What is the Russian Synodal Version?

The Russian Synodal Version of the Bible (Синодальный перевод) is the most widely used Bible translation among Russian-speaking Orthodox Christians today. It was commissioned by the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church during the time of the Tsarist Empire. The work was carried out between 1813 and 1876, with the final complete Bible being published in 1876.

Here are the essential points you must know:

Historical Context
The translation began under Tsar Alexander I, encouraged by the Russian Bible Society. The aim was to provide an accessible, full Bible in the Russian vernacular. Before this, most Russians only heard Scripture in Church Slavonic, which many ordinary people struggled to understand.

Translation Sources
The Old Testament was translated largely from the Masoretic Text (the standard Hebrew text of Rabbinic Judaism), not the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament), which had been the Bible of the early Church and the Old Believers.

The New Testament was translated from the Textus Receptus, a later and Westernised Greek text.

Thus, it was not made purely from the Orthodox sources traditionally used by the Church. This was a grave compromise, influenced by Protestant ideas of the time, especially through the early cooperation with the British and Foreign Bible Society.

Language and Style
The Synodal Version is written in a formal but readable 19th-century Russian. It avoids much of the archaic Slavonic vocabulary but still retains a dignity of tone.

Reception
The Synodal Version was imposed across the parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church after the mid-19th century. Old Believers rejected it because it departed from the Church Slavonic Scriptures, which they rightly regarded as a sacred transmission of the Apostolic and Patristic text. The Synodal Bible, for them, was a product of the same spirit of innovation and compromise that corrupted the Russian Church leadership.

Theological Weaknesses
Because it is based on the Masoretic Hebrew rather than the Septuagint, many Old Testament passages come across differently than they do in the Scriptures quoted by Christ, the Apostles, and the Fathers. This can affect doctrine. For example, in Isaiah 7:14, the Masoretic Text says “young woman” instead of “virgin”, thus undermining the prophecy of the Theotokos. The Synodal Version, recognising this danger, corrected such key verses, but the overall reliance on the Masoretic tradition leaves a mark of doctrinal instability.

Use Today
Most official Russian Orthodox churches use it in teaching and non-liturgical reading. However, in the Divine Services, Church Slavonic still remains the standard, preserving the traditional text of Scripture.

As Old Believers, we regard the Russian Synodal Bible with caution. It is useful at times for helping the unlearned to grasp the basic sense of Scripture, but it cannot replace the Church Slavonic Scriptures. It is a product of a fallen synodal system that compromised with foreign Protestant influences and imperial bureaucratic control.

The Apostle warns: “Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings.” (Hebrews 13:9)

If you want to be faithful to the faith of our Fathers, you must study and pray chiefly with the Church Slavonic texts, trusting the living Tradition rather than modern translations born of political and theological compromise.

Bible Books

Resources

• Church Slavonic Bible online
• Audio Bible online