Interpretation of Theophylactus of Bulgaria in the Holy Gospel

And let's study "Interpretation of Theophylactus of Bulgarian into the Holy Gospel"! This is a very interesting work. Its author is Archbishop of Ohrid Theophylactus of Bulgaria. He was a great Byzantine writer and theologian, interpreter of the Holy Scripture. Lived in the late XI - early XII century in the Bulgarian Byzantine province (now the Republic of Macedonia).

Theophilactus of Bulgaria was often called blessed, although he did not belong to the publicly recognized saints of the Orthodox Church. It should be noted that Slavic and Greek authors and publishers often call him a saint and equate them with church fathers.

Biography

Biography of Theophylactus of Bulgarian is little known. Some sources report that he was born after 1050 (until 1060 precisely) on the island of Evia, in the city of Khalkis.

In St. Sophia's Cathedral of Constantinople , Theophylactus was granted the rank of deacon: thanks to him, he approached the court of the emperor Parapinacus Michael VII (1071-1078). Many believe that after Mikhail died, Theophylactus was assigned to his son by the tsarevich Konstantin Duki as a tutor. After all, a four-year-old orphan, and now this status was heir, only the mother remained - the Empress Maria, the patroness of Theophylactus of Bulgaria. By the way, it was she who prompted him to write the best things.

It should be noted that the rise of the writings of Theophylactus, the correspondence from Bulgaria with a large number of outstanding people, his sending to Bulgaria by the Archbishop of Ohrid refer precisely to the period of the reign of Komnin Alexei (1081-1118). The exile of Theophylactus from the capital, where he unsuccessfully broke, is probably connected with the disgrace of the family of the autocrat Mikhail.

Nobody knows how long Blessed Theophylact remained in Bulgaria and when he died. Some of his letters date from the beginning of the 12th century. During the period when he was at the court of the empress Maria, but not earlier than 1088-1089, the evangelist created the "Tsar's instruction". This incomparable work, highly authoritative in the literary environment, was specially designed for his pupil, the Tsarevich Constantine. And in 1092 he inscribed the emperor Alexei Komnin with a very pompous eulogy.

Creations

It is known that the most important for the history of the monument to the literary works of Theophylactus is his correspondence. Survived 137 letters, which he sent to the highest secular and spiritual persons of the empire. In these letters, Blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria complained of his fate. He was a refined Byzantine and treated with great disgust the barbarians, his Slavic flock, "smelling sheepskin."

It should be noted that reports of popular uprisings, which arose constantly before the appearance of the second Bulgarian kingdom, as well as the armies of the Crusaders that appeared from time to time, raise many letters of Theophylact to the level of an outstanding historical source. Data on the management of the kingdom and on the countless figures of the era of Komnin Alexei are also important.

The peak of the creative path of Theophylactus is the interpretation of the New Testament and the Old. These are the books of Holy Scripture. The most original work in this area, of course, is called clarification of the Gospel, mainly on St. Matthew. It is interesting that the author bases his arguments on the different interpretations of John Chrysostom on a huge number of separate episodes of Holy Scripture.

In general, Theophylact often admits allegorical interpretations of the text, in places even slip a moderate debate with heresies. Theophylactus The Bulgarian interpretation of the apostolic deeds and the messages mostly left in the comments, but the current texts are literally written off from little-known sources of the IX century and X century. It is he who is the author of the full life of the blessed Clement of Ohrid.

Of great importance is his polemical book against the Latins, written in the spirit of reconciliation, and the word about the fifteen martyrs who suffered under Julian in Tiberiupol (Strumica).

Interesting fact: in Patrologia Graeca the evangelist's writings are placed from the 123rd to the 126th volume inclusive.

Interpretation of the Gospel according to Matthew

So, Theophylact wrote a wonderful interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew, and we will now try to consider this work in more detail. He claimed that all the holy men who lived before the law received knowledge not from books and scriptures. This is very surprising, but in his work it is stated that they were brought up by the illumination of the All-Holy Spirit and only so they knew God's will: God Himself had conversations with them. He represented Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Isaac, Job and Moses.

