We want to express our gratitude to the Orthodox clergy and laity for their enthusiastic and encouraging response to this project! Glory to God!
Recommended group:
The Orthodox family.
Retold in English from the Original Greek text
by Dionysios and Eglė-Ekaterine Potamitis.
Fully illustrated by hand by the Orthodox artist
Eglė-Ekaterine Potamitis.
For daily reading of the Holy Bible for the Orthodox family.
From the Foreword:
A child’s spiritual development and growth are not complete if we do not teach them the Holy Bible: all 76 books, the 27 books of the New Testament, and the 49 (forty-nine) books of the Old Testament.
Every parent, grandparent, godparent, and teacher knows that this is not a simple task, as the language of the Holy Bible is not the easiest for a child to understand, and there are many stories, parables, and events that sometimes even we, the grown-ups, can have difficulty comprehending.
Therefore, we produce and publish this edition of the Holy Bible with Orthodox children and families specifically in mind.
We do this in fear of God and with the conviction that it will be a useful resource for Orthodox Christian families.
Read it to your children, or have them read it to you, daily, after reading the synaxarion of the saint of the day in the volume of "My Synaxarion—A Saint for Every Day" for the month.
Each text is based on an actual excerpt from the Holy Bible and conveys the message without watering it down. The vibrant, full-color illustrations are handmade by Eglė-Ekaterine Potamitis in a clear Orthodox iconographic style to help the Orthodox reader better understand and memorize the events and messages.
Each story has two pages dedicated to it, accompanied by one or more dogmatically correct illustrations.
We started with the New Testament: the Four Holy Gospels as volume one, followed by the New Testament: Acts of the Apostles, Letters, and Revelation as volume two.
All 49 books of the Old Testament will be published, with your prayers, in three volumes.
We used only the Septuagint in Greek for the Old Testament and the Greek originals for the New Testament. (EOB 1904)(The Lord's Prayer is KJV).
NB: This is an Orthodox Children's Bible!
You and your children will love this book!
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Is this your children's next Potamitis favorite book?
We are elated that the Orthodox who regularly order our books for their families and parishes also ordered the first volume of our new series, "The Holy Bible for Orthodox Children," without having seen it!
(The above is the back cover of this impressive book.)
(A4, 8.2 x 11.4 inches, 21 x 29 cm) Hardcover, 332 full-color, fully illustrated pages.
Hand-illustrated by Egle-Ekaterine Potamitis.
"The Holy Bible for Orthodox Children—#1" in A4 size and with its beautiful, fully illustrated, by-hand 332 pages is the largest single volume to date among our more than 222 books.
All our large (A4, 8.2 x 11.4 inches, 21 x 29 cm) hardcover books are printed in full, vibrant color by our Orthodox Christian printers in Thessaloniki on the finest Greek/European paper.
As in all our books, you will be able to show your children, in the back of this unique book, how many more beautiful, hand-illustrated books we have published. Our more than 222 Orthodox Children's Books constitute just a small part of the unfathomable wealth of our soul-saving, God-given Orthodox Christian Faith, and a significant part of every Orthodox child's library.
(Our fifth-born, Yannis, says: This book is also our heaviest yet, weighing in at 4,4 lbs/2 kg; we must mention that it is not to be used offensively. :-)
We only offer free shipping to families who are truly struggling financially.
IC XC
NI KA
Sadly, this “Holy Gospel” is not an accurate EOB English translation and contains many innovative changes to the words of the Evangelion. I could ignore the grammatical errors and minor alterations I have previously found (i.e. claiming St John of Damascus added only a drawing of his hand on the icon of the Panagia Tricherousa when every single version states that it was made of silver). I truly appreciate the thought behind this book and have many from this publisher, but this project is a failure. One example out of many is found on page 130, the actual EOB in Mark and Luke states:
“…and a voice came out of the cloud, saying ‘This is my beloved Son! Listen to Him!’”
There is a slight variation in Matthew:
“This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him.”
The Potamitis version states:
“This is My Son, whom I have chosen. Listen to Him!”
The words “…whom I have chosen.” are not found in any EOB available or in any Gospel translation.
Adding to or changing the words of the Holy Gospel and claiming it to be “dogmatically correct” as well as the EOB (patriarchal text of 1904) is dishonest.
I could use many examples, but another one is found on page 203 where the words of our Lord Jesus Christ are altered again. Christ did not say the words that Potamitis added as stated:
“You are right. However, let the one who has never sinned be the first to throw a stone at her.”
The actual EOB states:
“Let the one who is without sin among you throw the first stone at her.”
Why add words that were never spoken? This book would have been outstanding if no alterations or additions were made. Again, these are just two examples, but sadly the whole book is full of variations and changes to the actual words of the Holy Gospel, making it dogmatically incorrect.
Children should know the actual words of our Lord as they will be read when they are older and as they hear them in Church.
I own dozens of soft and hardcover books from this publisher. I respect their efforts and know that they have a number of acceptable books. This book has great illustrations and had great potential, but is indeed a failure. Also, to add a section of advertisements at the end of what is sold as a “Holy Gospel” is strange and out of place.
Ultimately, if you want your Orthodox Christian children to read an authentic EOB translation of the Holy Gospel with illustrations, then this isn’t it. In reality, this is an innovative version of the “Holy Gospel” according to the imagination of Potamitis.
IC XC
NI KA
Glory to God for all things!
Thank you for your feedback.
An illustrated Orthodox Bible written specifically for young children and their families requires careful simplification, age-appropriate language, and adequate condensation so the retold stories are accessible to early readers. It is not meant to be a literal, academic, line-by-line translation of Holy Scripture.
Our text has been prayerfully edited, reviewed, and published with the active collaboration and the priestly blessing of inter-jurisdictional, canonical Eastern Orthodox clergy. We stand fully behind our team and our devotion to providing soul-edifying books for Orthodox Children and their loving families under proper ecclesiastical guidance.
A solid proof that we do not, as postulated above—God forbid—attempt to substitute the Holy Gospels is that each unit of this beautiful, dogmatically correct illustrated book begins with a prominently placed reference to the God-inspired Holy Evangelist or Evangelists, and to the chapter and verses of the Holy Gospel from which the story of each unit was drawn. This makes the source explicit and directs the reader to it.
May the more than 4,000 Orthodox Saints whose names are mentioned in our more than 222 beautiful, dogmatically correct illustrated books intercede for all of us!
May the true Triune God always guide us with the prayers of the Holy Fathers and Mothers of the Church!
In Christ,
Dionysios Potamitis
(+1)816-553-9322
Mon-Sat 5-13 CST
Per our well-established 100% quality/satisfaction guarantee, we have refunded your payment, and we trust you will return the copy of our beautiful book currently in your possession at no extra cost (per our free return shipping policy) using the return shipping label sent to your email.
This is beyond expectation. Children will spend hours looking at the incredible illustrations and filling their hearts with the beauty of Christ. Thank you Potamitis. I’m buying several for Nativity gifts! This is a treasure every home needs..
Wonderful book. Great artwork and Biblical stories. Quality material. A book worthy to pass on from generation to generation.
Potamitis does the most wonderful orthodox books for children. We do order for a few years now and I recommend to everyone to order from them.
May God grant them many years to print more books .
We received our Order a few days ago and we couldn’t be more excited! This is by far the best Bible for children. We started using it immediately and my boys absolutely love the photos. It helps them understand what we read to them as they’re only 3 and 2 years old! Thank you so much for creating it and we can’t wait for volume 2! God bless!