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At a glance
- Traditional author
- Church-order / post-resurrection discourse tradition
- Traditional date
- Early Christian; Ethiopic Mäshafä Kidan tradition
- Traditional audience
- EOTC broader NT (official item 33)
Listed in: Ethiopian 81.
Meaning of II Book of Dominos (Book of the Covenant II)
Second Book of Dominos in the EOTC broader New Testament.
Traditional understanding
The second Book of the Covenant in the Ethiopian Orthodox New Testament: the risen Lord's discourse with his apostles in Galilee after the resurrection.
Historical context
Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo broader canon (46 OT + 35 NT) as published at ethiopianorthodox.org.
Setting of the writing
Ethiopic Book of the Covenant tradition Received in Ethiopic Christian tradition as counted Scripture or related literature.
Literary shape
Church-order or historical book in the EOTC broader-canon enumeration, received as Scripture in that list rather than in the Western 66.
Themes
- covenant
- resurrection teaching
- discipleship
II Book of Dominos (Book of the Covenant II) chapter by chapter
II Book of Dominos · Book II
II Book of Dominos (Book of the Covenant II) 1 — What sort of presbyterII Book of Dominos 29
A presbyter is ordained on the testimony of all the people: skilled in reading, meek, poor, no lover of money, proven in care of the weak, a father to orphans, never cold toward the church, worthy that fitting things be revealed to him and that he receive a gift of healing.
Meaning: The second book opens by multiplying the bishop’s virtues into a college. Reading, poverty, and care of the weak are the presbyter’s credentials.
II Book of Dominos (Book of the Covenant II) 2 — Ordaining a presbyterII Book of Dominos 30
The priestly company conducts him; the bishop lays a hand on his head while presbyters touch him. The prayer asks for the unaging Spirit of the presbyterate, recalling Moses’ elders, that this man may feed the people, bear the cross, and offer doxology day and night. Priests and people give him the peace.
Meaning: Presbyterate is shared Spirit, not a private promotion. The Mosaic elders stand behind every laying-on of hands.
II Book of Dominos (Book of the Covenant II) 3 — A presbyter’s workII Book of Dominos 31
He is to be constant at the altar, rest only sometimes, fast, visit parishes if it is revealed, take no anxious thought for food, prove hearts, pull up tares, teach with fear, not cast pearls before swine, visit the sick with the deacon, and confirm new catechumens. Signs of fruitful hearers—tears, watching, love—are contrasted with sloth and love of pleasure.
Meaning: Teaching is judged by fruit in others. The presbyter stands before God for the words he spoke, so vanity in the pulpit is a soul’s danger.
II Book of Dominos (Book of the Covenant II) 4 — The daily hymn of priestsII Book of Dominos 32
Each priest says the daily hymn of praise in his time: grace, praise, thanksgiving to the Father who by the cross brought the old man back to incorruption, and a triple hymn that names love-feasts, gifts, and the church’s right government. At midnight the more perfect give praise, because the Lord rising praised his Father then.
Meaning: Office is a voice in a daily choir. Midnight links the clergy’s clock to Easter night.
II Book of Dominos (Book of the Covenant II) 5 — Deacons as the church’s eyeII Book of Dominos 33
The deacon is chosen for purity, one wife if married, not entangled in business. He does only what the bishop commands, counsels the clergy, visits the sick and strangers, fathers orphans, searches seashore and guest house for the dead or needy, clothes the departed, and on Sunday reports all to the bishop. Twelve presbyters, seven deacons, fourteen subdeacons, and thirteen sitting widows are to be known; the chief deacon keeps the guest house in white.
Meaning: Diaconate is the church’s mobility. Numbers fix a full household; the deacon’s honor is that no hidden misery escapes the bishop’s week.
II Book of Dominos (Book of the Covenant II) 6 — The deacon’s litanyII Book of Dominos 34
Before the Eucharist the deacon bids all to their places, sends catechumens out, and leads a long bidding prayer: for peace, faith, the bishop, presbyterate, deacons, presbyteresses, travelers, the persecuted, the fallen asleep, and the fallen. After he commemorates, the bishop completes and the people say Amen.
