Holy Scripture

The Bible is the book of the Church and Holy Scripture is an important part of Orthodox life and worship. There are specific scriptural readings from the Gospels and the Epistles for each day of the year as well as a cycle of Psalms sung daily in Church.

The first part of the Divine Liturgy is called the Liturgy of the Word and after preparation is devoted to reading of the Scriptures - the second part is the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

The Liturgy of the Word culminates in the reading of the Holy Gospel after which the Liturgy of the Eucharist begins.

Lectionaries are published annually which allow the faithful to read the Bible according to the Church Calendar, although of course it may be read independantly from this. However the Lectionaries detail how it will be read during services in Church throughout the year.

For many years there was no suitable English translation of Holy Scripture for English speaking Orthodox Christians. This has now been rectified with the publication of the Orthodox Study Bible. This work is based upon an English translation of the Septuagint of the Old Testament by Orthodox Scholars under the oversight of many of the most notable Bishops, Archbishops and Metropolitans in the English speaking world and the and the New King James version of the New Testament.

The Orthodox Study Bible is annotated with commentary to assist the reader with his or her understanding of the passages in light of the received wisdom of the Church.

The Septuagint is a Greek translation of the Jewish Scriptures used by the Apostles and which has been in continuous use by the Eastern Church since Apostolic times. It differs from the source material used in other English translations of Holy Scripture (sometimes quite significantly) for reasons we need not explore here and thus this Bible is a useful resource not only for Orthodox Christians but for all Christians who wish to explore their faith in greater depth and have access to the Scriptures familiar to the Apostles and Fathers of the Church.