5. THE ISSUE BETWEEN MONOPHYSITISM AND DYOPHYSITISM
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church considers itself to belong to the One, Holy, Universal and Apostolic Church founded by Jesus Christ. It is holy because its founder, Jesus Christ, is holy; it is catholic because the whole world is its province and because it is universal in time and place; it is apostolic because it was established on earth by the apostles of Christ. The Ethiopian Church belongs to the group of Orthodox Churches wrongly termed "Monophysite" but which prefer the epithet "Non-Chalcedonian". The other members of this family are the Coptic, Armenian, Syrian and Indian Churches. Together with the Roman Catholic Church and the Byzantine Orthodox Church they comprised the One Church for four centuries until the division arose on account of the Council of Chalcedon in 451 which insisted that Christ had the two natures of humanity and divinity. Dyophysites teach that, after the union, Christ retained the natures of divinity and humanity in His one Person in such a way that He ate food, slept, laughed, suffered, walked as man in the human nature, but healed the sick and resuscitated Lazarus as God in the divine nature. Thus He is one Person in two natures of humanity and divinity. The wrongly called Monophysites reject the allegation that they teach one Nature and one Person in Christ. The teaching of the Ethiopian Church may thus be summarized:
1. The Ethiopian Church rejects Eutyches, who is believed to have taught that in Christ the human Nature was absorbed by the divine Nature. Nestorius also is excluded.
2. Dioscorus, whom the Council of Chalcedon deposed, is accepted. But it should be remembered that the Council of 451 did not believe that Dioscorus was a heretic. Dioscorus did not deny the continuance of Godhead and manhood in the One Christ after their union and he agreed with the Council that the teaching which Eutyches was understood to hold was heretical.
3. The teaching of the Ethiopian Church is the faith of the Fathers expounded by the great theologians of the Alexandrine tradition, especially by St. Cyril and his illustrious theological followers. Accordingly the Ethiopian Church maintains that Christ is perfect God and perfect man, at once Unsubstantial with the Father and with us; the divinity and the humanity continuing in Him without mixture or separation, confusion or change. He is one and the same person both in his eternal pre-existence and also in the economy, in which he performs the redeeming work of God on behalf of man, from the indivisible state of union of Godhead and manhood.
4. The Church abides by the formula "The one Incarnate Nature of God the Word", on which St. Cyril of Alexandria increasingly insisted, a formula which was accepted as correct by the Council of Ephesus in 431 A.D. and which, after the Council of Chalcedon, the Chalcedonian side in the East itself admitted.
5. It is unfair for the Church to be nicknamed "monophysite" by the faithful who accept the Chalcedonian formula of "two Natures in the one Person of Jesus Christ", because the expression used by the non-Chalcedonian side was always muiphysis, and never monophysis (mia standing for a composite unity unlike mone standing for an elemental unity). Therefore these churches are best referred to as the nonChalcedonian Orthodox Churches.
6. "Tewahido" is the Ethiopian term (meaning "made one") which is the best expression conveying the faith of the Church, since it emphasizes the inseparable unity of the Godhead and manhood in the Person of Christ. The Church's official title is "The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Bete Christian"..
7. After the Union, Christ was no longer in two natures. The two natures became united into one nature without separation, without confusion and without change. Thus He was at the same time the perfect God and perfect man. This is the union of the natures in the Incarnation. After the union Christ is not two persons or two natures. but one Person, one incarnate Nature of God the Son, with one will, but being at once divine and human. If you separate the natures after the union and say that Christ is in two natures, you will be confronted with serious problems. You will have to admit, for instance, that Christ was crucified merely as a man and that therefore he did not redeem the world, for God alone is able to accomplish the world's redemption. In brief, it is held that Christ, in acting, acted as a united being, not separately as man or separately as God.
8. Proof that we believe in the continuance of divinity and humanity in the One Christ may be illustrated: a) In the Communion we receive the very body and blood of Jesus Christ. These belong to man, (humanity), and we know that Jesus Christ is God, Divinity. b) The present Liturgy can be used as a criterion of the Church. There it is openly expressed that there is divinity and humanity in Christ. c) The Chalcedonian formula was rejected because it was thought to destroy the one person of Christ and there was no clear distinction between "nature" and "person", person meant nature. d) We believe the Nicaean Creed in which the divinity and humanity of Christ are set forth, and in the Creed of the liturgy we declare our belief in the co-equality of Jesus Christ with God the Father, and belief in his having grown like men, yet without sin or evil, and in his having taken flesh from Mary. e ) The confession of Faith by the Emperor Claudius declares that Jesus Christ was perfect man and perfect God.
