Essay Example on the Largest Ethiopian Orthodox Church

Introduction

Among the Oriental Orthodox Churches in the country of Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is regarded as the largest, with a membership that is estimated to be at 40 million people (Ancel, 2011, Binns, 2019). The church separated itself from the mainline Christianity sometime before the happening of the Great Schism and is only in recognition of the Nicea, Constantinople, and Ephesus as the ecumenical councils (Asale, 2016). The church is famous for the fact that it stresses on the adoption of some of the Old Testament laws that included restrictions in the diet, the use of the Ge'ez language officially for purposes of running the liturgy, and performing exorcisms (Berhane-Selassie & M. Muller, 2015). There is also the insistence of following some particular rules which affect those who receive communion, while at the same time there are those which demand that patron saints are dedicated with buildings that are used as churches. The devotion of the churches to the patrons is greatly respected to the extent that when people get into the church they must take off their shoes (Binns, 2015, Zellelew, 2014). Besides that, while inside, women sit separately from men. The rules are stricter to women as when in the menstrual period they are not allowed to step in church. The strong dietary restrictions are for foods like pork and those that are not kosher (Binns, 2016).

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The Episcopate

When looking at the hierarchy of the church, it has a direct relationship with the usual tradition of the Universal Church. In that case, it is the same as that of the one that started at the time of the scriptures during the hierarchy of the early church (Flemmen & Zenebe, 2016). The hierarchy of the Ethiopian church entails three major orders of tradition that include the diaconate, the presbyterate, and the episcopate (Haile, 2012). The episcopate is the major one as it is more central considering that it is through the same order that the traditional hierarchy was developed and maintained. The apostolic succession of the church is dependent on the episcopal continuity which is one of the primary factors of succession. It is symbolic considering that it shows the commission and call of the apostles by God within the church, besides the spreading of the faith of the church (Haustein & Ostebo, 2015). According to the faith within the church, it belongs to people of all the ages and the link that connects the believers to the Lord is the succession of the faith within the apostolic context (Keon-Sang, 2016). The church exercises the issuance of the sacrament as a way of continuing the apostolic faith. Therefore, it is clear that the episcopate is a robust sign for the fact that there is apostolic continuity and succession, as it ensures that the church stays united based on the principle of leadership within the ministry (Debele, 2017).

Hierarchy and Sacraments

When looking at the ministry of the church from a wider perspective, ordination creates a realistic sense of how the hierarchy works (Loubser, 2013). The sacraments are a means of the grace of the church, and issuance of the same to the faithful is dependent on the rule of hierarchy within the ministry. The church considers ordination as one of the sacraments as there is an insistence on the fact that administration of same needs to be on the basis of the people who are ordained validly (Rubenson, 2018). The ordination process involves the invisible transmission of the divine grace symbolically through the bishop laying hands on the faithful. Ordination is a process where one obtains divinity for the fact that they could fulfill a particular function, hence they are set aside for the main reason of ensuring that function is achieved. One has to fulfill their mission to the church and serve the world through the ministry (Shenk, 2010, Meyer, 2004). During the ordination ceremony, one is granted special grace through the Holy Spirit, and as such, they need to spread the same grace to others within the church and the rest of the world. While it may appear as though one becomes a royal priesthood through the ordination, the church believes that it is a selection process from the Holy Spirit where the major aim is to serve the church and the rest of the world (Zanetti, 2017).

Hierarchy of Unity and Order in the Church

The Church recognizes the fact that Christ is the most essential inward authority of the ministry; an authority that is propagated through the Holy Spirit and the power of God that is present in the church (Desalegn, Lambert, Riedel, Negese & Biesalski, 2018). The hierarchy of the church acts as an institution which ensures life within the church is organized. An ecclesiastical life that is organized is implemented with the aim of fostering the continuity of all forms of episcopes. An episcope entails careful supervision such as the care that parents give their children or that which teachers give to their students (Kaplan, 2017). The clergy persons of the church insist that people have to exercise the Christian duties in the best manner possible as that is the only way of propagating the faith of the church to the rest of the world. The clergy behaves in such a way that they have to listen to the bishop, who in turn exercises his pastoral duties of supervision and care. It is for that reason the bishop is the greatest symbol of unity within the church (Turner, 2016). The bishop exercising the episcope does the same for the church and within the church. A priest exercises his duty through the direct supervision of the bishop, while a deacon does the same under the care of the priest (Boylston, 2014, Dale, 2019). The work of the congregation is to follow in unity what the clergy propagates. Such an organization of the diocesan life is the same unit of organization for the church as a whole, and the center of it all is the patriarch (Boylston, 2018). Considering that the symbol of unity within each eparchy is the bishop, the patriarch also acts as a symbol of unity for the entire church (Bullock, 2018, Casper, 2018).

