Devotions
The Veneration of the Blessed Mary
The Church honors the Blessed Virgin Mary most of all the saints. She is venerated especially for her supreme grace and the call she received from God. It is believed that by the grace of God she committed no actual sin. St. Elisabeth cried and said: "Blessed art thou above all women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb . . ." (Luke 1, 39, 45). St. Gabriel said to her: "Be joyful, O thou that art full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou above all women" (Luke 1, 28). So we, receiving and believing these words of the Gospel, honor and praise her as the mother of our Lord, our Lady, a lady blessed, holy, exalted, honored and praised.
The Virgin Mother of God has a very special place in the Ethiopian cult, and devotion to our Mother holds the highest place. Ethiopia is known as the country of Mary, her protectress. Among the saints in heaven she is venerated in a special way. She is loved by her Son so dearly that He will grant her every prayer. Because of the mission she received from God, her life is most closely linked with the mysteries of Jesus Christ, and there is no one who has followed in the footsteps of the Incarnate Word more closely and with more merit than she; and no one has more grace and power over the heart of the Son of God, and through Him with the Heavenly Father. Holier than the Cherubim and Seraphim she enjoys unquestionably greater glory than all the other saints for she is full of grace, she is the Mother of God, who happily gave birth to the Redeemer for us.
She is a glorified human soul, more perfect and more lovable than any other. She is worthy of the highest place and the most exalted honor that a creature can attain to in heaven, for through God's choosing of her for the destiny of being His Mother, through abundance of grace which He bestowed upon her, and through her fidelity in corresponding with this grace, she has reached a degree of glory which place her higher than God's angels or His other Saints.
The Blessed Virgin Mary is constantly referred to in the Liturgy. Special prayer to her in the form of Ave Maria or Hail Mary is recited during the Liturgy immediately before the Lections:
Hail, O Mary, full of grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
Pray and intercede for us with thy beloved Son,
That he forgives our sins.
Very moving is the prayer of the priest after the reading of the Acts of Apostles. Here it is:
''Rejoice, O thou of whom we ask healing, O Holy, full of honor, ever-virgin, parent of God, mother of Christ, offer up our prayer on high to thy beloved Son that he may forgive us our sins.
"Rejoice, O thou who didst bear for us the Very light of Righteousness, even Christ our God. O Virgin pure, plead for us unto our Lord that he may have mercy upon our souls and forgive us our sins.
"Rejoice, O Virgin Mary, very Queen; rejoice, O pride of our kind; rejoice O thou that barest for us Emmanuel our God. We ask thee to remember us, O true Mediatrix, before our Lord Jesus Christ that he may have mercy upon our souls and forgive us our sins."
Our Lady is commemorated every month and there are more than thirty feasts of Mary in one year. The name of Mary is the most popular, both for men and women. Innumerable churches are erected in her honour. The Nagara Maryam, or History of Mary, is a collection of stories about her life arranged for the twelve months of the year. There are two collections of homilies to be read on the Festivals of the Virgin, arranged for the different days of the week: the Praises of Mary (Weddase Maryam) and the Organ of the Virgin or Organ of Praises (Arganona Dengel, Arganona Weddase). One of the Anaphoras is called "Of our Lady Mary". Plenty of pictures of the Virgin are to be seen in the churches and sleeping places. Another important book we have in connection with the Mother of God is called the Wonders of Mary. Ethiopia is a daughter of Mary, her star in peace and war and her last resort in everything. Nothing can be taught to the Church in devotion and honor to the Blessed Virgin. Finally the Church teaches that our Lady was taken to Heaven soul and body where she prays for us until the last Judgement
The Invocation of Angels
Angels are venerated and honored in the Ethiopian Church. There exists a Holy Book known as the Homilies of the angels which shows how they are sent by God and come down from heaven to help and guard the faithful and destroy the wicked by divine punishment (………). From the Homilies of the Angels we learn how God in His goodness sends His Angels and saves from evil the faithful who fear Him and believe in His name, and guards and helps them in the time of affliction. We pray to God that he will send His holy angels to save us from all evil, and that in times of trouble His angels will help us. They repel the demons from the church and guard the priests lest the devils snatch away the Flesh and blood of our Master. So also when the priests depart, one or more angels remain to guard the church and the Ark (tabot).
