Scripture Translations

[Diak]

Question originally posted by Jerry-Jet on another thread.

In the United States What English version of the Bible do most Eastern Catholics use and what English version of the Bible do most Eastern Orthodox use?

Are there any English versions of the Bible used by Eastern Catholics and by Eastern Orthodox that Latin Catholics might not have read and would be valuable for them to read?

As to the second question, one rather obscure translation becoming harder to find that I very much like and which is still used quite a bit in our Ukrainian Catholic and also in some Ukrainian Orthodox parishes is Bishop Fan Noli’s.

He translated both a Gospel and Epistle lectionary in the early 1950s directly from the Greek for use in the Albanian Orthodox Church. The language is very articulate without being overly archaic, and chants very well. What is unique about these is that he translated directly from the Greek and it is not a re-translation of a Protestant translation as are the various forms of the RSV.
FDRLB

 

[lanceg]

At our Ruthenian Byzantine Church in Minneapolis, we use for our Gospel book Bishop’s Raya’s edition of the Confraternity version.

Bishop Raya simply took the Confraternity New Testament, and updated archaic language (eliminating thees and thous). Since the Confraternity version was translated from the Latin Vulgate, being as it was a revision of the Challoner Rheims version, he emended in certain places to bring it into conformity with the Greek.

We use the 1970 New American Bible for our Epistle Readings (Apostolos).

 

[Diak]

Why not use Archbishop Raya’s Apostolos as well? It (and Noli for that matter) are far, far superior to the NAB.

If the Raya Apostolos wasn’t $150 I think perhaps more parishes would be using it. For that matter even the Holy Cross Press Apostolos used by the Greek Archdiocese and some Melkite and Romanian Greek Catholic parishes (derived from the RSV and reconciled with the Greek edition) is much better than the NAB in my opinion.

Isn’t the NAB the official liturgical translation to be used in the BCC Metropolia? I faintly recall something to that effect when I was also briefly working in an Eparchy of Parma BCC parish, but that has been awhile and I might be mistaken.
FDRLB

 

[lanceg]

Why not use Archbishop Raya’s Apostolos as well? It (and Noli for that matter) are far, far superior to the NAB.

If the Raya Apostolos wasn’t $150 I think perhaps more parishes would be using it. For that matter even the Holy Cross Press Apostolos used by the Greek Archdiocese and some Melkite and Romanian Greek Catholic parishes (derived from the RSV and reconciled with the Greek edition) is much better than the NAB in my opinion.

Isn’t the NAB the official liturgical translation to be used in the BCC Metropolia? I faintly recall something to that effect when I was also briefly working in an Eparchy of Parma BCC parish, but that has been awhile and I might be mistaken.
FDRLB

I very much agree that the Raya-Confraternity or The RSV would both be much better translations than the NAB. I wish we had one of them rather than the 1970 NAB Apostolos. My personal Bible is the Confraternity version.

One of our priests ordered the Raya translation for the Gospel book just before he retired, and had not got around to ordering the apostolos when it was time for him to leave.

The priest after him went back to the NAB. He was only here for a couple of years.

Our current Priest is from Eastern Europe, and he is not pleased with the NAB. English is a second language for him, and he thinks the 1970 NAB is a poor translation. He went back to the Raya-Confraternity.

I think we do not have the Raya Apostolos because it is a money issue for the moment; we have had some more pressing issues to attend to financially.

I was not aware that we are mandated to use the NAB in the Ruthenian Church, but I am sure that is the case, since our seminary press only carries NAB lectionaries. However, my understanding is that it is the 1970 NAB. The 1970 NAB New Testament is a wretched translation in my opinion. The 1986 NAB is a better translation and more literal, but features some bad use of inclusive language (cf Galatians 4).

I found the Noli NT on line recently, seems like a nice translation. I have not had time to examine it in detail. Is the New Testament available for purchase?

 

[Diak]

I’ve not seen Noli’s New Testament; only his Gospel and Epistle lectionaries which have the readings arranged liturgically or broken up by pericope for the particular day or feast.

So for example the Epistle Lectionary is divided by major parts of the ecclesiastical year. It starts with Pascha, then has the weeks after Pascha, Pentecost, weeks after Pentecost, Triodion, etc. and finishes up in the last part with the fixed feast days, arranged according to the liturgical year (starting in September and ending with August).

The Gospel Lectionary is similar but starts with the Sunday Matins Gospels and then Pascha. The Gospel Lectionary also includes the Matins Gospels for moveable and fixed feast days.

But again I haven’t seen the whole New Testament and can’t say one way or the other.
FDRLB