Why do ethiopoian christians have extra books in their bible?

Question

Jubilees, Book of Enoch, the Shepherd of Hermas, 1 Clement, Acts of Paul... did they not agree with the rest of the council on which books are inspiried?

Answer 1

The Ethiopian church has always been independent.
FYI The Coptic Church, Armenian Church, and Marionite Churches have been independant since ancient times also.
The Council of Nicea, while standardizing the usage of the text, not through force, but conciliation and scholarly studies; sought foremost to squelch the Arian and Nestorian heresies.

Answer 2

Correcting some current mythology: Nicea did not "decide" the canon of scripture. It had *largely* formed a century before Nicea, and wasn't *finally* formed for a generation after Nicea (the canon council was Gangra, and that was a local, not an ecumenical, council. In the east, its decisions were not recognized as universally binding until the seventh century).

Ethiopia was very distant, and in 451, after the Council of Chalcedon, it joined the minority Miaphysite movement and was isolated still further from the rest of the church. So it never got its canon "corrected" by the consensus that was reached elsewhere.

The Slavonic bible also has peculiar OT texts -- 3 and 4 Maccabees, for example.

EDIT:

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is not "independent." It is part of the communion of Oriental Orthodox Churches, which includes the Coptic, Syrian, Armenian, and Malankarese Orthodox Churches. All of these Churches maintain the same Miaphysite doctrine, communion in the sacraments, mutual recognition, etc.

EDIT AGAIN:

And the Maronite Church is *not* independent; it is in communion with the See of Rome. It is the Maronite *Catholic* Church.

Answer 3

Not all Christians followed the will of the Council or the Roman Catholic authorities.

Answer 4

It was very arbitrary and paternalistic for the Council of Mycenae to choose what documents should be included in the 'bible'....