Ge'ez Rite

In Brief

The Ge'ez rite is the liturgy of the Christians of Ethiopia and Eritrea. It belongs to the Alexandrian tradition, one of the five Eastern traditions the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches names, and a papal act of 2015 names it the rite "gheez".^1,2 It is prayed in Ge'ez, "an ancient court language" of the time when Ethiopia first received Christianity, around the short Anaphora of the Apostles and a family of others, most of them written in Ethiopia in William Macomber's account.^3,4 Four Churches celebrate it. Two are Orthodox, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo and the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Churches, and two are Catholic and much smaller, the Ethiopian Catholic Church and, since 2015, the Eritrean.^2,5,6,7

Where to Experience It

Its home is the Horn of Africa. The Ethiopian Catholic Church has four eparchies, Addis Ababa, the metropolitan see, with Adigrat, Emdeber and Bahir Dar–Dessie.^8,14,15 The Eritrean Catholic Church has four as well: Asmara, Barentu, Keren and Segheneity.⁹ In Ethiopia, Landy reports, the same Catholic clergy celebrate both the Ge'ez and the Latin rite, and the Catholic churches of Addis Ababa serve both.²²

Emigrants have carried the rite far beyond the Horn of Africa. The Eritrean Orthodox Church has a diocese for the United States and Canada, and in 1984 a Catholic priest in Washington, Abba Tesfamariam Baraki, printed the ordinary in Ge'ez and English for the Institute for Ministry to Immigrants and Refugees.^21,26

Find a parish

• Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church, Diocese of the U.S.A. and Canada
• Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church (lisantewahdo.org)

Your First Visit

What follows is for a Catholic of the Roman Rite at a first Qəddase. The rules for Communion and for the Sunday obligation differ between the Catholic and the Orthodox Churches, and each line says which it concerns.

The Shape of the Liturgy

The Qəddase falls into two parts, which Archbishop Yesehaq calls the Preparatory Service and the Anaphora. The first holds the preparation and offering of the gifts, the readings and the Creed. The second is the eucharistic prayer and Communion.¹⁶ The missals print the ordinary with the Anaphora of the Apostles. On other days another anaphora takes its place, and that choice decides which creed is said.^4,16

The anaphoras differ widely among themselves. Macomber finds exhortations in some. In others the anamnesis does not name the Passion and the Resurrection, and in others again the epiclesis does not ask that the gifts become the Body and Blood of Christ.⁴

The order below follows the Ethiopian Orthodox text in Marcos Daoud's English, with the Anaphora of the Apostles. Abba Tesfamariam Baraki's Catholic booklet of 1984 prints much the same order in Ge'ez and English.^16,21 The order gives no Ge'ez. The Ge'ez of the printed books has not yet been checked by a reader of the language.

The order of the Qəddase with the Anaphora of the Apostles

1. The priest's preparation
   The priest says the prayer of penitence, then seven psalms and further prayers in silence, and prays over the paten, the chalice, the spoon and the altar.¹⁶
2. The procession with the bread
   The priest goes in procession with the bread, saying "How awesome is this day and how marvelous this hour wherein the Holy Spirit will descend from heaven". The people answer with a hymn to the Virgin, "Thou art the pot of pure gold, wherein is hidden the manna".^16,21
3. Blessing and offering of the gifts
   The bread and the wine are blessed and offered, with prayers that recall the offerings of Abel and Noah.^16,21
4. Thanksgiving and the Prayer of Oblation
   St Basil's prayer of thanksgiving is said, and then the Prayer of Oblation over "this bread" and "this cup". The gifts are veiled "in the likeness of the tomb", as Joseph and Nicodemus wrapped the Lord's body.^16,21
5. Absolution, litany and incense
   The Absolution of the Son is read, by a bishop if one is present. A litany follows, and the priest censes the altar and the church.^16,21
6. Three readings
   An Epistle of St Paul, a Catholic Epistle and the Acts of the Apostles are read, each with its own prayer. Before the first, a deacon carries the Pauline Epistles in procession round the ark.^16,21
7. Trisagion
   After hymns to the Virgin the Trisagion is sung. The people take up "holy Mighty, holy Living, Immortal" and confess in it, stanza by stanza, the Son born of the Virgin, baptised and crucified, risen and ascended.^16,21
8. Gospel
   The priest blesses the four quarters, and the Gospel goes in procession with a taper. The priest reads it, or a bishop if one is present, and all answer "We believe in the word of the holy gospel".^16,21
9. The great intercessions and the Creed
   The deacon sends out the catechumens. The priest prays for the Church, for the head of the state and for the patriarch, and the people recite the Creed. Daoud's text sets the creed "which the Apostles gave in Jerusalem" with the Anaphora of the Apostles and the Nicene Creed with every other; the Catholic booklet of 1984 has the Nicene Creed here.^16,21
10. Washing of hands and the greeting of peace
    The priest washes his hands and sprinkles the water toward the people. After St Basil's Prayer of Salutation the deacon bids all greet one another, now, in Yesehaq's words, with "a simple bow in every direction".^16,21
11. Anaphora: dialogue, intercessions and Sanctus
    The dialogue asks the people to give thanks before it bids them lift up their hearts. The deacon's commemorations come before the Sanctus, and the people sing "Holy, holy, holy, perfect Lord of hosts".^4,16,21
12. Institution narrative
    The priest raises the bread, and the people answer "We believe that this is he, truly we believe". Over the gifts he says the Lord's words pointing to them, in Daoud's text "this (pointing) bread" and "this (pointing) cup", and after each the people confess again.^16,33
13. Anamnesis and epiclesis
    Remembering the death and resurrection, the priest offers the bread and the cup, pointing to each, and prays that God "would send the Holy Spirit and power" upon them, signing each.¹⁶
14. Fraction, Lord's Prayer and absolution
    The breaking of the bread is set among acclamations, and the Lord's Prayer and its embolism follow. After a prayer of inclination the priest prays the Prayer of Penitence over the people.¹⁶
15. Commemorations and elevation
    The priest remembers the patriarch, the clergy and the departed. Then "Holy things for the holy", and he lifts up the whole Host while all cry "Lord, have compassion upon us, O Christ", many times over.¹⁶
16. Profession of faith before Communion
    Over the gifts the priest confesses "This (pointing) is the true holy body" and "the true precious blood", one with the godhead "without mixture or confusion".¹⁶
17. Communion
    The clergy receive by rank, then the men, then the women, and baptised infants before the other faithful. The priest gives the Body and the deacon the Blood, and Psalm 150 is chanted.¹⁶
18. Thanksgiving, blessing and dismissal
    After the thanksgiving and the laying on of hands the priest blesses each of the people, touching the forehead, and the deacon says "Go in peace". The loaves not offered are blessed and shared among the clergy.¹⁶

The shape of its anaphoras

• Opening dialogue
• Preface / thanksgiving
• Pre-Sanctus
• Sanctus
• Post-Sanctus
• Institution narrative
• Anamnesis
• Offering
• Epiclesis (after anamnesis)
• Intercessions
• Commemorations / diptychs
• Doxology

Each colour is one part of the eucharistic prayer, in the order the prayer says it. Compare every anaphora.

