GETATCHEW HAILE - Page 3 of 3

The Nine Saints – Ethiopian Saints

THE NINE SAINTS The so-called Nine Saints were monks who went to Ethiopia in the early history of the Ethiopian church. The exact date and reason for their going to Ethiopia from the Hellenistic world, including Egypt and Syria, are not known. The Ethiopian ruler at that time was Al’ameda, son of Sa’aldobba, who was …

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Libanos Or Matta – Ethiopian Saints

Eminent / By Youssef Matta

LIBANOS OR MATTA Libanos is the earliest foreign saint (probably after Yohanni, about whom very little is known) in recorded history who taught, died, and was buried in Ethiopia. Understandably, the exact dates in his life remain uncertain. He flourished during the reign of Ella Gabaz, whose dates are not known, and the metropolitanate of …

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Salama I (C. 300-C. 380) – Ethiopian Prelates

Eminent / By Youssef Matta

ETHIOPIAN PRELATES: SALAMA I (c. 300-c. 380) More commonly known as Frumentius (Ethiopian, Fremnatos), he is considered a saint in the Ethiopian church (festal date 26 Hamle [Abib]), as well as in the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches. He is said to have been born at Tyre. After his consecration as bishop, he took …

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Minas – Ethiopian Prelates

Eminent / By Youssef Matta

ETHIOPIAN PRELATES: MINAS (fl. sixth century) Ethiopian sources list Bishop Minas (Menas) as the successor of the first Ethiopian metropolitan bishop, Salama or Frumentius, and call him Salama II. He flourished, according to tradition, during the reign of Anbasa Wedem, before the Arab conquest of Egypt. However, in the chronologies of Axumite kings, no less …

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Gabr’el (D. C. 1458)

Eminent / By Youssef Matta

GABR’EL (d. c. 1458) Gabr’el (Gabriel) arrived in Ethiopia in 1431 of the Ethiopian calendar (A.D. 1438-1439) with another metropolitan, Abuna Mika’el III. They had both been consecrated together by the Coptic patriarch JOHN XI (1427-1452) and were the successors of Abuna Bartalomewos. According to tradition, only one bishop could be appointed metropolitan of Ethiopia. …

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Mika’el III (D. C. 1450s)

Eminent / By Youssef Matta

MIKA’EL III (d. c. 1450s) Contrary to the tradition which held that there could be only one metropolitan in Ethiopia, Mika’el (Michael) held this post simultaneously with Abuna Gabr’el. Succeeding Abuna Bartalomewos, these two metropolitans arrived in Ethiopia together. With the coadjutor bishop Yohannes, they formed a small group of Coptic prelates who, according to …

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Ethiopian Monasticism

History / By Armia FAYEZ

ETHIOPIAN MONASTICISM Perhaps the most important aspect of Ethiopian Christianity is its monasticism. Introduced into the country probably at the time when Christianity itself was first preached, its centers, the monasteries, have set the rule of conduct for the domestic and foreign policy of the Christian kingdom up to the twentieth century. The monks were …

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Ethiopian Heresies And Theological Controversies

History / By Armia FAYEZ

ETHIOPIAN HERESIES AND THEOLOGICAL CONTROVERSIES Although isolated from the Christian world until the twentieth century, Ethiopia has had knowledge, and even followers, of the major heresies that caused schism and created ecclesiastical minorities in the early history of the Christian church. A letter from the emperor Constantius II (337-361) (Athanasius,1857, cols. 636-37) shows a reasonable …

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