Bible in Russian with interpretation. Bible

Consists of 27 books. The concept of "New Testament" was first used in the Book of the prophet Jeremiah. The Apostle Paul spoke about the New Testament in the First and Second Epistles to the Corinthians. The concept was introduced into Christian theology by Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian and Origen.

Gospels and Acts

Cathedral Messages:

Epistles of the Apostle Paul:

Revelation of the Apostle John the Theologian:

The books of the New Testament are strictly classified into four categories:

• Legislative books.(All Gospels)
• History books.(Acts of the Holy Apostles)
• Teaching books.(Conciliar Epistles and all the Epistles of the Apostle Paul)
• Prophetic books.(Apocalypse or Revelation of John the Evangelist)

Time of creation of texts of the New Testament.

Time of creation of the books of the New Testament - middleI century - the end of the I century. The books of the New Testament are not in chronological order. The epistles of the holy Apostle Paul were written first, and the works of John the Theologian were the last.

The language of the New Testament.

The texts of the New Testament were written in the vernacular language of the eastern Mediterranean, the Greek Koine. Later, the texts of the New Testament were translated from Greek into Latin, Syriac and Aramaic. In II-III centuries. There was an opinion among early textual scholars that Matthew was written in Aramaic and Hebrews was written in Hebrew, but this view has not been confirmed. There is a small group of modern scholars who believe that the texts of the New Testament were originally written in Aramaic and then translated into Koine, but many textual studies suggest otherwise.

Canonization of the Books of the New Testament

The canonization of the New Testament lasted almost three centuries. The Church attended to the canonization of the New Testament in the middle of the II century. There was a certain reason for this - it was necessary to resist the spread of the Gnostic teachings. Moreover, there was no talk of canonization in the 1st century because of the constant persecution of Christian communities. Theological reflection begins around the year 150.

Let's define the main milestones of the canonization of the New Testament.

Canon Muratori

According to the Muratori canon dating from the year 200, the New Testament did not include:

• Paul's letter to the Jews
• Both Epistles of Peter,
• Third Epistle of John
• The Epistle of James.

But the Apocalypse of Peter, which is now considered an apocrypha, was considered the canonical text.

By the end of the 3rd century, the Canon of the Gospels was adopted.

The books of the New Testament were canonized by the Christian Church at the Ecumenical Councils. Only two books from the New Testament were accepted into the canon, with some problems:

• Revelation of John the Evangelist (in view of the mysticism of the narrative);
• One of the Epistles of the Apostle Paul (due to doubts about authorship)

The church council of 364 approved the New Testament in the amount of 26 books. The canon did not include the Apocalypse of John the Evangelist.

In its final form, the canon was formed in the year 367. Athanasius the Great in the 39th Paschal Epistle lists 27 books of the New Testament.

It should certainly be mentioned that in addition to certain theological characteristics of the texts included in the canon, the canonization of the New Testament was influenced by the geographical factor. Thus, the New Testament included writings that were kept in the churches of Greece and Asia Minor.

A large number of works of Christian literature I-II centuries. were considered apocryphal.

Manuscripts of the New Testament.

An interesting fact: the number of manuscripts of the New Testament is many times greater than any other ancient text. Compare: there are about 24 thousand handwritten texts of the New Testament and only 643 manuscripts of the Homeric Iliad, which ranks second in terms of the number of manuscripts. It is also interesting that the time difference between the actual creation of the text and the date of the extant manuscript is very small (20-40 years) when we talk about the New Testament. The earliest manuscripts of the New Testament date back to the year 66 - this is a passage from the Gospel of Matthew. The oldest complete list of New Testament texts dates back to the 4th century.

Manuscripts of the New Testament are usually classified into 4 types:

Alexandrian type. It is considered the closest to the original. (Vatican Codex, Codex Sinaiticus, Papyrus Bodmer)

Western type. Volumetric texts, which are mostly retellings of the Biblical texts of the New Testament. (Beza Code, Washington Code, Claremont Code)

Caesarean type. Something in common between Alexandrian and Western types (Code Corideti)

Byzantine type. Characterized « improved" style, the grammatical forms here are close to the classical language. This is already the result of the work of an editor or a group of editors of the 4th century. Most of the New Testament manuscripts that have come down to us belong to this type. (Code of Alexandria, Textus Receptus)

Essence of the New Testament.

The New Testament is a new agreement between God and people, the essence of which is that the Divine Savior Jesus Christ was given to mankind, who founded a new religious doctrine - Christianity. By following this teaching, a person can come to salvation in the Kingdom of Heaven.

The main idea of ​​the new teaching is that one must live not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. The New Testament is a relationship between God and man, according to which man is granted redemption from original sin through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Now a person who lives according to the covenant of God can achieve moral perfection and enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

If the Old Testament was concluded exclusively between God and God's chosen Jewish people, then the proclamation of the New Testament concerns all mankind. The Old Testament was expressed in the ten commandments and their accompanying moral and ceremonial decrees. The quintessence of the New Testament is expressed in the Sermon on the Mount, commandments and parables of Jesus.

The Bible is the Book of books. Why is the Holy Scripture so called? How is it that the Bible remains one of the most widely read common and sacred texts on the planet? Is the Bible really an inspired text? What place is given to the Old Testament in the Bible and why should Christians read it?

What is the Bible?

Holy Scripture, or bible, is called a collection of books written by prophets and apostles, like us, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The word "Bible" is Greek and means "books". The main theme of Holy Scripture is the salvation of mankind by the Messiah, the incarnated Son of the Lord Jesus Christ. AT Old Testament it speaks of salvation in the form of types and prophecies about the Messiah and the Kingdom of God. AT New Testament the very realization of our salvation through the incarnation, life and teaching of the God-man, sealed by His death on the Cross and Resurrection, is set forth. According to the time of their writing, the sacred books are divided into Old Testament and New Testament. Of these, the first contain what the Lord revealed to people through divinely inspired prophets before the Savior came to earth, and the second contains what the Lord Savior Himself and His apostles revealed and taught on earth.

On the Divine Inspiration of Holy Scripture

We believe that the prophets and apostles wrote not according to their own human understanding, but according to inspiration from God. He cleansed them, enlightened their minds and revealed secrets inaccessible to natural knowledge, including the future. That is why their Scriptures are called divinely inspired. “Prophecy was never uttered by the will of man, but men of God spoke it, being moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet. 1:21), testifies the holy Apostle Peter. And the apostle Paul calls the Scriptures inspired by God: “All Scripture is inspired by God” (2 Tim. 3:16). The image of Divine revelation to the prophets can be represented by the example of Moses and Aaron. To tongue-tied Moses, God gave his brother Aaron as mediators. To Moses’ perplexity, how he could proclaim the will of God to the people, being tongue-tied, the Lord said: “You” [Moses] “will be to him” [Aaron] “speak and put words (Mine) into his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and by his mouth, and I will teach you what you should do; and he will speak instead of you to the people; so he will be your mouth, and you will be to him instead of God” (Ex. 4:15-16). While believing in the divine inspiration of the books of the Bible, it is important to remember that the Bible is the Book of the Church. According to God's plan, people are called to be saved not alone, but in a society that is led and inhabited by the Lord. This society is called the Church. Historically, the Church is divided into the Old Testament Church, to which the Jewish people belonged, and the New Testament Church, to which Orthodox Christians belong. The New Testament Church inherited the spiritual wealth of the Old Testament - the Word of God. The Church has not only preserved the letter of the Word of God, but also has a correct understanding of it. This is due to the fact that the Holy Spirit, who spoke through the prophets and apostles, continues to live in the Church and guide it. Therefore, the Church gives us correct guidance on how to use her written wealth: what is more important and relevant in it, and what has only historical significance and is not applicable in New Testament times.

