Orthodox saints are not the only people who read the Bible. Even illiterate people can contemplate biblical events through their depiction. They can also read the NT writings about Christ. The key is to have a patristic mind and understand these writings in their entirety. That is, a patristic mind is one that sees beyond the words of the Fathers and reaches the underlying meaning.
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Illiterate people can contemplate biblical events in their depiction
Orthodox Christians have long honoured icons of holy figures, including Christ. They view icons as a reflection of God’s beauty. According to Orthodox Christianity, the Incarnation of Christ made God fully human, accessible, describable, and understandable. In this way, icons can depict events from the Bible.
Orthodox saints can read the NT writings about Christ
According to the Orthodox Church, we must understand the Old Testament as preparation for Christ’s coming and read it through the lens of Christ’s revelation. The Scriptures contain many references to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This is because, according to Orthodox tradition, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one.
As we know, the Orthodox Church was the first Christian community and the foundation of all other Christian communities. The Orthodox Church developed the traditional doctrines of Christianity and continues to live that faith in New Testament locations today. The NT writings about Christ describe Christ and His life.
The New Testament scriptures are divided into four books, the gospels. These gospels are the accounts of the life of Jesus, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and the death and resurrection of Christ. They include four Gospels, twenty-one epistles, the Acts of the Apostles, and the Book of Revelation, a symbolic text about Christ’s return. These writings are of utmost importance to the Orthodox Church, since they bear witness to the perfect revelation of God in Jesus Christ.
The four Gospels, which are read according to Orthodox Christian tradition, contain similar narratives of Jesus Christ’s life. They begin with Jesus’ baptism by John, followed by his preaching in Galilee. The narratives move forward to the apostles’ recognition of Jesus as the Messiah and then move to the transfiguration of the Son of God. The four Gospels end with the accounts of Christ’s passion and death.
The Greek and Latin versions of the Bible, which are considered a part of the Old Testament, are also considered canonical. The Alexandrian translation included the deuterocanonical books, also known as apocryphal books. The Alexandrian translation of the Bible also included the book of Hebrews, which is considered apocryphal. These two canons were reformed by the Reformation in the sixteenth century.
The Septuagint, which was translated from Hebrew, is considered the oldest of the NT writings about Christ. It was written hundreds of years before Christ’s birth, but carries more explicit messianic prophecies. It is also the text of the early Church, and was the most widely used text during the time of Jesus.
