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When one thinks of ancient Christianity, what settings come to mind? Perhaps dusty Judean villages where the Gospel was first proclaimed? Or the crowded Greek port cities that heard the preaching of St. Paul, or maybe the savagery of the Roman amphitheaters? Whatever scenes we imagine, I am willing to bet Ethiopia is not among them. This is a shame, as Ethiopia was one of the earliest kingdoms to embrace Christianity. This was largely due to the decisiveness of a very singular monarch—King Ezana.
The story of Ezana takes us back to the early 4th century. In those days, Ethiopia was governed by the Kingdom of Aksum. Ruling from their capital of Axum on the Tigray Plateau, the Aksumite kingdom controlled the upper reaches of the Nile, dominating trade in the southern Red Sea (at one point, their dominion even encompassed modern day Yemen). Culturally, the Aksumites were akin to the Nabateans, and the symbols and names associated with their gods reflect the influences of Arabia. The Aksumites were thus heirs to a rich culture, constituting a proud and powerful force in eastern Africa.
In 320, the Aksumite King Ousanas died, leaving behind a widow Sofya and his young son and heir, Ezana. Sofya must have been a woman of some grit, as she managed to stave off threats to her dynasty while holding the reins of power as regent until her son came of age. During her regency, Sofya’s primary concern was ensuring her boy was well-educated and prepared for the obligations of royalty. She accordingly sought a tutor for Ezana, someone rich in wisdom and of an upright life. Among her late husband’s court was an official named Frumentius. This Frumentius was a Greek Christian of Alexandria, taken by pirates on the Red Sea as a boy and sold in the slave markets of Aksum, from which he eventually found his way into the court of King Ousanas. The late king valued the wisdom and piety of Frumentius and had granted him his freedom. Sofya, however, persuaded Frumentius to remain in Axum and serve as a tutor to Prince Ezana.
Ezana and Frumentius became fast friends. Ezana drank deeply of the treasury of knowledge Frumentius made available to him, the knowledge of the Greeks and wisdom of the Church. The prince and the Christian continued in this way for the better part of a decade as Ezana grew into manhood.
In the later 320s, Ezana became of age and ascended the throne of King of Aksum. The earliest inscriptions left by Ezana reveal a man of pride and ambition, eager to make his mark on the world. The Ezana Stone, a victory stele carved early in the king’s reign, boasts of enemies slain, booty taken, and promotes Ezana’s divine parentage. “I have consecrated this stele and dedicated it to Heaven, the Earth, and the invincible Ares who begat me,” Ezana proclaims. “Should anyone wish to damage it, may the god of Heaven and Earth lead him to ruin, and his name ceases to exist in the land of the living.” Coins from this time feature the pagan imagery of astral worship, a disc and crescent, symbolizing the sun and moon.
The influence of Frumentius ran deep, however, and in time Ezana was drawn towards the faith. The young king was only a few years into his reign when he decided to abandon paganism and embrace Christianity. Tradition places his conversion around the year 324. We sadly do not know the details of Ezana’s conversion, but the king must have been in great earnest, for around this time the pagan imagery disappeared off Aksumite coins, replaced with crosses and other Christian symbols. Ezana’s coins contained the Greek inscription ΤΟΥΤΟ ΑΡΕΣΗ ΤΗ ΧΩΡΑ—meaning “May this please the country”—as if to demonstrate the young monarch’s concern and sense of responsibility towards his people.
Ezana desired to spread the faith throughout the Kingdom of Aksum, but he knew he needed assistance. He sent Frumentius back to Alexandria to tell the patriarch what had occurred and beg for clergy. Frumentius came to Egypt in 330 and sought an audience with the bishop, who was none other than the renowned St. Athanasius. Frumentius explained the situation in Aksum and begged Athanasius to send a bishop to Ethiopia to establish the Church there. The holy bishop listened patiently to Frumentius’s account of Ezana’s conversion, ultimately deciding that there was no one better suited than Frumentius himself to take on this noble task. Frumentius was accordingly ordained a bishop and returned to his friend Ezana with authority to establish the Church in Aksum. The Ethiopian church in Aksum thus became a suffragan see to Alexandria.
Ezana offered all the support and resources of the kingdom to Frumentius, but king and bishop were disheartened by the lukewarm reception most Aksumites gave to Christianity. They therefore smarted small, beginning with the merchant class, many of whom already knew about Christianity from their travels; some had even embraced the faith secretly. Ezana encouraged them to be bold and open about their religion, and Frumentius assembled liturgies for their worship. It was thus among the merchants of Aksum that Christianity was first introduced into the population.
Eventually the king’s desires bore fruit, the faith spread, and Frumentius established a church in the city of Axum, called St. Mary of Zion. This church holds a special place in Christian Ethiopia, for it was here that future emperors of Ethiopia would come to be crowned. It is here, also, that Ethiopians maintain that the Ark of the Covenant is kept. Frumentius also erected the first monastery in the region called Dabba Selama, a series of cells carved into the sheer side of the cliff face that holds the reputation of the world’s most inaccessible monastery.
According to tradition, 44 churches were founded during Ezana’s reign. Some of these were of episcopal dignity: 2015 excavations at Beth Samati in northern Ethiopia uncovered a basilica dating from Ezana’s reign. A wealth of treasures was found within, including coins bearing Ezana’s image. The Beth Samati Basilica may be the oldest Christian building in sub-Saharan Africa.
By the mid-3rd century, the Roman Empire was in the grips of Arianism, and the throne was held by Constantius II, the Arian son of Constantine. Constantius had exiled St. Athanasius and was eager to purge the Church of clergy loyal to the deposed patriarch, including Frumentius. The emperor accordingly sent King Ezana a letter asking him to send Frumentius to Alexandria so he could stand trial for heresy and proposed replacing him with an Arian candidate. Ezana prudently ignored the imperial request. He had no desire to bring the theological squabbles of Constantinople into the Kingdom of Aksum.
Ezana died around 360. His body is believed to rest beneath the mighty Ezana Stele of Axum, a single slab of granite fashioned into an obelisk towering 69 feet over the surrounding countryside, the largest such monument of ancient Aksum. As for Frumentius, he would live on for another two decades, dying in 383. The Ethiopians call him by many names, including Abuna (“Our Father”), Aba Salama (“Father of Peace”), and Kesate Birhan (“Revealer of Light”). Both men are revered as saints.
The foundations laid by Ezana and Frumentius would endure. Christian roots grew deep in Ethiopia. After the fall of Byzantine North Africa to Muslims in the 7th century, Ethiopia became the only Christian kingdom on the continent. Incidentally, it would also remain the only African kingdom that successfully withstood European colonization during the 19th century. Sadly, the Ethiopian Church established under Ezana and Frumentius followed the Monophysites into heresy after the Council of Chalcedon (451).
Today, Christianity in Ethiopia is represented primarily by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches (those communions of Eastern rite churches who reject the doctrine of the Hypostatic Union as defined at Chalcedon). But, as Ezana and Frumentius are both recognized as saints in the Catholic Church, we pray that the Church founded so long ago among the ancient Aksumites may one day stand in unity with that founded in Rome by the most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul.
Sts. Ezana and Frumentius, pray for us!
Image from Wikimedia Commons
