The Text of the Scripture and Religious Identity: The Septuagint in Orthodox Christianity

Abstract

In polemics of Orthodox theologians with Jews, Protestants and Catholics, the Septuagint has often been regarded as the hallmark of Orthodoxy. The article demonstrates that the picture is much more complicated: throughout the history of the Orthodox tradition violent polemics against allegedly corrupted Hebrew or Latin Bibles existed side by side with quoting the Hebrew readings by the early Byzantine Fathers or correcting the Church Slavonic Bible against the Vulgate. Homiletic reasons were much more important than purely textual matters. A historical survey of the role the Septuagint played in the Orthodox tradition forms the background for investigating the place of the Septuagint in contemporary discussions of the Orthodox identity.