EOTC: How I trained for the deaconate.

Ethiopia! A land unique for  its place in Christianity, her foundation predates all denominations! The only Church that can trace her roots before St.Paul ( the church of St. Peter and St. James), I plan to go and study what it takes to be a deacon in this church in the most continuously inhabited places in Ethiopia, Aksum.

My first destination in Ethiopia is Addis Ababa, the capital, inhabited by some 4 million people and containing over 200 churches, I spend about two months getting my visa situation out of the way. Upon completion I head to Aksum's St. Mary's Cathedral where the true Ark of the covenant is housed in a chapel and where the school of St. Yared is located, I begin my journey to study the deaconate. In every church deacons are trained in three subjects: Nebab/literacy, Tselotat/prayers, and Qedase/liturgy and in that order. Now although I'm in my early 20's most students I was learning with ranged from age 5-7, you could imagine looking at a lineup of kids reading with a giant in the middle with a beard as long as some of the ancient church fathers, a hilarious site for many. Attending the school, I'm sent to a poetry teacher who teaches Nebab, the Nebab bet is where most Ethiopians become literate, starting from Abugida I work my way up to reading my first piece of literature, the letter of John! The letter of John/Mal'ekta Yohanes is your first piece of literature and probably the hardest, you are given the manuscript and taught three strategic reading styles namely: kutser, werd, and kum. Each reading style is different and designed to help you to read the main reading style Qum Nebab, once students practice the letter of John we graduated to the New Testament/Hadis Chidan. The general time it takes is a couple months to complete and students learn the prayers/Tselotat at the same time. Once completed the struggle gets harder with the introduction of  the most important book; the Psalms of David. 150 chapters I try blazing through the book ( not recommended) reading 5 chapters a day thus completing the book in about one month, I could say the most refreshing and peaceful time was reading the psalms which oddly enough I'm still reading daily. Literacy throughout the history of the Church was give much priority, although not in the vernacular of the people, where most people were quite familiar with the psalms and NT it could be said many people had them memorized. Although learning how to read is easy, the hardest part of being in the school is communication, most if not all teachers do not speak English so I had to learn the common language as I went along, Tigrinya ( northern Ethiopic language closest related to the liturgical/poetic language Ge'ez). 4months later I have completed Nebab and the Tselotat, 2/3s of the Gibre-dukena and ready to attend the Qedase bet!

Nebab was something else, it's a different approach than what westerners are used to in education centres even me myself born and raised in Toronto, Canada I can say it definitely is refreshing and amazing to experience different teaching and study methods that have been used for thousands of years. Today I take with me something more valuable than money from Aksum and that is literacy In the holiest language to the Ag'azi people...that is literacy in the Ge'ez language.

....till' next time.

Faith! The Existence of Amlak (God)

Basic to the teaching of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is faith. The church believes that it is impossible to please God without faith. It teaches its followers that the kingdom of God shall be inherited by faith.

Existance of God: The name God signifies the Divine Being, meaning He who created and governs the world.There is one invisible and inscrutable Almighty, God who created all things, eternal, who has neither beginning nor end, mighty in His work, who revealed Himself to mankind as written in the Scriptures. (Ex. 3,6). Some of the ways that prove the existence of the eternal God are the Following.

- Creation: Man has sought to understand the Being of God and has discovered ways that lead to the knowledge of the existence of God. Everything has it's causes. A painting has a painter, a book has an author, and a chair has a carpenter. For all things that move, there is a moving force behind them.

Accordingly, it is believed that all creations were not brought into existence without a creator. All creations from the minute to the great, from the living to the non-living lead to the acknowledgement of the Being of God.

Selomon said "yes, naturally stupid are all who are unaware of God, and who, from good things seen, have not been able to discover Him - who or, by studying the works, have not recognized the Artificer... Let them know their Creator seeing the sun and the moon".(Wis. 13:1-10)

Job also has expressed "But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this?". (Job. 12:7-9)

St. David in his Psalms 19:1-2 tells us that "The Heavens declare the glory of God: and the firmament sheweth his handy-work". St. Paul, the great Apostle has stated it in a more clear way that God is known to his creations by the things that are made when he said, "Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God has showed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made His eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse." (Rom. 1:19-20)

A person who is looking at a sailing ship in the sea should know that it is being guided by a navigator. In the same manner it must be realized that there is God who guides the universe, though he is not seen to bodily eyes.

St. John Chrysostom ( Yohannes Afeworki), in his Homily, in which he interpreted this epistle of the Apostle said, God brought all and everything out of nothing into being, to manifest His glory through His works.

The Church of Abbysinia!

The church of Abyssinia, better known presently as the Ethiopian & Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo church, is historically known to be the oldest church outside of Israel dating back to 34 A.D. Predating all denominations in the christian world, the Church adheres to the confession of the councils ending with the non-acceptance of the council of Chalcedon in 451 A.D. dubbing the Church with the name Miaphysitism or non-Chalcedonian ( not to be confused with monophysitism/Nestorianism). Both churches share approximately 3000 years of history trace their roots to the ancient jewish faith of Israel, brought by the Queen of Sheba over 2,800 years ago, although there is skepticism, evidence for the claims can be found in the Amhara and Tigray regions of present day Ethiopia and the highlands of central Eritrea. The last remnants of this culture and direct jewish religious practise can be seen throughout the highlands of present day Ethiopia and Eritrea but are highly concentrated in practise by the people known as Bete Isra'el. Although rich with history, the Church suffers from outside threats that attack the church especially due to the communist era and lack of modernization which caused some of the faithful to go astray and follow western European/American based faiths such as Protestantism and evangelical Pentecostalism.

For as long as I can remember the church has been the second most spoken topic in my household, being a highlight of Ethiopian and Eritrean history allowed it to have a big impact on my life, as I got older it made me wonder "what is it about that Church in East africa", until having went there for myself. Upon my return to the church with open arms I quickly noticed the spiritual tone of awe in the sanctuary where the adults would worship, unique with humbleness and respect, unlike most Protestant churches where you would see more of an emotional drive, attracted me to spend a range of 10-20 minutes each Sunday listening to the chants of the Bishop, priest, and deacons even though I was not able to understand the languages they were in. After a few months I had begun some study on the teachings and beliefs of the Church with some of the clergy unknowingly starting my journey in Christos!