Distinguishing Doctrine, Canon, and Tradition in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church

I read your article and I would like to comment on a
specific issue – the Doctrine of the EOC what you
mentioned in your article. Often people confuse or
fail to make the distinction between the “Doctrine”
and the “Canon” of the EOC.

Well, according to Ethiopian Orthodox Tewaedo Church
teachings, the religious teachings of EOTC have two
parts: “Doctrine” and the “Canon”

In brief, the following is the basic Doctrine of
Ethiopian Orthodox Tewaedo Church or EOTC:

“We believe in one God, in the Lord the Father, who
holds the whole world, omnipotent, who created
everything visible and invisible in heaven and in
earth (Gen. 1, 20; Neh. 9. Rom. 1.20).

We believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, the one Son of
the Father, who was with Him before the Creation of
the world. Light begotten of Light, True God begotten
of True God, not created. He is equal with the Father.
There is nothing in heaven and earth which exists
without Him. Mt. 3,17, In 1. 1,4.

For us and for the salvation of men He came down from
heaven; by the operation of the Holy Spirit He put on
flesh of the holy Virgin Mary and became man. In the
time of Pontius Pilate He was crucified for us,
suffered and died and was buried, and on the third day
He was separated from the dead and rose, and with
glory He ascended to heaven and sat on the right hand
of His Father, and He shall come again in honour and
glory that He may judge the living and the dead, and
there is no finish, no end of His Kingdom. Mat. 1:
20,21; I Pet. 3. 18; Phil. 2. 6,8; Rom. 5. 8; Cor. 15.
3,4; 1 Pet. 3. 19,20.

And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord who saves,
He who proceeds from the Father; together with the
Father and the Son we worship Him, we honor Him, we
glorify Him. Jn. v. 3, 4; Jn. xv. 26.

And we believe in one Holy church, which is over all,
the assembly and congregation of the Apostles, Eph.
ii. 19, 20,22.

And we believe in one Baptism, that it was given for
the forgiveness of sin. Eph. 4. 3,6; Ps. 32. 1,2; Eph.
1. 6.

And believing in the resurrection of the dead, we hope
for everlasting life to come. Jn. 5. 285,29; 1 Cor.
15. 22,24; Jn. 10. 27, 28”

This Doctrine is the symbol of faith and related to
the Holy Bible. No one has any right to add to or take
from it.

The second part of religious teaching of EOC is the
Canon – It is the working guidelines or regulations of
the EOTC. The Canon is explained in the “kibre
negest”. The Canon can be changed or modified by the
Synodos of the EOTC. The Canon encompasses all other
things including what you mentioned on your article.

There is also another factor to this. That is
“culture” or “tradition”. People often confuse “Canon”
and “tradition”. Let me give you one clear example.
You said “….almost all the workdays of all months
are named after various angels and saints They
include: Saint Michael, Awone-Aregawi, Aba-Gabir,
Selassie, Mariam, Awone-Gerima, Tekle-Haimanot,
Medhani-Alem, Cherkos, Gebriel, Aba-Libanos,
Kidane-Mihret, , etc. etc”

Yes, that is true. On those days the EOTC remember
angels and saints. This is “Canon” but NOT a
“Doctrine” of EOTC. So, the Synodos of EOTC can modify
these Canons.

On the other hand Circumcised and observe Saturday as
the Sabbath etc are simply “tradition” of the
Ethiopian people. These traditions are NOT the part of
the Canon of the EOTC.

Why these are part of the traditions? Because Ethiopia
was the only follower of Old Testament next to Israel.
Before the birth of our savior Jesus Christ, Ethiopia
was following the teachings of the Old Testament.
After Christianity introduced in Ethiopia, the EOTC
never consider as doctrine or canon of the circumcised
or observe Saturday as the Sabbath. Those things are
turned into “tradition” in the Ethiopian society.
Those things become the “culture” of the Ethiopian
people because the society was following the Old
Testament for a number of generations, for a long
period of time before the introduction of Christianity
in the country. The teachings of the Old Testament
influenced the life style of the Ethiopian people and
as a result those things became the “tradition” or
“culture”.

Let me admit that there is some canon that should be
modified by the Synodos of EOC. I definitely agree
with that. I also agree with that there are “bad”
traditions that should be changed.

Let me go one step ahead and explain just one of the
Doctrines of the Protestantism since you put the
Doctrine of the Protestantism.

As I mentioned earlier, nobody has the right to change
or modify the Doctrine of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo
Church since it is puerly based on the Holy Bible.
Only “Philosophers” like Martin Luther or John Calvin
do need to alter their doctrine since their doctrine
is mixed up two different things,i.e. the outcome of
philosophy of this world and the Holy Bible. Hence,
they established their doctrine by altering the word
of God on the Holy Bible to fit it for their needs.

I have a number of findings on this issue but let me
put one example of their doctrine for this my
particular assertion. One of the Doctrines of
Protestantism is “Justification by faith only” or
“Justified by faith only”. If you see on the Holy
Bible (even in their “authorized scripture” – the King
James version), you will NEVER find a word “only”
associated with “Justified by faith”. However, you can
find the “Justified by faith” phrase in the Holy Bible
on three places Rom 3:28, Rom 5:1 and Gal 3:24.
Neither of them associated with “only”. To your
surprise, when Martin Luther translated from the
orignal language of the New Testament to German
language he intentionally added “only” or “allein” and
put as “allein durch den Glauben” means “Justified by
faith only” on Romans 3:28.

Well, the “Justified by faith only” doctrine is under
debate. To be frank, the real follower of Christ never
modify a word of God in the Bible. However, only
Lucifer alters or modify the word of God in order to
use for its own benefit.

To wrap up what I would like to say is that we have to
make a distinction between “Doctrine” and “Canon” of
EOC on one side and “tradition” of the Ethiopian
People on the other side.

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