MAJOR
CONCEPTS OF
THE ETHIOPIC LITURGY
Ernest Horton Jr., Ph. D.
Professor Emeritus of Philosophy
Glendale Community College
1500 North Verdugo Road
Glendale, California 91208-2894,
U. S. A.
(818) 240-1000
August 10, 2001
Contents:
Preliminary Remarks
I.
The Unknowability of God
II. The Ethics of Particularity
III. The Equality of the Sexes?
Final Remarks
Bibliography
Preliminary
Remarks
The background of the Ethiopic Liturgy is quite
interesting. The Ethiopic Liturgy in the early Ethiopic
Church in the old Ethiopic Language, the Ge’ez, in the land
of Ethiopia dates back to the 5th Century A.D. (C.E.). The
Ethiopic Liturgy likely dates back to an Ethiopic translation of
a Greek original from the Coptic Church and is expanded in
subsequent centuries. It consists first of the Preparatory
Service and then many added Anaphoras.
Furthermore, the Ethiopic Church through the centuries has been
loosely tied to the Egyptian or Coptic Church, with the Ethiopic
patriarch presumably appointed by the Egyptian or Coptic
patriarch. At the outset, Athanasius likely consecrated
Frumentius ca. 347 A.D. The Ethiopic Church was orthodox in
most ways, it subscribed to most of the Church Councils in early
Christianity, it vigorously held to the concept of the Trinity as
described by the Council of Nicea (325 A.D.), but it was
heretical in the sense that it rejected the conclusions of the
Council of Chalcedon (451 A.D.), it rejected the view of two
distinct natures in Christ, human and divine, and it affirmed the
single nature of Christ, the fusion of the divine and the human
in Christ.
In addition, it can be observed that Ethiopic Christianity was
largely “cut off” from the rest of Christianity for
nearly one thousand years due to the Muslim conquest of Egypt and
North Africa (ca. the 7th to the 17th Centuries A.D.).
Christianity in Ethiopia was like its rock-hewn churches, sources
of faith and hope through the long years. Candice S.
Millard in “Keepers of the Faith, The Living Legacy of
Aksum” in the National Geographic notes that
“this faith, as indelible as it is ancient, has sustained
Ethiopian Christians through centuries of isolation and famine,
foreign occupation and civil war (p. 125).”
Students of church history and Ethiopic thought are familiar with
this background, but they may wish to consult further the
illuminating observations by Claude Sumner in “The Ethiopic
Liturgy: An Analysis” in Peoples and Cultures of
Africa edited by Elliott P. Skinner (pp.689-699).
This paper will examine the views expressed in the Preparatory
Service and the numerous Anaphoras of the Ethiopic Liturgy.
Anaphoras are long readings and prayers which become treatises
and expositions and which are read in connection with the
sacraments of the worship service. They bear the names of
New Testament figures, ancient church leaders, and a church
council.
This inquiry will focus on the concepts of the unknowability of
God, the ethics of particularity, and the question of the
equality of the sexes.
This paper will use the following translation: The
Liturgy of the Ethiopian Church, translated by Marcos Daoud,
revised by Blatta Marsie Hazen, “and printed by the order of His
Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, Emperor of
Ethiopia.”
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I.
The Unknowability of God
There are frequent allusions to mystery and unknowability in the
Ethiopic Liturgy. In its pages, the recesses and alcoves of
ultimate matters and divine realities often lie beyond the realm
of human comprehension. However, it is not a consistent
picture, and there are differences among the various Anaphoras.
There are lyrical passages of great beauty in which the majesty
and splendor of God are painted in words. Tucked in those
passages, however, are profound doubts as to the extent to which
God can be known fully.
In these Anaphoras, the reason for the unknowability and mystery
of the divine being lies in the self-hiddenness of the divine
being. God cannot be known, because God hides himself and
is known only to himself. God conceals himself from
everyone’s view, and God, who is self-contained, lies within
himself. God alone is cognizant of God, until God discloses
himself to the worshipful. Might and eminence are masked in
the divine nature (The Anaphora of John, Son of Thunder, 3.-8.).
