JANUARY 1993) ETHIOPIAN CANON 111

an allegorical interpretation is broken by the quick-cutting technique

and the steady fracturing of the narrative line. 23

Moving into the Next Century

The ABS research and development work into multimedia translations is
still in its infancy stages. Much of course, remains to be done and explored,
but what has been produced in the form of prototypes shows great promise
for the future.
In light of trends and developments already underway, the prospect of
the 21st century promises to be exciting and innovative for Bible translation.
As we move into the 21st century, the Bible Society will continue to base its
translation work on a thorough examination of the source texts-whether
the medium be print or non-print-as it continues to explore fresh and
faithful ways of making the Scriptures accessible to those various audiences
and constituencies in need of the Word of God.
The author wishes to thank his colleagues in the ABS Translations
Department and the Multimedia research team, from whom he has learned
much and to whom he is deeply indebted for the content of this article.

G.A. MIKRE-SELLASSIE

THE BIBLE AND ITS CANON IN THE ETHIOPIAN

ORTHODOX CHURCH
Dr Mikre·Sellassie is a UBS translation consultant based in Nairobi, Kenya.

1. Introduction
In assessing the canon of scriptures of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church one
has to look at least briefly into the religious and cultural background of
the country. Ethiopia, with her unique geographical setting in the Horn
of Africa and on the western side of the Red Sea, had been for over two
millennia a bridge between the civilization of Africa and Asia. In the course
of a long history, Ethiopia has developed close contacts with the people
of South Arabia, Egypt and Israel. These contacts were affected largely
by climatic and economic conditions. People from the above regions,
especially from South Arabia, started long before 1,000 BC to migrate to
Ethiopia. These migrants subsequently introduced into their country of
asylum their language, their writing system which underwent significant
alterations later, and other aspects of their cultural and religious heritage.
'

23 Thomas E. Boomershine, "A Multimedia Functional Equivalent Translation of the Gerasene

Demoniac (Mark 5.1-20)" (American Bible Society unpublished study document, September 1991).
I Sergew Hable Sellassie, Ancient and Medieval Ethiopian History to 1270, Addis Ababa 1972, 29-33.
112 THE BmLE TRANSLATOR (VOL. 44, NO.

2. The Jewish Background of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church

Ethiopia's relation with Israel, which had begun through commerce and
then developed in the political sphere, reached its peak in the time of King
Solomon and the Queen of Sheba at the beginning of the first millennia BC.
The earliest Biblical source for the Queen of Sheba's visit to King Solomon
is 1 Kings 10.1-13 and 2 Chronicles 9.1-12.2 However, the story of the
Queen of Sheba has undergone an extensive elaboration in the Ethiopian;'
South Arabian- and Jewish' literary traditions, and "has become the subject
of one of the most ubiquitous and fertile cycles in the Middle East."6
The main Ethiopian source for the Queen of Sheba is the Kibre-Negest
(Glory of the Kings), the Ethiopian national saga, from which most notions
of Ethiopian kingship spring. The Kibre-Negest elaborately states that
the Queen of Sheba had established an intimate relationship with King
Solomon, subsequently accepted the Jewish religion, and upon her return
from Jerusalem bore Solomon a son whom she called Menelik who was
believed to be the founder of the Ethiopian dynasty. It was firmly believed
in Ethiopia that from Menelik I were descended all the kings of Ethiopia
down to the late and last Emperor Haile Sellassie I. This was embodied in
the Revised Constitution of Ethiopia of 1955 Article 2 which reads "The
Imperial dignity shall remain perpetually attached to the line ...whose line
descends without interruption from the dynasty of Menelik I, son of the
Queen of Ethiopia, the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon of Jerusalem."?
During his public ministry, Jesus, commenting on the unbelief of some
of the Pharisees and the scribes, commended the coming of the Queen of
Sheba from a distant country to hear the Wisdom of Solomon saying,
The Queen of the South shall rise up in the judgement with this
generation, and shall condemn it, for she came from the uttermost
part of the earth to hear the Wisdom of Solomon.!
According to Kibre-Negest Menelik I, when he grew up, was believed
to have visited his father Solomon in Jerusalem where he was educated in
the Jewish religion and the system of government. On his return to his
country (Ethiopia) Menelik I was accompanied by a number of priests and
teachers of the Law who were believed to have introduced Judaism to the
country. It is stated in Kibre-Negest that Menelik I secretly took from the

