Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church: Difference between revisions

 

{{Blockquote|Then the angel of the Lord said to Philip, Start out and go south to the road that leads down from Jerusalem to Gaza. So he set out and was on his way when he caught sight of an [[Ethiopian eunuch|Ethiopian]]. This man was a eunuch, a high official of the [[Kandake]] (Candace) Queen of Ethiopia in charge of all her treasure. (Acts, 8:26–27)}}

[[File:Ezana.jpg|thumb|Coin of King [[Ezana of Axum|Ezana]], under whom Early Christianity became the established church of the [[Kingdom of Aksum]]]]

Early Christianity became the [[established church]] of the Ethiopian [[Kingdom of Aksum|Axumite Kingdom]] under king [[Ezana of Axum|Ezana]] in the 4th century when priesthood and the sacraments were brought for the first time through a Syrian Greek named [[Frumentius]], known by the local population in Ethiopia as "Selama, Kesaté Birhan" ("Father of Peace, Revealer of Light"). As a youth, Frumentius had been shipwrecked with his brother Aedesius on the [[Eritrea]]n coast. The brothers managed to be brought to the royal court, where they rose to positions of influence and baptized [[Ezana of Axum|Emperor Ezana]]. Frumentius is also believed to have established the first monastery in Ethiopia, named [[Degol Woyane|Dabba Selama]] after him. In 2016, archaeologists excavated a 4th-century AD basilica (radio-carbon dated) in northeastern Ethiopia at a site called [[Beta Samati]]. This is the earliest known physical evidence of a church in sub-Saharan Africa.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Harrower|first= Michael J|date=Winter 2019|title=Beta Samati: discovery and excavation of an Aksumite town|url= https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/643FA872A5B2F9B5E0E765D850C4A526/S0003598X1900084Xa.pdf/beta_samati_discovery_and_excavation_of_an_aksumite_town.pdf|journal=Antiquity |volume=93| issue = 372|pages= 1534–52 |doi=10.15184/aqy.2019.84|via=Cambridge.org|doi-access=free}}</ref>

 

===Recent history===

In more modern times, the Ethiopian Church has experienced a series of developments. The 19th century witnessed the publication of an Amharic translation of the Bible. Largely the work of [[Abu Rumi]] over ten years in Cairo, this version, with some changes, held sway until Emperor [[Haile Selassie]] ordered a new translation which appeared in 1960/1.<ref>[[Edward Ullendorff]], ''Ethiopia and the Bible'' (Oxford: British Academy, 1988), p. 66</ref> Haile Selassie also played a prominent role in further reforms of the church, which included encouraging the distribution of Abu Rumi's translation throughout Ethiopia,<ref>Margary Perham, ''The Government of Ethiopia'', second edition (London: Faber and Faber, 1969), pp. 121f</ref> as well as his promotion of improved education of clergy, a significant step in the Emperor's effort being the founding of the Theological College of the Holy Trinity Church in December 1944.<ref>Perham, ''Government of Ethiopia'', p. 132</ref> A third development came after Haile Selassie's restoration to Ethiopia, when he issued, on 30 November, Decree Number 2 of 1942, a new law reforming the church. The primary objectives of this decree were to put the finances of the church in order, to create a central fund for its activities, and to set forth requirements for the appointment of clergy—which had been fairly lax until then.<ref>Perham, ''Government of Ethiopia'', pp. 130</ref>

 

==Traditions==

[[File:Inside Debre Sema'it rock church.jpg|thumb|Inside [[Debre Sema'it]] village rock church]]

The faith and practice of Orthodox Ethiopian Christians include elements from [[Miaphysitism|Miaphysite]] Christianity as it has developed in Ethiopia over the centuries. Christian beliefs include belief in God (in Ge'ez / Amharic, ''′Egziabeher'', lit. "Lord of the Universe"), [[veneration]] of the Virgin Mary, the angels, and the saints, besides others. According to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church itself, there are no non-Christian elements in the religion other than those from the [[Old Testament]], or ''Higge 'Orit'' (ሕገ ኦሪት),{{Citation needed|date=February 2021}} to which are added those from the [[New Testament]], or ''Higge Wongiel'' (ሕገ ወንጌል).<ref>[http://www.mahiberekidusan.org/Default.aspx?tabid=82&ctl=Details&mid=371&ItemID=126 EOTC Doctrine] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727054539/http://www.mahiberekidusan.org/Default.aspx?tabid=82&ctl=Details&mid=371&ItemID=126 |date=2011-07-27 }}</ref> A hierarchy of ''Kidusan''/ቅዱሳን{{Citation needed|date=February 2021}} (angelic messengers and saints) conveys the prayers of the faithful to God and carries out the divine will, so when an Ethiopian Christian is in difficulty, he or she appeals to them as well as to God. In more formal and regular rituals, priests communicate on behalf of the community, and only priests may enter the inner sanctum of the usually circular or octagonal church where the [[tabot]] ("ark") dedicated to the church's patron saint is housed.<ref name="worship">{{Cite web | author=Professor Sergew Hable Sellassie | author2=Belaynesh Mikael | name-list-style=amp| year=2003 | url=http://www.ethiopianorthodox.org/english/ethiopian/worship.html | title=Worship in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church | access-date=5 November 2014 | via=EthiopianOrthodox.org | work=The Church of Ethiopia – A Panorama of History and Spiritual Life | location=[[Addis Ababa]] | orig-year=1970 }}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|reason=Source is not officially affiliated to the Church; see [[Wikipedia:Reliable sources/Noticeboard/Archive 179#Ethiopianorthodox.org]]|date=March 2017}} On important religious holidays, the tabot is carried on the head of a priest and escorted in procession outside the church. It is the tabot, not the church, which is consecrated. At many services, most parish members remain in the outer ring, where [[debtera]]s sing hymns and dance.<ref name="cs">Turner, John W. "Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity: Faith and practices". ''[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/ettoc.html A Country Study: Ethiopia]'' (Thomas P. Ofcansky and LaVerle Berry, eds.) [[Library of Congress]] [[Federal Research Division]] (1991). ''This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the [[public domain]].''[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/about.html].</ref>

