Byzantine Christians no less than other Christians- love, cherish and read the Sacred Scriptures. We revere them as the oracles of God (Romans 3.2).
According to
Bishop Kallistos Ware in his book,
the Orthodox Church, it has been calculated that there are 96 quotes from the Old Testament and 114 quotes from the New Testament in the Divine Liturgy. The services for special feast days are replete with references from and allusions to sacred scripture. Our Sunday and weekday
Byzantine Lectionary takes us practically all through the New Testament every year, and there are also readings from the Hebrew Scriptures during Lent, Vespers, and other services, especially major feasts. Traditionally, monks and nuns chant the entire Psalter weekly, and the psalms form the basis of several daily prayer services in the Divine Office, known in the East as the
Horologion, or in Slavic Churches,
Chasoslov (Часocлoвъ).
We see references to set hours of prayers in the New Testament itself. The Church simply took over the Psalms of the Bible as her prayer book from her elder brother in the faith, the Jews, who chanted the Psalms in the Temple and synagogues daily. References to
prayer and
prayers in Acts 2.42 and 1 Peter 4.7 in the original Greek use the definite article, and refer to
the prayers. It is very likely these texts are referring to set prayers from the Psalms.
In the context of the Divine Liturgy, Christ is truly present when the priest chants the holy gospel, no less than Christ is truly present in bread and wine of the Holy Eucharist. Christ is speaking directly to us, in our midst, at the proclamation of the Gospel. Christ is truly present all through the Holy Sacrifice of the Divine Liturgy, both in the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Thus is the Scripture fulfilled which says, "
I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."-
II Corinthians 6.16.
Byzantine theology is based on the Holy Bible and Holy Tradition, including the teaching of the Fathers, but much of the teaching of the Fathers is simply further exposition of the Scriptures themselves.
Many of the Monks, Nuns, and Church fathers memorized large portions of the Bible. St. Seraphim of Sarov, the great 19th Century Russian saint, read the entire New Testament through every week.
In conclusion, those of us in the Byzantine tradition are just as much Bible Christians as any one else. The Word of God is in our hearts! We love the Sacred Scripture and invite you to read them, in hopes that in them you will find the bread of life, comes down from heaven. (c.f. John 6.33).
Search the scriptures, for you think in them to have life everlasting; and the same are they that give testimony of me. -
Our Lord, God & Saviour Jesus Christ, in John 5.39(
See the links above on the rights-side panel for reading & searching the Bible on line, and to purchase editions of the Bible recommended by Byzantine Christian)
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