Origins , the
Crucifixion, and the
Virgin Mary John Chrysostom speaks of the "Ethiopians present in Jerusalem" as being able to understand the preaching of
Saint Peter described in
Acts 2:38. where a specific mention of "Ethiopia south of the Caspian Sea" can be confirmed in some traditions such as the
Roman Catholic Church among others. Ethiopian Church tradition tells that
Bartholomew accompanied Matthew in a mission which lasted for at least three months. These missions are depicted in paintings by Francesco Trevisan (1650–1740) and
Marco Benefial (1688–1764) in the
Church of St. Matthew in Pisa. The earliest account of an Ethiopian converted to the faith in the
New Testament books is a royal official baptized by
Philip the Evangelist (distinct from
Philip the Apostle), one of the
Seven Deacons (Acts 8:26–27): The passage continues by describing how Philip helped the Ethiopian treasurer understand a passage from the
Book of Isaiah that the Ethiopian was reading. After Philip interpreted the passage as prophecy referring to
Jesus Christ, the Ethiopian requested that Philip baptize him, and Philip did so. The
Ethiopic version of this verse reads "Hendeke" (ህንደኬ); Queen Gersamot Hendeke VII was the Queen of Ethiopia from c. 42 to 52. Where the possibility of gospel missions by the
Ethiopian eunuch cannot be directly inferred from the Books of the New Testament,
Irenaeus of Lyons around 180 AD writes that "Simon Backos" preached the good news in his homeland outlining also the theme of his preaching as being the coming in flesh of God that "was preached to you all before." The same kind of witness is shared by 3rd and 4th century writers such as
Eusebius of Caesarea and
Origen of Alexandria.
Middle Ages by Baselyos Union with the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria continued after the Arab conquest of
Egypt. Abu Saleh records in the 12th century that the patriarch sent letters twice a year to the kings of Abyssinia (Ethiopia) and
Nubia, until
Al Hakim stopped the practice.
Cyril, 67th patriarch, sent
Severus as bishop, with orders to put down
polygamy and to enforce the observance of canonical consecration for all churches. These examples show the close relations of the two churches throughout the
Middle Ages. In 1439, in the reign of
Zara Yaqob, a religious discussion between
Giyorgis and a French visitor led to the dispatch of an embassy from Ethiopia to the
Vatican. During the
Middle Ages, the Ethiopian Church also witnessed the rise of influential
monastic movements that challenged established religious and political norms.
Abba Ewostatewos founded the so-called Ewostathian movement, which emphasized strict
Sabbath observance and monastic independence, leading to tensions with the ecclesiastical hierarchy and the
Coptic Orthodox Church. However, in the mid-15th century, his disciples secured recognition from the
Alexandrian patriarchate, and the practice of observing both
Saturday and Sunday as Sabbaths was officially accepted in
Ethiopia. A century later,
Abba Estifanos of Gwendagwende led the
Stephanite movement, which rejected veneration of the
cross and royal authority over the Church, provoking harsh persecution under Emperor
Zara Yaqob. Beyond doctrinal disagreements, the
Stephanites articulated a radical critique of imperial authority and the sacralization of kingship, which some scholars interpret as an early
Ethiopian form of
religious dissent. These currents illustrate the diversity of theological and ecclesiastical debates within
Ethiopian Christianity during the medieval period.
Jesuit interim The period of
Jesuit influence, which broke the connection with Egypt, began a new chapter in church history. The initiative in
Roman Catholic missions to Ethiopia was taken not by
Rome, but by
Portugal, in the course of a conflict with the
Muslim Ottoman Empire and the
Sultanate of Adal for the command of the trade route to
India via the
Red Sea. In 1507,
Mateus, or Matthew, an
Armenian, had been sent as an Ethiopian envoy to Portugal. In 1520, an embassy under Dom Rodrigo de Lima landed in Ethiopia. An account of the Portuguese mission, which lasted for several years, was written by
Francisco Álvares, its chaplain. Later,
Ignatius Loyola wished to take up the task of conversion, but was forbidden to do so. Instead, the
pope sent out João Nunes Barreto as patriarch of the East Indies, with
Andrés de Oviedo as bishop; and from
Goa envoys went to Ethiopia, followed by Oviedo himself, to secure the king's adherence to Rome. After repeated failures some measure of success was achieved under Emperor
Susenyos I, but not until 1624 did the Emperor make formal submission to the
pope. Susenyos made Roman Catholicism the official state religion but was met with heavy resistance by his subjects and by the authorities of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and eventually had to abdicate in 1632 in favour of his son,
Fasilides, who promptly restored Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity as the state religion. He then in 1633 expelled the Jesuits, and in 1665 Fasilides ordered that all Jesuit books (the Books of the Franks) be burned.
