Lecture by metropolitan Elpidophoros of Bursa

Holy Scripture may be perceived as a personal letter from God to every faithful Christian. It is the salutary and redemptive word of God. The all-benevolent God condescends to the ear of the believer and reveals His secrets for spiritual ascent and progress. All books convey information, but the Holy Scriptures convey transformation; they are transfiguration to the receptive human being. God reveals His will to us through the Holy Scriptures. The only-begotten Son and Word of God, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, “became flesh and dwelt among us“(7) for the sake of our salvation. Our Lord Jesus Christ, “the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared Him,“(8) and has made known to us his Father. The Son and Word of God was incarnate and entered human history in order to transfigure the unstable world. He inaugurated his kingdom for the salvation of his beloved creation. He did not abandon the fallen humanity after ascending to heaven, but continues to reign in the sanctifying and saving Church, which is the Body of the living Christ. Those baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity become members of this indivisble body, whose Head is Christ himself. These living members are nourished by his inexhaustible body and blood shared through the mystery of the Holy Eucharist.

Nonetheless, besides the mystical nourishment of the Holy Eucharist, the nurturing mother Church also offers to the faithful the heavenly Word of God that is essential to the establishment of faith. The principal task of the Church, her most beloved ministry, is the offering not only of the Lord's body and blood in the eucharistic and mystical supper at every divine liturgy, but also of his divine Word, the sacred preaching of the Gospel, contained and revealed in Holy Scripture.

Here I wish to recall the words of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, when he was invited to address the XIIth Ordinary General Assembly of Roman Catholic Bishops. This was the first occasion in history that an Ecumenical Patriarch was offered the opportunity to address a Roman Catholic Synod of Bishops. On that occasion, His All-Holiness declared: “The Church needs to rediscover the Word of God in every generation, and to make it heard with a renewed vigour and persuation also in our contemporary world, which, deep in its heart, thirsts for God's message of peace, hope and charity“(9).

The prophetic, apostolic and evangelical passages, which are recited during the sacred liturgical services and the Divine Liturgies are the best opportunities for a substantial and well-prepared sermon to be delivered by a devout preacher. Unfortunately, however, sometimes the sacred pulpit is distorted into a teleoptic window, where the preacher of the Gospel expresses in exalted terms his personal opinions about fleeting current events; or else, he might point out with animosity the errors of those considered “enemies,“ again failing to convey the evangelical message that bears the aroma and truth of eternity. People do not come to church to hear yet another opinion about contemporary events; they come to be empowered, consoled, encouraged and cultivated spiritually (10).