Christianity has a long and venerable history in Ethiopia.
The first community of Christians had just been established in Jerusalem, when,
according to Acts 8:26-40, the Apostle Philip was sent to witness to “a eunuch
of Great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians.” In the 4th Century,
Christianity was proclaimed the official faith of the Ethiopian Aksumite
Kingdom. It became the first nation in the world to use the image of the cross
on its coinage. Elements from Judaism were incorporated into Ethiopian religion
in the 13th century, when a new dynasty sought to legitimize its hold on power
by claiming lineage from the Hebrew King David through a son of King Solomon
and the Queen of Sheba, named Menelik, who was said to have brought the Ark of
the Covenant to Ethiopia. This fusion of Old and New Testament traditions,
mixed with elements of Egyptian Coptic, Byzantine, Armenian, Nubian, and
European sacred art, has produced a style of iconography unique in Christendom ■