Job Getcha, Reding Bible in SF Andrew Canon

III
SFÂNTA SCRIPTURĂ – TEMEIUL

TEOLOGIEI ŞI VIEŢII CREŞTINE
Reading the Bible with Saint Andrew of Crete
Archimandrite Prof. Dr. Job Getcha1
About Saint Andrew of Crete and the Great Canon

While speaking of the Holy Scripture in the Orthodox Church, one
cannot ignore the Great Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete, this masterpiece
of Byzantine hymnography sung every year during Great Lent. Written
toward the end of the seventh or beginning of the eighth century, this
canon does not only summarize the whole of biblical history, but it gives
at the same time an interpretation of the Holy Scripture. As a matter of
fact, worship in the Orthodox Church has always been a privileged
interpreter of the Bible.
Born in Damascus around the year 660, Saint Andrew of Crete
became a monk at the Anastasis of Jerusalem. He then went to
Constantinople, where he was ordained a deacon. At the end of his life, he
1
Professeur de Théologie Liturgique à l’Institut de Théologie Orthodoxe Saint-
Serge de Paris.
140 Archimandrite Prof. Dr. Job Getcha
became archbishop of Crete, somewhere at the beginning of the eighth

century. He died in 740.
The great canon is sung in its entirety at Matins on the Thursday of
the fifth week of Great Lent. It is also sung in four parts the first four days
of the first week of Great Lent. The great canon is composed of 250
troparia or strophes which ought to accompany each one of the verses of
the nine biblical canticles. All of these troparia recall stories from the Old
and the New Testament. When Saint Andrew of Crete reads the Bible, he
does not read the biblical text as a historical document. He reads it first of
all as the history of salvation, and therefore, he underscores the
relationship that exists between the Old and the New Testament: for him,
as for all the Church Fathers, the Old Testament is a figure of the New
Testament. Furthermore, salvation history is a recapitulation of all human
history, and therefore, one can see in it not only the Son of God acting at
every age, but also one’s own personal history. Since Saint Andrew reads
the Bible essentially as a history of salvation, most of his biblical
references are taken from the historical books of the Old Testament and
from the four Gospels. The overview of the Old Testament ends at the
close of the eighth canticle as most of the examples taken from the New
Testament are found in the ninth canticle – the only canticle that is itself
taken from the New Testament.
Let us therefore consider the Great Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete
more closely, and see how our author reads the Old Testament in the light
of the New, how he sees the image of Christ in every parable of the
Gospel, and finally how he adopts the Bible as his personal history.
Reading the Old Testament in the light of the New

First of all, we can say that while reading the Bible, Andrew of
Crete is familiar with the patristic method of exegesis, which consists of
reading the Old Testament in the light of the New Testament. This
method was already used in the second century by Saint Irenaeus of
Lyons. While fighting the Gnostic heresy, Irenaeus stressed the unity
between the Old and the New Testament. These are not, as he insisted,
two different stories, but one and unique history. There are not two
different gods acting, but one who is at the same time the Creator and the
READING THE BIBLE WITH SAINT ANDREW OF CRETE 141
Saviour of humanity. Thus, as Georges Barrois once titled one of his

