Biblical Canon in the Orthodox Church

I have lately gotten very confused about which books the Coptic Church accepts in its canon. The books sometimes referred to as deuterocanon are not well defined by the Coptic Church and I haven't found a list except this one to tell what "dueterocanonical" books we accept. I know the Eastern Orthodox accept third Maccabees and 1 Esdras (I think they have Ezra and Nehemiah combined as 2 Esdras), but I haven't got a definitive answer as to whether we accept them into our canon (It never says in the link that we don't accept them).

I assumed we don't accept them because they were not listed in the previous link, however today I was listening to a sermon by Fr. Tadros Y. Malaty, here (Septuagaint Books 1) and at about 3:40 he mentions that (my poor translation from arabic, he is talking about the books Orthodox accept in addition to those accepted by the RCC)


"The Churches which are Orthodox also accept these deuterocanonical books as canonical and they are: 1 Esdras or ... , the Prayer of Manasseh, 3 Maccabees, and Psalm 151"


Can anybody shed light on the situation. I can't find any reasons why we wouldn't accept them. They were also included in the Septuagint and I've yet to see something that says we don't accept them.

Thanks in advance and please pray for me.

Comments

  • we do accept them. if you have the Orthodox Study Bible, they are in them. that is the only bible i know that has all of the books of the Orthodox Church
  • Hey copticuser20,


    I know they are in the Orthodox Study Bible, but the OSB was made by Eastern Orthodox.

    When I got my Orthodox Study Bible, it lead to more confusion, because I'd never seen 3 Maccabees or 1 Esdras in a Deuterocanon list made by a Coptic source. In the first link I provided it wasn't listed amongst the books, it had all of the books in my OSB except 1 Esdras and 3 Maccabees, which is the reason for my confusion.

  • anybody? Any help is appreciated, even if its just an opinion.

    thanks and please pray for me.
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