References

Ancel, S. (2011). The Centralization Process of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. An Ecclesiastical History of Ethiopia during the 20th Century. Revue D'histoire Ecclesiastique, 106(3-4), 497-520. doi: 10.1484/j.rhe.1.102466

Asale, B. (2016). The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Canon of the Scriptures: Neither Open nor Closed. The Bible Translator, 67(2), 202-222. doi: 10.1177/2051677016651486

Berhane-Selassie, T., & M. Muller, A. (2015). Women in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tawaedo Church: Gender and Irregularities at Holy Water Sites / Les femmes dans l'eglise orthodoxe Tawaedo ethiopienne : genres et irregularites sur les sites d'eau benite. Annales D'ethiopie, 30(1), 119-151. doi: 10.3406/ethio.2015.1584

Binns, J. (2019). The Ethiopian Orthodox Church's tradition on the Holy Cross. By Getatchew Haile. (Texts and Studies in Eastern Christianity, 10.) Pp. x + 285 incl. frontispiece. Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2018. EUR162. 978 90 04 34868 4; 2213 0039. The Journal Of Ecclesiastical History, 70(2), 341-342. doi: 10.1017/s0022046918002208

Binns, J. (2015). Theological Education in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Journal Of Adult Theological Education, 2(2), 103-113. doi: 10.1558/jate.2005.2.2.103

Binns, J. (2016). An Ethiopian Reading of the Bible: Biblical Interpretation of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church. International Journal For The Study Of The Christian Church, 16(4), 317-319. doi: 10.1080/1474225x.2016.1268507

Boylston, T. (2014). Food, Life, and Material Religion in Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity. A Companion To The Anthropology Of Religion, 255-273. doi: 10.1002/9781118605936.ch14

Boylston, T. (2018). Religion Material in Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity. A Companion To The Anthropology Of Religion, 255-273. doi: 10.1002/9781116345936.ch16

Bullock, B. (2018). God wants Ethiopians to prosper. Retrieved from https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2018/11/24/god-wants-ethiopians-to-prosperCasper, J. (2018). Evangelical Ethiopian Helps End Orthodox Schism. Retrieved from https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2018/august/ethiopia-orthodox-tewahedo-church-schism-ends-abiy-ahmed.html

Dale, M. (2019). Orthodox Christians are highly religious in Ethiopia. Retrieved from https://www.pewforum.org/2017/11/08/orthodox-christians-are-highly-religious-in-ethiopia-much-less-so-in-former-soviet-union/

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Kaplan, S. (2017). The Ethiopian Orthodox Church in the Holy Land. African And Black Diaspora: An International Journal, 11(2), 144-160. doi: 10.1080/17528631.2017.1394619

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Loubser, J. (2013). 'Two Revolutions Behind: Is the Ethiopian Orthodox Church an Obstacle or Catalyst for Social Development?'. Scriptura, 81(0), 78. doi: 10.7833/81-0-742

Meyer, B. (2004). Christianity in Africa: From African Independent to Pentecostal-Charismatic Churches. Annual Review Of Anthropology, 33(1), 447-474. doi: 10.1146/annurev.anthro.33.070203.143835

Rubenson, S. (2018). An Ethiopian Reading of the Bible: Biblical Interpretation of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church, written by Keon-Sang An. Exchange, 47(4), 410-411. doi: 10.1163/1572543x-12341505

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Zellelew, T. (2014). Meat abstinence and its positive environmental effect: Examining the fasting etiquettes of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Critical Research On Religion, 2(2), 134-146. doi: 10.1177/2050303214535002