books, one can see the “face of Christ in the Old Testament”2.
It is important to recall that this method was not a creation of the
Church Fathers, but was already used by Saint Paul himself, who gives us
a good example of a typological reading of the Old Testament in the light
of Christ in 1 Cor. 10:4. When speaking of the rock from which Moses
obtained in a miraculous way water for the people of Israel in the desert,
Paul states that “that rock was Christ”. Although seen in shadow, Christ
was, according to Paul, already present and active.
Saint Andrew of Crete follows in the steps of Saint Paul by using
the same kind of exegesis when he calls the rock Jesus: “O my soul, thou
hast valued the wells of Canaanite thoughts more than the veined Rock,
Jesus, the fountain of wisdom from which flow the rivers of divine
knowledge”3.
The hymnographer is even more explicit, making an analogy
between the rock that provided water to God’s thirsty people in the desert
and the pierced side of the Saviour from which flowed water and blood:
“When Thy servant Moses struck the rock with his rod, he prefigured Thy
life-giving side, O Saviour, from which we all draw the water of life”4.
The active presence of Christ in the Old Testament is once more
affirmed by our author when he interprets the rod of Moses as the sign of
the Cross: “Picture to thyself, my soul, the rod of Moses striking the sea
and making hard the deep by the sign of the Holy Cross”5. This kind of
interpretation is in fact common in Byzantine hymnography. A hymn
from the Octoechos similarly affirms that: “The rod of Moses prefigured
Thy venerable Cross, O our Lord”6 and that: “Through the rod of Moses
the Cross was figured, separating the deep, leading the people of Israel”7.
2
See his book: G. BARROIS, The Face of Christ in the Old Testament. Crestwood,
NY, 1974.
3
Great Canon, canticle 6:8. [MOTHER MARY - KALLISTOS WARE, The Lenten
Triodion, London, 1978, p. 398]. Cf.: Exod. 17:6, Num. 20:8, 1 Cor. 10:4.
4
Great Canon, canticle 6:9 [MOTHER MARY - KALLISTOS WARE, The Lenten
Triodion, p. 398]. Cf.: Exod. 17:6, Num. 20:8, Jn. 19:34, 1 Cor. 10:4.
5
Great Canon, canticle 5:11[MOTHER MARY - KALLISTOS WARE, The Lenten
Triodion, p. 395]. Cf.: Exod. 14:16.
6
Octoechos, Tone 8, first aposticha of Wednesday matins.
7
Octoechos, Tone 8, second hymn at the Beatitudes on Wednesday morning.
Many other hymns from the Octoechos likewise see the figure of the
Cross in such events of the Old Testament as Moses stretching his hands
on high (Exod. 17:10-14)8 or Isaac laying his hands crosswise to bless his
two sons (Gen. 48:14)9.
Saint Andrew of Crete once again uses typological exegesis to
interpret the New Testament when, following the Epistles to the Hebrews,
he sees in Melchizedek a figure of Christ: “Follow the example of
Melchizedek, the priest of God, the King set apart, who was an image of
the life of Christ among men in the world”10.
Our hymnographer also sees the figure of Christ in the person of
Joseph the Patriarch: “As a figure of the Lord, O my soul, the righteous
and gentle Joseph was sold into bondage by his brethren…”11. And he
adds that Joseph was more specifically a figure of the death and
resurrection of the Lord: “Once Joseph was cast into a pit, O Lord and
Master, as a figure of Thy Burial and Resurrection”12. We find the same
interpretation in another canon of Saint Andrew for Holy Monday, where
he says: “Joseph is an image of the Master: he was thrown into a pit and
sold by his brethren, but he suffered all these things with patience, as a
true figure of Christ”13.
Although Andrew, with all the Church Fathers, delights in finding
the face of Christ in the Old Testament, this christocentric reading is not
systematic. In some passages of the Great Canon, he prefers to give a
quite different interpretation of some Old Testament figures than the more
frequent one.
8
Octoechos, Tone 8, Canon of the Cross 3:2 on Friday morning; second sticheron
at Lord, I have cried, for the great vespers of the Exaltation of the Cross [MOTHER MARY
- KALLISTOS WARE, The Festal Menaion, London, 1969, p. 133].
9
Third sticheron at the Lity, for the great vespers of the Exaltation of the Cross
[MOTHER MARY - KALLISTOS WARE, The Festal Menaion, p. 137].
10
Triodion, p. 387]. Cf.: Gen. 14:18 and Heb. 7:1-3.
11
Triodion, p. 394]. Cf.: Gen. 37:27.
12
13
Canon 8 :3. [MOTHER MARY - KALLISTOS WARE, The Lenten Triodion, p. 507].
For instance, the ladder of Jacob is not seen as a figure of the

