Chapter 19. The Septuagint in the Eastern Orthodox Tradition

Ch. 19. P. 283–297.

Seleznev M.

During the Byzantine era, the Greek-speaking Church of the Empire exercised a decisive influence on formation of churches and states in the Pax Byzantina. Since that time the Septuagint has had a special place in liturgy and theology not only in Greek-speaking  churches, but also in the whole family of Eastern Orthodox  churches that trace their origin to the Byzantine commonwealth. The current chapter is mainly devoted to the fate of the LXX in the Eastern Orthodox  churches after the Byzantine age and outside the Byzantine area, the two fields of study that are usually left untreated in Septuagint introductions and handbooks.

The following topics will be dealt with in the first part of this chapter: (1)  OT canon of the Eastern Orthodox churches; (2) the printed editions of the LXX used by the Greek Orthodox  churches since the establishment of the state of Greece; (3) the place of the LXX in translations of the Bible into modern Greek, Church Slavonic, and modern Russian; and (4) LXX-based Bible translations in the Orthodox Diaspora. The concluding part of this chapter will be devoted to the debates over the place of the Septuagint in the Orthodox Tradition.

Keywords: Bible, Библия, Septuagint, Септуагинта, Theology of the Septuagint, теология Септуагинты

In book

T&T Clark Handbook of Septuagint Research

L.: T&T Clark, 2021.