The Ethiopian Bible, also known as the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Bible, is the sacred scripture of one of the oldest Christian traditions in the world. It is written primarily in Ge’ez, an ancient Semitic language no longer spoken but still used in liturgy. The Ethiopian Bible is notable for its size and content-it contains more books than the Protestant Bible, and it includes texts that are not found in the canons of Roman Catholicism or Eastern Orthodoxy.
An example of an Ethiopian Bible.
Differences in Canon
One of the most significant differences between the Ethiopian Bible and the Protestant Bible is the number of books. The Protestant Bible contains 66 books-39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament. In contrast, the Ethiopian Bible includes 81 books (46 books in the Old Testament and 35 books in the New Testament).
Among the additional writings are books such as 1 Enoch, Jubilees, 1-3 Meqabyan (which are different from the 1-2 Maccabees found in Catholic Bibles), and The Book of the Covenant.
The Ethiopic version of the Old and New Testament was made from the Septuagint. It includes the book of Enoch, Baruch, and the third and fourth Esdras.
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The narrower canon includes the traditional Hebrew Protocanon, the catholic Deuterocanon, the prayer of Manasseh, 3rd and 4th Ezra, the Paralipomena of Jeremiah, the Jubilees, Enoch, the books of Meqabyan, Lamentations, Jeremiah, Baruch, Letter of Jeremiah and all of 4 Baruch.
The 27 New Testament books that are established are the New Testament canon. The broader canon includes: Josippon, the books of Sinodos, the Books of Covenant, the Ethiopic Clement and the Didascalia.
There are also non-canonical or quasi-canonical books that are considered heterodox or an external reference to Ethiopian Christians. This includes perhaps non-canonical variations or fabrications of Enoch or books like the Book of the Cock or Rooster.
Likewise, Gnostic books do exist within Christianity and some Bibles in general. This perhaps includes debate on the authenticity of the Gospel of Thomas which is of Alexandrian Origin and not considered canonical by Copts, Ethiopians or Oriental Orthodoxy.
Here is a brief comparison of the number of books in the Old and New Testaments between the Protestant and Ethiopian Bibles:
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| Bible | Old Testament | New Testament | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protestant Bible | 39 | 27 | 66 |
| Ethiopian Bible | 46 | 35 | 81 |
Theological Perspectives
From a theological standpoint, the Ethiopian Bible’s inclusion of books like 1 Enoch, with its sensationalistic themes and heavy angelology, is significant. While 1 Enoch is quoted in Jude 1:14-15, it was not included in the Protestant canon because it was not recognized as inspired Scripture by the early church councils.
Another key difference between those who use the Ethiopian Bible and those who use the Protestant Bible lies in each group’s approach to Scripture. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church places a strong emphasis on tradition alongside Scripture, whereas Protestantism insists that Scripture alone is the final authority in matters of faith and practice.
The Holy Scriptures are one of the two great foundations of the faith and here is what our church holds and teaches concerning it. The word of God is not contained in the Bible alone, it is to be found in tradition as well. The Sacred Scriptures are the written word of God who is the author of the Old and New Testaments containing nothing but perfect truth in faith and morals. But God’s word is not contained only in them, there is an unwritten word of God also, which we call apostolic tradition.
In the international Bible studies there are certain books belonging to the class usually designated pseudepigraphic. The whole Christendom and whole-learned world owes a debt of gratitude to the church of Ethiopia for the preservation of those documents. Among these books is the book of Enoch which throws so much light on Jewish thought on various points during the centuries immediately preceding the Christian era. The book of Jubilee (Kufale, i.e. Division) otherwise known as the Little Genesis has also been preserved entire only in the Ethiopic version. The preservation of yet one more book in its entity, namely, the Ascension of Isaiah, is to be remembered to the credit of the Ethiopic Church.
But books, which should be considered for higher education and could be prepared carefully in order to suit modern thinking, are the following.
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- Works of St.
- The exegesis of the letter to the Hebrews by St.
- The pastoral work of St.
- Hymn books, mostly by St.
- Biography and works of St.
- Biography and works of St.
- Biography and works of St.
- Biography and works of St.
- On the Miracles of St.
There are very many grammatical books written by different people and found at different places in the world. The above noted are but a very few examples from among the different books numbered by the thousands that the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church has.
In the past, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church had not much opportunity to expand and propagate the above, noted doctrine and orders of the church inside and outside the nation; this is because of the different circumstances prevailing in the surroundings of the country. Because of the advent of European Colonialism upon its neighboring African countries and the great monetary support that other religious groups received to convert Africans.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church had no other choice but to defend on and preserve all here Christian legacy. Henceforth, she was unable to raise her apostolic voice louder among her African brothers and sisters.
