Three Perspectives on the New Orthodox Study Bible

AGAIN: Have you had a chance to look at the OSB?

Fr. Chad: When the OSB first came out, Fr. Peter Gillquist and Randy Elliot made a presentation at St. Vladimir’s Seminary and gave all of the students and faculty a copy. I have been able to use the new OSB for a couple of months now. What impressed me the most about the OSB were the footnotes. It was the footnotes in the first OSB that attracted many non-Orthodox readers to explore Orthodoxy further. Many people are impressed by the footnotes and commentary because the notes appear to be written by Christian believers. This may sound strange, but it is not always the case with the notes in other study Bibles. This Bible has the potential to be a great tool for evangelism. One Episcopalian parish in Indiana ordered twelve copies of the OSB from the St. Vladimir’s bookstore for use in their parish Bible study.

AGAIN: Do you see the OSB primarily as an evangelistic tool?

Fr. Chad: Of course, not only non-Orthodox will appreciate the notes. Orthodox should be using the OSB in their parish Bible studies and for personal devotional reading because the notes help you to understand the mind of the Fathers. For example, the note for Genesis 5:3 points out that Adam, Eve, and Seth are an image of the Holy Trinity. This teaching is not based on the imagination of the person writing the notes; it is the teaching of the Holy Fathers. The OSB cites St. John of Damascus, but this interpretation was at least three centuries earlier, for it is also mentioned by St. Gregory of Nyssa. Orthodox people need to understand that all Bible study begins with the teaching of the Holy Fathers. In fact, if I were pushed to make one specific criticism of the OSB, it would be that more citations from the Fathers could have been used. Many of us have found our way into the Orthodox Church by reading the Church Fathers, so perhaps the editors might want to think about expanding the patristic citations in future editions.

AGAIN: What do you think of the translation of the Septuagint version of the Old Testament?

Fr. Chad: The translation itself is also the culmination of a long and worthy project providing an enormous service to the Church. The text is majestic yet still easily readable, in keeping with the best English Bible translations—much like the RSV. Furthermore, a translation of the Septuagint into modern English has been desperately needed. I have heard people accuse English-speaking Orthodox Christians of holding the Marcian heresy because we only had the OSB New Testament. [The Marcian heresy was a heresy in the early Church that claimed that the Old Testament was not Scripture for Christians.] Of course this accusation has been made in jest, but in truth a translation of the larger Orthodox canon of the Old Testament based on the Septuagint has been one of the greatest needs of the English-speaking Orthodox world. And now that we have a full Orthodox Study Bible I would like to see the OSB promoted in major bookstore chains like Barnes & Noble or Borders. I would encourage Orthodox lay people to buy extra copies to donate to public and school libraries.

AGAIN: Fr. David, what do you think about the OSB?

Fr. David: I like it a lot so far; I like the print and typeset. I find it very readable. That’s one of the first things I noticed.

AGAIN: What about the content?

Fr. David: The arrangement of the books has thrown me off a little bit. That’s going to take a little getting used to. I’m used to the order of books in most English Bibles, which are not based on the Septuagint. I’d never thought about the order before. It takes a little more time to find what I’m looking for in the Old Testament. Also, there are the Old Testament books that have never been easily available in English before. I’m enjoying reading those now. I just finished reading Judith, which I had never read before. I’m reading Tobit now. I want to read all the Deuterocanonical books1 first to get familiar with those parts of the Bible that are missing in my other Bibles. Actually, in some ways, it makes me want to read the whole Old Testament again because some of the phraseology is different.

AGAIN: Are you finding the notes helpful?

Fr. David: I appreciated the notes in the New Testament edition so much that I’m sure I will love the notes in the full Bible as I read through it. However, I particularly like the little articles, the pages that provide explanations on particular topics. For everybody in the Church, not just converts, these will be helpful. There is so much need for basic Christian teaching in the Church. In fact, Christians in general, Orthodox or not, are woefully ignorant of the Scriptures. You know there are a lot of people who would like to read the Bible, but they just don’t understand it, and maybe they are too embarrassed to ask questions. This is why the notes and the introductions at the beginning of each book are so important. The OSB makes it easier for people to learn their faith and what the Bible says and how the Bible fits together. It opens a door for people to overcome some of their ignorance without having to embarrass themselves.

AGAIN: Are you planning any activities to encourage people to read the Bible more?

Fr. David: We are promoting the OSB in the church. We have sold four cases already. I preached last Sunday on the importance of reading the Bible to increase faith. The Gospel reading in the Divine Liturgy was from the end of St. John. It says, “These were written that you may believe.” If people want to increase their faith, they have to read what was written. Also I got a chart from the Antiochian Women’s President, Lucy Hannah, that I copied and distributed as a pamphlet to my people. It has Bible readings for every day of the year so that someone can read the whole Bible in a year.2 And as a part of their daily prayer rule, I encourage my people to read at least one chapter of the Bible.

AGAIN: What kind of feedback are you getting from the people?

Fr. David: So far the feedback has been good. The people who have it seem to like it. Our chanters like it because it’s easy to read. It’s also affordable, especially if the church buys it by the case and then sells them individually to the people at the cheaper case price.

I’m really very happy that the OSB is completed. Ultimately it will reinforce what the Orthodox Church has been saying from the beginning. It will reinforce the historic Christian teaching.

AGAIN: Any suggestions for future editions?

Fr. David: It would be a good idea to put the OSB on CD for people to listen to in their cars. People are just too busy to sit down and read. We have to figure out a way to make it even more accessible. Listening to a CD or podcast may not be as good as sitting down prayerfully to read, but it’s a lot better than nothing.

