St Frumentius, Abuna Salama

Ethiopians date the coming of Christianity to Ethiopia to the fourth century AD, when a Christian philosopher from Tyre named Meropius was shipwrecked on his way to India. Meropius died but his two wards, Frumentius and Aedesius were washed ashore and taken to the royal palace. Eventually they became king Ella Amida’s private secretary and royal cupbearer respectively. They served the king well, and Frumentius became regent for the infant prince Ezana when Ella Amida died. Frumentius and Aedesius were also permitted to prosyletize the new religion in Aksum (as modern Ethiopia was then known). After some time, Frumentius and Aedesius returned to the Mediterranean, travelling down the Nile through Egypt to do so. When they reached Egypt, Frumentius contacted bishop Athanasius of Alexandria and begged him to send missionaries back to Aksum, since the people there had proved so ready to receive the gospel.

Athanasius agreed that the need was urgent, and immediately appointed Frumentius to the task, which needed someone fluent in the language and sensitive to the customs of Aksum. He ordained Frumentius the first abuna or bishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Frumentius has since come to be known as the Abuna Salama or bishop of peace. His mission was successful and, with the support of king Ezana, Ethiopia became a Christian nation.

The link between the Ethiopian church and the Patriarch of Alexandria was not broken until the 20th century, since the Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria has sent Ethiopia each of its suceeding Abunas. This has meant that the Ethiopian church has been ruled by Egyptians for sixteen centuries.

Nine Monks from the East

Towards the end of the 5th century nine monks arrived, probably from Syria, though perhaps from Egypt, and introduced monasticism into Ethiopia. Monasticism has remained a dominant feature of the Ethiopian church to this day.

These monks may have been driven out of Syria after the Council of Chalcedon for being Monophysite (my page) Christians. Monophysites (mono=one, phusis = nature) believe that the divine and human natures of Christ were fused into a single nature at his birth. The Ecumentical Council of Chalcedon, on the other hand distinguished between the divine nature of Christ and his human nature, declaring that Jesus had two distinct natures, and in the process declaring the the Monophysites heretical. At any rate, whether or not it was due to the Nine Saints, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, along with the Coptic Church of Egypt, and smaller churches in Syria,Turkey and Arminia, have remained non-Chalcedonian.. These non-Chalcedonian churches have formed a distinctively Southern branch of the worldwide church.

The nine monks also encouraged the translation of the Bible into Ge’ez, which was the language of the people at the time. The Ethiopian church continues to use Ge’ez as its liturgical language, though it is no longer a living language.
Ethiopia and Islam

During the seventh century, the Muslim conquests cut the Ethiopians off from the rest of the Christian world, except for the Ethiopian monastary in Jerusalem, which continued to be a pilgrimage site for pious Ethiopian monks, and the continuing thread of contact with Egypt maintained because the Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria supplied the Ethiopian Church with its Abuna. Initially relations between the Ethiopians and the Muslims were cordial, with mutual trade and mutual religious toleration, some of which grew out of real religious similarities. The prophet Mohammed also instructed his followers to be kind to the Ethiopians, since they had been kind to several of Mohammed’s companions who had fled there

Eventually, however, relations deteriorated and Ethiopia slid into its dark ages, retreating into the securitity of the mountains to defend themselves against the Muslims. They did, however, maintain their independence, their culture, their identity and their faith.
Lalibela & the Rock Churches

In the 12th century Ethiopia emerged from the dark ages under the leadership of a new Zagwe (Zague) dynasty. The Zagwes were from central Ethiopia and of dubious background. Later ecclesiastical texts accuse them of not being of the pure Solomonid lineage -- that is not being descended from Menelik, the son of the biblical king Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, who supposedly founded the royal house of Ethiopia. In part to establish their religious credentials, in part to stake a claim to God’s favor, in part to create a focus for religious devotion inside Ethiopia and particularly at the Zagwe capital, in part to re-direct the energies of pilgrims from Jerusalem, and in part out of genuine religous devotion. King Lalibela had a set of ten churches built in his capital of Roha, which has since be renamed Lalibela. These churches, carved out of the living rock, deserve to be one of the wonders of the world and are a remarkable monument to the skill and craftsmanship of the 13th century Ethiopians.
The Modern Church & Contact with the West

In the sixteenth century Ethiopia was nearly overrun by the armies of the Muslim general Ahmed Gran who waged jihad on Ethiopia with great success. He took control of the country, but when he was killed by a Portuguese musket in an Ethiopian counter-attack in 1543 the incipient Muslim state in Ethiopia simply fell apart for lack of leadership. Portguese military support was critical to the success of the counter-attack, though it had not been enough to prevent Ahmed Gran from overrunning Ethiopia in the first place.