2 "There are small, but not insignificant, differences between these two OT accounts which are of
little relevance to the development of Solomon-Sheba legend but of considerable interest to the method of
text-transmission." E.Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible, London, Oxford University Press 1968), 132.
3 Sergew Hable Sellassie, op.cit., 36-38.
4 A.W Arberry, trans., The Koran Interpreted, London 1937, 384-85; E.Ullendorff, "Hebraic-Jewish
Elements in the Abyssinian (rnonophysite) Church", JSS I (1956) 233.
5 Detailed accounts are given in the work of Josephus of the 1st century A.D., and in the Babylonian
Talmud of the 3rd century A.D. Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, ed. J. Thackeray and R. Malcus (Loeb
Classical Library, London, 1961), Vlll, 165-175; The Babylonian Talmund, seder Nezikan, trans. A.
Epstein, London 1935, 76. The Babylonian Talmund interprets in a metaphorical sense the accounts about
the Queen of Sheba in I Kg 10:1-10.
6 E.Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible, 132.
7 Revised Constitution of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa 1955, 3.
8 Mt 12.42; Lk 11.32.
JANUARY 1993) ETHIOPIAN CANON 113

Temple in Jerusalem the Ark of the Covenant and placed it in Aksum, the
sacred city in Ethiopia, where it is believed to be still in existence."
These intimate relations of Ethiopia with Israel especially in the field
of religion and culture can be attested by many deep-rooted Jewish or
quasi-Jewish practises detected from the earliest times to the present day
in the Church of Ethiopia and in the fabric of Ethiopian society, such as
the observance of the Sabbath, the distinction between clean and unclean
animals in the consumption of food, ritual cleanness and the practice of
circumcision.
It is evident that the Jewish Sabbath has been strictly observed
throughout Ethiopia even after the introduction of Christianity and the
founding of a strong church. W.C Harris observes: "The Ox and the Ass
are at rest. Agricultural pursuits are suspended. Household avocations
must be laid aside, and the spirit of idleness reigns throughout the day
••• "10 After the introduction of Christianity both Saturday and Sunday
have been observed almost on equal basis and both bear in Ge'ez the
name of Senbet (Sabbath). The former is called Qedamit Senbet (the first
Sabbath) or Senbet Ayhud (the Jewish Sabbath) and the latter Senbete
Christian (the Christian Sabbath). Detailed regulations concerning work
that is prohibited on the Sabbath were issued in Meshafe Berhan (the book
of the light) by King Zer'a Ya'eqob, the religious reformer of the mid-15th
century. The book is preoccupied in a passionate way with the importance
of the Sabbath.'!
Many of the Pentateuchal dietary prescriptions have also been strictly
observed in Ethiopia. Mansfield Parkins does not exaggerate in reporting
that "no nation is more scrupulous in its choice of food than the
Abyssinians".» In accordance with the dietary prescriptions of Leviticus
11, animals which have teeth in their upper jaw such as rabbits, those which
do not have divided hoofs such as camels, and those which do not chew
the cud such as pigs are among the forbidden items of food. Apparently
of all the nations the Ethiopians have the greatest aversion to pork.
Regulations relating to ritual cleanness observed strictly among the
followers of the EthiopianOrthodox Church are evidently derived from the
OT.13
The custom of circumcision is also widely practised in Ethiopia. But
since this custom was a widespread practice among many nations of the
world, it would appear impossible to establish special OT connection for its
existence in Ethiopia. However, the perfomance of circumcision on the 8th
day after birth is shared by Jews and Ethiopians only, a fact which proves
that Ethiopia was under the influence of the OT injunction in this practice. 14

9 Kibre-Negest, chapter 48; E. Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible 82-85, 135, 141, 142; Sergew, op.cit.,
38.
10 W.C Harris, The Highlands ofEthiopia, vol. 3, London 1844, ISO-lSI. See the text of the Sabbath
observance proclaimation issued in 1928 in Balambaras Mahterne-Sellassie, Zikre Neger, Addis Ababa,
1949·50, 545.
11 Mashafa Berhan, ed. Conti Rossini and L. Ricci in CSCO, 1964-65.
12 M. Parkins, Life in Abyssinia, London 1966 reprint of 2nd ed. 1868,207-208.
13 Ex 19.15; Lev 12, 15; 1 Sam 21.4-6.
14 For detailed observations see E. Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible, 105-109.
114 THE BIBLE TRANSLATOR (VOL. 44, NO. 1