There are nine orders of the Angels ascending in the following order: Angels, Archangels, Princedoms, Authorities, Powers, Dominions, Thrones, Cherubim and Seraphim. Devoutly are kept the feasts of all Angels including St. Michael, St. Gabriel and St. Raphael. Many churches are built and named after them. The feast of St. Michael is a national and religious celebrated on 20th January (Ter 12, Ethiopian Calendar) and follows immediately Epiphany (Timeket, the commemoration of the Baptism of Jesus in Jordan). The feasts of Gabriel are on 26th March, 6th June, 26th July, 28th December. There is a celebrated church in Harar named after St. Gabriel; there miracles occur and his feast is celebrated every year on 28th December and attended by thousands of pilgrims. The feast of St. Michael the Archangel is celebrated on the 12th day of each month. Uriel, Regel, Remiel and Phanuel are other revered angels.
The Invocation of Saints and feasts
Our church believes in the ancient customs of honoring the heroic servants of God but it does not offer them the adoration which befits God. It has on its list of known saints hundreds of names – men and women. The saints are chosen friends of God; they are souls which have served Him well. They are deserving of our homage, because of their holiness. They are united to us, we honor them and they pray for us. They present our prayers to the Almighty and unite them to their own; we honor them with religious homage in order that thereby we may obtain the assistance of those beloved friends of God. When we offer homage to them, when we build churches and institute feasts in their honor, we are not depriving God of adoration, we are adoring Him the more because we are honoring the results of the work of His grace.
We have a prodigious number of saints and martyrs in the Church and every day has a saint. Among the Saints the most celebrated are St. George, Tekla Haymanote, Gabra Manfas Qiddus, John the Baptist, the Apostle, Frumentius, Yared, Pantalewon, Basalota Mikael, Anorewos (Honorius). St. Aaron. Filipos, St. Stefanos, St. Ewostatewos (Eustathius), St, Marqorewos, SS. Fere Mikael and Zara Abraham. St. Aba Kemzun, St. Takla Hawaryat, St. Waltala Petros, the ‘Nine Saints’, St. Qirqos, St. Aragawi, King Caleb, St. Lalibela, St. Tewodros, St. Amba Mikael, St. Mabaa Seyon, St. Helena, St. Martha, St, Esther, St. Judith, St. Elisabeth, St. Anna, St. Magdalawit, St.Maryam (of Course). Each family has its own patron saint or angel whose feast it celebrates every year both in church and at home when friends and neighbors are invited.
Various feasts of the Blessed Virgin and the angels and Saints and Martyrs are celebrated. They are usually dated in accordance with the secular calendar and are commemorated on a definite date each year. According to the Ethiopian calendar the feasts of some saints are celebrated as follows: St. John on Jan. 4., St. Stephan Jan. 1. St. George April 23, the Days of Baptism Jan. 11, the 318 Nicean Fathers September 21, Dioscorus Sep. 7, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob 28th of each month, Cyril of Alexandria Feb. 14
Senkesar or seneksar is the calendar of Ethiopian Church. In this we have notices of the saints and Martyrs. A short rhymed poem, known as a Salam, is added at the end of each notice. As example, on the 28th of Sene the list of notice (each followed by a Salam) is as follow:
(1) Memorial of the Feast of Nativity of our Lord,
(2) The Holy Martyrs, the seven ascetics of Tuna and their 140 companions,
(3) The Holy Martyrs, Abba, Hor, Abba Besoy and Daydarn their mother,
(4) Tewodros (Theodore), son of David, king of Ethiopia ,
(5) mark, king of Rome,
(6) The two fold translation of the body of St. Amda Mikael, once in the reign of Eskander
and again in the reign of Lebna Dengel
Another Example:
Sene 12 (June 6) Lalibela. ' On this day is also (the feast of ) Lalibela king of Ethiopia, the blessed and pure , and the seer of the mystery of heaven. This Saint his parents reared from the day of his birth in the fear of God. Then follows, as usual, the short rhymed poem known as the Salam:
'Hail King Lalibela, who in dry stone.
