Finding the . New Testament Church...the first Church, the Church of Peter and Paul and the Apostles, the Orthodox Church... miraculously carries on today the same Faith and life of the Church of the New Testament.

"All Scripture is inspired by God" (2Ti 3:16)

"If an earthly king, our emperor," says Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk (1724-83), "wrote you a letter, would you not read it with joy?  Certainly, with great rejoicing and careful attention."  But what, he asks, is our attitude towards the letter that has been addressed to us by no less than God Himself?  "You have been sent a letter, not by any earthly emperor, but by the King of Heaven.  And yet you almost despise such a gift, so priceless a treasure."  To open and read this letter, Saint Tikhon adds, is to enter into a personal conversation face to face with the living God.  "Whenever you read the Gospel, Christ Himself is speaking to you.  And while you read, you are praying and talking to Him."

Such exactly is our Orthodox attitude to the reading of Scripture.  I am to see the Bible as God's personal letter sent specifically to myself.