The "Fetha Nagast" and its Ecclesiology : Implications in Ethiopian Catholic Church today

In the field of comparative legal history, Ethiopia is still an unknown country. One of its treasures is the Fetha Nagast, a book of law which had a great influence in the history of Ethiopia and still has great consideration in the society, with its richness in Biblical and Christian principles. This book presents for the first time an ecclesiological and missiological reflection on the Fetha Nagast. The first part of the work is focused on the origin, structure and content of this book of law. In the second part, the author presents the ecclesiology of the Fetha Nagast and its implications and prospectives in Ethiopian Catholic Church. Other aspects studied are brotherhood ecclesiology, the role of the Holy Spirit in the past and present and the notion of Church in the Fetha Nagast, as well as the history of Christianity in Ethiopia. Dedication V Table of contents VII Presentation XIII Acknowledgements XVII Abbreviations XIX General introduction 1 1. The relevance of the topic 3 2. Source of study, methodology and limit 5 3. The originality of this work 6 4. Outline and sequence of the work 7 Part I - The “Fetha Nagast”: origin and structure Chapter one - The “Fetha Nagast” Introduction 13 1.1 The origin of “Fetha Nagast” 14 1.1.1 The different opinions on the origin of Fetha Nagast 14 1.1.2. According to Ethiopian tradition 16 1.2 Ethiopia in the medieval period 17 1.2.1 The State: the restoration of the Solomonic dynasty to power 18 1.2.1.1 The brief story of the Solomonic dynasty 18 1.2.1.2 The restoration to power of the Solomonic dynasty 19 1.2.2 The Church in the medieval period 22 1.2.3 The Church and the State in the medieval period 25 1.2.3.1 The Royal Church 25 1.2.3.2 Zar’a Ya’qob and the growth of religious nationalism 28 1.3 The purpose of “Fetha Nagast” 29 1.4 The sources and its abbreviations 31 1.4.1 The sources 31 1.4.2 The abbreviations 32 1.4.3 Analyzing the sources 34 1.4.3.1 Part one of Fetha Nagast 34 1.4.3.2 Part two of the Fetha Nagast 38 Conclusion 41 Chapter two - The structure and the content of “Fetha Nagast” Introduction 43 2.1 The structure of the Fetha Nagast 44 2.1.1 The structure of part one 45 2.1.2 The structure of part two 46 2.2 The general overview of the Fetha Nagast 46 2.2.1 Part one of the Fetha Nagast 47 2.2.2 Part two of the Fetha Nagast 48 2.3 Part one 51 2.3.1 The Church and the Word of God 51 2.3.2 Baptism, Holy Mass and Eucharist 52 2.3.3 Different ministry 53 2.3.3.1 The Patriarchs and Bishops 54 2.3.3.2 The Priests 58 2.3.3.3 Other ministries 58 2.3.3.4 The Monks and Nuns 60 2.3.4 The laypeople 61 2.4 Part two 63 2.4.1 Marriage 63 2.4.2 Judgment 64 2.4.3 The punishment for fornication 67 Conclusion 69 Part II - The Ecclesiology of “Fetha Nagast” and the Vatican II: its implications and prospects in Ethiopian Catholic Church Chapter three - The Ecclesiology of the “Fetha Nagast” Introduction 73 3.1 The notion of “Church” 74 3.1.1 Different notions of ‘Church’ in the Fetha Nagast 74 3.1.2 (BetteChristian) (The Church) 77 3.1.3 Who is the Church? 79 3.2 The foundation of the Church 83 3.2.1 The Holy Trinity 84 3.2.2 The Word of God 86 3.2.3 Baptism and Eucharist 87 3.3 The model of the Church in the Fetha Nagast 92 3.3.1 The Pyramidal or the communal model? 