With wisdom churches built, nor mortar used.
To show that his should be the kingly power,
(People and kings he charmed with honey sweet)
Bees round him swarmed the day that he was born'.
Among the churches built in honor of saints are St. George's Cathedral, St Stephan and St. Mary churches in Addis Ababa.
The Canonization of a Saint
The saints whose names are on the authoritative list of the church are not the only saints. They are only the declared ones. Their virtues were so great that the fame of them became widespread and a spirit of devotion sprang up in the hearts of the faithful which in time led the church authorities to examine their lives and works and command public veneration of them.
A person canonized as a saint of the Ethiopian Church by the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate.
The Veneration of Relics
The veneration of relics which the Ethiopian Orthodox Church faithful show is not a superstition, a form of idolatry or a survival of paganism. By relics we mean the bodies of the departed saints, fragments of their bodies and the like. Through these bodies benefits are bestowed by God on men. If we honor the saints whose souls are in Paradise, we must also honor their bodies which labored and suffered with their souls. We anticipated the glory which God will give to these bodies at the last day. We also honor the things that were closely connected with the earthly life of those servants of God. The relics of St. Tekla Haimanot and some of his utensils are still preserved and honored. Sometimes God makes these relics instruments of healing and of other miracles and he bestows favour and grace on those who venerate them.
The Veneration of Images
The veneration of Images (icons) is part of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church tradition. But this veneration is directed not to the images as such, but to the holy persons whom they represent. The Orthodox venerates flat, two-dimensional icons; they do not pray to three-dimensional status because these representations may be realistic and may become in themselves idols of veneration. Images of our Blessed Virgin Mother; Her son Jesus Christ, the Apostles, the Angels and saints are not worshipped at all. The Orthodox adores no one but God. The image venerated is honored only as a means for directing and increasing our homage and veneration towards that person and through him to God by whose grace he became what he was. We do not adore the figure of the sacred cross. Offerings of incense and light are given to the figure of the cross, to the holy books of the gospels, and to other sacred objects in order to do them an honor which passes to the person represented. By kissing or uncovering heads to the image of Christ, the Cross, the Virgin Mother of God and other saints we adore Christ and honor His mother and saints and angels.
Pilgrimage
The ancient pious practice of making journeys to distant shrines, of arousing or increasing devotion by visiting a holy place, is still in vogue in Ethiopia.
A pilgrimage is often the fulfillment of a vow and sometimes the performing of an imposed penance. Scenes of apparitions, hermitages of saints, churches which posses the treasured relics of saints and martyrs, are centres of pilgrimages. The church recommends pilgrimage and looks upon them as an excellent means of devotion and penance and of consequent purification and spiritual benefit. God often grants favours in the form of graces, miracles and wordily blessings at a particular places as a reward for perseverance and fervor of those who have journeyed thither and as an aid in increasing devotion to our Lord, His Virgin Mother, His servants, and angels who are specially honored at certain shrines.
The Christians of Ethiopia make pilgrimages to Jerusalem where there is an ancient Ethiopian Monastery and special portion in the Cathedral of the Sepulchre. Formerly vast numbers went on foot annually making frequent halts along the way for divine services. Among the celebrated centres of pilgrimage domestically are: Debra Libanos in Shoa, the monastery containing the shrine of St. Tekla Haimanot; the Church of Tsion at Axum, the oldest in the country; the church of Egziaber Ab in the monastery of Gishen, home of the fragment of the True Cross; the church of St. Gabriel at Kulubi, the place of miracles where many faithful go to fulfil a “silet” or vow to the Angel in return for a request already granted.
