The Book of Genesis contains the pre-history of the people of Israel. It starts the first part the Old Testament section of the Bible called the Pentateuch, Torah, or Books of Moses. The name Genesis comes from the Greek for beginning, origin, or birth because of Septuagint’s division of the Pentateuch into five books. Tradition has it that the Genesis was mostly written by the Prophet Moses 1,300 years before Christ.
Almost all of Genesis is read by a reader at services during Great Lent and Holy Week. It is also read on the eve of some feast days.