What makes it distinctive

• A family of anaphoras around the short Anaphora of the Apostles, which Macomber calls the one "most frequently used in Ethiopia".^4,16
• The people's confession at the institution: after the bread and after the cup they answer that they believe.¹⁶
• The tabot: in the Orthodox church it rests in the maqdas, the innermost part, which Archbishop Yesehaq likens to the Holy of Holies of Solomon's Temple and which only priests may enter.¹⁶
• Many ministers: in the Orthodox rule at least two priests and three deacons, with one priest and one deacon allowed since 1959 where clergy are few.¹⁶
• Chant by trained cantors, the debteras, in a tradition the Church traces to St Yared.¹⁶

History

Origins

Ethiopian Orthodox tradition, as Archbishop Yesehaq tells it, draws the Church's worship from two sources. The Hebrew came with Queen Makeda, the Queen of Sheba, who visited King Solomon, and with their son Menelik, who brought the Ark of the Covenant to Ethiopia. The Christian came with Bishop Frumentius, who "first celebrated the sacraments in our country", and with nine Syrian monks who translated the Church's books about a century later.¹⁶

Documents of the time survive for the second strand. In Bairu Tafla's account Frumentius went to Alexandria around 330 to seek a bishop for Ethiopia, and St Athanasius chose him.²⁵ About 356 the emperor Constantius wrote to the princes of Aksum, Ezana and Sazana, telling them to send "the Bishop Frumentius" to Egypt, and Athanasius copied the letter into his later defence to the emperor.²⁴ Of the Nine Saints, Getatchew Haile writes that "the exact date and reason for their going to Ethiopia … are not known".³⁴

The Aksumite Collection is a manuscript of church order and liturgy. It was copied in the twelfth or thirteenth century, but Alessandro Bausi holds that its thirty-six texts were most probably translated from Greek no later than the sixth, among them an Ethiopic Apostolic Tradition.³⁵ Fanos Tsegaye, with Bandrés, Meßner and Lang, holds the Anaphora of the Apostles the earliest Aksumite prayer, "now consolidated with the discovery of the 'Axumite Collection'".³⁶

Formation

For the centuries that follow, Macomber warns, the history of the liturgy is "severely limited by an almost complete absence of documents antedating the fifteenth century".⁴ He ties several anaphoras to Ethiopian theological debates of the Middle Ages. Tsegaye counts others among the "late medieval compilations (thirteenth to fifteenth centuries)", and ties that literature to the wish of the Solomonic dynasty, in power from 1270, to add to its prestige.^4,36 The Church's tradition gives the anaphoras to the Apostles and the Fathers whose names they bear. It has St Yared, honoured as the father of its chant, gathering the anaphoras into one.¹⁶ Yared's dates are themselves uncertain. Yesehaq has him born in 505, and Macomber has him living in the seventh century.^4,16

The pro-anaphora and three anaphoras were first printed at Rome in 1548, with the Ethiopic New Testament.^20,33 Apart from additions and transpositions, Harden found "comparatively little difference" between the liturgy of the seventeenth century and that of his own day, so far as the modern text had been published.²⁰ The Church's own claim is larger. In Archbishop Yesehaq's words, "less change has taken place in the Ethiopian Liturgy than in any other Christian tradition, East or West".¹⁶ Harden's comparison reaches back three centuries. By 1950, Yesehaq records, the fourteen anaphoras had been printed in Ge'ez and Amharic by order of the Emperor Haile Selassie.¹⁶

The Catholic Churches

In 1441 Ethiopian monks from their monastery in Jerusalem came to the Council of Florence.³⁷ The emperor Susenyos became a Catholic in 1622. The Jesuit patriarch Afonso Mendes, in the New Catholic Encyclopedia's words, "vigorously pursued the total Latinization of the Ethiopian Church", and after the civil war that followed the Jesuits were expelled in 1633.^25,37

The present Catholic Churches grew from the missions of the nineteenth century. In 1847 a papal bull let Mgr De Jacobis, head of the mission in Abyssinia, carry out the sacred functions in the Abyssinian rite.³⁷ Catholic editions of the missal were printed at Keren from 1890 and at Asmara in 1914/15.²³ In 1945 the Vatican published a Ge'ez missal of seventeen anaphoras, prepared under Arnold van Lantschoot.^17,23

The hierarchy came in stages. In 1930 Pius XI erected the Pontifical Ethiopian College in the Vatican and named an Ordinary for the Ethiopian-rite Catholics of Eritrea, and in 1951 Pius XII made Asmara and Addis Ababa apostolic exarchates.^38,39,40,41 In 1961 John XXIII made Addis Ababa the metropolitan see of a province "pro fidelibus ritus Alexandrini et Aethiopici", for the faithful of the Alexandrian and Ethiopic rite, with Asmara and Adigrat as its suffragans.⁸ In 2015 Francis divided it. At the request of the Archbishop of Addis Ababa and the Council of Hierarchs he erected the Eritrean Catholic Church, a metropolitan Church sui iuris of its own.^2,9

The Orthodox Churches

For most of its known history, Macomber writes, the Ethiopian Church was headed by a bishop of Egyptian birth chosen by the Coptic patriarch.⁴ The Coptic patriarch ordained five Ethiopian bishops in 1948, and on 28 June 1959 Abuna Basilios was consecrated in Cairo the first Patriarch of Ethiopia.^10,42 The Eritrean Orthodox Church began its formal process toward the same status in October 1991. It set up its Synod in April 1998, and on 8 May that year Pope Shenouda III consecrated Abune Philipos its first patriarch.^11,13

Toward unity

John Paul II received Abuna Paulos in 1993. He praised "the riches and splendour of your liturgy".⁴³ Twenty-three years later Francis received Abuna Matthias, and spoke of the "monastic traditions and liturgical practices" the two Churches share.⁴⁴

Milestones

1. c. 356The emperor Constantius writes to Ezana and Sazana, princes of Aksum, asking them to send "the Bishop Frumentius" to Egypt²⁴
2. 6th c.Most probably by this date, the texts of the Aksumite Collection, among them an Ethiopic Apostolic Tradition, are translated from Greek³⁵
3. 1548The pro-anaphora and three anaphoras are first printed, at Rome, with the Ethiopic New Testament^20,33
4. 1847A papal bull lets Mgr De Jacobis, carry out the sacred functions in the Abyssinian rite³⁷
5. 1930Pius XI erects the Pontifical Ethiopian College in the Vatican (12 February), and an Ordinary is named for the Ethiopian-rite Catholics of Eritrea (4 July)^38,39
6. 1945A Ge'ez missal for Catholics is published at the Vatican with seventeen anaphoras, its institution narratives revised^17,23
7. 1951Pius XII erects the Apostolic Exarchates of Asmara and of Addis Ababa (31 October)^40,41
8. 1959Abuna Basilios is consecrated in Cairo the first Patriarch of Ethiopia (28 June)^10,42
9. 1961John XXIII's Quod venerabiles makes Addis Ababa the metropolitan see of a province "pro fidelibus ritus Alexandrini et Aethiopici", with Asmara and Adigrat (20 February)⁸
10. 1998Abune Philipos is consecrated in Cairo the first Patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church (8 May)¹¹
11. 2015Francis's Multum fructum erects the Eritrean Catholic Church as a metropolitan Church sui iuris (19 January)^2,9
12. 2025A new Ge'ez Missal for the Ethiopian and Eritrean Catholic Churches is presented at the Pontifical Ethiopian College (27 May)¹⁸

Texts & Books

The missal, the Mäṣḥafä Qəddase, joins one ordinary to many anaphoras.^4,23 The Ethiopian Orthodox edition has fourteen. Of these, only St Basil's is found with the Copts, and Marcos Daoud, a Copt himself, judged it "identical" with his own Church's, while the Ethiopian anaphoras of St Gregory and St Cyril were "entirely different".^4,16

The day decides the anaphora. "The Priest celebrant picks one proper to the commemoration of the day," Archbishop Yesehaq writes. He gives the Anaphora of the Apostles to the memorial of any apostle, and Dioscorus's to six great feasts, from the Nativity to the feast of the Holy Trinity.¹⁶ The marginal notes of a seventeenth-century manuscript assign them otherwise.²⁰ The assignments have changed over time, or differ by source.

The two Catholic Churches received a new Ge'ez Missal in 2025, prepared by commissions of both. Bishop Kidane Yebio of Keren said the work took twenty-five years. Vatican News reported that it draws on ancient sources and was updated with the texts of the Second Vatican Council and the Eastern Code.^18,45 Its contents have not been reported, and the book has not been read for this entry.