Summary of Important Translations of Scripture

1. Greek translation of the seventy interpreters (Septuagint). The closest to the original text of the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament is the Alexandrian translation, known as the Greek translation of the seventy interpreters. It was started by the will of the Egyptian king Ptolemy Philadelphus in 271 BC. Desiring to have in his library the sacred books of Jewish law, this inquisitive sovereign ordered his librarian Demetrius to take care of acquiring these books and translating them into the Greek language that was generally known at that time and the most widespread. From each tribe of Israel, six of the most able men were chosen and sent to Alexandria with an exact copy of the Hebrew Bible. The translators were placed on the island of Pharos, near Alexandria, and completed the translation in a short time. The Orthodox Church from the apostolic time has used the sacred books according to the translation of the seventy.

2. Latin translation, Vulgate. Before the fourth century AD, there were several Latin translations of the Bible, among which the so-called Old Italic, made according to the text of the seventy, enjoyed the greatest popularity for its clarity and special closeness to the sacred text. But after the blessed Jerome, one of the most learned Fathers of the Church of the 4th century, published in 384 his translation of the Holy Scriptures in Latin, made by him according to the Hebrew original, the Western Church gradually began to abandon the ancient Italic translation in favor of the translation of Jerome. In the 16th century, the Council of Trent put Jerome's translation into general use in the Roman Catholic Church under the name of the Vulgate, which literally means "common translation."

3. The Slavic translation of the Bible was made according to the text of seventy interpreters by the holy Thessalonica brothers Cyril and Methodius in the middle of the 9th century AD, during their apostolic labors in the Slavic lands. When the Moravian prince Rostislav, dissatisfied with the German missionaries, asked the Byzantine emperor Michael to send capable teachers of the faith of Christ to Moravia, Emperor Michael sent Saints Cyril and Methodius to this great work, who knew the Slavic language thoroughly and had begun to translate the Holy Scripture into this language while still in Greece.
On the way to the Slavic lands, the holy brothers stopped for some time in Bulgaria, which was also enlightened by them, and here they did a lot of work on the translation of sacred books. They continued their translation in Moravia, where they arrived about 863. It was completed after the death of Cyril by Methodius in Pannonia, under the auspices of the pious prince Kotsel, to whom he retired due to civil strife in Moravia. With the adoption of Christianity under the holy Prince Vladimir (988), the Slavic Bible, translated by Saints Cyril and Methodius, also passed to Russia.

4. Russian translation. When, over time, the Slavic language began to differ significantly from Russian, reading the Holy Scriptures became difficult for many. As a result, the translation of books into modern Russian was undertaken. First, by decree of Emperor Alexander I and with the blessing of the Holy Synod, the New Testament was published in 1815 at the expense of the Russian Bible Society. Of the Old Testament books, only the Psalter was translated - as the most commonly used book in Orthodox worship. Then, already in the reign of Alexander II, after a new, more accurate edition of the New Testament in 1860, a printed edition of the law-positive books of the Old Testament appeared in Russian translation in 1868. The following year, the Holy Synod blessed the publication of historical Old Testament books, and in 1872 - teaching books. Meanwhile, Russian translations of individual sacred books of the Old Testament began to be frequently printed in spiritual journals. So the complete edition of the Bible in Russian appeared in 1877. Not everyone supported the appearance of a Russian translation, preferring Church Slavonic. St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow, and later St. Theophan the Recluse, St. Patriarch Tikhon, and other prominent archpastors of the Russian Orthodox Church spoke out in favor of the Russian translation.

5. Other translations of the Bible. The Bible was first translated into French in 1160 by Peter Wald. The first translation of the Bible into German appeared in 1460. Martin Luther in 1522-1532 again translated the Bible into German. The first translation of the Bible into English was made by Beda the Venerable, who lived in the first half of the 8th century. A modern English translation was made under King James in 1603 and published in 1611. In Russia, the Bible was translated into many languages ​​of small peoples. So, Metropolitan Innokenty translated it into the Aleutian language, the Kazan Academy - into Tatar and others. The most successful in translating and distributing the Bible into different languages ​​were the British and American Bible Societies. The Bible has now been translated into over 1200 languages.
It should also be said that every translation has its advantages and disadvantages. Translations that seek to literally convey the content of the original suffer from heaviness and difficulty in understanding. On the other hand, translations that seek to convey only the general meaning of the Bible in the most understandable and accessible form often suffer from inaccuracies. The Russian synodal translation avoids both extremes and combines the maximum proximity to the meaning of the original with the lightness of the language.

Old Testament

The Old Testament books were originally written in Hebrew. Later books from the time of the Babylonian captivity already have many Assyrian and Babylonian words and turns of speech. And the books written during the Greek rule (non-canonical books) are written in Greek, the Third Book of Ezra is in Latin. The books of Holy Scripture came out of the hands of the holy writers in appearance not the way we see them now. They were originally written on parchment or on papyrus (which was made from the stems of plants native to Egypt and Palestine) with a cane (a pointed reed stick) and ink. Strictly speaking, it was not books that were written, but charters on a long parchment or papyrus scroll, which looked like a long ribbon and was wound around a shaft. Scrolls were usually written on one side. Subsequently, parchment or papyrus ribbons, instead of being glued into scroll ribbons, began to be sewn into books for ease of use. The text in the ancient scrolls was written in the same large capital letters. Each letter was written separately, but the words were not separated from one another. The whole line was like one word. The reader himself had to divide the line into words and, of course, sometimes did it wrong. There were also no punctuation or stress marks in ancient manuscripts. And in the Hebrew language, vowels were also not written - only consonants.

The division of words in books was introduced in the 5th century by the deacon of the Church of Alexandria Eulalius. Thus, gradually the Bible took on its modern form. With the modern division of the Bible into chapters and verses, reading the sacred books and searching for the right places in them has become a simple matter.

Sacred books in their modern fullness did not appear immediately. The time from Moses (1550 B.C.) to Samuel (1050 B.C.) can be called the first period of the formation of the Holy Scriptures. God-inspired Moses, who wrote down his revelations, laws, and narratives, gave the following command to the Levites carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord: “Take this book of the law and lay it on the right hand of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God” (Deut. 31:26). Subsequent sacred writers continued to attribute their creations to the Pentateuch of Moses with the command to keep them in the same place where it was kept - as if in one book.

Old Testament Scripture contains the following books:

1. Books of the Prophet Moses, or Torah(containing the foundations of the Old Testament faith): Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

2. History books: Book of Joshua, Book of Judges, Book of Ruth, Books of Kings: First, Second, Third and Fourth, Books of Chronicles: First and Second, First Book of Ezra, Book of Nehemiah, Book of Esther.

3. teacher books(edifying content): the Book of Job, the Psalter, the book of Solomon's parables, the Book of Ecclesiastes, the Book of Song of Songs.

4. prophetic books(mostly prophetic content): The Book of the Prophet Isaiah, the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, the Book of the Prophet Daniel, the Twelve Books of the “minor” prophets: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi.

5. In addition to these books of the Old Testament list, the Bible contains the following nine books, called "non-canonical": Tobit, Judith, Wisdom of Solomon, the Book of Jesus, the son of Sirach, the Second and Third Books of Ezra, the three Maccabean Books. They are called so because they were written after the list (canon) of sacred books was completed. Some modern editions of the Bible do not have these "non-canonical" books, while the Russian Bible does. The above titles of the sacred books are taken from the Greek translation of the seventy interpreters. In the Hebrew Bible and in some modern translations of the Bible, several Old Testament books have different names.

New Testament

gospels

The word gospel means "good news", or - "pleasant, joyful, good news." This name is given to the first four books of the New Testament, which tell about the life and teachings of the incarnated Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, about everything that He did to establish a righteous life on earth and save us sinful people.

