The Oriental Orthodox Churches adhere to a miaphysite Christological view followed by Cyril of Alexandria, the leading protagonist in the Christological debates of the 4th and 5th centuries, who advocated "mia physis tou Theo logou sesarkōmenē", or "one (mia) nature of the Word of God incarnate" (μία φύσις τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου σεσαρκωμένη) and a hypostatic union (ἕνωσις καθ' ὑπόστασιν, henōsis kath hypostasis).

[11] Around 500 bishops within the patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem refused to accept the dyophysitism (two natures) doctrine decreed by the Council of Chalcedon in 451, an incident that resulted in the second major split in the main body of the Catholic-Orthodox Church in the Roman Empire.

The Oriental Orthodox Churches are known as "non-Chalcedonian", and, sometimes by outsiders as "monophysite" (meaning "One Single Nature", in allusion to Jesus Christ).

[15] Paintings depicting these missions can be seen in the Church of St. Matthew found in the Province of Pisa, in northern Italy portrayed by Francesco Trevisan (1650–1740) and Marco Benefial (1688–1764).

[15] Early Christianity became the established church of the Ethiopian Axumite Kingdom under king Ezana in the 4th century when priesthood and the sacraments were brought for the first time through a Syrian Greek named Frumentius, known by the local population in Ethiopia as "Selama, Kesaté Birhan" ("Father of Peace, Revealer of Light").

In 2016, archaeologists excavated a 4th-century AD basilica (radio-carbon dated) in northeastern Ethiopia at a site called Beta Samati.

Abu Saleh records in the 12th century that the patriarch always sent letters twice a year to the kings of Abyssinia (Ethiopia) and Nubia, until Al Hakim stopped the practice.

Cyril, 67th patriarch, sent Severus as bishop, with orders to put down polygamy and to enforce the observance of canonical consecration for all churches.

[21] In 1439, in the reign of Zara Yaqob, a religious discussion between Giyorgis and a French visitor led to the dispatch of an embassy from Ethiopia to the Vatican.

The initiative in Roman Catholic missions to Ethiopia was taken not by Rome, but by Portugal, in the course of a conflict with the Muslim Ottoman Empire and the Sultanate of Adal for the command of the trade route to India via the Red Sea.

[26] In 1534, a cleric of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Michael the Deacon, met with Martin Luther and affirmed the Augsburg Confession, saying "This is a good creed, that is, faith".

Largely the work of Abu Rumi over ten years in Cairo, this version, with some changes, held sway until Emperor Haile Selassie ordered a new translation which appeared in 1960/1.

The primary objectives of this decree were to put the finances of the church in order, to create a central fund for its activities, and to set forth requirements for the appointment of clergy—which had been fairly lax until then.

[33] This promotion was completed when Coptic Orthodox Pope Joseph II consecrated an Ethiopian-born Archbishop, Abuna Basilios, 14 January 1951.

On 28 February 2013, a college of electors assembled in Addis Ababa and elected Mathias to be the 6th Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

[42] On 31 January 2023, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed convened a discussion surrounding the incident where he responded he is ready to resolve the conflict.

[45] In response to grievance, numerous celebrities expressed their solidarity to the Church via social media and other platforms and donned black clothing during three-days Fast of Nineveh.

Abune Petros, the Secretary of the Holy Synod announced that the demonstration would be postponed following peaceful talks with the Prime Minister and a government agreement to solve the problem.

An important religious requirement, however, is the keeping of fast days, during which adherents abstain from consuming meat and animal products, and refrain from sexual activity.

[55][57][59] The Ethiopian Orthodox Church has 250 fasting days, 180 of which are obligatory for laypeople, not just monks and priests, when vegan food is eaten by the faithful.

The local voluntary association (called the maheber) connected with each church honours its patron saint with a special service and a feast two or three times a year.

[65]The exorcism is not always successful, and Geleta notes another instance in which the usual methods were unsuccessful, and the demons apparently left the subject at a later time.

"[65] The Old Testament Books: The New Testament Books: The divine services of the Ethiopian Church are celebrated in Geʽez, which has been the liturgical language of the church at least since the arrival of the Nine Saints (Pantelewon, Gerima (Isaac, or Yeshaq), Aftse, Guba, Alef, Yem’ata, Liqanos, and Sehma), who are believed to have fled persecution by the Byzantine Empire after the Council of Chalcedon (451).

[66] The Greek Septuagint was the version of the Old Testament originally translated into Ge'ez, but later revisions show clear evidence of the use of Hebrew, Syriac and Arabic sources.

The church buildings are typically surrounded by a forested area, acting as a reservoir of biodiversity in otherwise de-forested parts of the country.

[70] On the great Feast of T'imk'et, known as Epiphany or Theophany in Europe, a group of churches send their tabot to celebrate the occasion at a common location where a pool of water or a river is to be found.

[75] (Women covering their heads and separation of the sexes in churches officially is common to few other Christian traditions; it is also the rule in some non-Christian religions, Islam and Orthodox Judaism among them).

The nature of the Sabbath only became a doctrinal dispute in the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria in the centuries leading up to the issue being rectified by Ewostatewos.

[89]: 6, 8 A debtera is an itinerant lay priest figure (not a member of the priesthood) trained by the Ethiopian Church to function principally as a scribe or cantor.

Ethiopia: Canada: Middle East: South America: United States: Western Europe: Australia & New Zealand: The current eparchies of the church include:[96]