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Guide to Ethiopia

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Ethiopian tradition says that Christianity came to Ethiopia at the beginning of the 4th century AD when two young students named Frumentius and Aedesius were forcibly taken from their boat and introduced to the royal court at Axum. It was the virtuous Frumentius who established churches in Ethiopia and who, after a journey to Alexandria in Egypt, became Ethiopia's first bishop.

Ethiopia's form of Orthodox Christianity, despite its own individual nature, has retained many points of similarity with the Coptic church of Egypt, and right up until the mid-1950s, the Abuna or patriarch was appointed from Alexandria.

Ethiopia therefore claims to have been the first country in the world to adopt Christianity as its official state religion and today approximately 60% of the population adhere to its beliefs.

Ethiopian orthodoxy displays many similarities to ancient Judaism, in its fasting rules, in the way in which animals are slaughtered, in the layout of its churches, etc. Wednesday and Friday are days of fasting when no animal products may be eaten or drunk. There are 55 days of fasting prior to Fasika, the Orthodox Easter. Circumcision is practised on all boys. Church services on Sundays are long and start at the crack of dawn.

There are almost no Falashas (Ethiopian Jews) remaining in Ethiopia today, but the "Falash Mura" - Jews who were converted to Christianity in the 20th century and maintained something of a distinct identity - can still be found living in the country. There are around 7-8,000 Falash Mura living in Gondar, seeking to return to Judaism and move to Israel.

A fascinating book that will inform the reader in a much more detailed fashion of these Ethiopian Orthodox traditions is the Kebre Negast, the Glory of Kings, which is available in several translated editions. Here one may read of the association between King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, and of the bringing of the Ark of the Covenant to Ethiopia (see Axum in the Traveller's Guide).

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