AGAIN: Brother Samuel, thank you for sharing with the readers of AGAIN your thoughts about the OSB. When did you first learn about the OSB?

Br. Samuel: Fr. L.R. from Calgary came to visit us last September [2007] and told us that a translation of the Septuagint version of the Old Testament would soon be out and that the translation was being done by Orthodox Christians. We were very excited. For so long, one of the ironies of the Church has been that we are the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church, yet no one knows about us and we don’t even have a translation of our own Bible. The OSB is a big step forward, especially since we know that it is the Septuagint that Christ quotes in the Gospels and that St. Paul and the other apostles quote. Many of the passages aren’t even in the Masoretic [medieval Hebrew] text.

AGAIN: I see that you already have four copies. Where did you get them?

Br. Samuel: Yes, three monks and four Bibles. That’s pretty funny. Actually, we have a friend who runs an Orthodox bookstore in Langley [British Columbia] and she sent us a whole case. We are encouraging everyone who visits the monastery to buy one, and about everyone has. We each have one for private reading in our cells; we also read it together every morning after Matins. Then there is the one in the chapel. We marked it for the kathisma readings and the other Old Testament readings. Basically I just made square brackets around the prescribed readings. We have been greatly enjoying the translation.

AGAIN: Can you give me one example of something specific about this translation that you have enjoyed?

Br. Samuel: Well, our first and most important encounter with the text was in prayer. As soon as we got it, we began chanting the kathisma [psalm readings] from the OSB. Here we have really absorbed and come to appreciate the language of the OSB. A specific example is the translation of the word “Gentiles.” Most other translations will translate this word as “nations” or “peoples,” but this word has a very specific meaning. It means “not Jew”; in the Jewish covenantal context it implies a defiled people. Yet in the OSB translation we find passages such as, “God is the king of the Gentiles” and “In Him the Gentiles trust.”

This is essential because the word “Gentiles” has a specific meaning to St. Paul when he uses it in his epistles. Salvation is not coming to people generally (well, at least that is not St. Paul’s point in these passages), but salvation is coming to the defiled people, the Gentiles. God makes exactly this point to St. Peter in the vision of the unclean animals coming down in a sheet. God sends St. Peter to Cornelius, a Gentile, saying, “What God has cleansed, you must not call common.” So the word “Gentiles” is a very powerful church word, and the Septuagint and the OSB make this connection between what the apostles discovered in their own faith and what was revealed in the Old Testament many centuries before Christ. This has been very uplifting. Another example is the psalm verse sung at Holy Saturday Vespers: “Arise, O God, judge the earth, for you shall inherit all the Gentiles.”

AGAIN: That’s powerful. However, I don’t know if the choice to translate the word “Gentile” was really a distinction between the Septuagint text and the Masoretic text. It think it has more to do with the translation philosophy of the OSB.

Br. Samuel: That may indeed be the case. St. Athanasius Academy [the group responsible for the translation] are Orthodox Christians. They are people of the Church, so this is a translation of the Church. It was not done by outsiders. Because members of the body of Christ have the inspiration of the Holy Spirit through the sacrament of Holy Chrismation, this manifests itself in a translation that reflects to a large degree the mind of the Church.

AGAIN: What other aspects of the OSB impress you?

Br. Samuel: We are pleased with the commentary. Finally, someone has written a Bible commentary that has as its reason to exist the revelation of Christ in the Old Testament. I am a Christian and I am interested in knowing how the Old Testament relates to Christ. I am not interested in the historical or literary aspect of the Old Testament. It’s the mystical Christological aspect of the Old Testament that gives me nourishment.

AGAIN: Except for the Psalms and other liturgical readings, what has been the most interesting part of the Septuagint version of the Old Testament for you?

Br. Samuel: To tell the truth, we started reading the Macabbees together, and it is certainly less inspiring than other parts. You can really see the difference in the inspirational style when compared, for example, with the Kingdoms.

One of the notes I really like is on Genesis 14:14. The note points out that Abraham went to the battle against Chedorlaomer with 318 trained men of his household. This is also the number of Holy Fathers at the First Ecumenical Council who gathered to fight to preserve Christ’s divinity from being trampled on by Arius. The OSB commentary notes that this passage is read on the feast of the Holy Fathers.

One of my favorite New Testament passages is in Matthew, where Christ enjoins us to love our enemies. The commentary gives the story of St. Makarius, who, when he had been robbed, chased after the robbers to give them his staff, which they had overlooked. As a result of this love for his enemies, the robbers repented. This is an example of the commentary being informed by the lives of the saints. It illustrates these Gospel passages. I was very impressed by that—because love of enemy is something that is very watered down in our modern society. Christ didn’t mince words, and His disciples laid down their lives in practicing love of enemy. We live in a culture of excuses. The Gospels are uncompromising, and for the most part the commentary of the OSB is true to that.

AGAIN: Do you have any suggestions as to how the OSB could improve in future editions?

Br. Samuel: I have only a purely material suggestion. I would have preferred thicker pages for constant use. When I use the text in services, I am afraid that I will tear the pages.

AGAIN: Yes, I see what you mean. But I think it was published mostly with home reading in mind. Perhaps in the future a separate text can be published for liturgical use containing the Psalms divided into kathisma and the various other Old Testament readings for the significant feasts of the year.

Br. Samuel: Apart from that, we are very grateful for the OSB and are using it daily. It is so refreshing and reassuring that it is done by members of the Church. †

The above article is taken from the pages of AGAIN Magazine, vol. 30 no. 2. Used by permission.