Celibacy of the clergy
A secular clergyman is allowed to marry before ordination but a wife may not be put away after his ordination. The priest who lays claim to a higher spiritual state because he is unmarried is advised to seek monastic vows. The status of unmarried priests is recognized. Bishops are celibate. A deacon marries before he becomes a priest. A priest is not allowed to marry again after the death of his wife. The Ethiopic Didascalia states that “a first marriage is pure God, but those that marry a second time are transgressors of the law.” Happily there is no celibacy problem in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, the practice of the early church has been well preserved to the satisfaction of the clergy with the division into the regular clergy who are celibate and married secular clergy. Some particular churches are served by the celibate priests exclusively. The people prefer married priesthood.
Church Buildings
A church is a building set apart for worship, and the name is used only for such structures as are for the general use of the faithful, as distinguished from chapels, which are for some community or family.
The number of churches in Ethiopia is immense, from the little round village church on a hill to large rectangular and octagonal buildings or modern cathedral in the main cities. The round churches are more numerous.
All churches have a three-fold division. The outside ambulatory of the three concentric parts of the Ethiopian Church is called Qene Mahelet, i.e. the place where the hymns are sung and where the debteras or cantors (singers) stand. The next chamber is the kidist, the Nave, where communion is administered to the people, and the third part is the innermost one, the mekdes where the tabot (Ark) rests. The form of the Hebrew sanctuary was preferred by Ethiopians to the basilica type. Churches usually built upon a small hill overlooking the village.
None may enter the sanctuary except the ordained person. The entrance of the woman looks towards the south and that of the men towards the north; the service entrance through which the priests go in is towards the east. Bethlehem is where the sacrifice prepared for the Eucharist which is at the back of the church.
There are grades of churches according to their importance and honour. Some parish churches are called dabir churches, those served by married priests; some are geddam, serviced by monks (unmarried priests). Churches are consecrated but it is the tabot which gives sanctity to the church in which it is placed and if it is desecrated in one way or another it is blessed again either by the bishop or by other church officials like the Qomos.
Among the celebrated churches of Ethiopia are the churches of Debra Damo, situated on the lofty and almost inaccessible flat top mountain of that name in Tigre, the monolithic Churches of Lalibela, eleven massive sanctuaries carved out of solid rock; the rectangular sanctuary of St. Mary of Zion at Axum known already in the sixth century; St. Mary’s church at Addis Alem; the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity and St. George in Addis Ababa; the celebrated sanctuary of Debra Libanos; St. Gabriel church at Kulubi where miracles take place; the sanctuary in Jerusalem; the shrine of the monastery of Gishen in the mountains of Ambasel deep in Wollo.
The altars which are of hollow brick or stone, are covered with wood and adorned with crosses and images of saints. Wood covered with stone is sometimes used to form a portable altar. In practically all churches there is a marble basin for the ceremony of the washing of the Feet on Maunday Thursday, and on the West Side there is a cistern for use on the twelfth Night. Churches are usually built in pleasant spots and are surrounded with walls of massive stone which add to the solemnity and the quietude of the building. The right hand side of each church is reserved for women, as they are not expected to mingle with men. As a rule shoes should be removed before entering the church and silence kept there. There are a variety of pictures in the churches including our Lord, the Blessed Virgin, the apostles and the angels. There is always a bell or gong. Each church has its boundary and its parish.
It is customary for the faithful to bow when passing a church at a distance and when near to kiss the lintels of the church door. This testifies to the deep respect which the Ethiopians give to places reserved for the worship of the Almighty.
The Consecration of a Church
The consecration of a church is a solemn and impressive ceremony with rites symbolic of the sacred uses to which the edifice is dedicated. The various parts of this service are of very ancient date. The building is sanctified by prayer. Many psalms, responses and antiphons form part of the service. The Tabot or the Ark, previously consecrated by the Patriarch, is installed with grandeur and is the chief feature of the ceremony. It is conducted by the bishop and priests. God’s protection on the new house which He has founded is asked for, that true service may always be rendered to Him there. At the concretion of a new church a solemn Mass is celebrated and the anaphora of John, son of Thunder, is used on the occasion.
