Original form and languages of the Scripture.

Initially,  the  books  of the Old Testament were written in a Jewish tongue. Later books of the

Babylonian era contain many Assyrian and Babylonian words and phraseologies, while .deutero-

canonical. books written during the Greek reign . with the exception of the 3rd book of Ezra

which is in Latin . were authored in Greek.

  Books of the Holy Scripture did not leave the hands of their holy authors in the format we

are seeing them now. They were initially written on parchment or on papyrus (a paper-reed that

grew prolifically  in Egypt and Israel) using a sharpened bamboo stick dipped in ink. In effect,

what was being written were not books but papyrus or parchment scrolls that resembled long rib-

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bons, coiled on to a wooden spool. These rolls were written on one side only. Consequently, in

order to make them more manageable, instead of gluing together these papyrus or parchment rib-

bons into huge rolls, they were stitched into books.

  The original text of these scrolls was written in bold capital letters with no spaces between

the words so that one sentence resembled one word. The reader himself had to divide the sen-

tence into words and naturally enough, occasionally made mistakes. At the same time these an-

cient manuscripts did not contain any commas nor full-stop or emphasis signs. As well, the an-

cient Jewish language did not employ vowels but only consonants.

  In the 5th century, the division of sentences into words in the Holy Books was undertaken by

Deacon Evlaly, of the Alexandrine Church. Slowly but surely, the Bible began to take on its cur-

rent format. Because of its contemporary division into chapters and verses, the reading and locat-

ing of specific passages in the Bible is quite an easy matter.

In Accordance with the Saviour's Commandments.

(By Protopresbyter M. Pomazansky)

The Early Christian Church constantly dwelt in spirit in the Heavenly City, seeking the

things to come, but she also organized the earthly aspect of her existence; in particular, she ac-

cumulated and took great care of the material treasures of the Faith. First among these treasures

were the written documents concerning the Faith. The most important of the Scriptures were the

Gospels, the sacred record of the earthly life and the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son

of God. Next came all the other writings of the Apostles. After them came the holy books of the

Hebrews. The Church also treasures them as sacred writings.

What makes the Old Testament Scriptures valuable to the Church? The fact that a) they

teach belief in the one, true God, and the fulfillment of God's commandments and b) they speak

about the Saviour. Christ Himself points this out. Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye

have eternal life and they are they which testify of Me, He said to the Jewish scribes. In the par-

able about the Rich Man and Lazarus, the Saviour puts these words about the Rich Man's broth-

ers into the mouth of Abraham: They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. .Moses.

means the first five books of the Old Testament; .the prophets. . the last sixteen books. Speak-

ing with His disciples, the Saviour mentioned the Psalter in addition to these books: ... all things

must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms,

concerning Me. After the Mystical Supper, when they chanted a hymn, they went out into the

Mount of Olives, says the Evangelist Matthew. This refers to the chanting of psalms. The Sav-

iour's words and examples are sufficient to make the Church esteem these books . the Law of

Moses, the prophets and the psalms . to make her preserve them and learn from them.

In the Hebrew canon, the cycle of books recognized as sacred by the Hebrews, there were

and  still  remain  two  more  categories  of books besides the Law and the Prophets: the didactic

books, of which only the Psalter has been mentioned, and the historical books. The Church has

accepted them, because the Apostles so ordained. Saint Paul writes to Timothy:  From a child

thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through

faith which is in Christ Jesus. This means: if one reads them wisely, then one will find in them

the path which leads to strengthening in Christianity. The Apostle had in mind all the books of

the Old Testament, as is evident from what he says next: All scripture is given by inspiration of

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God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness (2

Tim. 3:16).

The Church has received the sacred Hebrew books in the Greek translation of the Septua-

gint, which was made long before the Nativity of Christ. This translation was used by the Apos-

tles, as they wrote their own epistles in Greek. The canon also contained sacred books of Hebraic

origin, which however were extant only in Greek. The Orthodox Christian Church includes them

in the collection of Old Testament books (in the biblical science of the West they are called the

.deuterocanonical. books). From the time of their Council in Jamnia in 90 A.D., the Jews ceased

to make use of these books in their religious life.

In accepting the Old Testament sacred scriptures, the Church has shown that she is the

heir of the Old Testament Church . not of the national aspect of Judaism, but of the religious

content  of  the  Old  Testament.  In  this  heritage,  some  things  have  an  eternal  significance  and

value, but others have ceased to exist and are significant only as recollections of the past and for

edification as prototypes, as, for example, the regulations concerning the tabernacle and the sacri-

fices, and the prescriptions for the Israelites' daily conduct. Therefore, the Church makes use of

her  Old  Testament  heritage quite authoritatively, in accordance with her understanding of the

world, which is more complete than and superior to that of ancient Israel.

