NATURAL INCENSE FROM ETHIOPIA


Ethiopia: In the Footsteps of the First Christians



Directed by Jean-Louis Saporito (TGA Production)
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Christianity in Ethiopia





Ethiopia is the only Christian sovereign state that has endured in Africa since the early centuries of Christianity until today.


A tradition traces evangelization of Ethiopia to the Holy Apostles, Matthew and Bartholomew. The birth of official Christianity is due to the consecration by St. Athanasius of Alexandria Bishop Frumentius for Ethiopia. In 330, the Axum empire converted to Christianity.


One of the most famous traditions of the Ethiopian Church is the visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon. The Queen of Sheba, informed of the fame acquired by Solomon, wanted to experience it. She went to Jerusalem near Solomon (I Kings, X, 13). According to the Ethiopian tradition, the Queen of Sheba would have returned pregnant to his kingdom and her son, Menelik I, the first legendary Emperor of Ethiopia, was the son of Solomon. It is even reported that the very young Menelik went to Jerusalem to soak up the wisdom of Solomon before returning to his country.


According to tradition, he brought with him the Ark of the Covenant which nowadays would always be hidden in Ethiopia, Axum.



The Islamization of much of the Near and Middle East separated Ethiopia from the rest of Christendom. The Kingdom of Aksum experienced a decline and a gradual erosion. But that did not stop the Ethiopian Church to grow. The power centers of Christian Ethiopia moved gradually southward.


Between the twelfth and thirteenth century, the Ethiopian Church saw one of his finest works take shape, when King Lalibela (1190-1225 approximately) founded a city that bears his name, a second Jerusalem.


Even today, we can see this monumental monoliths of churches carved into the rock. To replace the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, the site visit provided the pilgrim the opportunity to admire a representation of the topography of the Holy City.



For centuries, along with the Coptic Metropolitan sent from Egypt, the Emperor was responsible for the Orthodox Church of Ethiopia. The Church in Ethiopia then had nearly a third of the land and many buildings.


The Revolution of 1974 swept all irreparably, causing looting, pillaging and destruction. Everything was nationalized by the revolutionary committee, led by Mengistu after 1977. Land, property, schools - including Catholic schools - were transformed into state property.


Although many of its properties and its schools have returned to the Church, everything is different now. The Church impoverished, presents difficulties following the closure of seminars for seventeen years (until 1991) and dilapidated church buildings...