Septuagint

May 2, 373:
Church father Athanasius, "the father of Orthodoxy," dies. He attended the Council of Nicea, and after becoming bishop of Alexandria, he fought Arianism and won. He was also the first to list the New Testament canonical books as we know them today (see Heresy in the Early Church and Debating Jesus’ Divinity).

Did You Know?

How Could 72 Translators Be Wrong?
Until the writings of the apostles were gathered into a canonical collection in about the third century A.D., the only Bible the early church knew was the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible made by Hellenistic Jews. Ptolemy Philadelphus (285–246 B.C.) is supposed to have commissioned the great undertaking to introduce a copy of Hebrew Law into his renowned library at Alexandria. According to Jewish tradition, 72 scholars gathered in 72 individual cells, each assigned to translate a full copy of the Bible. Emerging to compare their renderings, they discovered that each version was nearly identical. Until Jerome created his Vulgate translation between 383 and 405, the Septuagint continued as the church’s authoritative Old Testament. The Vulgate united the entire Bible under a common linguistic (Latin) banner for the first time. The Septuagint remains the canonical Hebrew Bible text for the Eastern Orthodox Church.
From The First Bible Teachers.

Quote of the Week

All who ask receive, those who seek find, and to those who knock it shall be opened. Therefore, let us knock at the beautiful garden of Scripture. It is fragrant, sweet, and blooming with various sounds of spiritual and divinely inspired birds. They sing all around our ears, capture our hearts, comfort the mourners, pacify the angry, and fill us with everlasting joy.
—John of Damascus (675–753)

On this day…

• The Spirit Should Not Grow Old – 2025
• Proverb 4:11 – 2025
• Psalm 59 – 2024
• Psalm 58 – 2024
• A Solemn Question For Those Who Are Rejecting Christ That They May Obtain the World – 2008
• A Question That Should Startle Every Man Who is not a Christian – 2008
• Constantine – 2008
• The Road to Nicaea – 2008
• Scripture Saturation – 2008
• Origen – 2008