The [[Eucharist]] is given only to those who feel pure, have fasted regularly, and have, in general, properly conducted themselves.<ref name="worship" /> In practice, communion is mainly limited to young children and the elderly; those who are at a sexually active age or who have sexual desires generally do not receive the Eucharist.<ref name="worship" /><ref name="Molvaer">{{Cite book | last=Molvaer | first=Reidulf K. | title=Socialization and Social Control in Ethiopia | series=Äthiopistische Forschungen | volume=44 | year=1995 | location=Wiesbaden | publisher=Harassowitz | pages=256–257 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F6dW0EPJiVAC&pg=PA256 | isbn=9783447036627}}</ref> Worshipers receiving communion may enter the middle ring of the church to do so.<ref name="worship" />

 

 

An important religious requirement, however, is the keeping of [[Fasting#Oriental Orthodox|fast]] days, during which adherents abstain from consuming meat and animal products, and refrain from sexual activity.<ref name="worship" /><ref name="Molvaer" /><ref name="dw2017-03-22">{{Cite news | author=James Jeffrey | title=Ethiopia: fasting for 55 days | url=http://www.dw.com/en/ethiopia-fasting-for-55-days/g-38067533 | publisher=[[Deutsche Welle]] | date=22 March 2017 | access-date=24 March 2017 }}</ref> The Ethiopian Orthodox Church has 250 fasting days, 180 of which are obligatory for laypeople, not just monks and priests, when [[Veganism|vegan]] food is eaten by the faithful. During the 40-day Advent fast, only one vegan meal is allowed per day.<ref>{{Cite news|title=A 40-Day Vegan Fast, Then, At Last, A January Christmas Feast|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/01/01/373834051/a-40-day-vegan-fast-then-at-last-a-january-christmas-feast|access-date=2021-06-15|website=NPR.org|language=en}}</ref>

#Fast for Hudadi or Abiye Tsome [ሁዳዴ/ዓብይ ጾም] (Great Lent), 55 days prior to [[Easter]] (''[[Fasika]]'').<ref name="nenewe">{{Cite web | title=Tsome Nenewe (The Fast of Nineveh) | url=http://www.debreselam.net/index/?p=789 | publisher=Debre Selam Medhanealem Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church | location=[[Minneapolis]] | date=28 January 2015 | access-date=30 March 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150405110705/http://www.debreselam.net/index?p=789 | archive-date=2015-04-05 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="arega">{{Cite web | author=Robel Arega | title=Fasting in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church | at=Why Fifty-Five Days? | publisher=Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Sunday School Department – Mahibere Kidusan | url=http://eotcmk.org/site-en/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=56&Itemid=1 | access-date=30 March 2017 | archive-date=31 March 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170331025244/http://eotcmk.org/site-en/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=56&Itemid=1 | url-status=dead }}</ref> This fast is divided into three separate periods: Tsome Hirkal (ጾመ ህርቃል), eight days commemorating [[Heraclius]]; Tsome Arba (ጾመ አርባ), forty days of [[Lent]]; and Tsome Himamat (ጾመ ሕማማት), seven days commemorating [[Holy Week]].<ref name="nenewe" /><ref name="arega" /><ref name="keraneyo-medhanealem">{{Cite web | title=Great Lent - Abiy Tsom - ዐብይ ጾም First Sunday - Zewerede - ዘወረደ | url=https://www.keraneyo-medhanealem.com/post/great-lent-abiy-tsom-%E1%8B%90%E1%89%A5%E1%8B%AD-%E1%8C%BE%E1%88%9D-first-sunday-zewerede-%E1%8B%98%E1%8B%88%E1%88%A8%E1%8B%B0 | publisher=Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Keraneyo Medhane Alem | location=[[Toronto]], [[Ontario|ON]] | date=3 March 2021 | access-date=27 February 2023 }}</ref>

#Fast of the Apostles, 10–40 days, which the Apostles kept after they had received the [[Holy Spirit]]. It begins after [[Pentecost]].

