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What are the Deuterocanonical and broader canon books in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church?
Executive Summary
The core claim across sources is that the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church recognizes a significantly larger biblical corpus than most Western churches, commonly cited as 81 books in its mainstream canon and sometimes as many as 88 when broader liturgical and pseudepigraphal works are counted [1] [2]. Sources agree that the Ethiopian canon incorporates well‑known deuterocanonical books — Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach — and distinctive inclusions such as 1 Enoch, Jubilees, and the three Meqabyan books, while some accounts add liturgical canons and historical works to form a broader collection [2] [1] [3].
1. What the competing claims actually say and why they matter
Multiple analyses assert that the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo biblical corpus is unique because it divides scripture into a narrower canon (core Old and New Testaments consistent with early Christian protocanon plus many deuterocanonical works) and a broader canon that incorporates additional books used in teaching and liturgy [1] [3]. The narrower Old Testament as reported includes the full Hebrew protocanon and most Catholic deuterocanonical books but uniquely incorporates Jubilees, 1 Enoch, Paralipomena of Jeremiah, and the three Meqabyan books, items absent from Western canons [1] [4]. The broader canon, as described by some sources, adds ecclesiastical manuals and historical compilations — for example Sinodos, Didascalia, Josippon, and various epistles or apocrypha — which some compilations count toward larger totals like 81 or 88 [1] [3].
2. Recent source landscape: dates, emphases, and provenance
Recent commercial editions and project pages date to the 2020s and present two recurring figures: 81 books is the most frequently cited canonical count in contemporary print and project materials, while marketing or popular claims sometimes state 88 based on inclusions of supplementary liturgical texts [2] [5] [6]. Scholarly summaries and reference articles updated in 2025 frame the Orthodox Tewahedo canon as divided into narrow and broader lists and explicitly name the canonical oddities — Enoch, Jubilees, Meqabyan — distinguishing them from Catholic and Protestant deuterocanonical suites [1] [7]. Commercial listings such as recent English editions emphasize accessibility and inclusion of these texts but do not always standardize which peripheral works are counted as canonical [2] [5].
3. Where sources converge and what is reliably established
All sources converge on several secure points: the Ethiopian canon is larger and more diverse than Western canons; 1 Enoch and Jubilees occupy canonical status; the New Testament follows the standard 27‑book protocanon while the Old Testament includes additional, often pseudepigraphal books; and many modern English editions and church projects present an 81‑book corpus as the working canonical total [1] [2] [4]. This consensus establishes a stable baseline: the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church preserves texts outside the Catholic and Protestant traditions and treats them with canonical authority in liturgy and theology [1] [4].
4. Points of genuine disagreement and methodological gaps
Disagreement centers on which extra texts should be counted as canonical and whether liturgical manuals and ecclesiastical collections belong in “the Bible.” Some sources count Sinodos, Didascalia, Josippon, and the Book of Jubilees among canonical items to reach higher totals such as 81 or 88, while others reserve “canon” for scriptural books and treat these works as canonical‑adjacent or ecclesiastical [1] [3] [2]. Publication pages and commercial editions often conflate editorial inclusions with church‑defined canon, creating inflation in popular counts [5] [6]. The absence of a universally published, church‑sanctioned list in modern print contributes to counting discrepancies and leaves room for divergent presentations across publishers and projects [3] [2].
5. Practical takeaway and where to read next
For readers seeking a practical, authoritative summary: treat 81 books as the standard scholarly and church‑project figure for the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo canon, recognize that 1 Enoch, Jubilees, and Meqabyan are canonical for this tradition, and expect a broader set of ecclesiastical writings sometimes appended in popular editions that expand counts toward 88 [1] [2] [5]. Consult recent project editions and reference summaries from 2024–2025 for compiled English translations and publisher notes to see exactly which texts each edition includes; expect variation in peripheral inclusions and explicit labeling indicating whether a work is treated as scriptural or ecclesiastical [2] [1].