Russian Church lauds Biblical literacy of Protestant missionaries

(Interfax) - Moscow, October 18, Interfax - Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk recommends Orthodox believers to study Gospels and points out to Protestant missionaries who know Biblical texts profoundly.

"In my official capacity I have to communicate with protestants. Sometimes I am impressed how well they know Biblical texts," he said at a presentation of the sixth volume of his book Jesus Christ. Life and Teaching in Moscow.

The metropolitan told that at a conference in the USA he once met a Protestant pastor whose speech was rich in quotations from the Bible and each time the missionary pointed out to the verse and the chapter.

When the missionary came up to the Metropolitan Hilarion, the hierarch saw that the Bible in his hands was covered with lines in different colors - "in red and blue pencils, there were notes in the margins." When the missionary saw that the metropolitan was surprised he explained that he lived the whole life with this book and it was always with him.

"And I think, even if we don't speak about the whole Bible, but only about its most important part, the Gospels, if we know the Gospels like this, we won't be afraid of any competitors," Metropolitan Hilarion summed up.

Comments

  1. Michael BaumanOctober 18, 2017 at 4:05 PM

    Know the words, unquestionably. Know the Spirit and the Person who animates the Scripture, not so much.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. bubbadave3October 19, 2017 at 12:41 PM

      You don't know that. Your response is the very essence of judging.

      Delete
  2. JakeOctober 18, 2017 at 5:15 PM

    I think he is on to something. Many in American Orthodoxy have a critical attitude toward the Evangelical convert. I watched Dr. DB Hart's presentation at Fordham recently, and he is very concerned that these Evangelicals are going to give a character to American Orthodoxy that, well, he does not like. I don't share his concern on several levels (not the least in the obvious pride he takes in his worldly intellectualism), but he also fails to grasp several positives that these Evangelical converts usually have as a natural part of their background. Met. Hilarion is seeing the positive.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Donna FarleyOctober 18, 2017 at 8:11 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. Donna FarleyOctober 18, 2017 at 8:14 PM

    I think we should worry more about evangelical converts who -don't- know the Bible. Many of today's 'evangelicals' in the so-called 'emergent' churches know very little about the Bible, not even in the slanted, historically ignorant way of an earlier generation of evangelicals. But Met. Hilarion is right to recommend Orthodox believers study the scriptures. These are -our- scriptures-- shouldn't we be embarrassed that non-Orthodox know them better than we do? Often the anti-Protestant and anti-convert things I sometimes hear strike me as mere sour grapes.

    But what do I know? I'm just one of those evangelical converts-- only been in the Church three decades now. We passed through Anglicanism-- having gone there because, hmm, the Baptists and Pentecostals who taught us to believe the Bible somehow didn't believe the Bible when it said "This IS my body" and suchlike..... We kept moving east because we discovered Anglicanism was going farther away from the apostolic faith just at the same time as we were travelling ever deeper into that faith....only to find Orthodoxy had kept that apostolic faith very much alive all these centuries. Maybe here in Canada our evangelicals aren't quite the same as in the US, who knows... :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Deacon NicholasOctober 18, 2017 at 9:25 PM

    You can say that again, Matushka.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Donna FarleyOctober 18, 2017 at 10:51 PM

      hahah I don't know why it double posted... I'll delete one!

      Delete
  6. Matvey CassOctober 18, 2017 at 10:46 PM

    I come from a Calvinist background, but attended Lutheran and Catholic schools growing up in the US. Here in Russia I am often surprised by the number of otherwise dedicated Orthodox Christians who don't seem to read the Bible at all. They read the Fathers, they know a lot of quotes, but they seen to treat the Bible as a source that only the Fathers should delve into. Many priest-authors have been addressing this lately, and the Moscow Diocese organises an annual year-long event with daily readings to be able to finish the Bible in a year. We're already a month and a half in now, And it's wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousOctober 19, 2017 at 8:02 AM

      It is very important to know Sacred Scripture. It is a good rule of thumb to read one verse per day from the New Testament beginning at St Matthew and ending at Revelation....in addition to one Psalm every day. Also, we should not neglect the Old Testament and read at least one of the recommended books during the Great Fast.

      But I will also add: It is equally important to know the proper interpretation of Sacred Scripture...and we glean this through the holy fathers.

      Delete
  7. Patrick KellyOctober 19, 2017 at 12:30 PM

    During many years of immersion into very american Christianity my knowledge of scripture was a source of pride.

    When I encountered and eventually converted to Orthodoxy I had already nearly abandoned any regular scripture reading or study, but rejoiced as I discover them anew in Liturgy and other services.

    It is like meeting old friends you knew as a child with a renewed appreciation and love for them along with a new relevance and context in my life.

    ReplyDelete

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