FAITH AND ORGANIZATION

THE FAITH OF THE CHURCH

A. Few Words of Introduction

 

A member of the Oriental Orthodox family of Churches, the faith, the Church believes, is derived from the apostolic heritage and borne witness to in the New Testament against the background of the Old Testament. It has been expounded by the fathers of the Church both in the ancient Councils and in their teaching. It continues as a living reality in the Church in its life of worship, preaching and discipline. In a word, then the Church of Ethiopia is a community which has inherited and which holds to the historic Christian faith as it has been handed down through the centuries.

 

To write an essay an essay on the faith of the Church as a chapter in a book is not an easy task. What is attempted here is, therefore, only to give a brief introduction to the faith of the Church of Ethiopia .

As a living reality, the faith is preserved by the Church pre-eminently in its liturgy. Even here it is the celebration of the Holy Eucharist that constitutes in a very significant sense the centre of the faith.

 

The Creeds

 

The Service of the Holy Eucharist proper begins with the recital of a Creed. In the Ethiopian Orthodox Church there are two credal statements in use. One of them is a fairly long profession which is be lived to be of Apostolic organ, and the other is the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Greed. The saying of the confession of the Faith at the beginning of the Eucharistic Service signifies that the worship is meant only for the those who accept the faith affirmed in it.

The ideas emphasized in the Creed of the Apostles may be noted here briefly.

The other Creed is well-known and therefore does not need to be given in summary here. Both Creeds are based on a affirmation of faith in God, the Incarnation, and Human Salvation.

 

God the Holy Trinity

 

God is the only eternal Being. Beyond time, space and all limitations, he abides without a beginning and without an end. "Thou hast no beginning," says in prayer the Ethiopian priest who celebrates the Anaphora of St. John, "but thou bringest all things to their end. Infinite art thou, but for all things thou didst set bounds."

 

God is the Creator of all that exists. Having made them all, he continues to sustain them. The Lord is high, says the Anaphora. Yet "all were created through his grace, and all live through his kindness". Perfect in Himself, he continually imparts perfection to his creatures. Individuals as well as the entire historical process are ultimately under his control. God s not a passive perfection or an abstract ideal, but a dynamic reality who is ever active in bringing all that exists to the final destiny which he has for each of them as well as for the whole created realm.

God s one in three and three in one. The unity of God is not conceived in the sense of an arithmetical digit nor of a solitary condition, but in that of an all-inclusive perfection. So the one God is also eternally three. He is, affirms the Anaphora, "three names and one God; three persons and one essence".

 

The unity of God is confessed as the unity of Godhead- Melekot as the word is used in Ethiopia . the one Godhead is shared equally and eternally by the three persons - Akal as they are referred to in Ethiopia . As in other parts of the Christian world, in Ethiopia also three were men who tried to interied to interpret the doctrine in various ways. There were, for instance, persons who refused to accept the personal distinctions in the one Godhead and others who insisted that the three persons were three Gods. Both these views were rejected by the Church.

 

God is eternally Father, eternally Son, and eternally Holy Spirit. "The Father Begat His son without days or hours; and when he begat him, his Father was not separated from Him." Beyond time, God is the eternal one. That one is Father, son and Holy Spirit. No one of the three Persons is prior to the other two in time. "The one was not before the other," says the Anaphora, "and the Second was not before the Third." But "we proclaim that the Father lived with his son, and that the Son lived with his father before creation, and before the heavens and earth were made."

 

In the one co-eternal and co-equal Trinity, the Father is the eternal source of the Son and the Holy Spirit. The son is born of , and the Holy spirit proceeds from, the father. While affirming that the son and the Holy spirit derive each of them his respective Being eternally to help Him in His work before the world was created, and the existence of the Holy spirit is not to contribute wisdom and work."

 

It is not with the Deity as it was with Abraham who was older than Isaac, or with Isaac who was older than Jacob, but the Father is not older than the Son, neither is the Son older the son, neither is the Son younger than His Father.