In addition to the above, Ullendorff comments that the two regular

weekly days of fasting observed by the Church of Ethiopia "are a remnant
of the two days of fasting each week observed by Jews." He adds that
"the change from Monday and Thursday to Wednesday and Friday was no
doubt meant to invalidate accusations of imitating the Jews" .15
Apparently, the validity of these points of view can be questioned in
view of the fact that these two days of the week are also strictly observed
by many churches such as the Coptic Church, the Syrian Church and other
Oriental Churches.
The existence of such early Jewish influences and deep-rooted OT
practices suggests that Judaism was practised at least by a group of people
in Ethiopia before the introduction of Christianity. It would, however,
be difficult to extend the beginning of this practice of Judaism to the
time of King Solomon in the 10th century BC as claimed by the Kibre
Negest, Some scholars feel that this contact with the people of Israel
and subsequently with Judaism must have developed before the time of
the Babylonian captivity in the 6th century BC, because the Falashas, the
Jews of Ethiopia, "do not know of any religious prescriptions outside the
Pentateuch; Mishnah and Talmund are unknown to them" .16 Above all, the
postexilic feast and ceremonies have never been observed in Ethiopia either
by the Falashas or by their Christian neighbours. One may still ask whether
the Ethiopians were acquainted with the books of the Old Testament or
with some portions of it at least before they received the New Testament.
This very difficult question is discussed in the following section.
3. The Translation of the Bible into Ethiopic
The question when, by whom and from what language or languages the
Bible was translated into Ge'ez 17 is still a matter of debate. The Jewish and
the Old Testament influences and reflections which were deeply penetrated
into Ethiopia before the Christian era may suggest that the Old Testament
or at least some portions of it were simultaneously translated into Ethiopic.
But the exact period when the Old Testament and the New Testament
were translated into Ethiopic is not yet known for sure. Apparently there
exists some interesting written Ethiopian traditional accounts about this
question. But there is no unanimity in these accounts. One account gives
the following description in Ge'ez about the rendering of the Old and New
Testaments:
...and as to the books of the Old Testament, they were translated
from Hebrew into Ge'ez in the days of the Queen of the South who
visited Solomon. Hence the rendering of the prophetic books extent
in Ethiopia was faithful as the population were of the Jewish religion
before the birth of Christ ...As to the books of the New Testament

IS op. cit., II4.

16 op. cit., IIS-II7.
17 Ge'ez is the ancient language of Ethiopia. It is not exactly known when the Ge'ez language became
an independent written language. The inscription of the 3rd century A.D. found at Matara in the North-east
Ethiopia is believed to be the oldest Ge'ez inscription in Ethiopia. see Sergew, op.cit. 12.
JANUARY 1993) ETHIOPIAN CANON 115

...they were translated from Romaist [Greek?] into Ge'ez before the
doctrine of Nestorius appeared [431 A.D] and before the doctrine of
Leo was created [451 A.D.].IS
Similarly, many traditional Old Testament scholars of Ethiopia simply
say that the Old Testament was translated into Ge'ez before the Birth of
Christ without specifying any approximate period of time.!? Both views,
however, are doubtful. Many scholars believe that Ge'ez had not reached
the stage of being an independent written language before the birth of
Christ.w Evidently no literary work of any type or size is available for
the period before the 3rd century A.D. It is quite true that when Philip
the Evangelist met the Eunuch of the Queen or Candace of Ethiopia the
latter was reading the book of Isaiah.» But one cannot easily tell in what
language the Eunuch was reading the scriptures. Was it in Hebrew or in
Greek or even in Ge'ez? Definitely it could not be in Ge'ez because Phillip
did not understand Ge'ez and no miracle was involved in their conversation.
Some Ethiopians believe that the Hebrew language was known by many
Ethiopians in the past and thus he might have been reading the Hebrew
Scriptures. But this does not seem to be correct. Even the Falashas who
definitely consider themselves to be the descendants of Israel do not possess
even the Pentateuch in Hebrew. Above all, all their religious literature is
in Ge'ez and not in Hebrew.> Most probably it was from the Septuagint
that the Eunuch was reading the scriptures because "at that time Greek
language was spoken quite widely in Ethiopia" .23
3.1. When Was the Bible First Translated in Ethiopia?
It is rather difficult to tell convincingly when exactly the Bible was
translated into Ethiopic. Although the dating of Ethiopic manuscripts
presents considerable problems because of the conditions in which many
of them have been kept in Ethiopia, many scholars believe that the oldest
known Ethiopic Biblical manuscripts belong to the 13th century A.D.,24 18.
This, of course, does not mean that the Bible was not translated until that
century. I think the translation of the holy scriptures, including the O'T, is
as old as Christianity itself in Ethiopia.
There are good reasons why we have no Biblical manuscripts older than
the 13th century. First of all no sufficient research was made determining
the approximate date of the manuscripts of Ethiopia with the help of the
science of palaeography. Secondly, the climatic conditions of the country
must be taken into consideration. The climate of Ethiopia, particularly on
the high plateau where culture flourished and Christianity spread widely, is
very wet, a fact which makes the preservation of manuscripts for a long time