Meaning: The mysteries are framed by the whole world’s need. A deacon who only keeps order has not yet prayed his office.
II Book of Dominos (Book of the Covenant II) 7 — Latecomers and the shut doorII Book of Dominos 35
The deacon inspects who enters, lest a spy search out the church’s liberty. Anyone late for dawn praise or the offering remains outside—a type of the judgment—and must not knock. After the first hymn, the faithful may enter and the people are asked to pray for the late brother’s earnestness. Cases of violence against a woman are investigated; a faithful rapist is barred from communion even if he repents, while a catechumen may be baptized after repentance.
Meaning: Time and door are moral. Lateness images the last day, and sexual violence is treated as a bar that cheap repentance cannot buy past.
II Book of Dominos (Book of the Covenant II) 8 — Ordaining a deacon; honoring confessorsII Book of Dominos 36
The bishop alone lays a hand on the deacon, who is appointed for attendance, not priesthood; the prayer asks a spirit of earnestness and love of orphans and widows. A confessor who suffered bonds for the Name already has clerical honor without diaconal or presbyteral laying-on of hands, though a bishopric still requires it.
Meaning: Service and suffering are two roads of honor. The testament will not make martyrdom a shortcut to the high priesthood, nor treat the deacon as a junior priest.
II Book of Dominos (Book of the Covenant II) 9 — Widows who sit in frontII Book of Dominos 37
A widow is chosen only after long continence and proof: children raised in holiness, love of strangers, ceaseless prayer, poverty, and a life at the altar. She instructs disobedient women, proves deaconesses, visits the sick with deacons, and if she has goods gives them to the poor. At the altar entrance the bishop quietly prays a spirit of power and meekness over her.
Meaning: These widows are an order, not a charity list. Their intercession is called the church’s altar, and their silence in assembly is paired with real teaching authority among women.
II Book of Dominos (Book of the Covenant II) 10 — The widow’s solitude and hymnsII Book of Dominos 38
After appointment she remains solitary, praising at night and dawn, honoring the altar when menstruous, not fasting in Pentecost, giving to the poor at Pascha. With like-minded virgins she says Amen to quiet night and dawn hymns that bless the God of the poor and ask to be perfected as a Christian handmaid.
Meaning: Widowhood is a clock of praise. The testament gives them words, not only duties, so their solitude is ecclesial rather than empty.
II Book of Dominos (Book of the Covenant II) 11 — Subdeacons, readers, virgins, giftsII Book of Dominos 39
A chaste subdeacon is charged on Sunday to hear the gospel, keep purity, and not neglect prayer and fasts. A reader is instituted by receiving the book, without laying-on of hands, and warned to seek a higher degree. Male and female virgins are not appointed by man but separate themselves, living as on a cross, teaching new faithful; women virgins cover their hair. Visible gifts of healing, knowledge, or tongues receive honor without a hand laid on them.
Meaning: Not every ministry is an ordination. Book, vow, and charism each have their own recognition, so the church neither clericalizes every gift nor leaves service untitled.
II Book of Dominos (Book of the Covenant II) 12 — Examining those who come to hearII Book of Dominos 40
Newcomers are first examined at home: motive, quietness of life, marriage, and whether a slave’s master consents. A slave fleeing in hatred is cast out; a faithful master’s refusal of witness also bars him. The unmarried are steered from fornication toward lawful marriage; those tormented by a demon do not hear until cleansed.
Meaning: Access to the word is morally screened. The church will not grow by swallowing unstable motives or unresolved bondage.
II Book of Dominos (Book of the Covenant II) 13 — Trades that must ceaseII Book of Dominos 41
Brothel-keepers, idol-makers, charioteers, wrestlers, idol priests, soldiers who will not quit killing, magicians, and astrologers are refused until they abandon the craft. A schoolmaster of worldly wisdom may be excused if he has no other living. A concubine who educates her children and is joined in true marriage may hear and be baptized; otherwise she is rejected.