Monophysitism is rejected. It is a question of error in vocabulary, the concepts of Nature and Person not being clear and there being obscurity in philosophical terms such as physis, hypostasis, ausia, prosopon, atreptos, mia, mono etc. As to the two natures of Christ the Dyophysites and non-Chalcedonians are one, it is a matter of interpretation after the union of the two natures. Happily the Dyophysites are currently realizing the position.
Ethiopian Coptic Priest talks about Ethiopia's Seven Covenants
This is a partial Interview of an Ethiopian Priest and Historian, who was appointed by His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I as Elect and Governor of the Ethiopian Province of Zion in Axum, The Seat of the Arc of the Covenant. He was also a former administrator General of Ethiopian Orthodox Church and a Senator of Ethiopia's Parliament. His name is Nibru Ed Ermias.
[ These exerts was taken from a radio interview]
Happy to be here, here I am a servant of Ethiopia, The Kingdom of God, and in the service of this cause. (speaking) ... In the name of Jesus Christ who is the Conquering Lion of Judah, Eternal Priest and King of Zion and King of Kings of Ethiopia and the Universe, and in the name of the Virgin Mary who is Ethiopia stretching forth her hands to God, the Mother of Christ and our mother and queen of Zion and Ethiopia and the Universe ... Ethiopia stretch her hands to God, Sing unto God ... Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak about Ethiopia and her cherished cause ... The Arc of the Covenant is one of the Seven Covenants of Ethiopia ... According to the long and living Ethiopian Tradition which is confirmed by the scriptures in the Holy Bible, there are seven covenants that God made with humanity ever since Creation ... I say Ethiopian tradition because this heritage is preserved and transmitted not in written form but through the medium of the person of the Ethiopian ... of the seven covenants the first is signified by the matrimony of Adam and Eve, the second by the rainbow of Noah, the third by the bread and wine offering of Melchesidec, the fourth by the circumcision of Abraham, the fifth by the Arc of Moses, the sixth by the Throne of David, the seventh and the Last by the crucified body of Jesus Christ born of the Virgin Mary ...
These seven holy covenants constitute Ethiopia. In other words Ethiopia is these seven covenants, and these seven covenants are Ethiopia, the void of them or outside the context and realm of these seven covenants there is not Ethiopia or the Ethiopian, the existence of Ethiopia and the life of the Ethiopian are both based on these covenants ... The Ethiopians preserved this series of covenants from the beginning to the end, that is from the time of Adam to the Advent of Jesus Christ who became the perfect embodiment of this covenants the ultimate fulfillment of God prophecies ... in the person of the Ethiopian finally rejuvenated by the new covenant served God for the past seven millennia, that is from the time of Adam and Eve to the present as the divine depository of this covenants, as such and as any true Christian is meant to be the Ethiopian is the Bible incarnate the living testimony of God's covenants with man ...
God's work is a continuous true reality and everlasting process of living testimony manifesting His eternal medium that is a physical and spiritual body of His creation in His image which is called man, both the male and the female. It is for human not for God that history time or space exists, since God is Omni-present, for Him there is no past, present or future. Ethiopia as a Country and the Ethiopians as a nation existed and survived to this day for no other purpose but solely for the revelation, preservation and perpetuation of God's work, His truth revealed in the covenants that he made with Humanity, hence Ethiopia as it used to be remains the Kingdom of God on Earth and the Ethiopians as a covenantal people enjoy the citizenship of this Kingdom; however each generation of humanity from the time of creation to the present witnesses the conspiracies of Satan the evil power, the final anti-Christ regime that unceasingly attempts to destroy this Kingdom that God established on Earth for the sake and glory of mankind, ... the current situation that is going on in the world and Ethiopia clearly show these facts.
"The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church has Hebraic practices(circumcision, fasting, Sabbath observance, dietary laws, baptism, washing of feet, etc.) conducted in it, but lean more to Orthodox Christianity(a non Israelite faith) rather than the Hebrew Israelite customs. Most Hebrew Israelites(who came from northeast Africa during the babylonian and roman persecutions) in Ethiopia have embraced the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, while others still hold on to their Hebrew Faith. I show toleration towards, The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, even if I can't agree with some of their doctrine, or religious practices used in the EOTC. H.I.M. Haile Selassie I, an Israelite King, was also raised up in this Church as a member, but still held on to his Hebrew customs secretly, when he traveled to Jerusalem numerous times. This information here on the E.O.T.C., can be beneficial for ones if they're learning about the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church." (Bro. Rootka Zebulun's words)
