Rise and Decay of Christianity in Abyssinia

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 25, 1909

Rise and Decay of Christianity in Abyssinia

IN the days of Constantine, the first Christian emperor, Meropius, a Christian physician of Tyre, accompanied by his two nephews, Frumentius and Edesius, undertook a trip upon the waters of the Red Sea. Their ship was wrecked on the coast of Ethiopia, and the two nephews of Meropius were the sole survivors of the disaster. They became slaves, and were sold to the king of Abyssinia, who soon learned to love them, and raised them to honored positions. Finally, a short time before his death, he gave liberty to both, and upon his death-bed made Frumentius the administrator of the kingdom and the guardian of the minor heir to the throne. Edesius returned to Tyre, but Frumentius did his best for the temporal and spiritual welfare of the land of his adoption. Having caused Christian merchantmen from Egypt to come and settle in Abyssinia, he went finally to Alexandria to visit Bishop Athanasius and ask his help in spreading the gospel among the people of his country. Athanasius made Frumentius a bishop, and the head of the missionaries whom he sent with him. Frumentius received the titles of Abba Salama (father of peace) and Abuna (our father), and this last title is still applied to the head of the Abyssinian Church. The connection of the Egyptian and Abyssinian churches also still continues, and the abuna is always imported from Egypt.

Under Frumentius and his successors, Christianity made such rapid progress that the whole land was Christianized about the year 500 A. D. With the spread of Christianity in Abyssinia came the missionary spirit, which offered the gospel to the surrounding multitudes still in heathen darkness, and created the Ethiopian translation of the Bible. But suddenly disaster came. Theological dissensions severed all connection between the Egyptian and Abyssinian churches and the remainder of Christendom, and soon after Mohammedanism began its mighty onslaught upon Africa. Abyssinia was enabled to withstand it, though North and Northeastern Africa succumbed; but alas! Abyssinian Christianity was badly crippled under the continuous troubles of the wars, and gradually it decayed and became the counterfeit of Christianity, which it is to-day. The Christian churches in modern Abyssinia have three courts, like the ancient temple in Jerusalem: the court of the men (women must remain in the forecourt); the holy place for the priests, which can be overlooked, however, through the holes in the walls; and the holiest of holy, where the sacramental dishes are kept and the sacramental elements are consecrated by the highest priest, who alone can enter it. In the holiest of holy the tabot (the holy ark) is kept. In the festal processions it is carried about under a great umbrella, and young and old reverently bow and kneel before it.

The chief priest is called the abuna, who has been called the pope of Abyssinia, though he is dependent on the king. Monks and nuns are numerous, and are ruled by the etschégé, who is also the confessor of the king. These monks and nuns are said to be lazy, living in licentiousness and luxury, and utterly ignorant. The priests are not much better. They can read the ancient, sacred Ethiopic translation of the Bible, though few of them understand it, and know by heart the long formulas of their liturgy and the Nicene Creed. Sermons are unknown.

The first and seventh days of the week are kept holy, and the year has one hundred eighty fast- and feast-days. Every Wednesday and Friday is a fast-day, when no eating or drinking is to be done between sunrise and sunset, or only bread and vegetables are to be eaten after the total fast until the ninth hour. Advent, lent, etc., are kept as fast-days.

Many saints are worshiped. Mary, the mother of God and queen of the heavens, is given the highest place among them. But it is the general doctrine that fasting, giving of alms and of large presents to their confessors, and kissing the doors of the churches insure eternal happiness to believers.

The sacraments are charms, not means of grace. Baptism is preceded by circumcision, and children are immersed, adults are sprinkled. After baptism a blue cord is fastened around the neck, a badge which is not removed till death. The bread of the Lord’s supper is soaked in wine, and fed to the communicants with a spoon. Men between twelve and forty years of age are debarred from the Lord’s supper, because they are thought unable to keep the sixth [seventh] commandment. The marital relation is not kept holy, and plural marriages are frequent. Wedding ceremonies are scarce.

It has been said that Abyssinian Christians are in morality far below the Mohammedans, and show all the vices and lusts of the wild inhabitants of Africa. Though nominal followers of Christ, the Abyssinians are lazy, liars, drunkards, and voluptuous in the extreme.—The Missionary Review, June, 1908.