18 The text is taken from E. Ullendorff, op.cit., 31-32. The MSS are kept in the Bibliotheque
Nationale, Paris, MS. Eth. 113, ff.63 sqq. (Zotenberg Catalogue. 127-8).
19 Sergew, op.cit., 44, 120.
20 op. cit., 120, n.35.
21 Acts 8:26-38.
22 Sergew, op. cit., 44.
23 Sergew, op. cit., 120; Ullendorf, op.cit., 10.
24 Sergew, op. cit.
116 THE BIBLE TRANSLATOR (VOL. 44, NO. 1

quite impossible. Thirdly, in the Middle Ages Ethiopia had suffered two
major wars during which time much of the cultural heritage of the past and
many manuscripts were destroyed. In the 10th century, a certain powerful
non-Christian woman called Gudit seized power by force and staged severe
persecution against the Christians for forty years. During her rule many
churches and monastries were destroyed with their invaluable Biblical
manuscripts and ecclesiastical objects.v Similarly, during the invasion of
Ethiopia in the 16th century by a Muslim warrior called Ahmed Gragn who
was characterized as the Attila of Ethiopia, many manuscripts fell victim
to his destructive fury.26
The translation of the Bible, however, was not done at one particular
period of time. It was believed to be the result of a long and "gradual
process extending over two or three centuries and obviously involving a
number of translators" .27 Most scholars agree that the translation had
began simultaneously with the introduction of Christianity in the second
quarter of the fourth century and was completed by the second half of the
7th centurv.v Ullendorff, on the other hand, thinks that "it may safely be
taken for granted that none of the original renderings was later than the end
of the sixth century" .29 According to A. Rahlfs it was Frumentius, the first
missionary from Syria and subsequently the Bishop of Ethiopia, who began
the translation of the Bible in the middle of the fourth century, the time
when Christianity was officially introduced to Ethiopia.v This seems to be
a very reasonable assumption. But Rahlfs does not adduce any specific
evidence in support of his proposition. The beginning of the introduction
of Christianity in the fourth century, however, does not sufficiently warrant
that the whole Bible was translated at so early a period.
It is evident that by the middle of the fifth century the kingdom of
Aksum had become a Christian state largely through the active missionary
endeavours of the Syrian missionaries who came to the country after the
Council of Chalcedon in 451 to escape the severe persecutions of members
of their persuasion. These missionaries from Syria are commonly known
in Ethiopia as "the Nine Saints". They are believed to have translated the
major part of the Bible into Ge'ez.!'
There is no doubt that the translation of the Bible into Ethiopic had
involved a number of translators over a long period of time covering two
or three centuries and the translations are apparently believed to be of
varying linguistic levels. Regarding this point Ludolf, the first renowned

25 Conti Rossini, "La caduta della dinastia Zague e la version amarica del Be'e1a Nagasti." RRAL,
XXI (1923), 2 - 314; Sergew, op, cit., 203, 225-36; "The Problem of Gudit", JES 10,1 (1972), 113-124;
"Church and State in the Aksumite Period," PICES I, Addis Ababa 1966, Iff.
26 Teele Tsadik Makuria, The History 0/ Ethiopia/rom Libne-bengil to Theodros, Addis Ababa 1965,
40-68; Sergew, op. cit., 18.
27 Ullendorff, op. cit., 38; Sergew, op. cit., 120.
28 I. Guidi, Storia della letteratura etiopica, Rome 1932, 12ff.; A. Voobus, Die Spuren eines iilteren
iithiopischen Evangelientextes im Lichte der Iiterarischen Monumente, Stockholm 1954, 15-16; E. Cerulle,
Storia della letteratura etiopica, Milan 1956, 23-25.
29 Ullendorff, 44.
30 A. Rahlfs, "Die athiopische Bibelubersetzung" in Septuaginta-studien, Gottingen 1965, 673.
31 Sergew,op. cit., 115-121.
JANUARY 1993) ETHIOPIAN CANON 117

