The use of the Septuagint in the liturgy and lectionary of the Greek Orthodox church

The Septuagint has made a major contribution to the Greek Orthodox Christian liturgy, but this is an aspect of its reception history that has hitherto received little scholarly attention. In this chapter, aspects of the contribution are examined under five headings, ‘The Psalms’, ‘The Odes’, ‘Old Testament Readings’, ‘Quotations and Allusions’, and ‘Vocabulary’. The question of how the Septuagint came to play this role in Christian worship, and especially whether it reflects prior Jewish use of Greek Scripture in the liturgy of the synagogue, is considered in a final section, ‘Origins’, surveying the information available and current opinions and debates in this difficult field.