The Bible
The Bible is held is high regard by Christians worldwide. The Orthodox Christians hold that the Bible is the supreme expression of God’s revelation to man. Christians must always be “People of the Book.” The Bible should not be regarded as something that is set up over the Church, but as something that lives and is understood within the life of the Church.
The Orthodox Church has the same New Testament as the rest of Christendom. For the Old Testament, it uses the Ancient Greek translation known as the Septuagint. The Hebrew version of the Old Testament contains thirty-nine books. The Septuagint contains an additional ten further books, not present in Hebrew, which are known as the ‘Deutero-Canonical Books’. Most Orthodox scholars at the present day, however, following the opinion of Athanasius and Jerome, consider that the duetero-Canonical Books, although part of the Bible, stand on a lower footing than the rest of the Old Testament.
The Bible is split into two large parts, the Old Testament that focuses on pre-Christ story of Israel and the foretelling of the prophets and the New Testament that tells the account of Jesus's life and ministry from the perspective of the Apostles Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John and then subsequent writings of the early church that give historical account and elucidation of doctrinal matters facing the early church. Orthodoxy, while regarding the Church as the authoritative interpreter of Scripture, does no forbid the critical and historical study of the Bible.
Reading and understanding the whole contents of the Bible is held in high regard by Orthodox Christians. Following the Liturgical calendar the Bible is read in its entirety every year. One can find a listing of the daily readings on many diocese's websites including
antiochian.org
Orthodoxy regards the Bible as a verbal icon of Christ. The Seventh Ecumenical Council laid down that the Holy Icons and the Book of the Gospels should be venerated the same way.
The Orthodox Study Bible
The Orthodox Study Bible is considered by many clergy and academics as the best resource for studying the Christian Bible in an Orthodox context.
The creation of the work was undertaken by St. Athanasius Academy and first published in 1993.
The Old Testament takes influence from two majors sources, the Brenton text: a British translation of the Greek Old Tesament and text of The New King James Version as granted by Thomas Nelson Publishers.
The New Testeament is taken directly form the New King James Version of the Bible.
[paraphrased from the Introduction to "The Orthodox Study Bible"]
Through out The Orthodox Study Bible are several supplementary study aides in the forms of summaries, commentary, and articles written by notable Orthodox Christian scholars intended to help guide the reader's study through a correct Orthodox lens.
A copy may be easily obtained from any major book sellers or from our church library.
3204 Ridgewood Rd. Fairlawn, OH 44333