The time of writing each of the sacred books of the New Testament cannot be determined with absolute accuracy, but it is absolutely certain that they were all written in the second half of the 1st century. The first of the New Testament books were the epistles of the holy apostles, caused by the need to establish in the faith the newly founded Christian communities; but soon there was a need for a systematic exposition of the earthly life of the Lord Jesus Christ and His teachings. For a number of reasons, we can conclude that the Gospel of Matthew was written before everyone else and not later than 50-60 years. according to R.H. The Gospels of Mark and Luke were written a little later, but in any case earlier than the destruction of Jerusalem, that is, before the year 70 A.D., and the Evangelist John the Theologian wrote his Gospel later than everyone else, at the end of the first century, being already in extreme old age , as some suggest, around 96 years old. Somewhat earlier, the Apocalypse was written by him. The book of Acts was written shortly after the Gospel of Luke, because, as can be seen from its preface, it serves as a continuation of it.

All four Gospels, according to the story, tell about the life and teachings of Christ the Savior, about His suffering on the Cross, death and burial, His glorious Resurrection from the dead and ascension to. Mutually complementing and explaining each other, they represent a single whole book that does not have any contradictions and disagreements in the most important and fundamental.

A common symbol for the four Gospels is the mysterious chariot that the prophet Ezekiel saw at the river Chebar (Ezek. 1:1-28) and which consisted of four creatures that resembled a man, a lion, a calf and an eagle in their appearance. These beings, taken individually, became emblems for the evangelists. Christian art, starting from the 5th century, depicts Matthew with a man or, Mark with a lion, Luke with a calf, John with an eagle.

In addition to our four Gospels, in the first centuries up to 50 other writings were known, which also called themselves "Gospels" and attributed to themselves an apostolic origin. The church classified them as "apocryphal" - that is, unreliable, rejected books. These books contain distorted and dubious narratives. Such apocryphal gospels include the First Gospel of James, the Story of Joseph the Carpenter, the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Nicodemus, and others. In them, by the way, for the first time legends relating to the childhood of the Lord Jesus Christ are recorded.

Of the four gospels, the contents of the first three are from Matthew, Brand and Luke- coincides in many respects, close to each other both in terms of the narrative material itself and in the form of presentation. The fourth gospel is from John in this respect, it stands apart, differing significantly from the first three, both in the material presented in it, and in the very style and form of presentation. In this regard, the first three Gospels are usually called synoptic, from the Greek word "synopsis", which means "exposition in one general image." The Synoptic Gospels narrate almost exclusively about the activities of the Lord Jesus Christ in Galilee, and the Evangelist John - in Judea. Forecasters tell mainly about miracles, parables and external events in the life of the Lord, the Evangelist John discusses its deepest meaning, cites the Lord's speeches about the lofty objects of faith. Despite all the differences between the Gospels, there are no internal contradictions in them. Thus, the synoptics and John mutually complement each other and only in their totality give an integral image of Christ, as he is perceived and preached by the Church.

Gospel of Matthew

Evangelist Matthew, who also bore the name of Levi, was one of the 12 apostles of Christ. Prior to his calling to the apostle, he was a publican, that is, a tax collector, and, as such, of course, he is not loved by his compatriots - the Jews, who despised and hated publicans because they served the unfaithful enslavers of their people and oppressed their people by collecting taxes, and in in their desire for profit, they often took much more than they should. Matthew tells about his calling in chapter 9 of his Gospel (Matt. 9:9-13), calling himself by the name of Matthew, while the evangelists Mark and Luke, talking about the same, call him Levi. The Jews used to have several names. Touched to the depths of his soul by the grace of the Lord, who did not disdain him, despite the general contempt for him by the Jews and especially the spiritual leaders of the Jewish people, scribes and Pharisees, Matthew wholeheartedly accepted the teachings of Christ and especially deeply understood his superiority over the Pharisees' traditions and views that bore the seal of external righteousness, conceit and contempt for sinners. That is why he gives such a detailed account of the Lord's powerful diatribe against the
the lowlies and the Pharisees - hypocrites, which we find in the 23rd chapter of his Gospel (Matt. 23). It must be assumed that for the same reason he especially took to heart the work of saving his native Jewish people, who by that time were so saturated with false concepts and Pharisees, and therefore his Gospel was written mainly for Jews. There is reason to believe that it was originally written in Hebrew and only a little later, perhaps by Matthew himself, translated into Greek.

Having written his Gospel for the Jews, Matthew sets as his main goal to prove to them that Jesus Christ is exactly the Messiah about whom the Old Testament prophets foretold, that the Old Testament revelation, obscured by the scribes and Pharisees, is clarified and perceives its perfect meaning only in Christianity. Therefore, he begins his Gospel with the genealogy of Jesus Christ, wishing to show the Jews His origin from David and Abraham, and makes a huge number of references to the Old Testament in order to prove the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies on Him. The purpose of the first Gospel for the Jews is evident from the fact that Matthew, mentioning Jewish customs, does not consider it necessary to explain their meaning and meaning, as other evangelists do. It likewise leaves without explanation some of the Aramaic words used in Palestine. Matthew preached for a long time in Palestine. Then he retired to preach in other countries and ended his life as a martyr in Ethiopia.

Gospel of Mark

Evangelist Mark also bore the name of John. By origin, he was also a Jew, but he was not among the 12 apostles. Therefore, he could not be the constant companion and listener of the Lord, as Matthew was. He wrote his Gospel from the words and under the guidance of the Apostle Peter. He himself, in all likelihood, was an eyewitness only of the last days of the earthly life of the Lord. Only one Gospel of Mark tells of a young man who, when the Lord was taken into custody in the Garden of Gethsemane, followed Him, wrapped around his naked body in a veil, and the soldiers seized him, but he, leaving the veil, fled naked from them (Mark 14:51-52). In this youth, ancient tradition sees the very author of the second Gospel - Mark. His mother Mary is mentioned in the Book of Acts as one of the wives most devoted to the faith of Christ. In her house in Jerusalem, believers gathered for. Mark subsequently participates in the first journey of the Apostle Paul, along with his other companion Barnabas, to whom he was a nephew by his mother. He was with the Apostle Paul in Rome, from where the Epistle to the Colossians is written. Further, as can be seen, Mark became a companion and collaborator of the Apostle Peter, which is confirmed by the words of the Apostle Peter himself in his first Catholic Epistle, where he writes: “The Church in Babylon, chosen like you, and Mark, my son, greet you” (1 Pet. 5:13, here Babylon is probably an allegorical name for Rome).

Icon “Saint Mark the Evangelist. First half of the 17th century

Before his departure, the apostle Paul again calls him to himself, who writes to Timothy: “Take Mark ... with you, for I need him for my ministry” (2 Tim. 4:11). According to legend, the Apostle Peter made Mark the first bishop of the Alexandrian Church, and Mark ended his life as a martyr in Alexandria. According to Papias, Bishop of Hierapolis, as well as Justin the Philosopher and Irenaeus of Lyons, Mark wrote his Gospel from the words of the Apostle Peter. Justin even explicitly calls it "Peter's memorabilia." Clement of Alexandria argues that the Gospel of Mark is essentially a recording of the oral sermon of the Apostle Peter, which Mark made at the request of Christians living in Rome. The very content of the Gospel of Mark testifies that it is intended for Gentile Christians. It says very little about the relationship of the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ to the Old Testament and very few references to the Old Testament sacred books. At the same time, we find Latin words in it, such as, for example, speculator and others. Even the Sermon on the Mount, as explaining the superiority of the New Testament Law over the Old Testament, is omitted. On the other hand, Mark pays his main attention to giving in his Gospel a strong, vivid account of the miracles of Christ, thereby emphasizing the Royal majesty and omnipotence of the Lord. In his Gospel, Jesus is not the "son of David", as in Matthew, but the Son of God, Lord and Commander, King of the Universe.

