What does "Scripture alone" mean, and how does Orthodoxy respond?

The Orthodox nuance

Let us state the Protestant position correctly, because there is also something good in it. The Protestant wants to defend the Word of God from human additions, and he holds the Bible in high esteem. That is beautiful. The problem is the word alone.

Think about the order of things. The first Christians did not have a New Testament in hand: it was written over several decades, and the list of holy books was clarified by the Church only after centuries. Scripture was therefore born inside the Church, not above it. Saint Paul writes to the Thessalonians to hold the traditions they received, whether by word or by our letter (2 Thessalonians 2, 15). He himself thus says that not everything that matters was put in writing.

And there is something very practical. We all read Scripture through an understanding; the question is: whose? The Ethiopian eunuch was reading the prophet, and Philip asks him: do you understand what you are reading? And he answers: how could I, unless someone guides me? (Acts 8, 30-31). "Scripture alone", left to each to interpret on his own, led within a few centuries to thousands of groups that do not agree with each other on the same verses. For the Orthodox, Scripture is read in the Church, with the Fathers and the councils, because the same Spirit who inspired it also enlightens it when you read it within the Church. Not Scripture against Tradition, but Scripture within Tradition. The Church is, as Paul also says, the pillar and foundation of truth (1 Timothy 3, 15).