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The '''Eastern Orthodox Church''', officially called the '''Orthodox Catholic Church''', and also referred to as the '''[[Orthodox Church]]''' and '''Orthodoxy''', is the second largest [[Christianity|Christian church]] in the world, with an estimated 225–300 million adherents, most of whom live in [[Eastern Europe]], the [[Middle East]], and [[Russia]].<br/>{{cite web |last1=Calivas |first1=Rev. Alciviadis C. |title=The Greek (Eastern) Orthodox Church |publisher=Greek Orthodox Archdiocese Of America |year=1983 |url=http://www.goarch.org/ourfaith/ourfaith7061 |accessdate=7 May 2014 |ref=none }}<br/>{{cite web |last1=Fairchild |first1=Mary |title=Christianity:Basics:Eastern Orthodox Church Denomination |publisher=about.com |url=http://christianity.about.com/od/easternorthodoxy/p/orthodoxprofile.htm |accessdate=22 May 2014 |ref=none }}<br/>{{cite web |title=Christianity |work=Major Branches of Religions Ranked by Number of Adherents |publisher=adherents.com |url=http://www.adherents.com/adh_branches.html#Christianity |accessdate=22 May 2014 |ref=none }}</ref><ref>See [http://www.888c.com/worldChristianDenominations.htm Percentage of Christians in Protestant Denominations (29.5%)].</ref>

The '''Eastern Orthodox Church''', officially called the '''Orthodox Catholic Church''', and also referred to as the '''[[Orthodox Church]]''' and '''Orthodoxy''', is the second largest [[Christianity|Christian church]] in the world, with an estimated 225–300 million adherents, most of whom live in [[Eastern Europe]], the [[Middle East]], and [[Russia]].<br/>{{cite web |last1=Calivas |first1=Rev. Alciviadis C. |title=The Greek (Eastern) Orthodox Church |publisher=Greek Orthodox Archdiocese Of America |year=1983 |url=http://www.goarch.org/ourfaith/ourfaith7061 |accessdate=7 May 2014 |ref=none }}<br/>{{cite web |last1=Fairchild |first1=Mary |title=Christianity:Basics:Eastern Orthodox Church Denomination |publisher=about.com |url=http://christianity.about.com/od/easternorthodoxy/p/orthodoxprofile.htm |accessdate=22 May 2014 |ref=none }}<br/>{{cite web |title=Christianity |work=Major Branches of Religions Ranked by Number of Adherents |publisher=adherents.com |url=http://www.adherents.com/adh_branches.html#Christianity |accessdate=22 May 2014 |ref=none }}</ref><ref>See [http://www.888c.com/worldChristianDenominations.htm Percentage of Christians in Protestant Denominations (29.5%)].</ref>

The Hebrew Book of Esther is unusual in never mentioning the name of [[God]]; instead, the book conveys insights on topics of "knowledge, wisdom, holiness, and love."<ref>http://www.trivia-library.com/a/bible-numbers-and-statistics.htm</ref> Written in the third or second century B.C., the shorter Hebrew version of the [[Book of Esther]] is read aloud at the Jewish celebration of Purim.<ref>http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday9.htm</ref>  The authorship of the Book of '''Esther''' is unknown.<ref name="e">{{Easton|Esther}}</ref> It was evidently written after the death of Ahasuerus (the [[Xerxes]] of the Greeks), which took place 465 B.C..<ref name="e"/> The minute and particular account also given of many historical details makes it probable that the writer was contemporary with [[Mordecai]] and [[Esther]].<ref name="e"/> Hence we may conclude that the book was written probably about 444-434 B.C., and that the author was one of the Jews of the dispersion.<ref name="e"/> The prayers of Mordecai and Esther which the Hebrew writer omitted were included by the rabbinical Greek translators of the Septuagint, which was the Bible of the Greek-speaking Jews of the Dispersion, and the original scriptures read by the apostles.

Six chapters of Esther (10:4—16:24), consisting of a collection of portions of the text, which Jerome separated and moved out of sequence and out of context and placed at the end of the book of Esther in his Latin Vulgate translation, were first removed entirely from the Old Testament and placed in the Apocrypha by Martin Luther in the 16th century. This effectively removed from the canon of the Protestant Bible all of the prayers in the Book of Esther and every mention of God.

