A Brief History of Ethiopian Christianity
By Debre Selam, Resident Priest of Saint Michael’s Ethiopian Church in Boston, Massachusetts
The Birth of Christianity in Ethiopia
It is generally agreed that after Herodotus and throughout the New Testament era Ethiopia was referred
to the territory south of Egypt and bordering the west Bank of the Red Sea. Historians in Greco- Roman world
believed that Ethiopians were the first humans on earth. (Diodorus 3.2) In its early days, Ethiopia also embraced
regions to the east of Red Sea, and included some of the territory represented today by Saudi Arabia and
Yemen. (Homer 1.22-23; Herodotus- hist 7:70). The etymological root of Greek Aithiopia 'burnt face",
describes the pigmentation of the people who were called Ethiopians. Consequently, not only does Ethiopia
refer to a geographical territory, but it also indicates ethnicity.
Much of the history of Ethiopia is similar to that of Egypt. Historians suggested that Ethiopia is older
than pharaonic Egypt and that the Sabeans in Yemen and Arabia were just extensions of the Sabeans in
Ethiopia. In fact, the southern part of Arabia was also included in the kingdom of Axum. Ancient Ethiopia was
large enough to incorporate many different people than under the Sabean hegemony. To quote the Torah, “The
Ethiopians embraced Judaism.(Ps. 87:4) Beyond the rivers of Ethiopia one may refer to Ethiopia, where Jewish
community had apparently settled along with Semites from Southern Arabia. (2 Ch. 21:16; Isa. 18:1; Zp. 3:10).”
The Sabean migrants who crossed the Red Sea in the first millennium B.C and settled in Ethiopia
brought with them Judaism and practiced it openly. The visit of Queen of Sheba to King Solomon in Jerusalem
is recounted there. On her return, according to tradition, she bore him a son, whom she named Menilek. When
Menilek grew up he visited his father in Jerusalem, and returned home accompanied by Azerias, the son of
Zadok the High priest and many other Israelites. They carried with them the Ark of the Covenant, and kept it in
special place in Axum. Judaism was introduced to Ethiopia and practiced throughout the country. Therefore the
country became the first nation to worship the one true God in the continent of Africa. We have strong evidence
also that before Queen Sheba visited Solomon; she used to worship in one God. This is why she mentioned the
named of God when she addressed to Solomon saying; "… blessed be the Lord your God, who delighted in you,
and set you on the throne of Israel". (1 Kin. 10:9).
In the Acts of the Apostles Ethiopia is referred to the Nilotic Kingdom of Candace, who ruled at MeroN,
where the capital had been moved during the Persian period. (Ac.8:26-39) Ethiopia embraced Christianity and
has maintained its doctrine from the era of the apostles to the present day. The baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch
was the fulfillment of the prophecy of David which says; "Ethiopia will quickly stretch out her hands to God"
(Act. 8:36; Ps. 68:31). This eunuch was a minister of Candace, Queen of Ethiopia. Later tradition identified the
eunuch as the first Gentile convert, and the founder of the Ethiopian Church (Eusebius, hist. Eccl. 2.1.13).
Tradition, supported by two church historians (Socrats and Rufinus) also indicates that the Gospel was preached
to the Ethiopians by Irenaeus and the apostle Matthew.
The Orthodox Church of Ethiopia
The story of the conversion of the Axumites has come down to us in the work of the contemporary
church historian, Rufinus (d. 410 A.D). Meropius, a pilgrim from Tyre, came to Ethiopia accompanied by the
two young men, Frumentius and Aedesius, both Christians. Apparently they followed the usual itinerary of the
time along the African coast of the Red Sea. In the course of their journey they ran short of provisions and put
in at a port on the Red Sea. The local inhabitants, however, were hostile to outsiders, and they massacred
Meropius and all aboard the ship, sparing only the two boys, who were taken to the king. Soon they gained his
interest and won his confidence. The young Aedesius, he made his cup- bearer while the elder Frumentius, who
showed signs of wisdom and maturity, became his treasurer and secretary. Unfortunately, the king died early,
leaving his wife with an infant son as heir to the throne. On his death bed the dying king had given Frumentius
and Aedesius leave to return to their own country if they so wished, but the Queen Mother who was left as a
regent, begged them to remain to help her administer the kingdom until her son grew up. The young men agreed
and stayed to carry out the task faithfully.
