Invitation
When the Fathers of the Church preach, or write, or pray, they assume familiarity with the Scriptures, in which they themselves were immersed. Specifically, their language and allusions are heavily marked by what we would today call the stories and language of the Old Testament. Any Christian who is not at least familiar with these stories and language will miss a great deal of what the Fathers wished us to hear. And they assumed that their listeners would have worked to become familiar with those same Scriptures before anything else. To the end of knowing the Scriptures inherited by our forebears, and thereby understanding more clearly the revelation of God known in the Church, you are invited to read the Old Testament, in whole or in part this year.
To access the schedule of readings online, follow this link.
To add this schedule of readings to your own digital calendar, use this link.
The Septuagint
The Septuagint is a very early (began in the 2nd century B.C.) Jewish translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. It was very popular and considered inspired in its own right by the Jewish community of the time. It is the Old Testament that the early Christian Church inherited and immediately used. (The Hebrew text was not rejected, per se, but the authoritative and wide use of the Septuagint among the Jews throughout the Roman Empire made it the first Old Testament of the Church. Most of the Old Testament quotations in the New Testament are actually direct quotations of the Septuagint.)
For those who wish to read more about the background of the Septuagint Old Testament the following books are accessible: The Christian Old Testament: Looking at the Hebrew Scriptures through Christian Eyes by Fr. Lawrence Farley and The Rest of the Bible: A Guide to the Old Testament of the Early Church by Theron Mathis.
Versions
There are two primary options for reading the Septuagint Old Testament in English for Orthodox.* The first, and most well known, is the Orthodox Study Bible (OSB). The second is the Lexham English Septuagint. The advantage of the OSB is that it is the version many people already have. The advantage of the Lexham translation is that it is text only (no notes) and the typography is well done, both of which make for a much more pleasing reading experience and ability to focus on the text of Scripture. Either of these translations by themselves will work fine for this project.
* There are two other options available in English: Brenton’s translation of the Septuagint and the New English Translation of the Septuagint (NETS). Brenton’s translation is sometimes less accurate and dated, and the language and vocabulary follow the style of the King James Bible. The NETS is a good scholarly translation but tries to give such a strong flavor of the Greek that it sometimes sacrifices readability (a minor example is its use of Greek transliterations for biblical names that have long been standardized in English, e.g., Moyses for Moses, Choreb for Horeb).
The Streams
The reading program is broken up into three different “streams” to enable readers to choose their focus and to provide a meaningful way to take on whatever amount of reading is actually feasible. The three streams are: History, Prophets, and Wisdom. The History stream covers the events and story from Genesis to the time just before the New Testament. The Prophets stream includes all the books of the prophets. The Wisdom stream includes the proverbial and poetic books. Of course, there is a little history in the prophets, and there is story in the Wisdom stream (e.g., Job), and so on, so it is not a perfectly sealed system.
The readings are divide into segments by weeks, and not by days, because of the variability of people’s rhythms and availability in a given week. It is hoped that by distributing the reading over weeks rather than days each person will be able to find a time and place each day or a few days a week that would be suitable for reading, and even that can vary week to week for any single person.
Which Streams to Read
For someone who has no biblical background it is probably most reasonable to simply read the History stream. That way the focus is simply on the story of what happened without trying to understand the context of this or that prophet or other book. There will be time to read the other streams, but it is helpful with the prophets especially to have some background context for what they are saying. Of course, anyone can choose to read any stream or amount they wish quite profitably. If you have some familiarity with the story arc of the Old Testament it might be good to add the Prophets stream, or only read that stream if that is what you have time for.
HISTORY
Below are the books in the History stream in the order of reading. Note that these books are not necessarily in this order in your Bible. 1, 2, 3, 4 Kingdoms are the Septuagint titles of the Hebrew books 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings, respectively. Esdras B is the Septuagint book that includes both Ezra and Nehemiah (Esdras A is its own book). 4 Maccabees is included as an appendix in Russian Bibles, but is not included in the main listing of canonical Orthodox books and is not included in this reading plan. Note that in the OSB 2 Ezra is only the book of Ezra (as in the Hebrew text) with Nehemiah as a separate book, whereas in the Septuagint the book Ezdras B includes both Ezra and Nehemiah. *Note that the Orthodox Church has preserved and used Theodotian’s translation of Tobit, Daniel, Susana, and Bel and the Dragon, which are found at the end of the Lexham Septuagint books.
- Genesis
- Exodus
- Leviticus
- Numbers
- Deuteronomy
- Joshua
- Judges
- Ruth
- 1 Kingdoms
- 2 Kingdoms
- 3 Kingdoms
- 4 Kingdoms
- 1 Chronicles
- 2 Chronicles
- 1 Esdras A
- 2 Esdras B (OSB: 2 Ezra)
- Esther
- Judith
- Tobit *(Alt. Text)
- 1 Maccabees
- 2 Maccabees
- 3 Maccabees
PROPHETS
Below are the books in the Prophets stream in the order of reading. Note that these books are not necessarily in this order in your Bible. *Note that the Orthodox Church has preserved and used Theodotian’s translation of Tobit, Daniel, Susana, and Bel and the Dragon, which are found at the end of the Lexham Septuagint books.
- Hosea
- Amos
- Micah
- Joel
- Obadiah
- Jonah
- Nahum
- Habakkuk
- Zephaniah
- Haggai
- Zechariah
- Malachi
- Isaiah
- Jeremiah
- Baruch
- Lamentations
- Letter of Jeremiah
- Ezekiel
- Daniel *(Alt. Text)
- Susana *(Alt. Text)
- Bel and the Dragon *(Alt. Text)
WISDOM
Below are the books in the Wisdom stream in the order of reading. Note that these books are not necessarily in this order in your Bible. Note also that the book of Psalms is not included in this reading plan as this book is often read according to various cycles as a part of regular prayer, though Psalm 151 is included as it is not normally part of the rotation of psalms read in the Church.
- Psalm 151 & Prayer of Manasseh
- Proverbs
- Ecclesiastes
- Song of Solomon
- Job
- Wisdom of Solomon
- Sirach