Ethiopia's Secret: The Persian Books Rome Rejected
The Oldest Christian Church Kept What Rome Threw Away When Rome compiled the Christian Bible in the 4th century, they excluded certain books. These texts were declared non-canonical, suppressed, and in some cases destroyed. But not everywhere. Ethiopia kept them. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church — the oldest continuous Christian church in the world — preserved books that Rome rejected. And those books contain exactly what you'd expect: heavy Persian apocalyptic content that makes the Zoroastrian origins too obvious.
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The Oldest Christian Church Kept What Rome Threw Away When Rome compiled the Christian Bible in the 4th century, they excluded certain books. These texts were declared non-canonical, suppressed, and in some cases destroyed. But not everywhere. Ethiopia kept them. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church — the oldest continuous Christian church in the world — preserved books that Rome rejected. And those books contain exactly what you'd expect: heavy Persian apocalyptic content that makes the Zoroastrian origins too obvious. Ethiopia is living proof of what Christianity looked like before Rome sanitized it. The Ethiopian Canon While Western Christianity uses 66 books (Protestant) or 73 books (Catholic), the Ethiopian Orthodox Church has 81 books in its biblical canon. The additional books include: 1. The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch) The most significant text Rome rejected but Ethiopia preserved.
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Dead Sea Scrolls · Old Testament · New Testament
