by Lia Lewis

During the last few days, the Bible has been disrespected not only by President Trump but also by many people who sought to defend it. The Bible is being used as an instrument of political rhetoric in a divided country. It has been subjected to ridicule in a time when we should be reading it, praying, and taking solace from it. The Bible is God’s promise to His creation for the time that is yet to come, a time of peace and reconciliation. Because He sends us the Holy Spirit, His Word becomes more than just sentences in a book. It becomes the mighty wind blowing that fans the fire that is God within our hearts, reconciling us to each other in Christ

One illustration of the high esteem of the Bible in the Orthodox Church is the procession of the Gospel in the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. Historically, the Gospel needed to be moved from storage to be read from the altar during the liturgy; it was processed from the chapel to the altar by way of the church.  Over time, the procession of the Gospel became an important feature of the Divine Liturgy in itself, rather than simply an act of moving it between locations.