John Bermudez, a Portuguese who had been visiting Ethiopia during Ahmed Gran’s conquest, and who had slipped through to appeal for Portuguese aid, took advantage of the death of the abuna to claim that the dying patriarch had appointed him successor, and that the pope has appointed him Archbishop of Ethiopia when John Bermudez had been in Europe. There is no evidence that either claim was true, but the Portuguese in Ethiopia believed him and pressured king Galawdewos to adopt the Latin Roman Catholic Liturgy. A mission of Jesuits was sent out to further pressure the Ethiopian court, which resisted any thought of joining the Roman Catholic Church

The following century, king Suseynos (1607-32) became Catholic in the hope of an advantgeous militry alliance with the west, but his successor drove the Catholic missionaires out of Ethiopia again when they tried to assert full-blown Catholicism. Alphonsus Mendes, who was sent out as patriarch of Ethiopia, demanded that all Ethiopian Christians be re-baptized, and the priests re-ordained, though he permitted the married priests to remain married. He prohibited the Ethiopian custom of circumcision, and insisted that Saturday be turned from the Sabbath as observed by the Ethiopians to a fast day as observed by Ethiopian Christians.

Orthodox Christianity lost considerable ground in ninetheenth century Ethiopia, in part due to the expansion of the pagan or Muslim Galla, especially in the southern regions of Ethiopia, which had been a Christian stronghold. Many of the monastaries survived, because they were so inaccessable, but as pockets within a greater Muslim or pagan whole. Ethiopian Orthodoxy, which had very little by way of evangelistic impetus, had little appeal to the newcomers, who found Orthodox fasts odd an onerous and who no more understood the Ge’ez of the liturgy than their Christian neighbours did. The Church also suffered from the lack of leadership and ordiantions for much of the nineteenth century, since the Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria, himself in deep difficulties, did not provide the Ethiopian church with its abuna, and when he did the abuna found himself powerless in the face of the distintegration of the Ethiopian state. Without a strong king to hold it together and direct the abuna, the church was essentially rudderless.

The fortunes of the church turned in the latter half of the century, when Egypt provided a new abuna, and when Ethiopia was once again centralized by a succession of kings who were genuinely devout and looked after the interests of the church. The most important of these kings was Menelik II, who succeeded in holding off and defeating the Italian attempts to colonize Ethiopia. His efforts and skills meant that Ethiopia was the only African state whose full sovereignty continued to be recognized by the European powers throughout the Scramble for Africa.

In the 20th century Ethiopia has seen the influx of Roman Catholic and Protestant missionaries and the foundation of a number of Protestant churches. Internally, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church won the right to appoint their own Abuna, rather than have the Abuna always be an Egyptian Copt appointed by the Patriarch of Alexandria.
Worship & Practice:

Ethiopia is a land of churches. Most village churches are round or octagonal, with a conical grass roof. Monastic churches and older churches are larger and typically rectangular. This reflects the fact that Ethiopian local church architecture adapted itself to the African hut form, though at the same time, it also reflects the fact that the Ethiopian church liturgy, with its emphasis on the holy mysteries in the center of the church, the Tabot (or the ark) also in the center, and with the participation of multiple priests and lay clerks chanting and drumming, simply works better in a round church.

Ethiopian Orthodox Churches typically consist of three concentric rings: the innermost ring, called the sanctuary, holds the ark, typically a small wooden coffer. Priests and the emperor take the Eucharist, which is a part of every service [check] in the sanctuary. The second ring is the "holy place" where the congregation receives the sacrament, while the outer ring is called the "choir, " where the priests chant the scriptures in Ge’ez, sometimes without understanding the meaning of the words they are singing to the people who do not understand Ge’ez at all.

The Ethiopian Church has maintained many more Jewish practices than most other Christian Churches, every Ethiopian Christian male is circumcised, devout Ethiopian Christians keep Sabbath (as well as Sunday), an ark is an essential part of every church, and is carried out of the church for festivals , and priests will sacrifice a goat or a lamb for the sick.

Ethiopian Christians claim a long Jewish heritage before the coming of Christianity. They trace the royal line back to Menelik(my page)the son of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon, though that claim cannot be independently verified. They also claim that the true Ark of the Covenant (my page) still exists and is kept safe in an Ethiopian monastary.


This page was based on the following sources, which you can consult for more detailed information:

Aziz S. Atiya, History of Eastern Christianity. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1968 pp 146-66

Adrian Hastings, The Church in Africa: 1450-1950. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994. Ch 1, 4, 6.

Elizabeth Isichei, A History of Christianity in Africa from Antiquity to the Present. London: SPCK, 1995. pp.

Encyclopedia Britannica s.v. "Ethiopia"

Links:

General:

http://www.unesco.org/whc/exhibits/afr_rev/africa-l.htm

http://www.tbwt.com/profiles/ethiopia.htm

This is a secular site with a brief history of Ethiopia and a nice map which includes the major religious sites.

http://www.casema.net/~spaansen/

http://web.mit.edu/afs/athena.mit.edu/user/r/e/redingtn/www/yared/eth.html

Visiting Ethiopian christian sites:

http://www.mg.co.za/mg/africa/05jul-oaethiopia.html


http://www.bethel.edu/~letnie/AfricanChristianity/EthiopiaHomepage.html