The one Godhead is shared equally and eternally by the three Persons – Akal as they are referred to in Ethiopia. The unity of God is confessed as the unity of Godhead – Melekote as the word is used in Ethiopia. He is, affirms the Anaphora, “three names and one God, three prosopa and one appearance, three persons and one essence”.
The unity of God is nor convinced in the sense of an arithmetical digit nor of a solitary condition, but in that of an all-inclusive perfection. God is not a passive perfection or an abstract ideal, but a dynamic reality who is ever active in bringing all that exists to the final destiny which He has for each of them as well as for the whole created realm. Individuals as well as the entire historical process are ultimately under His control. Perfect in Himself, He continually imparts perfection to His creatures.
Yet “all were created through His grace, and all live through His kindness”. Having made them all, He continues to sustain them. Infinite art Thou, but for all things Thou didst set bounds.” John, “but Thou bringest all things to their end. “Thou hast no beginning,” says in prayer the Ethiopian priest who celebrates the Anaphora of St. Beyond time, space and all limitations, He abides without a beginning and without an end. What is attempted here is, only to give a brief introduction to the faith of the Church of Ethiopia. In a word, then in the church of Ethiopia is a community which has inherited and which holds to the historic Christian faith as it has been handed down through the centuries. It continues as a living reality in the church in its life of worship, preaching and discipline. It has been expounded by the fathers of the Church both in the ancient councils and in their teaching. This faith, the churches believes, is derived from the apostolic heritage and borne witness to in the New Testament against the background of the Old Testament. A member of the Oriental Orthodox family of Churches, the Church of Ethiopia shares with them in essence a common faith.
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