The Holy Scriptures is one of the two great foundations of the faith. The following are what our Church holds and teaches concerning the Scriptures: The word of God is not contained in the Bible alone, it is to be found in tradition as well. The Sacred Scriptures contain the written words of God, Who is the author of the Old and New Testaments which contain nothing but perfect truth of faith and morals. However, God’s word is not found only in Scriptures; there is an unwritten word of God also, which we call Apostolic Tradition. We accept both with equal veneration.
The canon of the Ethiopian Bible defers both in the Old and in the New Testaments from all other churches. In the New Testament the number of the books is thirty five, divided into:
The Gospels
- Acts
- Paul
- Apostles
- Miscellaneous
The number of 35 N.T Books is obtained by adding to the Western Church New Testament, the eight books of a collection of constitutions and canons of the Church known as SINODOS.
Of the Old Testament canon, the number of the books is forty-six:
The Law
- The Kings
- Solomon
- Prophets
The Ethiopian version of the Old Testament was made from the Septuagint and it includes the Book of Enoch and Baruch.