Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Purges of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union: Difference between pages
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'''Purge''', in [[Communist Party]] political [[slang]], is an abbreviation of the expression ''purge of the Party ranks''. In itself, the term was innocent enough: in [[1933]], in the [[Soviet Union]], for example, some 400,000 people were expelled from the Party, but suffered no worse fate. But from [[1936]] onwards, during the [[Great Purge]], the term changed its meaning, because being expelled from the Party came to mean almost certain arrest, imprisonment or even execution. Following [[Stalin]]'s death being purged from the ranks of the Party resulted in loss of reputation, but not automatic imprisonment or death. |
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The '''Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church''' is an [[Oriental Orthodoxy|Oriental Orthodox]] church in [[Ethiopia]] that was part of the [[Coptic Christianity|Coptic Church]] until it was granted its own [[Patriarch]] by [[Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria|Cyril VI]], the [[List of Coptic Popes|Coptic Pope]], |
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in [[1959]]. ''Tewahido'' is a [[geez language|Ge'ez]] word meaning "being made one"; it is related to the Arab term ''[[tawhid]]''. This refers to the [[Oriental Orthodoxy|Oriental Orthodox]] belief in the one single unique Nature of Christ (a complete union of the Divine and Human Natures) as opposed to the two Natures of Christ doctrine (separate Divine and Human Natures) upheld by Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. The Oriental Orthodox Churches, namely the [[Coptic Church]], the [[Armenian Orthodox Church]], the [[Syrian Church]], the [[Malankara Church]] of India, and the [[Ethiopian Orthodox Church]] all refused to accept the two natures doctrine proclaimed by the [[Council of Chalcedon]] which separated them from the [[Roman Catholic]] and [[Eastern Orthodox]] Churches. As such the Ethiopian Church is often refered to as "Non-Chalcedonian", and by its detractors as "[[monophysite]]". |
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The Ethiopian Church claims its origins from [[Philip the Evangelist]] ([[Acts of the Apostles]], Chapter 8). It became the [[established church]] of the Ethiopian/[[Aksumite Empire]] under [[Emperor Abriha]]/Ezana in the [[4th Century]] (thanks to the efforts of [[St. Frumentios]], known in Ethiopia as "Abune Selama, Kesatay Birhan")., who as a boy had been shipwrecked in Ethiopia, and had managed to be brought to the royal court with his brother Adesius and risen to positions of influence there in the 4th Century. They managed to convert Emperor [[Ezana]] to Christianity. Ezana sent Frumentios to Alexandria to ask the Patriarch at the time, [[St. Athnatius]] to appoint a bishop for Ethiopia. Athnatius appointed Frumentios himself, who returned to Ethiopia as Bishop with the name of Abune Selama. For centuries afterwards, the Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria always named an Egyptian Copt to be Archbishop of the Ethiopian Church. Coptic [[Pope Yosab of Alexandria]] finally granted [[autocephaly]] to the Ethiopian Church with the appointment of an Ethiopian born Archbishop [[Abune Baslios]] in 1951. Then in 1959, [[Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria]] crowned [[Abune Baslios]] as the first Patriarch of Ethiopia. |
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Patriarch [[Abune Baslios]] died in 1971, and was succeeded that year by Patriarch [[Abune Tewophilos]]. With the fall of Emperor [[Haile Selassie]] in 1974, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church was disestablished as the State Religion. Patriarch [[Abune Tewophilos]] was arrested in 1977 by the Marxist [[Dergue]] military junta, and secretly executed later that year. The government ordered the church to elect a new Patriarch, and Patriarch [[Abune Tekle Haimanot]] was enthroned. The [[Coptic Church]] refused to recognize the election and enthronement of [[Abune Tekle Haimanot]] on the grounds that the Synod of the Ethiopian Church had not removed [[Abune Tewophilos]] and that his death had not been publicly aknowledged by the government, and he was thus still legitimate Patriarch of Ethiopia. Formal relations between the two churches were severed, although they remained in communion with each other. Patriarch [[Abune Tekle Haimanot]] proved to be much less accomidating to the Marxist regime than it had expected, and so when the Patriarch died in 1988, a new Patriarch with closer ties to the regime was sought. The Archbishop of [[Gondar]], and a member of the communist era parliament of Ethiopia was elected as Patriarch [[Abune Merkorios]], and was enthroned. Following the fall of the Marxist [[Dergue]] regime in 1991, and the coming to power of the [[EPRDF]] government, Patriarch [[Abune Merkorios]] abdicated under public and governmental pressure. The church then elected a new Patriarch, [[Abune Paulos]]. The former Patriarch [[Abune Merkorios]] then fled abroad, and announced from exile that his abdication had been made under duress, and that he was still the legitimate Patriarch of Ethiopia. Several bishops also went into exile and formed a break-away alternate synod in exile. The exiled synod is recognized by some Ethiopian Churches in North America and Europe who recognize Patriarch [[Abune Merkorios]], while the synod inside Ethiopia continues to uphold the legitimacy of Patriarch [[Abune Paulos]]. |
