The Ethiopian Orthodox Church’s contribution to Ethiopian civilization

Fikre Tolossa
Ethiopian Review, April 1992

There was a time when almost all progressive Ethiopians condemned the Ethiopian Orthodox church believing it to be partly responsible for the country’s under- development. Indeed, there would not have been Ethiopian civilization without the Ethiopian Church. The major contributions of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church to Ethiopian civilization include the fields of architecture, art, music, education, poetry, literature, law, theology, liturgy, philosophy and medicine.

Before the conversion of Ethiopia to Christianity in the 4th Century A.D. and during the reign of Emperor Ezana, paganism was rampant in Ethiopia. Judaism co-existed with paganism having been introduced to Ethiopia a few centuries earlier by the Queen of Sheba (according to the Kibre Negest). In the beginning of the Christian era, all the emperors of Ethiopia, including Ezana in the early part of his life, were pagans. According to Ezana’s first inscriptions which he engraved when he was a pagan, he offered to his god Mahram 100 cattle and 60 prisoners for helping him defeat his enemies in a battle. The 60 prisoners were offered as human sacrifice.

Pagans in Axum and its vicinity worshiped serpents as their gods and offered them human sacrifice. Legend has it that the first Ethiopian king and god was half-serpent and half-human to whom people sacrificed young girls and animals. His name was Arwe. According to the Bible, the serpent is the other manifestation of the Devil.

When Christianity became the official religion of the state, paganism and its practices were abolished. Churches and monasteries were constructed on some of the sites where serpents were worshiped and human lives sacrificed. Though Judaism was competing with paganism, it was only Christianity which had a lasting effect on Ethiopian politics, history and culture. Since the conversion of Ezana to Christianity in the 4th Century A.D., Christianity and the Ethiopian state became fused. Unlike some countries where Christianity mushroomed among the common folks and struggled hard to work its way up to the rulers, in Ethiopia, it was the other way round. The rulers of Ethiopia accepted Christianity first and played missionary roles themselves by promoting and imposing it upon their subjects. This made it easier for Christianity to spread without any persecution of Christians.

The early translation of the Bible into Geez also facilitated the rapid growth of Christianity. Even though it is believed that the old Testament was translated into Geez before the birth of Christ, some scholars like I. Gudi suggest that the last translation of the Bible (both the old and New Testaments) was in the 6 Century A.D.. The Ethiopian Church accepts a total of 81 books as canonical from both testaments contrary to the Western churches which accept only 66 books. We should feel proud that the Ethiopian church is independent in many other ways including its liturgy, theology and music.

The first architectural edifices built under the influence and by the inspiration of Christianity were churches and monasteries on the outskirts of the Axumite kingdom between the 6th and the 7th Century A.D. The locations were at Danga (now Northern Eritrea, at that time a part of the Ethiopian kingdom), on the trade routes from Axum and Adulis into the Beja land and the Nile Valley, further South near Aratou. There were also other sites close to Danga.

According to The Gedle Tsadkan. (the deeds of the saints), the nine Syrian monks who found their way to Ethiopia from the Roman Empire and 62 Ethiopians built a number of fabulous monasteries. Among these are the intriguing monasteries of Debre Damo, Debre Halle Luya, Debre Pentelewon and the Church of Aba Gerima.

All the unique churches of Ethiopia including the famous Cathedral of Axum Zion, the monasteries of Debre Sina, Debre Libanos and Kusquam in Gonder were erected by the saints of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The most wonderful church edifices among them are the eleven monolithic churches of Roha hewn from a solid rock. These churches built by Emperor Lalibela towards the end of the 12 Century are interconnected by subterranean passages. What is most amazing about them is that they were designed to symbolize both the earthly and heavenly Jerusalem. For instance, Bete Mariam symbolizes Gethsemany, Bete Medahne Alem, the tent of the Ark, Bete Golgotha, the Holy Sepulcher. While Bete Gebriel represents the road to heaven, Bete Libanos, the Cherubims which carry God’s throne, Merqorewos, hell and purgatory, and Bete Ammanuel, the heavenly Jerusalem. Architecturally, and in their artistic design, these churches are counted among the great wonders of the world.

