The following list contains calendar of saints observed by the Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church. It includes both annual feast days and calendar of saints by month.
The following list contains calendar of saints observed by the Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church. It includes both annual feast days and calendar of saints by month.
| Days per month (using the Ethiopian calendar) | Dedicated saint(s) [4] [ unreliable source? ] |
|---|---|
| 1st | Lideta (Birth of the Holy Virgin Mary) and Elias (Elijah) |
| 2nd | Thaddius |
| 3rd | Be'eta (Presentation of the Holy Virgin to the Temple of Jerusalem) |
| 4th | Yohannes Wolde Negedquad (John Son of Thunder) |
| 5th | Petros and Paulos (Peter and Paul) and Gebre Menfes Kiddus |
| 6th | Our Lady of Qusquam (Egypt) |
| 7th | Holy Trinity Day |
| 8th | Kiros (Cyrus) and Abba Banuda |
| 9th | Thomas (not the Apostle) |
| 10th | Kidus Meskel (Feast of the Holy Cross) |
| 11th | Hanna we Iyaqem (St Anne and St. Joachim, parents of the Holy Virgin Mary) and Fasilides |
| 12th | Michael the Archangel, Samuel, and Yared |
| 13th | Feast of Igziabher Ab (God the Father) and Raphael the Archangel |
| 14th | Abuna Aregawi and Gebre Kristos |
| 15th | Kirkos and his mother Iyeluta (Cyricus and Julitta) |
| 16th | Kidane Mihret (Our Lady Covenant of Mercy) |
| 17th | Estifanos (Stephen the Martyr) and Abba Gerima |
| 18th | Ewostatewos |
| 19th | Gabriel the Archangel |
| 20th | Hnstata |
| 21st | Holy Virgin Mary, Mother of God |
| 22nd | Deqsius |
| 23rd | Georgis (Saint George) |
| 24th | Abune Tekle Haymanot |
| 25th | Merkorios (Saint Mercurius) |
| 26th | Thomas the Apostle |
| 27th | Medhane Alem (Savior of the World) |
| 28th | Immanuel |
| 29th | Bale Wold (Feast of God the Son) |
| 30th | Markos (Mark the Evangelist) |
The Immaculate Conception is the belief that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Debated by medieval theologians, it was not defined as a dogma until 1854, by Pope Pius IX in the papal bull Ineffabilis Deus. While the Immaculate Conception asserts Mary's freedom from original sin, the Council of Trent, held between 1545 and 1563, had previously affirmed her freedom from personal sin.
Archangels are the second-lowest rank of angel in the Christian hierarchy of angels, put forward by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in the 5th or 6th century in his book De Coelesti Hierarchia. However, they are the highest rank to interact directly with humans, seraphim and the like remaining close to God.
The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does not mean "a large meal, typically a celebratory one", but instead "an annual religious celebration, a day dedicated to a particular saint".
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Christian churches in sub-Saharan Africa originating before European colonization of the continent, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church dates back to the Christianization of the Kingdom of Aksum in 330, and has between 36 million and 51 million adherents in Ethiopia. It is a founding member of the World Council of Churches. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is in communion with the other Oriental Orthodox churches.
The Ethiopian calendar, or Ge'ez calendar is the official state civil calendar of Ethiopia and serves as an unofficial customary cultural calendar in Eritrea, and among Ethiopians and Eritreans in the diaspora. It is also an ecclesiastical calendar for Ethiopian Christians and Eritrean Christians belonging to the Orthodox Tewahedo Churches, Eastern Catholic Churches, and Eastern Protestant Christian P'ent'ay Churches. The Ethiopian calendar is a solar calendar that has much in common with the Coptic calendar of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria and Coptic Catholic Church, but like the Julian calendar, it adds a leap day every four years without exception, and begins the year on 11 or 12th of September in the Gregorian calendar. A gap of seven to eight years between the Ethiopian and Gregorian calendars results from an alternative calculation in determining the date of the Annunciation.
The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception celebrates the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary on 8 December, nine months before the feast of the Nativity of Mary on 8 September. It is one of the most important Marian feasts in the liturgical calendar of the Latin Church.
