– Adherents:
– Estimated between 36 million and 51 million in Ethiopia
– Membership:
– Founding member of the World Council of Churches
– Communion:
– In communion with other Oriental Orthodox churches
– Includes the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, and the Syriac Orthodox Church
– History:
– Administratively part of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria until 1959
– Granted autocephaly with its own patriarch by Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria
– Meaning of “Tewahedo”:
– Geʽez word meaning united as one
– Refers to the Oriental Orthodox belief in the one perfectly unified nature of Christ
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (Amharic: የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ቤተ ክርስቲያን, Yäityop'ya ortodoks täwahedo bétäkrestyan) is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Christian churches in sub-Saharan Africa originating before European colonization of the continent, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church dates back to the acceptance of Christianity by the Kingdom of Aksum in 330, and has between 36 million and 51 million adherents in Ethiopia. It is a founding member of the World Council of Churches. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is in communion with the other Oriental Orthodox churches (the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, and the Syriac Orthodox Church).
 Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church | |
|---|---|
| የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ቤተ ክርስቲያን | |
 Holy Trinity Cathedral in Addis Ababa, the seat of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church | |
| Abbreviation | EOTC |
| Classification | Eastern Christianity |
| Orientation | Oriental Orthodoxy |
| Scripture | Orthodox Tewahedo Bible |
| Theology | Miaphysitism |
| Polity | Episcopal |
| Patriarch | Mathias |
| Region | Ethiopia and Ethiopian diaspora |
| Language | Geʽez, Amharic, Oromo, Tigrinya, Gurage |
| Liturgy | Alexandrian |
| Headquarters | Holy Trinity Cathedral, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia |
| Founder | Frumentius according to Ethiopian Orthodox tradition |
| Origin | 4th century Kingdom of Aksum |
| Branched from | Orthodox Tewahedo |
| Separations | American synod-in-exile (1991–2018) Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church (1991) Tigrayan Orthodox Tewahedo Church (2021) |
| Members | 36 million–51 million in Ethiopia |
| Other name(s) | Ethiopian Orthodox Church |
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church had been administratively part of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria from the first half of the 4th century until 1959, when it was granted autocephaly with its own patriarch by Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria, Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church.
Tewahedo (Ge'ez: ተዋሕዶ täwaḥədo) is a Geʽez word meaning "united as one". This word refers to the Oriental Orthodox belief in the one perfectly unified nature of Christ; i.e., a complete union of the divine and human natures into one nature is self-evident in order to accomplish the divine salvation of mankind, as opposed to the "two natures of Christ" belief commonly held by the Latin and Eastern Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, and most other Protestant churches. The Oriental Orthodox Churches adhere to a miaphysitic Christological view followed by Cyril of Alexandria, the leading protagonist in the Christological debates of the 4th and 5th centuries, who advocated mia physis tou theou logou sesarkōmenē, or "one (mia) nature of the Word of God incarnate" (μία φύσις τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου σεσαρκωμένη) and a hypostatic union (ἕνωσις καθ' ὑπόστασιν, henōsis kath hypostasin). The distinction of this stance was that the incarnate Christ has one nature, but that one nature is of the two natures, divine and human, and retains all the characteristics of both after the union.
Miaphysitism holds that in the one person of Jesus Christ, divinity and humanity are united in one (μία, mia) nature (φύσις - "physis") without separation, without confusion, without alteration and without mixing where Christ is consubstantial with God the Father. Around 500 bishops within the patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem refused to accept the dyophysitism (two natures) doctrine decreed by the Council of Chalcedon in 451, an incident that resulted in the second major split in the main body of the Catholic-Orthodox Church in the Roman Empire.