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.[1][2]
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.[1]
Broader biblical canon
Ethiopian Orthodox monk from Debre Damo Monastery with an illuminated Bible
Ethiopic Didascalia
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.[2]
Translation into English
A project to translate the complete Ethiopian canon into English for the benefit of Ethiopian expatriates is underway.[3]
^ abDifferent from the traditional version (Wanger 2011, p. 25)
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.
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.
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.
