Yesterday, we celebrated the feast of the Holy Chief Apostles Peter and Paul, recalling the many ways their ministries and inspired writings have laid the very foundation of the Holy Church. In the third chapter of his second catholic epistle, the Holy Apostle Peter speaks of his fellow chief apostle with great reverence, saying: “There are some things in [the epistles of my dear brother Paul] that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.” (2 Peter 3:16)
The Christian faith stands firmly upon the foundation of apostolic teaching—taken as a whole and faithfully interpreted within the Church by the apostolic successors, the holy episcopate.
We are all called to study the Scriptures. A time-honored rule from the holy Fathers recommends reading two chapters from the Epistles and one chapter from the Gospels each day. This is not to foster personal or novel interpretations, but so that we may be continually renewed in our Christian struggle through a living encounter with the word of God.
As the Prophet Jeremiah reminds us, “The mercies of the Lord never come to an end; they are new every morning” (Lamentations 3:22–23). The apostolic teaching is a firm and unshakable foundation, but each of us must make it living and active in our own lives. Daily reading of Scripture—especially the writings of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul—refreshes our hearts and strengthens our efforts to live the Orthodox Christian faith.
God is unchanging—the same yesterday, today, and forever—and though heaven and earth will pass away, His word shall not pass away. But we, being subject to change, must hear the Gospel again and again. As St. Ignatius Brianchaninov wisely teaches, even if we know the words of Scripture by heart, still we must read them daily.