In this liturgical picture of creation, God has always existed;
He can be found everywhere; He created all that is; the Father
and the Son were together before the formation of the
earth’s landscape and the sound and flashing of the
storm. Nevertheless, no matter how high and low, far and
wide, one goes throughout the universe, no matter how close one
comes to the abode of God, one cannot comprehend the divine
nature. Therefore, it is God’s own nature and how God
lives which cannot be known, not his creation or his presence
throughout creation. To unravel the full mysteries of the
eternal and to unlock all the secrets of the divine nature remain
impossible (The Anaphora of the Three Hundred, 13.-21.).
In the Anaphoras of John, the Three Hundred, and St. Gregory, God
cannot be perceived or understood. The human being cannot
behold God; the human being cannot locate God. There is no
way to detect the commencement or the conclusion of the divine
being and there is no easy way to probe the hidden meanings
within the divine being. As far as mortals are concerned,
God cannot be known, and how God lives is beyond human ken.
When it comes to the cognitive processes, the divine essence
eludes the widest possible search. By contrast, the
Anaphora of the Three Hundred (at Nicea) also reminds us that God
can be found everywhere (14.LL.1-2).
Several pertinent passages come to mind, and they clearly
demonstrate these liturgical references to the unknowability and
mystery surrounding God’s being. In the pages of the
Anaphora of John, Son of Thunder, in the references to God, we
read: “None knows thy beginning or end: infinite
art thou, nor can any find thee, and none can know thee or see
thee (4.-5.).” The immediate context and broad
rationale for this statement will be explored shortly, when the
divine self-knowledge and divine hiddenness will be
discussed. In the refrains of the Anaphora of the Three
Hundred, we hear: “No one can see him, and no one
knows how he liveth (14.L.3).” We therein learn that
“no one, thinking deeply, can understand his nature, though
he ascendeth to heaven . . . (21.LL.1-2).” Again, the
wider contextual reference to the eternity of God will prove
enlightening. In the Anaphora of St. Gregory, we find that
God “is hidden from the minds of all the angels, none can
know his nature and none can count that which he formed with his
hand (11.).” As we soon shall see, the picture of
creation provides the background.
A number of specific examples can be given. In the Anaphora
of John, Son of Thunder, the reader discovers this passage on the
self-hiddenness of God:
8. Thou are inside all, and thou are outside all. Thy
greatness is hidden in thee, thy power is hidden in thee.
Thou thyself veilest thyself with thyself, and hidest thyself in
thyself.
In the Anaphora of the Three Hundred, the reader encounters these
wider observations about the eternal, elusive nature of God:
14. There is no time in which he was not, and there is no place
where he cannot be found, there is no time when he was perfectly
seen in his divinity. No one can see him, and no one knows
how he liveth.
17. Priest: 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.
21. No one, thinking deeply, can understand his nature,
though he ascendeth to heaven and goeth beyond the lords and
meeteth with the four living creatures . . . though he descendeth
down to earth and goeth beyond the sea, the wind and the
fire.
The Anaphora of St. Gregory comments on the “the beauty of
our God’s glory,” notes that “this is he who made
heaven, and this he who built the earth,” observes that
“his divinity is unfathomable,” and, against this
background, concludes that the knowledge of God is concealed even
from the angels (9.-11.).
Is there a thread of agnosticism running through the fabric of
the Ethiopic Liturgy? Yes! There is a lack of
knowledge in regard to the divine nature and how God lives, and
the Anaphoras here and there speak of the divine unknowability,
supplying their rationale in the concept of the divine
self-hiddenness.
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II. The Ethics of Particularity
The ethics of the Ethiopic Liturgy is the ethics of
particularity. More emphasis is placed on particular groups
of people and occupations than on sweeping universal moral
principles relating to humanity. The Liturgy sounds a note
of compassion for individuals in specific circumstances. It
pleads for the well-being of persons with special needs.
Its prayers deal with particular situations.
Who are the particular groups of people for whom prayers are
offered in the Preparatory Service (Chap.III.)? There are
religious officials of all echelons and levels including deacons
and priests. There are political leaders, persons in power,
rulers requiring sagacity. Also named are widows, virgins,
and those who show endurance during distress (74.-77., 84.,
78.-80.).
Why are widows and virgins mentioned? Is it because of the
loss of loved ones? Is it because of not now experiencing
the joys of sex? Perhaps. Also, they serve the Lord
with their love and labor just as surely as deacons and priests
(cf.76).
