What about the Sacred Scriptures for EO Christians?

Pythons · Sep 22, 2010

The only Bible I've been able to find online that's cast an an EO Bible is done in the NKJV?
...Has the EO never funded a Bible in English or another language?

I just thought it odd with the Tradition that goes back to the time of the Apostles and Christ that the Eastern half would have to use a version incepted by the Reformation.

Reason I ask is I wanted to get an EO Bible but from the Orthodox reviews of the one currently available I think I'll pass on it.

ProScribe · Sep 22, 2010

Well. the EO have several different study bibles published.

. .

Antony in Tx · Sep 22, 2010

Here's what my SF has given to me.

Orthodox Study Bible - Conciliar Press

Pythons · Sep 22, 2010

Thanks Antony & ProScribe! The 'Orthodox Study Bible' was the one I found online and read the reviews about, it's NKJV...
...I just thought it odd to use a translation that mainly insisted in keeping the Books Catholics and Orthodox use out of it?

I know very little of the Orthodox Church however also know there is a whole lot of history there...
...I just figured there has to be an Orthodox Bible out there and it just can't be in NKJV.
...Not that I have anything really against the KJV or NKJV but it seems odd.
...I can't imagine the Catholic Church putting a Catholic NKJV in Catholics hands.

-Kyriaki- · Sep 23, 2010

Varying translations have been made into other languages, it's just a 'diaspora' issue for us - English speaking Orthodoxy is the result of migrants bringing their faith to English speaking countries rather than a concerted missionary effort. So we've sort of used what translations and versions we could get our hands on.

The OSB OT is the septuagint and a translation on its own not the NKJV, and while it has its issues at least it isn't the NKJV. As far as the NT I suppose it's a serviceable enough substitute until someone gets around to doing a proper Orthodox translation.

There is an Eastern Orthodox Bible translation I think but afaik it's not being done by a canonical group so... That said, Holy Transfiguration Monastery is HOCNA (noncanonical) but they do very good liturgical material translations which are used by an awful number of people (I am very fond of their translation of the Psalms).

Etsi · Sep 23, 2010

Pythons said:
Thanks Antony & ProScribe! The 'Orthodox Study Bible' was the one I found online and read the reviews about, it's NKJV...
...I just thought it odd to use a translation that mainly insisted in keeping the Books Catholics and Orthodox use out of it?

I know very little of the Orthodox Church however also know there is a whole lot of history there...
...I just figured there has to be an Orthodox Bible out there and it just can't be in NKJV.
...Not that I have anything really against the KJV or NKJV but it seems odd.
...I can't imagine the Catholic Church putting a Catholic NKJV in Catholics hands.

Not exactly true. The original KJV kept the Catholic accepted deuterocanonicals. There were many English versions before that (my favorite being the Geneva 1560...also with deuterocanonicals). It was more the Radicals and the Revivalists that kicked the deuterocanonicals to the curb, not the Reformers (though the Reformers didn't hold them in as high regard, they did see some benefit to them).

RobNJ · Sep 23, 2010

And what was probably the overriding factor in using the NJKV-The publisher, Thomas Nelson, owns the rights to the NKJV

-Kyriaki- · Sep 23, 2010

And the fact that there is an Orthodox Study Bible at all probably has to do with the fact that the guy who runs the company happens to be Orthodox...

Coralie · Sep 23, 2010

Yeah, before we moved I had a 1964 KJV with all the Deuterocanonical books. I've seen other KJVs with them too. Not sure about NKJVs, since I've never looked for one, but I can't see how they aren't available... not in this day and age.

I've come across at least one English translation of the NT that was done by an Orthodox person. They do exist, I just don't think they're widely available because the NKJV is probably so similar as to make them obsolete.

I don't think the problem is the translation though (beyond the usual Septuagint vs. other codices issue, which isn't that much of a big deal since the NKJV annotates those discrepancies). It's the interpretation that's important. Hence the Orthodox Study Bible.

The Virginian · Sep 23, 2010

Pythons said:
The only Bible I've been able to find online that's cast an an EO Bible is done in the NKJV?
...Has the EO never funded a Bible in English or another language?

I just thought it odd with the Tradition that goes back to the time of the Apostles and Christ that the Eastern half would have to use a version incepted by the Reformation.

Reason I ask is I wanted to get an EO Bible but from the Orthodox reviews of the one currently available I think I'll pass on it.

The Orthodox Study Bible. On the flyleaf page is the following: Prepared under the auspices of the Academic community of St.Athanasius Academy of Orthodox Theology, elk Grove, California.

This Bible is a new translation in so far as the text of the Septuagint is concerned. The scholars concerned with this is are all Orthodox, and as far as I know, are of the finest caliber. If I had not thrown away the pamphlet they sent me when they began work on this, I could tell you their reasoning for going with the NKJV in the text of the New Testament. I do not know if they stored a copy of that pamphlet in their archives.

the sinful and unworthy servant

Pythons · Sep 23, 2010

Etsi said:
Not exactly true. The original KJV kept the Catholic accepted deuterocanonicals. There were many English versions before that (my favorite being the Geneva 1560...also with deuterocanonicals). It was more the Radicals and the Revivalists that kicked the deuterocanonicals to the curb, not the Reformers (though the Reformers didn't hold them in as high regard, they did see some benefit to them).

