We have now gone on a huge expedition through the stories that the the scriptures tells about the land of Ethiopia as well as the stories their Christian kingdom tells about itself and other Christians tell about them. While I have added a bit to the content from the original video I watched on the topic, this is the post where I am free to really go off the rails and extend the symbolism much further, which is the whole reason I did this series.
Two Worlds Collide
The year was 1534. The Reformation was in full swing, the Diet of Augsburg was four years ago, and in just two more, Luther will have written his Smallcald Articles. However, there was a visitor in Wittenberg named Michael, an Ethiopian deacon, and he and Luther met at the latter's house simply to discuss theology. Michael didn't know German but only Italian, so the two had to speak through a translator, but they were nonetheless able to discuss theology together, ending with a commendation of one another's faith before Michael's departure.
There are a few different primary sources, all of which are very short, concerning the visit, which lasted for a few days, and the event is symbolically fascinating, considering the symbolism already discussed. When Michael arrived, the two began with a discussion of the Trinity, a fairly basic starting point because of the distinction between the Western and Eastern Churches, and yet, in a strange twist, he is said to agree with the West on the Trinity. They are also able to acknowledge the varying practices between the Lutheran and Ethiopian churches, but the two also agree that "dissimilarity does not undermine the unity of the church nor conflict with faith, since Christ's kingdom is a spiritual righteousness of heart, fear of God, and trust in Christ." From there, the two discuss the Eucharist, after which it is said that "the rite, which [the Lutherans] observe in the practice of the Lord's Supper and the Mass, agrees with the Eastern Church." In the culminating moment of such discussions, Michael "summed up all our articles [of the Augsburg Confession, presumably] by saying, 'This is a good credo, that is, faith.'" In this scene, we see a relic of the Christian pre-schism and even pre-Chalcedonian past, and he comes to affirm the reformer in his faith.
I would contend that Michael shows up as a kind of kingmaker figure, not unlike like the prophet Samuel with kings Saul and David. He comes from the ends of the earth, a land full of a more ancient form of Christianity than is in Roman Catholicism and which is still alive even in the midst of the Muslim hordes. He, like the prophet, comes as a messenger to commend Luther's confession and reassure the reformers of the historicity of their confession. In addition, it's also something like passing the torch, as if the Lord is bearing the Ark of true doctrine from those of heterodox confessions to Germany, which is in the midst of her own chaos and political instability.
Interestingly, Luther actually says as much. I would ask you to think back to King Solomon's vision concerning Menelik as taking the bright sun from Jerusalem to Ethiopia, symbolizing the holy theft of the Ark, meant as a way to understand the Ethiopians as inheritors of the blessings that Israel lost through impiety. Well this exact same understand is actually expressed by Luther, using a similar metaphor!
"O my beloved Germans, buy while the market is at your door; gather in the harvest while there is sunshine and fair weather; make use of God’s grace and word while it is there! For you should know that God’s word and grace is like a passing shower of rain which does not return where it has once been. It has been with the Jews, but when it’s gone it’s gone, and now they have nothing. Paul brought it to the Greeks; but again when it’s gone it’s gone, and now they have the Turk. Rome and the Latins also had it; but when it’s gone it’s gone, and now they have the pope. And you Germans need not think that you will have it forever, for ingratitude and contempt will not make it stay. Therefore, seize it and hold it fast, whoever can; for lazy hands are bound to have a lean year." LW 45.352
For Luther, he is not claiming to be the first person to ever have the Gospel since the Council of Nicaea or something, like many of the more radical sects. Rather, he is claiming that the Gospel has been taken from the Romans because of their own impiety and refusal to listen to the clear teaching of the Word and it has been hidden by God in the jar of clay that is Germany, a land that has become the edge of the world.
One of the stranger parts of this story for me is that Deacon Michael didn't mention issues where Ethiopian Orthodoxy and Lutheranism clearly collide--not even mentioning it when the Augsburg Confession does! For example, prayers to the saints is very common in the Ethiopian Orthodox tradition, to the point where a saint cursing someone for not praying to them is actually common in their hagiographies (stories of the lives of saints' lives). The response of the skeptic is that he was misinformed or couldn't understand, but I would propose that rather, this is because the event is meant by God to be symbolic, just as much of the scriptures are symbolic even if the events described actually happened. Thus it represents the aformentioned themes: the Lutheran church as the heir of the historic Gospel, foreigners to the rest of the Church in various ways but with the gift of God's glory in the rightly taught Word of God. And in this we see two sets of two worlds colliding simultaneously: just as the German and Ethiopian cultures collide, so too the symbolic and historical touch.
