WHAT SHOULD BE THE TRUE WAY FOR UNDERSTANDING THE SCRIPTURE?
To begin understanding the Holy Writings, we should have the guidance of the Holy Spirit, as expressed in the apostolic and orthodox doctrine.
This truth ought to become our essential motto as Christians. We should not forget, that Christ our Lord intentionally distinguished His disciples from His numerous followers and granted them exceptional authority, “To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables” (Mark 4:11). Moreover, our Lord granted His disciples with the divine grace to understand the Holy Writings, “And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scripture” (Luke 24:45).
That is the reason why the Apostles, when struggling with contemporary heretics who rejected or altered their doctrine, were credibly announcing, “We have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16)
The above-quoted verse is an excellent testimony that the apostolic mind, i.e., their way of thinking and interpretation, has to be the exclusive way of understanding the Scripture. The holy fathers of our Church have always tried to follow this principle and instructed us to exercise our minds in orthodoxy. As St. Gregory of Tatev says, “When the knowledge of orthodoxy becomes a solidified entity in our minds, no other doctrine will be able to harm us”.
HOW WAS THE APOSTOLIC MIND CONVEYED TO THE NEXT GENERATIONS?
Through the doctrine and the writings of the Holy Fathers of the Universal Church. The Armenian Apostolic Church, being the inseparable part of the living Body of Christ our Lord, has always paid significant attention to patristic literature, which largely consists of homilies and Biblical commentaries. Soon after the invention of Armenian alphabet (405 AD) along with translating the Holy Bible, our venerable translators started to translate numerous Biblical commentaries of the eminent Church Fathers, such as: “Hexameron” (The six days of creation) of Basil the Great (320-379AD), the rich commentarial legacy of St. John Chrysostom (347-407AD), the commentaries on the book of Genesis and Pauline letters of St. Cyril of Alexandria (378-444 AD) and many others.
For our Holy translators, it was more than obvious that the translation of the Holy Bible would only be part of the task, since the Bible itself would do no good and sometimes even harm the believer if not correctly understood. Therefore, our commentators, who are praiseworthy inheritors of the apostolic mind, delicately preserved the basis of the orthodox commentary. Thus, St. Nerses the Graceful, talking about the above-mentioned topic, said: “Not that we add new words, but we build on the foundation of the Apostles, Prophets, and Holy Fathers, so that no one goes astray from the truth” (The Universal Letter).
In actual fact, our Church Fathers did not create new foundations of biblical commentaries, not because of the lack of knowledge; on the contrary, they intentionally “built” their commentaries on the base of the apostolic doctrine so that the sons and daughters of the Armenian Apostolic Church will not go astray from the truth.
Indeed, “Scripture is not in the reading, but in the understanding” (Hilary of Poitiers, 4th c. AD).
HOW CAN A CHRISTIAN UNDERSTAND THE REAL MEANING OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURE?
The answer to this question can be found in the Scripture itself.
In the 8th chapter of the book of Acts, we come forward with an interesting episode to which, in my opinion, very few people have given the proper attention. In this episode, Apostle Philip, being instructed by the Holy Spirit, approaches the eunuch of the Ethiopian queen Candace and, noticing that he reads the Scripture, asks him: “Do you understand what you are reading?”. The Eunuch responds, “How can I, unless someone guides me”, and asks Apostle Philip to come up and sit with him (Acts 8:31).
This episode teaches us several essential lessons.
1) We should realize that the Holy Spirit seeks ways in order to convey to us the divine and uncorrupted doctrines (through orthodox books, periodicals, newspapers, TV programs, radio, internet, and certainly, the Apostolic Church itself).
2) We should be humble enough to realize that our efforts in understanding the Scripture might and most of the time will not be good enough, and that the Holy Scripture can be fully grasped in the scope of the apostolic doctrine.
3) We should be willing to seek the guidance of the properly educated clergy, those who know and bear the apostolic mind.
So let us ask, and it will be given to us; seek, and we will indeed find it; knock, and it will be opened to us (Matthew 7:7).
Hayk Madoyan
(To be continued)
