The Orthodox Study Bible

Katherine and I picked up a copy of The Orthodox Study Bible: Ancient Christianity Speaks to Today's World. Having just purchased it, we haven't had a lot of time to look through it, but what I've seen looks very good.

The Old Testament translation is from the St Athanasius Academy Septuagint -- most Bibles have Old Testament translations of the Hebrew. Included is the Deuterocanon! This will truly be a blessing.

Throughout the notes, one hears the voice of the first ten centuries of the church.

The Church year is also noted throughout, and services of Morning Prayers, Evening Prayers, and a lectionary are also included.

Check it out at your local Orthodox bookstore!

Ezekiel

Explaining the difference ...

In various discussions, I've been challenged to explain the difference between various church bodies and Orthodoxy. It seems so easy to get caught up in words and more words, in quotes and counter-quotes and the like. How does one "explain" the fullness of the Faith?

Father Gregory Hogg helped me along a bit with this quote:

"One hears that, in foreign lands, people are now learning to swim, lying on the floor, with the aid of equipment. In the same way, one can become a Catholic or Protestant without experiencing life at all--by reading books in one's study. But to become Orthodox, it is necessary to immerse oneself all at once in the very element of Orthodoxy, to begin living in an Orthodox way. There is no other way."--Fr. Pavel Florensky

That last sentence is a bit of understatement, isn't it?

By the way, Father Gregory has begun his own blog, "Pillar and Ground of Truth" -- and his "On using the Fathers" gives sage advice for all of us.

When it comes right down to it, the best witness is most often "Come and see," isn't it?

Ezekiel