History of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church

(አማርኛ)

የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ቤተ ኃይማኖት ተከታዮች በተለይም የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ቤተክርስቲያን፣ ኢየሱስ ክርስቶስ በ፴ ዓ/ም በፈለገ ዮርዳኖስ በመጥምቁ ዮሐንስ እጅ በዮርዳኖስ ባሕር የተጠመቀበትን ዕለት የሚያስታውሰው፣ ኤጲፋንያ በመባልም የሚታወቀው ደማቅ በዓል ነው። መገለጥ፣ መታየት ማለት ነው። የኢየሱስ ክርስቶስ ጥምቀት ታሪክ የሚገኘው በማቴዎስ ወንጌል ምዕራፍ ፫ ቁ ፲፫ - ፲፯ ውስጥ ነው። ጌታ

በአገራችን፣ ጥር ፲ ቀን፣ በከተራ፣ በገጠር ወራጅ ውሃ የሚከተርበት፣ ታቦታት ከየአቢያተ ክርስቲያናቱ በዓሉ ወደሚከበርበት ቦታ በምዕመናን ታጅበው በዘፈንና በሆታ ይሄዳሉ። እዚያም በየተዘጋጀአቡነ ባስልዮስ ከእስክንድርያ ፓትርያርክ አቡነ ዮሳብ 2ኛ የጵጵስና ማዕረግ ተቀበሉ። ኢትዮጵያም፤ ከዚያን ጊዜ ጀምሮ እራሷን የቻለች ሆነች። ወደ ፶፭-፷ ሚሊዮን የሚቀርቡ ምእመናን ሲኖሩት ከምሥራቃዊ ኦርቶዶክስ አብያተ ክርስቲያናት ሁሉ ትልቁ ነው።

(English)

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (Amharic: የኢትዮጵያ:ኦርቶዶክስ:ተዋሕዶ:ቤተ:ክርስቲያን; Yäityop'ya ortodoks täwahedo bétäkrestyan) is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Christian churches. One of the few pre-colonial Christian churches in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church has a membership of between 45 and 50 million people,[1] the majority of whom live in Ethiopia.[2] It is a founding member of the World Council of Churches.[3] The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is in communion with the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, and the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, having gained autocephaly in 1959.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church was administratively part of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria from the first half of the 4th century until 1959, when it was granted its own patriarch by Cyril VI, Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria.[citation needed] It is one of the oldest Christian churches. Ethiopia is the second country historically, following only Armenia, to have officially proclaimed Christianity as its state religion (in AD 333).

Tewahedo (Ge'ez ተዋሕዶ) is a Ge'ez word meaning "being made one". This word refers to the Oriental Orthodox belief in the one perfectly unified nature of Christ; i.e., a complete union of the divine and human natures into one nature is self-evident in order to accomplish the divine salvation of humankind, as opposed to the "two natures of Christ" belief commonly held by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran and most Protestant churches. The Oriental Orthodox churches adhere to a Miaphysitic Christological view followed by Cyril of Alexandria, the leading protagonist in the Christological debates of the 4th and 5th centuries, who advocated "mia physis tou theou logou sesarkōmenē", or "one (mia) nature of the Word of God incarnate" (μία φύσις τΠᠦ θεΠᠦ λόγΠυ σεσαρκωμένη) and a "union according to hypostasis" (ἕνωσις καθ' ὑπόστασιν henōsis kath' hypostasin), or hypostatic union. The distinction of this stance was that the incarnate Christ has one nature, but that one nature is of the two natures, divine and human, and retains all the characteristics of both after the union.

Miaphysitism holds that in the one person of Jesus Christ, divinity and humanity are united in one (μία, mia) nature (φύσις - "physis") without separation, without confusion, without alteration and without mixing[4] where Christ is consubstantial with God the Father. Around 500 bishops within the Patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem refused to accept the dyophysitism (two natures) doctrine decreed by the Council of Chalcedon in 451, an incident that resulted in the first major split in the main body of the Christian Church.[5]