Description

The Senodos is one of the largest works in the Ethiopic literature. Probably translated in different times from more Arabic "Vorlagen" and partially arranged according to the Pseudo-apostolic literary gender, it is one of the big canon law collections of the Christian Oriental Churches. In Ethiopia it was the main source of Canon Law and the most authoritative work in ecclesiastical matter since the end of the XIII up to the middle of the XVII century. The Senodos strongly affected the religious history of the early Solomonic Ethiopia and played a particular role in the birth of new religious trends in the crucial centuries from its first appearing (XIII century) up to king Zar'a Ya'qob's age (1434-1468). The present book presents the first critical edition of ten of the eleven texts of the Pseudo-apostolic section of the work (about 90 % of the text is inedited). The critical edition is based on a total average of more than 30 mss. and tries to restore the oldest text and to provide rich evidence of its history. The translation is furnished with references to quotations of the Senodos in other Ethiopic works as well as comparison with the Arabic text.