In a world filled with so many versions and translations of the Bible, many often wonder which Bible Orthodox Christians use. The Orthodox Church has not officially endorsed any particular English translation of the Bible. But the most commonly used edition among English-speaking Orthodox Christians is the Orthodox Study Bible. The OSB uses the NKJV for the New Testament, and the St. Athanasius Academy Septuagint (SAAS) for the Old Testament. But why do we use the NKJV, rather than another English translation? And why the Septuagint? Read on to find out!
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The Orthodox Church uses the Septuagint
The Eastern Orthodox Church uses the Septuagint (LXX) as the basis for her Old Testament translations, an arguably more reliable translation than the Masoretic text. The Septuagint does not refer to the entirety of the Old Testament, though many people mistakenly use it in that way. Rather, the LXX is a Greek translation of the Torah, or Pentateuch, made by Jewish scholars in the 3rd century BC (before Christ’s birth).
The early Christians, many of whom were Jews that spoke Greek, translated their own Scriptures into Greek after the coming of Christ. These are the translations Eastern Orthodox churches use for the other books of the Old Testament canon. This is part of the reason why we have more books in our Old Testament canon than Roman Catholic or Protestant Bibles.
The Orthodox Church uses the Byzantine Text-Type for the New Testament
Eastern Orthodoxy uses the Byzantine Text-Type as the basis for the New Testament text. Byzantine Text-Type is the form found in the largest number of surviving manuscripts of the Greek New Testament. The particular variant that we consider most authoritative is the Patriarchal Text, an official text published by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 1904 for ecclesiastical use.
The Byzantine Greek New Testament and the Textus Receptus (the “received” text) Greek New Testament have been the most often referred to texts for New Testament usage. Interestingly, the Byzantine Text-Type underlies the Textus Receptus Greek text, which was used for most Reformation-era (Protestant) translations of the New Testament into vernacular languages.
The Eastern Orthodox canon contains 76 books
The Eastern Orthodox Church adheres to the first official Biblical canon of 73 books, as reaffirmed at the Council of Carthage (AD 419). This is the same canon that the Roman Catholic church affirms. In addition to the 73, however, Orthodox Christians also include 1 Esdras, 3 Maccabees, and the Prayer of Manasseh. Protestant Bibles contain only 66 books, claiming that the extra books in Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Bibles are “apocrypha”.
Related: What Is the Apocrypha?
Therefore, an Orthodox Christian will typically use editions of the Bible that, at the very least, contain the 73 books found in the Roman Catholic biblical canon.
Bibles most commonly used by Orthodox Christians
While there is no standard Bible for Orthodox Christians, the most commonly used are as follows:
- Eastern Orthodox Bible – EOB (2008) by Laurent Cleenewerck. This version is only available for the New Testament, but the Old Testament version is reportedly in the works.
- Orthodox Study Bible – OSB (2008) by the St. Athanasius Academy of Orthodox Theology. This is the only print Bible with the full Orthodox canon and with an Old Testament translated from SAAS. The OSB uses the New King James Version of the New Testament, with some revision to correct for Orthodox theological positions.
Should the Orthodox Christian not have the EOB or OSB, he or she might be using another common version, like the RSV or KJV. The NKJV and KJV are more common for liturgical use and are preferred, as they follow the majority text of the original Greek New Testament.
Conclusion
The Orthodox Study Bible is undoubtedly the best option for English-speaking Orthodox Christians. It uses the oldest surviving manuscripts to translate the Pentateuch and other books of the Old Testament. Moreover, it uses the Byzantine Type-Text for the New Testament. It contains wonderful articles, maps, study notes, and comparisons to the Masoretic text. It truly is a treasure trove!
But should you not have access to the OSB, another version that contains the Roman Catholic canon will suffice. We recommend sticking with the NKJV or KJV. Straying too far from these translations can lead to grievous mistranslations and misunderstands about important theological matters. But that is a post for another day!
Keep Reading: How To Read Apocalyptic Literature Properly
9 Responses
Hi,
I was curious about Eastern Orthodox; however, since MAGA has taken over most American churches I can’t step in any organized church in the US.
caveat: outside US maybe
They swapped John 3:16 banners and hats for MAGA /Trump.
For now…just read scripture on my own and look for churches that are online but oversees.
Anonymous,
Christ is in our midst! There are many Eastern Orthodox churches in the United States you could visit, brother. The Faith is about living the life of Christ, not about espousing one type of political agenda or another. God bless.