Theology & Spirit

The rite asks the people to say what they believe. After the Lord's words over the bread they answer, in Daoud's English, "Amen. Amen. Amen. We believe and confess, we glorify Thee, O our Lord and our God; that this is He we truly believe".¹⁶ Before Communion the priest confesses that the Son took flesh from "the holy Mary of twofold virginity" and made it "one with His godhead without mixture or confusion, without division or alteration". He adds that "His godhead was not separated from His manhood, not for an hour nor for the twinkling of an eye".¹⁶ The English of the Catholic booklet of 1984 carries the same Christological clauses.²¹

Many of the anaphoras pray to Christ himself. Josef Jungmann explained this by a Christology that, in his words, "makes the humanity of our Lord vanish in his divinity", though he found in the Anaphora of Mary "no sort of heretical avowal".⁴⁶ Tsegaye, testing his thesis, agrees that the earliest form of the Anaphora of the Apostles prays to the Father through the Son, but traces the later prayer to Christ to "multiple political, social, and theological factors", not to one cause.³⁶

At the epiclesis the priest prays that God "would send the Holy Spirit and power upon this (pointing) bread and upon this (pointing) cup".¹⁶ The Catechism joins word and Spirit. It teaches that "in the institution narrative, the power of the words and the action of Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit, make sacramentally present under the species of bread and wine Christ's body and blood".⁴⁷

Sacred Arts

The chant belongs to trained cantors, the debteras, who sing the hymns before and after the Qəddase. Archbishop Yesehaq compares their office to that of the Levites.¹⁶ The Church holds that "the chant, the notation and the texts are all the work of St. Yared", and Yesehaq sets beside this the view of Michael Powne, an English writer, that two debteras brought in the notation in the sixteenth century.¹⁶ A photograph on Landy's page shows drums kept at the back of the Catholic cathedral of Addis Ababa for the chant, and the Catholic Missal of 2025, Vatican News reports, carries annotations for it.^18,22

Family & Relations

The Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches counts the Alexandrian among the five Eastern traditions. The Ge'ez rite shares it with the Coptic rite of Egypt.^1,2,8 Macomber finds the tie loose. The Ethiopian liturgy's conformity with the Coptic is, in his words, "notably less" than that of the daughter Churches of Rome, Constantinople and Seleucia-Ctesiphon with theirs, and he suggests a reason in the Egyptian metropolitans, foreigners with little knowledge of the country or its language.⁴ The Anaphora of the Apostles has a wider kinship. Macomber traces it to the anaphora of the Apostolic Tradition, expanded and fitted to the Ethiopian order.⁴

Compare with

• Coptic Rite: the other rite of the Alexandrian tradition, with which it shares the Anaphora of St Basil¹⁶
• East Syriac Rite: Fritsch sets the Ge'ez institution narratives beside the Anaphora of Addai and Mari, whose validity, Fritsch notes, the Holy See has acknowledged¹⁷
• Roman Rite: the rite most visitors know; here the dialogue bids thanks before it bids hearts lifted, and the people confess their faith at the institution narrative^4,16

The Rite Today

The Ethiopian Catholic Church had 70,832 faithful in 2017, and the Eritrean Catholic Church 167,722, by CNEWA's table from the Annuario Pontificio.⁷ On 12 June 2026 Pope Leo XIV accepted the resignation of Cardinal Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel as Archbishop of Addis Ababa and named his auxiliary, Abune Tesfaye Tadesse Gebresilasie, to succeed him.⁴⁸ Archbishop Menghesteab Tesfamariam was named the Eritrean Church's first Metropolitan in 2015.⁹

The Orthodox Churches are far larger, though neither country's census has been read. CNEWA and the World Council of Churches put the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church at 36 and 60 million and the Eritrean at 3.03 and 2 million, all undated.^5,6,12,13 Abuna Matthias was elected Patriarch of Ethiopia in 2013, and the Eritrean Church enthroned Abune Basilios as its patriarch on 26 January 2025.^11,12

Recent developments

• On 12 May 2025 the Ethiopian and Eritrean Catholic Churches celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Ge'ez rite in the Choir Chapel of St Peter's for the Jubilee of the Eastern Churches, Cardinal Berhaneyesus presiding and Archbishop Menghesteab concelebrating.⁴⁹
• On 27 May 2025 Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti presented the new Ge'ez Missal for the Ethiopian and Eritrean Catholic Churches at the Pontifical Ethiopian College. It calls for "freshly-baked, leavened bread".¹⁸
• In February 2026 the Catholics of Ethiopia began Lent twice, on 16 February in the Ge'ez rite and on 18 February in the Latin.³²
• On 6 September 2026 Abune Tesfaye Tadesse Gebresilasie was installed as Metropolitan of Addis Ababa.⁵⁰

As of 19 September 2026.

Disputed Questions

Go Deeper

Daoud's English of the Ethiopian Orthodox ordo and its fourteen anaphoras is free on ethiopianorthodox.org, and Brightman's text of the Liturgy of the Apostles is in the public domain.^16,33 Translations from Latin and Italian are the Index's own.

On Domus Dei

• The Coptic RiteThe other rite of the Alexandrian tradition
• The Eastern Liturgies: Byzantine, Maronite, Coptic, and BeyondOur essay on the Eastern rites
• The 24 Catholic ChurchesEvery Church sui iuris on one board

Official resources

• The Liturgy of the Ethiopian Church (Daoud's translation, the Church's reprint)
• Francis to Abuna Matthias I, 29 February 2016
• John Paul II to Abuna Paulos, 11 June 1993

Recommended reading

• Daoud, Marcos (trans.), rev. Blatta Marsie Hazen; introduction by Archbishop Yesehaq, The Liturgy of the Ethiopian Church, Cairo: The Egyptian Book Press, 1959, reprint: Kingston, Jamaica, Ethiopian Orthodox Church, June 1991, re-edited 22 March 2006, 185 pp..The Ethiopian Orthodox ordo and fourteen anaphoras in English; free on ethiopianorthodox.org Read online
• Brightman, F. E., Liturgies Eastern and Western, vol. 1: Eastern Liturgies, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1896.C. J. Ball's English of a manuscript of 1670–75, in the public domain Read online
• Harden, J. M., The Anaphoras of the Ethiopic Liturgy, London: SPCK, 1928.The anaphoras in English, with notes on when each was used (it uses an older name for the Church) Read online
• Macomber, William F., “Ethiopian Liturgy”, The Coptic Encyclopedia, ed. Aziz S. Atiya (New York: Macmillan, 1991), 1991, 987b-990b.The best short scholarly account of the Ethiopian liturgy and its anaphoras Read online
• Fritsch, Emmanuel, CSSp, “The Anaphoras of the Ethiopian Church: A Challenging Orthodoxy”, paper for the congress La genesi anaforica del racconto istituzionale alla luce dell'anafora di Addai e Mari (Pontifical Oriental Institute and Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, 25-26 October 2011), 2011.A Catholic liturgist's case for keeping the Ge'ez institution narratives Read online
• Tsegaye, Fanos Workalemahu, “Per Christum and Ad Christum: A Historical-Theological Analysis of Ethiopic Anaphoras”, PhD thesis, University of St Andrews, 2023.The current study of the anaphoras' dating and of their prayer to Christ, free online Read online

