Trying to understand Ethiopian Copts...?

[sasha_hawat]

I’m very confused when it comes to Ethiopian Copts.
-What scriptures do they use?
-Are there significant people of this church?
-Trace the founding of their church?
And any other information you may have.

 

[dzheremi]

Hello,

This page of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church should answer your questions about their history and beliefs. It is a very old Church practicing a very old and unique form of Christianity. They have not been under the authority of the Egyptian Coptic Church since the 1940s, though.

 

[inJESUS]

Interesting link Dzheremi! thank you.

 

[Hesychios]

It might be helpful to remember that the entire Nile valley from the sea up into the mountains of Abyssinia (the Blue Nile branch) was Christian at one time. Three kingdoms occupied the space between old Egypt and the Ethiopian kingdom of Aksum: Nobatia, Makuria and Alodia. These three together would represent what we could call historical Nubia, today it is eastern Sudan.

The Church in Ethiopia did not develop in as great isolation as it might seem to us today, communication with Alexandria was certainly not great, but pretty good until the Arabs overran the region. It is more likely that the Ethiopians shipped up and down the Red Sea than relied on the river for communication such a great distance.

This would explain why the Ethiopians have a ‘Coptic’ church. The Ethiopians themselves have a legend of saints from Syria first bringing the faith to their lands, and that may very well be true. East Africa comes under the purview of the Patriarchate at Alexandria, not the Patriarchate of Antioch, so these Christians would follow the traditions and discipline of the early Egyptian church even though the first missioners there were not from Egypt.

Today the Ethiopian church has a sister church in Eritrea, also Coptic.


*Patriach Abuna Poulos with US Ambassador Don Yamamoto

http://galen-frysinger.com/graphics/ethiopia10.jpg*

http://www.galen-frysinger.com/graphics/ethiopia231.jpg

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[bpbasilphx]

Rule #1 in dealing with Ethiopians:

NEVER use the expression “Ethiopian Copt” or call an Ethiopian a Copt, OK?

That’s what I learned when dealing with helping them resettle.

 

[TomaszA]

Totally off topic but when I saw a documentary on Africa, seeing the Church in Ethiopia really inspired me to look into apostolic Christianity!

 

[dzheremi]

Rule #1 in dealing with Ethiopians:

NEVER use the expression “Ethiopian Copt” or call an Ethiopian a Copt, OK?

That’s what I learned when dealing with helping them resettle.

As someone who has been blessed by living in an area with a large Ethiopian and Eritrean immigrant population back in my home state of California, I don’t think I’m out of line in saying that this is the most important post so far in this whole thread.

Well…this, and NEVER mistake an Eritrean for an Ethiopian, or vice versa! They’re both known as “habesha” (the collective term for South Semitic-speaking Ethiopians and Eritreans), but there are no second chances for you if you make this mistake. Oh my, you’d think I had insulted someone’s mother!

Sorry, folks…“ferenji” (foreigner) mistake!