The thoughts of Frumentus now began to turn towards matters of evangelizing. He sought out Christians
among merchants settled at Axum, and encouraged them to establish meeting places for prayer. The young king
himself became a convert. When he was old enough to rule the country alone, Frumentius and Aedesius asked
him for permission to leave Axum. Aedesius returned home to Tyre, but Frumentius went to Alexandria and
laid the whole affair before the newly appointed Patriarch (Pope), Athanasius, beginning him to appoint a
bishop to minister to the needs of the growing Christian community at Axum. The patriarch summoned a
Council of Priests to consider the matter. It was agreed that Frumentius himself should be consecrated as the
first bishop of Ethiopia. Therefore Frumentius was consecrated on December 18, 330 AD as the first bishop of
the country. He was known there as Abba Selama, Kassate Berhan, "Father of peace and Revealer of light".
The actual introduction of Christianity to Ethiopia was during the reign of King Ezana (320 - 356), the first
African king to become a Christian and make Christianity the official religion of his country. From that time to
the fall of Emperor Haileselassie in 1974 (a length of about 1644 years) the official religion of Ethiopia was
Orthodox religion.
For centuries the Christian Ethiopians fought for maintenance of the Christian faith against internal and
external foes. In 968, a Jewish persecution of Christians occurred under Yodit. There was also constant hostility
from the Moslems of the Red Sea coast. During the reign of Saint Gebre Mesqel Lalibela (a member of the
Zagwe Dynasty, who ruled Ethiopia in the late 12th century and early 13th century) the king is said to have seen
Jerusalem and then attempted to build a new Jerusalem as his capital in response to the capture of old Jerusalem
by Muslims in 1187. According to Ethiopian traditions, the result of Lalibela’s efforts would be the
construction of 13 stone churches carved out of solid rock. There is some controversy as to when some of the
churches were constructed. David Phillipson, professor of African archeology at Cambridge University, has
proposed that the churches of Merkorios, Gabriel-Rufael, and Danagel were initially carved out of the rock half
a millennium earlier, as fortifications or other palace structures in the waning days of the Axumite Kingdom,
and that Lalibela's name simply came to be associated with them after his death. On the other hand, local
historian Getachew Mekonnen credits Masqal Kibra, Lalibela's queen, with having one of the rock-hewn
churches (Abba Libanos) built as a memorial for her husband after his death. Regardless of which theory is
accurate, The churches are also a significant engineering feat, given that they are all associated with water
(which fills the wells next to many of the churches) exploiting an artesian geological system that brings the
water up to the top of the mountain ridge on which the city rests.
According to the Futuh al-Habasa of Sihab ad-Din Ahmad, Ahmad Gragn burned one of the churches
of Lalibela during his invasion of Ethiopia. Historical records confirm that in 1528, Ahmad Gragn attacked the
country with the aid of Ottoman Empire and for more than a decade churches and monasteries were sacked and
burned, and ancient manuscripts and other works of art were stolen and destroyed. However, Richard
Pankhurst has expressed his skepticism about this event, pointing out that although Sihab ad-Din Ahmad
provides a detailed description of a monolithic church ("It was carved out of the mountain. Its pillars were
likewise cut from the mountain."), only one church is mentioned; Pankhurst adds that "what is special about
Lalibela (as every tourist knows) is that it is the site of eleven or so rock churches, not just one -- and they are
all within more or less a stone's throw of each other!" Pankhurst also notes that the Royal Chronicles, which
mention Ahmad Gragn's laying waste to the district between July and September 1531, are silent about the
Imam ravaging the fabled churches of this city. He concludes with stating that had Ahmad Gragn burned a
church at Lalibela, it was most likely Bete Medhane Alem; and if the Muslim army was either mistaken or
misled by the locals, then the church he set fire to was Gannata Maryam, "10 miles east of Lalibela which
likewise has a colonnade of pillars cut from the mountain".