Sources

1. Magisterial / canonicalCode of Canons of the Eastern Churches, Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1990, can. 28 §2. LinkVerified 2026-09-12 · URL repointed 18 Sep 2026 to the Latin text on vatican.va (part 1; cann. 656–657 are in part 2, codex-can-eccl-orient-2), because the caedm.ca English extract (616A) carries cc. 27–38 only; cann. 28, 40 §1, 656, 657 read there in the Latin, 18 Sep 2026. English translation: cann. 27–28 read in the caedm.ca PDF; cann. 671, 697, 707, 710, 713 read in the IntraText English edition; can. 881 §1 in IntraText, 2026-09-14
2. Magisterial / canonicalFrancis, “Multum fructum: apostolic constitution erecting the Metropolitan Church sui iuris of Asmara (19 January 2015)”, Acta Apostolicae Sedis 107 (2015), 2015, 246, p. 246. LinkVerified 2026-09-18 · read in the AAS PDF: 'In Erythraea nova constituitur Ecclesia Metropolitana Asmarensis'; Cardinal Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel, 'una cum Consilio Hierarcharum Ecclesiae Alexandrinae ritus gheez enixe petivit'; 'novam Metropolitanam Ecclesiam sui iuris Asmarensem appellandam constituimus'; dated 19 January 2015
3. ScholarshipLandy, Thomas M., “Ethiopian Catholic Church”, Catholics & Cultures (College of the Holy Cross). LinkVerified 2026-09-19 · read (undated): Ge'ez is the liturgical language, but 'a number of parts, like the readings, are in local languages like Amharic'
4. ReferenceMacomber, William F., “Ethiopian Liturgy”, The Coptic Encyclopedia, ed. Aziz S. Atiya (New York: Macmillan, 1991), 1991, 987b-990b, 987b–990b. LinkVerified 2026-09-19 · the Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia text read in full: knowledge of the history is 'severely limited by an almost complete absence of documents antedating the fifteenth century'; the Ethiopian Church 'has in its printed missal no less than fourteen, only one of which, the Anaphora of Saint BASIL THE GREAT, is found with the Copts', six more in manuscripts; 'The Ethiopian Catholics, on the contrary, have adopted three of them in their missal, the anaphoras of Saints Mary, Mark, and James'; the Anaphora of the Apostles is 'the anaphora most frequently used in Ethiopia'; that it was the original anaphora 'seems rather dubious'; the prefatory dialogue's second and third exchanges in the opposite order; the Apostles, the Lord, Basil, Mark and James are translations, and 'All the others seem to be of Ethiopian authorship', Mary's included, which Getatchew Haile's study (1983) lets him ascribe 'with probability' to Abba Samuel of Wali; the chant and the Deggwa attributed to St Yared, 'supposed to have lived at the time of King Gabra Masqal in the seventh century'
5. ReferenceWorld Council of Churches, Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (member church page). LinkVerified 2026-09-18 · read (undated page): membership 60,000,000; a member since 1948; 14 anaphoras
6. ReferenceWorld Council of Churches, Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church (member church page). LinkVerified 2026-09-18 · read (undated page): membership 2,000,000; a member since 2003
7. ReferenceRoberson, Ronald G. (comp.), Catholic Near East Welfare Association, The Eastern Catholic Churches 2017 (from the Annuario Pontificio), 2017, Ethiopian Catholic Church and Eritrean Catholic Church, totals. LinkVerified 2026-09-18 · PDF table read in a browser (automated requests are blocked), headed 'The Eastern Catholic Churches 2017. Source: Annuario Pontificio': the Coptic Catholic Church (Patriarchate), seven eparchies (Alexandria, Assiut, Guizeh, Ismayliah, Luqsor and Thebes, Minya, Sohag), total faithful 152,584 (1990), 197,878 (2000), 163,630 (2010), 174,902 (2016) and 187,320 (2017), with 7 bishops and 169 parishes. The same table: Ethiopian Catholic Church (Metropolitanate), four eparchies, total faithful 70,832 (2017); Eritrean Catholic Church (Metropolitanate), four eparchies, total faithful 167,722 (2017)
8. Magisterial / canonicalJohn XXIII, “Quod venerabiles (Neanthopolitanae et aliarum): apostolic constitution erecting the ecclesiastical province of Addis Ababa (20 February 1961)”, Acta Apostolicae Sedis 53 (1961), 1961, 648-649, pp. 648–649. LinkVerified 2026-09-18 · read in the AAS PDF: an ecclesiastical province 'pro fidelibus ritus Alexandrini et Aethiopici, in Aetiopia'; the metropolitan see 'Ecclesia Neanthopolitana' (Addis Ababa), with Asmara, 'hactenus exarchatus apostolicus', and Adigrat as suffragans; dated 20 February 1961
9. Magisterial / canonicalHoly See Press Office, Erezione della Chiesa Metropolitana sui iuris eritrea e nomina del primo Metropolita, bulletin B0048 (19 January 2015), 2015. LinkVerified 2026-09-18 · read: 'Il Santo Padre ha eretto la Chiesa Metropolitana sui iuris eritrea, dividendola dall'Arcieparchia Metropolitana di Addis Abeba'; Asmara raised to a metropolitan see, Menghesteab Tesfamariam MCCJ its first Metropolitan; the Church governed by CCEO cann. 155-173 with a Council of Hierarchs; its eparchies Asmara, Barentu and Keren (both 21 December 1995) and Segheneity (24 February 2012)
10. ReferenceBoutros Ghali, Mirrit, “Ethiopian Church Autocephaly”, The Coptic Encyclopedia, ed. Aziz S. Atiya (New York: Macmillan, 1991), 1991, 980a-984a, 980a–984a. LinkVerified 2026-09-19 · the Claremont text read: 'On 25 July 1948 five Ethiopian bishops were ordained by the patriarch'; Abuna Qerelos, the last Coptic metropolitan, died on 22 October 1950; the protocol of June 1959, 'the first time in Christian history that a church granted independence… to another church'; Baslyos 'was consecrated in the presence of the emperor at the Coptic Cathedral of Saint Mark in Cairo on Sunday, 28 June 1959'
11. ReferenceEritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church, The Sovereignty and patriarchal election of Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church (lisantewahdo.org), 2025. LinkVerified 2026-09-18 · read (page dated 5 February 2025): the formal process for autocephaly began on 2 October 1991; 'the Synod of Eritrea was established on April, 18 1998 in Asmara'; on 8 May 1998 Abune Philipos 'was consecrated Patriarch… by His Holiness Abune Shenouda III at St. Mark's Cathedral in Cairo', then enthroned in Asmara; the Church 'established on 08 May, 1998 as an independent and sovereign (Autocephaleous) Church'; Abune Basilios enthroned on 26 January 2025
12. ReferenceRoberson, Ronald G.; Catholic Near East Welfare Association, The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Membership. LinkVerified 2026-09-18 · read in the Wayback Machine capture of 2 November 2025 (the live site refuses automated requests): 'Membership: 36,000,000'; Paulos elected 5 July 1992, Matthias 28 February 2013. The page's membership box is not dated: it still names a co-patriarch who died in 2022, so its 'Last Modified' date of 2021 is not the figure's date
13. ReferenceRoberson, Ronald G.; Catholic Near East Welfare Association, The Eritrean Orthodox Church, Membership. LinkVerified 2026-09-18 · read in the Wayback Machine capture of 15 August 2025: 'Membership: 3,030,000'; in July 1993 the Eritrean Orthodox appealed to Pope Shenouda III; an agreement with the Ethiopian Church signed in Addis Ababa in February 1994; the patriarch installed in Cairo on 8 May 1998. The membership box is not dated: it still names a patriarch removed in 2006