Yes, I was aware of that, that's why I said,

pythons said:
I just thought it odd to use a translation that mainly insisted in keeping the Books Catholics and Orthodox use out of it?

As the DR predated the KJV I just thought it odd that the Orthodox Study Bible went with a version that rejected Tradition.

Coralie · Sep 23, 2010

Pythons said:
As the DR predated the KJV I just thought it odd that the Orthodox Study Bible went with a version that rejected Tradition.

I just don't think the Orthodox are that precious about the origin of the translation or the theology/ideology of the original translators. The Reformation wasn't anything to do with Eastern Orthodoxy, after all.

I think we can agree that the KJV is a good translation, though of course it has its faults, like all translations.

Maybe editors just felt it was more accessible and or just a better translation than Douay-Rheims. Personally I think the KJV translation is incredibly beautiful and poetic, and it definitely adds to my devotional life.

Pythons · Sep 23, 2010

Coralie said:
I just don't think the Orthodox are that precious about the origin of the translation or the theology/ideology of the original translators. The Reformation wasn't anything to do with Eastern Orthodoxy, after all.

I think we can agree that the KJV is a good translation, though of course it has its faults, like all translations.

Maybe editors just felt it was more accessible and or just a better translation than Douay-Rheims. Personally I think the KJV translation is incredibly beautiful and poetic, and it definitely adds to my devotional life.

That's another reason, the reformation was against certain Roman Catholicism applications....
...And Luther and other Reformers met with the EO for approx 6 years.
...And the EO didn't agree with what they doing and they never entered into communion.

Nearly 500 years later the EO offer a Bible in "NKJV"....
...Perhaps I'm overthinking it.

I just thought the EO would have had their "own version" based on their own texts....
...The NKJV was based mostly on the Latin texts if I'm right.
...Just seems odd.

Coralie · Sep 23, 2010

I think you're reading a bit much into it!

The EO study Bible uses its own NT and Psalms translations (afaik) and the nkjv for the OT. The nkjv OT is based on the Masoretic with Septuagint influences (so it's basically "our" text)... Plus, Thomas Nelson owns the rights to the nkjv and also publishes the EO Study Bible...so I think that's the extent of it.

I don't think it's a conspiracy or some such.

Perhaps at most it's a cost thing. We're a small and pretty poor Church. Not a whole bunch of money to throw around on complete new translations when good ones already exist.

Mytheodos · Sep 23, 2010

Pythons said:
The only Bible I've been able to find online that's cast an an EO Bible is done in the NKJV?
...Has the EO never funded a Bible in English or another language?

I just thought it odd with the Tradition that goes back to the time of the Apostles and Christ that the Eastern half would have to use a version incepted by the Reformation.

Reason I ask is I wanted to get an EO Bible but from the Orthodox reviews of the one currently available I think I'll pass on it.

This will explain to you why an english translation is difficult to acheive..

With Five Million Words, Greek Is the World's Richest Language

The Greek language is the richest in the world with 5 million words and 70 million word types, according to the 1990 Guinness Book of Records, while the English language has only 490,000 words. It also underlined the meaning of the alphabet in a language as the letters symbolize specific qualities. English has over 50,000 words in its lexicon which are derived from the Greek language, especially in the sciences and medicine.

The Greek language also has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script, and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Coptic, and many other writing systems.

Pythons · Sep 24, 2010

Thanks everyone for reading my question and sounding off. I'm at peace with the answers and really appreciate them. I might pick up the Orthodox Study Bible.

Last thing I would like to know if there is an Orthodox Catechism available for sale....
...I would like to compare some teachings with the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

RobNJ · Sep 24, 2010

Pythons said:
Last thing I would like to know if there is an Orthodox Catechism available for sale....
...I would like to compare some teachings with the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Nothing anywhere near as much as a concise central repository of "cold hard facts" as the CCC. The Orthodox approach has always been more pastoral, the AYP (ask your priest), rather than "page 456, section B, paragraph 3". We just aren't into THAT much organization.

Etsi · Sep 24, 2010

Pythons, sorry, but I'm not understanding where they "mainly" excluded anything when they didn't exclude it period.

Pythons · Sep 24, 2010

Etsi said:
Pythons, sorry, but I'm not understanding where they "mainly" excluded anything when they didn't exclude it period.

they were initially offered but in the history of version that didn't last very long....
...Or did it?

Knee V · Sep 24, 2010

To my knowledge, the NKJV was chosen as a NT text for the OSB because it's the only mainstream contemporary English version that is based on the Majority Texts.

You'll find some various catechism-like books written by various bishops or what-have-you, but they're not meant to be any kind of exhaustive list of doctrines and church teachings. Like another person said, our catechesis is much more pastoral and on a person-to-person basis.

What about the Sacred Scriptures for EO Christians?

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