Adult Education & Bible Study

Most Churches today have a "Lectionary", which is a collection of prescribed Scripture Readings for various occasions in the Church Year. The tradition for a "lectionary" began when the Prophet Samuel organized the Old Testament Liturgy and shaped the institutions of Moses to be a prelude to the Advent of Christ. That is, he transformed a local and tribal religion into that of catholicity. The Temple itself was supplied with an expository liturgy. Moreover, a liturgical system, revolving about the central worship of the Temple, was brought to every man's door by the establishment of the synagogue for the villages of Israel during the time of Ezra after the Babylonian Captivity. We see an example of this lectionary in the Synagogue of Nazareth when Jesus was handed the Scroll of Isaiah as the Reading for that day (Luke 4:17).

The Early Church initially followed the Old Testament Lectionary. In the days following Pentecost, the Jewish leaders had no problem with the Apostles worshipping in the Temple but they took issue with the Apostles teaching daily in the Temple from the Old Testament Lectionary Readings of the day. Just as Christ opened the eyes of Cleopas and Luke to the meaning of the Scriptures on the Road to Emmaus, so the Apostles began doing this in the Temple. Everything pointed to Christ, and the Jewish leaders couldn't handle this strong consistent witness. It wasn't just their word against that of the Apostles; it was their word against the Scriptures.

This Bible Study follows the pattern of the Twelve Apostles after Pentecost. The subject is the Orthodox Lectionary today, which is "The Whole Counsel of God". We endeavor to search out what the Church has always taught regarding the prescribed Readings for every Sunday and Feast Day. We find that the Early Church Fathers seem to have a much different viewpoint than many people today, like the Apostles before them, and that we are continually enlightened to hear what they had to say, especially on the topics of the Orthodox Lectionary.