Gospel of Luke

The ancient historian Eusebius of Caesarea says that Luke came from Antioch, and therefore it is generally accepted that Luke was, by origin, a pagan or a so-called "proselyte", that is, a pagan, prince

who was Judaism. By the nature of his occupation, he was a doctor, as can be seen from the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Colossians. Church Tradition adds to this the fact that he was also a painter. From the fact that his Gospel contains the instructions of the Lord to 70 disciples, set forth in full detail, they conclude that he belonged to the number of 70 disciples of Christ.
There is evidence that after the death of the Apostle Paul, the Evangelist Luke preached and accepted

Evangelist Luke

martyrdom in Achaia. Under the emperor Constantius (in the middle of the 4th century), his holy relics were transferred from there to Constantinople along with the relics of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called. As can be seen from the very preface of the third Gospel, Luke wrote it at the request of a noble man, the “venerable” Theophilus, who lived in Antioch, for whom he then wrote the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, which serves as a continuation of the gospel narrative (see Luke 1: 1 -4; Acts 1:1-2). At the same time, he used not only the accounts of eyewitnesses of the ministry of the Lord, but also some of the written records that already existed at that time about the life and teachings of the Lord. In his own words, these written records were subjected to the most thorough research, and therefore his Gospel is distinguished by particular accuracy in determining the time and place of events and a strict chronological sequence.

The Gospel of Luke was clearly affected by the influence of the Apostle Paul, whose companion and collaborator was the Evangelist Luke. As an "apostle of the Gentiles," Paul tried most of all to reveal the great truth that the Messiah - Christ - came to earth not only for the Jews, but also for the Gentiles, and that He is the Savior of the whole world, of all people. In connection with this main idea, which the third Gospel clearly pursues throughout its narrative, the genealogy of Jesus Christ is brought to the ancestor of all mankind, Adam, and to God Himself, in order to emphasize His significance for the entire human race (see Luke 3:23-38). ).

The time and place of the writing of the Gospel of Luke can be determined, guided by the consideration that it was written earlier than the Book of Acts of the Apostles, constituting, as it were, its continuation (see Acts 1:1). The book of Acts ends with a description of the two-year sojourn of the Apostle Paul in Rome (see Acts 28:30). This was about A.D. 63. Therefore, the Gospel of Luke was written no later than this time and, presumably, in Rome.

Gospel of John

Evangelist John the Theologian was a beloved disciple of Christ. He was the son of the Galilean fisherman Zebedee and Solomiya. Zebedee was, apparently, a wealthy man, since he had workers, he was apparently not an insignificant member of Jewish society, for his son John had an acquaintance with the high priest. His mother Solomiya is mentioned among the wives who served the Lord with their property. Evangelist John was at first a disciple of John the Baptist. Hearing his testimony about Christ as about the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, he immediately followed Christ together with Andrew (see John 1:35-40). However, he became a constant disciple of the Lord a little later, after a miraculous catch of fish on the Gennesaret (Galilee) lake, when the Lord Himself called him along with his brother Jacob. Together with Peter and his brother James, he was honored with special closeness to the Lord du, being with Him in the most important and solemn moments of His earthly life. This love of the Lord for him was also reflected in the fact that the Lord, hanging on the Cross, entrusted him with His Most Pure Mother, saying to him: “Behold your Mother!” (see John 19:27).

John traveled to Jerusalem via Samaria (see Luke 9:54). For this, he and his brother Jacob received from the Lord the nickname “Boanerges”, which means “sons of Thunder”. From the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, the city of Ephesus in Asia Minor became the place of life and activity of John. In the reign of the emperor Domitian, he was exiled to the island of Patmos, where he wrote the Apocalypse (see Rev. 1:9). Returned from this exile to Ephesus, he wrote his Gospel there and died a natural death (the only one of the apostles), according to legend, very mysterious, at a ripe old age, being about 105 years old, in the reign of Emperor Trajan. According to tradition, the fourth gospel was written by John at the request of the Ephesian Christians. They brought him the first three Gospels and asked him to supplement them with the words of the Lord that he had heard from Him.

A distinctive feature of the Gospel of John is also clearly expressed in the name given to it in antiquity. Unlike the first three Gospels, it was predominantly called the Spiritual Gospel. The Gospel of John begins with a presentation of the doctrine of the Divinity of Jesus Christ, and then contains a whole series of the Lord’s most exalted speeches, in which His Divine dignity and the deepest mysteries of faith are revealed, such as, for example, a conversation with Nicodemus about being born again with water and the Spirit and about the sacrament atonement (John 3:1-21), a conversation with a Samaritan woman about living water and about worshiping God in spirit and truth (John 4:6-42), a conversation about the bread that came down from heaven and the sacrament of communion (John 6 :22-58), a conversation about the good shepherd (John 10:11-30) and a farewell conversation with the disciples at the Last Supper (John 13-16), which is especially remarkable in its content, with the concluding marvelous, so-called "high-priestly prayer" of the Lord (John 17). John deeply penetrated into the sublime mystery of Christian love - and no one, like him in his Gospel and in his three Catholic Epistles, revealed so fully, deeply and convincingly the Christian teaching about the two main commandments of the Law of God - about love for God and about love. to the neighbor. Therefore, he is also called the apostle of love.

Book of Acts and Epistles

As Christian communities spread and increased in different parts of the vast Roman Empire, naturally, Christians had questions of a religious, moral and practical nature. The apostles, not always having the opportunity to personally analyze these issues on the spot, responded to them in their letters-messages. Therefore, while the Gospels contain the foundations of the Christian faith, the apostolic epistles reveal some aspects of the teaching of Christ in more detail and show its practical application. Thanks to the apostolic epistles, we have a living testimony of how the apostles taught and how the first Christian communities were formed and lived.

Book of Acts is a direct continuation of the gospel. The purpose of its author is to describe the events that took place after the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ and to give an outline of the initial structure of the Church of Christ. This book tells in particular detail about the missionary work of the apostles Peter and Paul. St. John Chrysostom, in his conversation about the Book of Acts, explains its great significance for Christianity, confirming the truth of the gospel teaching with facts from the life of the apostles: “This book contains primarily evidence of the resurrection.” That is why on Easter night, before the glorification of the resurrection of Christ, chapters from the Book of Acts are read in Orthodox churches. For the same reason, this book is read in its entirety during the period from Pascha to Pentecost at the daily liturgies.

The book of Acts tells about the events from the Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ to the arrival of the Apostle Paul in Rome and covers a period of about 30 years. Chapters 1-12 tell about the activities of the Apostle Peter among the Jews of Palestine; Chapters 13-28 - about the activities of the Apostle Paul among the pagans and the spread of the teachings of Christ already beyond the borders of Palestine. The narrative of the book ends with an indication that the apostle Paul lived in Rome for two years and preached the doctrine of Christ there without restraint (Acts 28:30-31).

Cathedral Epistles

The name "Cathedral" refers to seven epistles written by the apostles: one - James, two - Peter, three - John the Theologian and one Judas (not Iscariot). In the composition of the books of the New Testament of the Orthodox edition, they are placed immediately after the Book of Acts. They were called catholic by the Church in early times. "Cathedral" is "district" in the sense that they are addressed not to individuals, but to all Christian communities in general. The entire composition of the Epistles of the Council is named by this name for the first time by the historian Eusebius (beginning of the 4th century A.D.). The Catholic Epistles differ from the Epistles of the Apostle Paul in that they have more general basic doctrinal instructions, while the content of the Apostle Paul is adapted to the circumstances of those local Churches to which he addresses, and has a more special character.

