Kia ora e te whānau. When we look at the 81 books of the ancient Ethiopian Bible, we aren't just looking at history, we are looking at a list of guarantees from the Creator for our lives here in the North. I wanted to make this as clear as possible, so I’ve put together a visual map that lists every single promise in plain language. No complicated jargon, just the truth of what God has said and how we can grab hold of it today.

The Promises We Can Stand On

• Our research has identified four main areas where God has made specific commitments to us:
  Nature and the Environment: God promises that the seasons will always continue and that the earth will never be destroyed by floods again. He guarantees that the stars and the natural world will follow the paths He set for them, and that the land will provide food and resources for us through His grace. He also promises us a rhythm of sacred rest to keep us in sync with Him.

A Wider View

When we think about the Bible, most of us are used to the 66 books found in the standard Protestant version or perhaps the 73 in the Catholic tradition. But for the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOTC), the library has always been larger, encompassing a total of 81 books. This is not just a historical detail, it is a statement about the richness of God’s communication with us. The EOTC has carefully preserved this "Full Library" through centuries of upheaval, keeping these texts safe in remote monasteries to serve as a repository of national and religious identity.

Kia ora e te whānau. It is a privilege to share this journey with you. There is a deep, ancient connection between the highlands of Ethiopia and the hills of our own Te Tai Tokerau, one that is woven together through the power of the Word and the continuity of the Spirit.

The Hidden Gems

This expansive canon includes books like Enoch, Jubilees, and the three books of Meqabyan. These are not "extra" stories, they are essential components of a worldview that sees the entire universe as a "Woven Universe," where the celestial and the earthly are deeply entangled. In these pages, we find a detailed cosmology and a focus on ancestral continuity that feels incredibly familiar to our Māori way of being. By reclaiming these books, we are not looking for a "new" faith, but rather the full version of the "Pure Source" that has been largely obscured by Western traditions.