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After [[Eritrea]] became an independent country, the Coptic Orthodox Church granted [[autocephaly]] to the [[Eritrean Orthodox Church]] with the reluctant approval of its mother, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church. |
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[[Image:Icon_-_FrontLeft_-_Small.jpg|thumb|Ethiopian Icon showing St. George, the Crucifixion, and the Virgin Mary.]] |
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The divine services of the Ethiopian Church are celebrated in the [[Ge'ez language]], which has been the language of the Church at least since the arrival of [[the Nine Saints (possibly Syrian)]]. |
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The Ethiopian church boasts the claim that one of its churches, [[Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion|Our Lady Mary of Zion]], is host to the original [[Ark of the Covenant]] that [[Moses]] carried with the [[Israelites]] during the [[Exodus]]. However, outsiders (and women, be they insiders or not) are not allowed into the building where the Ark is located, ostensibly due to dangerous biblical warnings. As a result, international scholars doubt the likelihood that the real Ark is truly there. |
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Throughout Ethiopia, Orthodox churches are not considered churches until they are given a "[[tabot]]" (replica of the tablets in the original Ark) by the local [[bishop]]. These tabots are taken out in procession on the patronal feast days of the individual churches and also on the great Feast of T'imk'et (known as [[Epiphany]] or Theophany in Europe). |
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Popular [[Jamaica]]n musician [[Bob Marley]] was baptised into the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in about [[1979]] with the name Berhane Selassie. The Ethiopian Church remains involved in missionary efforts amongst the Rastafarians of the Caribbean and has brought many of them to convert, and to belief in the Ethiopian Orthodox Faith which their "god", the Emperor [[Haile Selassie]], adhered to throughout his life. |
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The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church claims a membership of close to 36 million people world wide, and is thus the second largest of all Oriental and Eastern Orthodox churches, second only to the Russian Church in size. |
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==External links== |
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*[http://www.ethiopianorthodox.org/english/indexenglish.htm Bilingual Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church site - english version] |
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*[http://www.eotc.faithweb.com/ Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church] (older site, low bandwith) |
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*[http://www.eotc-mkidusan.org/English/index.htm/ Information and Records Section of Mahibere Kidusan under the Sunday School Department of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church] |
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*[http://www.tewahedo.org/ Tewahedo Songs & Records] |
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*[http://St-Takla.org/ About Saint TekleHaymanot the Ethiopian] |
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*[http://www.tewahedo.ch/ Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in Switzerland] |
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*[http://pro.netnation.com/~national/azmariam/html/ Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in Phoenix] |
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[[Category:Oriental Orthodox churches]] |
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[[de:Äthiopisch-Orthodoxe Tewahedo Kirche]] |
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Revision as of 14:44, 8 November 2004
Purge, in Communist Party political slang, is an abbreviation of the expression purge of the Party ranks. In itself, the term was innocent enough: in 1933, in the Soviet Union, for example, some 400,000 people were expelled from the Party, but suffered no worse fate. But from 1936 onwards, during the Great Purge, the term changed its meaning, because being expelled from the Party came to mean almost certain arrest, imprisonment or even execution. Following Stalin's death being purged from the ranks of the Party resulted in loss of reputation, but not automatic imprisonment or death.