14. Magisterial / canonicalJohn Paul II, “Ad universae incrementum: apostolic constitution erecting the Eparchy of Emdeber (25 November 2003)”, Acta Apostolicae Sedis 96 (2004), 2004, 251-252, pp. 251–252. LinkVerified 2026-09-18 · read in the AAS PDF (May 2004 fascicle): 'novam constituimus eparchiam Emdeberensem', from the Gurage and Wolliso zones, suffragan of Addis Ababa; dated 25 November 2003
15. Magisterial / canonicalFrancis, “Quae maiori: apostolic constitution erecting the Eparchy of Bahir Dar-Dessie (19 January 2015)”, Acta Apostolicae Sedis 107 (2015), 2015, 244-245, pp. 244–245. LinkVerified 2026-09-18 · read in the AAS PDF: 'Nova Eparchia Bahir Dar-Dessie in Aethiopia constituitur', taken from the archeparchy of Addis Ababa; 'eligimus sanctum Patronum Frumentium, Kesate Berhan'; dated 19 January 2015
16. Primary textDaoud, Marcos (trans.), rev. Blatta Marsie Hazen; introduction by Archbishop Yesehaq, The Liturgy of the Ethiopian Church, Cairo: The Egyptian Book Press, 1959, reprint: Kingston, Jamaica, Ethiopian Orthodox Church, June 1991, re-edited 22 March 2006, 185 pp., pp. 2, 5–6; pp. 5, 8; p. 18 (II:68); p. 52 (A:128); p. 10; pp. 3–5, 47 (A n. 2); p. 18 (II:65); p. 5; pp. 3–4; pp. 9, 19, 45, 49, 56 (III:1–8, A:40–45, A:162); p. 6; p. 7; pp. 8, 40 n. 1; pp. 2, 12–57; pp. 7, 12–18 (II:11–52, II:66–67); p. 19 (III:1–8); pp. 20–21 (III:9–25); pp. 21–23 (III:31–52); pp. 8, 24–30 (III:56–130); pp. 8, 30–32 (III:131–150); pp. 32–33 (III:155–175); pp. 8, 34–38 (III:176–219); pp. 38–40 (IV:1–45) and p. 40 n. 1; pp. 8, 41–42 (IV:46–61); pp. 43–45 (A:2–32); p. 45 (A:39–45); p. 46 (A:48–49); pp. 46–48 (A:54–81); pp. 48–49 (A:82–93); pp. 49–50 (A:98–103); pp. 51–52 (A:113–128); pp. 52–57 (A:129–170); p. 45 (A:40, A:43, A:45); pp. 3–5; pp. 4–6; p. 4; p. 3; p. 2; p. 8; pp. 2, 5; p. 45 (A:43); pp. 49–50 (A:101–103); p. 46 (A:48); pp. 3, 7; p. 45 (A:40–45); pp. 8, 24 (III:62); p. 45 (A:42, A:44); pp. 23, 45, 46, 49 (III:49, A:43, A:49, A:98). LinkVerified 2026-09-19 · the 2006 reprint read and cited by its own page numbers and its paragraph numbers (chapter : paragraph; anaphora letter : paragraph). Foreword (p. 2): the Ethiopian authorities say 'they received their liturgy of fourteen Anaphoras from the Church of Egypt'; St Basil's 'is identical with the Ethiopian Church Anaphora, but the other two are entirely different'. Archbishop Yesehaq's introduction, 'an extract of my Book' (pp. 3-10): 'less change has taken place in the Ethiopian Liturgy than in any other Christian tradition, East or West' (p. 3); Makeda, Solomon and the Ark, Frumentius, the 'Nine Syrian Monks' (pp. 3-4); Yared 'born A. D. 505, in Aksum' (p. 4); 'The Ethiopian Church has fourteen Anaphoras' and 'by A.D. 1950, the fourteen Anaphoras together with the preparatory service were published (in both Geez and Amharic)' (p. 5); 'qedasi' is literally 'hallowing' or 'sanctifying'; the Anaphora of the Apostles 'written by the Apostles themselves'; Mary's anaphora handed 'to Yared of Axsum who later put it together with the other thirteen Anaphoras'; 'no major change or reform' (p. 6); 'at least two priests and three deacons', and 'In 1959 permission was given for one priest and one deacon' (p. 7); five readings; the kiss of peace now 'a simple bow in every direction'; Dioscorus's anaphora on the Nativity, Epiphany, Fasika, Ascension, Pentecost and the Trinity (p. 8); Communion order and the Synod's attempt of January 1979 to replace 'the dried raisin wine' (p. 9 and n. 9); shoes removed, 'women stand to the right, and men to the left', the three parts of the church, Communion 'at least three times a year' (p. 10). The ordo (chs II-IV, pp. 12-42) and the Anaphora of the Apostles (anaphora A, pp. 43-57) read in full. Also: p. 3, 'less change has taken place in the Ethiopian Liturgy than in any other Christian tradition, East or West'; p. 23, III:49, the Prayer of Oblation, 'change this (pointing) bread to become Thy pure body'; p. 24, III:62, the Absolution names 'the Patriarchs St. Severus, St. Dioscorus'; p. 46, A:49, 'May He make them the body and blood of our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ'; p. 49, A:98, 'This (pointing) is the true holy body'
17. ScholarshipFritsch, Emmanuel, CSSp, “The Anaphoras of the Ethiopian Church: A Challenging Orthodoxy”, paper for the congress La genesi anaforica del racconto istituzionale alla luce dell'anafora di Addai e Mari (Pontifical Oriental Institute and Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, 25-26 October 2011), 2011, p. 1; p. 2; p. 1 and profile; pp. 1–2. LinkVerified 2026-09-19 · PDF read in full (a two-page summary and the author's bio-bibliographical profile). Profile: 'Secretary of the Ethiopian Catholic Bishops' Liturgy Committee' since its creation in 2003, and of the 'mixed Ethio-Eritrean Bishops' Liturgy Committee'. Summary: 'there are today 20 anaphoras known: 15 of which are actually in use, 14 printed in the missal of the Orthodox Church and 17 in the missal published by the Vatican in 1945 after revision'; 'the restored Missal of the Vatican (1945) removed the mention of the "bread", while leaving the "cup" in a number of occasions. However, there is no real basis for the doubts raised'; in the Anaphora of the Lord the 1945 Missal 'rectified matters according to the Institution Narrative of the Anaphora of the Apostles'; into St James of Sarug it 'interpolated the Institution Narrative of the Anaphora of the Apostles' (p. 1); 'the Ge'ez-Catholic Church' and its effort 'to recover its authentic Missal'; the narratives 'should be preserved in the Catholic books as in the Orthodox ones'; 'The Roman Holy See having acknowledged the validity of the Anaphora of Addai and Mari, there is ample freedom to discuss related issues' (p. 2). Also p. 1: 'Doubts have been raised at various levels as to the validity of this formulation or as to how proper or prudent this was'; p. 2: a sixteenth-century correction of the Lord's cup-words shows 'the need to state that the transformation of the wine into the blood of Jesus Christ is "really" done', and the Scholastic tradition 'is in fact unable to satisfactorily account for the mystery re-presented in the Church or, a fortiori, presume to juge of the validity of the Eucharist celebrated by another particular Church'
18. ReferenceVatican News, New Ge'ez Missal to serve unity among Ethiopian, Eritrean Catholics (27 May 2025), 2025. LinkVerified 2026-09-18 · read: the new Missal for the Ethiopian and Eritrean Catholic Churches presented on 27 May 2025 at the Pontifical Ethiopian College by Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti; 'For the first time, the Ge'ez Missal includes annotations for liturgical chant, and calls for the Eucharist to be celebrated with freshly-baked, leavened bread'; Bishop Kidane Yebio of Keren told Vatican News it 'took 25 years'; Cardinal Berhaneyesus thanked the Dicastery for 'facilitating the printing and distribution of the New Missal'. The report gives no count of anaphoras and says nothing of the institution narratives
19. Referenceethiopianorthodox.org (diaspora-edited Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church site), Religious Holidays and Calendar (ethiopianorthodox.org). LinkVerified 2026-09-19 · read (undated, on a diaspora-edited site): '12 months of 30 days' and Pagumen of 5 days, 6 in the leap year; the calendar 'came from Egypt and as to methods and dates agrees with the calendar of the Coptic Church'; 'a difference of 7 or 8 years between the western and Ethiopian systems'; 'Christmas – Tahsas 29th E.C (7th January)', 'Epiphany – Ter 11th E.C (19th January)'; 'Every Wednesday and Friday are days of fasting'; 'Hudadi or Abiye Tsome (Lent), 56 days'; 'The fast of Assumption, 16 days'; 'Fast generally implies one meal a day… with total abstention from meat, fats, eggs and diary products'; 'All persons above the age of 13 observe the church fasts'; on Maundy Thursday 'in the Mass unleavened bread is used'
