The Ethiopian Canon

     The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, founded in 328 AD, has been using the largest Biblical canon in the Christian world throughout its existence. The Bible is one of the great foundations of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo faith alongside Holy Tradition. The Bible is used alongside the Apostolic Tradition which has been passed down through ecclesiastical leaders over the course of centuries. A majority of the books were written in the Geez language, an ancient Ethiopian language, and this language is still used today when reading scripture and participating in worship. In total, the Ethiopian Tewahedo church places 46 books in the Old Testament and 35 book in the New Testament. This leads to a total of 81 books being included in the Ethiopian canon. The Ethiopian version of the Old Testament was translated from the Septuagint which is the Greek version of the Hebrew Scriptures. 

    As Christians, we should be thankful to the Ethiopian Church for preserving many ancient texts which could have been lost. These are texts usually considered to be "pseudepigraphic," meaning they are written by someone claiming to be someone else. This means the texts are "false" according to some traditions. For example, the Book of Enoch claims to have been written by Enoch, a relative of Noah before the Flood in Genesis, but was actually written by someone else prior to the first century.  These books have been preserved by the Ethiopian Church which enables us to gather more information about the ancient world and the time of Jesus. We can learn more about what was going on in the world prior to 0 AD all the way into the early centuries of the Christian Church. These books include Enoch, the Book of Jubilees, the Ascension of Isaiah, the Book of Herald (Tizaz), and the Book of Order (Sirate Tsion). There are also the I Book of Domino, the II Book of Dominos, and the Book of Clement. 

    The importance of these books is immense. For example, the Book of Enoch reveals much about Jewish thought from the time leading up to the first century. (EOTC) Enoch deals with the "esoteric" world of angels and secret revelations. There is much elaboration on Genesis and the creation story where heavenly beings mate with human women in order to create a race of giants named Nephilim. This book was extremely popular among ancient Jews and even early Christians. The Book of Jude even quotes from Enoch in verses 14-15. The Book of Jubilees is another popular text from the second-century BC. The Book of Jubilees is related heavily to Enoch with its focus on angels and apparitions. Jubilees also focuses heavily on Jewish legalism which is interesting that the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Orthodox Church would include it in a Christian Canon. (Jenkins) There are still modern Christians who argue for the inclusion of books like Enoch and Jubilees in the Protestant or Catholic Canon, although they tend to be on the outside of the mainstream churches. With such controversies, maybe we could learn a thing or two from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and why they value these texts.

    I highly recommend reading some of these texts which have been preserved through the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. They provide valuable insight into the centuries leading up to Jesus' time and the period afterwards where the church is beginning to formalize. These are indeed interesting texts and I believe we can learn much from them. 


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