine plan for the salvation of mankind. Thus, it is incorrect to maintain that the modern Jewish religion is responsible for the Old Testament Scriptures, for modern Judaism is not the same religion as the Old Testament religion. Modern Judaism has changed. The Old Testament is a foreshadowing of the New Testament, and the true Jews of the Old Testament are a foreshadowing of Christians, for the Old Testament Jews lived spiritually in expectation of Christ the Savior, the Messiah. (On the other hand, the enemies of the Jews in the Old Testament are the foreshadowing of contemporary Judaism, the very foundation of that religion being a rejection of Christ).

            Concerning the Old Testament Scriptures, Protopresbyter Michael Pomazansky makes the following important notations:

In accepting the Old Testament Sacred Scriptures, the Church has shown that she is the heir of the Old Testament Church — not the national aspect of Judaism, but of the religious content of the Old Testament. In this heritage, some things have an eternal significance and value, but others have ceased to exist and are significant only as recollections of the past and for edification as prototypes, as, for example, the regulations concerning the tabernacle and sacrifices, and the prescriptions for the Israelites' daily conduct. Therefore, the Church makes use of her Old Testament heritage quite authoritatively, in accordance with her understanding of the world, which is more complete than and superior to that of ancient Israel [“The Old Testament in the New Testament Church,” Selected Essays, p. 170].

The textbook explains that Orthodoxy regards the Bible as the verbal icon of Christ, the Seventh Ecumenical Council laying down that the Book of the Gospels and the holy icons should be venerated in the same way. The Gospel Book, its cover usually gold plated, is kept in a place of honor in the altar of every church. It is also carried in procession at the Liturgy and Matins on Sundays and feasts, and the faithful kiss it and prostrate themselves before it. Such is the respect shown in the Orthodox Church for the Word of God.