20. Primary textHarden, J. M., The Anaphoras of the Ethiopic Liturgy, London: SPCK, 1928, p. 10; pp. 12–13; p. 8; p. 14; p. 7. LinkVerified 2026-09-19 · archive.org full text read, introduction pp. 1-14, with the page heads: 'The total number seems to be sixteen'; no British Museum manuscript 'contains more than fourteen' (p. 7); the other anaphoras stand 'as substitutes for the normal Anaphora of the Apostles', by the marginal notes of a seventeenth-century manuscript (p. 8); Maundy Thursday the day 'on which day alone the Eucharist is celebrated in the Ethiopic Church with unleavened bread' (p. 10); 'it can hardly be said with truth that the subordinate Anaphoras were used but seldom' (p. 12); the first printing, Rome 1548, of the pro-anaphora and three anaphoras (pp. 12-13). The introduction uses an older name for the Church, which this Index does not use
21. Primary textTesfamariam Baraki (Abba), ed., Ge'ez (Ethiopic) Mass: The Ordinary and the Anaphora of the Apostles, Washington, DC: Institute for Ministry to Immigrants and Refugees, 1984, 35 pp., Ge'ez and English, pp. 30–31; title page; pp. 1–34; p. 1; pp. 1–2; pp. 3–6; pp. 6–8; pp. 9–10; p. 11; pp. 12–14; pp. 15–17; pp. 17–18; pp. 19–20; p. 28; p. 21; pp. 16–17. LinkVerified 2026-09-19 · archive.org scan read, cited by printed page. Title page: 'Prepared and Edited by: Rev. Abba Tesfamariam Baraki / September 1984 / Washington, D.C.'. A Catholic booklet: its English litany prays for 'the Supreme Pontiff Abba ___ and our Blessed Bishop Abba ___' (p. 7); whom the Ge'ez title beside it denotes has not been confirmed. p. 21, the words of institution, English 'THIS IS MY BODY, WHICH IS BROKEN FOR YOU FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS' and 'THIS IS MY BLOOD, TO BE POURED OUT FOR YOU ON BEHALF OF MANY'; its Ge'ez column has not been checked by a reader of the language. pp. 30-31, separate formulas for the Body and the Blood at Communion. The English Creed has the Filioque (pp. 16-17); the Ge'ez Creed was not read. Also: p. 28 (English), the profession before Communion, 'without any mixture and confusion, without division or alteration'
22. ScholarshipLandy, Thomas M., “Roots run deep for Ge'ez rite Catholics in Ethiopia”, Catholics & Cultures (College of the Holy Cross). LinkVerified 2026-09-19 · read (undated): 'Like Orthodox, Ethiopian Catholic liturgy lasts very long – typically two, but sometimes three hours'; 'The Ethiopian Orthodox liturgy lasts for three hours'; 'Orthodox churches generally have no seating'; 'Unlike Orthodox, Catholics have the option for pews or standing', with prayer staffs; 'Women at Catholic liturgies usually sit separately from men'; Ethiopian Catholic churches 'are designed both ways', screened or open; a photo caption: 'Drums in the back of the Nativity Cathedral for liturgical chant'; Ethiopia 'is home to a single Catholic Church and clergy that celebrate both liturgies'. The page uses an older name for the Eastern Catholic Churches in passing, which this Index does not use. Also: 'Ethiopia is home to a single Catholic Church and clergy that celebrate both liturgies' (the same sentence uses an older term for Eastern Catholics); Catholic churches in Addis Ababa 'are sites for the celebration of both the Latin rite and the Ge'ez rite liturgy'; 'Women at Catholic liturgies usually sit separately from men, a pattern that is more strictly held in Orthodox churches'; 'At Catholic churches, families might sit together, or women might mix'; the photograph caption 'Drums in the back of the Nativity Cathedral for liturgical chant'
23. ReferenceEncyclopaedia Aethiopica, “Mäṣḥafä qəddase (article, reproduced on sewasew.com without its author's name)”, Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, ed. S. Uhlig (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz). LinkVerified 2026-09-18 · the online reproduction read: a new edition 'was prepared by the Vatican press in 1945 under the supervision of Arnold van Lantschoot', 'intentionally non-critical', with 17 anaphoras; the Catholic editions of Keren from 1890 and Asmara 1914/15, both 'heavily Latinizing'. The article's author, volume and page were not seen in print. Also: the Keren and Asmara editions were 'an attempt to resume the practice of the Ethiopian rite after a period of the Roman rite' in Ge'ez; the 1945 edition was made 'in order to correct the shortcomings of the previous editions', 'for the purpose of putting an orthodox text at the Catholic community's disposal'; its seventeenth anaphora is Dioscorus's, though 'the index, p. 7, does not attribute it explicitly to the Alexandrian bishop' but 'names it "the Anaphora by which the Missal ends"', and 'the Catholic Church has now started to rectify its tradition and has resumed referring to this Anaphora by the name of "Dioscorus of Alexandria"'. The article cites 'Congregazione per le Chiese Orientali 1944' for the edition; that item was not identified. Also (r2, 19 Sep 2026): musical notation 'usually accompanies the text… in some of the most ancient available mss.' (BritLib Orient. 545, 547); the missal as a book 'probably not earlier than the 17th cent.'
24. Primary textAthanasius of Alexandria, Apologia ad Constantium (Defence before Constantius), NPNF second series, vol. 4, 1892, §31. LinkVerified 2026-09-18 · read, §31: 'Letter of Constantius to the Ethiopians against Frumentius', to 'the Princes of Auxumis', 'AEzanes and Sazanes', asking them to 'Send therefore speedily into Egypt the Bishop Frumentius'
25. ReferenceTafla, Bairu, “Ethiopian Orthodox Church”, The Coptic Encyclopedia, ed. Aziz S. Atiya (New York: Macmillan, 1991), 1991, 995b-999a, 995b; 995b–999a. LinkVerified 2026-09-19 · the Claremont text read: Frumentius of Tyre, 'Around 330, he went to Alexandria to seek a bishop for Ethiopia, and Patriarch ATHANASIUS (328-356) chose him'; he became 'the first abun of Ethiopia', known as Abba Salama and Kasate Berhan
26. ReferenceEritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church, Diocese of the U.S.A. and Canada, Fasts & Feasts. LinkVerified 2026-09-19 · read: seven fasts 'ordained in the Fetha Negest', Tsome Dihnet (Wednesday and Friday), Tsome Nebiyat, the eve of Epiphany, Tsome Nenewie, Abiy Tsom, Tsome Hawariyat, Tsome Filseta; '180 of fasting days in total which are obligatory for all Orthodox Christians'; 'All persons above the age of 7 observe the church fasts'. A diocese abroad, not the Synod in Asmara
27. Magisterial / canonicalCode of Canon Law, Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1983, cann. 916, 919 §1, 923; can. 1248 §1; can. 844 §2. LinkVerified 2026-09-12 · cann. 844, 919, 923 read on vatican.va; cann. 913–914 read 2026-09-12; can. 1248 §1 read on vatican.va 2026-09-14; cann. 6 §1, 912, 924 §§1–2 and 926 read on vatican.va 2026-09-15; can. 916 read 2026-09-16: 'A person who is conscious of grave sin is not to celebrate Mass or receive the body of the Lord without previous sacramental confession unless there is a grave reason and there is no opportunity to confess'
