The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church in the Context of State Reformation

Abstract

Abstract There was a historical and political intimacy between the Ethiopian Tewahido Orthodox Church (EOTC) and the Ethiopian state until their relationship was profoundly modified after the 1974 Revolution and the secular rupture connected to that. This was followed by political reforms by successive governments, which have had a leveling effect on the religious field. The country's religious minorities—Muslims and Protestants—have been engaged in recognition politics progressively attaining rights on par with the EOTC. This rebalancing is perceived to have come at the expense of the EOTC—from the decoupling of the Ethiopian nation from Orthodoxy, a continuous decline in the number of members of the Church, to a feeling of being persecuted and the siege mentality connected to that. While responding to these external challenges, the EOTC has also experienced internal rifts that pose existential threats not only to maintain its historically constituted hegemony but also continue to exist as a united church. This contribution critically appraises the political journey of the EOTC in the long longue durée and with a relational lens, i.e., from its trajectory from being at the center of the Ethiopian state and an established religion, to the various external and internal challenges the Church has faced in the context of the process of state reformation and how it has sought to regain and maintain its hegemony, or at least negotiate its decline through the deployment of various strategies.