Wednesday, June 21, 2023

It is the 21st of June, 2023. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org. I’m Dan van Voorhis.

 

Let’s take a trip to Ethiopia, where, despite the strangely catchy but patronizing Christmas song, they do know it’s Christmas. Do you know how I know? There are 36 million Christians in the landlocked country in the horn of Eastern Africa. While many are Ethiopian Orthodox (we discussed this group before- a very isolated group that claims to come from the progeny of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba), many are Lutherans. In fact, there are perhaps more Lutherans in Ethiopia than in any other country. Germany is close, and both hover between 10 and 11 million (and it depends on how you count).

The emergence of Lutheranism and Protestantism in general in Ethiopia can trace back to two people- Onesimus Nesib and Aster Ganno. Today is the day many Lutheran churches remember Onesimus- he died on this day in 1931, but his story shouldn’t really be told without Aster Ganno, a young woman without whom he would have had a fraction of the success and significance he does.

Onesimus was born, named Hiku, in the mid-1850s (perhaps 1856) amongst the Oromo people.

A quick digression: Ethiopian history is difficult- they are a very diverse group of some 80 different people groups- the Oromo make up perhaps 1/3, but the overwhelming number makes them hard to track, and they often use different languages and alphabets. They have, however, reminded the only African country to successfully stop all would-be European colonizers. This is another reason someone like the man who will take the name Onesimus is important- a native Ethiopian would be needed to bring the Gospel to many Ethiopians.

He lost his father at the age of 4 and, without that protection, was kidnapped into slavery. He would be passed around various slaveholders until he came into the possession of a member of the French consulate on the Red Sea who sent the boy to the Swedish Evangelical Mission, where the boy first heard the gospel and was baptized on Easter in 1872 taking the name Onesimus (the slave who had run away from Philemon in the most underrated book of the New Testament). In 1876 he went to Sweden, where he studied at a Theological Training Institute. He had a proficiency with languages- learning, among other languages, Swedish and English. His desire was to go back to the Oromo in Western Ethiopia to bring them the Gospel and the Bible in their own language.  

After further study in Massawa (in modern Eritrea on the coast of the Red Sea), he and his companions (and now wife) made various attempts to cross the country. They were kept numerous times from making it back to their native land by Emperor Menelik, who would not give permission for foreigners to freely travel in the country (with the European “scramble for Africa” at the time, you might understand why).

It was on these failed expeditions that he began translating psalms and hymns, as well as Luther’s Catechism, into his native language. On the third trip to the Oromo, they made it- it was here that he met the young Aster Ganno. Onesimus had wanted to translate the Bible into Oromo but lacked a sophisticated knowledge of the language- Aster would be his assistant in all of his projects from the Bible (printed in Switzerland and brought back) and language primers for others to learn the language. Onesimus gets credit as the great translator, but in a not-so-uncommon story, the woman doing the work gets overlooked. Let’s hear it for Aster Ganno.

Once amongst the Oromo, Onesimus found that his opposition came from the Ethiopian Orthodox, who did not want a translation of the Bible in the vernacular. He would eventually be forced to leave, and between the turn of the century and 1916, he would be in constant battle with the Ethiopian Orthodox community, who would pin him down on his to them deficient appreciation for the Virgin Mary.

Things would change for good with the rule of Ras Tafari, who would rule by the name Haile Selassie. Under Selassie, Protestants were given the right to establish themselves. Onesimus could preach and teach in relative freedom for the rest of his life.

The death of Onesimus is an oft-told tale- apparently, he knew that he would die on this the 21st of June in 1931. It was, according to some, his 75th birthday, which was also the 75th anniversary of the Swedish Ministry, that took him in. He was to preach but hurried first to a doctor's house for any precautionary aides. He suffered a stroke and died there.

Today we remember Onesimus Nesib AND Aster Ganno- missionaries to their own in Western Ethiopia.

  

The last word for today comes from the daily lectionary- From Luke 6:

17 [Jesus] went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, 18 who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, 19 and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 21st of June 2023, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who knows that Selassie was also famous for establishing the coffee trade in Ethiopia- Coffee and Lutherans- it’s a Gillespie dream- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who, apropos of nothing, if you have Paramount+, you should watch “Sometimes When We Touch” a history of soft rock in the 70s- Blair- you need to get on this. 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.