Page from the Garima Gospels written between c. 300-c. 500
Intro
Is there such a thong an Ethiopian Bible canon? Their canon is probably the largest of any ancient church, and doesn't seem to be a closed one. It also includes a number of books which don't appear elsewhere.
The Book of Enoch is still canon to the Ethiopians.
Summary
So I've just finished the entire Roman Catholic Apocrypha and the Eastern Orthodox canon. Just to confuse everybody, the Oriental Orthodox split off the Eastern Orthodox a long time ago for theological reasons too complex to go into here.
The Oriental Orthodox churches include the Copts, the native church of Egypt, and the Ethiopians, one of the few sub-Saharan churches that predate European colonisation. It also managed to escape being fully swallowed up by the Vatican or the Constantinople Patriarchate at any point. All the Oriental Orthodox churches have had to fight for their survival in the face of Islamic invasion.
Ethiopia is to Christianity what Tibet is to Buddhism, a romantic isolated land, with its own books and traditions and little known to the outside world. Rastafarianism is a cargo cult version of Ethiopian Christianity although they do get some things right such as the prohibition on pork. Jamaicans are not of Ethiopian descent despite all these claims. There are also wilder stories that the Knights Templar moved to Ethiopia and the Ark of the Covenant is hidden there.
I don't know much about the Ethiopians but I do know that some of their illuminated Bibles are among the oldest ones to survive. The art in them is often very childlike and brightly coloured. They have also preserved some books like Enoch and Jubilees which i'll try and write about later. It's very hard to find much on English about Ethiopian Christianity.
Many of these Bibles are written in a language called Ge'ez which AFAIK is no longer spoken in the region. It joins Latin, Koine Greek, Church Slavonic and Coptic as one of a series of semi-dead liturgical languages.
https://www.britannica.com/place/Ethiopia/Religion
Christianity was introduced to Ethiopia in the 4th century, and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (called Tewahdo in Ethiopia) is one of the oldest organized Christian bodies in the world. The church has long enjoyed a dominant role in the culture and politics of Ethiopia, having served as the official religion of the ruling elite until the demise of the monarchy in 1974. It also has served as the repository of Ethiopia’s literary tradition and its visual arts. The core area of Christianity is in the highlands of northern Ethiopia, but its influence is felt in the entire country. More than two-fifths of Ethiopians follow the teachings of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. An additional one-fifth adhere to other Christian faiths, the vast majority of which are Protestant.
Sinodos
Synod(s)?
https://www.islamic-awareness.org/bible ... ethiopican
Ethiopian ClementSinodos is a collection of material attributed to the apostles and early church councils. Fetha Nägäst, the canon law, specifically cites Sinodos as its source in its section on the canon, and so has the same list...
Same link
Ethiopian CovenantClement (Qälëmentos) is a book in seven parts, communicated by Peter to Clement.[13] It is not the Roman or Corinthian correspondence, nor one of the parts of Sinodos, (namely Te'ezaz, Gessew or Abtelis, which are sometimes called 1, 2 and 3 Clement), nor part of the Syriac Octateuch of Clement.
Same link
DidascaliaThe Book of the Covenant (Mäshafä Kidan) is counted as 2 parts, firstly sections 1-60, mostly about Church order, and secondly section 61, a discourse of our Lord to his disciples in Galilee after his resurrection.
Same link
Book listThe Ethiopian Didascalia (Didesqelya), a book of Church order in 43 chapters, distinct from the Didascalia Apostolorum, but similar to books I-VII of the so-called Apostolic Constitutions
Wikipedia lists the following books as part of the Ethiopian Canon. The ones which are starred do not appear in most western Bibles. Those which have crosses next to them do not appear in the Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox canon either. Some of the books are subdivided differently.
Old Testament
Their OT is much meatier but with some curious additions.
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
I Samuel
II Samuel
I Kings
II Kings
I Chronicles
II Chronicles (incl. the Prayer of Manasseh*( Discussed here -> viewtopic.php?t=69263))
+ Jubilees (viewtopic.php?t=69548 )
+ Enoch (viewtopic.php?p=1349784)
I Ezra (The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah combined)
II Ezra * (1 Esdras -viewtopic.php?p=1343974)
Ezra Sutuel * (2 Esdras - viewtopic.php?p=1344302)
Tobit * (viewtopic.php?p=1341501)
Judith * (viewtopic.php?t=69402)
Esther (including *additions? viewtopic.php?p=1343414)
+ I Meqabyan (Similarly named, but not the same as the four Greek Books of the Maccabees. I may try and write something on these)
+ II Meqabyan (see above)
+ III Meqabyan (see above)
Job
Psalms (Poss. inc. other psalms?* )
Messalë (Proverbs ch 1–24)
Tägsas (Proverbs ch 25–31)
Wisdom of Solomon * (viewtopic.php?t=69469)
Ecclesiastes
Song of Songs
Isaiah
Jeremiah (incl. Baruch (viewtopic.php?t=69433),* Lamentations, Letter of Jeremiah (viewtopic.php?t=69433),* and 4 Baruch/Paralipomena of Jeremiah+)
Ezekiel
Daniel (including some of the additions? * viewtopic.php?t=69261 &viewtopic.php?t=69386 & viewtopic.php?p=1341611)
Hosea
Amos
Micah
Joel
Obadiah
Jonah
Nahum (or Nahium)
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
Sirach * (viewtopic.php?t=69412)
+ Josippon (Pseudo-Josephus writing attributed to Josephus) aka the Book of Josephas the Son of Bengorion
New Testament
Curious lack of Apocryphal NT here. There seems to be a few ecclesiastical tracts added on the end. Will look into this.
Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
Acts
Romans
I Corinthians
II Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
I Thessalonians
II Thessalonians
I Timothy
II Timothy
Titus
Philemon
Hebrews
I Peter
II Peter
I John
II John
III John
James
Jude
Revelation
The Ethiopian New Testament canon then takes another turn:
+ Sinodos (presumably this means "synod' - see note.)
+ Ser`atä Seyon (30 canons) or Sirate Tsion (the book of order)
+ Te'ezaz (71 canons) or Tizaz (the book of Heralds)
+ Gessew (56 canons) or Gitsew
+ Abtelis (81 canons) or Abtilis
+ I Covenant ?or I Dominos?
+ II Covenant ?or II Dominos?
+ Ethiopic Clement
+ Ethiopic Didascalia