I recommend removing your endorsement for the RSV. It is not based on the Byzantine Type-Text. KJV and NKJV are.
Jon,
Christ is in our midst! Thank you for your feedback and for raising this important point about Bible translations. You are correct that the RSV is not based on the Byzantine text-type, but rather on the critical editions of the Greek New Testament, which tend to follow the Alexandrian manuscript tradition. The King James Version (KJV) and New King James Version (NKJV), on the other hand, are indeed based largely on the Byzantine text-type, which is also the tradition underlying the liturgical texts of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Many Orthodox Christians do prefer the KJV, NKJV, or other translations that align more closely with the Byzantine textual tradition. At the same time, some Orthodox jurisdictions and scholars make use of the RSV and other modern translations for study and comparison, appreciating their clarity and scholarship, even if they are not ideal for liturgical use. For liturgical reading and personal devotion, translations based on the Byzantine text-type are indeed most consistent with Orthodox tradition. In any case, we have amended the wording of the article to remove any ambiguity. God bless!
Hello! I have a question. Are all the extra books from the Ethiopian bible apocrypha??? because the ethiopian bible, is reportedly to have 81-88 books compared to the 73-76 book canon we see in mainstream apostolic churches (roman catholic, Eastern Orthodox, etc)
Jack,
Welcome back! Christ is in our midst! The differences in biblical canons between various Christian traditions can be confusing, so you are not alone in wondering about this. The Eastern Orthodox Church and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church are both ancient apostolic communities, but they do have some differences in their biblical canons. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church indeed includes several books in its Old Testament that are not found in the canons of most other Christian traditions, including the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches. These additional books (such as 1 Enoch, Jubilees, and others) are sometimes called “deuterocanonical” or “apocryphal” in other contexts, but within the Ethiopian tradition, they are considered fully canonical and authoritative. The Eastern Orthodox Church’s Old Testament canon is based primarily on the ancient Greek translation known as the Septuagint. It includes several books not found in the Protestant canon, such as Tobit, Wisdom of Solomon, and 1–4 Maccabees, but it does not include all the additional books found in the Ethiopian canon.
So, to answer your question: The so-called “extra books” in the Ethiopian Bible are not considered canonical in the Eastern Orthodox Church; they are regarded as apocryphal or non-canonical from an Eastern Orthodox perspective. However, they are honored and used liturgically in the Ethiopian Orthodox tradition, which has its own ancient and venerable heritage. God bless!
also, I have another question. what do you mean when you say that the septuagint does not refer all of the old testament??? do you mean that it does not feature all old testament writings/books??? if so, then what other translation might the orthodox study bible use???
Jack,
Thank you for this excellent question — this is a good opportunity to clarify how the Septuagint relates to the Old Testament and how it’s used in Orthodox Bibles. When we say that the “Septuagint does not refer to all of the Old Testament,” we mean that the term “Septuagint” (often abbreviated as LXX) originally referred to the ancient Greek translation of the Torah (the first five books of Moses), but over time it came to include the entire Greek Old Testament, including additional books and expanded versions of some books not found in the Hebrew Masoretic Text.
However, the exact list of books included in ancient Septuagint manuscripts can vary, and not every Old Testament writing—especially some of the minor books or later additions—was necessarily translated into Greek or preserved in every Septuagint manuscript. For example, some books included in the Ethiopian Orthodox canon (like 1 Enoch or Jubilees) are not part of the standard Septuagint.
The Orthodox Study Bible (OSB), used by many English-speaking Orthodox Christians, bases its Old Testament primarily on the Septuagint as the Church’s traditional Old Testament. However, since there hasn’t always been a complete, standard English translation of the Septuagint, the OSB uses the New King James Version (NKJV) for the New Testament and adapts the Old Testament from the St. Athanasius Academy Septuagint translation, supplementing with NKJV text and notes when necessary.
In summary:
– The Septuagint is the Greek Old Testament used by the early Church and remains the basis for the Orthodox Old Testament.
– Not all Old Testament books ever written are included in the Septuagint (and thus, not all are in the Orthodox canon).
– The Orthodox Study Bible uses a modern English translation of the Septuagint for the Old Testament, with some adaptation from other sources when needed.
We hope this helps – God bless!
There’s also Jesuit Father Nicholas King’s translation: https://www.biblesociety.org.uk/products/9780564082377/ … although being Roman Catholic it misses a few books