Orthodox Scriptures

Reading from the Old Testament, Holy Gospels, Acts, Epistles and Revelation, our priests' and bishops' sermons, and commentary by the Church Fathers. All Forum Rules apply.


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Грешник
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Orthodox Scriptures

Post by Грешник »

Greetings to all,

I am new to this forum and this is my first post so bear with me. I am seeking conversion to the Orthodox Church from RC and am interested in your views on a good version of Scripture. I know that there are many out there who would advocate the KJV or the NewKJV, but toi me that does not seem a good idea because of obvious differences in wording and understanding. I know that there is also the Orthodox Study Bible, I was interested in that and would like your opinion, but as I said, in being an RC, I tend to stick to the Douay Rheims. Is this a good choice? Should I look for or can you also direct me to a Orthodox Study Bible so that I can get an idea of the Orthodox understanding on Scripture?

I thank you for your time, and I know that in perusing the forum I have many many questions, but we will start here and see wherre we go from there.

Joseph Michael :P

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Orthodox New Testament

Post by 尼古拉前执事 »

Dear Joseph Michael,

Welcome to the the Cafe! I think most of the participants here would be in agreement that the best New Testament you can get is the Orthodox New Testament, which comes in 2 volumes; The Evangelistarion – The Holy Gospels and The Praxapostolos – Acts, Epistles, and Revelation. The translation is not only excellent, but it also has quotes from the Fathers of the Church on most verses of the Bible. For the Old testament I like the Third Millennium Bible, a KJV with updated words where words have new meanings or no longer in existence.

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Post by Mary Kissel »

Dear Joseph Michael,
welcome to the forum! Personally, I would say if all you have right now is the Douay Rheims, that it'd be ok to use until you can get another Bible...I use that one sometimes, as well as my Orthodox New Testament Bible...the ONT is the two vol. Bible that Nicholas has mentioned...I do like the ONT...and I like the Douay Rheims for the Old Testament part....I really don't have much of an opinion on the Orthodox New Testament study Bible. Sorry if I'm rambling. Feel free to ask any questions of us. I am a convert from the RC Church....I've been Orthodox for 2years. You are welcome to PM me as well if you have any questions for me about converting and such.

In Christ,
Mary K.

Justin Kissel

Post by Justin Kissel »

I think that most of the better known Bibles done today are pretty accurate... or at least pretty faithful to what at least some manuscripts (MSS) said.* The only problem I can think of with the Douay Rheims is that, if it is (?) based on the Latin Vulgate by Jerome, it will have some passages and tendencies that you won't find in texts used by easterners. Jerome had many discussions with Jews in his life, and eventually was convinced by their arguments, and this colored his scholarship somewhat (I recall even the Catholic Encylcopedia article on Jerome at New Advent admitting this). Also, some Orthodox actually accept more books in the Scriptural canon than what the Catholics accepted at Trent (namely, 3rd Maccabees, Ps. 151, Prayer of Manasseh, 1 Esdras--I think Catholics call 1st Esdras "3rd Esdras" since they already have a book by that name in their canon--and a few other passages here and there, such as at the end of Job). Obviously if you want to read these (other) books, you'd have to get a different Bible.

The Orthodox New Testament mentioned already is an ok Orthodox translation. The patristics and notes are helpful, but I would disagree with the claim that the translation is excellent: I think it's awkward and chaotic in it's rendering and punctuation. Still, it is probably the best Bible in English put out be an Orthodox group. If you wanted to read all the scriptural books many Orthodox accept, including the ones named above, your best bet would probably be The New Oxford Annotated Bible With the Apocrypha. Or you could do what I do, and just grab the "other" books from online sources and use a Bible that you already own :) I tend to use the KJV and NKJV, but that's just me.

Justin

*Though there are obvious, and easily discernable, exceptions. Usually they'll come right out and tell you when they are doing a loose paraphrase and not trying to follow the MSS closely.

Justin Kissel

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PS. Forgot to say, welcome to the forum! :)

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Post by 尼古拉前执事 »

Joseph Michael, The Orthodox Study Bible is a bad translation with many errors. Unfortunately, it was mostly done by recent converts from protestantism that still had some baggage and misconceptions that seep their way in to the text. The Orthodox New testament is far superior, as Paradosis says, the Patristics are very helpful in understanding scripture in the Orthodox way. Very good for a convert. /\

Paradosis, Actually, for Reader's Services I find the translation very good and chantable. Also the translations are true to the ancient Greek source, making the Lord's Prayer that much more understandable than the more popular translations. /\

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Post by Mary Kissel »

I like the ONT translation too, but there are a few words here and there that I will agree with that make it hard to understand at times. But I still say excluding that fact, it is a good Bible, and I look forward for the Old Testament translation. :)

Mary

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