The divinely inspired sources of faith

The above shows another dimension for understanding what is written. The fact that everyone interprets the Bible in their own right, with the result that today there are thousands of different religions that all claim to interpret it correctly, shows that the Bible alone is not a safe guide to God. We need the guidance of the Church, the one who wrote and collected the books of the Bible. It, as a pillar and consolidation of the truth, has kept the gospel unchanged all these centuries. Where there are gaps in the Bible, they are supplemented by other divinely inspired sources.

That is why the Orthodox Church uses the following divinely inspired books which are in complete harmony with each other:

The Bible,

the decisions of the Ecumenical Councils,

the texts of the fathers approved by the ecumenical councils,

the hymnology of the Church,

and Functional texts.

All this is always in agreement with each other, and with all the charismatic saints of all times.



6. The Bible's view

"But then, why at the end of the Bible does it forbid to add or subtract what is written in this book?" the reader will probably insist.

In reality, however, the book referred to in this verse (Revelation 22: 18,19) is the Revelation, not the Bible as a whole. He could not mean the Bible because it refers to "this prophecy." Revelation also entered the Bible in the 4th century for the first time. And most importantly, the letters B and C of John, were written in 98 AD, two years after the Apocalypse! So they should stay out of the Bible if the verse was talking about all her books.

Instead, the Bible says that there are others besides her. In the last verse of the Gospel of John, it is stated that "Jesus did other things, that if they were written one by one, the world would not fit the written books."

Elsewhere, however, the Bible urges us, through the mouth of the Apostle Paul, not to reject the Holy Tradition:

Second Thessalonians, 2: 15: "So, brethren, stand up and keep the traditions, let them be taught either by word or by letter."

So, apart from what was written in the apostles' letters, their word remained in the Church, which has survived to this day, with the rest of the tradition. So why don't those who reject the tradition accept these words of the Bible?

Let them be careful, because the words of the Lord against the tradition of the Pharisees who are invoked are directed against the Jewish tradition, and not the Christian tradition.

The Christian tradition also contains the "solid food" of which the apostle Paul speaks in his letter to the Jews, in 5 / 11-14. There, in this most difficult letter of the Bible, the author mentions all this "milk". But then, the Bible does not contain "solid food"! Therefore, solid food must be sought in the rest of the Holy Tradition.

The same can be seen in verse 1 of Peter 1:19. There, it seems that the divinely inspired prophetic word is only a lamp, shining in a dark place, until the phosphorus rises in our hearts.

So let us use the Bible's introductory lamp of wisdom with prudence, in order to claim to enjoy all that God has to teach us.