The Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church

The history of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church is closely tied to that of its neighbor, the Ethiopian Church. Until the twentieth century, both churches were under the jurisdiction of the Coptic patriarch in Egypt: the Ethiopian Church received full independence only in 1959, the Eritrean Church in 1993. Relations between the two churches have often been tense, owing to war and subsequent border disputes between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Nonetheless, they remain in full communion with one another, as with the other Oriental Orthodox Churches, and indeed share a common heritage of liturgy and art stretching back at least fifteen hundred years.

In former times Eritrea was part of the Axumite Empire, the rulers of which traced their lineage to the legendary Menelik I, son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Although Christianity may have been introduced in Eritrea in the apostolic age, the earliest undisputed records of its existence date to the fourth century, when the king of Axum proclaimed it the state religion. The faith was further spread in the late fifth and sixth centuries by the Nine Saints, a group of exiles fleeing theological persecution in the Byzantine Empire. These saints established churches and monasteries throughout Eritrea and Ethiopia, many of which may still be seen today. As a result of their labors, as well as of the traditional connection of Axum with the Coptic patriarchate in Alexandria, Orthodox Christians in Eritrea have always sided with non-Chalcedonian christology, which teaches that Christ has but one, undivided nature, at once human and divine. In celebration of this doctrine, the Eritrean Church also refers to itself as the Tewahdo, or “Unity / Made One,” Church.

Situated along the southwest coast of the Red Sea, Eritrea was home to several important trading ports. With the spread of Islam in the seventh and eighth centuries, however, its ports fell into foreign hands, and as Axum began to decline, the Christians of Eritrea entered a long period of relative isolation. In the sixteenth century the Ottomans seized the port city of Massawa, whence their influence soon spread inland. Eritrea was also ruled by Egypt during the nineteenth century, then by Italy, which in 1890 proclaimed Eritrea a colony; the name “Eritrea” itself comes from an Italian version of the Latin mare erythraeum, the old Roman name for the Red Sea.

During World War II, Italy lost power, and Eritrea was claimed by the British. In 1949 Britain agreed to administer the region as a trust territory for the United Nations; three years later, in accordance with a UN decision, Eritrea was declared an autonomous unit within a federated Ethiopia. In 1962 Ethiopia dissolved the federation and annexed Eritrea as a province, sparking a prolonged and violent conflict between Eritrean rebels and Ethiopian forces. The rebels won a decisive victory in 1991, and in a referendum held two years later, Eritreans voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence. Although Ethiopia recognized Eritrea’s independence, fighting broke out again in 1998 as a result of a border dispute. A peace agreement was signed in December 2000, but as of 2004 the final demarcation of the border is still unsettled, and relations between the two countries remain tense.

Prior to political independence, the church in Eritrea was administered as a diocese within the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. In 1993, however, the local church, led by Archbishop Philipos of Asmara and supported by the Eritrean government, petitioned the Coptic Church for ecclesiastical independence. The request was granted on 28 September 1993; the following year, “the Ethiopian and Eritrean churches signed an agreement in Addis Ababa that reaffirmed the autocephalous status of both churches, and recognized a primacy of honor of the Coptic Church among the Oriental Orthodox churches in Africa” (Roberson). In 1998, Abuna Philipos was elevated to the rank of patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church. As of 2004, the church is led by Patriarch Antonios, who was elected following the death of Philipos’s successor, Yacob. The church presently has around one and a half million members (ibid.).