Introduction In the second book of Moses—Exodus—there is an enumeration of the seventy souls who entered Egypt with Jacob. It tells how Joseph died, and his brethren, and all that generation; how there arose a new king who slew the infants; how Moses was saved in an ark and became the son of Pharaoh’s daughter;…
What does the common phrase “The Lord visited someone” mean? How should we understand such situations, draw the right conclusions, and avoid the necessity for such occurrences? The phrase “The Lord visited” or “the visitation of the Lord” is used in Holy Scripture to refer both to blessings and to punishments. For instance, regarding Hannah,…
The Holy Scripture of Christians is the Bible, a book recognized as divinely inspired by virtually all who call themselves Christians. The word “Bible” translates from Greek as “books,” indicating that it is a collection of various books. The specific composition of these books is called the canon of Holy Scripture. The canon was finalized…
Translator note: This commentary by St. Ephraim is of a version of the Gospels that enjoyed widespread use in the early Church in Syria, wherein the four Gospels were combined into a single narrative, the so-called “Diatessaron”. The version St. Ephraim used may have composed by Tatian as a means of harmonizing the Gospels. This…
Introduction I did not wish to write this commentary on the Book of Genesis, so as not to repeat here what has already been set forth in the hymns and homilies. But, compelled by the love of friends, I here offer briefly that which in hymns and homilies I presented more fully. What moved Moses…
The Holy One (God), commanding Moses that the Israelites should keep the Pascha on the fourteenth day of the first month, said: “Speak ye unto all the congregation of the children of Israel…, that they shall take to them every man a lamb… without blemish… a male of the first year… from among the lambs…
In the fourth chapter of the Gospel according to John, we are given an example of how, from living water—the Holy Ghost, the incorruptible seed—the words of the Lord, a new spiritual man is born. The Lord converses with the Samaritan woman at the well. “Give Me to drink,” He says to the woman. “How…
The study of the canon of the books of Holy Scripture in Rus’ is the subject of close attention in contemporary research. The term canon (from the Greek κανών) means a rule, standard, or norm. The biblical canon is the collection of 66 books of the Bible (39 books of the Old Testament and 27…
The most frequently read books of the Bible in the Church are the Psalter and the Gospel. It can be said that various excerpts from the Psalter constitute the lion’s share of all Orthodox services. Moreover, according to the Ustav, if a Christian cannot attend church services for some reason, they can pray in place…