At the retreat I attended in October, Mother Raphaela asked for a show of hands from all those who have read the bible beginning to end, including the Apocrypha*. I was among the few who raised my hand (I ate all my peas), another was the fabulous Christina who posted a “Read the Orthodox Bible in a Year” post.
While I appreciate her post, I won’t be following it. I have developed a routine where I read a couple of pages of the Bible most nights before I fall asleep. I find that if I deviate from the routine (read: bite off more than I can chew), I end up being overwhelmed and dropping my habit. Right now, this works for me, and I have been blessed by what I am reading. I am stunned at how many times either a bible verse or a sermon will reference something that I just finished reading.
As I didn’t come out of Protestantism, I’ve always had a familiarity with the so called “Apocrypha” and have long considered Judith** (thanks Mom!) one of my favorite books of the Bible. Mother Raphaela reminded me of the lovely Book of Tobit, so in the late fall when I finished the Bible (recording the date on the inside of the cover, which Father Stephen referenced once and I thought it was a great idea. It was the first time I put the date inside the cover, not the first time I'd completed reading the Bible) before I delved back into Genesis, I re-read both Judith and Tobit. I’ve had a couple of conversations with dear friends who didn’t have the background of those beautiful books of the bible that have been lost to the WASP American traditions, and am so thankful that those stories are in my heart and in my experience, and I know that they have had time to go back and read them and enjoy them as well.
So tonight, I’ll read a couple of pages from Numbers where I have worked my way up to. And, if you’ve not before, read Judith or Tobit and think of me.
*Which is considered Orthodox Canon.
**Oh my goodness, check out The Judith Project. I will explore this in greater depth when I get home tonight. What a find.
posted by Mimi @ 1/28/2009 02:11:00 PM
23 Comments
23 Comments:
Tobit is one of my favs - introduced to me when I became a R.C. :-) You're inspiring me to crack open my Bible, girl! I've read the Protestant (WASP, as you say) Bible about five times through, struggling the most with Chronicles. Ugh!
I agree with your evening routine. I read one chapter from the Gospels, one from the Epistles and one Proverb every morning. Also, I have included one prayer from the Psalter and one from the Spiritual Plaster of Ephraim the Syrian to my morning prayers.
I have tried to read the Bible from cover to cover and I can't do it. Fr. Justin does this every year, but for some reason I don't stick with it. I do stick with the routine I have now.
I too find that if I bite off too much it all falls to the side. I do need to incorporate the OT to my reading though.
I will read Tobit asap, thaks!
M.Michelle
Thanks for sharing this Mimi! I have not read these books yet... I need to :)
I've also tried to read the Bible cover to cover and can't seem to do it either. I have read Tobit and enjoyed it very much (and the Buechner book based on it as well).
thanks for the links
Thanks for reminding of me of how important it is to read the Bible every day. I think no matter how many times I read the same verse, I always get something new out of it. I have not read the Bible from cover to cover, but Niko and I have just started this year with the New Testament. Thanks for the idea of writing the date on the cover. I will do that!!!
Would it surprise you to learn that I, too, would have raised my hand?
I should add that our priest recently said that he advised people to read Genesis and then skip to Joshua and read from there.
Alicia, not at all!
Matushka - Ooooh, I need to get the Spiritual Psalter. That sounds like a lovely routine.
Presbytera - I thought it was a neat idea, I hope you do too. And, yes, even those verses I've heard a million times, I still get something out of.
And, Deb, I have that book on my Wish List upon your recommendation.
I have never read the Apocrypha--you're making me think I should!
Thanks for linking to me. I am hoping that by posting the readings every day it will keep me on track to reading the Bible through. I have done it twice following the suggested readings.
The Book of Tobit is one of my absolute favorites. My southern baptist granma was named Edna. She hated her name. And being baptist, she did not read the apocrypha. The first time I read the book of Tobit it was about 6 years after she died. I wanted so much to be tell her that her name is in the book of Tobit because I doubt that she had ever known that! a sidenote... i was supposed to be named "edna" but she did not want me to be named after her... so we have the same middle name which is Dean which, if you jumble the letters around, becomes Edna:) Forgive me for taking up so much comment space- I should have just blogged about this!