incarnation of Christ, linking heaven and earth, but rather as the ascent of
the soul towards God by means of virtue and knowledge: “The ladder
which the great patriarch Jacob saw of old is an example, O my soul, of
approach through action and of ascent in knowledge…”14. Nevertheless,
this interpretation is not original; in fact, it goes back to Origen in the
third century, who saw in Jacob’s ladder the degrees of spiritual life15.
In the same way, our hymnographer does not see, at least in the
Great Canon, a manifestation of the Holy Trinity in the three visitors
received by Abraham. As we know, this passage established the basis for
the classical iconographic depiction of the “hospitality of Abraham”,
which has inspired Roublev’s “Trinity”. In the Great Canon, the patriarch
Abraham is praised for his hospitality, but without any mention of the
Trinity: “At the oak of Mamre the Patriarch gave hospitality to the angels,
and in his old age he inherited the reward of the promise”16. One could
note of course that Andrew of Crete is using the Septuagint and not the
Masoretic text, since he is speaking of three angels and not of three men.
But his exegesis at this point is literal rather than typological, although it
admits as well of a spiritual or moral interpretation.
The same can be said of the burning bush which is traditionally
interpreted by the Fathers as a type of the virgin motherhood. Here, our
hymnographer does not go into mariological considerations, but reflects
only on the theme of the vision of God: “Moses the great, went to dwell
in the desert. Come, seek to follow his way of life, my soul, that in
contemplation thou mayest attain the vision of God in the bush”17.
Another figure of Christ is Job, but Andrew of Crete in the Great
Canon, considers him rather to be a model of virtue: “Thou hast heard, O
my soul, of Job justified on a dung-hill, but thou hast not imitated his
14
15
Origen, ***.
16
Triodion, p. 386]. Cf.: Gen 18:1-15.
17
Triodion, p. 395]. Cf.: Exod. 3:1-6.
fortitude…”18. Once again, our hymnographer prefers a moralistic

interpretation rather than a typological one.
With regard to Jonah, the prophet is not presented in the Great
Canon as a figure of Christ’s resurrection. Saint Andrew of Crete offers
here a literal interpretation, remaining close to the text: “Jonah fled to
Tarshish, foreseeing the conversion of the men of Nineveh; for as a
prophet he knew the loving-kindness of God, but he was jealous that his
prophecy should not be proved false”19.
We have mentioned all these exceptions in order to make the point
that the typological interpretation is not the only Orthodox reading of the
Old Testament. Saint Andrew of Crete, like most of the Church Fathers,
always adopted a pluralistic or multi-faceted reading of Holy Scripture.
This was elaborated during the Middle Ages in the so called doctrine of
the four meanings of Scripture: the first being the literal meaning in its
historical context; the second being the allegorical or typological meaning
where one sees a figure of things to come; the third being the tropological
or moral meaning; and, finally, the fourth being the anagogical meaning
where one sees a symbol of the divine mystery20. In all the examples we
have taken from the Great Canon, one can find examples of all those
meanings: a historical interpretation of Jonah, a typological interpretation
of the rod of Moses, a moral interpretation of Job, and an anagogical
interpretation of Melchizedeck. All four meanings of Scripture were
accepted and used by Saint Andrew of Crete, and depending on what he
has to say, he will consider different methods of interpretation.
Discovering Christ in the Parables