After a while people deteriorated and became unworthy of teaching and enlightening from the Holy Spirit. But God is philanthropic, he gave them the scripture, that at least they would remember his will through him. Theophylactus writes that Christ personally personally conducted conversations with the apostles, and then sent them to the tutors the blessing of the Holy Spirit. Of course, the Lord expected that heresies would appear in the course of time and manners would deteriorate, so he was pleased that both Gospels were written. After all, in this way, drawing on the truth from them, we will not be carried away by heretical lies and our morals will not be spoiled at all.

And of course, the interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew is a very useful work. Studying the Book of Kinship (Matt. 1: 1), Theophylact wondered why blessed Matthew did not say, like prophets, the word "vision" or "word"? They always noted: "The vision that Isaiah admired" (Isa. 1: 1) or "The Word that was ... to Isaiah" (Isaiah 2: 1). Do you wish to clarify this question? Yes, just the seers turned to the unruly and hard-hearted. That's why they told that this is the Divine vision and the voice of God, that the people should be frightened and not disregard what they told him.

Theophylact notes that Matthew spoke with the good-minded, faithful and obedient, and therefore nothing of the kind told the prophets beforehand. He writes that what the prophets contemplated, they saw with the mind, looking at it through the Holy Spirit. That's why they said it was a vision.

Matthew did not contemplate Christ with his mind, but stayed with Him morally and listened to Him sensually, observing Him in the flesh. Theophylact writes that only for this reason he did not say: "the vision I observed," or "contemplation," but said: "The Book of Kinship."

Further we learn that the name "Jesus" is Jewish, not Greek, and it is translated as "Savior". After all, the word "yao" tells Jews about salvation.

And the Christ ("Christ" means in Greek "anointed") was called the chief priests and lords, for they were anointed with holy oil: he poured out of the horn that was put to their head. In general, the Lord is called Christ and as Bishop, for he himself sacrificed himself as King, and was set against sin. Theophylact writes that He is anointed with real oil, the Holy Spirit. Moreover, He is anointed before others, for who else possessed the Spirit as the Lord did? It should be noted that in the saints the blessing of the Holy Spirit worked. In Christ, however, the following power functioned: Christ Himself and the One Spiritual Spirit co-operated miracles.

David

Next Theophylact reports that as soon as Matthew spoke "Jesus," he added the "David Son" so that you would not think that he meant another Jesus. After all, in those days there lived another outstanding Jesus, after Moses the second leader of the Jews. But this was not called the son of David, but the son of Nun. He lived long before David and was born not from the Judah of the tribe from which David appeared, but from another.

Why did Matthew set David before Abraham? Yes, because David was more famous: he lived later than Abraham and was known as a magnificent king. From the rulers, he first God-deceived the Lord and received a promise from him, saying that Christ from his seed will rise, why Christ was called the Son of David.

David truly retained the image of Christ in himself: as he took his place in the place of the Lord left behind and the hated Seoul, so Christ in the flesh came and reigned over us after the kingdom of Adam was deprived and the power that he had over the demons and all living.

Abraham gave birth to Isaac (Matthew 1: 2)

Next Theophylact interprets that Abraham was the father of the Jews. That is why the evangelist begins his genealogy with him. In addition, Abraham received the first promise: it was said that "all the nations from his seed will be blessed."

Of course, it would be more fitting to begin the genealogical tree of Christ from him, for Christ is the seed of Abraham, in which we receive the grace of all of us who were under the curse of the pagans.

In general, Abraham translates as "father of tongues", and Isaac - "laughter", "joy." It is interesting that the evangelist does not write about the illegitimate descendants of Abraham, for example, about Ishmael and others, since the Jews did not come from them, but from Isaac. By the way, Matthew mentioned about Judas and his brothers because the twelve tribes descended from them.