The Lutheran Church as Marginal
The Lutheran Church is, in a sense, constantly on the edge of the Christian world, just as the Ethiopians are on the edge of Christendom. Sometimes the Anglicans refer to themselves as a via media, a middle way between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. Frankly, I find that claim a bit ridiculous; they're just Calvinists with better aesthetics. The Lutherans, however, consistently sit in this marginal space in virtually every way. To a Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox, we are Protestant schismatics. To a Protestant, we are eternally "too Catholic," no matter how much some in our tradition try to mask it by chasing after the world's aesthetics. We are the barrier between historic Christianity and the more chaotic forces of Protestantism. In addition, we also are in the margin between the East and West. Even within Protestantism, our doctrine of single predestination is also the midway point between the Arminian and Calvinist predestinarian disputes. We are a Western tradition, with much of the baggage the tradition represents like a love for St. Augustine and the filioque, and yet are heavily influenced by the Eastern fathers, as one will see quickly from the Catalogue of Testimonies. Even physically, Germany is sort of at the center of Europe, between the historic Christians to the south and pagans to the north as well as on the edge between Western and Eastern Europe, a border between historic Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.
This marginality in the Lutheran tradition has heavily contributed towards our strange predicament concerning folks jumping ship. In our early history, we would sometimes play too nice with Calvinists (or be forced to), and rather than creating a hybrid or having some kind of mutual influence, the institutions always simply became Reformed. In the last couple centuries, much of Lutheranism has become synonymous with Liberalism around the world, both in theology and politics (remember, Marx was raised a German Lutheran). In the 70's, there were concerningly high conversion rates of Lutherans to various Eastern Orthodox communions, even among clergy and seminarians, and there still are plenty. In the modern day, we see Lutherans attempting to appear more and more like other Protestant denominations because they think it will make them more approachable and will help to win the numbers game. There is a reason for all of these foreign leavens spreading into the pure loaves so quickly. It's because we are dwelling in the margin, the realm of monsters. I would compare it to a mountain. When you ascend the peak of a mountain, there are many different directions you can fall, and yet we live on this mountain. We are in a very precarious position, but it is only on such a mountain that we see the garden of God (Ezekiel 28:13-14), the treasure hidden at the end of the world, which is seen on earth in true doctrine. That is not to say that there isn't good from other traditions; I often encourage practical and linguistic pilfering, when made to serve our own. St. Gregory of Nyssa, in his work On the Life of Moses, describes Moses' Ethiopian wife as pagan knowledge which Christ takes and, though foreign to His Church, makes His own. The same can be true for us; stealing these things for our own sake can make us stronger, but we need to do so out of caution, lest we fall from the mountain and the raincloud be taken from us.
On a related note, in many cases that I've heard of Lutherans who converted for theological reasons, they refer to our faith as a hidden gem of Christianity. It is very small in number and rather quiet, but nonetheless full of beautiful truths that other confessions aren't privy to. This fits the Ethiopian archetype well, with us as an ark of the covenant hidden in a foreign land among Protestantism.
This also helps to clarify our relationship with Rome and the East as well. There is a difficulty in that Rome and the East have claims to miracles, apostolic succession, and even the physical institutions which date back very early if not to apostolic times. I would say that this is because they are, in one sense, heirs to the true church. However, they are not heirs according to the same confession, as I would say we are. We see this in the distinctions between Ethiopia and Israel in the Kebra Nagast or in Jeremiah's Ebed-Melech and Judah. In this way, we ought to treat them something like how Christ tells the Apostles to treat the Pharisees, for there is honor in one's office (Matt. 23:2-3, John 11:49-52), but that doesn't mean that we accept their teaching without proofs (Matt. 15:1-9, Acts 17:11). Rather, we "stand firm and hold to the traditions that [we] were taught" (2 Thess. 2:15). Thus, they do retain a particular respect as our parents according to the flesh, so to speak, but we ought to stay true to the one who calls.