Ethiopicist of the 17th century, has commented that the same word in the
source language was rendered differently and this presupposes different
authorship.v Littman likewise thought that the individual books of the
Bible were translated by different translators who were clearly distinguished
from each other by their varying attainments. Littman further makes
general comments without of course referring to any specific book or books
that some translations are too literal while others merely reflect the general
sense; some translators had shown a good knowledge of Greek and Ge'ez;
others showed many deficiencies in this respect.v This observation could
possibly be true, but a thorough comparison of the Ge'ez translation with
the original Hebrew and Greek texts is greatly needed.
3.2. Versions Used for the Ethiopic Bible Translation
From what language or languages were the Holy Scriptures translated into
Ge'ez? This difficult question has been very often asked by many and only
conjectural answers have been given at one time or another. According
to Job Ludolf and many other scholars, the Old Testament was translated
from the Septuagint. The New Testament was likewise rendered from a
Greek text.> This was because in those days Greek was the official language
of the Eastern Roman Empire and was commonly used in all the churches
of Syria, Asia Minor and Egypt. Greek was also in general use in the
Kingdom of Aksum in that inscriptions on many monuments and legends
on coins were written in Greek.»
Many scholars agree that the first missionaries to Ethiopia, including
Frumentius and the Nine Saints who came from Syria, had used Greek
texts in their translation of the Bible into Ge'ez. As regards the translation
of the Old Testament it was generally accepted that it was done from the
Septuagint. But which recension of the Septuagint was used? There are
many recensions of the Septuagint such as the Lucian recension widely used
in the region of Syria, the Hesychian recension commonly used in Egypt,
etc. Because of the long dependence of the Church of Ethiopia on that
of Alexandria it was taken for granted that the Ge'ez translation of the
Old Testament was based on the Hesychian recension. This, however, does
not seem likely. Since the first missionaries mentioned above were from
Syria and most of the translations were done by them it has been firmly
believed that the Old Testament was rendered from the Lucian recension
then current in Syria.>
But when we say that the translators had used a Greek text in their
translation of the Ge'ez Bible we do not mean that Greek was the sole and
exclusive basis for their translation. In this connection one could think in
line with Lofgren's ideas that, if the Nine Saints were the translators of
the Ge'ez Bible, it would be difficult to explain why they would not have

32 J. Ludolf, Commentarius ad suam Historiam Aethiopicam, Frankfurt 1691,296.

33 E. Littman, "Geschichte der athiopischen Literatur", in Geschichte der christlichen Literaturen des
Orients, 2nd ed. Leipzig 1909, 223-25. See comments on this in Ullendorff, op. cit., 46.
34 J. Ludolf, Historia Aethiopica, Frankfurt 1681, iii, 4, 2-7.
35 Ullendorf', op.cit., 41.
36 Littman, op.cit., 224 ff.
118 THE BIBLE TRANSLATOR (VOL. 44, NO. 1

used the Syriac. Scholars believe that the use of many Syriac loanwords
such as haimanot, faith; gehanem, hell; Orit, the law; ta'ot, idol; qurban,
eucharist; meswaet, sacrifice/alms, etc., in the Ge'ez Bible indicates that
the translators of the Ge'ez Bible were familiar with the Syraic language
and might have used a Syriac text in their translation activities." This,
however, cannot be totally conclusive as some of such loanwords might have
been "derived from Jewish-Aramaic and belong to the pre-Christian Jewish
sediment in Ethiopia"38 without, of course, excluding the Syriac loanwords.
Following the views of modern scholars such as A. V66bus 39 and F.e.
Burkitt.w Ullendorff rightly states that "the evidence certainly encourages
the opinion that, with the advent of the Syrian missionaries in the fifth and
sixth centuries, Syriac translations were employed in conjunction with the
Greek text"41 in the Ge'ez translations of the Bible.
A few traditional Old Testament scholars of Ethiopia insist that the
Old Testament was translated directly from Hebrew, but this does not seem
to be likely. Some modern scholars, on the other hand, have expressed a
view that the translators must have had the assistance of Jewish immigrants
with some difficult texts, and thus in the translation of such texts some
Hebrew sentiments are reflected.
Another traditional account found in the Synaxarium of the Ethiopian
Church for the 21st Nahase (August) ascribes the translation of the Holy
Scriptures to Abba Selama, "the translator" and states that the translation
was made from an Arabic version.
The account reads:
On this day died Abba Selama, the translator (of the Scriptures)
Greetings to you, root of the tree of faith. Upon whom the
commandments of the Law and the Gospels have been poured; Selama,
how your memory has abided with us! By your lips sweeter than the
scent ...have the scriptures been translated from Arabic into Ge'ez.v
This account clearly does not refer to the original Ge'ez translation
but to the fourteenth centuryv revision of the Ge'ez Bible, attributed to
Abba Selama. This revision is believed to have been done on the basis
of an Arabic version which was supposed to have been rendered by a
certain learned man called Sa'adya Ga'on who had very closely followed
the Hebrew original.
Some scholars have also assumed that a revision of the Old Testament
was done on the basis 0 f the Hebrew text. 44 But there is no specific evidence