The Epistle of the Apostle James

This message was intended for the Jews: "the twelve tribes scattered", which did not exclude the Jews living in Palestine. Time and place of the message are not specified. Apparently, the message was written by him shortly before his death, probably in the years 55-60. The place of writing is probably Jerusalem, where the apostle resided permanently. The reason for writing was those sorrows that the Jews of the dispersion suffered from the Gentiles and, in particular, from their unbelieving brothers. The trials were so great that many began to lose heart and waver in faith. Some murmured against outward calamities and against God Himself, but still saw their salvation in descent from Abraham. They looked at prayer incorrectly, did not underestimate the importance of good deeds, but willingly became teachers of others. At the same time, the rich were exalted above the poor, and brotherly love grew cold. All this prompted James to give them the necessary moral healing in the form of an epistle.

The Epistles of the Apostle Peter

First Epistle the Apostle Peter is addressed to "newcomers scattered in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia" - the provinces of Asia Minor. By "newcomers" one should understand mainly the believing Jews, as well as the pagans who were part of the Christian communities. These communities were founded by the apostle Paul. The reason for writing the epistle was the desire of the Apostle Peter to “strengthen his brothers” (see Luke 22:32) in the event of discord in these communities and persecution that befell them from the enemies of the Cross of Christ. Appeared among Christians and internal enemies in the face of false teachers. Taking advantage of the absence of the Apostle Paul, they began to distort his teaching on Christian freedom and patronize all moral immorality (see 1 Pet. 2:16; Pet. 1:9; 2, 1). The purpose of this epistle of Peter is to encourage, console and confirm the Christians of Asia Minor in the faith, as pointed out by the apostle Peter himself: the grace of God in which you stand” (1 Pet. 5:12).

Second Epistle written to the same Asia Minor Christians. In this epistle, the apostle Peter warns believers with particular force against depraved false teachers. These false teachings are similar to those denounced by the Apostle Paul in the epistles to Timothy and Titus, and also by the Apostle Jude in his Catholic Epistle.

There is no reliable information about the purpose of the Second Catholic Epistle, except for those contained in the Epistle itself. Who were named "the chosen lady" and her children is unknown. It is only clear that they were Christians (there is an interpretation that “Mistress” is the Church, and “children” are Christians). As for the time and place of writing this epistle, one can think that it was written at the same time that the first one was written, and in the same Ephesus. The Second Epistle of John has only one chapter. In it, the apostle expresses his joy that the children of the chosen lady are walking in the truth, promises to visit her and insistently exhorts them not to have any fellowship with false teachers.

Third Epistle: addressed to Gaia or Kai. Who it was is not exactly known. From the apostolic writings and from Church Tradition it is known that several persons bore this name (see Acts 19:29; Acts 20:4; Rom. 16:23; 1 Cor. 1:14, etc.), but to whom of them or to whom this epistle was written, there is no way to determine. Apparently, this Guy did not hold any hierarchical position, but was simply a pious Christian, a stranger. About the time and place of writing the third epistle, it can be assumed that: both of these epistles were written at approximately the same time, all in the same city of Ephesus, where the apostle John spent the last years of his earthly life. This message also consists of only one chapter. In it, the apostle praises Gaia for his virtuous life, firmness in faith and "walking in the truth", and especially for his virtue of accepting strangers in relation to the preachers of the Word of God, reproaches the power-hungry Diotrephes, reports some news and sends greetings.

The message of the Apostle Jude

The writer of this epistle calls himself "Judas, a servant of Jesus Christ, brother of James." From this we can conclude that this is one person with the apostle Judas from among the twelve, who was called Jacob, as well as Levi (not to be confused with Levi) and Thaddeus (see Matt. 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6: 16; Acts 1:13; John 14:22). He was the son of Joseph the Betrothed by his first wife and the brother of Joseph's children - Jacob, later Bishop of Jerusalem, nicknamed the Righteous, Josiah and Simon, later also Bishop of Jerusalem. According to legend, his first name was Judas, he received the name Thaddeus by being baptized by John the Baptist, and he received the name Leuveus by joining the ranks of the 12 apostles, perhaps to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot of the same name, who became a traitor. On the apostolic ministry of Judas after the Ascension of the Lord, tradition says that he preached first in Judea, Galilee, Samaria and the Marching, and then in Arabia, Syria and Mesopotamia, Persia and Armenia, in which he died a martyr, crucified on the cross and pierced with arrows. The reasons for writing the epistle, as can be seen from verse 3, were Jude's concern "for the general salvation of souls" and anxiety about the strengthening of false teachings (Jude 1:3). Saint Jude directly says that he writes because impious people have crept into Christian society, turning Christian freedom into a pretext for debauchery. These are, undoubtedly, false Gnostic teachers who encouraged depravity under the guise of "mortification" of sinful flesh and considered the world not a creation of God, but a product of lower forces hostile to Him. These are the same Simonians and Nicolaitans who are denounced by the Evangelist John in chapters 2 and 3 of the Apocalypse. The purpose of the epistle is to warn Christians against being carried away by these false teachings that flatter sensuality. The epistle is intended for all Christians in general, but its content shows that it was intended for a certain circle of people, into which the false teachers found access. It can be assumed with certainty that this epistle was originally addressed to the same Churches of Asia Minor, to which the apostle Peter later wrote.

The Epistles of the Apostle Paul

Of all the New Testament sacred writers, the apostle Paul, who wrote 14 epistles, was the most laborious in expounding the Christian doctrine. Due to the importance of their content, they are rightly called the "second Gospel" and have always attracted the attention of both thinkers-philosophers and ordinary believers. The apostles themselves did not disregard these edifying creations of their “beloved brother”, younger in time of conversion to Christ, but equal to them in the spirit of teaching and grace-filled gifts (see 2 Pet. 3:15-16). Constituting a necessary and important addition to the gospel teaching, the epistles of the Apostle Paul should be the subject of the most careful and diligent study of every person who seeks to gain a deeper knowledge of the Christian faith. These epistles are distinguished by a special height of religious thought, reflecting the extensive scholarship and knowledge of the Old Testament Scriptures of the Apostle Paul, as well as his deep understanding of the New Testament teachings of Christ. Sometimes not finding the necessary words in the modern Greek language, the apostle Paul was sometimes forced to create his own word combinations to express his thoughts, which later came into wide use among Christian writers. Such phrases include: “to be resurrected”, “to be buried with Christ”, “to put on Christ”, “to put off the old man”, “to be saved by the bath of resurrection”, “the law of the spirit of life”, etc.

