African Roots PDF

# AFRICAN ROOTS Major sources for our knowledge of this civilization are the massive archaeological remains at the site of what was the royal capital, Axum. Here a centralized monarchy evolved, and here the language of the people, Ge'ez, received an alphabet and a written form. Ethiopia had a writt...

# AFRICAN ROOTS Major sources for our knowledge of this civilization are the massive archaeological remains at the site of what was the royal capital, Axum. Here a centralized monarchy evolved, and here the language of the people, Ge'ez, received an alphabet and a written form. Ethiopia had a written language with its own alphabet from the second century A.D., having used the South Arabian script in the previous period. By this time also the mountain kingdom had emerged as a commercial center, trading with countries from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean, as well as with the interior of Africa. Merchants and travelers from all parts of the civilized world came to Adulis, the harbor, and Axum, the capital. The Ethiopian kings located at Axum gradually extended their dominion over parts of Nubia, northern Ethiopia (Eritrea), and parts of southern Arabia. By the fourth century, the king of Axum had the title "king of kings," for he had become the overlord of other kings in the area. In the first part of the fourth century, the king of kings was Ezana, an excellent and powerful military leader. Ethiopia became a Christian country in the first part of the fourth century through the activity of Frumentius and Edesius, two Syrians who had been slaves at the royal court of Axum during the reign of Ezana's father, whose name it seems was Ella Amida. At his death the queen became regent during the minority of Ezana. It seems very likely that the influence of both Frumentius and Edesius led to the conversion of Ezana and the royal court. Ezana freed them both at his accession, and they were able to return to Syria. Frumentius, who is honored as a saint in both the Catholic and Ethiopian churches, visited St. Athanasius, the patriarch of Alexandria, on his way to Syria in order to apprise the patriarch of the growth of Christianity in Ethiopia, especially at the royal court. He requested Athanasius to ordain a bishop and send him to Ethiopia. Athanasius made Frumentius a bishop and sent him back. Thus he is rightly considered the founder of the church in Ethiopia. Inscriptions on the monuments of Axum and elsewhere in the country as well as the symbols on the coins of the time (Ethiopia was one of the first black nations to have its own coinage) indicate the conversion of Ezana to Christianity. It is not at all clear how rapidly Christianity spread in the countryside among the ordinary people. It is certain, however, that by the last quarter of the fourth century, Ethiopian pilgrims were a frequent sight in Jerusalem. Their presence is attested in documents of the period. By the end of the fifth century, Christianity became firmly established in the country, and by the middle of the sixth century, Ethiopia was a powerful nation whose rulers were militant protectors of Christianity in the neighboring areas, including southern Arabia and Nubia. In the first part of the sixth century, the Ethiopian king, Caleb or Elesbaan, led an expedition into southern Arabia to punish those responsible for the massacre of Christians at Najran in 523. ## BLACK CATHOLICS IN THE UNITED STATES Ethiopia became a Christian nation with its own tradition and culture. By the fifth century it had its own liturgy, derived from the Coptic liturgy of Alexandria. This liturgy had its own unique characteristics in terms of liturgical texts, sacred rites like the dance, music (including the use of the drum that was unique to Ethiopia), and artwork and architecture, like the famous churches hewn out of the living rock at Lalibela. Ethiopia has made its own unique contribution to the Christian heritage with its own translation of the Scriptures, its own version of several patristic texts, and its own rich tradition of monasticism and asceticism. Monasteries began to be established as early as the fifth century, and monks continued to play an important role in the spiritual life of the people throughout Ethiopian history. Liturgically and canonically, Ethiopia was part of the patriarchate of Alexandria. Down to the middle of the present century, the head of the Ethiopian church, the abuna, or the metropolitan ordained by the patriarch of Alexandria, was always an Egyptian. This practice ceased finally in 1951, when an Ethiopian was chosen. Theologically also, Ethiopia (like Nubia) followed the Egyptian church in rejecting the position of Rome and Constantinople in the Council of Chalcedon in 451. As a result, the Ethiopians to this day are Monophysites, except for the several thousand members of the Eastern Rite Ethiopian Church, which is joined with Rome. Politically, however, from the fourth to the seventh century, Ethiopia was a partner with the Byzantine Empire in the Red Sea area. At the same time, Greek influence was very strong, and that language was spoken at the court and by the upper classes. With the rise of Islam and its spread into Africa in the seventh century, links with the Byzantine Empire and the Mediterranean world were almost completely broken. In the history of the church, Ethiopia occupies a special place. Here we have an African church that has its roots in the early church. Before the church was established in Ireland or Anglo-Saxon England or in any country of northern Europe, a Catholic church linked to St. Athanasius blossomed in an African culture. Despite any doctrinal differences that arose later, the Ethiopian church is a reminder that Africa forms part of the rich heritage of Catholicism.