How does the Ethiopian Orthodox broader canon compare with the Catholic canon in size?
The desk
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church's broader canon traditionally counts 81 books, making it larger than the 73-book canon of the Catholic Church.
| Tradition | Total Books | Notable Old Testament Inclusions | New Testament |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catholic | 73 | Deuterocanonicals: Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, 1–2 Maccabees | 27 books |
| Ethiopian Orthodox (Broader) | 81 | 1 Enoch, Jubilees, 1–3 Meqabyan, and sometimes Josippon | 35 books (27 standard + 8 books of church order) |
The Catholic canon was formally defined as 73 books, binding under anathema, at the Fourth Session of the Council of Trent (April 8, 1546). This council ratified the lists of earlier regional councils, such as Hippo (393) and Carthage (397). The Catholic Old Testament includes the deuterocanonical books, such as the Greek 1–2 Maccabees, while placing texts like 1–2 Esdras and the Prayer of Manasseh in an appendix outside the canon.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo canon settled differently. Its Old Testament features several works absent from the Catholic Bible, most notably 1 Enoch and Jubilees. It also includes 1–3 Meqabyan (Ethiopian Maccabees); these are entirely different works from the Greek 1–2 Maccabees found in Catholic Bibles.
While the Catholic New Testament rests on the standard 27-book list first matched exactly in Athanasius's 39th Festal Letter (367), the "broader" form of the Ethiopian canon expands the New Testament by adding eight books of church order. These are four sections of the Sinodos, two divisions of the Book of the Covenant (Mäshafä Kidan), Ethiopic Clement (Qälëmentos), and the Ethiopic Didascalia.
For standard scholarly treatment of how the 81 books are counted, see R. W. Cowley, "The Biblical Canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church Today" (1974).