The Evangelical Movement in Ethiopia: Resistance and Resilience

1. From the Early Church to Early Modernity

15 From the Early Church to Early Modernity 01This chapter provides a brief history of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church by tracing its origin from the fourth century A.D. to the modern period. The chapter makes an effort to examine the church’s contributions to laying the foundations of Christianity in Ethiopia and the rich fund of experience upon which the evangelical Christian faith advanced. This chapter also outlines the Church’s evangelization endeavor in a multiethnic society; the methods and processes of expansion in vast geographical areas with due regard to areas of strength and shortcomings. The early influence of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church among the people of south and southwestern Ethiopia is discussed, especially the influence on their traditional belief systems, and how the weak presence of the institution in the later period led to the gradual waning of its influence and the emergence of a hybrid of religions that developed along its fault lines. The section makes an effort to assess the nature of state-church relations and how the Church’s coalescence with the state has crippled its image among the nonhighland population of Ethiopia and reduced its capacity to evangelize effectively. In so doing the chapter makes the claim that the Church set the tone for the milieu of relative openness of the people to embrace an alternative form of Christianity introduced by Western missionaries . Overall, this chapter aims at broadly outlining the precontact base of spirituality with the view of highlighting the local contexts of the missionary enterprise in Ethiopia. Early History Ethiopia is one of the most ancient nations to embrace Christianity amid its preexisting dialogues with the Mediterranean world. When exactly Christianity was introduced in Ethiopia is hard to establish. Most scholars accept that the Aksumite kingdom adopted Christianity in the fourth decade of the fourth century A.D. Emperor Ezana left some relics of his conversion in stone inscriptions and in the coins he minted during his reign. The account he left on one of the inscriptions not only bears the cross, but also attributes his military exploits to the Christian God, the Lord of heaven and earth.1 Ezana’s conversion is usually associated with the fortuitous advent of Frumentius and Aedesius, Syrian brothers from Tyre. Tradition has it that, en route to India, their ship experienced difficulties and stopped at a Red Sea port. The local inhabitants rescued the young men and took them to the reigning monarch, in whose sight they found favor and were accepted as members of the royal court. The tradition also maintains the king offered the boys distinguished positions in his court, impressed by their manner and sagacity. Aedesius was made the cupbearer, and his elder, Frumentius, assumed the rank of a treasurer. The two had considerable influence upon Ezana, both when he was a minor and following his assumption of the throne upon the death of his father. Though political pragmatism cannot be discounted, Ezana’s conversion to Christianity was a result of his close associations with the Syrian brothers, particularly Frumentius, who later became the first bishop of Axum under the name of Abba Salama.2 Frumentius was consecrated as the Abuna (Father) by the patriarch of Egypt, Bishop Athanasius, a tradition that was maintained for centuries until 1959, when the Ethiopian Orthodox Church decided to become autocephalous.3 The conversion of Ezana into the Christian faith in the fourth century A.D. should by no means suggest that Christianity was introduced to Ethiopia during his reign. Because of Ethiopia’s long-standing commercial and cultural contacts with the Greco-Roman world, there had been individual Christians who had come earlier by way of trade along the Red Sea. These Christian merchants transacted, settled, and commingled with the local people, thereby forming small communities of believers in major urban sites, such as Axum and Adulis.4 The fourth century nonetheless marks a watershed. Because Ethiopian society was highly patriarchal, the king’s official acceptance of Christianity had serious implications, for it greatly facilitated the expansion of the faith among the populace. Ezana collaborated with Frumentius in evangelizing the empire and its environs, so that by the 16 The Evangelical Movement in Ethiopia time of Ezana’s death, Christianity began to assume the status of the official religion in Ethiopia and was taking deep root in the society.5 The model that the situation of Ethiopia presents, in this connection , is...