PREFACE
Beloved Orthodox Christians,
Over the past year, I have had discussions with many of you about the canonical text of the Old Testament, which is called the Septuagint, or the Translation of the Seventy, the Greek translation of the Old Testament made three centuries before Christ, which is the only version accepted and used in the Orthodox Church.
Our Metropolitan Ephraim has dedicated several articles explaining the importance of the use of the Septuagint, as opposed to the translations of the much later, doctored versions that all the Protestant denominations use.
As I was going through some of our late Metropolitan’s Encyclicals, I came across his last Nativity Encyclical, written in 2011 (from 2012 onwards, he asked me to write the Nativity and Paschal Encyclicals), where, in his characteristically deep yet concise way, concentrating on one central prophecy related to our Saviour’s Nativity, he explains exactly this: why the use of the Septuagint is a must for Orthodox Christians.
Therefore, instead of tiring you with my usually long-winded Encyclicals, this year I will let you delight in the composition of the hand of a “swiftly writing scribe” (Ps. 44:1), which our dear Metropolitan Ephraim certainly was, with his short and succinct way of writing.
Below, attached is the last Nativity Encyclical of Metropolitan Ephraim.
Christ is Born! Glorify Him!
With love in our new born Saviour,
Gregory, Metropolitan of Boston
Nativity of Christ, 2022