The Ethiopian Church has created fine decorative designs with high artistic values. According to a Western observer who paid a visit to St. Gebriel Church one of the rock hewn churches of Lalibela a decade or two ago, inside the sanctuaries the serried arches and the neat interlacing of the vaulted roofs realistically bearing upon the main structure were arranged in perfect symmetry with the sure touch of genius.

Church inspired Ethiopian paintings manifest themselves in many forms. The churches which were constructed in different centuries ever since the conversion of Ethiopia to Christianity exhibit diverse ceiling and mural paintings which reflect coptic influence as well as other unique Ethiopian features. A number of churches such as those in Debre Damo have paneled ceilings decorated in a variety of motifs. Many theological books including the biographies of Ethiopian and foreign saints have been illuminated with the strokes of the ancient masters. Such books, in addition to their literary merit, have great artistic significance. Some of the illustrations and the pictures on magical prayers are equally interesting to the student of art.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church has indeed produced a host of artists who excelled in secular paintings as well. In fact, all Ethiopian traditional artists originated from the Church. Twentieth Century Ethiopian painters such as Afework Gebre-Yesus, Agegnhuwork Engeda, Emaelaf Hiruy, Ale Felegeselam, Afework Tekle, and even the surrealist Gebre-Kirstos Desta whose father was a priest with knowledge of book binding, have been influenced and inspired by the decorative arts and paintings of Ethiopian Church.

The contributions of the Ethiopian Church in the fields of music, education, poetry, dance and liturgy are also significant. The father of all these was Saint Yared who lived in Northern Ethiopia in the 6th Century A.D. Yared lived during the reign of Emperor Gebre Meskel (534-548 A.D.). Even though he was a pious Christian who prayed, fasted and built churches like every Ethiopian emperor, he was also promoter of culture. He is remembered for holding the ceremony of the coronation of Ethiopian emperors in the church, unlike his predecessors.

Emperor Gebre Meskel and St. Yared were great friends. Yared was the cultural consultant of the Emperor. Gebre Meskel and his courtiers often listened to Yared while he sang divine-inspired hymns at Axum Zion Church. Gebre Meskel especially loved to listen to Yared. One day, according to tradition, Gebre Meskel was so deeply immersed in Yared’s hymns that he subconsciously pierced Yared’s feet with his spear. Yared too, being lost in his own melody, did not realize that blood was oozing from his wounded foot until he finished singing.

The depth and richness of the music which Yared created still puzzles Westerners. He had the ability to capture the sweetest sounds of birds, animals and humans alike. He invented musical notation which incidentally the West did not develop until the late 13th Century, seven hundred years after Yared. Yared encouraged Ethiopian priests to dance by swaying in a certain fashion in honor of God, accompanied by the sounds of drums and sistrums, and by the movements of the mequamia (stick). Yared’s music and dance have survived throughout the ages like Ethiopian independence, and still remain intact. It is the same hymns which the priests of Axum Zion cathedral used to chant 1400 years ago that present day Ethiopian priests sing in every Orthodox church. The liturgy of the Ethiopian Church was also elaborated by St. Yared. He labored hard to prescribe the ritual for public worship which is valid to this day.

The same Yared who created Ethiopian Church music and dance also laid the cornerstone of Ethiopian education. His curriculum was based on his philosophy of education. He believed that every human being is capable of learning if his mind is ignited properly. However, he recognized that learning is a dynamic process. He classified education into three levels: elementary, secondary and higher, which is equivalent to Western college.