Book of Revelation or Apocalypse

The Apocalypse (or in Greek - Revelation) of John the Theologian is the only prophetic book of the New Testament. It predicts the future fate of mankind, the end of the world and the beginning of a new eternal life, and therefore, naturally, is placed at the end of Holy Scripture. The Apocalypse is a mysterious and difficult book to understand, but at the same time, it is the mysterious nature of this book that attracts the eyes of both believing Christians and simply inquisitive thinkers who are trying to unravel the meaning and significance of the visions described in it. There is an enormous number of books about the Apocalypse, among which there are also quite a few absurd works, this especially applies to modern sectarian literature. Despite the difficulty of understanding this book, the spiritually enlightened fathers and teachers of the Church have always treated it with great reverence as inspired by God. So, Dionysius of Alexandria writes: “The darkness of this book does not prevent one from being surprised at it. And if I do not understand everything in it, then only because of my inability. I cannot be a judge of the truths contained in it, and measure them by the poverty of my mind; guided more by faith than by reason, I find them only beyond my understanding.” Blessed Jerome speaks of the Apocalypse in the same way: “There are as many secrets in it as there are words. But what am I saying? Any praise for this book will be below its dignity. During the divine service, the Apocalypse is not read because in ancient times the reading of the Holy Scriptures during the divine service was always accompanied by its explanation, and the Apocalypse is very difficult to explain (however, in the Typicon there is an indication of the reading of the Apocalypse as edifying reading at a certain period of the year).
About the author of the Apocalypse
The author of the Apocalypse calls himself John (see Rev. 1:1-9; Rev. 22:8). According to the common opinion of the holy fathers of the Church, this was the Apostle John, the beloved disciple of Christ, who received the distinctive name “Theologian” for the height of his teaching about God the Word. His authorship is confirmed both by the data in the Apocalypse itself and by many other internal and external signs. The inspired pen of the Apostle John the Theologian also includes the Gospel and three Epistles. The author of the Apocalypse says that he was on the island of Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ (Rev. 1:9). From church history it is known that of the apostles, only John the Theologian was imprisoned on this island. The proof of the authorship of the Apocalypse of the Apostle John the Theologian is the similarity of this book with his Gospel and epistles, not only in spirit, but also in style, and especially in some characteristic expressions. An ancient tradition dates the writing of the Apocalypse to the end of the 1st century. So, for example, Irenaeus writes: "The Apocalypse appeared shortly before this and almost in our time, at the end of the reign of Domitian." The purpose of writing the Apocalypse is to portray the coming struggle of the Church against the forces of evil; to show the methods by which the devil, with the assistance of his servants, fights against good and truth; give guidance to believers on how to overcome temptations; depict the death of the enemies of the Church and the final victory of Christ over evil.

Horsemen of the Apocalypse

The Apostle John in the Apocalypse reveals the general methods of deceit, and also shows the sure way to avoid them in order to be faithful to Christ until death. Similarly, the Judgment of God, about which the Apocalypse repeatedly speaks, is the Last Judgment of God, and all the private judgments of God over individual countries and people. This includes the judgment on all mankind under Noah, and the judgment on the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah under Abraham, and the judgment on Egypt under Moses, and the double judgment on Judea (six centuries before Christ and again in the seventies of our era), and judgment over ancient Nineveh, Babylon, over the Roman Empire, over Byzantium and, more recently, over Russia). The reasons that caused the righteous punishment of God were always the same: the unbelief of people and lawlessness. In the Apocalypse, a certain extratemporality or timelessness is noticeable. It follows from the fact that the apostle John contemplated the fate of mankind not from the earthly, but from the heavenly perspective, where the Spirit of God led him. In an ideal world, the flow of time stops at the Throne of the Most High, and the present, the past and the future appear before the spiritual gaze at the same time. Obviously, therefore, the author of the Apocalypse describes some events of the future as past, and the past as present. For example, the war of the Angels in Heaven and the overthrow of the devil from there - events that happened even before the creation of the world, are described by the Apostle John as having happened at the dawn of Christianity (Rev. 12 ch.). The resurrection of the martyrs and their reign in Heaven, which covers the entire New Testament era, is placed by them after the trial of the Antichrist and the false prophet (Rev. 20 ch.). Thus, the seer does not tell about the chronological sequence of events, but reveals the essence of that great war between evil and good, which is going on simultaneously on several fronts and captures both the material and angelic worlds.

From the book of Bishop Alexander (Mileant)

Bible Facts:

Methuselah is the main long-liver in the Bible. He lived for almost a thousand years and died at the age of 969.

More than forty people worked on the texts of Scripture, many of whom did not even know each other. However, there are no obvious contradictions or inconsistencies in the Bible.

From a literary point of view, the Sermon on the Mount, written in the Bible, is a perfect text.

The Bible was the first machine-printed book in Germany in 1450.

The Bible contains prophecies that were fulfilled hundreds of years later.

The Bible is published annually in tens of thousands of copies.

Luther's translation of the Bible into German marked the beginning of Protestantism.

The Bible was written for 1600 years. No other book in the world has undergone such a long and scrupulous work.

The Bishop of Canterbury Stephen Langton divided the Bible into chapters and verses.

49 hours of continuous reading is required to read the entire Bible.

In the 7th century, an English publishing house published a Bible with a monstrous misprint. One of the Commandments looked like this: "Commit adultery." Almost the entire circulation was liquidated.

The Bible is one of the most commented and quoted books in the world.

Andrey Desnitsky. Bible and archeology

Conversations with the father. Getting Started in Bible Study

Conversations with the father. Bible Study with Children

The second part of the Bible, the New Testament, is a collection of 27 books written in the 1st century and which have come down to us in ancient Greek.

The New Testament translation is based on the traditional text of the Greek-speaking churches, first published in 1516 and later called the "Textus receptus", or recognized text, it was the basic text for Luther, Calvin, Tyndale, the translators of the King James version, as well as the New Version .

New Testament

Unlike the Old Testament, which was supposedly written in the XV-IV centuries BC. e., the new one was written in the 1st century AD. e., originally in Greek (except for the first Gospel of Matthew, which was written in Aramaic, and only then translated into Greek).

The 27 books of the New Testament can be divided into the following sections:

• Gospels - the main part of the New Testament (Matthew - John)
• Historical book (Acts of the Apostles)
• Teaching books (James - Hebrews)
• Prophetic book (Revelation (Apocalypse))

About the Old Testament

The first part of the Bible - the Old Testament consists of 39 books that have come down to our time thanks to the careful work of scribes who, generation after generation, preserved and rewrote the original text. By the VI century A.D.

The baton in the preservation and transmission of the Scriptures was taken over by the Masoretes, who preserved the Holy Scriptures for another five centuries in a form known as the Masoretic Text. The main Masoretic schools were considered Babylonian, Palestinian and Tiberian. However, by the 10th century, the Ben-Asher dynasty from Tiberias stood out among the Masoretes. After several revisions, Ben Asher's text became the only accepted form of Hebrew Scripture in the 12th century.

Old Testament

Presumably written in the XV-IV centuries BC. It is not known who brought the books of the Old Testament together, but according to Jewish tradition, it is believed that it was Ezra and his helpers. About 270 B.C. by order of the Egyptian king Ptolemy Philadelphus, 70 Jews from Jerusalem were invited to Alexandria, who translated all the books from Hebrew (Hebrew) into Greek (the so-called translation of the seventy, or Septuagint).

The 39 books of the Old Testament can be divided into the following sections:

• The law of the Pentateuch (Torah) is the main part of the Old Testament (Genesis - Deuteronomy)
• Historical books (J. Nun - Esther)
• Teaching books (Job - Song of Songs)
• Prophetic books (Isaiah - Malachi)

Old Testament- the first and older of the two parts of the Christian Bible, along with the New Testament. The Old Testament is the Holy Scripture common to Judaism and Christianity. The Old Testament is believed to have been written between the 13th and 1st centuries. BC e. Most of the books of the Old Testament are written in Hebrew, but some of them are written in Aramaic. This fact is associated with a change in the political situation.

Read the Old Testament online for free.

Historical books

Books instructive

Prophetic books

The texts of the Old Testament were widely disseminated after their translation into ancient Greek. This translation dates from the 1st century and is called the Septuagint. The Septugian was adopted by Christians and played a key role in the spread of Christianity and the formation of the Christian canon.

The name "Old Testament" is a tracing paper from ancient Greek. In the biblical world, the word "covenant" meant a solemn agreement of the parties, which was accompanied by an oath. According to Christian tradition, the division of the Bible into the Old and New Testaments is based on lines from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah:

"Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah."

The Old Testament is authorship.