28. Magisterial / canonicalPontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism, 1993, §115; §§123–124. LinkVerified 2026-09-12 · §§122–125 read verbatim on christianunity.va; §115 read 2026-09-14
29. ReferenceBiezawit, sermon posted by the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church, Diocese of the U.S.A. and Canada, Why I don't take the Holy Communion. LinkVerified 2026-09-19 · read: a signed sermon on the diocese's website, not a norm: Communion is 'a privilege only the Baptist [sic] Tewahdo Orthodox can partake in'; one should 'only take it after you confess'
30. ReferenceEritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church, Diocese of the U.S.A. and Canada, Entering the Church: Wear White? No Shoes? Why?. LinkVerified 2026-09-19 · read: shoes are taken off (Ex 3:5; Acts 7:33); women cover their hair (1 Cor 11); men and women stand apart; the page asks and answers 'Why do we all (men & women) wear white netsela's?'
31. ScholarshipLandy, Thomas M., “Ethiopian food rituals define Christian experience”, Catholics & Cultures (College of the Holy Cross). LinkVerified 2026-09-19 · read (undated): 'The norms for Catholic practice are set by Ethiopian Orthodox practice'; 'less strict than Orthodox, but far stricter than in the Latin Catholic world'; Ethiopian Catholics fast 'twice a week on Wednesdays and Fridays with no food allowed before the end of the noon Mass (i.e. around 2 p.m.)'
32. ReferenceVatican News, Cardinal urges spiritual conversion as Lent opens in Ethiopia's dual rites (17 February 2026), 2026. LinkVerified 2026-09-19 · read: 'The Ethiopian Catholic Church, which follows the Ethiopian calendar, celebrates Lent according to both the Eastern (Ge'ez) and Latin calendars. In 2026, the Eastern Church began the Lenten season on 16 February, while the Latin Church will start the season on 18 February'
33. Primary textBrightman, F. E., Liturgies Eastern and Western, vol. 1: Eastern Liturgies, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1896, p. 232; 194–244; pp. lxxii–lxxiii; pp. xiii, 194–244 and the list of sources; pp. xiii, 194–244; p. lxiii; pp. 194–244. LinkVerified 2026-09-12 · archive.org full text; pp. lxxxiii, lxxxv, lxxxviii–lxxxix checked; order locators spot-checked 13 Sep 2026 (pp. 362, 377–378, 393, 394; glossary s.v. Zeon, Cancelli, Ektene). Checked 19 Sep 2026 for the Ge'ez entry: Preface p. xiii, the Ethiopic translations are the Rev. C. J. Ball's ('the Rev. C. J. Ball for the Ethiopic (including the collation of the British Museum manuscripts)'); p. lxiii, the Egyptian rite; pp. lxxii-lxxiii, the Rome printing of 1548 ('Testamentum novum.. Missale') and the Lord's anaphora there; pp. 194-244, the Ethiopic Liturgy of the Apostles from BM Or. 545 (1670-75); p. 232, 'THIS bread… IS MY BODY' (a rubric between) and 'DRINK… THIS CUP'
34. ReferenceGetatchew Haile, “Ethiopian Saints”, The Coptic Encyclopedia, ed. Aziz S. Atiya (New York: Macmillan, 1991), 1991, 1044a-1056a, 1044a–1056a. LinkVerified 2026-09-19 · the Claremont text read, section 'The Nine Saints': 'The exact date and reason for their going to Ethiopia from the Hellenistic world, including Egypt and Syria, are not known'; Kaleb's Arabian campaign of 527
35. ScholarshipBausi, Alessandro, “The 'Aksumite Collection' (Manuscript of the Month, no. 44)”, Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, University of Hamburg, 2024. LinkVerified 2026-09-18 · read (page last updated 12 June 2024): the 36 texts of the manuscript 'were most probably translated from Christian Greek into Ethiopic no later than the sixth century'; 'an approximate dating of the manuscript of 'Ura Masqal to the twelfth/thirteenth century' (Ethio-SPaRe UM-039); the collection holds the Ethiopic Apostolic Tradition
36. ScholarshipTsegaye, Fanos Workalemahu, “Per Christum and Ad Christum: A Historical-Theological Analysis of Ethiopic Anaphoras”, PhD thesis, University of St Andrews, 2023, p. 93; pp. ii, 88, 92; p. 154; p. ii; pp. 92, 154. LinkVerified 2026-09-19 · the full thesis (192 pp.) read, cited by its printed page numbers. Abstract (p. ii): the earliest form, 'as attested in the text of Anaphora of the Apostles found in the "Axumite Collection"', prays to the Father through the Son, the ad Christum appearing only in later versions; prayer to Christ results 'from multiple political, social, and theological factors'; Jungmann's reading of it as a sign of a heretical Christology 'is inaccurate'. p. 9: Hammerschmidt's survey of 'the twenty Ethiopic anaphoras'. p. 88: the Solomonic dynasty came to power in 1270. p. 92: 'The official Ethiopic Liturgy consists of fourteen anaphoras, although scholars have identified around twenty'; 'some of them are of ancient origin, mid-fourth and sixth centuries. In contrast, others are late medieval compilations (thirteenth to fifteenth centuries)'. p. 154: the Anaphora of Mary dated to the fifteenth century; Getatchew Haile's attribution to an Ethiopian author, 'Silondis'
37. ReferenceO'Mahoney, K., “Ethiopian (Ge'ez) Catholic Church”, New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2nd ed. (Detroit: Gale, 2003), via encyclopedia.com, 2003. LinkVerified 2026-09-18 · read: De Jacobis made Prefect Apostolic of Abyssinia on 10 March 1839; the vicariate of 19 June 1847; a papal bull of 6 July 1847 let him 'carry out' the sacred functions in the Abyssinian rite; fourteen revised anaphoras 'dated 1890' printed and used ad interim; the Holy See approved a reprint on 25 February 1913. The article dates the first printing (1548) to a pope who had died in 1503, an error. Also: 'On 2 Sept. 1441, at the Council of florence, the head of the Ethiopian delegation from their monastery in Jerusalem' addressed Eugene IV; under Paez, Ethiopian Catholic priests kept two anaphoras 'purified of any anti-Chalcedonian insinuations. The name of Pope Leo, for example, had replaced that of dioscorus'; Susenyos 'had become a Catholic in 1622'; Mendes 'vigorously pursued the total Latinization of the Ethiopian Church'; after a battle 'with the loss of 8000 lives', 'Patriarch Mendes and the Jesuits were expelled from Ethiopia'
38. Magisterial / canonicalPius XI, “Curis ac laboribus: apostolic constitution on the Pontifical Ethiopian College (12 February 1930)”, Acta Apostolicae Sedis 22 (1930), 1930, 237-240, pp. 237–240. LinkVerified 2026-09-18 · read in the AAS PDF: the seminary already in being, first at Marseille and then in Rome, is juridically erected and given the name and rights of a Pontifical College, 'Seminarium seu Collegium Aethiopicum, in Vaticanae Urbis Statu conditum'; dated 12 February 1930
39. Magisterial / canonicalSacred Congregation for the Oriental Church, “Provisio Ecclesiarum: Chidane Mariam Cassa, titular bishop of Thibaris, Ordinary for the Ethiopian-rite Catholics of Eritrea (4 July 1930)”, Acta Apostolicae Sedis 22 (1930), 1930, 355, p. 355. LinkVerified 2026-09-18 · read in the AAS PDF, p. 355: '4 Iulii. — Titulari episcopali Ecclesiae Thibaritanae, R. D. Chidane Mariam Cassa, quem constituit Ordinarium pro catholicis indigenis Erythraeae aethiopici ritus'. Page: the provision sits between the running heads 354 and 356 (the OCR head beside it misreads 356), and the volume index reads 'Thibaritan., 355'
40. Magisterial / canonicalPius XII, “Aethiopica Alexandrini ritus Ecclesia: apostolic constitution erecting the Apostolic Exarchate of Asmara (31 October 1951)”, Acta Apostolicae Sedis 44 (1952), 1952, 206-209, pp. 206–209. LinkVerified 2026-09-18 · read in the AAS PDF: 'novum in Erythraea Exarchatum Apostolicum, loco Ordinariatus ibi hucusque exsistentis, erigimus et constituimus'; given at Castel Gandolfo 'die tricesimo primo mensis Octobris' 1951