Another interesting aspect of the Great Canon is the reading Saint
Andrew of Crete makes of the New Testament, and especially of the
Gospel’s parables where he also finds a typological meaning. As we
18
Triodion, p. 391]. Cf.: Job 2:8-10.
19
Triodion, p. 407]. Cf.: Jonah 1, 3.
20
For example, John Cassian, Conférences XIV, 8 (SC 54, 189-190). Cf. HENRI
DE LUBAC, Exégèse médiévale. Les quatre sens de l’Ecriture. Paris, 1959, I, p. 155, II,
p. 425-681 ; ID. Histoire et Esprit. L’intelligence de l’Ecriture d’après Origène. Paris,
1950, p. 139-144.
know, among various other forms of teaching, our Lord used parables, a
form which was known not only among Jews but also among other
people. We find about thirty of them in the Gospels. Most of them are
illustrations of the Kingdom of God in familiar earthly things and
incidents. But what is particular in the interpretation given by Saint
Andrew is that he sees in them an illustration not only of the Kingdom to
come, but of the divine economy already realised through the Incarnation
of the Son of God. Behind the figures of the parables, he sees Christ.
For instance, in the parable of the Prodigal Son, he sees in the father
coming to greet the prodigal son a figure of Christ, the Son of God
incarnate, coming to save fallen humanity: “Though I have sinned, O
Saviour, yet I know that Thou art full of loving-kindness. Thou dost see
me weeping and dost run to meet me, like the Father calling back the
Prodigal Son”21. This of course is not a reading particular to Andrew of
Crete, since many other Byzantine liturgical texts suggest such an
interpretation. For an example, we read in the Lenten Triodion, in the
canon at matins of the Sunday of the Prodigal Son: “Open Thine arms, O
Christ, and in loving-kindness receive me as I return from a far country of
sin and passions”22.
Another striking example is the Parable of the Good Samaritan,
very often interpreted in a moralistic way. Here, our hymnographer gives
a soteriological interpretation, seeing in the Good Samaritan a figure of
Christ coming to save and heal human nature: “The priest saw me first,
but passed by on the other side; the Levite looked on me in my distress,
but despised my nakedness. O Jesus, sprung from Mary, do Thou come to
me and take pity on me”23. This kind of interpretation is once again not
unusual with Byzantine hymnographers. If one looks into the Lenten
Triodion, one will find a very ancient canon for matins of the fourth
Sunday of Great Lent, which was initially dedicated to the Good
Samaritan, where we read: “O Christ my Saviour, I have become like the
21
Great Canon, canticle 1,12. Cf.: Luke 15:20.
22
Canon 3:3. [MOTHER MARY - KALLISTOS WARE, The Lenten Triodion, p. 116].
23
Triodion, p. 379]. Cf.: Luke 10:31-33.
man who fell among thieves, who was wounded and left half dead”24.
“When the priest and the Levite saw me, they could not help me, but
passed by on the other side. But Thou in Thy compassion hast given me
salvation and preserved me”25. This kind of interpretation was in fact very
common for the Church Fathers.
Inspired by the Fourth Gospel, where Christ Himself declares that
He is the Good Shepherd (Jn. 10:11), Saint Andrew of Crete interprets the
parable of the lost sheep in a similar soteriological way: “Thou art the
Good Shepherd: seek me, the lamb that has strayed, and do not forget
me”26. Once more, Andrew is following the pattern of patristic exegesis.
One can, for example, find a similar interpretation of this parable in the
works of Saint Gregory the Theologian: “[Christ] humbled Himself for
your sake, and because He came to seek for that which had wandered, He,
the Good Shepherd, who layeth down His life for the sheep, came upon
the mountains and hills upon which you used to sacrifice, and found the