Explanations of the Gospel of John

And now let's look at how Theophylactus interpreted the Bulgarian Gospel of John. He wrote that the power of the Holy Spirit , and as indicated (2 Corinthians 12: 9), and how we believe, is made in infirmity. But not only in the weakness of the body, but in eloquence and reason. As evidence, he cited the example that grace was shown on the brother of Christ and the great theologian.

His father was a fisherman. John himself traded in the same way as his father. He could not get not only the Jewish and Greek education, but he was not at all educated. This information informs him of Saint Luke in Acts (Acts 4:13). His homeland was considered the poorest and most ignorant - it was a settlement in which they were engaged in fishing, not science. He appeared in the world in Bethsaida.

The evangelist is surprised at how, however, the Spirit was able to receive this illiterate, ignoble, in no respect an outstanding person. After all, he announced the things that none of the other evangelists taught us.

It should be noted that as they preach the incarnation of Christ, and do not say anything about His eternal existence, there is a danger that the people, tied to the earthly and not knowing how to think about anything high, will think that Christ's Being did not begin until after , As he was born by Mary, and his father did not give birth to him before the ages.

It was in this error Samosata Paul fell. That is why the glorious John proclaimed the birth of the furnace, mentioning, incidentally, the birth of the Word. For proclaims: "And the word became flesh" (John 1:14).

We have another amazing situation in this John the Evangelist. Namely: he is the only one, and he has three mothers: his native Salome, the thunder, for he is the "son of thunders" (Mark 3:17), and the Theotokos for the immense voice in the Gospel. Why the Virgin? Because it is said: "Behold, your mother!" (John 19:27).

It was at the beginning of the Word (John 1: 1)

So, we are studying further the interpretation of the Theophylact of the Bulgarian Gospel. What the evangelist said in the preface, he repeats even now: while the other theologians talk extensively about the birth of the Lord on earth, his upbringing and growth, John ignores these events, as his classmates talk a lot about them. He is only talking about the Deity, who was incarnated among us.

However, if you look closely, you can see how those, though they did not hide the information about the Divine of the Only-begotten, but mentioned about it still a little, so John, fixing his gaze on the word of God, placed emphasis on the economy of incarnation. For by the souls of all is led by one Spirit.

Is not it true that the interpretation of the Theophylactus of the Bulgarian Gospel is very interesting to study? We continue to get acquainted with this wonderful work. What does John tell us about? He tells us about the Son and about the Father. He points to the infinite existence of the Only Begotten when he says: "There was a Word in the beginning," that is, from the beginning it was. For what happened from the beginning, of course, there will be no time when it would not be.

"Where," some will ask, "can one determine that the phrase" in the beginning was "means the same as from the beginning?" Indeed, where? Both from the very understanding of the general, and from this very theologian. For in one of his manuscripts he says: "about what was from the beginning, what we ... saw" (1 John 1: 1).

The interpretation of Theophylactus of Bulgaria is very unusual. He asks us, do we see how the elect himself explains himself? And he writes that the questioner will say so. But he understands this "in the beginning" as well as in Moses: "God created in the beginning" (Genesis 1: 1). As there the phrase "in the beginning" does not make it clear that the sky is eternal, so here he does not want to define the word "in the beginning" as if the Only Begotten are infinite. Of course, only heretics say so. On this insane perseverance, we have nothing to do but say: the sage of malice! Why do you keep silent about the next? But we will say this against your will!

In general, the interpretation of Theophylactus of Bulgarian leads to various reflections on being. For example, Moses says that first God created the heavenly and earthly firmament, but here it is said that in the beginning "was" the Word. What is similar between "created" and "was"? If even here it was written "God in the beginning created the Son," the evangelist would keep silent. But now, after it was said "in the beginning was", he concludes that the word exists from the age, and not with the passage of time received being, as many mockers.

