MEKELLE UNIVERSITY

BUSSINESS AND SOCIAL

COLLEGE
Department of

HISTROY AND Cultural Management

HISTROY OF

MAHBERE KIDUSAN

(Summer Program Post Graduate Student)

Submission Date :- 20/08/2010

Prepared by Submitted to

Tariku Damtew Belay Dr. Haile

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The History of Church Associations of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church in
the 21st century: their contributions and challenges. The case of Mahibere Kidusan.

1. Introduction
Background

It is widely attested that Christianity was introduced to Ethiopia in the middle of the 4 th Century, with
the conversion of the court of King Ezana of Aksum. The architect of the official conversion was
Frumenty’s, who was consecrated the first Bishop of Ethiopia by the Coptic patriarch of Alexandria.
But church tradition claim that Christianity was indeed introduced to Ethiopia in the 1 st century A.D.
Whatever the case, it is known that Christianity was privileged and enjoyed favors at least in the royal
court until nearly four decades ago. The coming of the nine monks to Aksum in the 6 th century, indeed,
marked its expansion among the mass. These monks were engaged in educating Christian principles to
the ordinary subjects, built churches and monasteries, and translated books into the local language,
Geez. Through the ages, a strong tradition of Christianity evolved and it has supplied moral and
spiritual grounds to the roots of the cultural values and practices in the country.

Ethiopian Christianity has been reconstructed, discussed about and dealt, exhaustively, by historians
and other social scientists. Coming to the recent developments pertinent to the political, social and
cultural transformations ridden the country and the ultimate impacts in the country the scholarly
concerns remain insignificant. This fact inspired me to examine how the church got along with socio-
political transformation observed in the country.

Throughout its history, the church has experienced reforms and changes. The most prominent
fundamentalist reformists were the Estefinites of the 15 th century. The church has also survived the
factional splits of the 18th and 19th centuries, thanks to the council of Borumeda.(1978) Unlike these
hard lined attempts of reforms that put the church in to risks of disintegration, several prominent monks
and clergymen have contributed to the maintenance of the church through the centuries by introducing
changes and helping the church defend its original teachings and doctrinal creed.

Importance of similar association (elite) for Presenting Traditions their challenges globally etc…The
worshipers laity has developed a long tradition of forming associations at local parishes under their
favorite saints or divine power, which they usually enjoy a lifelong commitment of sharing food and

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local drinks on the day devoted for their favorite saints every month. Such associations also served the
basis of helping each other and sharing moments of joy and difficulties.

So much dynamics going around the fast changing world, the church of the first millennia is put up to
deal with the realities of the third millennia. Therefore it has to prepare itself to the challenges of the
21st century. An organized group of young clergy men are the best candidates to offer assistance to help
the church maintain the status quo in this swiftly moving era. The response was named Mahibere
Kidusan (The communion of saints). The movement to establish the Association is associated with the
attempts to capture the teachings of the Church by students of higher learning institutions. It was
founded in 1990/91 and is nearly three decades old. It was placed under structure stsynod the Sunday
school department of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. It has sub-centers that offer religious service in
the dioceses in the country and also operates abroad among the Diaspora.

As it can be observed from the objectives of the Association, it gives due emphasis to the students of
higher institution and more generally to the educated laity. Furthermore, it also envisions engaging in
evangelical activities using latest technologies (publications and audio-visual products). This induces us
to raise two basic concerns which could probably have triggered the adoption of such goals. The link
between the emphasis on higher learning institutions and rapid expansion of higher learning institutions
in the country surely is a source of interest. Second, the relation of the adoption of evangelical
engagement might have to do with the rapid expansion of Protestantism in winning converts from
Orthodox, may perhaps induced the Church to respond and maintain its numerical superiority in the
country. This research will attempt to light on such assumptions. In Ethiopia these are similar
Membership applicants’ mainly focused in organs in country trops to visit monasteries, churches , and
similary holy place of the EoTC.

1.2Objectives

General Objective

This research is aimed at investigating the history of church associations in the Ethiopian Orthodox
church, taking the case of Mahibere Kidusan, their contributions, challenges and opportunities.

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Specific Objective

- Examine the Perception of Followers (Members )

- Make historical account of the foundation and development of the Mahibere Kidusan
Association.
- Find out the contributions the Association made and
- Assess perspectives and the challenges the association encountered.

1.3 Significance of the Study

The study is believed to contribute in so many ways. First, since the issues of recent church
associations have not been dealt, the research will fill the gap in the literature. Second, it will serve as a
stepping stone for future researchers interested in the field by providing preliminary assessments of the
historical development of church associations.

1.4 Scope of the Study

Thematically, the study is delimited only to consider historical development of the Mahibere Kidusan
Association. It will focus on the assessment of such issues as: the establishment; the objectives;
contributions; challenges; and the institutional setup of the association. For the sake of time and
resource constraints emphasis is made to cover the Association’s operation in Addis Ababa center

2. Methodology
2.1 Research Design

This study is a historical investigation that will be based on the analysis and interpretation of both the
available primary and secondary sources on the various historical developments of the association. The
historical developments will be designed both on thematic and chronology approaches.

2.2 Study Participants

This research is a historical investigation of the establishment, the contributions, challenges, and the
institutional setup of Mahibere Kidusan Association. Hence, key and knowledgeable informants for
their knowledge of various aspects of the history of the Association will be taken in to account and will
be selected for interview. Inclusion criteria of informants will be considered based on different age
groups of the laity, the clergy of different rank, gender and socioeconomic backgrounds as conveniently
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as possible. Identification and selection of informants will be purposively by using snowball method.
Conveniently for the quality of historical data iteration informants and saturation of information will be
decided by the researcher. Yet, I will try to interview nearly 50 informants that will fit to the above
criteria. Then, informants with unreliable data will be excluded from the list.

2.3 Data Collection Methods

The research will use available primary sources such as archival materials, unpublished works as well
as oral sources. Archives will consist of the main sources of this historical study. Unpublished materials
such as senior essays, thesis, and other documentary materials will also be utilized. Published materials
will also be consulted to cross check the validity of the information acquired by other tools. These
sources include different written information in books, journals, periodicals and articles, written by
different social scientists and others who have been directly or indirectly studied different themes
relevant to the past of Mahibere Kidusan.

To control the quality of information, open and flexible interview questions will be structured on the
bases of knowledge and interest of informants. Validity of oral information will be tested by raising
questions on informants wherever and whenever necessary to substantiate cases.

Focus group discussions of well organized and renowned informants of five to eight in number will be
arranged after private interviews. This would help to substantiate ambiguous points. There will be
about three FGD for this study.

2.4 Data Analysis

Soon after all the materials are mobilized they will be scrutinized and transcribed under categories. The
materials will then be repeatedly examined in order to acquire the precise messages and information,
contained by them. Finally, with great care correlations of the primary and secondary sources will be
made. In the end attempts will be made to produce a material thematically and chronologically.