wandering one; and having found it, He took it upon His shoulders, on
which He also bore the wood [of the Cross] and having borne it, brought
it back to the life above…”27.
The parable of the lost coin is treated by Saint Andrew in
conjunction with the parable of the lost sheep, which immediately
precedes it. He sees in the woman, who lights a lamp to search for the lost
coin, an image of Christ who comes to save humanity: “O Saviour, I am
the coin marked with the King’s likeness, which Thou hast lost of old.
But, O Word, light Thy lamp, Thy Forerunner, and seek and find again
Thine image”28. The interpretation given to this parable by Saint Andrew
is once more typically patristic. Our hymnographer is again inspired by
Saint Gregory the Theologian, who stated: “[Christ] lit the candle, His
own flesh, and swept the house, by cleaning away the sin of the world,
24
I Canon, 1:1. [MOTHER MARY - KALLISTOS WARE, The Lenten Triodion,
p. 357].
25
I Canon 5:3. [MOTHER MARY - KALLISTOS WARE, The Lenten Triodion,
p. 360].
26
Triodion, p. 385]. Cf.: Jn 10:11, Luke 15:4-6.
27
GREGORY THE THEOLOGIAN, Second Oration on Pascha, 26.
28
Triodion, p. 398]. Cf.: Luke 15:8, Jn. 5:35.
and sought for the coin, the Royal image that was all covered up with
passions; He calls together His friends, the Angelic Powers, at the finding
of the coin, and makes them sharers of His joy, as He had before made
them sharers of the secret of His incarnation”29. We should make two
observations about Andrew’s interpretation of this parable. First, he takes
the example of the coin, which bears an effigy of the emperor, as an
image of human nature created in God’s image and likeness. Secondly,
following the interpretation given by the Fourth Gospel (Jn.5:35), he sees
in the light used by the woman searching for the coin a figure of Saint
John the Forerunner, who in Byzantine hymnography is traditionally
called the Lamp of the Word30.
In the Great Canon, Saint Andrew of Crete makes an interesting
combination of the parable of the ten virgins (Mt 25,1-13) and the parable
of the marriage feast (22:11-13): “I am deprived of the bridal chamber, of
the wedding and the supper; for want of oil my lamp has gone out; while I
slept the door was closed; the supper has been eaten; I am bound hand and
foot, and cast out”31. The Fathers of the Church almost unanimously saw
in the parable of the marriage feast a summary of salvation history and a
figure of the Incarnation of the Son of God as the wedding of Christ and
His Church or the union between God and human souls, just as they saw
in the parable of the ten virgins awaiting the coming of the bridegroom a
figure of believers awaiting the coming of Christ. But this time, the
interpretation given by Andrew is not soteriological but moral. He follows
nevertheless a patristic interpretation of the parable of the ten virgins,
where oil is considered as the symbol of good works, compassion or
almsgiving. We can find a similar interpretation in another canon of Saint
Andrew of Crete for Holy Monday at Compline: “May thy lamp shine
brightly, O my soul; and, like the lamps of the five virgins, may it
overflow with the oil of compassion; and so thou shalt find open before
thee the door of Christ’s bridal chamber”32. But since the Great Canon is
29
Gregory the Theologian, ***.
30
See for example : Canon for June 24 by Saint John of Damascus 5:2 ; Canon
for June 24 by Saint Andrew of Crete 5:4 ; Canon for August 29 by Saint John of
Damascus 7 :3 ; Canon of August 29 by Saint Andrew of Crete 9:3.
31
Triodion, p. 392]. Cf.: Mt 25,1-13; 22:11-13.
32
Canon 8 :3. [MOTHER MARY - KALLISTOS WARE, The Lenten Triodion, p. 521].
penitential, speaking of the condition of the sinner, Andrew identifies

