This article is courtesy of Terra Santa Magazine

“Ethiopia” is a Greek term whose literal meaning is the-one-with-a-burnt-face. In antiquity it designated the Black inhabitants settled south of the second cataract of the Nile. The region corresponds to the biblical land of Cush, the name of the son of Ham and grandson of Noah (Gen 10:6-8; Isa 11:11). To these native inhabitants, in more recent times, Semitic elements from the south of the Arabian peninsula were added, the habashat, from which the name Abyssinia derives. It should be noted that today’s Ethiopians do not like to be called Abyssinians, because of the pejorative sense that name carries.

The Stages of Evangelization

Ethiopia, although it does not belong to the Arab world or to the Middle East, forms part, from the religious point of view, of the Eastern Churches, because it was evangelized by Eastern missionaries and because its rite is indebted to the Coptic family of Alexandria. The origins of Christianity in the country go back to the baptism of the eunuch of Queen Candace on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza (Acts 8:27-40). Ethiopian tradition maintains that evangelization properly so called began in the fourth century through two Syrian monks: Frumentius – the Fremonatos of the Ethiopians – and Aedesius, who, returning from a journey to India, were seized by pirates and sold to the king of Aksum, an Ethiopian kingdom founded in the first century of our era. There they freely preached the Christian faith, and Frumentius was ordained bishop of the country by Saint Athanasius of Alexandria. This fact explains why the Ethiopian Church remained until recent times under the direct jurisdiction of the Coptic patriarchate of Alexandria. The massive implantation of Christianity was, however, the work of nine Syrian monks, Monophysites, “the Nine Saints”, who arrived in Ethiopia in the fifth century, fleeing the Byzantine reaction against the Syrian Monophysites. To these Nine the Ethiopians owe the transmission of Monophysite Christology and the translation of the New Testament into Ge’ez, the ancient language of the country.

The Struggle for Survival

The Muslim conquest of Egypt, in the years 640-642, disturbed the fluid relations between the two sister Churches, so that the see of the Ethiopian Church remained vacant for long periods. This created an atmosphere of isolation, of struggle for the religious and national survival of the Christian people, threatened by Islam attacking from the north and the east. In the ninth century the Christian kingdom of Aksum fell into Muslim hands; its king bore the title negus neguesti, king of kings. Three centuries later, in 1270, we see the Solomonic dynasty ascend the throne, whose kings claim descent from King Solomon and the queen of Sheba, restorer of the kingdom of Aksum. The dynasty would remain in power until 1974. This is the period in which a respectable artistic and literary movement flourished in the country, as well as an evangelizing movement toward the pagans, which would forever mark the Christian identity of the nation.

The Providential Arrival of the Portuguese

The arrival of the Portuguese at the end of the fifteenth century was providential for Ethiopian Christians, who were in a desperate situation before Islam. Beginning in 1514, the Portuguese carried out diplomatic exchanges with the kings of Ethiopia. These requested military aid against the emirs of Harar, who were helped by the Turks. The Portuguese embassies had identified the country with the fabulous kingdom of Prester John. An expedition of 400 Portuguese volunteers commanded by Cristóvão da Gama succeeded in driving away the Muslim danger and saving Christianity.

With the Portuguese came the Jesuits as well, who tried to bring the local Church into obedience to Rome and to Latinize ecclesiastical institutions. The excesses of Latinization provoked the expulsion of the Jesuits. The country closed itself to the West. From the Jesuit inheritance there remained among Ethiopian monks a taste for Christological discussions, which unfortunately divided Ethiopian Christianity for a certain time into two rival parties. The return, three centuries later, of a strong central power under the command of Emperor Menelik (1889-1913) laid the foundations of a modern state and put an end to these divisions. Supported by political power, ecclesiastical circles set themselves to the emancipation of the Ethiopian Church from the tutelage of Alexandria. The negus Haile Selassie (1930-1974) obtained from the Coptic patriarchate the appointment of Ethiopian bishops. It should be noted that until then the only bishop of the Ethiopian Church was the Abuna, a monk of Egyptian nationality appointed directly by the Patriarch of Alexandria. His powers were very limited. He could not appoint bishops.

The Ethiopian Church Reaches Full Emancipation

The Italian conquest marked a new stage in the emancipation of the Ethiopian Church. The national Synod of 1937 deposed Abuna Cyril, an Egyptian, and designated as his successor Abraham, an Ethiopian monk. The Coptic Patriarch, in response, excommunicated those responsible for the change, demanding a return to the statu quo ante. In 1948 a compromise was reached between both parties, according to which Abuna Cyril, who had taken refuge in Cairo after his deposition, would return to his functions until his death. His successor would be an Ethiopian with the faculty to consecrate bishops. The Ethiopian Patriarch would receive consecration from the Coptic Patriarch. Both parties accepted this agreement and, in 1959, the first Patriarch of the autocephalous Church of Ethiopia was elected, Archimandrite Basilios. But the Marxist revolution that followed the fall of the Negus in 1974 did not accept the clause of consecration by the Coptic Patriarch. In this rather undiplomatic way the full emancipation of the Ethiopian Church was consummated. As a symbol of this emancipation, Patriarch Basilios dispensed with the title of Abuna and proclaimed himself “Catholicos Patriarch”, in the sense of “Universal” for the Ethiopian Church. The present patriarch, Paulos, was elected in 1992. In 1991, following the fall of the Marxist dictatorship and especially after the independence of Eritrea in 1993, the Church of that country, until then simply a diocese of Addis Ababa, cut its ties with the Mother Church and proclaimed itself independent.

