Introduction

The Kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the Kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all Kings shall fall down before Him: all nations shall serve Him.

Psalm 72:9-10

Indeed, let all nations glorify their Lord and celebrate His glorious birth from St.Mary, the Holy Virgin! From India to Russia to Ireland to Mexico, all the peoples of the world have unique and interesting traditions by which they celebrate the birth of Christ in the present day. Anyone who wants to experience the most authentic and indigenous African tradition of the birth of Christ should look to the church of Ethiopia, or an Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church anywhere in the diaspora.

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Topic: Why the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church celebrates the Nativity of Jesus Christ on January 7th instead of December 25th as the Western World does.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church practices Judeo-Christianity, therefore during the days that  lead up to the birth of Jesus Christ the majority of the Orthodox Christians are fasting for 43 days in preparation to celebrate the Nativity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ known as Lidet (Christmas) on January 7th.

The Ethiopians share this (Christmas) blessed day with many other traditional eastern countries such as Georgia, Egypt, Russia, Macedonia, and more.

Ethiopia’s  Image and Legacy of the three wise men. Ethiopia hath stretched forth Her hands unto God.

The gospel of St. Matt:2:1-2  states “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”  These wise men who the scriptures identifies as ‘from the east’, has puzzled the western traditions who for centuries have tried to place them as coming from India or Persia, however, upon closer examination of the history both in the Bible and Holy Tradition shows that outside of Israel the only nation that knew and worshipped the One True God was Ethiopia- “‘Are you not like the children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel?’, says the Lord” (Amos 9:7). This was Prophesied seven hundred years before the birth of our Christ.

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Taken from “Ethiopia and the Missing link in African history” by Rev.Sterling.M. Means states that all nations of the ancient east looked for a second Adam. They expected Him to come from Ethiopia or of Ethiopian lineage. King David in the book of Psalms:87:4 says “ I will make mention of Rehab and Babylon to them that know me; behold Philistia and Tyre with Ethiopia this man was born there”.

This great history begins two millennia before Christ’s birth with the Ethiopian Emperor  Ayshur I who saw a vision in the heavens, the same vision seen by the astronomer Zeredeshet on the shore of Lake Tana. In this vision they saw a Virgin with Child and a comet with seven colours in its long tail. The king, understanding what this vision meant, left gifts of tribute for his descendants to present to this Child when the prophecy would be fulfilled, and 2000 years later, the star appeared again. Rather than an astronomical event, this star was in fact a divine revelation, seen only by people chosen by God, the aforementioned ‘children of the Ethiopians’.

By this time Ayshur’s empire had separated into 3 smaller kingdoms with their capitals in modern day Eritrea, Egypt and Yemen. Thirteen days into their respective reigns, these three kings, whom the Ethiopian tradition calls Matusima, Edidasfa and Melkor, saw “His star in the east” (Matthew 2:2) and set off with two nobles, their armies and caravans. Other nations call them by other names: in Egypt- Melkior, Kaspar and Baskar, in Syria Narbanda, Goshinasha and Hormindas, in Armenia Karba, Baradakarida and Bandairma; in Hebrew Galgalat, Malgalat and Sarekin;

It is unknown what path each king took on their way to their rendezvous, but the journey to Jerusalem took two years- which is why Herod massacred the male children under two years of age as documented in the Holy Scriptures.  When the Kings camped outside the city, Jerusalem feared an invasion, and when they inquired of Herod about the ‘king of the Jews’, he only feared more, as stated  “When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him”. (Matt:2:3).

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Eventually, they found the dwelling of our Lord and Saviour and the Holy Family.

There they offered Him “incense as He was God, gold as He was King, and myrrh to signify His death which gave life unto men”.(Theotokion of St Ephraim the Syrian).

After their visit they were guided by the Archangel Gabriel back to their countries, and eventually these Kings abdicated their thrones to live an ascetic life to serve the Lord in the desert.

The post Why the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church celebrates the Nativity of Jesus Christ on Jan. 7 instead of Dec. 25 as the Western World does — Pt. 1 appeared first on Antigua Breaking News.