The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church possesses a rich and distinctive biblical tradition. Its canon differs from those of other Christian denominations, containing a unique collection of texts that offer invaluable insights into early Christian thought and history. This article explores the canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Bible and provides resources for those interested in studying these sacred texts.
The Holy Scriptures stand as one of the two great foundations of the faith. The word of God is not contained in the Bible alone, but is also found in tradition. The Sacred Scriptures are the written word of God, the author of the Old and New Testaments, containing nothing but perfect truth in faith and morals. God’s word is not only contained in them; there is an unwritten word of God also, which we call apostolic tradition.
The Canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Bible
The canon of the Ethiopic Bible differs both in the Old and New Testament from that of any other churches. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church has 46 books of the Old Testament and 35 books of the New Testament, bringing the total of canonized books of the Bible to 81.
Old Testament (46 books)
- Genesis
- Exodus
- Leviticus
- Numbers
- Deuteronomy
- Joshua
- Judges
- Ruth
- 1 Samuel
- 2 Samuel
- 1 Kings
- 2 Kings
- 1 Chronicles
- 2 Chronicles
- Jubilees
- Enoch
- 1 Esdras (Ezra)
- 2 Esdras (Nehemiah)
- Tobit
- Judith
- Esther
- 1 Maccabees
- 2 Maccabees
- 3 Maccabees
- Job
- Psalms
- Proverbs
- Ecclesiastes
- Song of Solomon
- Wisdom of Solomon
- Sirach
- Isaiah
- Jeremiah
- Lamentations
- Baruch
- Ezekiel
- Daniel
- Hosea
- Joel
- Amos
- Obadiah
- Jonah
- Micah
- Nahum
- Habakkuk
- Zephaniah
- Haggai
- Zechariah
- Malachi
New Testament (35 books)
- Matthew
- Mark
- Luke
- John
- Acts
- Romans
- 1 Corinthians
- 2 Corinthians
- Galatians
- Ephesians
- Philippians
- Colossians
- 1 Thessalonians
- 2 Thessalonians
- 1 Timothy
- 2 Timothy
- Titus
- Philemon
- Hebrews
- 1 Peter
- 2 Peter
- 1 John
- 2 John
- 3 John
- James
- Jude
- Revelation
- Sirate Seyon
- Tefut
- Gessewé
- Abtelis
- 1 Ethiopian Clement
- 2 Ethiopian Clement
- Didascalia
- Synodos
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. In international Bible studies, certain books belong 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.
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How Is The Book Of Enoch Interpreted? - Jewish Teachings For All
Canons, Regulations and Other Important Books
The canons and 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, Laodicea - and various theological and pastoml treatises. Eight books make up the Sinodos. Sinodos is the Corpus juris Ecclesiastic of the Church.
The Didascalia, a document well known in the Christian Church originally composed in Greek probably in the middle of the third century, is 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.
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Here is a list of some books that should be considered for higher education and could be prepared carefully in order to suit modern thinking:
- 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 Tewahedo Church has.
In the past, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo 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.
Ethiopian Orthodox Bible Books in English
Here is a list of all the books of the Ethiopian Orthodox Bible already in English. (We are not including books found in most Bibles and in most Catholic and Orthodox Bibles in this list, just the ones distinct to the Ethiopian (and Eritrean) Orthodox Canons). Some are available for free online, some are in print form as well, and some are just in print for sale. Again, if you read our above link, there is no single Bible in English that has all of the books in one volume. Some of the books haven’t been translated yet into English.
The free online translations of Meqabyan I-III are done in an Iyaric style and can be difficult to read however the ones currently published in English are not in the Iyaric style. Although we are very grateful to have translations of Meqabyan I - III in English the print and PDF versions unfortunately do not include the verse numbers or page numbers.
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Mr. Curtin has a better translation of Meqabyan 1, and also Meqabyan 2, he has not done 3 unfortunately. We recommend getting it as well however. We do not necessarily agree with all of the notes but they can often provide helpful background information.
4 Baruch is unfortunately not available for purchase as a single volume, it is however included in “The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Vol. 2” Edited by James H. Charlesworth available through our store.
There is not a complete text of Josippon in English based on the Ethiopian version. Sepher Yosippon: A Tenth-Century History of Ancient Israel (Raphael Patai Series in Jewish Folklore and Anthropology) By Steven B. by Budge, E. A. Wallis This book contains a very small section of Ethiopian Josippon in English, while the rest of it is not part of the EOTC canon.
Ethiopic Clement should not be confused with the First Epistle of Clement, which is found in the writings of the Apostolic Fathers and is a completely different book.
The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament Vol. I - Vol. II R. H. This free translation includes some of the books which form part of the EOTC Bible canon. This title is also available through our store.
The Pseudepigrapha Volumes 1 and 2 by James Charlesworth. It contains some of the books of the EOTC Bible, along with copious scholarly notes.
A surprising number of people write to us saying “I will wait until I can get a single volume with ALL of the books.” We disagree with this idea and here is why; The more translations the better, for comparison purposes, for serious study, and to gain insight by in some cases comparing translations from different manuscripts and sometimes languages.
We encourage you to download, buy, and read all of these books if you can do so. In the future, we hope to have a single volume in English with all of the books, but it will be a massive volume. In the meantime, we will release them in separate volumes first. The Ethiopian Orthodox Bible now with all of the books in Ge’ez manages to put them all into one volume, but the trade-off is very tiny print.
Remember all the English editions claiming to be the Ethiopian Orthodox Bible are frauds. Yes, all of them! Most were poorly done by disreputable self-publishers. They not only lack many of the books, include books not in the EOTC canon, but they are full of typos on top of it. In some cases large sections of books are even missing. The print also tends to be extremely small and barely readable, order to pack more books into a single volume and to save money on printing.
If you would like to support the Ethiopian Orthodox Bible Project, please consider a donation, do not forget to follow our site so that we can continue to keep you posted with new developments concerning the EOTC canon, EOTC canon books in English and our project.