Influence on the Reformation , a 15th-century Ethiopian monk and ascetic of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church David Daniels has suggested that the Ethiopian Church has had a stronger impact on the Reformation than most scholars acknowledge. For
Martin Luther, who spearheaded the
Reformation, Daniels says "the Ethiopian Church conferred legitimacy on Luther's emerging Protestant vision of a church outside the authority of the Roman Catholic papacy" as it was "an ancient church with direct ties to the apostles". According to Daniels, Martin Luther saw that the Ethiopian Orthodox Church practiced elements of faith including "
communion under both kinds, vernacular Scriptures, and married clergy" and these practices became customary in the
Lutheran churches. The Ethiopian church also rejected
papal supremacy,
purgatory and
indulgences, which the Lutherans disagreed with, and thus for Luther, the Ethiopian church was the "true
forerunner of Protestantism". In 1534, a cleric of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church,
Michael the Deacon, met with Martin Luther and affirmed the
Augsburg Confession, saying "This is a good creed, that is, faith".
Recent history , head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (1841–1867) In modern times, the Ethiopian Church has experienced a series of developments. The 19th century witnessed the publication of the first
Amharic translation of the Bible, having previously only been written in
Ge'ez. Largely the work of
Abu Rumi over ten years in Cairo, the Amharic version, with some changes, held sway until Emperor
Haile Selassie ordered a
new translation in 1962. Haile Selassie also played a prominent role in further reforms of the church, which included encouraging the distribution of Abu Rumi's translation throughout Ethiopia, as well as his promotion of improved education of clergy, a significant step in the Emperor's effort being the founding of the Theological College of the Holy Trinity Church in December 1944. A third development came after Haile Selassie's issuing of Decree Number 2 on 30 November 1942, a new law reforming the church. The primary objectives of this decree were to put the finances of the church in order, to create a central fund for its activities, and to set forth requirements for the appointment of clergy, which had been fairly lax until then. The Coptic and Ethiopian churches reached an agreement on 13 July 1948 that led to complete
autocephaly for the Ethiopian Church. Five
bishops were immediately consecrated by the
Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church, empowered to elect a new patriarch for their church, and the successor to
Abuna Qerellos IV would henceforth have the power to consecrate new bishops. This promotion was completed when Coptic Orthodox
Pope Joseph II consecrated
Abuna Basilios on 14 January 1951. In 1959,
Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria further crowned Basilios as the first
Patriarch of Ethiopia. es.
Abuna Basilios died in 1970, and was succeeded that year by
Abuna Theophilos. With the
Ethiopian Revolution in 1974, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church was disestablished as the
state church, and
the new Derg government began nationalizing property and land owned by the Church. Abuna Theophilos was arrested in 1976 by the
Marxist military junta, and secretly executed in 1979. The government forced the Church to elect a new
Patriarch, and
Abuna Takla Haymanot was chosen; however, the
Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt refused to recognize Abuna Takla Haymanot on the grounds that the
Synod of the Ethiopian Church had not voluntarily removed Abuna Theophilos and that the Ethiopian government had not publicly acknowledged his death, and he was thus still the legitimate Patriarch of Ethiopia. Formal relations between the two churches were suspended, although they remained in communion with each other, and only resumed on July 13, 2007.