37 Sergew, op. cit., 120.

38 Ullendorff, op. cit., 39 n .6.
39 A. Viiiibus, op. cit., 8; Early Versions of the New Testament, Stockholm 1954, 250.
40 F.e Burkitt, "Text and Versions", in Encyclopaedia Biblica IV, London 1903, col. 5012.
41 Ullendorff, op.cit., 56.
42 "Le synaxaire ethiopien", in Patrologia Orientalis, vol. ix, 4, 359. English translation from
Ullendorff, op. cit., 37, 57.
43 This century is known to be the beginning of the literary renaissance in Ethiopia.
44 op. cit., 37, 57.
JANUARY 1993) ETHIOPIAN CANON 119

to support this view. This remains to be seriously studied by scholars with

a good knowledge of Hebrew and Ge'ez.

4. Canon of the Bible in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church

When the Bible was rendered into Ge'ez from the Septuagint between the
fourth and seventh centuries, it is assumed that all the books of the OT as
contained in the Septuagint version were translated. In addition to these,
some of the pseudepigraphical books of the OT such as the Jubilees, Enoch,
the Ascension of Isaiah, 4 Baruch, the Epistle of Jeremiah, Odae aliae
(fifteen prayers of OT personalities) and of the NT such as Shepherd of
Hermas, the Epistles of Clement, the Apostolic Constitutions, etc., were
also translated into Ge'ez during this period.v
It is rather difficult to determine what exactly the official Canon of
Scriptures of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is. As R.W Cowley has
rightly observed, one of the problems in this study is that in the Ethiopian
Orthodox Church "the concept of canonicity is regarded more loosely
than it is among most other churches".« Apparently, the two terms,
protocanonical and deuterocanonical, employed among many churches
nowadays, are not known within the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
The number of books of the holy Scriptures generally accepted in the
Ethiopian Orthodox Church is eighty-one. Thus, all the clergy and laity
commonly use the term "eighty and one" whenever they speak of the Bible
in their religious encounter. It is not, therefore, surprising to note that the
Bible with 66 books is considered incomplete by the Ethiopian Orthodox
Church, who widely recognises all the "eighty and one" books on equal
basis as divinely inspired without any distinction,
The earliest sources for the Canon of the Scriptures of the Ethiopian
Orthodox Church are the books of Synodos and Fetha Negest (Canon law).
Synodos is a collection of the various canons traditionally attributed to the
apostles and early church councils. The material is divided into four major
sections entitled Sere'ate Seyon, "Order of Zion", containing thirty canons;
Te'ezaz, "Statutes" ,47 containing seventy-one canons, Gessew, "Order" ,48
containing fifty-six canons, and Abtalis, "Acts", containing eighty-one
canons.
The Fetha Negest is the legal compendium of the Church of Ethiopia
containing the canons of the local and general councils of the early church.
This material is apparently a translation, made between the 13th and 15th

45 Roger Beckwith. The Old Testament Canon of the New Testament Church and its Background in
Early Judaism, Grand Rapids, Michigan 1985), 479.
46 R.W. Cowley, "The Biblical Canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church Today" in Ostikirchliche
Studien, 23 (1974), 318-323. In this short article the author has attempted a careful study of the Canon of
the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
47 See text and comments in G. Horner, The Statutes of the Apostles, London 1904.
48 The text has been printed in W. Fell, Canones Apostolorum Aethiopice, Leipzig 1871.
120 THE BIBLE TRANSLATOR (VOL. 44, NO. 1

