Ethiopian Catholic Church

The **Ethiopian Catholic Church** or **ECC** is a Metropolitan Eastern Catholic Church and one of the 24 sui iuris churches that compose the Catholic Church.

the Catholic liturgy who is use in the Church is the Alexandrine Rite, celebrated in Ethiopia both in the Ge’ez (or Ethiopian) rite and the Latin rite. Whereas in some countries there are parallel Latin and Uniate Catholic hierarchies and distinctive churches for each liturgical rite, Ethiopia is home to a single Catholic Church and clergy that celebrate both liturgies.

the leader of the Ethiopian Catholic Church is the Archeparchy of Addis Ababa, currently His Eminence Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel

The Church dedicated to foster Evangelization and the promotion of integral human development. the Ethiopian Catholic Church works in the areas of pastoral, social and development activities. The Church is directly involved in integrated human development through its pastoral and social development programs.

## History

Around the year 341 A.D., Saint Frumentius (Abune Salama Kesatie Berhan) was consecrated the first Bishop of Ethiopia by Saint Athanasius, Patriarch of Alexandria, who was in union with the Bishop of Rome. Thus the Bishop of Alexandria was the bridge between the Bishop of Rome and the Bishop of Ethiopia.

When the Church in Alexandria and in Ethiopia split from the Church in Rome in the sixth century after the Council of Chalcedon, the Church which had been one became divided

In the 16th century, Portuguese merchants went in search of the legendary land of the Christian king, Prester John – said to be a descendant of one of the Three Magi, whose realm was associated with Ethiopia in the eyes of pre-modern Europe. Portuguese Jesuits accompanied them, eager to win Ethiopia for Rome. They were successful, up to a point.

By 1622, the Ethiopian King Susenyos I had embraced Catholicism and by 1626 had established it as the state religion. But misguided Latinising reforms of the Ethiopian liturgy pushed through by the zealous Jesuits, coupled with the king’s outlawing of the Orthodox Church and his bloody measures to convert his people to Catholicism, resulted in a five-year civil war.

Susenyos won, But, increasingly isolated from his subjects, Susenyos was forced to abdicate, in effect restoring Ethiopian Orthodoxy.

The Portuguese voyages of discovery at the end of the fifteenth century opened the way for direct contacts between the Church in Rome and the Church in Ethiopia. Due largely to the behaviour of the Portuguese Jesuit Afonso Mendes, whom Pope Urban VIII appointed as Latin Patriarch of Ethiopia in 1622, Emperor Fasilides expelled the Patriarch and the European missionaries, who included Jerónimo Lobo, from the country in 1636; these contacts, which had seemed destined for success under the previous Emperor led, instead, to the complete closure of Ethiopia to further contact with Rome.

In 1839 limited activity was resumed by the Lazarists and Capuchins, but public hostility was still very strong. It was only with the accession of King Menelik II to the throne in 1889 that Catholic missionaries could again work freely in the country. Catholic missionary activity expanded in Ethiopia during the Italian occupation from 1935 to 1941, as it had earlier in Eritrea which had been under Italian control since 1889.

The Latin Rite had become established in the south of Ethiopia in areas that had not been Christian and that were incorporated into the modern country only at the end of the nineteenth century. The Italian occupation of Ethiopia in 1936 gave rise to an increase in the number of Latin Rite jurisdictions, but the expulsion of foreign missionaries at the end of the Second World War meant that the Ethiopic Rite clergy had to take responsibility for larger areas than before. Accordingly, in 1951, the Ethiopic Rite Apostolic Exarchate of Addis Ababa was established, and the ordinariate for Eritrea was elevated to the rank of exarchate. Ten years later, on 9 April 1961, an Ethiopic metropolia (ecclesiastical province) was established, with Addis Ababa as the metropolitan see and Asmara (in Eritrea) and Adigrat (in Ethiopia) as suffragan eparchies.

In 1995, two new eparchies, Barentu and Keren, were established in Eritrea, and the Latin Rite apostolic vicariate was abolished. Eritrea thus became the only country where all Catholics, whatever their personal liturgical rite, belong to an Eastern Catholic jurisdiction. In 2003, one more eparchy was created in Endibir in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia, with the result that the Ethiopic Catholic Metropolitan Church now consists of six sees, three in Ethiopia and three in Eritrea.

## Rite

Ge'ez, a Semitic language fallen out of daily use several centuries ago, is the liturgical language of the Ethiopic Church, whose liturgy is based on the Coptic.

There are also Latin-Rite jurisdictions in the south of Ethiopia, none of them raised to the rank of diocese. Five are apostolic vicariates, headed by a titular bishop; two are apostolic prefectures, headed by a priest.

## Main Sources

1. ↑ The Eastern Catholic Churches 2017
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Ethiopian Catholic Church
3. ↑ www.ecsethiopia.com
4. ↑ The trials of Ethiopian Catholics