This work is an experiment in connecting the four canonical Gospels into one narrative. The content of the work consists only of words and phrases found in the four Gospels; consequently the resulting text is entirely assembled from the canonical Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Hence its name: «United Gospel». As a source material, we have used the King James Version of the Bible. In some cases, explanatory words were added for clarity, even though they are not found in the King James Version; such words are in brackets.

To align the four Gospels, the tables of synoptic parallels were used. The alignment was based on the Gospel Synopsis from the Orthodox Bible, which reproduces a related publication of the Moscow Patriarchate (Bible. Moscow: Russian Bible Society, 2000) In some cases, the comparison was made based the table borrowed from the Belgian edition of the Holy Scriptures (Bible. Brussels: Life with God, 1983). It is worth noting that, for the goals mentioned above, none of the two tables were acceptable "as is", for a number of reasons. In this respect, the interpretation of the Gospel narrative about the resurrection of Jesus Christ proved to be the most critical. To solve the apparent conflict, we have used the sequence from the Harmony of the Gospels, quoted in Seraphim Slobodsky's «The Law of God» («The Law of God for Families and Schools». Jordanville: Holy Trinity Monastery, 1967). Based on the analysis of the above mentioned sources, a new table of synoptic parallels was created according to which the following «United Gospel» was drafted.

Commentary on the «United Gospel» is provided in the book «Gospel Harmony».

Tags: gospel harmony, synopsis, symphony

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