The Septuaginta

Steve Puluka spuluka at hotmail.com
Mon Aug 30 15:47:17 EDT 1999


>From: "Guy Lipkins" <paideutes at iol32.com>

>Pondering a question for a possible upcoming article; Is the Septuaginta 
>"authoritative" or simply "accommodative" or both.

"Authority" is in the eyes of the beholder.  I will let the real scholars 
debate Jesus' level of Greek usage and that of his congregation.  But 
clearly the leaders and formulators of the early christian church doctrine 
used the LXX as their source for Old Testament citations.  The Eastern 
Orthodox jurisdictions and the Roman Catholic church hold the LXX to be THE 
AUTHORITATIVE version for their respective churches.  We do disagree to what 
extent the Apocrapha are included in scripture, but not by much.

In the Eastern Orthodox tradition our liturgical books and readers are all 
taken from the LXX.  However, we did not declare this our preferred version 
explicitly till after the Reformation.

For Roman Catholics the council of Trent declared the LXX to be an inspired 
translation and that all differences between Hebrew and LXX the LXX is to be 
the "Authority".

Since the reformation most Protestant denominations view the Hebrew version 
as authoritative and the Apochrapha as "usefull for the spiritually strong" 
as Martin Luther called it.

The citation of the virgin to give birth by Mathew is probably the most 
often cited difference between Hebrew and LXX scripture.  LXX has virgin and 
Hebrew young woman.  A significant difference given the outcome of the 
council of Ephesus for Mary being a virgin.

Steve Puluka
Adult Education Instructor
Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburgh
(Little Greek)

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