Monday, October 31, 2022

*** This is a rough transcript of today’s show ***

It is the 31st of October 2022. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

A very happy whatever you call today- Halloween, All Saints Eve, Reformation Day, the birthday of both John Candy and Nick Saban… whatever you choose to remember and celebrate.

It’s Monday, so we are heading to the mailbag, and we have a question from Elijah from Orange, California- which is close to the CHA headquarters. It also turns out that Elijah was baptized at Irvine Presbyterian Church, making Elijah and me baptismal font brothers, as that’s where I was baptized. He is currently in Birmingham, Alabama, where today you either fast or burn Nick Saban in effigy, depending on your loyalties.

Elijah asked me a few questions- but the one that stuck out was his question about the history and development of the Ethiopian church.

I chose that one as it is a fascinating history, and I have learned from those of you who have emailed me that many of you are interested in the history of the ancient church and the church in faraway lands- the Ethiopian church checks both boxes.

The history of the faith in that northeastern African state goes back to the Hebrew Bible when the Ethiopian Queen of Sheba visits Solomon. It is said she had a son with Solomon- Menelik, and when he was older, he traveled to Jerusalem from whence he would take the Ark of the Covenant and bring it back to Ethiopia. This story can help account for the centrality of the Ark as a symbol in the Ethiopian church and their reliance on many Old Testament traditions.

And then you have the story of the Ethiopian Eunuch in the book of Acts whom Phillip baptizes- he then traveled home where he converted those in his home country. By 330, the Emperor would convert and make Christianity the country's official religion. This puts Ethiopia and Armenia amongst the world's oldest Christian nations.

The Ethiopian Church would be under the auspices of the Egyptian church since the late 4th century- they would follow their Coptic brothers and sisters in accepting the decisions of the Councils of Nicea, Constantinople, and Ephesus (the first three ecumenical councils)- an essential issue at stake at the 4th council, Chalcedon in 451 would be the two natures of Christ. The council condemned a guy called Eutyches, an opponent of a guy named Nestorius. Let me give you the basics- Nestorius taught that the two natures of Jesus, human and divine, were entirely separate. Eutyches argued that the two natures were united. Both were trying to understand how Jesus was God and Man but would both be condemned. The Coptic (that is, Egyptian) church, Armenian, Ethiopian, and others would disagree with the condemnation of Eutyches- they wanted to stress the unity of Jesus' natures. So they rejected the Council of Chalcedon.

These churches are the ones called the Oriental Orthodox Churches- outsiders might call them “monophysites” (single nature folk) while they would call themselves “miaphysite” (one nature folk- that one nature assumed to be both human and divine). The full name of the Ethiopian church is the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church- “tewahedo” is an ancient word meaning “united as one”- as in the human and divine natures of Jesus.

The Bible they use has 81 books (including Enoch, Baruch, the Book of Jubilee, aka “little Genesis,” the Ascension of Isaiah, and others). Their worship and practice lean heavily on Old Testament customs from certain fasts, circumcision, not eating pork, and separating men and women in worship (and women do not come to church when they are considered ceremonially unclean).

Many of their practices might seem foreign as the church was cut off from the rest of the church after the expansion of Islam and has long been relatively autonomous. Until the last century, the church was under the authority of the Egyptian church but became autocephalous in 1948. The church has been disestablished since the dissolution of the Monarchy in the 1970s but remains the most significant single church body in Ethiopia today.

Thanks, Elijah from Orange-now-in-Birmingham.

The Last Word for today comes from the lectionary for today from Psalm 142:

I cry to you, Lord;
I say, “You are my refuge,
 my portion in the land of the living.”

Listen to my cry,
 for I am in desperate need;

rescue me from those who pursue me,
 for they are too strong for me.

Set me free from my prison,
 that I may praise your name.

Then the righteous will gather about me
 because of your goodness to me.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 31st of October 2022, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who-and this is true- can fresh roast you some Ethiopia Organic Agaro Duromina- go to gillespie.coffee- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man. Sorry about all the sports references- it's so deep in my bones- I guarantee my mood this morning depended on the score of the Rams-Niners game yesterday- I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.