ETHIOPIAN ORTHODOXY
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC) is part of a family of Christian peoples that St. Peter spoke of as:
"a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God."
As there are many families in every nation, so it is with the Orthodox Church which is the One Holy Apostolic Universal Church. Proceeding from the Father The Holy Spirit, created His people on the day of Pentecost. He then turned across the face of the world with the good news of The Lord Jesus Christ adding to the established unity of the body of Christ everywhere. The words of St. Paul describe This Divine work:
"There is one body and one Spirit--just as you were called to one hope when you were called-- one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." Eph. 4:1
In 325 AD Church fathers in Nicea wrote a statement of the faith -which spelled out the doctrine of the Holy Trinity- believed by all Christians, everywhere, from the beginning. This same Nicene Creed described the Church as One- believed by all, every-where, from the beginning. It's unity is not an absolute conformity in all cultural matters but rather the universal recognition of the one faith as expressed in the Nicean Creed.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church is also set apart and distinguished by her pre-Christian Jewish heritage. All of the Orthodox share faith in the One True God, friend of Abraham. But the Ethiopian Church alone participates directly in the cultural wisdom of ancient Israel.
The Bible tells the story of the Queen of Sheba and her wonder at the wisdom of Solomon and the God of Israel. The Queen took home from her famous visit not only Solomon's faith but his child as well. Tradition tells of the return of young Prince Menelik to his father's court, his friendship with Azaria, the son of the High-Priest, and their return to Ethiopia with the Ark of the Covenant; which now rests in the Church of St. Mary's in Axum, Ethiopia.
The Ark excited and turned the hearts of the people to the Wisdom of God. After the coming of the Gospel to Ethiopia the Ark remained a primary symbol of the faith. Replicas of the Ark are found in every church without which the Holy Liturgy can not be celebrated.
King David prophesied of the faith of Ethiopia in Psalm 68:31 and 87:4:
"let Ethiopia hasten to stretch out her hands to God...
Among those who know me I mention Rahab and Babylon; behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Ethiopia..."
All these lands share a common Semitic culture which means they look at the world in a similar way. It was among these peoples not Asians or Europeans that God sent His Son to be one with those He called His friends. Semitic peoples share as cousins a Divine Wisdom, a gift spiritually discerned. But Ethiopia joined the immediate family, she too was Jewish participating directly in the divine life not as a cousin but brother.
It was especially fitting; then, that Bazan, Emperor of Ethiopia, was among the Wise Men Kings of the East, who followed the famous star of Bethlehem.
Bringing gifts Bazan was among the first to worship the Christ child. And with the conversion of the Ethiopian Eunuch by Deacon Philip the light of revelation was complete in Ethiopia. Queen Candace converted about ten years after the death and resurrection of Christ. From that time until the communist revolution of the early nineteen seventies, Ethiopia was ruled by Christian rulers.
Shortly after the Council of Nicea St. Athanasius consecrated St. Frumentius, the first bishop of Ethiopia. St. Frumentius ordained clergy and established Ethiopian worship. His work was followed up in the fifth century by nine Syrian Monks who organized monastic orders and schools many of which are still working of God. They also translated many Christian works from Greek, Hebrew, and Syriac into Geez the language of Ethiopia.
In the thirteenth century St. Takla Haimanot, Ethiopia's national saint, worked many miracles reforming the Church and re-establishing the dynasty of Solomon on the Ethiopian throne. It was he who prayed so long in standing position that one leg fell from his body. St. Takla Haymanot's austerity of life, energy and ambition for God were, and are, a national inspiration to this very day. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church has weathered alone many storms including the Muslim onslaught that so devastated much of the Christian world.
But what does that have to do with the modern world? Is the Christian God of Ethiopian real or relevant? First the division and then con-quest of Western Christianity has paved the way for the last Apocalypse. Ethiopia herself, the long-est reigning Christian Kingdom has fallen--first to communism and now unbelievers. But Christ still reigns; His voice yet speaks through Orthodox bishops for ever and ever world without end. Amen.
Orthodoxy walks an intimate walkwith God in the ancient way with a firm commitment to each other--undivided. Leadership is plural, and moral commitment arises out of the Nature of God-unchanging! Cultural context is to scripture what color is to television. This article is but a small candle. There is not enough light here to see the color of His eyes. But the darkness of American individualism dies in the light of Orthodox families. For ethnic Ethiopians the EOC provides an opportunity for spiritual and cultural continuity with the ancient undivided Church and their own past. For Americans it can be the door to The One Holy Apostolic Universal Christian Church. Orthodoxy can end division. The Kingdom may be infested with tares, but the words of St. Paul echo across the centuries:
Since the beginning Apostolic Christians have focused their unity of life in the fellowship of bishops. The local parish lived in obedience to their particular bishop and the bishops themselves lived in submission to one another. We in Seattle are greatly privileged to have in residence his Grace, Abuna Zena Markos. Abuna Zena Markos began his clerical education in 1952 in a monastic church school in Ethiopia. In 1960 he was ordained a priest for service at Debre Libanos monastery in Ethiopia. In 1979 he was consecrated an Arch-bishop for service in Wolega Western Ethiopia. From 1985 to 1991 Abuna zena Markos served as Assistant patriarch in Ethiopia under first Patriarch Tekla Haimanot and then Patriarch Merkorewos. From 1991 to 92 Abuna Zena served as the chairman of the Holy Synod in Ethiopia. In 1990 he helped start St. Gabriel's parish in Seattle and on April 15, 1994 Abuna took up residence in Seattle. We are fortune, indeed to have such a man serving as our spiritual father.
Last Updated: 04/10/03