ታሪክ · OUR HISTORY
A house of prayer in Marysville
Debre Salem St John was founded by a small group of Ethiopian Orthodox faithful in the Marysville area who longed for a place to keep the ancient liturgy of their fathers in the diaspora. From house gatherings and rented halls, the parish has grown into a community of families, students, and elders — Ethiopian, Eritrean, and American-born — who together carry the faith of the apostles.
Our patron is Saint John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ — the voice in the wilderness who prepared the way of the Lord. Our name Debre Salem, "Mount of Peace," remembers the biblical Salem of Melchizedek, the priest-king who blessed Abraham with bread and wine. In a land far from the highlands of Ethiopia, we are a mountain of peace where the old chant rises still.
The Tewahedo faith
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is one of the oldest Christian churches in the world. The word Tewahedo — ተዋሕዶ — means "made one," confessing the perfect union of the divine and human natures in our Lord Jesus Christ, without confusion, change, division, or separation.
Our tradition was planted in Ethiopia in the fourth century by Saint Frumentius (Abuna Selama), consecrated by Saint Athanasius of Alexandria. From that day to this, our church has kept the apostolic faith in the liturgy of Saint Hippolytus, in the chants of Saint Yared, and in the canon of eighty-one books of Holy Scripture — the broadest of any Christian church.
Under the patronage of St John
Saint John the Baptist — Yohannes ዮሐንስ — is called the greatest of those born of women by our Lord himself. He came in the spirit and power of Elijah; he leapt for joy in his mother's womb at the voice of the Theotokos; he baptized Christ in the Jordan; and he was beheaded for the truth, witnessing in death as he had in life.
Our parish honours him as our patron and intercessor. We keep the feast of his Beheading on the eleventh of September — the dawn of the Ethiopian new year — and we look to his example: to speak truth, to keep the fast, and to point always toward Christ rather than ourselves.
"He must increase, but I must decrease." — John 3:30
What we believe
We confess the Holy Trinity, one God in three persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We confess the Lord Jesus Christ, true God and true man, born of the ever-virgin Theotokos Mary, crucified for our salvation, risen on the third day, ascended in glory, and coming again to judge the living and the dead. We confess one baptism for the remission of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life of the age to come. Amen.
