How many books in OT does CoE accept as canon?

[Havah]

Shlama all,

I found the POT manuscripts have different no. of books.

So....how many books does your church accept as canonical in OT?

[Christina]

Shlama Havah,

I've actually asked this question a couple times both here and on the Assyrian Church forum, and I'm STILL waiting for an answer!

Interestingly when you look at the CoE lectionary (past & present) they actually use the Apocrypha quite sparingly, I've examined 4 CoE lectionaries and the only Apocryphal readings featured are from:

1) Wisdom
2) Ben Sirah
3) The Song of the 3 Young Men (from Apocryphal Daniel)

Here are the links to the 4 lectionaries:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.bombaxo.com/burkitt.html">http://www.bombaxo.com/burkitt.html</a><!-- m --> (earliest)
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.bombaxo.com/forty.html">http://www.bombaxo.com/forty.html</a><!-- m -->
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.bombaxo.com/azizael.html">http://www.bombaxo.com/azizael.html</a><!-- m -->
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.bombaxo.com/eastsyrall.html">http://www.bombaxo.com/eastsyrall.html</a><!-- m --> (apparently the modern one in use today)

I know this doesn't explain all those apocryphal books in the Ambrosiana Codex, but perhaps that codex is just a collection of both cannonical (i.e. fit for liturgical use) and non-cannonical (i.e. never read in church but used for other purposes) books, or perhaps they don't really have a fixed OT cannon, or perhaps their OT changed from time to time. I don't know, like I said I'm still waiting for confirmation.

[Sami Rabia]

Shlama Khati Christina

Have you seen this?
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.acoeyouth.org/Learn/catechism/cat.html">http://www.acoeyouth.org/Learn/catechism/cat.html</a><!-- m -->

In Chapter 4 we read:

7) We number how many books for the Old Testament?
According to the earliest records of The Church, we have a system of numbering which may confuse the faithful; however let us state that there are a total of 46 books of the Old Testament. The early Church Fathers number a total of 22 Old Testament books, having arrived at that particular, number agreeing with the Jerusalem Jewish community, who had so reckoned them with the ancient original ???Hebrew??? tongue.

<!-- s8) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/cool.gif" alt="8)" title="Cool" /><!-- s8) --> Why do we need to assent to the Jewish Jerusalem reckoning of these books?
We refer you to the writings of St Paul the Treasurer of the Church, where he states in the Epistle to the Roman Church, ??? . . much every way: chiefly, because that, unto them was committed the oracles of God.??? (3:2), which is by interpretation, meaning simply, that The Holy Writings of the Old Testament had been received from the Hebrew Church (in Jerusalem) by the Christian Church of the New Testament of Jerusalem

9) How do the Church Fathers of the early Church enumerate The Books of the Old Testament?
1, The Book of Genesis;
2, The Book of Exodus;
3, The Book of Leviticus;
4, The Book of Numbers;
5, The Book of Deuteronomy;
6, The Book of Joshua, son of Nun;
7, The Book of Judges, and with it as an appendix
The Book of Ruth;
8, The I & II Books of Kings, as two parts of one book;
9, The III and IV Books of Kings;
10, The I and II Paralipomenon (I & II Chronicles);
11, The I Book of Esdras, and the II or, as it is
Named in Nehemiah;
12, The Book of Esther;
13, The Book of Job;
14, The Psalms;
15, The Proverbs of Solomon;
16, The Ecclesiastes, also by Solomon;
17, The Song of Songs, also by Solomon;
18, The Book of the Prophet Isaiah;
19, The Book of Jeremiah;
20, The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel;
21, The Book of the Prophet Daniel;
22, The Book of the Twelve Prophets.

10) We have other Old Testament Books, but they are not noted here, such as The Wisdom of the son of Sirach, and of others, why?
These books do not exist in the Hebrew language, but they are in the Greek texts.

11) How does the Church of the East regard these other books which are not included in the original Hebrew?
St Athanasis, as a Church Father, had declared that these books were included in the reading requirements of the proselytes who are preparing for admission into the Holy Church through Holy Baptism.

On Esdras you could see: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_Esdras">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_Esdras</a><!-- m --> for some basic info

Shlama amkoon

Sami

[aranbaryaaqub]

Shlama,

This is a quote from the Nestorian Church: A Concise History of Nestorian Christianity in Asia from the Persian Schism to the Modern Assyrians by Aubrey R. Vine. 1937. It can be downloaded from here: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.archive.org/details/MN41565ucmf_1">http://www.archive.org/details/MN41565ucmf_1</a><!-- m -->

As to the Bible, under missionary influence they
were tending to accept and use the canon of Western
Christendom,1 though the true Syriac canon is somewhat
smaller. Ebedyeshu, metropolitan of Nisibis,
gives: the Four Gospels, Acts, the Epistle of James,
i Peter, i John, fourteen Epistles of Paul (inclusive of
Hebrews). He also adds the Diatessaron of Tatian. 2
The most significant omission is the Apocalypse.
Ebedyeshu's list, apart from his apparent reauthorization
of the Diatessaron, is the same as the
canon of the Syriac Peshitta, which dates from about
420.

[Nimrod Warda]

Hello all,

I don't like wikipedia generally, but this can be helpful for comparitive purposes. Please make note of the footnotes and astricts.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_canon">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_canon</a><!-- m -->

Please also take this into concideration.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/?p=5135">http://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/?p=5135</a><!-- m -->

Regards,

-Nimrod Warda-