Meaning: Baptism has a social cost. The testament refuses to baptize the empire’s violent and sacral trades while they are still being practiced.
II Book of Dominos (Book of the Covenant II) 14 — Three years, then prayer apartII Book of Dominos 42
Instruction normally lasts not less than three years, yet a meek and laboring hearer may be baptized sooner, because will of faith outweighs the clock. Catechumens pray apart and leave before the New Testament is read to the faithful; women stand by themselves, girls by order, heads covered without showy adornment. After prayer the bishop lays a hand on them; a catechumen killed for the Name without the laver is justified in his own blood.
Meaning: Time forms desire, but martyrdom can outrun the calendar. The split assembly teaches that hearing the gospel is already a graded closeness to the mysteries.
II Book of Dominos (Book of the Covenant II) 15 — Chosen for the laverII Book of Dominos 43
Those chosen for baptism are proved: have they honored widows, visited the sick, walked in meekness? They are exorcised daily and baptized at Pascha. In the last week the bishop exorcises each alone; the impure are removed. They wash on Thursday, fast Friday and Saturday; on Saturday night a long exorcism drives off every unclean spirit before they are sealed on brow, nose, heart, and ears.
Meaning: Election to the font is ethical and spiritual scrutiny. The church will not wash a life it has not first tried, or a spirit it has not first named.
II Book of Dominos (Book of the Covenant II) 16 — Renouncing and dippingII Book of Dominos 44
In forty days the people vigil in the temple; on the last Saturday those to be baptized bring one loaf. In pure flowing water, babes then men then women go down, leaving gold behind. Turned west they renounce Satan and are anointed with exorcised oil; turned east they submit to the Trinity. A presbyter baptizes with a hand on them in three immersions—Father, Son born of Mary and crucified, Holy Spirit and church—then anoints with thanksgiving oil; women are anointed by the sitting widows under a veil.
Meaning: The body turns, strips, and sinks. Faith is a west-to-east drama, and women’s dignity is guarded even in the water.
II Book of Dominos (Book of the Covenant II) 17 — Hand, oil, and the SpiritII Book of Dominos 45
In the church the bishop lays a hand on the newly baptized, asking that those cleansed in the laver of second birth be filled with the Holy Spirit to serve in holiness. He pours oil, anointing them as soldiers with perfect faith, seals the forehead, and gives the peace; each answers, And with thy spirit.
Meaning: Water is not the end of initiation. The Spirit’s invocation makes the washed into the church’s own, marked for a lifelong soldiering.
II Book of Dominos (Book of the Covenant II) 18 — Their first EucharistII Book of Dominos 46
They now pray with all the people. Bread is offered as a type of the Lord’s body; the cup mixed of wine and water signs blood and laver. The giver says the Body of Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost, for healing of soul and body; the receiver says Amen. The newly baptized are taught good works and, after baptism, the resurrection—which was kept from them before as a new name. A deacon does not communicate a presbyter, but may baptize if no presbyter is present.
Meaning: First communion completes the night. Resurrection teaching after the font shows how tightly the testament binds secret, table, and new life.
II Book of Dominos (Book of the Covenant II) 19 — The lamp, Pascha’s end, PentecostII Book of Dominos 47
Gifts for widows and the poor must be delivered the same day or the next with an added gift, for the bread of the poor must not be held back. On Thursday of the last paschal week bread and cup are offered and the lamp is brought in with psalms and Hallelujah. Pascha ends at Saturday midnight; in Pentecost no one fasts or kneels, and laborers may refresh themselves, as on every first day.
Meaning: Calendar and alms interpret each other. Joy has dates, and delayed charity is already a kind of theft.