 

The Father is different from the Son and the Holy spirit only in that He alone is Father. the son alone is Son, and the Holy spirit alone dwells in us and makes God known to us. so the priest who celebrates knoweth the depth of Thy oneness. He taught thy unity, and helped to know Thy Trinity." The one Godhead is, therefore, in the Father in perfection. From Him the same Godhead is received in perfection by the son thought His eternal generation; and from the Father again the same Godhead in perfection is derived eternally by the Holy Spirity. It is affirmed at the same time with equal force that "the Father is not greater than the Son, and the Son is not less than His Father," and the Holy Spirit is not greater or less than either the Father or the Son. Thus the unity of God is affirmed by confessing that the Godhead is one, and that the godhead is one, and that the Godhead is eternally in the Father. The Son and the Holy Spirit.

 

There is also another equally important emphasis regarding divine unity. This lies in the affirmation that the Father, the son and the Holy Spirit are eternally and inseparably together. In everything that the Father does, the Son and the Holy spirit are there with Him; in all the things that the Son does, the Father and the Holy spirit are there with Him; and in all activities of the Holy spirit, the Father and the Son are also with Him. It is affirmed that "the Father, being Father, doth not give orders to the Son; and the Son, being son, is not exalted; and the Holy Spirit is equal. But the divine Father, Son and Holy spirit are one God, one kingdom, one authority, and one government."

 

If we may put the emphasis in our words, the term "Father" with reference to God signifies the divine reality which originates everything; the Son indicates the divine reality implying all that is originated; and the Holy Spirit signifies the divine reality which dwells in creatures relating them both individually and corporately to God. the eternal God, as we have noted already, is the all-inclusive perfection. He creates all things; He sustains them; and he guides them to a final destiny.

 

Infinite love, God creates and sustains the world and all that there is in it. In his love God the Father sent His Only son into the world in order to accomplish its salvation; in the same love God the Son came and worked out the world's salvation; in the same love again God the Holy Spirit perfects the salvation thus given. All these are manifestations at different levels of the same activity of God in relation to the world.

 

The Incarnation

 

The incarnation of God the Son is primarily for the salvation of the world. Salvation means the restoration of the world to its direct and unimpeded relation with God.

 

As God made it, the world was very good. But evil came there in it. God who made the world is ever concerned and active to save it from the clutches of evil and restore it to the destiny for which it has been created. Incarnation is God's supreme act in saving the world.

 

God the Son entered the earthly realm of existence in a unique way by taking over Himself a perfectly real human life.

 

As creation is the work of God, redemption is also God's work.

God who created the world made man as the crown of creation. Made in God's image and endowed with creaturely freedom and autonomy, man seeks God and reflects on His being and nature. Through the wrong exercise of man's feewill there came on him and the world at large misery and suffering as well as sin and evil. the salvation o the world, therefore, requires pre-eminently the healing of man. It is this healing which the Incarnation is believed by the Church to have aimed to accomplish.

 

In the Incarnation, God the Son united to Himself real and perfect manhood. Conceived in her womb by Mary the Virgin through the work of the Holy Spirit, He was born in the world as a real man. At the very moment of His conception, through the operation of the Holy Spirit, a personal manhood was formed in the Virgin's womb in union taken from the human mother and was born as perfect God and perfect man in the real sense.

 

Jesus Christ, the incarnate God the Son, is one Person, continuous with Godhead and continuous with manhood. In Him Godhead and manhood continue, each in its integrity and perfection, in a state of indivisible and unconfused union. On this ground the Church of Ethiopia , with the other Oriental Orthodox Churches, affirms that Jesus Christ is not two natures, but one incarnate nature of God the Word. The "one" here is not meant to ignore the dynamic continuance of either Godhead or manhood in the one Christ, but to confess a real incarnation where by God the Son entered the world of ours as a man. He is indeed God the incarnate Son even while He is found to undergo the Frailty of manhood.

 

Living as He did a life of unbroken communion with God, He was absolutely sinless. Maintaining this union in the most inward and real sense, He entered into our battle with sin and evil as a man, and fell a victim to our death. By his suffering and ignominious death on the cross He scored a victory over the forces of evil, and by his resurrection from the dead he lives eternally in his natural unity with God the Father and God the Holy spirit, and in His unbroken and indivisible union with the manhood.

 

The Ethiopian church holds to the view that he is God the Son in His incarnate state. Born of God the Father eternally as God the Son, He was born of the Virgin Mother as a real man. there are a number of affirmations in the Anphora regarding Him, some of which may be noted here.