The consecrated tabot is brought and taken in procession around the church. The intercession of the saints is invoked. During the entry into the church beautiful anthems are intoned. A most important feature of the ceremonies is the consecration of the altar, a very important part of the Ethiopian Church where the Sacrifice of the Mass is offered. Holy water is used and the sign of the cross is made with holy oil or chrism on the altar which is anointed. The odour of incense fills the house of God and a special Mass is said for the dedication of the church.
Eschatology
In an equivocal term, the traditional Apostles’ Creed sums up one of the central mysteries of Christianity: God promise of eternal paradise or perdition beyond the grave. The Ethiopian Church does not countenance those Christian theologians who readily agree the eschatology – the doctrine of death and the after life – owes more to superstition than to super natural wisdom. Here is the doctrine of the church on this mystery.
Where are the souls of the dead? The souls of the righteous shall abide in Paradise – Eccl. 12:7; Luke 23:43; Luke. 14, 22 – and the soul of sinners in Sheol until the advent Luke 16:1, 3, 31. But at the last day, when our Lord Jesus Christ has come in the majesty of His kingdom, their souls shall be united to their bodies on the day of resurrection and they shall arise from the earth and their works shall separate them, the righteous shall stand on the right and the sinners on the left before the Lord. Judgment shall be given in favour of the righteous and they shall inherit the kingdom of heaven and the everlasting life. The sinners shall be condemned and enter into everlasting torment and the fire of Hell (John 5:28, 29; Thess. 4:13, 18; kidan 12, 2, 3).
Definition of the places where the souls of the righteous and unrighteous go after death will help for a clear understanding of the church’s stance. Sheol or gehanem, corresponding to the purgatory of the Roman Catholic Church, is the place of suffering where after the private judgement, the souls of the unjust are detained till the Last judgment day. They may be delivered from this suffering through the prayers of the faithful, mass, alms to the poor on their behalf and then go to Gennet where they live happily until the Last judgment. Gennet or paradise is the place of happiness where the just, righteous or holy souls live until judgment day when they will join heaven itself, the abode of God. Gehanem is the permanent place for the unjust after the last Judgment.
With these definition the belief of the church will be clear. Accordingly, after a particular judgment the soul either goes to the place of happiness called the Paradise or a place of suffering called Sheol. The souls remain in these places till the last Judgment day for the final Hell or the eternal happiness place Heaven. The prayers, Masses for the dead, alms giving or other good deeds of the faithful may incline God to have mercy on those sinners and deliver them from the misery to Paradise where they will wait for full happiness in mengiste semayat, the home of God. This account explains the momentous significance of the last Absolution by the priest or state of righteousness before death.
To sum up, at the death of a person, his soul enters some intermediate state where shall remain until the resurrection of the body at the last day and the final decision will be made for everlasting bliss or hell. As to the mode and manner of the origin of the soul different opinions have been advanced. Pre-existentialism teaches that souls exist before their connection with the bodies; Emanatism teaches that individual souls proceed by emanation (out flowing) from the Divine Substance and so the soul is part of God. Creationism holds that each individual soul is created by God out of nothing at the moment of its unification with the body; the creation and infusion of the spiritual souls coincides with the moment of conception. Generationism traces the origin of the human soul, as well as the origin of the body, back to the act of generation performed by the parents. According to it, parents are the originators of both body and soul. The cruder form of generationism, i.e. the traducianism expounded by Tertullian, teaches that with the corporeal semen, a part of the soul-substance of the parents (tradux) is transmitted to the child. A less crude form (held by St. Augustine as possible) holds fast to the spirituality of the soul and makes the soul of the child emerge from semen spiritual of the parents. It is difficult to reconcile the immediate creation of the soul by God with the hanging-on of the sin of Adam to the posterity.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church teaches Traducianism. God created Adam and Eve and gave them a command to multiply. The soul and body are transmitted to children from parents, there is no separate creation of souls. Body and soul will together be rewarded or punished as one inseparable entity in conformity with the mode and manner of the traducian origin of the soul.
Edited by Aymero W and Joachim M., The Ethiopian Orthodox Church, published by the Ethiopian Orthodox mission, Addis Ababa 1970.