In addition to them, there are individuals who fall at different
points along the spectrum of suffering. Prayers are offered
for the hungry and thirsty, the grieved and disconsolate, the
imprisoned and captured, and the ill and ailing. Concrete
satisfactions are sought in the forms of daily sustenance,
comfort, release, and health (87.-90.,92.).
Who are the persons in special circumstances for whom prayers are
given? They include “our King,” “the rulers
and those in authority,” “them that travel by sea and
by land,” and “the afflicted and distressed
(83.,84.,86.,206.).”
It may be that certain rulers need their consciousness raised,
‘to turn about’ in their dealings with citizens.
“Turn the hearts of mighty kings to deal kindly with us
always,” states the Anaphora of the Apostles (14.).
There are further pleas in the Preparatory Service for particular
situations, for safeness of human beings and animals, protection
of orthodox lands and towns, and ample rains, rivers, and
harvests (95.-97.,197.-201.).
Therefore, the ethics of the Ethiopic Liturgy is characterized by
specificity and individual focus. It is situation-oriented
rather than situation-determined. It concentrates on the
trees more than the forest, offering shade to travelers, sick
people, widows, individuals who are disconsolate or imprisoned,
and others lacking daily sustenance.
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III. The Equality of the Sexes?
Does the Ethiopic Liturgy hold to the belief in the equality of
the sexes? What does the Anaphora of St. Cyril mean when it
says that “Eve’s female nature was not inferior through
having no mother when she was formed from the bone of Adam’s
side (L.98)?”
The author may be saying that Eve’s female nature was not
inferior to Adam’s male nature, in spite of what her being
shaped from his body implies. For one thing, the author has
the subject of equality in mind, is thinking about equality in
certain relationships, and, in the prior passage, is discussing
the equality of the members of the Trinity (LL.93ff.).
Furthermore, the Genesis 2 account itself concludes with the
oneness of the sexes rather than the inequality of the sexes,
with the conviction that two sexes come to be one
(vv.24-25). In view of its immediate and Biblical
background, the statement about Eve in the Anaphora of St. Cyril
apparently affirms the equality of the sexes.
However, the author may have something else in mind as
well. The author may be saying that Eve’s female
nature was not inferior to what her female nature would have
been, had she been humanly conceived. Eve was not
incomplete and hence inferior any more than Christ or Adam.
Being without a human father, Christ still was not
inferior. Although lacking a female parent, Eve was not
less important. Just because of a missing rib, Adam was not
incomplete. In this light, the Anaphora of St. Cyril simply
intends to argue for the completeness of Eve’s female
nature, as well as Adam’s male nature and Christ’s
human nature, because of their strictly divine origin. Both
sexes are complete. The themes of the equality of the sexes
and the completeness of both sexes are here intertwined.
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Final
Remarks
The Ethiopic Liturgy is a treasure chest of precious
stones. Some jewels are more lustrous than others.
The themes of the unknowability of God, the ethics of
particularity, and the completeness of the primal woman surely
must be among the more precious jewels.
The Ethiopic Liturgy is full of surprises. Where you expect
to discover certainty, you find mystery. When you look for
universal moral principles, you encounter specific pleas for the
hungry and the thirsty. Where you anticipate orthodoxy, you
find heresy.
There is much more to discover in the Ethiopic Liturgy. The
Ethiopic Liturgy is like a distant continent beckoning us to
explore it farther.
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Bibliography
Daoud, Marcos, and Marsie Hazen, Blatta, trs., The Liturgy of the
Ethiopian Church, Addis Ababa Berhanena Selam Printing Press,
1954. (Anaphoras listed below)
Millard, Candice s., “Keepers of the Faith, the Living
Legacy of Aksum,“ National Geographic, Washington
DC: National Geographic Society, July 2001.
Sumner, Claude, “The Ethiopic Liturgy: An
Analysis,“ Peoples and Cultures of Africa, ed. By
Elliott P. Skinner, Garden City, New York: The
Doubleday/Natural History Press, 1973.
Pertinent Anaphoras in the Ethiopic Liturgy
The Preparatory Service Pp.7-55
The Anaphora of the Apostles Pp.56-78
The Anaphora of John, Son of
Thunder
Pp.89-103
The Anaphora of the Three Hundred (at Nicea)
Pp.122-137
The Anaphora of St. Gregory Pp.173-184
The Anaphora of St.
Cyril
Pp.209-220