ABYSSINIA AND THE ABYSSINIAN CHURCH.

Worthlessness of Traditional History ( 1).

Introduction of Christianity ( 2).
Close Connection with Egypt in Doctrine ( 3).
The Canon and Creed ( 4).
Organization of the Church ( 5).
Beliefs and Practises ( 6).
The Falashas ( 7).
Christian Missions ( 8).
The modern Abyssinia is a country of East Africa, between the Red Sea and the Bl
ue Nile, to the southeast of Nubia. Its boundaries are not definite, and its are
a is variously given from 150,000 to 240,000 square miles. Estimates of the popu
lation vary from 3,500,000 to 8,500,000. In antiquity the term Ethiopia was used r
ather vaguely to signify Abyssinia (with somewhat wider extent than at present),
Nubia, and Sennar. These were the lands of the Ethiopian Church, of which the A
byssinian Church is the modem representative. Christianity is now confined to th
e plateau and mountain regions of Abyssinia.
1. Worthlessness of Traditional History.
Native tradition ascribes the name of the country and the foundation of the stat
e to Ethiops, the son of Cush, the son of Ham. The queen of Sheba who visited So
lomon is identified with an Abyssinian queen, Makeda; and her visit is said to h
ave led to the conversion of the people to Judaism. The tradition continues that
she bore to Solomon a son, Menelik, who was educated in Jerusalem by his father
. He then returned to the old capital, Axum, and brought with him both Jewish pr
iests and the ark, which was carried away from the Temple in Jerusalem and depos
ited in the Ethiopian capital; and from that time to the present Abyssinia is sa
id to have been ruled by a Solomonic dynasty, the succession having been broken
only now and then by usurpers and conquerors. Of course, all this has no histori
c value. That Judaism preceded Christianity in the land is not proved by the obs
ervance of certain Jewish customs (such as circumcision, the Mosaic laws about f
oods, the Sabbath, etc.); these may have been introduced from ancient Egypt or t
he Coptic Church. A Jewish immigration, however, must have taken place, as it is
proved by the presence in the land of numerous Jews, the so-called Falashas (se
e below, 7); but the time, manner, and magnitude of this immigration can not be
ascertained.
2. Introduction of Christianity.
There is no independent native tradition of the conversion of the Abyssinians to
Christianity According to the Greek and Roman Church historians (Rufinus, i. 9;
Theodoret, i. 22; Socrates, i. 19; Sozomen, ii. 24), in the time of Constantine
the Great (about 330), Frumentius and Edesius accompanied the uncle of the form
er from Tyre on a voyage in the Red Sea. They were shipwrecked on the Ethiopian
coast and carried by the natives to the court at Axum. There they won confidence
and honor, and were allowed to preach Christianity. Edesius afterward returned
to Tyre; but Frumentius continued the work, went to Alexandria, where Athanasius
occupied the patriarchal see, obtained missionary coworkers from him, and was h

imself consecrated bishop and head of the Ethiopian Church, with the title Abba
Salama, Father of Peace, which is still in use along with the later Abuna, Our Fath
er. It is not improbable that Christianity was known to the Abyssinians before th
e time of Frumentius (whose date has been fixed by Dillmann at 341); but he is p
roperly regarded as the founder of the Ethiopian Church. In the fifth and sixth
centuries the mission received a new impulse by the immigration of a number of m
onks (Monophysites) from upper Egypt.
3. Close Connection with Egypt in Doctrine.
The close connection between the Abyssinian Church and Egypt is very apparent in
the sphere of doctrine. Like the Coptic Church, the Abyssinian holds a monophys
itic view of the person of Christ. This question has long been settled; but it i
s still debated whether Christ had a double or threefold birth. The Abuna and th
e majority of the priests hold to the twofold view, which is the more purely mon
ophysitic. The threefold view was introduced by a monk about 100 years ago, and
is prevalent in Shoa (the southern and southeastern district). Also the question
s of the person and dignity of Mary, whether she really bore God, or was only th
e mother of Jesus; whether she is entitled to the same worship as Christ, etc.,ar
e eagerly debated though it seems to be the general view that an almost divine w
orship is due to the Virgin, and that she and the saints are indispensable media
tors between Christ and man. Some even assert that the saints, who died not for
their own sins, died like Christ for the sins of others.
4. The Canon and Creed.
The church books are all in the Ethiopic language, which is a dead tongue, studi
ed only by the priests, and not understood by them. For the Ethionic Bible trans
lation see Bible Versions, A, VIII. The Abyssinian canon, called Semanya Ahadu, E
ighty-one, because it consists of eighty-one sacred books, comprises, besides the
sixty-five books of the usual canon, the Apocrypha, the 20 Epistles of Clement,
and the Synodus (that is, the decrees of the Apostolic Council of Jerusalem; cf
. W. Fell, Canones apostolorum thiopice, Leipsic, 1871). Only a very slight diffe
rence, however, is made between this canon and some other works of ecclesiastica
l literature,the Didascalia or Apostolic Constitutions (text and transl. by T. P.
Platt, published by the Oriental Translation Fund, London, 1834); the HaimanotAbo, giving quotations from the councils and the Fathers; the writings of the Ea
stern Fathers, Athanasius, Cyril, and Chrysostom; and the Fetha-Nagast, the roya
l law-book. On the whole, the tradition of the Church has the same authority as
the Scriptures. Of the councils, only those before the Council of Chalcedon (451
) are recognized, because at Chalcedon the monophysite heresy was condemned. The
Apostles Creed is unknown; the Nicene is used.
5. Organization of the Church.
At the head of the Church stands the Abuna, who resides in Gondar. He is appoint
ed by the Coptic patriarch of Cairo; and, according to a law, dating from the th
irteenth century, no Abyssinian, but only a Copt, can be Abuna. He alone has the
right to anoint the king and to ordain priests and deacons. Both in secular and
in ecclesiastical affairs he has great power. The duties of the priests are to
conduct divine service three or four times daily and for three or four hours on
Sunday, to attend to the church business, and to purify houses and utensils. Pri
ests, monks, and scholars celebrate the Holy Communion every morning. The deacon
s bake the bread for the Lords Supper and perform menial duties. Any one who can
read may be ordained deacon, and a priest is merely required to recite the Nicen
e Creed. To learn the long liturgies, however, is often a matter of years. It is
usual to marry before ordination, as marriage is not allowed afterward. Besides
priests and deacons each church has its alaka, who looks after church property
and attends to secular business. The debturas sing at divine service; and the la
rger churches have a komofat who settles disputes among the clergy. Beside the s