The Feast of the Holy Cross, or Feast of the Cross, commemorates the cross used in the crucifixion of Jesus. In the Christian liturgical calendar, there are several different celebrations which honor and celebrate the cross used in the crucifixion. Unlike Good Friday, which is dedicated to the passion of Christ and the crucifixion, these feast days celebrate the Cross itself, as the sign of salvation. It is chiefly celebrated by Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Old Catholics, Lutherans and Anglicans, and to a lesser extent by Presbyterians, Methodists and Baptists. The most common day of commemoration is September 14th for Churches that use the Gregorian calendar and September 27th for Churches that use the Julian calendar, Ge'ez calendar, or Coptic calendar.
Synaxarion or Synexarion is the name given in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches to a compilation of hagiographies corresponding roughly to the martyrology of the Roman Church.
Meskel is an Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church holiday that commemorates the discovery of the True Cross by the Roman Empress Saint Helena of Constantinople in the fourth century. Meskel is celebrated by Oriental Orthodox members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, and to a lesser extent Roman Catholic members of the Ethiopian Catholic Church, the Eritrean Catholic Church, and among Protestant members of P'ent'ay - Ethiopian-Eritrean Evangelicalism. It is a localized version of the Feast of the Cross and occurs on the 17 Meskerem in the Ethiopian calendar. "Meskel" is Amharic for "cross".
Buhe is a feast day observed by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church on 19 August. On this date, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church celebrates the Transfiguration of Jesus on Mount Tabor.
In Christianity, the Nativity Fast—or Fast of the Prophets in Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church—is a period of abstinence and penance practiced by the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Church and Catholic Church in preparation for the Nativity of Jesus on December 25. Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Churches commence the season on November 24 and end the season on the day of Ethiopian Christmas, which falls on January 7. The corresponding Western season of preparation for Christmas, which also has been called the Nativity Fast and St. Martin's Lent, has taken the name of Advent. The Eastern fast runs for 40 days instead of four or six weeks and thematically focuses on proclamation and glorification of the Incarnation of God, whereas the Western Advent focuses on three comings of Jesus Christ: his birth, reception of his grace by the faithful, and his Second Coming or Parousia.
The Copts, who belong to the Coptic Orthodox Church, observe fasting periods according to the Coptic calendar. In Coptic Orthodox Christianity, fasting is defined as going without water and food from midnight to sunset; after that time, the consumption of water and one vegetarian meal is permitted. The fasting periods of Coptic Christians are exceeded by no other Christian denomination except the Orthodox Tewahedo. Out of the 365 days of the year, Copts often fast between 210 and 240 days. This means that Copts abstain from all animal products for up to two-thirds of each year. Coptic Orthodox fasts have evolved over time to become more lengthy and severe. A lifestyle involving such fasts may have contributed to the pacifist mindset of the Coptic people for centuries. Married couples refrain from sexual relations during Lent "to give themselves time for fasting and prayer".
Abuna Aregawi was a sixth-century Syrian monk and canonized by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, as well as by the Ethiopian Catholic Church, as well as the Eritrean Orthodox Church. He is one of the Nine Saints, who came from the Roman Empire to Ethiopia, and are credited for founding many monasteries and churches and was the main force behind installing monasticism in Ethiopia.
Fasika (Ge'ez: ፋሲካ, sometimes transcribed as Fasica; [ultimately from Aramaic פַּסְחָא ] is the Ge'ez, Amharic, and Tigrinya word for Easter, also called Tensae.
The Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church is one of the Oriental Orthodox Churches with its headquarters in Asmara, Eritrea. It was given autocephaly by Pope 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.
The Kidane Mehret Church in Jerusalem, popularly known simply as the Ethiopian Church, is part of the Debre Genet monastery, whose name means "Monastery of Paradise".
Fasting and abstinence have historically constituted a major element of the practice of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, following the counsel of Saint Paul to "chastise the body and bring it under subjection" per 1 Corinthians 9:27. It is generally agreed, and asserted by the Church itself, that the fasting regime of the Ethiopian Church is the strictest of any Church, with 180 mandatory fasting days for laypeople and up to 252 days for clergy and the particularly observant. The general list of fasts are laid out in the Fetha Negest.
On 20 January 2022, a group of Oromia police officers fired at Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo followers while the congregants transporting a tabot to Woybela Mariam Church during the feast day of Saint Michael in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, killing three people from direct gunshots, and injuring ten other people.
Orthodox Tewahedo music refers to sacred music of the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church. The music was long associated with Zema (chant), developed by the six century composer Yared. It is essential part of liturgical service in the Church and classified into fourteen anaphoras, with the normal use being the Twelve Apostles.