II Book of Dominos (Book of the Covenant II) 20 — Feast, firstfruits, and inheritancesII Book of Dominos 48
At a supper the shepherd blesses portions; catechumens do not receive, nor does one praise or eat with a teacher of heathenism. Guests eat with gravity, leaving leftovers as food of the saints, juniors after elders, speaking only when asked. Firstfruits go to the bishop for blessing—fruit, flower, rose, and lily, not vegetables. The childless give much to the poor; parents who die leave goods to the church for their children; a virgin who keeps the unmarried state may give all and abide in the church.
Meaning: Tables and inheritances are churchly. Property is measured by orphans, prisoners, and the poor, not by a private estate that ignores the household of faith.
II Book of Dominos (Book of the Covenant II) 21 — Paschal nights and the new foodII Book of Dominos 49
Nothing strangled or sacrificed to idols is eaten. In the last paschal days prayers match the hymns, lections run long, and readers keep people from sleep, for Saturday night figures the kingdom. Widows, virgins, and the newly baptized stay in the temple till dawn; the bishop commands that no one taste food until the offering is completed. The sick receive the sacrament from deacons or deaconesses.
Meaning: The great night is a rehearsal of the kingdom. Fasting toward the table, and carrying the table to the sick, keep the feast from becoming a private breakfast.
II Book of Dominos (Book of the Covenant II) 22 — The bishop visits the sickII Book of Dominos 50
Cases of sickness are taken to the bishop so that, if it seem good, he may visit. A sick person is much comforted when the high priest remembers him, especially when the sick one is faithful.
Meaning: Oversight includes the bedchamber. A church that only gathers the strong has forgotten its own deaconal eye.
II Book of Dominos (Book of the Covenant II) 23 — Voices answering the psalmsII Book of Dominos 51
When psalms are sung in church, virgins and boys respond. In a house, two or three answer one another; the men do likewise.
Meaning: Psalmody is shared speech, not a solo performance. Even domestic prayer keeps the antiphonal shape of the assembly.
II Book of Dominos (Book of the Covenant II) 24 — Clothing the deadII Book of Dominos 52
If a poor man dies, providers furnish clothing; if a stranger has no grave, those who have land—or the church—give a place and shroud. Goods of a man who did not leave them to the church are held a year and then given to the poor for his soul. Deacons see to embalming with a presbyter present; a graveyard keeper is supported by the church so visitors are not burdened.
Meaning: Death does not dissolve membership. The church’s last charity is ground, cloth, and a remembered soul, not a grab of leftover property.
II Book of Dominos (Book of the Covenant II) 25 — Hours that remember the crossII Book of Dominos 53
The faithful rise at dawn, wash, and pray, then go to work. The third hour recalls the nailing; the sixth, darkness over the daylight; the ninth, blood and water from the side; evening images the resurrection’s next day; midnight and dawn again praise the rising. A believing spouse still keeps the hours; the chaste do not lessen them, joining the praise of lights, angels, and all nature.
Meaning: The day’s clock is a passion clock. Ordinary labor is punctuated so that no hour is secular in a church waiting for the end.
II Book of Dominos (Book of the Covenant II) 26 — Teach one another and keep the tableII Book of Dominos 54
If the faithful do these things, teaching one another and advancing catechumens, they will not perish; the Lord will be among them. They are to partake of the Eucharist before other food, that they may be incapable of injury. Keeping this teaching, they will be saved and heresy will not prevail. He reminds them of all he commanded before he suffered, and charges John, Andrew, and Peter to deliver the testament to the nations.
Meaning: The rule is a shared pedagogy against heresy. Daily communion and mutual teaching are how a church stays inside the words of the departing Lord.
II Book of Dominos (Book of the Covenant II) 27 — Taken up; copies sent from JerusalemII Book of Dominos 55
The apostles fall down and worship, asking to be made like him. After he teaches and shows miracles, he is taken up, giving them tranquillity. John, Peter, and Matthew write the testament and send copies from Jerusalem by Dositheus, Silas, Magnus, and Aquila to all dioceses.
Meaning: The farewell returns to Easter’s close: ascension, then a written sending. Church order is treated as apostolic mail, meant for every diocese that still watches for the end.