2.9 Ethiopia – Saint Yared

Lego is now one of the most recognizable toy brands in the world. Kids and adults around the world play with these plastic bricks, and the company is worth many billions of dollars. While today it is a secular company, it was not always this way. The story of Lego begins with one man who endured many trials, and in all of them trusted his Lord Jesus.

Today we wrap up our series on Ethiopia. We will go back in history 1500 years to the life of St. Yared of Ethiopia. Yared is one of the most influential Ethiopian saints within the Ethiopian Orthodox church, and all Ethiopian churches. He created much of the unique liturgy and music that still defines the church today. Lutherans have Bach, and Anglicans have Handel, but the Ethiopian church has Saint Yared.

Tsehay Tolessa was the wife and widow of Gudina Tumsa (Episode 2.7). She has an incredible story of faith and courage as she holds fast to Jesus in the face of torture and murder from the Communist regime. Today’s format is an interview with author Simonetta Carr. Simonetta has written many books about church history, especially for children, and hosts her own church history podcast: Kids talk Church History: https://kidstalkchurchhistory.podbean.com/ You can check out Simonetta’s other work here: https://simonettacarr.com/ In this episode we speak a lot about a book “The Life, Works, and Witness of Tsehay Tolessa and Gudina Tumsa, the Ethiopian Bonhoeffer”. If you want to know more about this incredible couple, you can get yourself a copy here: https://www.fortresspress.com/store/product/9781506418483/The-Life-Works-and-Witness-of-Tsehay-Tolessa-and-Gudina-Tumsa-the-Ethiopian-Bonhoeffer We recorded this interview in 2023. Sorry for the delay!

It’s has been awhile! Today we will look how Christmas became what it is. Was it just a rebranding of a pagan holiday? Or has it really always been about Jesus? While we won’t talk about just a single Faithful Forebearer, we will see how Christians have celebrated Christmas throughout the centuries. Be on the lookout for new Episodes in 2026!

As Ethiopia entered the 20th Century, there was trouble and hope. After a brutal invasion of the Italians just before World War 2, and after Italy’s defeat in the war, Ethiopia recovered and modernized. But in the late 1970s, a political stagnation led to Communist Revolution. It was then that one of Ethiopia’s great theologians took a stand. Gudina Tumsa, after a short but brilliant career as a church leader, would give his life as a witness of Jesus Christ. Learn how his life and death shaped the Ethiopian Lutheran Church, and gives inspiration to Christians everywhere.

Today the Lutheran Church in Ethiopia is the largest Lutheran Church body in the World.  That is thanks to the service of Onesimus Nesib, and many other faithful missionaries like him.  Onesimus was born in 1856 in a remote part of Ethiopia.  At 4 years old he was captured and enslaved.  He was then bought, sold, escaped and recaptured multiple times.  After being freed by a Swedish missionary, Onesimus would become a Christian at 16 years old.  For the rest of his life he would work to return to his home region of Ethiopia to bring the Gospel to his homeland.

After Ethiopia survived near destruction at the hands of Gragn, a different battle began. Instead of a military battle, it was a battle of ideas for Ethiopia’s identity. Catholic missionaries began to arrive in Ethiopia in the late 1500s. And while some, like a man Petro Paez, legitimately hoped to find unity between Roman Catholics and Ethiopian Orthodox, others simply wanted Ethiopia become European. Walatta Petros was a brave and sometimes impetuous Ethiopian nun who resisted these attempts and helped preserve Ethiopia’s heritage.

While Ethiopia had thrived under Zara Yaqob, it had dark days ahead. Ethiopia, always surrounded by hostile nations, would have to fight for its life as their neighbors grew stronger. Its very existence hung in the balance. But thanks to some new allies, and two kings who would spend their lives defending their nation and the church, Ethiopia, and the Ethiopian church, were saved from total annihilation.

Estifanos (1380-1454) is sometimes known as Africa’s first protestant, even though he lived 70 years before the Reformation. He believed that the Bible should be the measure of all else in the Church, and that salvation was already won fully by Jesus. His radical commitment to the authority of Scripture would cause a serious conflict with Zara Yaqob, the King of Ethiopia from last episode.

With Frumentius and Ezana, the Ethiopian church got off to a great start, but things did not stay that way. After 1,000 years, and centuries of setbacks, the nation and the church made a great comeback. It culminated in the reign of King Zara Yaqob in the mid 1400s. While his legacy is still felt in both the church and the nation, he is remembered both as a reformer and as a despot.