Ethiopian Orthodox Christian Religion Essay

Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Paganism are among the principal religions in Ethiopia. Yet, Ethiopia is a chiefly Christian nation whereby most of the Christians are Orthodox Tewahedo Christians (Merahi, 2002). Nevertheless, there are still Christians residing in the country who are either Roman Catholic or Protestant. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is lead by a patriarch and is associated to the communion of the Armenian Orthodox Church, Malankara Orthodox Church of India, Coptic Orthodox Church, and the Syrian Orthodox Church. Christianity started in Ethiopia upon the arrival of the two Syrian Christians named Frumentius and Aedissius (Meinardus, 2006). They went to Aksum and began to inform people about the Christian faith and Jesus Christ. The two had also persuaded King Ezana, who was the ruler of Aksum during the early fourth century. They became successful in converting the king to become Christian. As a result, the king officially declared Christianity as the chief religion in the entire kingdom in 341 AD. Afterwards, he commanded Frumentius to proceed to Alexandria where he was sanctified bishop having the name of Abba Selama in 346 AD. Frumentius then went back to Ethiopia and was hailed as its first bishop and established the first Ethiopian Church (Meinardus, 2006). With the institution of the Christianity in whole kingdom, Ethiopia became a dominant Christian empire until the fifteenth century. Discussion Ethiopian Orthodox Church is considered as the primordial of all Eastern Christianities though the Armenian Orthodox Church is also termed as the oldest strand of Christianity (Yesehaq, 1997). There are, at any rate, three distinct organizations of Tewahedo Church with their own governments in North America and Addis Ababa, Jerusalem, and even in Europe and Jamaica. Occasionally Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is referred as Copic for the reason that until before the fifties the leader of Ethiopian Church was chosen from Egypt and this custom was modified when Haile Sellassie ascended the throne (Merahi, 2002). The doctrine of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is broader than any other Christian associations. The Ethiopian more contracted Old Testament doctrine is consisted of the books included in the Septuagint and recognized by other Orthodox Christians (besides Enoch, Jubilees, 1 Esdras and 2 Esdras, 3 books of Maccabees, and Psalm 151) (Yesehaq, 1997). Nonetheless, the three books of the Maccabees are indistinguishable in label only and rather various in substance from those of the other Christian churches which contained them. The arrangement of the other books is quite diverse from other groups’, in addition. The Church, moreover, has, to some extent, an imprecise wider doctrine that is comprised of more books (Meinardus, 2006). All contemporary written bibles confine themselves to the more contracted canon. Prior to the revolution, there were many Ethiopian clergy since Orthodoxy is generally bestowed in frugal order. Some say that all through the Red Terror, which began in 1975 and lasted for three years, over 200 thousands priests were put to death in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Orthodox priest is the greatest expression of the distinction involving Western and Eastern Christianity. The Ethiopian Orthodoxy claims that there is only one nature of Christ and such is entirely celestial (Yesehaq, 1997). In effect, the Orthodoxy established to realities, the Material reality, which belong to man; and Celestial or Divine reality, which belong to God. Alongside with the Roman Catholic doctrine and principles, the Ethiopian Orthodoxy does not admit the concept of purgatory and argues that there is only Heaven and hell. Another difference in terms of the history of Christianity in the Roman Catholic Church and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is that, the latter directly moves away from the earthy matters such as social and political spheres (Marsh, 2004). The Ethiopian Orthodoxy is only concerned about spiritual upbringing and nothing more which is in opposition with how the Roman Catholic Church influenced the founding of the earliest form of government. The Ethiopian Orthodoxy, on the other hand, has been disparaged for its passive character when it comes to politics and government. However, the separation among the social and divine concerns or aspects is an inherent theory and not merely an issue of stratagem and diplomacy. The sole character of Christ is to give emphasis to the idea that there are two realities founded on diverse doctrines (Merahi, 2002). The Orthodox iconography refused to accept the amendment of the art breakthroughs through realism, together with the third dimension point of view. The Orthodox artists believed that God’s time and space are prearranged in a different way from man’s reality (Yesehaq, 1997). The well-known upturned point of view in symbols expressed their consideration that in beatific reality the distant is close and the close is distant. There are various corollaries of the Ethiopian Orthodoxy belief on religion, including the notion of Trinity as well as the philosophy of history. The division between the Western Church and the Orthodox Church is not just about historical such as the thousand years of the Byzantine Empire (Marsh, 2004). However, such is a theological as well as philosophical in thought. There is no way that the Orthodox Church would admit the concept of evolution as how the Catholic Church, in a way, accepts it. In an analysis, there is very modest development entrenched in the Orthodox mindset which is predominantly observed in the Ethiopian Orthodoxy. As how the Orthodox Church expressed the principle, man does not progress gradually. But what is more appropriate to say is that man reaches his full transformation through God’s radical character which He uses to make us updated in every way it may serve for us. In this line of thinking that the Ethiopian Orthodoxy and the Protestant thought are the same (Marsh, 2004). The two regard the role of the Church as one’s personal institution and not merely a social establishment. Having this Orthodox character, the Ethiopian Christianity, on no account, had full-blown â€Å"holy wars† and had been more predisposed to missionary activities (Meinardus, 2006). The Ethiopian Orthodox Church co-existed with various leaders and administrations, lived alongside with pagans and Muslims and had no record of rectification or â€Å"religious wars† as how the Western Christianity underwent (Marsh, 2004). Summary To sum up, the Ethiopian Orthodox (Tewahedo) Christian religion has been regarded as one of the most foremost strands of the Christian religion. Though many of its features as well as its character have an enlarged difference in relation with other strands of Christianity such as the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestantism, it still goes with the principle of one all-powerful and absolute God. The great differences revealed between the Western Christianity and the Eastern Christianity are said to be observed in the entirety of the Ethiopian Orthodoxy. While the Western Christianity is hailed as one of the foundations of government primarily in the European regions, the Eastern Christianity, particularly the Ethiopian Orthodoxy, remained distant with the workings of politics and societal affairs. The Orthodoxy reveals itself as a religious organization which holds no concern on political activities in opposition with how the Western Christianity does. For the Ethiopian Orthodoxy, religion is something which is very personal. With this, Ethiopian Orthodoxy lasted for so may years surpassing other religious associations without undergoing intricate changes and amendments.