The Holy Scripture of the Orthodox?

Answer 1

The Holy Scriptures are a collection of Books of the New Testament that come out of the Holy Tradition (the unwritten and oral tradition) of the Early Christian Church. The Bible did not just appear out of thin air.

At the time when Jesus Christ established His Church in Jerusalem in 33 AD, there was no Bible, but only the Old Testament scriptures. So for the first years of its existence, the Church had no New Testament Scriptures at all, and for the first 500 years, there was no printed Bible as we have today. Most people could not even read or write at this time and there was certainly no printing press. They would hear the Scriptures and hold the traditions they were taught (2 Thess 2:15). Christ says "blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it" (Luke 11:28).

So the Holy Scriptures that we know today came to us very slowly and over many decades and centuries from the oral tradition of the Orthodox Church. In fact, it was not until the Fourth Century that St Athanasios of Alexandria wrote his famous Easter Letter in the year 367 AD that identified and "canonized" the 27 books of the New Testament that we all still use to this day.

The Orthodox Church has always used the same Holy Scriptures from the very beginning, as it is the continuation of the living Apostolic Tradition that was handed down by the Holy Apostles. Then the Church split into what we now call Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholics in 1054 AD. Then, many centuries later, Martin Luther led a protest movement against the Catholics and formed his own "protestant" group in 1517 AD. From that year onwards, all the other thousands of protestant groups sprang up in many places of the world. But all these groups use the same Bible and the same Holy Scriptures that the Orthodox Church established from as far back as 33 AD in oral form, and from 367 AD in written form.

Answer 2

The Bible

The Orthodox Church uses the Holy Bible and the Holy Tradition. Both are equally holy, since the Bible came from the Holy Tradition. During the early church, there was no Bible as we have today, and there were no printing presses or books, and most people could not even read or write. So for the first few centuries, there was only the oral tradition, handed down from the Apostles to the other disciples, and this later was written down in the form of epistles (letters) to form the holy traditions of the church.

The Bible tells us to "Stand firm and hold the traditions which you were taught, either by our word or by our epistle (2 Thess 2:15). St Paul and the Apostles received teachings from the Lord and handed them on the other disciples.

"I received from the Lord what I handed on to you" (1 Corinthians 11:23).

Jesus wrote no book, He gave His divine teachings to His Apostles and disciples by word and example alone. The Apostles and disciples then spread Christianity in the same way for centuries, using only Holy Tradition, as they had no Bibles.

It was not until 400 years after the birth of Christ that the church gave us the New Testament that we have today. And it was many centuries after that, that the printing press was invented and Bibles became available to ordinary people.

Answer 3

No, there are no Russian Holy Books. Orthodoxy and Christianity are the dominant religion in Russia. There is also a small numbers of Muslims and Jews.