This book is more purely historical than any other book of Scripture, except the books of [[Maccabee|1 and 2 Maccabees]] which were removed from the Protestant Bible; and in the shorter Hebrew version it has this remarkable peculiarity that the name of God does not occur in it from first to last in any form.<ref name="e"/> It has, however, been well observed that, though the name of God be not in it, the shorter Hebrew version wonderfully exhibits the providential government of God.<ref name="e"/> This fact may have finally persuaded rabbinical authorities in the 2nd century to continue to grant it a place in the Hebrew canon along with the Book of Ruth, the Book of Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon. However, the actual historicity of a "Council of Jabneh/Jamnia/Yavneh" is debated. See [http://catholicdefense.blogspot.com/2011/07/can-protestants-rely-upon-council-of.html Council of Jamnia?]

 

 

The Hebrew Book of Esther is more purely historical than any other book of Scripture, except the books of [[Maccabee|1 and 2 Maccabees]] which were removed from the Protestant Bible; and in the shorter Hebrew version is unusual in never mentioning [[God]], and it has this remarkable peculiarity that the name of God does not occur in it from first to last in any form.<ref name="e"/>; instead, the book conveys insights on topics of "knowledge, wisdom, holiness, and love."<ref>http://www.trivia-library.com/a/bible-numbers-and-statistics.htm</ref>  It has, however, been well observed that, though the name of God be not in it, the shorter Hebrew version wonderfully exhibits the providential government of God, and the certain judgment that comes upon those who plot to destroy his people.<ref name="e"/> This fact may have finally persuaded rabbinical authorities in the 2nd century to continue to grant it a place in the Hebrew canon along with the Book of Ruth, the Book of Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon. However, the actual historicity of a "Council of Jabneh/Jamnia/Yavneh" is debated. See [http://catholicdefense.blogspot.com/2011/07/can-protestants-rely-upon-council-of.html Council of Jamnia?]

Six chapters of Esther (10:4—16:24), which Jerome moved out of sequence and placed at the end of the book of Esther in his Latin Vulgate translation, were first removed entirely from the Old Testament and placed in the Apocrypha by Martin Luther in the 16th century. This effectively removed from the canon of the Protestant Bible all of the prayers in the Book of Esther and every mention of God.

Written in the third or second century B.C., the authorship of the Book of '''Esther''' is unknown.<ref name="e">{{Easton|Esther}}</ref> It was evidently written after the death of Ahasuerus (the [[Xerxes]] of the Greeks), which took place 465 B.C..<ref name="e"/> The minute and particular account also given of many historical details makes it probable that the writer was contemporary with [[Mordecai]] and [[Esther]].<ref name="e"/> Hence we may conclude that the book was written probably about 444-434 B.C., and that the author was one of the Jews of the dispersion.<ref name="e"/> The prayers of Mordecai and Esther which the Hebrew writer omitted were included by the rabbinical Greek translators of the Septuagint, which was the Bible of the Greek-speaking Jews of the Dispersion, and the original scriptures read by the apostles.

 

The last verse at the end of the longer Greek version of the Book of Esther (11:1) strongly indicates that the whole of the book in Greek ("''this epistle of Phurim''") as it appears in the Septuagint was a translation [interpreted] by "Lysimachus the son of Ptolemeus" of the whole of a larger Hebrew text original, a text in content more extensive and inclusive than the version adopted by the Jews for their Palestinian Hebrew canon.<blockquote>"In the fourth year of the reign of Ptolemeus and Cleopatra, Dositheus, who said he was a priest and Levite, and Ptolemeus his son, brought this epistle of Phurim, which they said was the same, and that Lysimachus the son of Ptolemeus, that was in Jerusalem, had interpreted it." Greek Esther 11:1.</blockquote>

 

The shorter Hebrew version of the Book of Esther is read aloud at the Jewish celebration of Purim.<ref>http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday9.htm</ref>

 

The Book of Esther is not quoted in any book of the New Testament.

{{Old Testament Books}}

{{Old Testament Books}}