Is not it true that the interpretation of Theophylactus of Bulgaria is precisely the work that you read? So, why did John not say that "in the beginning was the Son," but "the Word"? The evangelist claims that he speaks this because of the weakness of the listeners, so that when we hear about the Son from the very beginning, we did not think about carnal and passionate birth. For that, His "Word" called that you know that as from the mind dispassionately the word is born, so He is born from his father unabashed.

And one more explanation: he called it "the Word" because He told us about the qualities of the father, just as any word declares the disposition of the spirit. And together, so that we can see that He is co-eternal with the Father. For it is impossible to assert that the mind very often without a word happens, so the Father and God can not be without the Son.

In general, the interpretation of Theophylactus of Bulgaria shows that John used the given expression because there are many very different words of God, for example, commandments, prophecies, as well as about angels it is said: "by the strength of those who do his will" (Psalm 102: 20), that is His commands. But it must be noted that the word is a personal being.

Explained in the Epistle of the Blessed Paul the Apostle to the Romans

The interpretation of the New Testament by the evangelist disposes people to constant reading of the scriptures. This leads to the knowledge of them, because He can not lie, He who says: seek and find, knock, and it will be opened to you (Matthew 7: 7). Thanks to this, we come into contact with the secrets of the Epistles of the Blessed Apostle Paul, only it is necessary to read these messages carefully and constantly.

It is known that he surpassed all the words of the teaching of the apostle. This is correct, because he worked more than anybody and acquired the generous blessing of the Spirit. By the way, this can be seen not only from his messages, but also from the apostolic Acts, where it is said that the unbelievers called him Hermes for an ideal word (Acts 14:12).

The interpretation of the blessed Theophylactus of Bulgaria reveals the following nuances: the Romans are invited first to us not because they think they wrote it before other messages. Thus, before the letters to the Romans, both the news to the Corinthians were created, and before them the Epistle to the Thessalonians was written, in which the blessed Paul, with praises, indicates to them the alms sent to Jerusalem (1 Thessalonians 4: 9-10, cf. 2 Cor. 9: 2).

In addition, before letters to the Romans, a message to the Galatians was also inscribed. Despite this, the interpretation of the Holy Gospel tells us that the Epistle to the Romans from other messages was created the very first. Why is it in the first place? Yes, because the Divine Scripture does not need a chronological order. So the twelve soothsayers, if we enumerate them in the order in which they are placed in the sacred books, do not follow each other in time, but are separated by a colossal distance.

And Paul writes to the Romans only because he carried the duty of the passage of the holy ministry of Christ. In addition, the Romans were considered the presiders of the universe, for who brings the head to the good, that salutarily affects the rest of the body.

Paul (Romans 1: 1)

Many evangelists of Theophylactus of Bulgaria Perceive as a life guide. It really is a very valuable work. By the way, he says that neither Moses, nor the evangelists, nor after him, did anyone write their names before their own writings, and the apostle Paul indicates his name before each of his messages. This nuance is due to the fact that the majority wrote for those who lived with them, and he sent messages from afar and, according to custom, made the rule of the distinctive qualities of the messages.

It should be noted that he does not do this in Hebrews. After all, they hated him, and so, to hear his name did not stop listening to him, he hides his name from the very beginning.

Why did he rename himself from Paul as Paul? In order that he should not be lower than the supreme of the apostles, called Kifa, which means "stone," or the sons of Zebedee, called Voanerges, that is, the sons of thunder.

The slave

What is slavery? It has several kinds. There is slavery in the creation, of which it is written (Psalm 118: 91). There is slavery through faith, about which they say: "They began to perceive that image of the doctrine to which they dedicated themselves" (Romans 6:17). Still there is slavery in the image of being: from this position Moses is called the slave of God. Paul is a "slave" in all these kinds.

We hope that this article acquainted you with the famous work of Theophylactus and will help in the future, a deeper study of his writings.