Orthodox Tewahedo biblical canon

"Ethiopian Bible" redirects here. For translations of the Bible into Ethiopian languages, see Bible translations into Geʽez and Bible translations into Amharic.

Ethiopian Orthodox monk from Debre Damo Monastery with an illuminated Bible

The Orthodox Tewahedo biblical canon is a version of the Christian Bible used in the two Oriental Orthodox Churches of the Ethiopian and Eritrean traditions: the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church. At 81 books, it is the largest and most diverse biblical canon in traditional Christendom.

Western scholars have classified the books of the canon into two categories — the narrower canon, which consists mostly of books familiar to the West, and the broader canon, which includes nine additional books.

It is not known to exist at this time as one published compilation. Some books, though considered canonical, are nonetheless difficult to locate and are not even widely available in the churches' home countries of Ethiopia and Eritrea. But there is an ongoing project to publish the complete canon in English.

Narrower canon

Old Testament

The Orthodox Tewahedo narrower Old Testament canon contains the entire established Hebrew protocanon. Moreover, with the exception of the first two books of Maccabees, the Orthodox Tewahedo canon also contains the entire Catholic deuterocanon. In addition to this, the Orthodox Tewahedo Old Testament includes the Prayer of Manasseh, 3 Ezra, and 4 Ezra, which also appear in the canons of other Christian traditions. Unique to the Orthodox Tewahedo canon are the Paralipomena of Jeremiah (4 Baruch), Jubilees, Enoch, and the three books of Meqabyan.

The books of Lamentations, Jeremiah, and Baruch, as well as the Letter of Jeremiah and 4 Baruch, are all considered canonical by the Orthodox Tewahedo churches. Additionally, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Books of Ethiopian Maccabees are also part of the canon; while they share a common name they are completely different from the books of Maccabees that are known or have been canonized in other traditions. Finally, within the Orthodox Tewahedo tradition, 3 Ezra is called Second Ezra, 4 Ezra is called Ezra Sutu'el, and the Prayer of Manasseh is incorporated into the Second Book of Chronicles.

New Testament

The Orthodox Tewahedo narrower New Testament canon consists of the entire 27 book Christian protocanon, which is almost universally accepted across Christendom.

Broader canon

The broader canon adds to the 81 books of the Tewahedo bible the following:

• Josippon (1 book)
• Sinodos (4 books)
• Books of Covenant (2 books)
• Ethiopic Clement (1 book)
• Didascalia (1 book)

The Ethiopic Didascalia, or Didesqelya, is a book of Church order in 43 chapters, distinct from the Didascalia Apostolorum, but similar to books I–VII of the Apostolic Constitutions, where it most likely originates. Ethiopic Clement should not be confused with 1 Clement or 2 Clement.

The broader canon seems to have been created by Ethiopian scholars commenting on the Fetha Negest law code, which says that the canon contains 81 books, but only lists 73. The additional eight books were those presumed to be missing from the list.

List of books in the Orthodox Tewahedo Bible

In the Old Testament

List of Old Testament books in the Orthodox Tewahedo Bible:

1. Genesis
2. Exodus
3. Leviticus
4. Numbers
5. Deuteronomy
6. Joshua
7. Judges
8. Ruth
9. 1 and 2 Samuel
10. 1 and 2 Kings
11. I Chronicles
12. II Chronicles (incl. the Prayer of Manasseh)
13. Jubilees
14. Enoch
15. 1 Ezra
16. 2 Ezra (3 Ezra)
17. Ezra Sutuel (4 Ezra)
18. Tobit
19. Judith
20. Esther
21. 1, 2, and 3 Meqabyan (sometimes called Ethiopian Maccabees, but not the same as the four Greek Books of the Maccabees)
22. Job
23. Psalms
24. Messale (Proverbs ch 1–24)
25. Tagsas (Proverbs ch 25–31)
26. Wisdom of Solomon
27. Ecclesiastes
28. Song of Songs
29. Sirach
30. Isaiah
31. Jeremiah (incl. Baruch, Lamentations, Letter of Jeremiah, and 4 Baruch)
32. Ezekiel
33. Daniel
34. Hosea
35. Amos
36. Micah
37. Joel
38. Obadiah
39. Jonah
40. Nahum
41. Habakkuk
42. Zephaniah
43. Haggai
44. Zechariah
45. Malachi
46. Josippon

In the New Testament

List of New Testament books in the Orthodox Tewahedo Bible, including the broader canon:

1. Matthew
2. Mark
3. Luke
4. John
5. Acts
6. Romans
7. 1 Corinthians
8. 2 Corinthians
9. Galatians
10. Ephesians
11. Philippians
12. Colossians
13. 1 Thessalonians
14. 2 Thessalonians
15. 1 Timothy
16. 2 Timothy
17. Titus
18. Philemon
19. Hebrews
20. 1 Peter
21. 2 Peter
22. 1 John
23. 2 John
24. 3 John
25. James
26. Jude
27. Revelation
28. Sinodos
    • Ser'ata Seyon (30 canons)
    • Te'ezaz (71 canons)
    • Gessew (56 canons)
    • Abtelis (81 canons)
29. 1 Covenant
30. 2 Covenant
31. Ethiopic Clement
32. Didascalia

See also

• Fetha Negest, a legal code used by Ethiopian Christians
• Book of the Cock, a work sometimes used by Ethiopian Christians

Further reading

• Assefa, Daniel. "The Biblical Canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tawāhǝdo Church (EOTC)." The Oxford Handbook of the Bible in Orthodox Christianity (2022): 211 ff
• Covenant Christian Coalition. 2022.The Complete 54-Book Apocrypha: 2022 Edition With the Deuterocanon, 1-3 Enoch, Giants, Jasher, Jubilees, Pseudepigrapha, & the Apostolic Fathers. Covenant Press.
• Harden, J.M., ed. (1920). The Ethiopian Didascalia.
• Mikre-Sellassie, Gebre-Amanuel (1993). "The Bible and Its Canon in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church". The Bible Translator. 44 (1): 111–123. doi:10.1177/026009359304400102.
• Platt, Thomas Pell, ed. (1834). The Ethiopic Didascalia; or, the Ethiopic version of the Apostolical constitutions, received in the church of Abyssinia. London: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland.
• Wanger, Anke (2011), The Biblical Canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church (PDF), Euclid University
• Baynes, Leslie (2012). "Enoch and Jubilees in the Canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church". In F. Mason, Eric; Coblentz Bautch, Kelley; Kim Harkins, Angela; A. Machiela, Daniel (eds.). A Teacher for All Generations: Essays in Honor of James C. VanderKam (2 vol. set). Vol. 2. Leiden, Boston: BRILL. pp. 799–818 – via Academia.edu.

• Contantinus Siamakis, Biblical Canon of the Orthodox Christian Church, Studies 1, 2008

External links

• Biblia Aethiopica—August Dillmann et al online edition of the Ethiopic Bible
• What's in Your Bible? Archived 21 September 2022 at the Wayback Machine—a chart comparing Jewish, Orthodox, Catholic, Syriac, Ethiopic, and Protestant canons (Bible Study Magazine Nov–Dec 08.)