himself with the foolish virgins rather than with the wise.
Reading the Bible as a personal story

Saint Andrew of Crete does not only read the Bible in a typological
way which unites the Old Testament to the New. He also provides a
spiritual exegesis of the biblical text where the sins of the biblical figures
are compared to those of the believer, just as their virtues are praised as
good examples to follow. The originality of Andrew’s reading of the
Bible is to use typology to describe the human condition. Therefore, it is
not only Christ who recapitulates the whole of biblical history, but
somehow, the personal history of each one of us does so as well. Our falls
and our spiritual progress are somehow illustrated in every biblical story.
Each biblical figure illustrates some aspect of our human condition.
Therefore, the story of Adam contains our own story, and at the same
time, our story recapitulates Adam’s story: “Adam was justly banished
from Eden because he disobeyed one commandment of Thine, O Saviour.
What then shall I suffer, for I am always rejecting Thy words of life”33.
This approach to the biblical text is founded on Adam’s collective
character. In his epistles, Saint Paul had already put the Old and the New
Testaments into dialogue when speaking of the two Adams. Where the
earthly one has failed, the heavenly one became victorious (Cf. 1 Cor.
15,45-49). But for Saint Irenaeus of Lyons, Christ is the true Adam. For
Irenaeus, Christ is not conditioned by Adam, but on the contrary, Christ
fulfils the Adamic image of Genesis: Christ is the real prototype of man.
Therefore, if one can see the face of Christ in each passage of the Bible,
one can see as well the face of each one of us recapitulated by Christ.
This is particularly true in the liturgical context, where events from
the past are united to our present: Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jonah, Peter
and all the other biblical figures become our contemporaries. If this is the
case, it is because the biblical text is not a dead text, but the living Word
of the living God. The Bible is not merely a historical text which reflects
events from a forgotten past, but is a word that addresses itself to
contemporary man, as the liturgy of the Church itself is not merely a
33
Triodion, p. 378]. Cf.: Gen 3:23.
commemoration of an event from the past, but an actualisation: a