 

 

They beat Him on the head as a servant and He set free from the yoke of sin as Lord of all. He suffered all. He cured the blind with His spittle and gave us the Holy Spirit by receiving the spittle of the unclean. He who forgiveth sin was accused as a sinner by them. The judge of judges was judged by them. He was crucified on the tree to destroy sin, was crucified with the sinners to enrol with the righteous. He died through His will, and was buried willingly; He died to destroy death, he died to give life to the dead; He was buried to raise those who were buried, to keep the living, to justify the impure, to justify the sinners, to gather together those who wee scattered, and to turn the sinners to glory and honour.

 

 

O Lord, Thou wast struck with the hands of a servant, beaten with sticks, pierced with a spear, and they caused Thee to drink a little gall with vinegar. While Thou west God, able to prevent them, Thou didst not prevent them, Thou didst become patient even to death; all this Thou didst accept for the love of man.

 

The Anaphora of St. Dioscorus contains the following passages bearing on the point at issue in the present context. The priest says there in prayer.

 

He was laid in the manger of the cattle, received the presents of His kingdom, and wept as infants do, asking for food from the breast of His mother.

 

As to suffering and death in particular, we have passages like the following.

They crucified Him on the tree, nailed Him with nails, beat Him on the head with sticks, pierced His side with a spear, to Him who gave drink to the Israeliets from a rock they gave to drink gall mixed with myrrh in His thirst.

The immortal died, died to destroy death, died to quicken the dead as He promised them with the word of covenant.

 

 

These and the many other passages in the Liturgy show that the manhood of Christ was absolutely real and perfect. But everywhere the emphasis is on the unity of Jesus Christ. It is affirmed that He is God the Son in His incarnate state. As regards the Incarnation, it is clearly shown that He was conceived in the Virgin's womb, and that He was born as a real man. At the very moment of His conception, thought the Holy Spirit, actual manhood was formed from the human mother in union with Himself. It is to Him who was thus conceived that the Virgin gave birth. Therefore, Jesus christ is indivisibly one. the two natures of Godhead and manhood which came into union in Him continue in the one Christ, each in its absolute integrity and perfection with its respect its dynamic reality, not in a quiescent state, so that Christ is God and man at the same time.

 

The Church of Ethiopia , with the other Oriental Orthodox Churches, has refused to accept the Chalcedonian Definition of the Faith with the affirmation that Christ is "made known in two natures." If by this expression the Churches which accept the Definition mean only that Godhead and manhood continue in the one Christ dynamically, this is the teaching of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. On the other hand, if the expression is taken in the sense that Godhead and manhood continue in Christ only in a state of moral union, there is a basic difference on this issue between the Churches of the Chalcedonian tradition and the Church Ethiopia, which should be noted.

 

Human Salvation

 

The Incarnation is first and foremost for the salvation of the word, the salvation of the world means pre-eminently the redemption of the human race. The saving work of God accomplished through the Incarnation is to be appropriated by man, both individually and corporately. It is when this is done with reference to the entire human race that the work of salvation of the world will have been perfected. God Himself is carrying on this work through the Holy Spirit.

In his life and existence man includes both the individual and the corporate dimensions. The saving work accomplished by God in the Incarnation should, therfore, be assimilated and perfected in both these dimensions. It is to carry on this divine work that the Church is founded by God. The incarnate, crucified and risen Christ is in the Church, which is His body on earth, through the Holy Spirit.

 

The Holy Spirit works in the Church through individual members as well as its community as a corporate body, in order to make the ministries of the Sacraments, preaching and teaching. In this way individual persons are inspired to dedicate their lives, and both individuals and communities are guided to carry forward the ministry of Jesus Christ in the soical, economic, political and such other spheres of human life for the well-being of man and the world at large.

This concern is given expression to in the Anaphoras of the Church of Ethiopia by including prayers for all these areas of life in the world. Thus prayers are offered for rains, that God may send them where they are needed; for waters of the rivers, that "God should fill them unto their due measure and bounds"; for the fruits of the earth, that "God may grant to the earth her fruit for sowing and for harvest"; and for the prevailing of the spirit of peace for the people. In the same way every lituragical celebration includes intercession for the Emperor as the Head of the State and for ecclesiastical leaders. Besides, traders, farmers and craftsmen, as well as those in need, sickness or oppression are specially remembered. Prayers are also offered for those who have fallen in any manner of sin.