In addition, St. Yared was a great poet in his own right and developed Ethiopian poetry known as Qine. Qine has twelve forms of versification or models for writing poetry, beginning from gubae qana and ending with itane moger. All Amharic and Tigringa speaking poets use some of these verse forms. Saint Yared’s poems were profound in content and fine in form. According to tradition, he was transported to heaven to learn some divine melody by heart and brought it down to earth.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church has also been a source of Ethiopian history and historians. Its priests and scholars not only wrote the chronicles of Ethiopian emperors and recorded Ethiopian history for the past 1500 years, they were also biographers of saints recording the deeds of saints (gedloch). The Kibre Negest and Senqsar (The Synaxarium) are two remarkable books which deal with the history of Ethiopian emperors and the lives of the saints of both Ethiopian and Coptic churches.

These learned men not only wrote their own books, they also translated valuable books from Hebrew, Greek and Arabic. Some of these books, lost in the original languages, have existed only in Geez. A case in point is the Book of Henok which has been translated from
Geez into many other European languages. Both the original and the translated books which have been preserved by the church inspite of the burning of thousands of other priceless books by religious fanatics and savage Europeans, bear a tremendous literally value.

Having had an upper hand in the Ethiopian government, the Church introduced the Fetha Negest (the judgment of kings) which had been the standard book of Ecclesiastical and Civil Law, as recently as the reign of Emperor Theodros, or even emperors Menelik and Haile Selassie, directly or indirectly. Whoever studies Ethiopian law in a university will have had to examine The Fetha Negest for this was the basis of Ethiopian Civil Law.

That the Ethiopian Orthodox Church has its own kind of liturgy and theology is a fact. Many Ethiopian Emperors were well-versed theologians. Some of them, such as Zera Yacob, author of Metsihafe Birhan wrote a number of theological books and loved to enter into public discourse on religious discussions.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church did not provide us only with emperors who were philosophers. Its legacy includes philosophers who originate among the common folks, such as Zera Yacob and his students who, several centuries ago, wrote Hateta Zere Yaqob (the thesis of Zera Yacob), a book which covers a wide range of subjects such as autobiography, theology, logic, ethics and even hygiene.

The valuable books of traditional medicine which we possess today, and which Western doctors wish they were translated into European languages, were passed on to us by the doctors of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Our calendar system, which is based on astronomical calculations and which we use to this day, is the contribution of the Church. The various ancient crosses with different shapes and sizes are great works of art which international museums crave to exhibit. The Ethiopian Church has produced all the important scholars and writers of these century. Afework Gebre-Yesus, Gebre-Hiwot Baikedagn, Alemayehu Moges, Teklesadic Mekuria, Zemenfesqedus Aberha, Hiruy Wolde-Selassie, Mekonnen Endalkachew, Mahtemeselassie Wolde-Meskel, Yoftahe Negussie, Haddis Alemayehu, Abe Gubegna, Tsegaye Gebre-Medhin, Mengistu Lemma, and all the lexicographers including Aleka Kidanewold, Aleka Desta and Ato Tessema, these are the fruits of the school of the Ethiopian Church.

Numerous Ethiopian singers (I’ll bet even Tilahun Gessesse), received their vocal training in the Church while they were deacons in their boyhood. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church, most of all, has indirectly contributed to Ethiopia’s independence. Ethiopian soldiers and
emperors drew from the Church faith and conviction to die for their country and religion. They prayed to their God in the Church every time before they went to a war, and carried with them the Ark of The Covenant to the battle front, believing that the God who dwells in it would help them to defeat their enemies. For instance, Emperor Menelik II, his queen Taitu and many Ethiopians believed that it was the invisible St. George who helped them defeat the Italians in 1896 at the Battle of Adwa when the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant and Empress Taitu were praying ceaselessly until the end of the War.

The contributions of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church are immense indeed. It suffices to say that every person who can read and write Amharic and Tigrigna owes something to this church.
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Fikre Tolossa, Ph.D., is Assistant Dean of Faculty at Columbia Pacific University and producer of Ethiopian TV in San Francisco, CA. He is also adjunct professor of film and ethnic studies at Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, California.