110 4th Artifact
Ethiopic Bible:
One thing that is really well known about the Ethiopic-Ge’ez language is the version of the Bible that is held. Instead of the standard 66 book King James Version or even the more abundant Catholic Church version there are 81 books in the Ge’ez Bible. This is due to the different history of Christianity that occurred in the East versus the West. There were different influences and even different ways books were canonized.
The Bible is a central part of the church service and specifically the gospels.
Once the Gospel reading is done during the service, it is wrapped in an honorific wrap and the young boys who are learning to be deacons walk around with the book so that people can kiss it. There is one boy who holds the large book and one who follows behind the first holding an ornate umbrella. The gospel is large and also adorned with icons of Jesus Christ and a goldish metal cover. People wait in anticipation to touch it and older women bow down for the boy to lay it on their back. Others lift their shawl from their head as a sign of respect before they kiss the book.
Many older versions of the Bible have many paintings and drawings in them that depict the happenings of the bible. The oldest versions are kept and guarded in churches in Ethiopia and Eritrea but also in museums around the world.
Likewise partial manuscripts are kept. In the British Library there is one manuscript that is part of the Magdala Collection, which was given to the British Museum Library in 1868 by the Secretary of State for India. The volume retains its original wooden bindings covered with stamped leather and lined with silk. Images like these lay hidden in them.
Most of the 81 books are with the addition of Old Testament books vut there are some in the New Testament. In more detail: “Some sources speak of the Broader Canon, which has never been published as a single compilation but is said to include all of the Narrower Canon, as well as additional New Testament books said to have been used by the early church: two Books of the Covenant, four Books of Sinodos, an Epistle of Peter to Clement—also known as "Ethiopic Clement," and the Ethiopic Didascalia. These may not all bear close resemblance to works with similar titles known in the West. An eight-part, Ethiopic version of the history of the Jewish people written by Joseph ben Gorion, known as the 'Pseudo-Josephus' is considered part of the broader canon, though it would be considered an Old Testament work.”
As we can see there is a lot of discussion around this from international scholars and the topic is vast.
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