Ethiopia from the beginning has one of the oldest versions of the scriptures with 84 books including the Apocrypha and first and second Maccabees. Unlike the western churches with only 56 books of the Bible.
In Ethiopia, Christmas is the most enthusiastically celebrated holiday among Christians. It is a manifestation of the true life unto the world. Christmas for the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is the incarnation of Jesus (Eyesus) which is characterised by the mystery of redeeming purpose. To fulfil this purpose the wonderful child, Christ (Kristos), was born in Bethlehem. (Isaiah 9:6; John 3:16).
WE HAVE just witnessed a celebration of Christmas on December 25, by the western world. Tomorrow, Ethiopia along with the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox, the Syrian Jacobite Orthodox, the Indian Malabar Orthodox and the Armenian Orthodox Church will celebrate the same nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ. These churches are known as Oriental Orthodox because they are expert in Eastern languages and dogma. They have been united as one from the first Ecumenical council held in Nicea 325 A.D. It was at Nicea that they adopted the Nicene Creed and confirmed their belief in the One Nature of our Saviour Jesus Christ.
According to the tradition of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, whose calendar differs from the rest of the world, the difference between the east and the west as to the birth of Christ is due to the calculations of the two calendars which run the world. The western world uses the Gregorian calendar which was formulated by the Pope Gregory in the Fifth Century A.D. This break away from the original calendar which came soon after Rome gained full control over Constantinople, later called New Rome.
The Pope formulated one calendar that runs the whole Western world under his judicial and ecclesiastic control. From the Fifth Century Christmas, for the first time, was being celebrated on December 2. It was already celebrated as a Pagan holiday (Nimrod's birthday); before it had been celebrated on December 29. Pope Gregory's decision seems to have precipitated from the split in the Church at the fourth Ecumenical council in 451 A.D. held at Chalcedon, where Pope Leo and his followers were condemned by St. Dioscorus, the representative of the Oriental Orthodox Church.
The Ethiopian calendar is based on the Julian calendar, which is seven years behind the European or Gregorian calendar. In Ethiopia it is 1994 while in Jamaica it is 2002. In Ethiopia the New Year starts on the 1st day of Meskeram, Ethiopian month, which is September 11 in Jamaica. The year is divided into 12 equal months, each month consisting of 30 days. There are five, six on a leap year, extra days which are placed at the end of the year. These extra days are regarded as a short month called Pagumen. For this reason Ethiopia is called the Thirteen Months of Sunshine -- country having 365 days in its year or 366 on a leap year.
The day is reckoned as beginning at dawn and not at midnight, as is the case in western countries. One o'clock by the Ethiopian reckoning is seven o'clock by the west. Midday is 6 o'clock and four in the after noon is 10 o'clock.
The years begin from creation to the present time, not from the fifth century as in the case of the Gregorian calendar and are divided into two eras (BC and AD). The years before Christ are called Amete Alem or Amete Kunene (era of the worlds or years of condemnation, because there was no salvation in them), the years after Christ are called Amete Mehret (the years of mercy). This is to say that we are saved through Christ.