 

===Exorcism===

<blockquote>

It includes singing praise and victory songs, reading from the Scripture, prayer and confronting the spirit in the name of Jesus. Dialogue with the spirit is another important part of the exorcism ceremony. It helps the counsellor (exorcist) to know how the spirit was operating in the life of the demoniac. The signs and events mentioned by the spirit are affirmed by the victim after deliverance.<ref name="geleta" /></blockquote>

===Biblical canon===

{{Main|Orthodox Tewahedo biblical canon}}

The Orthodox Tewahedo Church Canon contains 81 books. This [[Biblical canon|canon]] contains the books accepted by other Orthodox Christians.<ref>{{cite web | title= The Bible | url= http://www.ethiopianorthodox.org/english/canonical/books.html | publisher= Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church | access-date= 23 January 2012 }}</ref>

* The Narrower Canon also includes [[Book of Enoch|Enoch]], [[Jubilees]], and [[Meqabyan|I II III Meqabyan]]. (These are unrelated to the Greek [[1 Maccabees|I]], [[2 Maccabees|II]], [[3 Maccabees|III Maccabees]] with which they are often confused.) The canonical Enoch differs from the editions of the [[Ge'ez]] manuscripts in the [[British Museum]] and elsewhere (A-Q) used by foreign scholars ([[Old Testament Pseudepigrapha|OTP]]), for example in the treatment of the [[Nephilim]] of Genesis 6.{{Citation needed|date= July 2010}} The current 81-book version, published in 1986, contains the same text as previously published in the ''[[Bible translations (Amharic)|Haile Selassie Version of the Bible]]'', only with some minor modifications to the New Testament translation.

===Similarities to Judaism and Islam===

[[File:The Ethiopian Church.jpg|thumb| [[Kidane Mehret Church, Jerusalem|The Ethiopian Church, Jerusalem]]]]

 

Before praying, the Ethiopian Orthodox wash their hands and face, in order to be clean before and present their best to God; [[Tradition of removing shoes in the home and houses of worship|shoes are removed]] in order to acknowledge that one is offering prayer before a holy God.<ref name="Amherst1906">{{cite book |author1=Mary Cecil, 2nd Baroness Amherst of Hackney |author-link=Mary Cecil, 2nd Baroness Amherst of Hackney |title=A Sketch of Egyptian History from the Earliest Times to the Present Day |date=1906 |publisher=Methuen |page=399 |language=en |quote=Prayers 7 times a day are enjoined, and the most strict among the Copts recite one of more of the Psalms of David each time they pray. They always wash their hands and faces before devotions, and turn to the East.}}</ref><ref name="Kosloski2017">{{cite web |last1=Kosloski |first1=Philip |title=Did you know Muslims pray in a similar way to some Christians? |url=https://aleteia.org/2017/10/16/did-you-know-muslims-pray-in-a-similar-way-to-some-christians/ |publisher=[[Aleteia]] |access-date=25 July 2020 |language=en |date=16 October 2017}}</ref> Ethiopian Orthodox worshippers remove their shoes when entering a church temple,<ref name="Hable1997" /> in accordance with [[Book of Exodus|Exodus]] 3:5 (in which [[Moses]], while viewing the [[burning bush]], was commanded to remove his shoes while standing on holy ground). Furthermore, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church upholds a form of [[Sabbatarianism]], observing the [[Sabbath in Christianity|seventh-day Sabbath]] (Saturday), in addition to the [[Lord's Day]] (Sunday),<ref name="Binns2016">{{cite book|last= Binns|first= John|title= The Orthodox Church of Ethiopia: A History|date= 28 November 2016|publisher= I.B.Tauris|language= en|isbn= 9781786720375|page= 58|quote= The king presided, overruled the bishops who were committed to the more usual position that Sunday only was a holy day, and decreed that the Sabbatarian teaching of the northern monks became the position of the church.}}</ref> although more emphasis, because of the [[Resurrection]] of Christ, is laid upon Sunday.

===Debtera===

{{Main|Debtera}}

A debtera is an itinerant lay priest figure (not a member of the priesthood) trained by the Ethiopian Church to function principally as a [[scribe]] or [[Cantor (church)|cantor]]. But often he is also a folk healer, who may also function in roles comparable to a [[deacon]] or [[exorcist]]. Folklore and legends ascribe the role of magician to the debtera as well.<ref>{{cite book|author=Encyclopaedia Aethiopica|authorlink=Encyclopaedia Aethiopica|title=Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: He-N|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l4WUdKWGcYsC&pg=PA4|year=2003|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|isbn=978-3-447-05607-6|page=4}}</ref>

 

*Shewa ([[Adama, Ethiopia|Adama]])

*North Shoa (Debre Berhan)

*Eastern Canada

*Western Canada