Early in its history, Ethiopia was home to large numbers of Jews. Later, they were joined by many Jesus followers. Characterized by a diversity of beliefs, the nation developed to advanced levels of civilizations. Albert Collver writes:
Christianity has been in Ethiopia for nearly 2,000 years. It became the state religion in 330 A.D. when Archbishop Athanasius of Alexandria sent a bishop to Ethiopia, resulting in the birth of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, and it remains the predominant religion to this day.
The peaceful coexistence of these faith communities was threatened by Muslim armies, which attempted to impose Islam on the Ethiopians. The nation courageously resisted, with significant results: currently, approximately 34% of Ethiopia is Muslim.
That more than 50% of Ethiopia identify themselves as followers of Jesus is the result of a willingness by their ancestors to resist, often at the risk of their own lives, Islamic efforts at forced conversion.
The continued existence of a nearly 2,000-year-old community of Jesus followers in African is a reminder that the influence of Jesus was not primarily or initially targeted toward, or felt in, Europe. To the contrary, belief in Jesus was in Syria before it was in Greece, in Ethiopia before it was in Europe, in India before it was in England, and in China before it was in America.
The community of Jesus followers in Ethiopia began as an illegal and persecuted group. For the first three centuries of their existence, they were perpetually at risk of being arrested, beaten, tortured, jailed, or executed. They enjoyed perhaps somewhat less harassment, being on the fringe of Roman territory, than other groups of Jesus followers who were located deeper in Roman-held lands.
But their beginnings as an underground group gave them a strong sense of identity which allowed them, after three hundred years of legal permission to exist, the strength to sustain another wave of persecution when the Islamic armies attacked.
Up to the present time, both Jews and Jesus followers live peacefully together in Ethiopia, demonstrating mutual tolerance. But also up to the present time, both groups must be prepared to face period attacks.
