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In the Byzantine Church, it is rare to read through in a serial fashion a text of the Old Testament. But during Lent, our churches read three books from the Old Testament in their entirety; they are: (1) Genesis, (2) Isaiah, and (3) Proverbs. We begin reading the Prophet Isaiah on Monday of the first week of the Great Fast at the Sixth Hour. We begin Genesis and Proverbs at Vespers also on the same day. Those who attend the Pre-Sanctified Liturgy on Wednesdays and Fridays will hear the readings for Gen & Prov.

Like the Byzantine Christians today and their tradition of reading the Gospels in a serial fashion annually, the Jews read their most important collection of Scriptures, the Torah (or Law) in serial fashion annually too. Ever since Ezra the Scribe introduced the practice of reading lections from the Torah back in the 5th century BC, there became a tradition of reading sections of the Torah (a.k.a. 'sidra') on each Sabbath. At the beginning of their lection cycle they would begin with Genesis 1:1-6:8 (called "Bereshit" or "In the beginning") and follow throught the Torah in a serial fashion for entire year. Reading the entire Torah in one year was a Palestinian custom, whereas the Babylonian tradition took three years.

Now, a few hundred years after this custom got started, an unfortunate thing happened; reading from the Torah in public places was banned by the rulers of Palestine - those nasty Syrian-Greeks. The Jews came up with an ingenious plan to circumvent the ban by finding a loophole. Instead of reading the Torah in public, they would search the writings of the Prophets and find lections from there that would take the place of the scheduled Torah reading and having the same theme. This was the beginning of the tradition of reading the Prophets (a.k.a. 'haftarot) in a formal way. When the Maccabees retook control of Israel, the Jews went back to reading the Torah in public, but kept the Prophetic readings.

Like the Jews, we Byzantines have two overlapping cycles of readings: the weekly cyle of readings and the festive cyle of readings. Byzantines will normally read OT readings on feast days and during Lent. OT lections are not read at the Sunday Divine Liturgy.

One of the main differences in how we read the collection of lections in Church is the order of precedence. Jews read the Torah first followed by the prophets or lesser readings. Christians reversed that tradition by reading the lesser texts first (Acts and/or Epistles) followed by the Gospel.

One of the observations (and complaints) is that Byzantines do not read OT lections on Sunday. The Latin Catholics have gotten into the habit of doing this, but not Byzantines. One explanation is that during the crisis that ensued after the downfall of Constantinople the lectionary of OT readings was "lost." I often wondered how this can happen? Do you think this was the case?

Should OT readings be introduced into our Sunday worship? If so, what would serve as the precedent?

What is the significance, do you think, of reading Gen, Isa, and Prov during Lent? Why these three? What is there relationship to the Great Fast/Lent and Pascha?


Cantor Joe Thur
Deacon-student

PS: Tomorrow, we will begin our focus on Isaiah.

[ 02-10-2002: Message edited by: J Thur ]

The significance of Gen., Is., and Prov.? I think of it as 1) Genesis recounts Salvation History in a nutshell. It also represents the Law and the Covenant. It gives us backround info as to why Jesus came to save us sinners.
2) Isaias, if I remember correctly, is refered to as the Fifth Gospel, owing to its strong Messianic character.
3) Proverbs provides us with a primer on goodly and Godly living. in other words, it gives us instruction on how to apply the Law and the Gospel, much in the same way St Paul's Epistles do much of the time.

3) and 2) together replace the customary Epistle/Gospel proclamation, ordinarily occurs at the Divine liturgy. Since there is no Divine Liturgy on these days, coupled with the gravity of the season, the Old Testament substitutes are almost necessary, or so it seems. How I have not figured out yet. This cycle of readings does point out that Salvation was in the works from the beginning, and just beginning with the Annunciation.

Dear Joe,

I couldn't stay away from your wonderful post!

As the Great Fast or Lent is about our coming to God, in imitation of the struggles of our Old Testament Fathers to do the same, more reading of the Old Testament is definitely appropriate at this time.