centuries, of the Nomocanon, a collection of canons of the early church

compiled in the 13th century by the Coptic canonist as-Safi ibn al-Assal.w
4.1. The List of the Books in the Canon
In assessing the present day Canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church one
can evidently notice that it exists in two main forms, i.e, "the Broader
Canon" and "the Narrower Canon". In both forms, the books of the
Bible total eighty-one in number, but both forms arrive at this number
quite differently having different books in their respective lists as shown
in Figure 1 below. Both forms cite Fetha Negest as their main source, but
surprisingly Fetha Negest gives only seventy-three books, forty-six for the
OT and the usual twenty-seven books of the NT, although in the heading to
the chapter it states that the books of the Bible are eighty-one in number.
The OT books enumerated in this legal compendium are the following: the
Law (Pentateuch), Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Judith, the books of the Kings
(four books which include 1 and 2 Samuel), two books of Paralipomenon,
two books of Ezra, Esther, Tobit, two books of Maccabees, Job, Psalms,
five books of Solomon (that is, Proverbs [chs. 1-21], Qohelet [Prov.25-31],
Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs and Wisdom), 16 books of the Prophets of
whom the greater ones are four, namely, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and
Daniel, and the lesser ones are twelve, namely, Hosea, Amos, Micah, Joel,
Obadiah, Jonah, Nahum, Habbakuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and
Malachi. Besides these the list adds as an appendix two other books,
namely, the Wisdom of Jesus, Son of Sirach, and the book of Joseph the
Son of Koryon "which is the further book of Maccabees."
4.1.1 The Broader Canon
In the "broader canon" the numbers of the books of the OT and NT
are 46 and 35 respectively. The main source for this catalogue is the
traditional Amharic Commentary on the Ge'ez text of the Fetha Negest
which states in the introduction that the books of the Scriptures are 81 in
number, but enumerates only 73 books as stated above.v The 46 books of
the OT according to this Commentary are made up as follows: Octateuch
(8), Judith (1), Samuel and Kings (4), Chronicles (2), Esdras and Ezra
Apocalyse (2), Esther (1), Tobit (1), Maccabees (2), Job (1), Psalms (1),
Books of Solomon (5),51 Prophets (16), Ecclesiasticus (1) and Joseph Son
of Koryon (Pseudo-Josephusjtl).»
It is interesting to note here that neither the Fetha Negest nor the
Commentary has included Jubilees or Enoch, the most familiar books in
the Church of Ethiopia, to the list of the Canon.

49 Georg Graf, Geschichte der chris/lichen arabischen Literatur, vol. 2 (Rome, Vatican Library,
1944-53), 402ff; Fetha Negest, Ge'ez and Amharic, Addis Ababa, 1962 E.e. = Ethiopian Calendar;
English translation by Paulos Tzadua, Addis Ababa 1968.
50 Fetha Negest nebabunna tergwamew, Addis Ababa, photo-offset, 1958,41-44.
51 The books of Solomon are: I. Messale (Pr ov, 1-24); 2. Tegsas (Prov. 25-31); 3. Wisdom;
4. Ecclesiastes; and 5. Song of Songs.
52 This book is called in Ge'ez Zen a Ayhud. It is "a history of the Jews in 8 parts, based on the writings
of Josephus." See R.W. Cowley, op. cit., 321. Murad Karnil, ed., Des Josef ben Gorion (Josippon)
Geschichte der Juden, Zena Ayhud, New York 1937.
JANUARY 1993) ETHIOPIAN CANON 121

As regards the books of the New Testament the "broader canon" of

the Commentary on Fetha Negest gives the following 35 books as divinely
inspired: the Gospels (4), Acts (1), the Catholic Epistles (7), The Pauline
Epistles (14) Revelation (1), Sinodos (4), Book of the Covenant (2), The
Three Epistles of Clement (1) and the Didascalia (1).
It seems that the Ethiopian Biblical scholars of the Commentary of
the Ge'ez Fetha Negest have added the last eight books to the canon of
necessity. This is because this official document of the canon law of the
Church has simply given the number of the books of the Scriptures as 81,
but the list is eight books short and does not say why the eight books are
omitted. There is also no indication whether they belong to the OT or
the NT. The scholars seem to be obliged to find some solutions for the
problems and bridge the gap and, therefore, added the above 8 books to
the canon. It must be noted, however, that these books have never been
written or printed with the other canonical books of the NT.
Another source for the broader canon could be found in the work
of Melake-Berhan Admasu Jembere, a distinguished church scholar.» The
list of the books given in this book is similar to that of the Fetha Negest
Commentary, but it reaches the total number of 81 in a different way. In
this list, three other books namely, Enoch, Jubilees and a third book of
Ezra, have been added to the forty-six books of the OT mentioned above
thus raising the total number to forty-nine. This writer has also added to
the universally accepted twenty-seven books of the NT five books, namely,
Sinodos, counted as one book; The Book of the Covenant, divided into,
and counted as, two books.. Didaskalia and Clement, making the total
number of the NT books thirty-two.
A short book containing an interesting article on the Canon of
Scriptures was recently published by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. 54
According to the list of books given in this book, the I number of the
canonical books is determined as forty-six for the OT and thirty-five for
the NT. This is apparently identical to the list given in the Fetha Negest
Commentary. It is interesting to note that, although the book claims to
have been prepared by the holy synod of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church,
there are no official decisions by the Synod on the Canon of the Holy
Scriptures. Since, however, these additional eight books of the NT have
never been published with the other canonical books, there is always some
doubt whether they are really considered as inspired and canonical by the
church.
4.1.2. The Narrower Canon
In this form of the Canon we have fifty-four books for the OT and the usual
twenty-seven books for the NT which together make a total of eighty-one
books for the Bible. The fifty-four books of the OT include the universally