The books of the Old Testament were created by dozens of authors over the centuries. Most books traditionally bear the names of their authors, but most modern Bible scholars agree that authorship was attributed much later and that, in fact, most of the books of the Old Testament were written by anonymous authors.

Fortunately, the text of the Old Testament has come down to us in many copies. These are the original texts in Hebrew and Aramaic, and numerous translations:

• Septuagint(translation into ancient Greek, made in Alexandria in the III-I centuries BC),
• Targums- translation into Aramaic,
• Peshitta- translation into Syriac, made among the early Christians in the 2nd century AD. e.
• Vulgate- translation into Latin, made by Jerome in the 5th century AD. e.,

The Qumran manuscripts are considered the most ancient source (incomplete) of the Old Testament.

The Septuagint became the basis for the Church Slavonic translations of the Old Testament - the Gennadiev, Ostroh and Elizabethan Bibles. But the modern translations of the Bible into Russian - the Synodal and the translation of the Russian Bible Society were made on the basis of the Masoretic text.

Features of the texts of the Old Testament.

The texts of the Old Testament are considered divinely inspired. The divine inspiration of the books of the Old Testament is recognized in the New Testament, a similar point of view is shared by early Christian historians and theologians.

Canons of the Old Testament.

To date, there are 3 canons of the Old Testament, somewhat different in composition.

1. Tanakh - Jewish canon;
2. Septuagint - Christian canon;
3. Protestant canon that arose in the 16th century.

The canon of the Old Testament was formed in two stages:

1. Formation in the Jewish environment,
2. Formation in a Christian environment.

Jewish canon is divided into 3 parts:

1. Torah (Law),
2. Nevi'im (Prophets),
3. Ketuvim (Scriptures).

Alexandrian canon differs from the Jewish one in the composition and arrangement of the books, as well as in the content of individual texts. This fact is explained by the fact that the Alexandrian canon is based not on the Tanakh, but on the proto-Masoretic version. It is also possible that some of the test differences are due to Christian reinterpretation of the original texts.

Structure of the Alexandrian Canon:

1. legal books,
2. History books,
3. teaching books,
4. Prophetic books.

From the point of view of the Orthodox Church, the Old Testament consists of 39 canonical books, while the Catholic Church recognizes 46 books as canonical.

Protestant canon appeared as a result of the revision of the authority of the biblical books by Martin Luther and Jacob van Liesveldt.

Why read the Old Testament?

The Old Testament can be read for various purposes. For believers, this is a sacred, sacred text, for the rest, the Old Testament can become a source of unexpected truths, an occasion for philosophical reasoning. You can read the Old Testament along with the Iliad and the Odyssey as a great monument of ancient literature.

Philosophical and ethical ideas in the Old Testament are rich and varied. We are talking about the destruction of false moral values, and the love of truth, and the concepts of infinity and limit. The Old Testament sets out a peculiar view of cosmology, discusses issues of personal identification, marriage and family issues.

Reading the Old Testament, you will discuss both everyday issues and global issues. On our site you can read the Old Testament online for free. We have also provided the texts with various illustrations of Old Testament subjects in order to make reading even more pleasant and informative.

The sacred book of the Christian religion, a record of God's revelations to man received over many millennia. This is a book of divine instructions. It gives us peace in grief, the solution of life's problems, the condemnation of sin, and the spiritual maturity so necessary to overcome our worries.

The Bible cannot be called one book. It is a whole collection of books, a library, written under the guidance of God by people who lived in different ages. The Bible has history, philosophy, and science. It also includes poetry and drama, biographical information, and prophecy. Reading the Bible Gives Us Inspiration It is no surprise that the Bible, in whole or in part, has been translated into more than 1,200 languages. Every year, the number of copies of the Bible sold worldwide exceeds the number of copies sold of any other book.

The Bible truthfully answers the questions that have worried people from time immemorial "How did man appear?"; "What happens to people after death?"; "Why are we here on earth?"; "Can we know the meaning and meaning of life?" Only the Bible reveals the truth about God, points the way to eternal life, and explains the eternal problems of sin and suffering.

The Bible is divided into two parts: the Old Testament, which tells about the participation of God in the life of the Jewish people before the coming of Jesus Christ, and the New Testament, which gives information about the life and teachings of Christ in all His truth and beauty.

(Greek - "good news") - the biography of Jesus Christ; books revered as sacred in Christianity that tell about the divine nature of Jesus Christ, his birth, life, miracles, death, resurrection and ascension.

The translation of the Bible into Russian was started by the Russian Bible Society by the Highest order of the Sovereign Emperor Alexander I in 1816, resumed by the Highest permission of the Sovereign Emperor Alexander II in 1858, completed and published with the blessing of the Holy Synod in 1876. This edition contains the text Synodal translation of 1876, re-checked with the Hebrew text of the Old Testament and the Greek text of the New Testament.

The commentary on the Old and New Testaments and the appendix "The Holy Land in the Time of Our Lord Jesus Christ" are reprinted from the Bible published by the Brussels publishing house "Life with God" (1989).

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1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
2 as it is written in the prophets: Behold, I am sending my angel before your face, who will prepare your way before you.
3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight his paths.
4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins....

1 Genealogy of Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham.
2 Abraham begat Isaac; Isaac begat Jacob; Jacob begat Judah and his brothers;
3 Judah begat Perez and Zerah by Tamar; Perez begat Esrom; Esrom begat Aram;
4 Aram begat Aminadab; Aminadab begat Nahshon; Nahshon begat Salmon;...

1. As many have already begun to compose narratives about events that are completely known between us,
2. as those who from the very beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word told us,
3. then I also decided, after a careful study of everything from the beginning, to describe to you in order, venerable Theophilus,
4. so that you may know the solid foundation of the doctrine in which you have been instructed....

Evangelist Luke

Introduction to the Books of the New Testament

The Scriptures of the New Testament were written in Greek, with the exception of the Gospel of Matthew, which is said to have been written in Hebrew or Aramaic. But since this Hebrew text has not survived, the Greek text is considered the original for the Gospel of Matthew. Thus, only the Greek text of the New Testament is the original, and numerous editions in various modern languages ​​​​of the whole world are translations from the Greek original. The Greek language in which the New Testament was written was no longer the classical ancient Greek language and was not, as previously thought, special New Testament language. This is a spoken everyday language of the 1st century. according to P. X., which has spread throughout the world and is known in science under the name "common dialect", nevertheless, both the style and turns of speech, and the way of thinking of the sacred writers of the New Testament reveal Hebrew or Aramaic influence.

The original text of the New Testament has come down to us in a large number of ancient manuscripts, more or less complete, numbering about 5000 (from the 2nd to the 16th centuries). Until recent years, the most ancient of them did not go further than the 4th century. according to P. X. But recently, many fragments of ancient manuscripts of the New Testament on papyrus (III and even II century) have been discovered. For example, Bodmer's manuscripts: Jn, Lk, 1 and 2 Pet, Jude - were found and published in the bos of the 20th century. In addition to Greek manuscripts, we have ancient translations or versions in Latin, Syriac, Coptic and other languages ​​(Vetus Itala, Peshitto, Vulgata, etc.), of which the oldest existed already from the 2nd century to P.X.

Finally, numerous quotations from the Church Fathers in Greek and other languages ​​have been preserved in such quantity that if the text of the New Testament were lost and all ancient manuscripts were destroyed, then specialists could restore this text from quotations from the works of the Holy Fathers. All this abundant material makes it possible to check and refine the text of the New Testament and to classify its various forms (the so-called textual criticism). Compared with any ancient author (Homer, Euripides, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Cornelius Nepos, Julius Caesar, Horace, Virgil, etc.), our modern - printed - Greek text of the New Testament is in an exceptionally favorable position. And by the number of manuscripts, and by a short time. separating the oldest of them from the original, and in the number of translations, and in their antiquity, and in the seriousness and volume of critical work carried out on the text, it surpasses all other texts (for details, see: "Hidden Treasures and New Life", archaeological discoveries and the Gospel , Bruges, 1959, pp. 34 ff.).