ecular clergy stand the monastic under the head of the Etshege, who ranks next to
the Abuna and decides many ecclesiastical and theological questions in common w
ith him. The number of monks and nuns (living after the rule of Pachomius) is ve
ry great. At Debra Damo, one of the chief monasteries, about 300 monks live toge
ther in small huts. A part of their duties is the education of the young. The ch
urch buildings are exceedingly numerous, generally small, low, circular structur
es, with a conical roof of thatch and four doors, one toward each of the cardina
l points. Surrounding the building is a court, occupied during service by the la
ymen, and often serving at night as a place of refuge to travelers. The interior
, dirty and neglected, is divided into two apartments,the holy for the priests an
d deacons, and the holy of holies, where stands the ark. This ark is the princip
al object in the whole church. Neither the deacons, laymen, nor non-Christians d
are touch it; if they do, the church and the adjacent cemetery become unclean, a
nd must be purified. Indifferent pictures of the numerous saints, the Virgin, th
e angels, and the devil adorn the interior; but statues are forbidden. Crosses a
re found, but no crucifixes.
6. Beliefs and Practises.
Service consists of singing of psalms, recitals of parts of the Bible and liturg
y, and prayers, especially to the Virgin and the wonder-working saints; it is un
dignified and unedifying. They believe that every one has a guardian spirit and
therefore venerate the angels. The archangel Michael is considered especially ho
ly. They divide the good angels into nine classes, of which there were originall
y ten, but one fell away under Satanael. Relics are preserved and venerated as b
y the Roman Catholic Church. Of sacraments, the Church numbers two, baptism and
the Lords Supper. Both adults and children are baptized, the former by immersion,
the latter by sprinkling. For boys the rite is performed forty days after birth
; for girls, eighty days. The purpose of baptism is the forgiveness of sins. The
Lords Supper is preceded by a severe fast; and offerings of incense, oil, bread,
and wine are usually brought. The Jewish Sabbath is kept as well as the Christi
an Sunday; and altogether there are one hundred and eighty holidays in the year.
Fasting, observed with great strictness, plays a prominent part in the discipli
ne, and about half the days of the year are nominally fast-days.
7. The Falashas.
Not all the inhabitants of Abyssinia are Christians; and not all Christians belo
ng to the State Church. The Zalanes, a nomadic tribe, consider themselves to be
Jews, and keep aloof from the Christians, though they are described as being rea
lly Christians. The Chamantes are baptized, and have Christian priests; but in r
eality they are nearly pagans, and celebrate many thoroughly pagan rites. The re
al Jews, the Falashas, live along the northern shore of Lake Tsana, in the neigh
borhood of Gondar and Shelga, where they pursue agriculture and trade. They are
more industrious than the Christians, but also more ignorant and spiritually mor
e forlorn. Mohammedanism is steadily progressing. In order to distinguish themse
lves from all non-Christians, the Christians receive at baptism a cord of blue s
ilk or cotton, called mateb, which they always wear around the neck.
8. Christian Missions.
The first missionary work which the Western Church undertook in Abyssinia was th
e Jesuit mission of 1555, which labored there for nearly a century; but the miss
ionary activity of the Jesuits was deeply mixed with the politics of the country
; and their main purpose seems to have been to establish there the authority of
the Roman Catholic Church. At last they reached the goal. After a frightful mass
acre of the opposite party, King Sasneos declared the Roman Catholic Church the
Church of the State. In 1640, however, the Jesuits, with their Roman archbishop,
were compelled to leave the country, and the old religion with its old Church w
as reestablished. With the 21 new Abuna who followed after this Roman Catholic i

nterregnum, Peter Heyling, from Lbeck, a Protestant missionary, came into the cou
ntry, but his great zeal led only to small results. The Church Missionary Societ
y had more success in the first half of the nineteenth century. The circumstance
that a pious Abyssinian monk, Abi-Ruch or Abreka, who had been guide to the tra
veler Bruce, translated the whole Bible into the Amharic language (1808-18), gav
e the first occasion to this attempt. The British and Foreign Bible Society boug
ht and printed the translation, and in 1830 the missionaries Gobat and Kugler we
re sent to Abyssinia. The latter was succeeded by Isenberg, and Gobat by Blumhar
dt in 1837. Later came Krapf. The work was partly spoiled by the opposition of t
he native priests and the intrigues of newly arrived Roman Catholics, and the mi
ssionaries were expelled in 1838. Krapf then spent three years in Shoa, but was
driven thence in 1842. The Roman Catholics were expelled in 1854. In 1858 a Copt
ic priest who had frequented the school of a Protestant missionary in Alexandria
, and favored the Protestant mission, became Abuna, and the St. Chrischona Socie
ty of Basel now sent a number of Protestant missionaries into the country. They
labored with considerable success; but the disturbances of the reign of King The
odore overtook them, and almost destroyed their work. They were thrown into pris
on and were only released after the victory of the British.
Since that time, few missionary attempts have been made in Abyssinia. The Swedes
have one or two stations in the country; and during the past ten years there ha
s been some effort to resume work on the part of the Roman Catholics (mainly Fre
nch). There is a vicar apostolic for Abyssinia with residence in Alitiena, Tigre
; and a Uniat Geez Church is said to number 10,000 members. See Africa, II., Abyss
inia.