It is always beneficial to consider how the Orthodox Faith has been introduced to various nations, and to commemorate the activities of Orthodox missionaries through the ages. Among the most famous are the brothers Frumentius and Edesius who were used by God to bring the Orthodox Faith to the people of Ethiopia.
According to the early writer Rufinus, who appears to have spoken with Edesius, the young brothers accompanied their uncle Meropius on a trading trip to Ethiopia. On their way through the Red Sea the whole crew was killed by the people of the area with the exception of the two boys, who were taken as slaves to the King of Axum. The boys gained the trust of the King as they grew into manhood, and shortly before his death he gave Frumentius and Edesius their freedom.
The Queen prevailed upon them to stay and assist her in the government of the Kingdom and the education of her young son, the Prince Ezana. They encouraged the practice of Christianity among the merchants who regularly came to the Kingdom and later were able to convert some of the Ethiopian people to the Orthodox Faith.
When Ezana came of age Edesius chose to return to Tyre where he was ordained a priest. His brother Frumentius hoped that the Faith could be more properly rooted in the country and chose to stay. But he travelled to Alexandria with his brother and asked St Athanasius, who was the Patriarch at that time, to send a bishop for the Ethiopian people.
St Athanasius considered that Frumentius was himself the best candidate to be consecrated as bishop for the Ethiopians and so he became bishop in about 328 AD. He returned to Ethiopia and baptized King Ezana who had ascended to the throne. Then he engaged in much missionary activity throughout the Kingdom and built many Churches with the support of the King. The people called him 'Revealer of Light' and 'Father of Peace'.
It is interesting that St Patrick, the Enlightener of Ireland, had also been a captive and a slave, and became the means of bringing the Christian Faith to his captors. In the same manner St Frumentius was first introduced to the Ethiopian people as a slave, and yet was used of God to bring the freedom of life in Christ to those who were his captors.
This should suggest to us that missionaries need not be strangers to those among whom they serve, even if they are of a different cultural and ethnic background. To be a missionary is to have been 'sent' by God, but it does not mean always abandoning the situation into which God has placed us. The members of the Coptic Orthodox Church may not feel that they have a right to share their faith in a country that has welcomed them as immigrants, but if our Orthodox Christian Faith is a treasure hid in a field, or a pearl of great price, then we have a responsibility to share it as a gift.
We see that in common with the Prophet Daniel and the Holy Youths, who experienced captivity themselves in an alien culture, St Frumentius and his brother never abandoned their faith and their inward spiritual culture, but preserved it even among a pagan and unbelieving people. When the time was ripe St Frumentius was enabled to bring in a harvest of souls because he had remained faithful even in a foreign land. He had been a slave, the lowest of all, but he became the confidant of Kings and the head of the Church in Ethiopia which he was blessed to establish.
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