Book of Odes (Orthodox Apocrypha)

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Niemand
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Posts: 13997

Book of Odes (Orthodox Apocrypha)

Post by Niemand »

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I include this one mainly for the sake of completism!

Intro
This one is a strange thing to review. On the one hand, I have never sat down to read the Book of Odes, and yet on the other hand I've read it all... elsewhere.

The short version is that Odes is an Eastern Orthodox work containing excerpts from elsewhere in the Bible and the Apocrypha. This is the Orthodox Church's idea of a "Greatest Hits" or "Best of" compilation. This seems to be a type of hymn book for the Orthodox church, or at least their clergy.

It reminds me a little of the Metrical Psalms that can be found at the back of many older Bibles in English... those are basically the standard psalms but rejigged a little for singing in English.

Wikipedia says:
The Book of Odes (Greek: Ὠδαί [Odai]) is a book of the Bible found only in Eastern Orthodox Bibles and included or appended after the Psalms in Alfred Rahlfs' critical edition of the Septuagint, coming from the fifth-century Codex Alexandrinus. The chapters are prayers and songs (canticles) from the Old and New Testaments. The first nine of them form the basis for the canon sung during matins and other services.

Content
Chapters of this book as presented by Rahlfs are:

First Ode of Moses (Exodus 15:1–19)
Second Ode of Moses (Deuteronomy 32:1–43)
Prayer of Anna, the Mother of Samuel (1 Samuel 2:1–10)
Prayer of Habakkuk (Habakkuk 3:2–19)
Prayer of Isaias (Isaiah 26:9–20)
Prayer of Jonah (Jonah 2:3–10)
Prayer of Azariah (Daniel 3:26–45, a deuterocanonical portion) [See link to the Prayer of Azarias below]
Song of the Three Young Men (Daniel 3:52–90, a deuterocanonical portion) [See link to the Prayer of Azarias below]
The Magnificat; Prayer of Mary the Theotokos (Luke 1:46–55)
Benedictus Canticle of Zachariah (Luke 1:68–79)
The Song of the Vineyard: A Canticle of Isaiah (Isaiah 5:1–7)
Prayer of Hezekiah (Isaiah 38:10–20)
Prayer of Manasseh, King of Judah when he was held captive in Babylon (ref. in 2 Chronicles 33:11–13 and appears also as a separate deuterocanonical book) [see link below]
Nunc dimittis; Prayer of Simeon (Luke 2:29–32)
Gloria in Excelsis Deo; Canticle of the Early Morning (some lines from Luke 2:14, and Psalm 35:10-11; 118:12; and 144:2)

Comments
I can only make limited comment here. Note that I've reviewed three of the works elsewhere:
* Prayer of Azarias + Song of the Three Young Men
* Prayer of Manasses

The Magnificat is widely used in both Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. It is scripturally sound, but both these groups have a tendency towards Mariolatary or near-worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The translations often use the phrase "Mother of God", which is questionable.

The work was originally written in Greek, using the language of the Septuagint and Greek New Testament.

Audiobook
Audiobook. This seems to be read by a robot, apologies.
Here are some of the Odes chanted in English. They're better to listen to than the robot, but I haven't listened to them right through.
Since the content is recycled, you can probably find audio of it elsewhere.

--
This is part of my ongoing series on Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical works:

1 Esdras inc. audiobook link
viewtopic.php?p=1343974

2 Esdras (the most relevant book in the Apocrypha?) inc. audiobook link
viewtopic.php?p=1344302

1 Maccabees
viewtopic.php?t=69454

2 Maccabees
viewtopic.php?p=1347024

3 Maccabees
viewtopic.php?t=69496

4 Maccabees
viewtopic.php?p=1348046

Book of Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremy/Jeremiah
viewtopic.php?t=69433

Book of Tobit inc. audiobook link
viewtopic.php?p=1341501

Apocryphal additions to Esther inc. audiobook link
viewtopic.php?p=1343414

Bel and the Dragon (quoted in full, KJV; inc audiobook link)
viewtopic.php?t=69261

Prayer of Azarias and Hymn of the Three Children (quoted in full KJV, inc. audiobook link)
viewtopic.php?p=1341611

Book of Judith and the Book of Mormon, inc. audiobook link
viewtopic.php?t=69402

Book of Susanna inc. audiobook link
viewtopic.php?t=69386

Wisdom of Solomon
viewtopic.php?p=1347077

Book of Sirach or Ecclesiasticus
viewtopic.php?t=69412

Prayer of Mannases (aka Mannaseh; quoted in full KJV, inc. audiobook link)
viewtopic.php?t=69263

Psalm 151 (quoted in full, NRSV)
viewtopic.php?t=63875

Epistle to the Laodiceans (NT, quoted in full Wycliffe's translation, )
viewtopic.php?t=64025

Outside the Western and Eastern Orthodox Canon...

The Ethiopian canon. This includes brief info on the books of Sinodos, Ethiopian Clement, Ethiopian Covenant, and Didascalia as well as a list of other works in the canon.
viewtopic.php?t=69540

The Book of Jubilees aka Leptogenesis or Little Genesis
viewtopic.php?p=1348962

3 Corinthians (Armenian canon)
viewtopic.php?t=69567

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Niemand
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 13997

Re: Book of Odes (Orthodox Apocrypha)

Post by Niemand »

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User avatar
Niemand
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 13997

Re: Book of Odes (Orthodox Apocrypha)

Post by Niemand »

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