After the resurrection of Jesus, the Apostle Philip was directed by the Holy Spirit to go to the Gaza road. There he found an important Ethiopian eunuch from the court of Queen Candace. He had been to Jerusalem to worship. Philip found him sitting in his chariot reading the scroll of Isaiah. Sent by the Holy Spirit, Philip approached the eunuch, then explained to him the Scripture and told him about Jesus. Shortly afterward, Philip baptized the Ethiopian. (Acts 8:25-39)
The Ethiopian church began with this one man.
In about 316 A.D., two Phoenician boys from Tyre, Lebanon, were captured while in a Red Sea port while traveling with their Christian uncle. The brother named Frumentius became the tutor to the Ethiopian king’s son, Ezana. Frumentius led the royal heir to the Lord.
Christian teachers are good for children.
Frumentius was later appointed head of the Ethiopian church in the Kingdom of Aksum, present day Ethiopia and Eritrea.
During the fourth century A.D., King Ezana made the Kingdom of Aksum, Ethiopia and Eritrea, a Christian nation.
Christian heads of state are excellent leadership for their own people.
By the fifth century A.D., the Bible began to be translated from Greek into Ge’ez, the common language of Aksum, (Ethiopia and Eritrea). Today Amharic is spoken in Ethiopia, whereas, Tigrinya is the language of Eritrea, but Ge’ez continues as the liturgical language of both the Ethiopian church and the Eritrean church.
The Garima Gospels are the world’s oldest complete illuminated Biblical manuscript of the four Gospels. They are written in the Ge’ez language. Traditionally, the Scriptures have been held at the Abba Garima Monastery in Ethiopia, close to the border of Eritrea. Recently, because of a power struggle between the countries, the Gospels have been removed and hidden in another undisclosed location.
Ge’ez was an early church language. Today, it is a holy language.
Today, the Ethiopian Oriental Orthodox Church has approximating 36 million members residing in Ethiopia. With other Christian denominations, they constitute 67.3% of the population.
In Eritrea, the number of Christians from varying denominations is 47-63%.
The believers of these two countries are one people, from one language, one faith, and one Lord. They are physical and spiritual descendants of the early church. Together, they are a significant part of the body of Christ which has kept the Ge’ez language of the early church.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, while the Lord sweated blood, he prayed:
“I am no longer going to be in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, so that they may be one just as We are.” (John 17:11)
Belief in Jesus and the Scriptures unites nations, the church, and the family.
There should be no division in the church between Ethiopia and Eritrea—they are brothers, and part of the Kingdom of God.
To honor the Lord and the Christian Church in Ethiopia and Eritrea, “Jesus” in the Ge’ez language has been embroidered into this artwork titled “I AM.”
Listen to the “Lord’s Prayer” being sung in the Ge’ez language: