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When we communicate with strangers, we must first agree on terms (see Part I). Since in the hypothetical original of the New Testament and in most classic and modern translations the Greek word “pistis” (which indicates two different realities!) is also translated with one word (Ukrainian “віра”, Russian “вера”, English faith, …), then when we talk about “faith”, we must always specify what we are talking about (what we are discussing, what we are pointing to), namely: about trust (what precedes faith, knowing, i.e., personal experience), about faith (as being in the experience, in communion with the reality we say we believe in) or about fidelity (the state of certainty in the truthfulness of the reality I experienced ontologically; this state follows faith – it is a post-experience state, i.e., direct experiencing of this reality (in which we believe) has ceased, and what remains is memory (in all being, not just rational) of what was experienced and I am faithful to what I was entrusted to experience in faith).
Since we have set ourselves the task to understand the principle of reading the word πίστις and its root-related words (to understand what reality they indicate in a certain context: trust, faith, or fidelity), we will only consider some places in the Scripture where these words appear. We will work in the following way: first, we write down the coordinates of the verse in which the word of interest appears, the word itself, then, for comparison, the Ukrainian translation of the Synodal translation of this word, and then – how this word should be correctly translated in this context, i.e., what reality this word indicates and, if necessary, a brief comment.
If we take the synoptic Gospels (according to Matthew, Mark, and Luke) as an example, then the word πίστις and its derivatives indicate faith in the context: Mt. 17:20 (πίστιν), 21:21-22 (πίστιν, πιστεύοντες); Mk. 9:19 (ἄπιστος), 9:23 (πιστεύοντι), 11: 22-24 (πίστιν, πιστεύῃ, πιστεύετε), 16:27 (πιστεύσασιν); Lk. 9:41 (ἄπιστος), 17: 5-6 (πίστιν), 18:8 (πίστιν). (Indeed, for one who is a believer, has faith (knowing), i.e., is in the state of knowing God, knows Him, who is one with God – for him nothing is impossible and every request of his prayer will be fulfilled, because his will coincides with the will of God; therefore, what he wants is the same that God wants (Let Thy will be done, Our Father)). In all other contexts of the synoptic Gospels, these words indicate trust, fidelity. For example, Mt. 9:22, 15:28; Mk. 5:34, 10:52; Lk. 7:50, 8:25, 8:48, 17:19, 18:42, 22:32 – πίστις – Synodal translation: faith (your, your) – should be translated: trust (your, your). Since faith (knowing) is not from us, it is a gift from God, therefore “your faith” is (logically) an incorrect phrase. It depends on us only trust and fidelity – these are ours: your trust and your fidelity. God saves, heals through His Grace, and our trust (fidelity) makes us capable of receiving the Holy Spirit and getting healed. Therefore, we say, “your trust has saved you”, “πίστις your great” = “your trust is great”. Everywhere, where it is about healing or a miracle, trust always precedes it: do not be afraid, just trust; your trust has saved you; do you trust Me, that I can do this (heal)? Let it be according to your trust; did not perform miracles because of distrust; did not heal because they did not trust, did not surrender to Christ; of little faith, why did you doubt; help my unbelief, etc.
If we take the Gospel according to the testimony of the apostle John the Theologian, then in the context: 1:12 (πιστεύουσιν), 5:24 (πιστεύων), 6:35 (πιστεύων), 6:47 (πιστεύων), 7:38 (πιστεύωн), 16:30-31 (πιστεύομεν, πιστεύετε), 20: 25-29 (πιστός, πεπίστευκας) indicate faith (knowing). And in Jn. 1:7 (πιστεύσωσιν), 3:18 (πιστεύων), 3:36 (πιστεύων), 6:40 (πιστεύων), 11:25 (πιστεύωн), 12:39 (πιστεύειν), 12:46 (πιστεύων), 16:9 (πιστεύουσιν) – these are fragments of the textual icon, where these words can be read in two meanings: as faith and as trust (this is possible because we prayerfully gaze into the icon!). For example, Jn. 6:40 “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life” and “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and trusts Him may have eternal life”. The context of the sixth chapter allows reading both “believes in Him” and “trusts Him”. In all other contexts of the textual icon of the Gospel of John, these words (πίστις and derivatives) indicate trust-fidelity.
