Abba Estifanos of Gwendagwende

Abba Estifanos (English Translation: Father Stephen) was an Ethiopian Christian monk, itinerant preacher and martyr who is known for his reformation movement and as an early dissident of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and Emperor Zara Ya'iqob in the 15th century. His followers were known as Stephanites and were known for advocating sola gratia (salvation by grace alone through faith, not of works), soli Deo gloria (veneration to God alone and not to religious icons and saints) and for their asceticism. Over the course of a century of persecution by clergy and five consecutive kings following Zara Ya'iqob, membership in the Stephanites movement dwindled and vanished. Estifanos was a proponent of soli Deo gloria, which placed him at odds with Ethiopian Orthodox Church authorities and Emperor Zara Ya'iqob as his teachings deemed prostration as an act reserved to God alone and, hence, that the teaching of The Church of Ethiopia that prostration for the veneration of saints, angelic beings, religious icons and the monarch (Zara Ya'iqob) was wrong. His reformation movement took place close to seventy years prior to European Protestant reformation, but the similar tenets that it has with Protestantism and the exponential growth of Evangelicals membership in Ethiopia in the late 20th century has sparked a new interest in his life and that of his followers.

Estifanos was born sometime around 1380 CE in a small village called Sebuha in the Tigray province of northern Ethiopia. His father, Berhanemeskel, was a renowned warrior soldier who died prior to Estifanos' birth. As a result, Estifanos was raised in his uncle's household and, in expectation that he would grow up to be a soldier, he was named Hadegeanbesa (English translation: reminiscent of a lion). However, during his adolescence he developed religious aspirations and, despite his mother's and relatives' urging, he ran away to join liturgical school.

Estifanos was ordained a deacon at age 18 by the hands of Bishop Abuna Bartalomiwos at the liturgical school that he was attending. Following a long-held custom, he returned to his family once more following his ordination, said his farewell and went on a religious pilgrimage which led him to join the Qoyetsa monastery under Abbot Samuel. He acquired the name Estifanos during his ordination as a monk and obediently followed a path of extreme self-denial and asceticism in the hope of obtaining salvation. Ordained a priest at age 30, Estifanos pushed the boundaries of religious observance by fasting more, praying longer and taking pilgrimages to holy sites in a desperate attempt to find fulfillment and eternal life.

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