Ewostatewos (, ''ʾEwosṭātewos'', or ዮስጣቴዎስ, ''Yosṭātewos'', a version of ''Eustathios''; 22 July 1273 – 23 September 1352) was an Ethiopian religious leader of the

Orthodox Tewahedo Orthodox Tewahedo refers to three Oriental Orthodox Christian Churches with shared beliefs, liturgy, and history. The Orthodox Tewahedo biblical canon is common to all churches, as is Orthodox Tewahedo music. * The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Ch ...

during the early period of the Solomonic dynasty of

Ethiopian Empire The Ethiopian Empire, historically known as Abyssinia or simply Ethiopia, was a sovereign state that encompassed the present-day territories of Ethiopia and Eritrea. It existed from the establishment of the Solomonic dynasty by Yekuno Amlak a ...

. He was a forceful advocate for the observation of the

Sabbath in Christianity Many Christians observe a weekly day set apart for rest and worship called a Sabbath in obedience to God's commandment to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Early Christians, at first mainly Jewish, observed the seventh-day (Saturday) S ...

. His followers, known as the House of Ewostatewos (individuals are known as Ewostathians), have been a historic force in Tewahedo Orthodoxy.

Early life

Ewostatewos was born on 15 July 1273 (Julian calendar), or 22 July 1273 (Gregorian calendar) or 21 Hamle 1265 as Māʿqāba ʾƎgziʾ () to Śǝna Ḥǝywat () and his father, Krǝstos Moʾa (). According to the 16th-century

hagiography A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian ...

of his pupil Ananya, Ewostatewos was born in the Tsiraʿ northeast of

Mekelle Mekelle (), or Mek'ele, is a List of zones of Ethiopia, special zone and capital city, capital of the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. Mekelle was formerly the capital of Enderta province, Enderta Awrajja, awraja in Tigray Province, Tigray. It is locate ...

, part of

Enderta Province Enderta or Inderta () is a former Provinces of Ethiopia, historical province of Ethiopia; it is located in the eastern edge of the Tigray Region, Tigray highlands. Enderta is bordered on the west by Tembien Province, Tembien, on the south and sout ...

(now in Enderta ''woreda'') near where he would later found the monastery of Debre Tserabi. Around 1280, while still young, he was sent to live with his uncle,

Abba ABBA ( ) were a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. They are one of the most popular and successful musical groups of all time, and are one of the List ...

Daniel (monastically known as ''Zekaryas''), the abbot of the mountain abbey of Debre Maryam Qorqor in Gar'alta, a district of Enderta Province. Daniel provided him with his earliest education and introducing him to monastic life. Māʿqāba ʾƎgziʾ announced his intention to become a monk at 15 and with his decision was renamed to Ewostatewos.

Career as a religious figure

After being ordained a monk by his uncle, Ewostatewos left the community and founded his own monastery in

Serae Seraye is the name of a former Provinces of Eritrea, province of Eritrea. It has since been incorporated primarily into the Debub Region, though some western districts have become part of the Gash-Barka Region. The province was located west of Akel ...

, in what is now

Eritrea Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...

. There he attracted a large number of students and explained his views until the arrival of Abuna Yaqob III (c. 1337), who was opposed to his views. Ewostatewos, accompanied by most of his disciples, including Bakamos Marqorewos and Gabra Iyasus. He first reached Sudan then

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

, where he met Pope Benjamin II of Alexandria and defended his views before the church leader. He then visited

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

and eventually traveled to

Cilician Armenia The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, also known as Cilician Armenia, Lesser Armenia, Little Armenia or New Armenia, and formerly known as the Armenian Principality of Cilicia, was an Armenians, Armenian state formed during the High Middle Ages b ...

, where he died on 23 September 1352 (Gregorian calendar), 15 September 1352 (Julian calendar), or 18 Meskerem 1345 in the Ethiopian calendar. The Ewostatewos view of the Sabbath was that it should be observed on both Saturday (the Lesser Sabbath) and Sunday (the Christian Sabbath): Saturday for the original Sabbath of the

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

and Sunday in honor of the resurrection of Christ in the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

. He found support for his views in the

Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (), or the Decalogue (from Latin , from Ancient Greek , ), are religious and ethical directives, structured as a covenant document, that, according to the Hebrew Bible, were given by YHWH to Moses. The text of the Ten ...

and the

Canons of the Apostles The Apostolic Canons, also called Apostolic canons (Latin: ''Canones apostolorum'', "Canons of the Apostles"), Ecclesiastical Canons of the Same Holy Apostles, or Canons of the Holy Apostles, is a 4th-century Syrian Christian text. It is an Anc ...

. This has been the historical practice of the Tewahedo Churches. Taddesse Tamrat cites evidence that suggests that the interpretation of Ewostatewos regarding the Sabbath was not his own innovation, but had been practiced in the

Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria The Coptic Orthodox Church (), also known as the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria, is an Oriental Orthodox Christian church based in Egypt. The head of the church and the See of Alexandria is the pope of Alexandria on the Holy Apo ...

before his time and only declared

heretical Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Christianity, Judai ...

in Egypt a few centuries before.

Influence on the Orthodox Tewahedo

After his death, his students and disciples continued to advocate Ewostatewos' religious views. When Ewostatewos left

, he had entrusted his community to his senior disciple,

Absadi Abba Absadi (died 1381) is a saint of the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Churches. He was a disciple of Ewostatewos, and his best-known disciple is Abba Filipos. He founded the monastery of Debre Mariam in 1374, which is located in mode ...

, who had a difficult time keeping the community together until the other disciples returned to

after a 14-year absence. Together they helped him establish a community at

Debre Mariam Debre Mariam is a monastery in Qohayn Eritrea, founded by Abba Absadi, a disciple of the monk Ewostatewos between 1340-1350. The monastery is located at the confluence of the Obel River, Obel and Gash Rivers. Since its founding the monastery acquir ...

. His followers later spread across northern

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

, founding new monasteries that not only promoted Ewostatewos' interpretation of the Sabbath but created a religious hierarchy that was independent of the Abuna. Their persistence eventually led to their success in 1450 at the Council of Debre Mitmaq in Tegulet, where Emperor

Zara Yaqob Zara Yaqob (; 1399 – 26 August 1468) was Emperor of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty who ruled under the regnal name Qostantinos I (; "Constantine"). He is known for the Geʽez literature that flourished during his reign, th ...

was able to convince the Egyptian leadership to acquiesce to this observance.

James Bruce James Bruce of Kinnaird (14 December 1730 – 27 April 1794) was a Scottish traveller and travel writer who physically confirmed the source of the Blue Nile. He spent more than a dozen years in North and East Africa and in 1770 became the fir ...

notes that the leader of this order, at the time of his visit to Ethiopia, was the abbot of Mahebar Selassie, in the northwestern corner of that country.James Bruce, ''Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile'' (1805 edition), vol. 5 p. 6

Early life

Career as a religious figure

Influence on the Orthodox Tewahedo

Notes

Further reading