 

All these show that the entire realm of nature and all conditions of men and women are committed to divine protection and care at every service of worship.

The Christian's ultimate concern in life is not understood in terms merely of the hope for a blessed life in the world to come. On the other hand, this world itself is affirmed to belong to God. But the fact of evil in it is admitted, both in the natural realm and in the moral realm. Salvation is a present experience consisting in man's complete confidence and communion with God as well as his perfect peace and hrmony with his fellow beings. This state of being which should be ours here and now should grow till it reaches its final culmination in the eternal realm. Thus salvation is a present reality which has a future reference. The Church has the responsibility to inspire its final culmination in the eternal realm. Thus salvation is a present reality which has a future reference. The Church has the responsibility to inspire its members to work for the well-being of life in the world here and now and to proclaim the hop of eternal life in the world to come.

 

In this world man is entitled to individual freedom, social justice, economic sufficiency and such other rights as will enable him to develop his talents for the good of himself and of others. The Church as a body should stand for the realization of these rights. However, the Church of Ethiopia does not agree with the view that the Christian's concern is only to work for the welfare of man in this world. This world and our lives in it are nothing but transitory. No man can be absolutely sure of what will happen to him tomorrow. Furthermore, material prosperity does not as a rule lead to a peaceful life, either for the individual or for peoples and nations. In any case, the Church of Ethiopia does not think that its mission is to build up exclusively a city in this world. The hope in the life or the world to come is an integral part of its faith.

 

The Apostolic Creed which is in use in the Church of Ethiopia has three sections bearing on our discussion in the present context. The first of them insists that "all creatures of God are good and there is nothing to be rejected, and the spirit, the life of the body, is pure and holy in all." the entire natural realm has been made pure and holy by God and all that is for man's regular use. The second passage affirms that "marriage is pure, and childbirth is undefiled, because God created Adam and Eve to multiple." This sis a clear statement which shows that, in the faith of the Church of Ethiopia, human society is of divine creation, so that the social, economic, political and other such ties of man are divinely instituted. In the third passage there is the confession that we "believe in the resurrection of the dead, the righteous and sinners; and in the day of judgement when everyone will be recompensed according to his deeds." This statement affirms the eschatological hope in the Church's faith.

 

Putting the three ideas together, we can say that according to the faith of the Church of Ethiopia , the natural realm has been created by God, who has Himself placed man in the world as a member of society. There is a destiny awaiting man, and that is to be attained by him in the risen life in the world to come. In the face of evil and sin in this world of ours God has worked out man's salvation through His incarnate Son, who rose from the dead and lives eternally, offering us the assurance of a resurrection that will be ours also.

 

A. Word in Conclusion

 

The eternal and triune God who is beyond time and space has created the world in time and space. He has redeemed the world and continues his work of perfecting the saving act. The salvation was accomplished by God through the suffering, death and resurrection of HIs incarnate Son and is perfected through His Holy Spirit.

 

It is this saving work of God that is represented in every celebration of the Holy Eucharist, which is not merely a memorial service to commemorate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But in it the Church offers itself and the whole redeemed human race together with the natural realm of earthly existence to the triune God. This is why in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, as also in its various other acts of worship, the Church calls to remembrance the living and the departed sections of the communion of saints. This is done in the context of remembering the saving acts of God, not merely as past events, but as events which happened actually in the realm of history and which signify the continuous work of God for the salvation of the world. The Service of the Holy Eucharist brings to us above all the assurance of the eschatological dimension of the Christian faith.

 

We proclaim Thy death, Lord, and Thy holy resurrection, we believe in Thine ascension and Thy second coming. We glorify Thee, we offer our prayer unto Thee and supplicate Thee, our Lord and our God.

 

Grant us, Lord, to do Thy will and Thy good pleasure at all times, and write our names in the book of life in the kingdom of heaven with all saints and martyrs, through Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom, to Thee, with Him and with the Holy Spirit be glory and dominion, both now and ever and world with out end.

Amen.