Eastern/ Orthodox Scripture

[AJB328]

I was just wondering if the Eastern Churches use the same canon as the Orthodox.

And does anyone have any suggestions for a good english translation of the Orthodox Bible? I was in a bookstore the other day with a large Bible section and it dawned on me that not only did they not have an orthodox translation, but I can’t remember ever seeing one. If I had, i’d probably have bought one.

 

[akemner]

There are not many translations of the Orthodox bible, as such. As far as I can tell, there are no translations of the Septuagint+Patriarchal NT. The Orthodox Study Bible is the most popular version. This one has the Septuagint, but with an eye on the Hebrew. Thus,there are places where the Hebrew reading is given, and that is always explicitly noted. The NT is the New KJV. Do not get the 1993 edition. Get the 2008. The psalter was not translated the first go around, and is also NKJV. Also some of the notes are very Protestant oriented (an emphasis on “justification”, which is not really in our regular theological vocabulary).

There is also the project The Eastern Orthodox Bible, which is not complete. This promises to be the best when it is complete. The NT is translated from the Patriarchal Edition. The OT is LXX, but notes variant readings from the Hebrew and Dead Sea Scrolls.

The New Oxford Annotated Bible has the full Slavic canon, but you have to piece it together, and it uses inclusive language.

NETS uses inclusive language, and also includes readings from the Hebrew.

 

[peter26]

The KJV Apocrypha volume provides some of the additional Orthodox accepted books (1 and 2 Esdras) and is relatively cheap.

 

[akemner]

But the rest of the KJV is translated from the Hebrew, and the NT is Textus Receptus. Maybe you can mix Breton’s LXX with the NKJV NT, and get an acceptable result.

 

[AJB328]

Thanks for the replies, seems more complicated than I thought.

 

[akemner]

It’s complicated because it’s English, and it’s the modern era. Protestant attitudes towards the scripture have made things so complicated. There should be three major versions of scripture in use the the Catholic Church: The Vulgate, The Greek (LXX and, IMO, the Patriarchal edition of 1904) with additions and notes on variations from the Slavonic, and the Peshitta (which is the closest to the Masoretic text, but is a bit different in the NT).

In the modern world, we have the false notion that there is a single determinable literary source for the Bible. There isn’t. It is the Word of God, and inspired by the Holy Spirit, and thus is not prone to orderliness like we like to see in a work of fiction. Put that with the idea that the Bible is uniformly and factually true in every detail (it is not, nor does it mean to be), you have a problem. With multiple sources, you will get variation, and this makes the inerrancy claim difficult to uphold. So a search for the original text ensues (which is futile, and not divinely inspired), and the result is that people make up what they want in the Bible, and how it gets translated, instead of relying on what the Holy Spirit has given through the Church.

In the end, the Eastern Orthodox Bible will be your best bet when it is completed. You can get the completed parts already.

In Christ,
Adam

 

[Vico]

I was just wondering if the Eastern Churches use the same canon as the Orthodox.

And does anyone have any suggestions for a good english translation of the Orthodox Bible? I was in a bookstore the other day with a large Bible section and it dawned on me that not only did they not have an orthodox translation, but I can’t remember ever seeing one. If I had, i’d probably have bought one.

Greek Orthodox Bible has additional books or restructuring:

• 1 and 2 Esdras (Catholic: one Hebrew book Ezra became books Ezra and Nehemiah)
• 3 Maccabees (the story of a persecution of the Jews in Egypt under Ptolemy IV Philopator, 222-205 B. C.)
• 4 Maccabees (Jewish-Stoic philosophical treatise on the supremacy of pious reason)
• Psalms 151 (written after the rest of the Psalter)
• Prayer of Manasseh (apocryphal)

 

[Augustine]

Greek Orthodox Bible has additional books or restructuring:

• 1 and 2 Esdras (Catholic: one Hebrew book Ezra became books Ezra and Nehemiah)
• 3 Maccabees (the story of a persecution of the Jews in Egypt under Ptolemy IV Philopator, 222-205 B. C.)
• 4 Maccabees (Jewish-Stoic philosophical treatise on the supremacy of pious reason)
• Psalms 151 (written after the rest of the Psalter)
• Prayer of Manasseh (apocryphal)

Are they regarded as divinely inspired like those shared with the Catholic Church?

Thank you.

Pax Christi

 

[Vico]

Are they regarded as divinely inspired like those shared with the Catholic Church?

Thank you.

Pax Christi

The books that are not a part of the Bible as given at the Councils of Florence, Trent, and Vatican I, are considered uninspired. These were given in this list from the Council of Trent:

The five books of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy), Josue, Judges, Ruth, the four books of Kings, two of Paralipomenon, the first and second of Esdras (which latter is called Nehemias), Tobias, Judith, Esther, Job, the Davidic Psalter (in number one hundred and fifty Psalms), Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Canticle of Canticles, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Isaias, Jeremias, with Baruch, Ezechiel, Daniel, the twelve minor Prophets (Osee, Joel, Amos, Abdias, Jonas, Micheas, Nahum, Habacuc, Sophonias, Aggeus, Zacharias, Malachias), two books of Machabees, the first and second.

 

[Errham]

Considering that the Septuagint is the version of scripture that is quoted in the New Testament, I feel that it is worthy of study, even if a few of the books are considered uninspired.

For many decades, the standard translation has been Brenton’s, which can be found here:
ebible.org/eng-Brenton/

If you’re looking for a print Bible, the one most widely in circulation is the Orthodox Study Bible. Although it is NKJV for the most part, the text has been amended in places to better reflect the Septuagint.