Genesis reminds us of why we need salvation, how sin harmed our nature and sent us into exile.

Isaiah reminds us of Who it is that is coming to take us out of exile and bring us back to the Garden - and how He will accomplish this task.

Proverbs serves as a practical life guide for us during our stay in exile to better enable us to act in accordance with the Wisdom of God rather than the wisdom of this world that is in exile, but doesn't want to move out of it.

Old Testament readings for the Day of the Resurrection would be appropriate since we come to a much better appreciation of the New Testament in view of the Old.

The Mother of God is the New Ark of the Covenant who bore the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets, but this is made more meaningful by reading about the history of the Ark and the Law.

Our worship, altar, Psalms etc. are all Old Testament as well, fulfilled in the Person Whom they proclaim and announce. This is also why King David is always depicted in the icons of the major 12 Feasts, since his Psalms are used to glorify God in them.

The Oriental Orthodox are way ahead of us in this department and the Old Testament is celebrated very prominently in their liturgies and Churches, especially the Ethiopian Churches that wins the gold medal in this department.

Christ is the centre of both Old and New Testaments. He is to be found on the pages of either.

Alex

Thank you, akemner and Alex,

It is refreshing to see such insight into the Scriptures in our Church. Yes, the various themes found in Gen, Isa and Prov are basically everything in theology in a nutshell.

In Genesis, we see the basics of Theosis starting with Creation and the Fall. In Isaiah we see the process of redemption and salvation with so much about the Messiah to come. And in Proverbs there is that wisdom that points us to God who is our goal.

What really interests me as a biblical studies student is the choice of texts from the Old Testament. The Hebrew Scriptures is traditionally divided into three major sections: the Law (Torah), the Prophets (Neviim) and the Holy Writings (Ketuvim). Is it a coincidence that the three readings in our Lenten Triodion are representatives of each major section of the Hebrew Scriptures?

Joe

Dear Alex,

Don't forget us Syrians! :p

The preparatory order of the Liturgy, when the priest and deacon are behind the veil, at the altar, vesting and preparing the gifts, is not witnessed by the people. During this time, Matins and the hours are sung, and specifically, readings from the Torah and the Prophets, at least one of each, are read to the people. These readings are appointed not for the Divine Office, but for the people to hear before the Liturgy proper begins...theoretically, the readings can be done with only a few hymns added, but in practice this isn't done.

I've seen the readings done as one reading from the Torah and one from the Prophets, or one from the Torah, one from the Psalms, or a combination. Some Sundays, two readings, other Sundays (and feasts as well) more readings. It basically creates the effect of a synagogue service (I wouldn't know exactly, since I've never been to a synagogue, but I hear it's similar), and then after the "synagogue service" is over, the veil is pulled back, and the Liturgy is celebrated, the fulfillment of the Old Testament is realised before us in the Liturgy of the New.

That's why I don't like being late to church...you miss some neat stuff.

Mor Ephrem,

Are the readings from the Torah and Prophets according to some schedule like the Gospels and Epistles in the Byzantine Church I mentioned?

Are there homilies delivered after the readings too?

Joe

Dear Joe,

Given the fact that the Byzantine and Syrian traditions, from what I've learned here and elsewhere, are very similar, I would tend to say yes, there is a schedule to the readings, which is altered for certain feasts...although I cannot tell you for sure.

There are no sermons after the OT readings in the preparatory order, but a sermon, incorporating both OT and NT readings is often given on Sundays, and especially on great feasts.

What does Triodion mean?

Akemner,

"Triodion" is the book used for Lent. During Matins there are only three (tri) odes sung at the Canon. Byzantines aren't too original when they come to titles of books.

Joe

Thanks Joe. There is nothing wrong with naming something for what it is. I was hoping there was some sort of correlation between the word Triodion and the three books of the OT representing the three parts of Hebrew Scripture (a heck of a lot of Trinitaian references here).