I mean, it’s not like the bible I’ve grown up knowing. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church has a broader biblical canon than other Christian traditions. While many of the books are shared with Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant canons (or are included in some churches’ deuterocanon or apocrypha), some books are unique to the Ethiopian canon.
The books that are distinctively considered canonical in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church’s Old Testament include:
Paralipomena of Jeremiah.
Jubilees·
1 Enoch.
1, 2, and 3 Meqabyan (Ethiopian Maccabees): These three books share a name with the Books of Maccabees in other canons, but they are different works with distinct narratives, and they originated in Ethiopia.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church also has a broader canon, which includes an additional group of books, mostly works of Church Order, that are not considered biblical scripture in other traditions. These can include:
Books of the Covenant
Ethiopic Clement
Didascalia
It’s important to note that the total number of books can vary slightly depending on how certain books (like the books of Proverbs, Ezra, and New Testament Church Order books) are counted or grouped within the Ethiopian tradition, often resulting in a total of 81 or sometimes 88 books. The book of Acts is included in the Ethiopian Bible, which is important to Queer scholars because Acts chapter features an Ethiopian eunuch’s conversion, and that story is important in the Ethiopian church tradition. Simeon Bachos is the name tradition gives to the Ethiopian Eunuch who interacted with the Deacon Philip in Acts 8. Simeon Bachos was a high-ranking official in the court of the Ethiopian Queen & is considered by Queer theologians and hermeneuticists to be a Queer figure (gay or non-binary by today’s understandings). He was baptized by Philip. In 2022, he became a saint in the Episcopal Church.