95 3.3.2 The brotherhood ecclesiology 104 3.4 The mission of the Church 108 3.4.1 The nature and the foundation of mission 109 3.4.2 The mission in the Fetha Nagast 114 3.4.2.1 The mercy of God in the Fetha Nagast 117 3.4.2.2 The Christians are witnesesses of the Mercy of God 119 3.4.3 Dives in misericordia 120 Conclusion 122 Chapter four - Assessment of the Ecclesiological elements of Vatican II with “FethaNagast” and today in Ethiopian Cathol ic Church Introduction 125 4.1 Some Ecclesiological elements of Vatican II 128 4.1.1 The Mystery of the Church 129 4.1.1.1 God the Father 131 4.1.1.2 The Son Jesus Christ 131 4.1.1.3 The Holy Spirit 132 4.1.2 Metaphors of Church 132 4.1.2.1 The Church as the People of God 133 4.1.2.1.1 Scriptural foundation 134 4.1.2.1.2 In the Vatican II 138 4.1.2.2 Mystical Body of Christ 140 4.1.2.2.1 Scriptural foundation 141 4.1.2.2.2 In the Vatican II documents 143 4.1.2.3 The Church as temple of the Holy Spirit 146 4.1.3 The Church as Communion 147 4.1.4 The Church as Sacrament 151 4.2 “Fetha Nagast” and Vatican II 154 4.3 “Fetha Nagast” in Ethiopian peoples’ view and in Ethiopian Catholic Church documents 157 4.3.1 General overview 157 4.3.2 The questionnaire 159 4.3.2.1 Explanation of the question 159 4.3.2.2 Analyzing the answers 160 4.3.2.2.1 Ethiopian Catholics 161 4.3.2.2.2 Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo 164 4.3.2.2.3 Ethiopian Protestants 166 4.3.2.2.4 Ethiopian Muslims 167 4.3.2.2.5 General overview of all the answers 168 4.3.3 Analyzing the Ethiopian Bishops`documents 171 4.3.3.1 ‘Thy Kingdom Come' 172 4.3.3.2 The Church we want to be 174 4.3.3.2.1 Part one of the Church we want to be 175 4.3.3.2.2 Part two of the Church we want to be 176 4.3.3.2.3 Part three of the Church we want to be 177 4.3.3.3 Personal evaluation 178 Conclusion 181 Chapter five - The Ecclesiological/Missiological implications based on the root of the past and the present towards the future of Ethiopian Catholic Church Introduction 183 5.1 Historical overview of Christianity in Ethiopia 185 5.1.1 Early Christianity in Ethiopia 186 5.1.1.1 The Eunuch 186 5.1.1.2 Abuna Salama Frumentius 187 5.1.1.3 The Nine Saints 190 5.1.2 Ethiopia’s Dark Age: 640-1270 191 5.1.3 The relationship between the Ethiopian and the Roman Catholic Church 194 5.2 The role of the Holy Spirit yesterday, today and tomorrow 202 5.2.1 The Holy Spirit makes the Church one 205 5.2.2 The Holy Spirit is the principle of the Church’s holiness 208 5.2.3 The Holy Spirit is the Principle of Catholicity 211 5.2.4 The Holy Spirit keeps the Church apostolic 212 5.2.5 Evaluation 213 5.3 The dialogical prospective 216 5.4 Towards an Ethiopian brotherhood Ecclesiology; implication for the mission 220 5.4.1 Ecclesiological propos: Brotherhood Ecclesiology 221 5.4.2 The mission of the Catholic Church in Ethiopia 225 5.4.2.1 The motivation of mission 226 5.4.2.2 The local Church is a fertile basis of Mission 229 5.5 The challenges 230 Conclusion 233 General conclusion 235 Bibliography 241 I Sources 241 1 Sacred Scripture 241 2 Fetha Nagast and old documents 241 3 The Vatican II ecumenical Council documents 242 4 Papal documents 243 5 Documents of Episcopal conference and Bishops talks 243 II Books, dictionaries, encyclopedia and articles 244