Ethiopia has a long tradition of Christianity and the rock churches in the province of Tigray testify to its one and a half thousand years of history. The province of Tigray is a steppe mountainous region in northern Ethiopia. Three thousand years ago its rulers had trading connections with the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt who called this land, Kush.

Since that time, the life of the farmers has hardly changed. In the fourth century, nine missionaries of the Coptic parish of Constantinople came to Ethiopia to spread their faith. In the 1950’s the majority of the rock churches were still completely unknown in the western world as they had been built in extremely remote locations hidden between rocks, and on mountain peaks.

The first church we visit is that of Mikael Imba and is located on a rocky hill in the midst of typical Tigrinian landscape, with its cacti, agaves, olives and eucalyptus trees which were imported from Australia due to the chronic shortage of firewood in Ethiopia.

On the forecourt of the Medhani Alem Adikesho Church a group of men has gathered for a religious ceremony where home-brewed barley beer in green plastic cups is offered, and Inghera, an Ethiopian bread, is eaten.

The rooms of the rock churches were created by hollowing out the rock. To provide sufficient stability, various columns were left standing. The famous monolithic churches of Lalibela in the province of Amhara are a good example as they were completely carved out of the rock as a stone sculpture.

The rock churches of Tigray are stone witnesses of Christianity which has not been imposed by Western missionaries in the rear-guard of mercenaries of the colonial powers of the peoples of Africa, but which has existed for more than a millennium, although in Tigray both clergy and people have had to practice their Christianity without the time-honoured apostolic leadership of the Vatican.