Organization of the Ethiopian Church

The Church is organized into dioceses. Ethiopia has 12 dioceses, plus one in Djibouti and another in Jerusalem. There are no seminaries for the formation of the clergy. The bishop of each diocese collectively ordains, on appointed dates, all the faithful who desire it. Custom establishes, as the only condition, that the bishop be gratified with an offering – until a few years ago this consisted of two blocks of salt. The Church has some 60,000 diocesan priests, with a low level of theological formation. By contrast, the level of the monks – some 12,000 distributed among 800 monasteries – is clearly higher. The monks enjoy great prestige in religious and civil life. The wisest have the title of daptaras. The esheguie, or superior general of the monks, has as much authority as the patriarch. As for the faithful – some 18 million in Ethiopia – they show great attachment to the Church and to its institutions.

Liturgical Life

Ethiopian liturgy has received influences from the Jewish and Syrian traditions, as well as from the Alexandrian Coptic tradition. To these elements that came from outside must be added numerous native factors, proper to the popular and imaginative piety of Ethiopians: folk ceremonies of songs and dances with African rhythm, accompanied by percussion instruments. The liturgical calendar knows eight great feasts linked to the most important stages in the life of the Lord, and 33 in honor of the Virgin Mary, as well as numerous feasts of saints of the Old Testament: Melchizedek, Samson, etc. – an influence of Judaism together with circumcision – and feasts of the angels – Saint Michael has 12 annual feasts – in addition to the local martyrs. Fasting occupies a place of honor in the life of the Church. Ethiopians fast for long periods, in addition to Wednesdays and Fridays of each week. There are 286 days of fasting for monks and 186 for ordinary faithful.

The Ethiopian Church in the Holy Land

Relations between Ethiopia and the Holy Land already existed at the beginnings of Christianity. The baptism of the eunuch of Queen Candace was not an isolated case. Acts tells us that he “had come to Jerusalem to worship” (Acts 8:27). Centuries later, documents speak to us of regular contacts with Jerusalem. In the fourth century Saint Jerome assures us: “Every day we receive multitudes of monks from India, Persia and Ethiopia”. In the Crusader period, the monk Theodoric, in 1172, finds Nubians, that is, Ethiopians, celebrating the religious offices in the basilica of the Holy Sepulchre. In 1332 William of Bondelsele notes an Ethiopian church in Jerusalem, and 15 years later the Franciscan Nicholas of Poggibonsi speaks of the Indians – Copts and Ethiopians – officiating behind the tomb of the Lord. Another pilgrim notes in 1333 an altar reserved for Ethiopians at the tomb of the Virgin in the Kidron Valley.

Today the Ethiopian presence consists essentially of monks established in six monasteries: three in Jerusalem and the rest in Bethany, Bethlehem and Jericho. Deir es-Sultan is the principal monastery, situated behind the basilica of the Holy Sepulchre. It has 25 monks, governed by Bishop Msgr. Absade. Both the bishop and the monks live in individual huts made by themselves, according to a very ancient monastic tradition. Archbishop Matios is the representative of the Ethiopian community in the Holy Land.

The Ethiopians of Jerusalem are on good terms with the other religious communities. At times they resort to the good offices of the Custody of the Holy Land to resolve some complicated problem. From their brothers the Coptic Orthodox they are separated by one point of discord. It concerns possession of the corridor that joins Deir es-Sultan with the courtyard situated in front of the facade of the Holy Sepulchre. The facts go back a long way. On the night of April 25, 1970, the Ethiopians took possession of that corridor and of the two adjoining chapels. According to them, it has belonged to them from time immemorial. They lost it in 1838, when all the monks of Deir es-Sultan died of plague. In the wake of this misfortune, the Coptic Church attributed the property to itself. It should be borne in mind that at that time Ibrahim Pasha, an Egyptian, governed Palestine. The Copts, for their part, consider themselves the legitimate owners, and their archbishop appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court. The judges replied that it was the government that had to settle the matter. The government, in those years on excellent terms with the negus of Ethiopia, refused to intervene and has left matters in suspense to this day. As a reaction to this dispossession, the Coptic Orthodox patriarch of Alexandria published a communiqué by which he forbade all Copts to make pilgrimage to the Holy Places of Jerusalem until the problem was solved in their favor.

The Ethiopian Catholic Church

Catholicism arrived in Ethiopia with the Portuguese. The Latin missionaries devoted all their efforts to the union of the two Churches. The Jesuit Pedro Páez succeeded in converting Emperor Susenyos (1607-1632). Pope Urban VIII believed that the moment had come to create a Catholic patriarchate, and he did so in the person of the Jesuit Afonso Mendes. But the policy of rapid Latinization provoked the reaction of the local clergy, so that the successor of Susenyos, Fasilides, expelled the Jesuits from the country; they were replaced by the Augustinians, who remained in the country in a state of semi-clandestinity until 1797.

One must wait half a century to see Catholic missionaries in Ethiopia again. Indeed, the French Vincentians succeeded in establishing themselves in 1839 and in converting, with great difficulty, a small number of Ethiopians. A short time later Rome created for them the Apostolic Vicariate of “Abyssinia”, appointing Msgr. Justin de Jacobis as its head.

The Italian colonization of Eritrea in 1890 and later the conquest of Ethiopia (1935-1936) created favorable conditions for the implantation of Catholicism, but they gave it the image of a foreign religion, the so-called “religion of the Italians”. At that time the Italian Capuchins had already supplanted the French Vincentians.

Ethiopian Catholics – some 150,000 – are today divided into two groups almost equal in number of faithful: one follows the traditional Ethiopian rite, the other the Latin rite. Catholic faithful live essentially in three zones: Addis Ababa – with 20 churches and 40 priests -, Asmara (Eritrea) – with about a hundred churches – and the three southern provinces of Ethiopia, the only ones open to Catholic evangelization.

Author: Fr. Ignacio Peña