“آباء الكنيسة” لم يتصرفوا كأفراد فقط، بل كرجال كنسيين، بالنيابة عن الكنيسة وباسمها. فهم الناطقون باسم الكنيسة ومفسِّرو إيمانها وحافظوا تقليدها وشهود حقيقتها وإيمانها ومعلِّمون بارزون، وعلى هذا الأساس يقوم سلطانهم!

The problem of the correct interpretation of the Bible remained acute until the fourth century during the Church’s conflict with the Arians, and it did not lessen in intensity than it was in the second century during the resistance of the Gnostics, the Sabalians, and the Montanists. All parties to the conflict resorted to the Bible, to the point that the heretics cited—and still do—its chapters and verses and resorted to its authority.

Christ himself belongs to this community as its head, not only as Lord and Master. He is not above the Church or outside it, for the Church is in him. The Church is not merely a community that believes in Christ and walks in his footsteps or according to his commandments, but rather the community that resides in him and in which he resides through the Holy Spirit.

The Church is the work of Christ on earth and is the image of His presence and dwelling in the world. When the Holy Spirit descended on the Church on the Day of Pentecost, which was represented by the Twelve and those gathered with them, He entered the world to dwell among us and to make His work more effective in us than before.

يُفترض بكهنة المسيح ألا يبشِّروا، من منبر الوعظ على الأقل، بأفكارهم الخاصة لأن الأيدي تُوضع عليهم في الكنيسة للتبشير بكلمة الله. فيُسلَّم إليهم إنجيل يسوع المسيح وتُودع عندهم الرسالة الخالدة والفريدة. لذلك يُنتظر منهم نشر “الإيمان الذي أُعطي للقديسين” وحفظه.

Father George Florovsky Bible, Church and Tradition An Orthodox Perspective