Christianity in Ethiopia

Bet Giyorgis church in Lalibela

St George's Cathedral in Addis Ababa

Church in Bahir Dar

Priest of the Yimrehanna Kristos Church, Lalibela

Christianity in Ethiopia dates to the first century AD, and this long tradition makes Ethiopia unique amongst sub-Saharan African countries. Christianity in this country is divided into several groups. The largest and oldest is the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (in Amharic: የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ቤተክርስትያን Yäityop'ya ortodoks täwahedo bétäkrestyan) is an Oriental Orthodox church in Ethiopia that was part of the Coptic Orthodox Church until 1959, when it was granted its own Patriarch by Coptic Orthodox Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of All Africa Cyril VI.

The only pre-colonial Christian church of Sub-Saharan Africa, the Ethiopian Orthodox church has a membership of slightly more than 32 million people in Ethiopia, and is thus the largest of all Oriental Orthodox churches. Next in size are the various Protestant congregations, who include 13.7 million Ethiopians. The largest Protestant group is the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, with about 5 million members. Roman Catholicism has been present in Ethiopia since the 16th century, and numbers 536,827 believers. In total, Christians make up 62.76% of the total population of the country.^[1]

Christian Roots

Although Christianity existed far before the rule of King Ezana the Great of the Kingdom of Axum, the religion took a strong foothold when it was declared a state religion in 330 AD. Pinpointing a date as to when Christianity emerged in Ethiopia is uncertain. The earliest and best known reference to the introduction of Christianity was when the Apostle Philip converted an Ethiopian traveler in the 1st Century AD from the Acts of the Apostles.^[2] Although the bible refers to them as Ethiopians, scholars have argued that Ethiopia was a common term used for encompassing the area South-Southeast of Egypt.

According to church historian Nicephorus, the apostle St. Matthew,^[3] preached the Christian Gospel to modern-day Ethiopia (then called Colchis) after having preached in Judea.^[4] Other traditions have the convert as a Jew who was a steward in the Queen’s court. All accounts do agree on the fact that the traveler was a member of the royal court who succeeded in converting the Queen, which in turn caused a church to be built. Rufinus of Tyre, a noted church historian, recorded a personal account as did other church historians such as Socrates and Sozemius. The Garima Gospels are thought to be the world's oldest illuminated Christian manuscripts.

Frumentius

After being shipwrecked and captured at an early age, Frumentius was carried to Axum where he was treated well with his companion Edesius. At the time, there was a small population of Christians living there who sought refuge from Roman persecution. Once of age, Frumentius and Edesius were allowed to return to their homelands, however they chose to stay at the request of the queen. In doing so, they began to secretly promote Christianity through the lands.^[5]

During a trip to meet with church elders, Frumentius met with Athanasius, Archbishop of Alexandria who was second in line to the pope. After recommending that a bishop be sent to proselytize, a council decided that Frumentius be appointed as a bishop to Ethiopia.

By 331 AD, Frumentius returned to Ethiopia, he was welcomed with open arms by the rulers who were at the time not Christian. Ten years later, through the support of the kings, the majority of the kingdom was converted and Christianity was declared the official state religion.^[6]

Isolation as a Christian Nation

With the emergence of Islam in the seventh century, Ethiopia's Christians became isolated from the rest of the Christian world. The head of the Ethiopian church has been appointed by the patriarch of the Coptic church in Egypt, and Ethiopian monks had certain rights in the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Despite the expansion of Islam, Ethiopia was the only region of northern Africa to survive as a Christian state.^[7]

Jesuit Missionaries

In 1441 some Ethiopian monks traveled from Jerusalem to attend the Council in Florence which discussed possible union between the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches.

The arrival of the Ethiopian monks caused something of a sensation. It began two centuries of contact in which there were hopes to bring the Ethiopians into the Catholic fold (the doctrinal problem was that they inclined to the monophysite heresy associated with the Coptic church of Egypt). In 1554 Jesuits arrived in Ethiopia to be joined in 1603 by Pedro Páez, a Spanish missionary of such energy and zeal that he has been called the second apostle of Ethiopia (Frumentius being the first). The Jesuits were expelled in 1633 which was then followed by two centuries of more isolation until the second half of the 19th century.^[8]

21st century

In March 2011, International Christian Concern said that a Muslim group spurred Muslim youths to burn up to 50 Ethiopian Christian churches and kill one person on the basis of accusations that Christians had desecrated the Koran.^[9]

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References

1. ^ Numbers for all groups except the Mekane Yesus are taken from the 2007 Ethiopian census, Table 3.3 Population by Religion, Sex, and Five Year Age Groups: 2007
2. ^ http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/acts/acts8.htm
3. ^ St. Matthew
4. ^ http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10066a.htm
5. ^ http://www.fhi.net/fhius/ethiopiafamine/christian.html
6. ^ Hansberry, William Leo. Pillars in Ethiopian History; the William Leo Hansberry African History Notebook. Washington: Howard University Press, 1974.
7. ^ http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ab92
8. ^ http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?groupid=2112&HistoryID=ab92&gtrack=pthc
9. ^ Aaron Maasho (March 13, 2011). "Ethiopia PM blames Muslim sect over church attacks – AlertNet". Trust.org. http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/ethiopia-pm-blames-muslim-sect-over-church-attacks. Retrieved June 11, 2011. 

See also

• Protestantism in Ethiopia
• Roman Catholicism in Ethiopia
• Christianity in India