Using the Old Testament.

(By Protopresbyter M. Pomazansky)

While in principle fully recognizing the merit of the Old Testament books, the Christian

Church has not, in practice, had the opportunity to make use of them everywhere, always, and to

their full extent. This is clear from the fact that the Old Testament Scriptures occupy four times

as many pages in the Bible as the New. Before books were printed, that is to say, during the first

1500 years of the Christian era, copying the books, collecting them, and acquiring them was, in

itself, a difficult matter. Only a few families could have had a complete collection of them, and

certainly not every Church community did. As a source of instruction in the Faith, as a guide for

Christian life in the Church, the New Testament, of course, occupies the first place. It can be said

only of the Old Testament Psalter that the Church has constantly used it, and still uses it, in its

complete form. From the time of the Apostles until our day, she has used it in her services and as

the companion of each Christian, and she will continue to use it until the end of the world. From

the other books of the Old Testament, she has been satisfied with select readings, and these not

even from all the books. In particular, we know of the Russian Church that although she had al-

ready shone forth resplendently in the 11th-12th centuries, before the Tatar invasion (this fullness

of her life was expressed in the writing of Church services, in iconography and church architec-

ture, and reflected in the literary monuments of ancient Russia) she nevertheless did not have a

complete collection of the Old Testament books. Only at the end of the 15th century did Arch-

bishop Gennadius of Novgorod manage, with great difficulty, to gather Slavonic translations of

the books of the Old Testament. And even this was just for one archdiocese, for one bishop's ca-

thedra! Only the printing press gave the Russian people the first complete Bible, published at the

end of the 16th century and known as the Ostrog Bible. In our time, the Bible has become readily

available. However, in practice the purely liturgical use of the books of the Old Testament has

remained the same as always, as it was originally established by the Church.

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Understandest Thou What Thou Readest?

(By Protopresbyter M. Pomazansky)

According to the account in the Acts of the Apostles, when the Apostle Philip met one of

Queen Candace's eunuchs on the road and saw the book of the Prophet Isaiah in his hands, he

asked the eunuch,  Understandest thou what thou readest? He replied, How can I except some

man should guide me? (Acts 8:30-31). Philip instructed him in the Christian understanding of

what he had been reading, with the result that this reading from the Old Testament was followed

immediately, there on the road itself, by the eunuch's baptism. As the Apostle interpreted in the

light of the Christian faith what the eunuch had been reading so we also must approach reading

the Old Testament from the standpoint of the Christian Faith. It needs to be understood in a New

Testament way, in the light which proceeds from the Church. For this purpose the Church offers

us the patristic commentaries on the Holy Scriptures, preferring that we should assimilate the

contents of the sacred books through them. It is necessary to bear in mind that the Old Testament

is the shadow of good things to come (Heb. 10:1). If the reader forgets this, he may not receive

the  edification  he should, as the Apostle Paul warns. Concerning the Jews he writes that  even

unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their hearts: with them it remaineth untaken

away in the reading of the Old Testament, that is to say, they are not spiritually enlightened unto

faith. Nevertheless, when they shall turn to the Lord, the Apostle concludes his thought, the veil

shall be taken away (2 Cor. 3:14-16). So we must also read these books from a Christian point of

view. This means to read them while remembering the Lord's words: ... They [the Scriptures] are

they which testify of Me. They require not simply reading, but searching. In them are contained

the preparation for the coming of Christ, promises, prophecies, and types or antitypes of Christ. It

is according to this principle that the Old Testament readings are chosen for use in the church

services. Furthermore, if the Church offers us moral edification in them, she chooses such pas-

sages as are written, as it were, in the light of the Gospel, which speak, for example, of the .eter-

nal life. of the righteous ones, of .righteousness according to faith,. and of Grace. If we Chris-

tians approach the books of the Old Testament in this light, then we find in them an enormous

wealth  of  edification.  Even as drops of dew on plants shine with all the colors of the rainbow

when the  sunlight falls on them, even as twigs of trees that are covered with ice are iridescent

with an the tints of color as they reflect the sun, so these scriptures reflect that which was foreor-

dained to appear later: the events, deeds, and teaching of the Gospel. But when the sun has set,

those dew drops and the icy covering on the trees will no longer caress our eyes, although they

themselves remain the same as they were when the sun was shining. It is the same with the Old

Testament Scriptures. Without the sunlight of the Gospel they remain old and decaying, as the

Apostle said of them, as the Church has also called them, and that which decayeth and waxeth

old is ready to vanish away, as the Apostle expresses it (Heb. 8:13). The Kingdom of the chosen

people of old has come to an end, the Kingdom of Christ has come: the law and the prophets

were until John; from henceforth the Kingdom of God is proclaimed (Luke 16:16).