Maximal Cohen-Macaulay approximations and Serre's condition

This paper studies the relationship between Serre's condition $(\R_n)$ and Auslander--Buchweitz's maximal Cohen--Macaulay approximations. It is proved that a Gorenstein local ring satisfies $(\R_n)$ if and only if every maximal Cohen--Macaulay module is a direct summand of a maximal Cohen--Macaulay approximation of a (Cohen--Macaulay) module of codimension $n+1$.