The order of spiritual life: a sign (miracle, as something “supernatural,” unreal and impossible in the sinful state, although a miracle, it is a healthy, natural norm and form of existence – V.A.), which prompts the pagan to listen (heed) and leads to proclamation in the Church; this stage of proclamation – a stage of trust (I have not seen, not tasted Christ, but I trust those who have experienced Eternity, as evidenced by their life in Love – V.A.); trust leads to baptism, chrismation and, as a completion, the Eucharist, the existential communion of the Triune Divine Life, which is faith: “The realization of the expected and assurance in the unseen.” Therefore, the “written” Word must be able to listen, to understand this trumpet and, having read into this Word with the mind, to desire this reality, about which the Word (that which you still do not know, or better to say forgot – V.A.), and come to Christ, return and unite with the Church, start living the Eucharistic Life.
“I would not seek You if You had not first found me. I would not seek You if I did not have You living within me,” – exclaimed one Christian, confirming his own experience as mentioned above.
“You have known the Holy Scriptures from childhood,” says Apostle Paul to Timothy, “which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness.” But: “…consider that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters (about salvation, deification, new heaven and earth – V.A.). His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction (emphasized – V.A.).” And: “Some have departed from the faith with a sincere heart and good conscience and unfeigned faith, having turned aside to idle talk, wishing to be teachers of the law, but they do not understand either what they are talking about or the things they assert (emphasized – V.A.).” “There will be a time (and it is already here – V.A.), when they will not endure sound doctrine; instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths (emphasized – V.A.).” “
Let no one cheat you with voluntary humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head (Jesus Christ – V.A.), from which all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God (emphasized – V.A.).” “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ; for in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power (emphasized – V.A.).” These quotes unequivocally confirm the thoughts presented in this section, namely, that the key to understanding Scripture is the Eucharist, life in Christ, and outside the Eucharistic experience – fable-telling, human philosophy, vain deceit, recklessness, boasting by one’s fleshly mind, created by the ignorant and unstable. Ignorant – these are people who are formally baptized without proclamation and do not live Church, i.e., EUCHARISTIC LIFE. Unstable – these are not affirmed by the sacrament of Baptism, Chrismation and the Eucharist – the Sacraments of the Church. Unstable, whether proclaimed or not, cannot read Scripture until the Eucharistic experience of communion with God, until entering the Church, which is the mode of Hypostatic Triune Life. While I read Scripture for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, this indicates that I am proclaimed and still live in the Old Testament (although positioned at the boundary of the Testaments by the sacrament of Baptism, as we have deliberated above – V.A.), the Testament of commandments and deeds of the law, the fruit of which, when properly performed – righteousness, awareness of oneself “that I – miserable and pitiful, and poor, and blind, and naked”, that I – nothing without God, that I am perishing and I need a savior, to whom I come through repentance and reconciliation and union with the Church in confession and the Eucharist, or through Baptism and the Eucharist, if not baptized. And Christians read Scripture with the aim of verifying their experience and rejoicing through the common faith.
Someone will say that Scripture can be read (recognized – V.A.) by those who are not yet in the Church, for example, the proclaimed, whom the Church prepared for baptism, were present at the liturgy, where the Gospel, Apostolic Letters, Prophets, Psalms were read (sounded – V.A.)! The proclaimed listened to the Scripture in the Church, which could rationally explain to them as much as they needed until baptism. But all this was under the watchful supervision of the Church, which took the proclaimed under its omophorion. The proclaimed read only non-canonical books of the Old Testament, for ethical instructions in an earthly understanding. And outside the Church, the Eucharist, and without the interpretation, explanation of the Church, reading Scripture loses its meaning. It’s the same as reading the transcription of words of a foreign language, which I do not know, with the familiar letters of my native language. The letters are the same, the sounds are the same, but there is no meaning – empty sounds. And in our case, it’s even more complicated, because we transliterate not the words of a foreign language, but of another-worldly language, heavenly, as the apostle said: “in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I may teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue (tongues of angels; glossolalia – V.A.).” And there are such witless ones who say: “Read, read the Scripture, it is the Word of God, which enlightens and purifies, even if you do not understand what it is about.” This is pure paganism: Buddhists read mantras and become enlightened, fortune-tellers, magicians chant, reading “sacred texts”… God – is a Personality in three Hypostases, not a faceless divine essence!