Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk (1724-83) mused, “If an earthly king, our emperor, wrote you a letter, would you not read it with joy? Certainly, with great rejoicing and careful attention.” He goes on, in reference to the Holy Bible, to say, “You have been sent a letter, not by any earthly emperor, but by the King of Heaven. And yet you almost despise such a gift, so priceless a treasure.”
Such have I usually been in relation to this “priceless treasure”, which is a gift to all Christians. And such, it seems to me now, has been the Western Church through my experience of it over the past twenty or more years.
This week I had a simple yet profound moment of, for want of a better word, revelation regarding the Scriptures of my own faith. If you are not Christian then, perhaps, this post will be of little interest to you… and even if you are, well, I’ll let you decide.
A Simple Reading
For around a full year now, barring the odd day in which I have been lax, I have been following the Orthodox Christian lectionary of daily readings (tied to the Old Calendar). My tool for keeping track is the excellent iOS app provided by Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church –>here<–.
Earlier this week the reading was taken from Saint Luke’s Gospel, Chapter 7 and verses 31-35. In the Eastern-Orthodox New Testament (EOB), as a footnote, verse 35 has next to it a reference to “Sirach 4:11”. Thus, when Saint Luke records Jesus saying, “But Wisdom is justified by all her children” there is a link across to the Old Testament book entitled the Wisdom of Sirach.
I was, of course, temporarily flummoxed.
Coming from the Western Protestant tradition, I had not heard of this book let alone read it.
Sirach. I was intrigued.
Wisdom of Sirach
Jesus Ben Sirach was a Jewish scribe who, “was apparently an instructor at a Jewish academy, probably in Jerusalem, where he taught religion and ethics,” who lived around 180 BCE (Orthodox Study Bible, p. 917). The theme of the book is that wisdom comes from God.
This is one of the books included in the Septuagint, the authoritative Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament made by the Jews prior to Jesus’ birth. The Orthodox Church retains the use of the Septuagint, in brief, because:
“…when the Apostles quote the Jewish Scripture in their own writings, the overwhelmingly dominant source for their wording comes directly from the Septuagint (LXX).
Given that the spread of the Gospel was most successful among the Gentiles and Hellenistic Jews, it made sense that the LXX would be the Bible for the early Church. Following in the footsteps of those first generations of Christians, the Orthodox Church continues to regard the LXX as its only canonical text of the Old Testament.
There are a number of differences between the canon of the LXX and that of Roman Catholic Church and Protestant Christians, based on differences in translation tradition or doctrine.” (OrthodoxWiki)
Why hadn’t I come across it? Because, as a former Protestant, it’s not in my other translations of the Bible.
“Wisdom…”
Here’s what I read:
“Wisdom exalts her children
And lays hold of those who seek her.
Whoever loves her loves life,
And those who come to her early in the morning
Will be filled with gladness.
He who holds fast to her will inherit glory.
And the Lord blesses every place she enters.” (Sirach 4:11-13)
Perhaps to you this seems inconsequential. Maybe it sounds like the Wisdom of Solomon… or just another random text from the Bible.
To me it sounded a clarion.
Each Sunday, at Divine Liturgy, as the scriptures are read the Priest or Deacon calls, saying, “Wisdom! Stand arise!” and instructs us to pay attention to what is about to be read. Aside from being helpful advice in the church service, I was suddenly more aware of what the Liturgy here is connecting to… and I felt the need to really pay attention.
Reading further, I discovered a remarkably simple and readable set of sayings which were very helpful indeed. Seriously useful words.
And then I realised. These have been removed from the Protestant tradition.
What is Scripture?
Each tradition of Christianity interprets and teaches the words that God has given us in different ways. Yet, more than that, the traditions also translate them differently (to emphasise their theology)… and even select different books as their Canon (collection of official writings).
Orthodoxy has never definitively listed the books of the Old Testament… but it has consistently used the Septuagint because it was what the Apostles (and even Jesus himself) would have known. And yet, in all my years as a Christian convert, I have only recently received a complete copy of those writings.
How did I feel? Both grateful and cheated.
Here are some seriously useful teachings, closely tied to the teaching of Jesus Christ, which my former teachers claim were not really Scripture. I am simply grateful to my Orthodox brothers and sisters that, as the past 2000 years have rolled on, they did not alter the books that my Lord and my God would have considered relevant.
Yes, I know there are many theological and textual reasons for both the Roman Catholic and Protestant traditions altering what is seen as Canon. After all of those pesterings, however, I realise that I am content to read what the Apostles gave us.
I simply want to read the “letter” that God our King has sent us.
Amen.
Hi mate, as you say, the development of the Canon in all its forms is extremely complex, and would require an article in its own right ( 🙂 ).
The Protestant Church has generally followed Luther’s attitude, derived from some Mediaeval sources (e.g. the Occamists) that the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical books are not regarded as equally authoritative as the other 39 OT writings, but nor should they be ignored, as they are useful and good for reading (as written on the title page of Luther’s translation of the Bible).
I am familiar with a good number of them, having taught them as background for A level, and any decent commentary, whatever its denominational source, will have the reference you discovered recently. Indeed, it has long been acknowledged that the way Jesus talks in John’s Gospel bears a very striking resemblance to personified Wisdom in Proverbs.
As an Anglican/Episcopalian, the Bible I was given to mark my licensing as a Reader contains all of the possible Deuterocanonical books, including those rejected by Russian Orthodoxy, and, if I wish, the Lectionary also allows me to use the Deuterocanonical books of the Roman Tradition within y daily readings, and I know a number who do.
It is great to share these insights from your journey, and I look forward to more of them.
A good read mate, highlights how the powers that be within the organisations we are members of choose to present the world to their members. I like how your new journey is develping for you. For me this phrase, “that wisdom comes from God.”, could be a very interesting philosophical argument. Its certainly one that even from a Christian perspective I would find hard to accept in its entirety.