Why do Eastern Catholics and Romans Catholics have different Bibles

  • Thread starter Thread starter Masihi
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

Masihi

Guest
Shouldn’t all Catholics be using the same Bible, since they’ve already decided the canon at Trent and other Roman Catholic Councils?
 
Last edited:
So far as I know, Eastern Catholics use the same Bible as RCs. The Eastern Orthodox have a different Bible, though.
 
The EO can’t even come to a universal agreement on which books should and shouldn’t be included in the Bible.
 
We use the same bibles. The Eastern Churches use a different lectionary, but that just means the readings are in a different order than the RC lectionary.

The Maronite lectionary in the US uses the NABRE.
 
I’ve seen that some EC use the Orthodox Study Bible but not for the same reason the EOCs do. For the most part, I believe that the ECs use the same Bible as Latins. In fact, at least one Melkite diocese (Eparchy, I’m not sure which one) had, for their readings, a link to the Douay-Rheims Bible on Bible gateway.
 
As far as I know I’ve read other threads in Catholic Answers Forums giving me total opposite answers, so I just wanted to be sure. During my conversation with a Melkite Catholic I was told that his canon corresponds to the Eastern Orthodox one.
 
As far as I know I’ve read other threads in Catholic Answers Forums giving me total opposite answers, so I just wanted to be sure. During my conversation with a Melkite Catholic I was told that his canon corresponds to the Eastern Orthodox one.
The readings in the liturgy don’t come from any of the books that are accepted in the East, but not in the West. For this reason, it is a simple matter for Eastern Catholics to use the same translation or edition of the Bible that is used in the West from a liturgical perspective. We use a modified Grail Psalter - modified with accommodations to the Septuigant numbering, etc. and Byzantine liturgical practice.

I think the matter is more one of principle. In principle, we accept the entire canon that is accepted by the Orthodox. In practice, it just doesn’t come up for most of us.

For reasons of convenience and availability, most Eastern Catholics I know use the RSV or Orthodox Study Bible. I have both. I’m not really a fan of the New King James translation of the Orthodox Study Bible, but I like the perspective of the notes and other resources that it contains.
 
But didn’t the council of Trent determine the inspired Biblical canon for all Catholics? Or did it just decide what was Canonical leaving open the question of divine inspiration?
 
We use the Septuagint Bible. The books are pretty much the same as a Douay Rheims Bible for example. But the numbering of Psalms differ. It starts with Psalm 9 that EO keeps as a longer Psalm while the CC agreed to include the conclusion of the Rabbis that there are 2 Psalms involved. From that point on the numbering is always +1 in Catholic Bibles. I know this from an Android version of the Douay Rheims Bible.
Other than this it is basically the same. Certain books like Tobias and Judith may be in the OT of an EO Bible or may be not. The same goes for Catholic Bibles. Not all of them include these books.
But both EO Trads and CC Trads agree that the longest version is the best.
 
Last edited:
Thank you. I didn’t know of these differences. Apparently there are more than I knew of.
 
During my conversation with a Melkite Catholic I was told that his canon corresponds to the Eastern Orthodox one.
This individual, such as myself, may use the Orthodox study Bible for personal devotion.

ZP
 
So is the Orthodox canon wrong? And is the Canon set by Trent the only inspired one?
 
Trent indicated a list of inspired books. It did NOT say that no other books were inspired. The list included books that ALL Catholic Churches used in common as an exercise of the ordinary magesterium. The entire church cannot err on matters of faith or morals
 
And do Eastern Catholics use the Orthodox Canon or the standard Catholic Canon set at Trent?
 
So the Catholic Church doesn’t reject Eastern Deuterocanonical books as uninspired yet does not affirm them as inspired either?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top