celebration of a present reality and the anticipation of a future fulfilment.
To actualize a story is not something that the Church Fathers
discovered: it already existed in Antiquity. The major tales and myths of
Antiquity, such as Homer’s stories, were read in an allegorical way,
applying the events of the past to the present. In fact, this kind of reading
was already present in Judaism, when Philo of Alexandria used this
ancient method for a spiritual reading of the events of the Old Testament.
But the allegorical method of the Church Fathers is quite different from
the allegorical method of Plato or Philo. The major difference is that in
the Church, the mystery of Christ, seen in shadows in the Old Testament
where it was already present, is still present from the day of Pentecost
until the second coming where it awaits its full realisation.
Andrew of Crete gives us a good example of such a spiritual
reading of the Bible when he says that with Peter, we fear the wind and
start to sink to into the sea of life, and therefore, we have to ask the help
of Christ: “I am surrounded by the storm of sin, O compassionate Lord.
But stretch out Thine hand to me, as once Thou hast to Peter”34.
This typological link established by Saint Andrew of Crete between
the major figures of the biblical history and ourselves is founded on a
similarity between them and us. For instance, the sin of our first parents,
Adam and Eve, becomes ours through our own will to follow their bad
example. As Olivier Clement once said, “the Canon of Saint Andrew of
Crete, with all the Greek patristics, takes over the theme of ‘imitation’.
[…] This mimesis is a kind of identification, as if Adam’s choice, both
personal and collective, would have become co-extensive with the human
race, with the whole span of history”35.
But let us not forget that the central theme of the Great Canon is
repentance. This is why we often refer to it as to the “penitential canon”.
In fact, it seems that it was composed by Saint Andrew of Crete as a
spiritual penitential autobiography. Some think that Andrew of Crete was
actually involved in the monothelite heresy and that he wrote his great
canon at the end of his life, reflecting on his personal experience of sin
34
Triodion, p. 381]. Cf.: Mt 14:28-31.
35
O. CLÉMENT, Le chant des larmes. Essai sur le repentir. Paris, 1982, p. 40-41.
and repentance. Therefore, he looks into the Bible to find some figures of
great sinners to which he compares his own sins and negative actions:
“Like Cain, O miserable soul, we too have offered, to the Creator of
all, defiled actions and a polluted sacrifice and a worthless life; and so we
also are condemned”36.
“Like David, I have fallen into lust and I am covered with
filth…”37.
Sometimes, he considers himself worse than the great sinners of the
Bible:
“Adam was justly banished from Eden because he disobeyed one
commandment of Thine, O Saviour. What then shall I suffer, for I am
always rejecting Thy words of life?”38.
“David once joined sin to sin, adding murder to fornication; yet
then he showed at once a twofold repentance. But thou, my soul, art more
gravely sick than he, yet thou hast not repented before God”39.
Having compare himself to Adam, Cain, David, Solomon, the
Harlot and other sinners of the Bible, he then turns himself to the figures
of the Just, which he takes as models, and exhorts his soul to follow their
good actions:
“Flee, my soul, like Lot, from the burning of sin; flee from Sodom
and Gomorrah; flee from the flame of every brutish desire”40.
“Rise up and make war against the passions of the flesh, as Joshua
against Amalek, ever gaining victory over the Gibeonites, thy deceitful
thoughts”41.
36
Triodion, p. 379]. Cf.: Gen 4:5.
37
Triodion, p. 382]. Cf.: 2 Sam. 11:2-4.
38
39
Triodion, p. 402]. Cf.: 2 Sam. 11:13.
40
Triodion, p. 387]. Cf.: Gen. 19:17-25.
41
Triodion, p. 398]. Cf.: Exod. 17:8-13; Josh. 9:3-27.
One can notice in this last passage that Saint Andrew of Crete,
following Origen and all the patristic tradition, gives a spiritual
interpretation of the wars of the Old Testament. Joshua is seen not only as
a figure of Christ, but as well as a figure of our soul called to fight not
Amalek and the Gibeonites, but the passion of the flesh and deceitful
thoughts.
Playing with the theme of imitation, the author of the Great Canon
tries, through a spiritual reading of the biblical text, to wake up his soul,
as well as the soul of each believer, and bring it towards repentance,
towards conversion, which is not only the theme of the Great Canon but
the deep meaning of salvation history.
Conclusion
Speaking of the Bible, Origen once said: “As man is composed, as
we say, of a body, a soul and a spirit, in the same way is composed the
Holy Scripture, given for the salvation of man by God’s generosity”42.
Origen, therefore, usually saw three meanings in each passage of
Scripture: a historical one corresponding to the body, a moral one
corresponding to the soul, and a spiritual one corresponding to the spirit.
In order to speak of Scripture in the Orthodox Church, we have
chosen to read the Bible with Saint Andrew of Crete through his
masterpiece, the Great Penitential Canon. We have seen that our author
was in fact not only a great hymnographer and preacher, but also a
profound interpreter of the Bible. From what we have said, we will retain
three important points.
1. Like most of the Church Fathers, Saint Andrew adopted a
pluralistic interpretation of the Bible. Each biblical passage ought not to
be interpreted not only in one particular manner, let us say historical,
spiritual or moral, but can be interpreted in each of these ways. In his
Great canon, he has of course privileged the spiritual meaning of
Scripture. In a typological reading of the biblical text, where the Old and
the New Testaments are united, everything is recapitulated by Christ and
in Christ.
2. But the typological links do not only unite major figures of the
Old Testament with Christ in a relation of type and antitype; they also
42
ORIGEN, Peri archôn, IV, 2, 4.
unite any biblical figure – such as those of the parables – with each one of
us who participates in the liturgical worship of the Church.
3. The hymnographer’s intention is to read the Scriptures in a
spiritual way, and following the path of Saint Paul and of the Church
Fathers, to apply the biblical figures to the believer’s soul. Thereby,
biblical history becomes our personal history; salvation history becomes
indeed the story of our own salvation. The achievements and the failures
of the different biblical characters become figures of our own mistakes or
our own conversion. Through this typological link, one can say indeed
that biblical history recapitulates the history of each human being. The
Bible is not a dead book, but a living one, which speaks to each one of us
today. Lets us therefore, follow Saint Andrew’s invitation to “imitate the
holy acts of the righteous and flee from the sins of the wicked”43.
43
Triodion, p. 408].

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III

SFÂNTA SCRIPTURĂ – TEMEIUL

Reading the Bible with Saint Andrew of Crete

Archimandrite Prof. Dr. Job Getcha1

About Saint Andrew of Crete and the Great Canon

became archbishop of Crete, somewhere at the beginning of the eighth

Reading the Old Testament in the light of the New

Saviour of humanity. Thus, as Georges Barrois once titled one of his

For instance, the ladder of Jacob is not seen as a figure of the

fortitude…”18. Once again, our hymnographer prefers a moralistic

Discovering Christ in the Parables

penitential, speaking of the condition of the sinner, Andrew identifies

Reading the Bible as a personal story

commemoration of an event from the past, but an actualisation: a

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