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SEPULCHRE, CANONS REGULAR OF THE HOLY

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 655 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SEPULCHRE, CANONS See also:REGULAR OF THE See also:HOLY , an See also:order said to have been founded In 1114 (or, according to other accounts, others, especially in syntax, it is strongly tinged with Hebraisms, and there are many passages where it is difficult, if not impossible, to See also:extract any rational meaning. In some cases a See also:book bears the marks of two hands: thus See also:Jeremiah i.-See also:xxviii. was not translated by the worker that undertook ch. See also:xxix.-li. (the former is indifferent, the latter unintelligible See also:Greek), and in See also:Ezekiel one See also:hand is responsible for ch. i.-See also:xxvii., xl.-xlviii., and another for ch. xxviii.-xxxix. (except See also:xxxvi. 24-38). So I See also:Kings stands apart from 2-4 Kings. See also:Isaiah is more akin to classical Greek; like the See also:Pentateuch and i See also:Maccabees it is See also:good KOLV?i. The two See also:chief See also:MSS. of See also:Judges vary so much as to point to different recensions. In some books, especially Jeremiah See also:xxv.-li., the order of the See also:Septuagint is totally different from that of the Massoretic See also:Hebrew See also:text (cf. also See also:Proverbs See also:xxiv.-xxix.). In other cases, notably in See also:Job, the See also:original LXX. text was much shorter than that of the Massoretes; in See also:Esther and See also:Daniel there are numerous additions. The Septuagint does not keep the triple Hebrew See also:division of See also:Law, Prophets and Hagiographa or Writings, but instead of this order of See also:canonization principle it See also:groups its books according to subject See also:matter, Law, See also:History, See also:Poetry, Prophecy, a divergence which had much importance for the history of the Old Testament See also:canon in the See also:Christian See also:church. The See also:early Christians generally accepted the LXX. canon, which through the old Latin, despite See also:Jerome's See also:Vulgate See also:adoption of the Hebrew canon, passed into the See also:West, and into the Latin Bibles, where the Apocrypha (except i Esdras) are still included.

The See also:

German and See also:English churches followed Jerome in giving a less honoured See also:place to the impugned books. The Septuagint came into See also:general use with the Grecian See also:Jews even in the See also:synagogue. See also:Philo and See also:Josephus use it, and so do the New Testament writers. But at an early date small corrections seem to have been introduced, especially by such Palestinians as had occasion to use the LXX., in consequence partly of divergent See also:interpretation, partly of See also:differences of text or of See also:pronunciation (particularly of proper names). The Old Testament passages cited by authors of the first See also:century of the Christian era, especially those in the See also:Apocalypse, show many such See also:variations from the Septuagint, and, curiously enough, these often correspond with the later versions (particularly with Theodotion), so that the latter seem to See also:rest on a fixed tradition. Corrections in the pronunciation of proper names so as to come closer to the Massoretic pronunciation are especially frequent in Josephus. Finally a reaction against the use of the Septuagint set in among the Jews after the destruction of the See also:temple—a See also:movement which was connected with the strict See also:definition of the canon and the fixing of an authoritative text by the rabbins of See also:Palestine. But See also:long usage had made it impossible for the Jews to do without a Greek See also:Bible, and to meet this want a new version was prepared corresponding accurately with the canon and text of the See also:Pharisees. This was the version of See also:Aquila, which took the place of the Septuagint in the synagogues, and long continued in use there. On this, together with the versions of Theodotion and See also:Symmachus, See also:Origen's See also:Hexapla, and the recensions of See also:Hesychius and See also:Lucian, see BIBLE (Old Testament, " Texts and Versions "). The LXX. is of See also:great importance in more than one respect. " It was the first step towards that See also:fusion of the Hebraic with the Hellenic See also:strain, which has issued in the mind and See also:heart of See also:modern Christendom.

Like the opening of toe See also:

Suez See also:Canal it let the See also:waters of the See also:East mingle with those of the West, bearing with them many a See also:freight of See also:precious merchandise." Again, it is probably the See also:oldest See also:translation of considerable extent that ever was written, and at any See also:rate it is the starting-point for the history of Jewish interpretation and the Jewish view of Scripture. And from this its importance as a. document of exegetical tradition, especially in lexical matters, may be easily understood. It was in great See also:part comoosed before the See also:close of the canon—See also:nay, before some of the Hagiographa were written—and in it alone are preserved a number of important See also:ancient Jewish books that were not admitted into the canon. As the book which created or at least codified the See also:dialect of Biblical Greek, it is the See also:key to the New Testament and all the literature connected with it. To many its chief value lies in the fact that it is the only See also:independent See also:witness for the text of the Old Testament which we have to compare with the Massoretic text. It may seem that the See also:critical value of the LXX. is greatly impaired, if not entirely cancelled, by the corrupt See also:state of the text. If we have not the version itself in See also:authentic See also:form we cannot reconstruct with certainty the Hebrew text from which it was made, and so cannot get at various readings which can be confidently confronted with the Massoretic text; and it may be a long See also:time before we possess a satisfactory edition of the genuine Septuagint. The difficulties in getting behind the confusion of versions and recensions to produce such a result are indeed formidable. The materials at our disposal are of the usual threefold See also:kind, See also:Manuscripts, Versions and Patristic Quotations. The earliest MSS. are about a See also:score of fragments on See also:papyrus, a few of which go back to the 3rdduring the See also:rule of See also:Godfrey of See also:Bouillon in See also:Jerusalem) on the rule of St See also:Augustine. See also:Pope See also:Celestine III., in 1143, confirms the Church and Canons of the Holy Sepulchre in all their possessions, and enumerates several churches both in the Holy See also:Land and in See also:Italy belonging to the Canons. According to Jacques de Vitry, the canons served the churches on See also:Mount See also:Sion and Mount Olivet in addition to that of the Holy Sepulchre.

The canons survived in See also:

Europe till the See also:French Revolution. In Italy they seem to have been suppressed by See also:Innocent VIII. in 1489, and their See also:property given to the Knights of St See also:John. The canons are now See also:extinct, but canonesses of the Holy Sepulchre are still to be found in various countries of Western Europe.

End of Article: SEPULCHRE, CANONS REGULAR OF THE HOLY

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