Sources
David W. Phillipson, Ancient Churches of Ethiopia (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009).
Sylvia Pankhurst, "Ethiopia: a cultural history" (Lalibela House, Essex, 1955).
Paul B. Henze, "Layers of time: a history of Ethiopia" (Shama Books, Addis Ababa, 2004).
Hancock, Graham, Carol Beckwith & Angela Fisher, African Ark - Peoples of the Horn, Chapter I: Prayers of Stone/The
Christian Highlands: Lalibela and Axum.
Where is the Ark of the Covenant?
A Brief Overview of Numerous Theories
Since its disappearance, the Ark entered the domain of legend, and some have claimed to have discovered or
have possession of the Ark. Several possible places have been suggested for its location. However, the Second
Book of the Maccabees and the Book of Revelation state that the ark is no longer on Earth.
Mount Nebo
2 Maccabees 2:4-10, contains a reference to a document saying that the prophet Jeremiah, "being warned by
God" before the Babylonian invasion, took the Ark, the Tabernacle, and the Altar of Incense, and buried them
in a cave on Mount Nebo (Jordan) (Deut. 34:1), informing those of his followers who wished to find the place
that it should remain unknown "until the time that God should gather His people again together, and receive
them unto mercy."
The Temple Mount of Jerusalem
Area believed by Muslims to be the place where the Ark of the Covenant sat before King Solomon's Temple
was destroyed. A dome was later built by the Arabs who now refer to it as the Dome of Spirits. Modern
excavations near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem have discovered the existence of tunnels.[9] However, digging
beneath the Temple Mount itself is heavily restricted due to the religious and political sensitivity surrounding
the area. One of the most important Islamic shrines, the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, sits in the
location where Solomon's Temple is thought to have stood. According to the Hebrew Traditions, King
Solomon, when building the Temple, had the Ark of the Covenant put on a platform which could be lowered
down into a tunnel system if the Temple were ever over-run.[10] This came about when King Nebuchadnezzar's
troops destroyed the Temple and carried off its treasures, but no mention of the Ark of the Covenant was made,
possibly because it had been lowered into the cave system below and secretly carried away by Levite
priests.[10][11]
Ethiopian Orthodox Church
The Chapel of the Tablet at the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in Axum allegedly houses the original Ark of
the Covenant. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church claims to possess the Ark of the Covenant or tabot in Axum.
