Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (Miaphysite branch)
Tewahedo ("made one"), Abyssinian Church (older outsider label)
c. 330s–340s (Ezana) – present
attested. Ezana's conversion is attested by coins and inscriptions. The Nine Saints are traditional, known from later hagiography.
Leaders
- Frumentius (Abba Salama), consecrated by Athanasius c. 340s
- Ezana of Aksum
- The Nine Saints (traditional, late 5th–6th c.)
Beliefs
Miaphysite Christology ('tewahedo', unity). It keeps distinctive practices such as Sabbath observance, circumcision, food laws and the tabot (replica of the Ark), and a broad canon including 1 Enoch and Jubilees.
Home bases
No home base of its own is pinned in this drop.
Also named in earlier place batches: Aksum; Abba Garima monastery; Debre Damo (see Africa batch).
Spread
The Aksumite kingdom (Ethiopia and Eritrea). Its Miaphysite identity was reinforced by the 'Nine Saints', Syrian monks who arrived in the late 5th–6th century according to tradition. Places are covered in the Africa batch.
Books
What happened to it
Continuous to the present. It was autocephalous from the Coptic patriarchate in 1959, and the Eritrean Orthodox Church became independent in 1993.
Hostile sources
Their own words
Ethiopian church. Garima Gospels; Ge'ez hagiographies of the Nine Saints 5th–7th c. (gospels); later (lives)
Insider.
Sources
- AbyssiniaConfessional source
Catholic Encyclopedia 1913 (confessional). Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church
Wikipedia. Accessed 2026-11-11.