We see that in the gospel texts, little is said about faith, and the Church pays main attention to trust and fidelity (this tendency is observed throughout the Holy Scriptures of the Church). Why is that? Since faith (knowing God) is not from us, it is a gift from God, so the Church only mentions it in the announcement, that such a state, reality exists, and does not pay much attention to this topic. But it tells us (the proclaimed, because who else needs the word, those are the proclaimed) about what depends on us, namely about trust (about what leads to faith; what to do to become capable of knowing God) and about fidelity (about how to preserve faith, the gift of knowing, how to be faithful to the truth we experienced, knew and how to multiply grace, i.e., to achieve the next knowing, even greater union, communion with God; how to move from strength to strength, from faith-knowing God to even greater faith!). If we look, for example, at the Biblical books of the New Testament, then (in their context) only about five percent of the words πίστις and derivatives used by their authors in their writings indicate faith (therefore they need to be translated in modern languages with a word that in each of them indicates the reality of faith). And, approximately ninety-five percent of all the words πίστις and derivatives found in the texts of the New Testament indicate trust and fidelity (therefore these words should be translated with words that in the language into which the translation is being made indicate the reality (state) of trust and fidelity). Since all the Scriptures of the Church are deeply rooted in Biblical texts (to confirm the truth of this statement, we can recall the discussions that were held regarding the introduction into the Nicene Creed (325 AD) of the word “homousios” – “consubstantial”, which is not in the Biblical texts), the inertia to denote the realities (states) of faith and trust with one word πίστις and derivatives from it (although there were already separate different words in the language to denote these realities; e.g., in Ukrainian there is the word “віра”, which indicates faith, and “довіра”, which indicates trust; in modern Greek faith will be η πίστη, trust – η εμπιστοσύνη, faithful – πιστός or έμπιστος). For the church, this is not a problem – it knows what it is talking about, but for pagans it is a big problem and temptation! Since now there are almost no Christians, and almost everyone is pagans (both baptized and unbaptized), then, so that the Scriptures cause less harm to those who mindlessly, independently read It, we must translate the Holy Scriptures into modern languages correctly (e.g., translate the word πίστις and derivatives from it with the words “faith” and “trust” depending on the context! I hope that the authors of future translations will take into account my wishes and comments), to not do even more evil. Why do I say: even more evil?! Since the Scriptures of the Church are read only parishionally-eucharistically, i.e., reading the Bible outside the Church is a crime for one’s soul (leading oneself into delusion), then even more evil is when even formally it misleads the poor reader, does not match the context (in fundamental truths, such as the concept of faith, trust, fidelity) – i.e., he does not even read the Biblical original (more precisely, the hypothetical original, because the original no longer exists)!? Therefore, about ninety-five percent of the usage of the word πίστις and derivatives from it and their counterparts in each language used by the Church for the preaching of the Gospel and the proclamation of each nation (e.g., into Ukrainian this word is translated with the word “віра”; although in modern Ukrainian there are the words “довіра” and “віра”, but by tradition or through misunderstanding of the reality of faith and trust they indicate with one word “віра”, which for pagans is a great temptation) in the Holy Scriptures of the Church (Bible, Works of the Holy Fathers and Mothers, prayers of the Church, etc.) indicate two realities – faith and trust-fidelity, which is understood only from the context! Now let’s give a few examples of the great evil that arises from not knowing this fact we are talking about (one word indicates two different realities; in the Holy Scriptures of the Church in Ukrainian in most cases faith and trust are indicated with one word “віра”; therefore, when we encounter the word “faith” in the text of the Scriptures, what is being talked about – whether about faith or about trust – we find out only from the context). Therefore, let’s provide a few examples-illustrations.