Frumentius

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Frumentius

Saint Frumentius (Ge'ez

Ge'ez language

Ge'ez is an ancient South Semitic language that developed in the current region of Eritrea and northern Ethiopia in the Horn of Africa. It later became the official language of the Kingdom of Aksum and Ethiopian imperial court....
?????? fremna?os) (died ca. 383) was the first Bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordination or consecration member of the Clergy#Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight....
of Axum

Axum

Axum, or Aksum, is a city in northern Ethiopia named after the Kingdom of Aksum, a naval and trading power that ruled from the region ca....
, and he is credited with bringing Christianity

Christianity

Christianity is a Monotheistic religion #Christian view religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus as New Testament view on Jesus' life....
to Aksumite Kingdom. He was a Syro-Phoenician Greek born in Tyre.

According to the 4th century historian Rufinus

Tyrannius Rufinus

Tyrannius Rufinus or Rufinus of Aquileia was a monk, List of historians, and Theology. He is most known as a Translation of Greek language Church Fathers material into Latin—especially the work of Origen....
(x.9), who cites Frumentius' brother Edesius as his authority, as children (ca. 316) Frumentius and Edesius accompanied their uncle Metropius on a voyage to Ethiopia.

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Saint Frumentius (Ge'ez

Ge'ez language

Bishop

A bishop is an ordination or consecration member of the Clergy#Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight....
of Axum

Axum

Axum, or Aksum, is a city in northern Ethiopia named after the Kingdom of Aksum, a naval and trading power that ruled from the region ca....
, and he is credited with bringing Christianity

Christianity

Tyrannius Rufinus

Red Sea

The Red Sea is a salt water inlet of the Indian Ocean between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb sound and the Gulf of Aden....
, people of the neighborhood massacred the whole crew, with the exception of the two boys, who were taken as slaves to the King of Axum. The two boys soon gained the favour of the king, who raised them to positions of trust, and shortly before his death, gave them their liberty. The widowed queen, however, prevailed upon them to remain at the court and assist her in the education of the young heir, Ezana

Ezana of Axum

Ezana of Axum , was ruler of the Axumite Kingdom located in present-day in Tigray, northern Ethiopia, Eritrea, Yemen, southern Saudi Arabia, northern Somalia, Djibouti, northern Sudan, and southern Egypt; he himself employed the style "king of Sabaeans and Salhen, Himyar and Dhu-Raydan."....
, and in the administration of the kingdom during the prince's minority. They remained and (especially Frumentius) used their influence to spread Christianity. First they encouraged the Christian merchant

Merchant

Merchants function as professionals who deal with trade, dealing in commodities that they do not produce themselves, in order to produce profit....
s present in the country to practise their faith openly; later they also converted some of the natives.

When Ezana came of age, Edesius returned to Tyre, where he stayed and was ordained a priest. Frumentius, on the other hand, eager for the conversion of Ethiopia, accompanied Edesius as far as Alexandria

Alexandria

Alexandria , with a population of 4.1 million, is the second-largest city in Egypt, and is the country's largest seaport, serving about 80% of Egypt's imports and exports....
, where he requested Athanasius

Athanasius of Alexandria

Athanasius of Alexandria , also known as St Athanasius the Great, Pope Athanasius I of Alexandria, and St Athanasius the Apostolic, was a theologian, Bishop of Alexandria, Church Father, and a noted Egyptian leader of the fourth century....
, Patriarch of Alexandria

Patriarch of Alexandria

The Patriarch of Alexandria is the Archbishop of Alexandria and Cairo, Egypt. Historically, this office has included the designation of Pope , and did so earlier than that of the Bishop of Rome....
, to send a bishop and some priests to Ethiopia. By Athanasius' own account (Athanasius, Epistola ad Constantinum), he believed Frumentius the most suitable person for the job and consecrated him as bishop, traditionally in the year 328, or according to others, between 340-346. Frumentius returned to Ethiopia, erected his episcopal see

Episcopal See

An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral....
at Axum, baptized King Ezana, who had meanwhile succeeded to the throne, built many churches, and spread Christianity throughout Ethiopia. The people called Frumentius Kesate Birhan (Revealer of Light) and Abba Salama (Father of Peace), and he became the first Abune — a title given to the head of the Ethiopian Church

Tewahedo Church

Tewahedo Church may refer to any of the following:* The Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church* The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church...
.

A letter exists from the Emperor Constantius II

Constantius II

Flavius Iulius Constantius, known in English as Constantius II was a Roman Emperor of the Constantinian dynasty....
to King Ezana

Ezana of Axum

Ezana of Axum , was ruler of the Axumite Kingdom located in present-day in Tigray, northern Ethiopia, Eritrea, Yemen, southern Saudi Arabia, northern Somalia, Djibouti, northern Sudan, and southern Egypt; he himself employed the style "king of Sabaeans and Salhen, Himyar and Dhu-Raydan."....
and his brother Saizanas, in which he vainly requested them to substitute the Arian

Arianism

Arianism is the theological teaching of Arius , a Christian priest, who was first ruled a heresy at the First Council of Nicea, later exonerated and then pronounced a heretic again after his death....
bishop Theophilus

Theophilus

Various people have been known by the name Theophilus or Theophilos, which means "Friend of God" in Greek , and is thus similar to the Latin word Amadeus ....
for Frumentius.

The 2004 edition of the "Roman Martyrology
Roman Martyrology

The Roman Martyrology is the official Martyrology of the Roman Rite of the Roman Catholic Church. It provides an extensive but not exhaustive list of the saints recognized by the Church....
" succintly states, "In Aethiopia, sancti Frumentii, episcopi, qui, primum ibi captivus, deinde, episcopus a sancto Athanasio ordinatus, Evangelium in ea regione propagavit [In Ethiopia, (the feast) of Saint Frumentius, bishop, who first was a captive there, and then, as a bishop ordained by Saint Athanasius, he spread the Gospel in that region]."

The Coptic Orthodox Church celebrates the feast of Frumentius on December 18, the Eastern Orthodox

Eastern Orthodox Church

The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian communion in the world with an estimated 225 million members worldwide. It is considered by its adherents to be the Four Marks of the Church established by Jesus Christ and his Apostles nearly 2000 years ago....
on November 30, and the Roman Catholic on October 27. Saint Frumentius is, however, venerated on August 1 in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church

Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is an Oriental Orthodoxy church in Ethiopia that was part of the Coptic Christianity until 1959, when it was granted its own Patriarch by List of Coptic Popes, Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria....
. Ethiopian tradition also credits him with the first Ge'ez translation of the New Testament.

Frumentius

See also