The object is now kept under guard in a treasury near the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion, and used
occasionally in ritual processions.[12] Replicas of the Axum tabot are kept in every Ethiopian church, each with
its own dedication to a particular saint, most popularly Mary, George and Michael.[13] The Kebra Nagast,
composed to legitimise the new dynasty ruling Ethiopia following its establishment in 1270, narrates how the
real Ark of the Covenant was brought to Ethiopia by Menelik I with divine assistance, while a forgery was left
in the Temple in Jerusalem. Although the Kebra Nagast is the best-known account of this belief, this belief
predates this document. Abu Salih the Armenian, writing in the last quarter of the twelfth century, makes one
early reference to this belief that they possessed the Ark. "The Abyssinians possess also the Ark of the
Covenant", he wrote, then after a description of the object describes how the liturgy is celebrated upon the Ark
four times a year: "on the feast of the great nativity, on the feast of the glorious Baptism, on the feast of the holy
Resurrection, and on the feast of the illuminating Cross."[14]
Southern Africa
The Lemba people of South Africa and Zimbabwe have claimed that their ancestors carried the Ark south,
calling it the ngoma lungundu or "voice of God", eventually hiding it in a deep cave in the Dumghe mountains,
their spiritual home.[17][18][19] In his book The Lost Ark of the Covenant (2008), Tudor Parfitt also suggests that
the Ark was taken to Arabia following the Second Book of Maccabees, and cites Arabic sources which maintain
it was brought in distant times to Yemen. One Lemba clan, the Buba, which was supposed to have brought the
Ark to Africa, have a genetic signature called the Cohen Modal Haplotype. This suggests a male Semitic link to
the Levant.[21]
Lemba tradition maintains that the Ark spent some time in Sena in Yemen. Later, it was taken across the sea to
East Africa and may have been taken inland at the time of the Great Zimbabwe civilization. According to their
oral traditions, sometime after the arrival of the Lemba with the Ark, it self-destructed. Using a core from the
original, the Lemba priests constructed a new one. This replica was discovered in a cave by a Swedish German
missionary named Harald von Sicard in the 1940s and eventually found its way to the Museum of Human
Science in Harare.[19] Parfitt had this artifact radio-carbon dated to about 1350 AD, which coincided with the
sudden end of the Great Zimbabwe civilization.[22]
Jewish sources in the Talmud, as well as the Jewish exegete Rashi (Rashi's commentary of Deuteronomy),
suggest that there were two Arks: one was the original simple wooden Ark of Moses described in the Book of
Deuteronomy, the other was the later golden Ark made by Bezalel as described in the Book of Exodus.
Rabbinic opinion maintains that the first of these Arks was the Ark of War and the second was a ceremonial
object which stayed in the Temple. Parfitt suggests that the Ark he found was the descendant of the Ark of War
and that a wooden chest being used as a weapon was replicated at least once, and possibly many times. Parfitt
offers the suggestion that the wooden ark may always have been a drum as well as a weapon of some sort, like
the ngoma. It was often found in musical processions, David danced in front of it and it was covered over with a
piece of leather. Parfitt, however, offers no explanation of the original principal contents of the Ark, the stone
tablets.
Other Middle Eastern Sites
Michael Sanders claims to have found the location of the Ark of the Covenant's 'stones' in Djaharya near an
ancient temple created by Ramses III (now an old tower in ruins).[23]
Other Sites Around the World
Languedoc, France: Several legends hold that the Ark was carried home to Languedoc by Knights Templar
returning from the Crusades.[24]
United Kingdom: In 2003, historical author Graham Phillips traced the route of the Ark through research
using Biblical texts as being taken to Mount Sinai in the Valley of Edom by the Maccabees, along with other
religious treasures. Phillips claims it remained there until the 1180s, when Ralph de Sudeley, the leader of the
Templars who apparently found the Maccabean treasure at Jebel al-Madhbah, returned home to his estate at
Herdewyke in Warwickshire, UK, taking the treasure with him.[25]
Ireland: During the turn of the 20th century British Israelites carried out some excavations of the Hill of Tara
in Ireland looking for the Ark of the Covenant – the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland campaigned
successfully to have them stopped before they destroyed the hill.[26]
Shikoku, Japan: Local claims exist that the ark is hidden within limestone caves under Mt. Tsurugi. That
mountain is the highest one in Shikoku and the second highest in western Japan, at 1,955 meters (6,413 ft), and
has a sacred status in the Shugendō faith (which incorporates elements of Shintoism and Buddhism). The
Japanese government bans excavations on the mountain for environmental reasons.[27]
Sanpete County, Utah: Local legends in Sanpete County, Utah speak of buried treasures within the earth. One
particular belief is that the Ark of the Covenant is presently situated within the Sanpete Valley, and is protected
by the Three Nephites. In Following the Ark of the Covenant, Ross Kerry Boren presents his thesis that the Ark
was brought to the Americas by Pre-Columbian Jewish immigrants described in the Book of Mormon, and that
it was subsequently buried in a hill in the present day area of the Sanpete Valley.[28]
.