The Bible and the Holy Fathers for Orthodox: Daily Scripture Readings and Commentary for Orthodox Christians

As much as I love the Orthodox Study Bible, this makes it look pretty basic. The advantage the Orthodox Study Bible has is a a whole proper and complete cannon. While this is written\formed according to a liturgical calendar, I am non-the-less illuminated by every page of this book just by reading it straight through - something that at this point I can't help but to do. I have a large Eastern Orthodox library and I don't know how this got past me. I have spent time thinking "If I could only have a couple of books for life?" Until now, that has been the Orthodox Study Bible (simply for its completeness) and the Ascetical Homilies of St Issac the Syrian. I can no longer settle on just two - this is a third must have. Going further, If I could include one volume in that life log set, it would be the Evergentinos. If I could include a second it would be the Spiritual Councils series of St Paisios. If I could add one more, it would be the volume of books written of Archimandrite Zacharias on the teaching of St Sophrony. Maybe throw in Orthodox Psychotherapy and the Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church and you would have a bare minimum library for life - assuming you know prayer of the heart.

In the history of the medieval West and the Reformation, the medieval idea of the "sacra pagina" or sacred page was chiefly a Bible which, in some cases, looked very different from how Bibles do now.The image at the bottom of this review, like some (but not all) Bibles (this spilled over into other categories, such as legal text) had a page of commentary from the saints that held an inset Bible text like gold mounting a precious jewel. (The enclosed picture is one that presents text and commentary.) And the Reformers, or at least Martin Luther, complained that there was a wall of paper keeping people from just getting to the Bible text; from the Reformation onwards, a Bible was the text of the Bible itself. If you look at a pricey 1611 King James facsimile edition, the footnotes are mostly for translation issues and rarely important. (Even these footnotes were dropped.) Modern Catholic translations like the New American Bible and the New Jerusalem Bible at least maintain vestiges of this noble tradition; they contain more footnotes which are intended to provide guidance, and contain a lot more theological substance than footnotes about trivialities and translation issues. However, when compared to the medieval tradition Luther attacked, I would rather lump modern Catholic Bibles in with the Protestant footnote-averse concept of a Bible than medieval Catholicism. The footnotes add real value, but they are extraordinarily anemic compared to a collection gathering saints' commentary on a given text.I was personally puzzled that for this collection Protestant commentary was incorporated for, if I recall correctly, Old Testament passages where Orthodox commentary is not available in English and may not be available in any language. Sometimes Orthodoxy is colorblind between Catholicism and Protestantism, but why not consider at least the better Roman sources? Thomas Aquinas provided a break from the past and what then was the fashion in a West intoxicated with an Aristotle that the Russians never had and the Greeks never lost. His Summa Theologiae may get a remark of, "This is a masterpiece of philosophy about God, but could we move on to the theology that St. Gregory Palamas practiced?" However, there was an older tradition in the West where students of theology collected the sayings of previous saints: Thomas retained participation in the older tradition of curating collections of sayings (I once leafed through his commentary on Luke), enough so that even a logician pest like Abelard, whose Story of My Misfortunes reads as an obnoxious Asperger's poster boy, said basically that you can say anything you want from the Tradition of the Fathers, and wrote "Yes and No", a text that brought up various serious questions and then lined up quotations from authority figures saying "Yes" on one side and "No" on the other. My point is that even the renegade in this story in attacking the value of authority did so by collecting relevant quotations from the saints.I haven't studied what, if any, commentaries on the Old Testament are available in English translation from before the West fell in love with Aristotle. My instincts regarding what I've read is that the Protestant sources incorporated are probably good, and there is good Protestant devotional writing.But that is the only real flaw or oddity I've seen in this work. Overall, it resurrects under a different external arrangement the tradition of including precious jewels of Scripture set in the gold of saints' commentary. Mrs. Manley does not seem to show particular squeamishness about passages which are politically incorrect, which is a strength. Now there is room for improvement, specifically by making a complete Bible and treating the whole Bible like Mrs. Manley treated the subset of the Bible that is included, with whatever typesetting is appropriate (I do not consider any Western medieval tradition of Biblical typesetting to be normative; I just think that it's sometimes an attempt to answer the right question).However, I would prefer not to gripe that she didn't do even more, but recognize in her a monumental feat and the best Orthodox Bible I'm aware of today.Cordially,C.J.S. HaywardTr. The Classic Orthodox Bible

I have went back and forth on how exactly to study the Scripture through the Orthodox lens. I also have a desire to get more familiar with our liturgical calendar. This book gives you your daily gospel, epistle, a little lesson from the saints specific to both, and readings for the feast days of the church. It has many icons interspersed throughout the pages. This book is the best. Get it. You won't regret it.

Best book for orthodox Christians

Not everything the Fathers of the Church wrote is worth reading, and even among the selections in this book there are bits that are not inspiring. But the general quality of this book is outstanding. A great way to read the Bible every day throughout the year using the lectionary of the Orthodox Church. St. John Chrysostom figures most prominently in the pages of this book - rightly so - but there are many other Fathers and several more recent Orthodox and a few non-Orthodox contributions. A wealth of insights into the holy scriptures.

I recently bought this Bible as an orthodox Christen I’m a beginner but I wanted to create that relationship with Christ. The Bible was really thick and easy to understand it came in perfect condition the words were a little small but nothing crazy I 100% recommend this to anyone who has difficulties reading other bibles.

I attend the Eastern Catholic Divine Liturgy (Melkite) and this lectionary pairs very well to Melkite cycle. The commentary is pure gold. They even incorporate St. Augustine of Hippo! Get it! Pray it! Let it transform your mind and soul!

I really like this book. It is huge! This book is a must for all catechumens, or current Orthodox who don't have this book. The OSB is great, but it doesn't have much commentary of the Father's other than what is on the footnotes. I had to get another one because the one I own, has a sewn spine. (I bought it on June 24, 2021). And it's going to get slowly worse overtime.-For Catechumens, this book will give you more detail and understanding. Like if all you have is the OSB and you are currently doing the daily reading, you just won't get much out of it. Especially if your new. I use the OSB if I am reading more than just the daily readings. I often even use The Bible & Holy Fathers for reference on a verse I find confusing. Buying homilies can get expensive, it's easier to just google John Chrysostom's homilies if you are still confused.Nonetheless, its one of the books you 100% need to put in your cart right now.