41. Magisterial / canonicalPius XII, “Paterna semper: apostolic constitution erecting the Apostolic Exarchate of Addis Ababa (31 October 1951)”, Acta Apostolicae Sedis 44 (1952), 1952, 253-255, pp. 253–255. LinkVerified 2026-09-18 · read in the AAS PDF: at the end of 1942 the Ethiopian-rite faithful of Ethiopia were placed under Chidane Maryam Cassa, Ordinary for the Alexandrian-rite Catholics of Eritrea (pp. 253-254); 'novum in Aethiopia Exarchatum Apostolicum erigimus et constituimus, "de Addis Abeba" nuncupandum'; given at Castel Gandolfo on 31 October 1951
42. Referenceethiopianorthodox.org (diaspora-edited Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church site), Hierarchy (ethiopianorthodox.org). LinkVerified 2026-09-18 · read: 'five Ethiopian bishops were consecrated in 1928'; autonomy marked by the consecration of five more in 1948, Abuna Basilios 'made Archbishop in 1951', 'sealed by the installation of Abuna Basilios as the first Patriarch of Ethiopia in 1959'. The text predates 1974 (it makes nominations 'subject to the approval of the Emperor') and is reposted on a diaspora-edited site
43. Magisterial / canonicalJohn Paul II, Address to Abuna Paulos, Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (11 June 1993), 1993. LinkVerified 2026-09-18 · read on vatican.va: he praises 'the riches and splendour of your liturgy' and recalls the medieval Ethiopian pilgrims to Rome
44. Magisterial / canonicalFrancis, Address to Abuna Matthias I, Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (29 February 2016), 2016. LinkVerified 2026-09-18 · read on vatican.va: he greets 'the entire family of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church'; recalls Abuna Paulos's visits to John Paul II (1993) and Benedict XVI (2009); the two Churches share 'monastic traditions and liturgical practices'
45. Referencede Carvalho, Isabella H.; Vatican News, Un nuovo Messale in lingua ge'ez per le Chiese orientali cattoliche in Eritrea e Etiopia (27 May 2025), 2025. LinkVerified 2026-09-18 · read: the Missal, promoted by the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches, was prepared by commissions of the two Churches from ancient sources, with texts 'aggiornati anche con quelli del Concilio Vaticano II e del Codice dei canoni delle Chiese orientali'
46. ScholarshipJungmann, Josef A.; trans. A. Peeler, The Place of Christ in Liturgical Prayer, Staten Island, NY / London: Alba House / Geoffrey Chapman, 1965, first published as Die Stellung Christi im liturgischen Gebet (Münster: Aschendorff, 1925; 2nd ed. 1962), p. 52. LinkVerified 2026-09-19 · archive.org full text read: imprint page (German editions 1925, 1962); p. 43, 'twenty anaphora formularies', most indigenous ones having 'appeared in Abyssinia only after the turn of the millennium'; p. 52, of the prayers to Christ in the Ethiopian Anaphora of Mary, 'there is as yet no sort of heretical avowal to be found', yet the Christology of the non-Chalcedonians, the view 'that makes the humanity of our Lord vanish in his divinity offers the most obvious explanation'. Jungmann uses an older name for these Churches, which this Index does not use
47. Magisterial / canonicalCatholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed., Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997, §1353; §§246–248. LinkVerified 2026-09-12 · §§460, 1105–1106, 1353, 1375, 1377 read on vatican.va; §1125 read on vatican.va; §1203 (ENG0015 __P3C) and §1367 (__P41) read on vatican.va 2026-09-15
48. Magisterial / canonicalHoly See Press Office, Rinuncia e nomina dell'Arcivescovo Metropolita di Addis Abeba (Etiopia), bulletin B0510 (12 June 2026), 2026. LinkVerified 2026-09-18 · read: the Pope accepted the resignation of Cardinal Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel, C.M., and named 'S.E. Abune Tesfaye (Tesfasilasie) Tadesse Gebresilasie, M.C.C.J., finora Vescovo Ausiliare della medesima Sede', Metropolitan Archbishop of Addis Ababa
49. ReferenceVatican News, Giubileo delle Chiese Orientali, in San Pietro la Divina Liturgia in Rito Etiopico (12 May 2025), 2025. LinkVerified 2026-09-18 · read: on Monday 12 May 2025 the Divine Liturgy 'in Rito Etiopico' in the Choir Chapel of St Peter's, offered 'a cura della Chiesa Etiopica e della Chiesa Eritrea', Cardinal Souraphiel presiding and Archbishop Menghesteab Tesfamariam of Asmara concelebrating; the two Churches 'appartengono alla tradizione alessandrina e hanno in comune la liturgia ghe'ez'
50. ReferenceVatican News, New Archbishop of Addis Ababa installed in sign of generational continuity (11 September 2026), 2026. LinkVerified 2026-09-18 · read: the installation 'was held on September 6, 2026, at the Nativity Catholic Cathedral in Addis Ababa', Cardinal Berhaneyesus presiding; a message from Pope Leo XIV presented; the nuncio, Archbishop Brian Udaigwe, preached
51. ReferenceDebre Medhanit Kidane Mhret Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church, London, Kidase. LinkVerified 2026-09-19 · a parish page read: the heading ቅዳሴ with 'Kidase' in Latin letters, and a list of fourteen anaphoras in Ge'ez, each headed ቅዳሴ, among them the Anaphora of the Apostles (ቅዳሴ ሃዋርያት) and of Mary (ቅዳሴ ማርያም). A parish site, not a synodal source; its English gloss of the word is not used
52. Primary textThomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae (English Dominican Fathers' translation, 2nd rev. ed., 1920, as reproduced on newadvent.org), III q. 78 a. 5. LinkVerified 2026-09-19 · III q. 78 a. 5 read: of the opinion that 'this' appeals to the intellect, 'from such a form it would not result that Christ's body was in very truth in this sacrament, but merely as in a sign, which is heretical'; 'And therefore expressly our Lord did not say: "This bread is My body," which would be the meaning of the second opinion', but 'This is My body', 'assigning no noun on the part of the subject, but only a pronoun'
53. Magisterial / canonicalCouncil of Florence (Eugene IV), “Cantate Domino: Bull of union with the Copts (session 11, 4 February 1442)”, Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, ed. Norman Tanner, 1990. LinkVerified 2026-09-19 · read in Tanner's translation: it condemns 'the impious second synod of Ephesus', in which 'Dioscorus, bishop of Alexandria, defender of the heresiarch Eutyches' led the synod, and accepts Chalcedon, where 'its defender Dioscorus' was condemned; it inserts 'the form of words which the holy Roman church… has always been wont to use in the consecration of the Lord's body and blood… For this is my body. And of his blood: For this is the chalice of my blood'. The Denzinger number was not checked
54. Magisterial / canonicalCouncil of Florence, “Decrees (Laetentur caeli, 1439; Exsultate Deo, 1439)”, Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, ed. Norman Tanner, 1990, DS 1321. LinkVerified 2026-09-12 · Exsultate Deo (DS 1321) and Laetentur caeli (DS 1303) read in Tanner's translation; DS numbers and Latin checked in Denzinger
55. Magisterial / canonicalCongregation for the Eastern Churches, Instruction for Applying the Liturgical Prescriptions of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1996, §39. LinkVerified 2026-09-12 · full text read; §§12, 39, 51, 59, 67, 104, 107, 108 checked