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To: pachomi33

Is it not possible to interpret scripture with the guidance of the Holy Spirit?


226 posted on 11/26/2004 6:29:15 AM PST by deaconjim (Freep the world!)
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To: deaconjim; pachomi33; kosta50; Stubborn
"Is it not possible to interpret scripture with the guidance of the Holy Spirit?"

Well yes, of course it is. But here's the difference. It is not up to you or me to interpret the scripture, or for that matter, up to Fr. Ted, or Archbishop Demetrios, or Patriarch Alexios or Pope John Paul II, but rather up to the Church as the sydesmos of the the Laity (the Laos tou Theou, the People of God), the clergy and the hierarchy together in an Ecumenical Council of the Eucharistic Community which is the Church. Indeed, most Ecumenical Council proclamations state "It seemed correct to us and the Holy Spirit".... You will find that we Orthodox and generally Roman Catholics talk a lot about the "Fathers of the Church". These holy men did not write infallibly for the Church, but rather wrote on theological questions which in many instances became the dogma (doctrine) of the Christian Faith because the same was adopted by the Church in Ecumenical Councils and accepted by the Body of Christ. Their holy writings explain and place in both Biblical and social context the meaning and origin of the dogmas of the Church. Not everything these men wrote was necessarily correct theologically and in many instances was downright wrong. But it is the mind of the One Church, which is the mind of Christ as pachomi points out, which always teaches the correct interprtetation. Otherwise, we would have the Church of Kolokotronis, or Pachomi or Deacon Jim and not the One Church.
228 posted on 11/26/2004 7:09:43 AM PST by Kolokotronis (Nuke the Cube!)
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