Bible Society steps up collaboration
with Orthodox Church

ATHENS, Greece — The most important activity undertaken by the Greek Bible Society in 2003, according to General Secretary Michael Chatzigiannis, was the publication of the new lectionary of the Greek Orthodox Church. The collaboration has already led to another joint venture, providing an encouraging indication of trust between the two partners.

The publication came after the Church’s Holy Synod named the Bible Society’s Modern Greek version of the New Testament as the translation it wanted to use in the new lectionary. This is the first time a Greek lectionary has incorporated a modern translation facing the original Greek text.

The Society printed 40,000 copies on behalf of the Apostoliki Diakonia, the Church’s publishing arm. It consists of the readings from the Gospels, the Acts and the Epistles which are given during the Sunday Liturgy and all the other major celebrations of the year. (See The importance of the lectionary in the Orthodox Church [More...]) The original text is set on the left-hand page, and the new rendition in contemporary Greek on the right.

Mr Chatzigiannis explained that the nature of the lectionary meant that the text of the translation needed to be adapted quite extensively.

Time-consuming

“The text of the New Testament which is used in the liturgical books of the Church is not always the same as in the printed editions which are circulating nowadays in Greece,” he said. “The beginning and ending phrases of the readings are usually different from the continuous text of the New Testament.” Some readings combine different parts of the New Testament text, he added.

The importance of the lectionary in the Orthodox Church Among Orthodox Christians the reading of Scripture is very closely tied to the life of the Church, and for many centuries the lectionary has been the main way in which they have heard the Scriptures read.    For the purpose of Orthodox services the lectionary divides the New Testament into two parts: the Evangelion or Gospel, containing the four Gospels, and the Apostolos, containing the Acts and Epistles. In a lectionary the Scripture text is divided into sections following the order of the Church’s liturgical year, so that week by week worshippers hear readings from the Gospel and the Apostolos which are especially relevant to the theme of that week’s services.    Since all Orthodox churches – and many other denominations – follow a lectionary system in their services, this means that there is a great unity in the way in which Scripture is read and presented. And when the lectionary uses a contemporary translation alongside the traditional text (as is the case with the new Greek lectionary), the congregation can follow the readings during the services without difficulty.

The thorough and time-consuming work on the text was done under the supervision of a well-known New Testament scholar, Professor Ioannis Karavidopoulos.

It seems likely that the project will lead to further co-operation with the Greek Orthodox Church.

“The feedback that we got from the Holy Synod was very positive,” said Mr Chatzigiannis. “As a result they have already proposed another collaboration – on the publication of a Prophetologion, which consists of all the Old Testament readings, except those from the Psalter.”

In similar fashion to the lectionary, this will consist of the Septuagint printed alongside the new translation into Modern Greek, which the Greek Bible Society is currently preparing.

“Thus our new translation has become accepted by the Church even before it is published and circulated – a fact that proves that we have gained their trust,” declared Mr Chatzigiannis. (WR 386/18 - 6/7.04)