Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church
Oriental Orthodox church
Key facts
- Abbreviation
- EOTC
- Classification
- Oriental Orthodox
- Orientation
- Orthodox Tewahedo
- Scripture
- Orthodox Tewahedo Bible
- Theology
- Oriental Orthodox theology
- Polity
- Episcopal
- Primate
- Basilos
- Region
- Eritrea and Eritrean diaspora
- Language
- Geʽez , Tigrinya
- Headquarters
- Enda Mariam Cathedral , Asmara , Eritrea
- Founder
- The Apostle and Evangelist Mark in 42 AD Alexandria , Saint Frumentius in 328 AD Axum (according to the Eritrean Orthodox tradition), Abune Phillipos in 1993 AD Asmara (modern)
- Independence
- From the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in 1991
~14 min read
Article
The Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church (Tigrinya: ናይ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ኤርትራ, romanized: beta krstyan tawahdo ertra) is one of the Oriental Orthodox Churches with its headquarters in Asmara, Eritrea. It was given autocephaly by Shenouda III of Alexandria, pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church, after Eritrea gained its independence from Ethiopia in 1993. Thus, the Eritrean Church accords a primacy of honor to the Coptic Church.
Sources differ on the percentage of Christians in the Eritrean population, with most figures being close to one-half, although some sources report slightly more than 60%. Almost 90% of Eritrean Christians are followers of Oriental Orthodoxy. The rest of the population is almost entirely Muslim.