I do not know what text exactly they saw. If they even knew there are different texts.
I think we have more sources than they did, thats why our situation is more complicated and our dogmas less dogmatic.
The Church Fathers were not only aware of a multiplicity of texts, but they had access to far more ancient texts than we do. One of the tragic lost books of the early church is Origin’s Hexapla, which as the name implies, was a parallel Bible (actually the first) containing six versions of the Old Testament, presented in six columns, side by side:
- the Hebrew consonantal text
- the Secunda – the Hebrew text transliterated into Greek characters including vowels
- the translation by Aquila of Sinope into Greek (2nd century)
- the translation by Symmachus the Ebionite into Greek (late 2nd century)
- a recension of the Septuagint, with (1) interpolations to indicate where the Hebrew is not represented in the Septuagint (taken mainly from Theodotion's text and marked with asterisks), and (2) indications, using signs called obeloi (singular: obelus), of where words, phrases, or occasionally larger sections in the Septuagint do not reflect any underlying Hebrew
- the translation by Theodotion[6] into Greek (mid 2nd century)
And there were other versions they had access to as well which are now lost, in addition to certain apocrypha which is lost or survives only in fragments or quotes, for example, the Gospel of the Hebrews or the Gospel of Peter, both of which differed substantially from the usual Gnostic false Gospels.
Thus, our situation is in fact less complicated, and our dogmas are more dogmatic, because of the destruction of historic manuscripts by the Muslims and other groups outside of the Orthodox Church (it is in our monasteries where manuscripts such as the
Codex Sinaiticus were found).
Do you have the NETS translation?
Yes I do, and I am aware of the multiplicity of versions of Daniel, which I find stimulating and intellectually interesting. On a doctrinal level these disparate versions are not a stumbling block, since Daniel is one of the most well-exegeted books of Old Testament prophecy.
And when in doubt regarding the Old Testament, as to how to interpret it, Christ our True God taught us at the end of the Gospel of Luke that the books of the Law and Prophet are all about Him. So one should always seek the Christological context of the Old Testament first, before looking for other contexts.
So when it comes to the different versions, I find them genuinely exciting and actively seek them out and read them. They do not impact me on a doctrinal level. The Church Fathers had even more access to disparate versions, which sadly I do not have - if anyone finds an authentic copy of Origen’s Hexapla or of intact versions of some of the lost text it contains, that would be a document that would be an amazing breakthrough, but sadly those places where it is most likely to be are also those places most under threat from Islamists.