53 M.B. Admasu Jembere, Kwokwha Haimanot, "The Foundation of Faith" (Amharic), Addis Ababa
1949 E.C, 83-86.
54 The Ethiopian Orthodox Church Holy Synod, A Short History, Faith and Order of the Ethiopian
Orthodox Tewahedo Church, (Amharic and English, Addis Ababa 1983), 68-71.
122 THE BIBLE TRANSLATOR (VOL. 44, NO. 1

accepted thirty-nine books which are counted as forty by dividing the

books of Proverbs into two, as mentioned above. Besides, fourteen other
books are included as equally canonical, namely, Enoch, Jubilees, Wisdom,
Ezra Sutuel (Apocalypse), I Esdras, Judith, Tobit, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus),
Baruch, The Rest of Jeremiah, Susanna, The Rest of Daniel, 1 and 2
Maccabees. The books of this canon are found listed in "The Prayer of
the Church, "55 and the whole list is printed in Ge'ez and Amharic diglot in
four large volumes. 56
The "narrower canon" appears to have been somewhat influenced
by Western Churches, whether Roman Catholic or Protestant. Such an
influence can be seen in the way that the OT books are counted and also
in the strict limiting of NT books to twenty-seven.

The major difference between the two forms of canons can be seen in
the NT. As a matter of fact, the two canons are "broader" or "narrower" in
the NT rather than in the OT, because in the "broader canon" eight books
have been added to the universally accepted twenty-seven books of the NT.
In the OT the canons are almost identical with only minor differences of
numeration. The one substantial difference is that the "broader canon"
includes the book of Joseph ben Gorion on the medieval history of the Jews
and other nations into the canon which the "narrower canon" does not do.
Also the "narrower canon" makes direct mention of Ezra-Nehemiah, the
reverse being the case with "the broader canon ".57
Evidently the "narrower canon" has in the OT eight books more than
the "broader canon". This is due to different numeration of some books.
For instance, Ezra and Nehemiah are counted as one book in the "broader
canon" whereas the "narrower canon" reckons them as two. Similarly,
Jeremiah and the additional books of Lamentations, Baruch and the Rest
of Jeremiah are all reckoned as one book in the "broader canon" while
the "narrower canon" has them as three books. In the same way, Daniel,
Susanna and the Rest of Daniel are counted as three in the "narrower
canon" but as one in the "broader canon". The three books of Maccabees
which are counted as two in the "broader canon" by reckoning the second
and third as one book whereas the "narrower canon" reckons them as three
books.

55 Yebele krestian Tselot, Ge'ez and Amharic, Addis Ababa 1936,97-100.

56 Metsehaf Qeddus be'Ge'ezenna be'Amarigna, "The Holy Bible in Ge'ez and Amharic", produced
by photolithography, London, no date.
57 Roger Beckwith, op. cit., 481.
JANUARY 1993) ETHIOPIAN CANON 123

Figure 1. Biblical Canons of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church

The Broader Canon I The Narrower Canon

Old Testament
Octateuch I Octateuch
I Judith Judith
I 1 and 2 Samuel 1 and 2 Samuel
I 1 and 2 Kings 1 and 2 Kings
I 1 and 2 Chronicles 1 and 2 Chronicles
I 1 Esdras Ezra
Ezra Apocalypse Nehemiah
Esther 1 Esdras
Tobit Ezra Sutuel (Apocalypse)
1 and 2 Maccabees Jubilees
Job Enoch
Psalms Esther
Messale (Prov. 1-24) Tobit
Tegsas (Prov. 25-31) 1, 2 and 3 Maccabees
Wisdom Job
Ecclesiastes Psalms
Song of Songs Messale (Prov. 1-24)
16 books of the Prophets Tegsas (Prov. 25-34)
(major and minor) Wisdom
Ecclesiasticus Ecclesiastes
Joseph Son of Koryon Song of Songs
The Prophets
(major and minor - 16 books)
Baruch
The Rest of Jeremiah
Susanna
The Rest of Jeremiah /
I Ecclesiasticus (Sirach)
New Testament
The usual twenty-seven books of I The usual twenty-seven books of the
I the NT I NT only I
I Sinodas (4 books) I I
I Book of Covenant I I
I (2 books) I I
I The 3 Epistles of I I
I Clement (1 book) I I
I Didaskalia (1 book) I I