Fékkare Iyäsus - ፍካሬ ፡ ኢየሱስ ።

A book of the Beta Israel Secondary Canon.
A text originating with Ethiopian Christians. Both versions speak of the coming of a Messiah named Teodoros.
The Beta Israel version is attributed to the author of the Book of Sirach, while the EOTC version is attributed to Jesus of Nazareth.

Canonical Versions

Version Modern or critical edition Selected manuscript/s

Fékkare Iyäsu:
The Explanation of Jesus ben Sirach
- in Ge'ez		 ፍካሬ ፡ ኢያሱ ፡ ወልደ ፡ ሲራክ ።

(while no example of the Beta Israel recension of this text has been reported in academic literature to my knowledge, see e.g. Kaplan, 1999, Fekkare Iyasus is appended to a Beta Israel copy of the book of Exodus in the NLI. This bears further study.)		 NLI Or. 67
(same in black and white.)

(While the ms. is misidentified as Christian in the notes on the NLI, it is correctly identified as Beta Israel by THEOT, as can be confirmed in the Hebrew-language notes on provenance at the NLI and by examining the ms. itself.)

Non-Canonical Versions

Version Modern or critical edition Selected manuscript/s

Fékkare Iyäsus:
The Explanation of Jesus of Nazareth
- in Ge'ez
(Note: The difference in the beginning of the text between Cod. Aeth. 39 and the other mss. I have seen perhaps suggests the existence of two recensions; one exclusively Christian, the other shared between Beta Israel and Christian communities. This might be backed up by Conte Rossini's note that two recensions exist.)		ፍካሬ ፡ ኢየሱስ ።

(Note: Given this text's popularity, I would be surprised if no printed edition in Ge'ez exists, however I have been unable to find one.)		 ÖNB Cod. Aethiop. 39 (17th-18th c.)
(more clearly attributes the text to Jesus of Nazareth than other mss.);
IES 724 (18th c.) [p: 5];
EMDA 428 (19th c.) [p: 99]

Significantly related biblical texts:

The Book of Sirach (inspiration for the Beta Israel attribution of this text).


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