Abuna Takla Haymanot proved to be less accommodating to the
Derg regime than they had hoped, so when he died in 1988, a new patriarch with closer ties to the regime was sought. Ze-Libanos Fanta, the Archbishop of
Gondar and a member of the Derg-controlled Ethiopian Parliament, was elected and enthroned as
Abune Merkorios, the fourth
Patriarch of Ethiopia. Following the
fall of the Derg regime in 1991 and the coming to power of the
Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front government, Abune Merkorios abdicated under public pressure. The Church then elected a new Patriarch in 1992,
Abune Paulos, who was recognized by the
Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church. The abdicated Abune Merkorios then fled abroad, first to Kenya and then the United States, announcing from exile that his abdication had been made under duress and thus he was still the legitimate Patriarch of Ethiopia. Several bishops followed him into exile and formed a break-away alternate church, the
Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Exile (1991–2018), headquartered in
Los Angeles. The
Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church was granted
autocephaly from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church on 28 September 1993 following ratification by
Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church Shenouda III, though the two churches remain in full communion. This split drew criticism from who that saw it as a disintegration of the spiritual heritage of Ethiopia. There are many Ethiopian Orthodox churches located throughout the United States and in other countries to which Ethiopians have migrated.
Abune Paulos died on 16 August 2012, and on 28 February 2013, a college of electors assembled in
Addis Ababa elected
Abune Mathias as the sixth
Patriarch of the Ethiopia. On 25 July 2018, delegates from the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church announced reunification with delegates from the breakaway
Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Exile, in
Washington, D.C.. Declaring the end to the twenty-six-year-old schism, the Tewahedo Church announced that it acknowledged two
Patriarchs of Ethiopia,
Abune Merkorios as the fourth Patriarch of Ethiopia, and
Abune Mathias as the sixth Patriarch of Ethiopia (the fifth Patriarch of Ethiopia,
Abune Paulos, had died in 2012). Abune Merkorios, the fourth Patriarch of Ethiopia and head of the former break-away Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Exile, died on 3 March 2022. On 7 May 2021, a group of
Tigrayan priests and bishops announced the secession of the regional clergy from the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOTC) to establish the
Tigrayan Orthodox Tewahedo Church (TOTC). The split was driven by grievances over the EOTC holy
synod's perceived alignment with the
federal government during the
Tigray War (2020–2022), which many Tigrayans accused of legitimizing state violence and remaining silent over atrocities committed against civilians. The move was also justified by the extensive destruction of churches and monasteries in
Tigray during the conflict, often at the hands of
Eritrean troops allied with the
Ethiopian army. Massacres of civilians around
Axum's
Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion, bombings of sites such as the 6th-century
Debre Damo monastery, and the widespread pillage of sacred objects—including manuscripts, icons, and golden crosses—were documented by international human rights groups. Many stolen treasures were reportedly transported into
Eritrea, reinforcing accusations that the war was accompanied by cultural erasure. Significantly, Patriarch
Abune Mathias, the current Patriarch who is himself a
Tigrayan, broke ranks with the Holy Synod by publicly denouncing the conflict as a "genocide" against
Tigrayans, lamenting that his attempts to issue statements had been censored by church authorities in
Addis Ababa. For the
Tigrayan clergy, the silence—or in some cases, the complicity—of the Synod in the face of massacres, looting, and the destruction of holy sites contrasted sharply with the Patriarch's testimony, further underscoring the need for an autonomous church that could defend the religious and cultural heritage of the
Tigrayan people. After not apologising for the illegal ordination, three Archbishops were excommunicated by the Holy Synod on 26 January. On 31 January 2023, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed convened a discussion surrounding the incident where he responded that he was ready to resolve the conflict. The speech led backlash from the Holy Synod and accused his government of meddling in the Church in reference to
separation of church and state in the Article 11 of the
FDRE Constitution. On 4 February, three people were reportedly killed in
Shashemene by the
Oromia Special Forces. According Tewahedo Media Center (TMC), two Orthodox youth were killed and four others were injured by the Oromo Special Forces. Abune Henok, Archbishop of Addis Ababa Diocese described it as "shameful and heart-wrenching". In response to grievance, numerous celebrities expressed their solidarity to the Church via social media and other platforms and donned black clothing during three-days
Fast of Nineveh. On 9 February, the government imposed restrictions on social sites targeted to
Facebook,
Messenger,
Telegram and
TikTok. On the next day, the delegation of Synod held an urgent meeting with Abiy at his office, which resulted in condemnation of the proclaimed Oromia Synod from Abiy. On 12 February, a nationwide protest was postponed.
Abune Petros, the Secretary of the Holy Synod announced that the demonstration would be postponed following peaceful talks with the Prime Minister and a government agreement to solve the problem. On 15 February, the Church reached an agreement with the illegally ordinated synod. The government lifted the internet ban after five months on 17 July. ==Traditions==