How do Orthodox Christians read the Bible?
Metropolitan Kallistos’s introduction to biblical reading holds together divine inspiration and human expression. The books of Scripture have different authors, settings, and literary characteristics, so careful inquiry into their language and history has a place in reading them. He also places that reading within the Church and directs attention to Christ. These concerns belong together; attending to a text’s historical setting need not exclude its theological purpose. [1]
For a reader opening a difficult passage, a useful beginning is quite concrete: identify who is speaking, what has happened immediately before, and how the paragraph ends. A commentary can then help with unfamiliar language or background. Starting with the passage itself keeps the explanation connected to the biblical text rather than letting a striking quotation from another book replace it.
Historical and spiritual readings: Cassian’s example
In Conference XIV, chapter 8, John Cassian distinguishes historical understanding from spiritual interpretation. His example is Jerusalem: it can signify the historical city, the Church, the heavenly city, or the soul. He calls the spiritual senses allegorical, anagogical, and tropological; the last concerns moral formation. The terms identify different questions asked of a scriptural subject. [2]
Cassian does not present the historical city and the spiritual readings as mutually exclusive alternatives. His example shows meanings considered together. It is a particular patristic explanation, however, rather than proof that every Orthodox author assigns four meanings to every verse. When another writer uses “allegory” or “spiritual sense,” read the explanation that writer gives. [2]
Typology is a related way of reading events and persons in relation to Christ. Kallistos points to Melchizedek in Genesis and Hebrews as an example grounded in the relationship between biblical passages. Following the actual cross-reference helps distinguish an interpretation supported by the texts from an association invented merely because two details look alike. [1]
Scripture heard in worship and explained in preaching
In the Divine Liturgy, the Epistle and Gospel are proclaimed within the assembly’s worship. The OCA’s explanation describes appointed readings and the homily that communicates their significance for the people. A homily is therefore shaped by more than the order of verses on a page: it addresses a passage as heard on a particular occasion and relates it to Christian life. [3]
This setting helps explain why a Sunday homily collection follows the church year rather than the order of a single biblical book. A sermon on the publican and Pharisee may dwell on prayer and humility; another may follow the prodigal son’s return. To find a particular text, look for the Sunday or Gospel passage in the contents instead of assuming that the collection covers every chapter consecutively.
The connection with conduct also appears in John of Damascus’s discussion of Scripture in Exact Exposition IV.17. He connects reading with the formation of belief and action, describing instruction that encourages virtue and turns the reader from vice. His treatment gives a doctrinal setting for a concern that appears repeatedly in homilies: what the hearer does with the word received. [4]
What a verse-by-verse commentary adds
A commentary commonly pauses over matters that a sermon may pass through quickly: the meaning of a word, a cross-reference, the relationship between accounts, or a disputed interpretation. In our Matthew volume, the explanation of Matthew 1:1 discusses biblos geneseos, the phrase introducing the genealogy. It compares the language of origin and generations before examining the names Jesus and Christ. Reading even this opening page shows how an apparently simple verse can invite sustained attention. [7]
The Genesis volume provides another example at the beginning of creation. Its discussion of Genesis 1:2 considers interpretations of the Spirit over the waters. The surrounding treatment also preserves explanatory language from the commentary’s historical period, including the term “luminiferous ether” at Genesis 1:3. These are the commentator’s explanations of the biblical text. Keep that distinction visible when evaluating an argument or comparing it with a later study. [6]
The series associated with A. P. Lopukhin continued beyond its founding editor’s lifetime. The Matthew edition identifies its source as the historical series’ 1911 volume and credits Lopukhin and his successors. The familiar series name should therefore not be turned into a claim that Lopukhin personally wrote every part of every volume. [5] [7]
A manageable way to study a passage
- Read a complete unit. Begin with a parable, an episode, or a connected stretch of teaching rather than one detached sentence.
- Write down the difficulty. Is the problem a word, the sequence of events, an apparent contradiction, or the passage’s theological meaning?
- Choose the appropriate companion. Use a commentary for detail, a homily for an extended exposition and application, or a historical narrative for the sequence across accounts.
- Follow a cited passage. Open the cross-reference and read enough around it to understand why it is being used.
- Return to the original passage. Identify what is now clearer and what remains uncertain. Keep the author’s proposal distinct from the words of Scripture.
This sequence works for a short session as well as a longer study. It also makes comparison more useful: two books may emphasize different aspects because they have different purposes. Before deciding that they disagree, establish what question each is answering.
Choose a book for the reading you want to do
For Genesis: a companion to the opening biblical book
Orthodox Explanatory Bible: Genesis is the Genesis volume, not the complete Bible commentary series. Its contents run through all fifty chapters. Choose it when your study is centered on creation, the early narratives, or the patriarchal history. Read a passage with the commentary nearby, returning to the biblical text after each explanation. [6]
For Matthew: detailed Gospel study
Orthodox Commentary on the Gospel According to Matthew covers the Gospel through Matthew 28:20. The Sermon on the Mount in chapters 5–7 and the parables in chapter 13 offer focused starting points; chapters 26–28 bring the reader to the Passion and Resurrection. Choose it for sustained work within one Gospel. [7]
For a broad Sunday cycle: Varlaam
The Homiliary of Metropolitan Varlaam contains fifty-four homilies of the Sunday and movable-feast cycle, beginning with the publican and Pharisee and continuing through the thirty-second Sunday after Pentecost. The separate fixed-feast and saints’ cycle is not included. Choose this volume to read complete homilies alongside the Gospel passages. The Varlaam biography explains the historical collection and its publication. [8]
For a shorter seasonal collection: Sophronius
Sunday Homilies of Bishop Sophronius of Vratsa selects seventeen homilies from the Nativity cycle through Palm Sunday. Its three divisions cover Nativity and Theophany, the approach to Lent, and Great Lent. Choose it for a bounded seasonal reading project. The title describes the selection’s limits, rather than promising every sermon in the original Nedelnik. Read about Sophronius and his work for the wider setting. [9]
For the sequence of Christ’s final days: Innocent of Kherson
The Last Days of the Earthly Life of Jesus Christ proceeds through the journey to Jerusalem, Lazarus, the entry into the city, the final controversies, and the events of the Passion. Choose it for a sustained account across the Gospel narrative rather than a verse-by-verse treatment of Matthew alone. Innocent of Kherson’s biography introduces the author. [10]
For related study, continue to the Orthodox theology guide or the reading-guide directory. Each product page provides the edition details and purchase options for the book discussed.