[RenyBontes]

Hristos a inviat!

Dear learned friends,
I converted by Baptism into the Romanian Eastern Orthodox Church last summer. However my Romanian language skills remain poor so I am reliant on the English text and information that I find mainly from the Orthodox Churches in America, and these seem to mainly Greek and Russian.
I recenlty purchased the Orthodox Study Bible but I wanted to know whether there will be any differences at all between the Romanian Church and the English translations of the Greek or Russian? I realise there are numerous additional Saints but I would be grateful if anybody can confirm the commonality of them all for me.
Yours faithfully
Mark

[Hrennilasi]

I'm married to a Romanian but I'm British and I also have an Orthodox Study Bible. Once my wife and I were reading a text from the Bible in English and she pointed out to me that there could be a difference in meaning from the Romanian version to the English version. When we have checked, it was indeed a significant difference in meaning between the two Bibles. This could be due to the fact that some English words cannot replicate the complex meaning of some other languages words.

Sorry forgot to add that the commonality of the saints as long as they are recognised by the Orthodox church then you can venerate them as a saint.
Unfortuantely the ones from before the Schism in the Western Lands tend to be forgotten unless they were recognisable figures such as St Hilarion of Poitiers or St Benedict of Nursia etc.

[swwatch]

Hi Mark,

Welcome to the forum. Your question was a little unclear. Are you asking about differences between the Romanian translation of the Bible and English translations or are you asking about differences in the liturgical texts between Romanian and English? One of the monasteries here in PA was founded by a Romanian Princess and is under the Romanian episcopate of the OCA. They do their services in English, although according to the Romanian tradition which is pretty much the same as anywhere. There are local variations between the different traditions like Greek, Russian, Romanian, Antiochian, Bulgarian, etc. but a basic similarity. Here is the website of the Romanian Archdiocese in the America's. I don't know if it might have some helpful resources.

[rengerts]

Hi Mark,

Welcome to the forum. Your question was a little unclear. Are you asking about differences between the Romanian translation of the Bible and English translations or are you asking about differences in the liturgical texts between Romanian and English? One of the monasteries here in PA was founded by a Romanian Princess and is under the Romanian episcopate of the OCA. They do their services in English, although according to the Romanian tradition which is pretty much the same as anywhere. There are local variations between the different traditions like Greek, Russian, Romanian, Antiochian, Bulgarian, etc. but a basic similarity. Here is the website of the Romanian Archdiocese in the America's. I don't know if it might have some helpful resources.

"Dear Anna and Kusanagi , thank you both for your replies to my question which was about liturgy and if there are any variances on that, I acknowkledge translation variations may exist but I was more concerned with interpretation and doctrinal differences. Thank you also for the link.
Kind regards Mark

[astonmartinrx371]

The Romanian Orthodox church is in communion with the other Chalcedonian Orthodox churches. What it means for these to be in communion is that there is a unity of faith and doctrine.

As far as liturgical texts, besides our home OCA parish I've been blessed to have been to Antiochian, Greek, Serbian, Russian, Carpatho-Russian and Romanian services. There is not much difference in the liturgy - just small variations and differing music styles. All of the parishes we've been to here in the US have served the liturgy either in all English, or half and half English and either Greek or Church Slavonic.

[zoolissentesy]

We have a couple of Romanian families in our little nominally Carpatho-Russian parish. I say "nominally" because actual Carpatho-Russians represent a very small minority of the membership. But as Anna says, Orthodox is Orthodox. There are no doctrinal differences between Romanians or Russians or Greeks or Antiochians who are in communion with one another. As had to be explained in some other threads, unity of doctrine and unity at the Eucharist are synonymous for the Orthodox. You simply cannot have one without the other.

This, for me has been the most telling facet of my own spiritual journey from Protestantism to Orthodoxy, that if you pick any particular US town, people of similar backgrounds and cultures, speaking the same language, essentially reading the same Bible, will go to churches with very different doctrines and teachings. And yet I can go to any Orthodox Church in any country in the world, speaking any language, and find the same doctrines and the same teachings. Orthodoxy transcends time, geography, culture, and language, just like I would expect an unchanging and universal God to be able to do. Your mileage may vary....

Herman the relatively well-traveled Pooh

[Pasy]

I am Romanian and I also read parts of the Bible in English and in German. Sometimes the words or the expressions are slightly different but the meaning is the same. It's just like with any translation, it can never be done 100% but the main idea is that the meaning is kept which is what I noticed in the versions of the Bible in different languages.

[PymnImmen]

Dear Anna and Herman, thank you for your replies. Your answers are what I had hoped for and I think my question is fully answered now.
Kind regards Mark

[Anteneprorid]

Adevarat a Inviat!
Sure, every church in communion with Church of Jerusalem is the same. One teaching all over the place. It does not matter if you go to a Romanian, Greek, Russian , or other Orthodox Church that is in communion with Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, first Church in the World.

[MontyP@thon]

I just found a story I want to share with you:

Embryo talk: Do you believe in life after birth?

E1: Do you believe in life after birth?
E2:Of course. After birth should follow something.Maybe we are here to prepare for what is following.
E1:That sound stupid. After birth there is nothing. And how can life look like after birth?
E2:I'm not sure , but for sure it will be more light than here. maybe we will walk with out feet and eat with our mouth.
E1:That's stupid.You can not walk. And to eat with your mouth is luaghable. We eat through umbilical cord. Let me tell you something. We can exclude the life after birth since umbilical cord is too short.
E2:Oh yes, Oh yes, there would be something for sure. but maybe different from what we have here.
E1:But how do you know since from there nobody came back. Once with birth life is finishing. Life is only staying in a crowded place .
E2:I don't know for sure how will be after birth, but we will see mom and she will take care of us.
E1:Mommm? Do you believe in Mommm? How could she look like?
E2:She is everywhere around us. We live through her. Without her we would not exist.
E1:I don't believe so. I did not see any mommm so she does not exists.
E2:But, but sometime, when we keep quiet we hear her singing to us, we feel her touch. You know, I believe true life is only after birth.

[rozalinasi]

Excellent!

[StitlyDute]

Great story Adrian!

[DF9sLGSU]

Thank you. I just found it several days ago on a forum and I wanted to share it with you.