Having served as a priest for more than thirty years, Bishop Vissarion (Nechaev) understood like no one else the exceptional significance for salvation in Christ of precisely those passages from the word of God that are heard for the edification of parishioners during the all-night vigil or vespers. Therefore, when compiling his “Interpretations”, the priest, and then the hierarch, “seeks to ensure that, without neglecting the requirements of scientific curiosity, to facilitate the understanding of proverbs for those persons who, hearing them read during worship, seek spiritual edification in them” (“Faith and Church", 1901, book 2, p. 320). Let us briefly consider how the “Interpretations on Proverbs” are built. First, the author provides a brief understanding of the contents of this biblical book, its title and writer. Then (which is especially important) the connection between what we heard in the church reading and the previous events of biblical (or gospel) history is revealed. What follows is a “classic” explanation of the biblical text, verse by verse. And finally, Bishop Vissarion builds a kind of “bridge” between the proverb and the event celebrated (remembered) by the Church. The latter is a skillful church pedagogical technique - let us ask ourselves: how many of us, even with a good knowledge of the Church Slavonic language, which facilitates the understanding of reading, are able to see through the prism of biblical history the Old Testament prototype of a church holiday? The main principle of interpretation of biblical verses for Bishop Vissarion is an explanation of the word of God with the help of the word of God itself, that is, the author not only points out parallel passages of the Bible, but also analyzes them in detail, always attaching patristic interpretations to each verse. And after this he cites data from contemporary biblical science, which makes such interpretations the most interesting and complete. “The interpretations are presented with remarkable simplicity and clarity. There are no unnecessary words. The author’s goal of teaching edification to readers is fully achieved. A clear, bright thought is conveyed in a transparent, clear, and sometimes highly artistic language. Despite the brevity of speech, there is a remarkable completeness and depth of thoughts" (Tserkovnye Vedomosti, 1894, No. 30, p. 1041). Source -