Canons, Regulations, and Ancient Texts
The canons, regulations of Christian instruction and worship of the Ethiopian Church, are contained in the Sinodos and Didascalia, two compilations of ancient church canons, dating from the second period of Ethiopic literature. The Sinodos, classed as part of Ethiopic New Testament, is composed of various elements: Constitutions of Apostles, the Statutes of the Apostles, the Canons of the Apostles, the canons of Various councils-Nicaea, Gangra, Sardica, Antioch, New-Caesarca, Aneyra, Laodienea - and various theological and pastoml treatises.
Eight books make up the Sinodos. Sinodos is the Corpus juris Ecclesiastic of the Church.
- An exposition of the dialogue ascribed to St.
- A discourse of St.
The Didascalia a document well known in the Christian Church originally composed in Greek probably in the middle of the third century, a discourse on Church life and society. The whole work was afterwards, somewhere in the fourth century, incorporated in the Apostolic Constitutions. It has Latin, Arabic and Syriac versions, which differ among themselves and from the Ethiopic version with regard to the subject matter.
Briefly the contents of the document are: Questions of morality, the duty of studying the Scriptures and observance of the Seventh Commandment, mutual duties of husband and wife, offices and duties of Christian ministers; the duties of widows; the method of baptism, laymen not to baptize; vows of virginity; the duties of the faithful towards the martyrs; observance of Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy week and method of calculating the date of Easter; warning against heresy; respect to be shown to the faithful departed; prayers to be used on specified and unspecified occasions.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Bible has been written in vallum, animal skins, stone tablets, etc. and is perhaps one of the world's oldest bibles. Their bible was written in Ge’ez and the later Amharic. Through the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Bible, the canonical authenticity is broader.
Exploring the Ethiopian Bible: The World’s Oldest and Most Unique Canon
Ge'ez language.
Ge'ez Language and Historical Context
Ge'ez is one of the oldest written languages inscribed by men and an early semitic language. The pictorial and hieroglyphic language timeline versus the written language timeline discrepancies is very broad. This is where you might include a tree model of Protolanguages. Protolanguage tree mapping is very hereditary in the sense that mapping languages can be reminiscent of a linguist acting like a geneticist.
Amharic is a subgroup that follows the Ge'ez script. These languages are probably considered the same languages that may have been spoken by the ancient Cushites or during the reign of King Solomon who fell in love with Sheba, whom he is considered to have seduced. This led to him having a son and the continuation of his dynasty in Ethiopia which ended at the time of Haile Selassie I.
Nonetheless, Solomon is known to have repented, and the Cushites referenced in Psalm 68:31, among the Egyptians were the nobility of worshipping God. A bridge was also to be made between Egypt, Assyria, and Israel.
Challenges and Modern Revival
Even after the rise of the autonomy of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Ethiopia who is considered protected by its patron St. George, have suffered immensely. Rastafarianism, famine, the Derg, and political discourse was a predecessor to another end for the Solomonic empire. Political discourse led to the eventual split of what became the Eritrean Church. Other drama within the offset political scenes of Ethiopia mirrored problems for the Eritrean church.
Also, the Ethiopian Church split with the faithful of Tigray. This was done through an unsanctioned bishopric coup. The people of Ethiopia suffered much, and with the death of their emperor, a unifier, came a genocidal divider.
The authenticity of the actual Ethiopian Tewahedo bible has been one that stood the test of time. Ethiopians have gone out of their way to preserve the historical language of their ancestors, and even the adherents of Amharic aim to speak in Ge'ez.
The Ethiopian Church, Eritrean Church, and truly Ethiopian faithful of Tigray have been affected both internally and externally. This includes bishops stealing or taking bribes, traces of magic practiced within some deacons (debtera), corruption within the mistranslations of their authentic works, the suffering of Abune Antonios in Eritrea (a confessor/martyr), or the need for an authentic Pope in which Dioskoros is uncanonical and the papacy is vacant.
There is a 21st century revival happening in terms of the Ethiopian Bible over NKJV, KJV, Gideon or Gutenberg press bibles. The same also likely applies to Coptic bibles that are within the Egyptian monasteries. However, this revival is counterculture, and not mainstream, but rather a result of the information age.
The beauty of the Ethiopians is that throughout all this suffering and famine, very few nations are as filled with inner peace, simplicity, and as much hope. The Ethiopians love Christ, adhere the immaculateness of the Virgin Mary, and are a culture of true diversity, simplicity, history, and courage.