This view is consistent with some of Luther's words in his work On the Councils and the Churches:
“Suppose that we, the transitory Church, were to hold a council against the abiding lords, without the pope and without their consent, and to undertake a reformation which the abiding junkers would consider very transitory, but which they would have to put up with.” pg. 17
The title of the Lutheran church as "the transitory church" is, I would say, an apt one. The Lutheran project wasn't to rebuild a pristine church from the ground up, like the radical reformers, but it was a bit of a rushed job, not unlike the Augsburg Confession and the Apology. By the grace of God, we were given the gifts of true doctrine, and we've stuck them together with duct tape and bound ourselves to them like environmentalists to a tree, fleeing to the edges and often isolating ourselves from the rest of Christendom, lest we lose the gifts God has given. However, we await the day and constantly ought to seek reconciliation with our mother according to the flesh, and while we understand that the Lord brings division between mother and child, we nonetheless mourn that it has taken place. This is also why, in my opinion, we probably shouldn't celebrate the Reformation in church, but that's a discussion for another day.
As a final point on this note, it is important to mention the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, which besides having a much better name than the LCMS, is also the largest Lutheran church body in the world. That's right. The largest Lutheran body is in Ethiopia. Can the symbolism get more obvious? In addition, it isn't simply a liberal state church or large merger like some other large bodies, but it is devoted to the Lutheran confessions as well as theological conservatism! Once again, we see the symbolic touch history in a way that is beautiful and comforting.
The Edge of the World Meets the End of the World
Finally, the eschatological significance of the Lutheran story is also relevant to the conversation at hand, as Luther himself intimated that he believed the world to end not long after him.
“If the Last Day were not close at hand it would be a small wonder if heaven and earth were to fall at such blasphemy. The fact that God can tolerate such things as this is a sign that the Day is not far off. And yet they laugh at that, unmindful that they have made God out to be blind, crazy, and foolish, and they think that their doings are wise and manly. I, too, would be as care-free as they are, if I regarded only their raging; but the wrath of God, which is shown upon them, terrifies me sorely, and it is high time that we all wept and prayed earnestly, as Christ did over Jerusalem, when He bade the women weep not for Him, but for themselves and their children.” On the Councils and the Church 15-16
“If we can do no more, we must let our Lord Jesus Christ counsel and aid us, by His coming, which cannot be far off. For the world has come to its end; the Roman Empire is almost gone and torn to bits; it stands as the kingdom of the Jews stood when Christ’s birth was near; the Jews had scarcely anything of their kingdom, Herod was the token of farewell. And so, I think, now that the Roman Empire is almost gone, Christ’s coming is at the door, and the Turk is the Empire’s token of farewell, a parting gift to the Roman Empire; and just as Herod and the Jews hated each other, though both made a common cause against Christ, so Turk and Papacy hate each other, but make common cause against Christ and his kingdom.” On the War Against the Turk 61
This tying of ourselves in with eschatology is directly related to the Revelation 12 text that I keep bringing up. In it, the dragon, who Luther would with no doubt connect to popish errors, constantly wars against the Church, who must then hide in the wilderness to be nourished. Luther saw the world crumbling around him, not unlike the historical contexts of St. Augustine's City of God or the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius. In a similar way, Luther paints the woes of this world as the backdrop for what he sees as the end of days.
In addition, as early as 1522, Luther was actually identified as the angel in Revelation 14:6-7, and this is often the text for the Reformation Day lectionary readings:
'Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. And he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.” '
Very early, this message of the angel is identified with Luther's emphasis on the proper distinction between Law and Gospel, with the fear of God corresponding to the Law and the glory of God to the Gospel. In this way, the consistent Lutheran story has often been tied up to eschatology, as something like a final call before the end of days. Connecting this to the prophecy of the Ethiopian king from Pseudo-Methodius could have some fascinating implications. Perhaps it will be from the Lutheran confession that we may find the church once again be united under one banner, healing the divide between East and West as well as Protestantism and Rome and the East, all united in the same confession and looking east for the coming of our Lord and despising the shame that the world hurls against us until that great last day. O may He grant it for Christ's sake. Amen.
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