The text of the New Testament as a whole is fixed absolutely irrefutably.

The New Testament consists of 27 books. They are subdivided into 260 chapters of unequal length by the publishers for ease of reference and quotation. The original text does not contain this division. The modern division into chapters in the New Testament, as in the whole Bible, has often been ascribed to the Dominican Cardinal Hugh (1263), who worked it out in composing a symphony to the Latin Vulgate, but it is now thought with great reason that the division goes back to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Stephen Langton, who died in 1228. As for the division into verses now accepted in all editions of the New Testament, it goes back to the publisher of the Greek New Testament text, Robert Stephen, and was introduced by him into his edition in 1551.

The sacred books of the New Testament are usually divided into law-positive (Four Gospels), historical (Acts of the Apostles), teaching (seven conciliar epistles and the seventeen epistles of the Apostle Paul) and prophetic: the Apocalypse, or the Revelation of St. John the Theologian (see Metropolitan Philatera's Long Catechism)

However, modern experts consider this distribution outdated: in fact, all the books of the New Testament are both law-positive and historical teaching, and there is prophecy not only in the Apocalypse. New Testament scholarship pays great attention to establishing the exact chronology of the gospels and other New Testament events. Scientific chronology allows the reader to trace with sufficient accuracy the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, the apostles and the original Church according to the New Testament (see Appendixes).

The books of the New Testament can be distributed as follows.

• Three so-called Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and separately, the fourth - the Gospel of John. New Testament scholarship devotes much attention to the study of the relationship of the first three Gospels and their relation to the Gospel of John (the synoptic problem).
• The book of the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of the Apostle Paul ("Corpus Paulinum"), which are usually divided into:
  - Early Epistles: 1 and 2 to the Thessalonians;
  - Great Epistles: to the Galatians, 1 and 2 to the Corinthians, to the Romans;
  - Messages from bonds, i.e., written from Rome, where ap. Paul was in prison: to the Philippians, to the Colossians, to the Ephesians, to Philemon;
  - Pastoral Epistles: 1 to Timothy, to Titus, 2 to Timothy;
  - Epistle to the Hebrews;
• Catholic Epistles ("Corpus Catholicum")
• Revelation of John the Evangelist. (Sometimes in the New Testament they single out "Corpus Joannicum", i.e., everything that the Apostle John wrote for a comparative study of his Gospel in connection with his epistles and Revelation)

four gospel

1. The word "gospel" in Greek means "good news". This is how our Lord Jesus Christ Himself called his teaching (Matthew 24:14; 26:13; Mark 1:15; 13:10; 19:; 16:15). Therefore, for us, the "gospel" is inextricably linked with Him: it is the "good news" of salvation given to the world through the incarnate Son of God. Christ and His apostles preached the gospel without writing it down. By the middle of the 1st century, this sermon was fixed by the Church in a persistent oral tradition. The Eastern custom of memorizing sayings, stories, and even large texts helped the Christians of the apostolic age to accurately preserve the unwritten First Gospel. After the 1950s, when eyewitnesses to Christ's earthly ministry began to pass away one by one, the need arose to record the gospel (Luke 1:1). Thus, the "gospel" began to denote the narration of the teachings of the Savior recorded by the apostles. It was read at prayer meetings and in preparing people for baptism.
2. The most important Christian centers of the 1st c. (Jerusalem, Antioch, Rome, Ephesus, etc.) had their own gospels. Of these, only four (Mt, Mk, Lk, Jn) are recognized by the Church as inspired by God, that is, written under the direct influence of the Holy Spirit. They are called "from Matthew", "from Mark", etc. (the Greek kata corresponds to the Russian "according to Matthew", "according to Mark", etc.), because the life and teachings of Christ are set forth in these books by these four priests. Their gospels were not brought together in one book, which made it possible to see the gospel story from different points of view. In the II century. St. Irenaeus of Lyon calls the evangelists by name and points to their gospels as the only canonical ones (Against Heresies, 2, 28, 2). A contemporary of St. Irenaeus Tatian made the first attempt to create a single gospel narrative, composed of various texts of the four gospels, the Diatessaron, i.e., the gospel of the four.
3. The apostles did not set themselves the goal of creating a historical work in the modern sense of the word. They sought to spread the teachings of Jesus Christ, helped people to believe in Him, correctly understand and fulfill His commandments. The testimonies of the evangelists do not coincide in all details, which proves their independence from each other: the testimonies of eyewitnesses are always individual in color. The Holy Spirit does not certify the accuracy of the details of the facts described in the gospel, but the spiritual meaning contained in them.
   The minor contradictions encountered in the presentation of the evangelists are explained by the fact that God gave the clergymen complete freedom in conveying certain specific facts in relation to different categories of listeners, which further emphasizes the unity of meaning and direction of all four gospels.

New Testament books

• Gospel of Matthew
• Gospel of Mark
• Gospel of Luke
• Gospel of John

Acts of the Holy Apostles

Cathedral Messages

• The Epistle of James
• First Epistle of Peter
• Second Epistle of Peter
• First Epistle of John
• Second Epistle of John
• Third Epistle of John
• The Epistle of Jude

The Epistles of the Apostle Paul

• Epistle to the Romans
• First Epistle to the Corinthians
• Second Epistle to the Corinthians
• Epistle to the Galatians
• Epistle to the Ephesians
• Epistle to the Philippians
• Epistle to the Colossians
• First Epistle to the Thessalonians
• Second Epistle to the Thessalonians
• First Epistle to Timothy
• Second Epistle to Timothy
• Epistle to Titus
• Epistle to Philemon
• Hebrews

Revelation of John the Evangelist

Bible. Gospel. New Testament. Download Bible. Download Gospel of: Luke, Mark, Matthew, John. Revelation of John the Theologian (Apocalypse). Acts of the Apostles. Epistle of the Apostles. Download format: fb2, doc, docx, pdf, lit, isilo.pdb, rb

How to Study the Bible

Suggested Tips to Help Make Your Bible Study More Fruitful

1. Read the Bible daily, in a quiet and peaceful place where no one bothers you Daily reading, even if you do not read much every day, is more useful than any occasional reading You can start with 15 minutes a day and then gradually increase the time allotted for bible reading
2. Set a goal to know God better and achieve deep love for God in your fellowship with Him. God speaks to us through His Word, and we speak to Him in prayer.
3. Begin your Bible reading with a prayer Ask God to reveal Himself and His will to you Confess to Him sins that may hinder your approach to God.
4. Take brief notes as you read the Bible Write your comments in a notebook or keep a spiritual diary to record your thoughts and inner feelings
5. Read one chapter slowly, maybe two or three chapters You can only read one paragraph, but be sure to reread at least once everything that you have read before in one sitting
6. As a rule, it is very useful in understanding the true meaning of a particular chapter or paragraph to give written answers to the following questions: a What is the main idea of ​​the read text? What is its meaning?
7. Which verse of the text expresses the main idea? (Such “key verses” should be memorized by reading them aloud several times Knowing the verses by heart will allow you to meditate on important spiritual truths during the day, for example, when you are standing in line or riding in public transport, etc. Is there a promise I can claim to keep? d How can I benefit from accepting the truth in the text? Avoid general and vague statements Try to be as clear and specific as possible In your notebook, write how and when you will use the teaching of this or that paragraph or chapter in your life)
8. End with prayer Ask God to give you the inner spiritual strength to draw closer to Him this day Keep talking to God throughout the day His presence will help you be strong in any situation