Wow...what inspiration. I don't even have the Apocrypha (let alone know how to spell it, I had to check), but should read it! As a child, every morning after prayers, we'd read from the Bible together aloud. I am trying to continue this with my girls.
You have inspired me to crack open my Orthodox study bible again in a serious fashion, Mimi !
Okay, Mimi, I accept your challenge. Somewhere between the morning prayers and the lectionary readings, I will read a chapter a day. (I've attempted this several times, but seem to get lost in the Pentateuch, as my high school Bible bookmarks can attest.)
Uh... I suppose if you include the readings from all the liturgies I've attended, I've HEARD the whole Bible... :-P
My husband is reading Numbers right now. He was telling me about the order of offerings a few days ago. He mentioned to me the repetition was probably a helpful tool during a less literate and more story telling traditional times. I've never read Numbers. I always feared lists and lists of begat, begat, begat. I guess I should read it.
Mimi:
I am curious about your priest's suggestion to skip from Genesis straight to Joshua . . . any light as to why (I'm not taking issue, just wondering)?
For my part, it seems knowing about the Exodus, about the establishment of Passover, and about the tent/tabernacle in the wilderness are wonderful things for understanding our faith.
So Orthodox and Catholics use the same Bible, I'm assuming, right? That Bible with all the original books in it? Reading a little every night sounds like a great idea.
Karen - do you think so? I know in Orthodoxy, the book of Revelation is never read during Liturgy, and most Old Testament readings are read during Vespers and Matins and not Liturgy (in fact, the only Old Testament Readings I can think of during Liturgies are during Vesperal Liturgies).
Arlie - Numbers has a lot of begats, but also a good story in it, I think it is ok to skim some of the begats - and I agree, it's definitely a memory device
Hilarius - I think he'd agree with you, but his reasoning would be (not to put words into his mouth) that people tend to get bogged down in the laws and the begats and give up on the reading, so if you skip to Joshua, you get back into stories.
Rosemary - with minor variations in naming and numbering, yes. That and we go by the Septuagint, and you the Vulgate? I think.
So you just read your way through, not following any set plan? I think I've read most of the Bible but couldn't definitively say if I've read all of it! But I keep meaning to 'read the Bible in a year' somehow...
Five years ago or so I picked up one of those Read through the Bible in a year Bibles. They are conveniently parceled up with an OT reading, psalm, proverb and NT reading for every day of the year. I'm glad I did it, but I had to deal with a really modern translation, which was *very* annoying.
And I read through all the apocrypha a year or two ago, though I had to deal with Oxford footnotes that shocked me with their secularism.
But it's all worth it to be able to cross the "Bible-in-a-year" thing off my list and just be able to read it at my own pace. Last year all I read was the psalms and NT, and it was such a blessing. And thank heaven for getting to read it in a translation I like with footnotes that don't scandalize me.
I'm doing the Pentateuch, Wisdom of Solomon and NT right now, but I admit, I can't wait to get to Tobit and Judith.
I have Judith 9:11 quoted on my LJ, and I love Tobit. I'm working through the OSB, but it's definitely not getting read in a year. Still, I have a blank on the other side of my starting date for when I finally get through it all (also inspired by Fr. Stephen). I need to stop being so lazy, though. :(
Can I add that I LOVE the first 5 books of the Bible, esp. the law? Living in this mixed up world, it always comforted me to see the rules as it were - like in the news we hear about kidnapping, for example, but in the Law we hear it as it is - wrong - instead of merely news-worthy... there was a point in my life i think where i loved the OT more than the NT... still need to read the 'missing' books from the Protestant Bible though! :)
wv: grant
Hilarius, thinking more about this since our discussion, perhaps my priest recommends that you read Genesis, Exodus and then skip to Joshua.
I certainly don't want to err on passing along his info.
And, interestingly, I just read "The Three Musketeers" and the Book of Judith comes up a LOT in that book.
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