Founding & Ecclesiastical Roots

Holy Trinity & Saint Mary Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church was born at the heart of Saint Mary Theological College — as the living, sacramental expression of its theological and spiritual mission.

Holy Trinity & Saint Mary Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church did not emerge as an independent parish that later added an academic institution. Rather, the Church was **conceived, nurtured, and born within the spiritual womb of Saint Mary Theological College**. From its inception, the College was established as a center of prayer, worship, and Orthodox formation — and from that sacred center, the parish community organically arose.

Called to Serve

In 2012, Kesis Endale Ashagrie Abebe, an ordained priest of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, responded to a divine calling rooted in pastoral responsibility and ecclesiastical obedience. Having served as an instructor and head of regular academic programs at Holy Trinity Theological College in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — and having established and led its Extension Program — he came to the United States to serve at Debre Selam MedhaneAlem Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.

In his service within the diaspora, he discerned a deep and urgent spiritual need: **Orthodox faithful lacked structured theological formation, disciplined worship, and sustained catechetical life**. He recognized that without daily and weekly divine services, systematic teaching, and accountable spiritual formation, the relationship between humanity and God, neighbor and neighbor, and creation and Creator would be weakened.

The Birth of Saint Mary Theological College

In direct response to this spiritual burden, and in obedience to divine calling, **Saint Mary Theological College was established in 2012**. The College was founded not as an academic experiment, but as a **spiritual instrument to restore faith, discipline, worship, and Orthodox consciousness** among the faithful in the diaspora.

From the beginning, the College was envisioned as a place where **theology, worship, and life would be inseparable** — where students would not only study the faith, but live it through prayer, fasting, sacramental participation, and moral discipline.

A Church Born from the Center of the College

As the College grew in spiritual depth and theological seriousness, it became evident that formation could not remain confined to the classroom. The faithful gathering around the College required a full sacramental life — Divine Liturgy, Confession, Holy Communion, feasts, fasts, and pastoral care.

Thus, the theological center naturally became the **womb from which Holy Trinity & Saint Mary Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church was born**. The Church did not stand beside the College — it stood **at its heart**. Worship, study, prayer, and pastoral life were united as a single, integrated vocation.

Theological Principle:

In Orthodox tradition, theology is born from prayer, and prayer is nourished by theology. Saint Mary Theological College was planted as sacred soil — and from that soil, the parish Church grew.

Marian Identity & Spiritual Dedication

The dedication of both the College and the Church to the Holy Virgin Mary was not symbolic, but theological. It expressed total reliance upon her intercession, purity, obedience, and maternal protection. The Marian identity of the institution shaped its spirituality, discipline, and ecclesiastical consciousness.

In recognition of this sacred identity, **Abba Michael Gebru blessed and brought the Holy Ark (Tabot) of St. Mary** to the College chapel — an act of profound ecclesiastical affirmation and spiritual guardianship.

Canonical Consecration & Parish Establishment

On April 19, 2015, His Eminence Archbishop Abune Fanuel came, blessed the chapel, and according to the canonical order of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, **raised it to the status of a parish church**.

Through this solemn act of consecration, the community entered into full sacramental and ecclesiastical life, becoming **Holy Trinity & Saint Mary Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church** in canonical standing.

Education First, Structure Second

From the beginning, **education was foundational**. Spiritual formation preceded formal organization. Theology shaped community life. The Church was not established first and the College thereafter; rather, **the College was the soil in which Church life took root**.

This order is intentional, theological, and canonical. The Church stands as the sacramental heart of the College, and the College stands as the formative heart of the Church.

A Sacred Trust

Holy Trinity & Saint Mary Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Saint Mary Theological College together form a single sacred trust — established for the glory of God, the honor of His Holy Mother, the preservation of Orthodox faith, and the formation of faithful servants of Christ.

This work stands as a perpetual testimony to divine calling, ecclesiastical obedience, Marian dedication, and unwavering fidelity to the doctrine and tradition of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.