What are the Epistles of the Apostles

The collection of books, united by the common title of the Epistles of the Holy Apostles, is part of the New Testament, which is part of the Bible along with the Old Testament written earlier. The creation of epistles refers to those times when, after the Ascension of Jesus Christ, the apostles dispersed throughout the world, preaching the Gospel (Good News) to all peoples who were in the darkness of paganism.

Preachers of Christ's Faith

Thanks to the apostles, the bright light of true faith, shining in the Holy Land, illuminated the three peninsulas, which were the focus of ancient civilizations - Italy, Greece and Asia Minor. Another New Testament book, The Acts of the Apostles, is dedicated to the missionary activity of the apostles, but the paths of following of the closest disciples of Christ are not fully described in it.

This gap is supplemented by the information contained in the "Epistles of the Apostles", as well as those contained in the Holy Tradition - the materials canonically recognized by the Church, but not included in the Old or New Testament. In addition, the role of messages is invaluable in explaining the foundations of faith.

The need to create messages

The messages of the apostles are a set of interpretations and explanations of the material that is set forth in the four canonical (recognized by the Church) gospels, composed by the holy evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The need for such messages is explained by the fact that along the way of their wanderings, verbally spreading the gospel message, the apostles in a multitude founded the Christian churches.

However, the circumstances did not allow them to stay in one place for a long time, and after their departure the newly formed communities were threatened with dangers, connected both with the weakening of faith and with evasion from the true path due to enduring hardship and suffering.

That is why converts to the Christian faith, while they never needed encouragement, reinforcement, encouragement and consolation, which, however, have not lost their relevance in our days. To this end, the letters of the apostles were written, the interpretation of which later became the theme of the works of many outstanding theologians.

What do the apostolic epistles include?

Like all the monuments of early Christian religious thought, the messages that have reached us, the authorship of which is attributed to the apostles, are divided into two groups. The first are the so-called apocrypha, that is, texts that are not included in the number of canonized ones, and whose authenticity is not recognized by the Christian Church. The second group consists of texts, the truthfulness of which in different periods of time is fixed by decisions of the Church Councils, which are considered canonical.

The New Testament includes 21 apostolic appeals to various Christian communities and their spiritual leaders, most of which are the messages of St. Paul the Apostle. They number 14. In them one of the two primary apostles turns to the Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Jews, the holy Apostle from the seventy disciples of Christ Philemon and Bishop Titus - the Primate of the Cretan Church. In addition, he sends two messages to the Thessalonians, Corinthians and the first bishop of Ephesus in Ephesus. The remaining messages of the apostles belong to the closest followers and disciples of Christ: one to Jacob, two to Peter, three to John and one to Judas (not to Iscariot).

Epistles written by the apostle Paul

Among the works of theologians engaged in the study of the epistolary heritage of the holy apostles, a special place is occupied by the interpretation of the Epistles of the Apostle Paul. And this happens not only because of their multiplicity, but also because of an extraordinary sense of meaning and doctrinal significance.

As a rule, among them the "Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Romans" is distinguished, since it is considered an unsurpassed example not only of the New Testament Scriptures, but of all ancient literature in general . In the list of all 14 messages belonging to the apostle Paul, he is usually put first, although in chronology of writing it is not.

Appeal to the Roman community

In it the Apostle addresses the Christian community of Rome, which in those years consisted mainly of converted Gentiles, since all Jews in the year 50 were expelled from the capital of the empire by the decree of Emperor Claudius. Referring to the busy preaching work, preventing him from visiting the Eternal City, Paul at the same time hopes to visit him on his way to Spain. However, as if foreseeing the impracticability of this intention, he addresses the most extensive and detailed his message to the Roman Christians.

The researchers note that if the other messages of the apostle Paul are intended only to clarify some of the issues of Christian dogmatics, as in general the Good News was communicated to them by personal communication, then, referring to the Romans, he, in fact, sets out in abbreviated form The whole gospel doctrine. In scientific circles it is considered that the epistle to the Romans was written by Paul about 58 years before his return to Jerusalem.

Unlike other messages of the apostles, the authenticity of this historical monument has never been questioned. His extraordinary authority among the early Christians is evidenced by the fact that one of his first interpreters was Clement of Rome, himself one of the Seventy Apostles of Christ. In later periods, such prominent theologians and fathers of the Church as Tertullian, Irenaeus of Lyons, Justin the Philosopher, Clement of Alexandria and many other writers refer to the epistle to the Romans in their writings.

The Epistle of Corinthians to Corruption

Another remarkable creation of the early Christian epistolary genre is "The Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians". It should also be discussed in more detail. It is known that after Paul founded a Christian church in the Greek city of Corinth, the local community was headed by his preacher named Apollos.

With all his zeal for affirming the true faith, he inexperiencedly caused discord in the religious life of local Christians. As a result, they were divided into supporters of the apostle Paul, the apostle Peter and Apollos himself, who allowed personal interpretations in the interpretation of the Holy Scripture, which undoubtedly was heresy. Turning to the Christians of Corinth his message and informing them of his imminent arrival to clarify the controversial issues, Paul insists on the general reconciliation and observance of the unity in Christ which was preached by all the apostles. The Epistle to the Corinthians contains, among other things, condemnation of many sinful deeds.

Condemnation of vices inherited from paganism

Speech in this case is about those vices that were widespread among local Christians who did not have time to overcome the addictions inherited from their pagan past. Among the manifold manifestations of sin inherent in the new and still not settled in the moral principles of the community, the Apostle with special intransigence condemns the practice of cohabitation with stepmothers everywhere, and manifestations of unconventional sexual orientation. To his criticism, he exposes the custom of the Corinthians to conduct endless litigation with each other, and also indulge in drunkenness and debauchery.

In addition, in this epistle, the apostle Paul urges members of the newly created community to donate funds for the maintenance of preachers and, as far as possible, provide assistance to needy Jerusalem Christians. He also mentions the abolition of food bans taken from Jews, allowing all foods to be used, except those that the local pagans sacrifice to their idols.

Quotation that spawned disputes

Meanwhile, a number of theologians, especially the late period, notes in this apostolic epistle some elements of such doctrine not accepted by the Church as subordinatism. Its essence lies in affirming the inequality and subordination of the hypostases of the Holy Trinity, in which God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are the product of God the Father and are subordinate to Him.

This theory fundamentally contradicts the basic Christian dogmas, approved in 325 by the First Council of Nicaea and preached to this day. However, referring to the "Epistle to the Corinthians" (Chapter 11, verse 3), where the apostle claims that "Christ is the head of God," a number of scholars believe that even the first-ever apostle Paul was not completely spared the influence of the false teachings of early Christianity.

For the sake of justice, we note that their opponents tend to understand this phrase somewhat differently. The very word Christ in the literal sense is translated as "anointed", and this term has been used since ancient times against rulers-autocrats. If you understand the words of the Apostle Paul precisely in this sense, that is, "to every autocrat the head of God," then everything falls into place, and contradictions disappear.

Afterword

In conclusion, it should be noted that all the messages of the apostles are imbued with a truly evangelical spirit, and the fathers of the church strongly recommend that they be read to all who wish to fully understand the teaching that Jesus Christ gave us. For their fuller understanding and understanding, it is necessary, not only reading the texts themselves, to turn to the works of interpreters, the most famous and authoritative among them is the saint Feofan the Recluse (1815-1894), whose portrait completes the article. In a simple and accessible form, he explains many fragments, the meaning of which sometimes escapes the modern reader.