Sorcery in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church:

Historical Roots, Pastoral Crisis, and the Call for Reform

Fisseha Berhane, Ph.D.

HIST506: History of Ethiopic Christianity

Mehari Worku, Ph.D.
August 30, 2025

Confidential - Not for Public Consumption or Distribution

 Berhane, 1

Few issues are as troubling—and as enduring—in the life of the Ethiopian Orthodox

Tewahedo Church (EOTC) as the quiet persistence of sorcery cloaked in religious authority.

Debteras1, often trained in traditional church schools including in monasteries, perform

exorcisms, create amulets, love magic, business magic, vindictive magic, and offer various forms

of spiritual healings. Despite the Church's explicit rejection of magical practice, these illicit

rituals remain common among some clergy and laity. Studies show that these unsanctioned

magical practices are rooted in a historical context where pre-Christian traditions and syncretic

religious ideas merged with early orthodox teachings, dating back to the Axumite Kingdom and

potentially to even earlier cultural and religious systems.

This paper examines the unsettling tension between orthodox doctrine and debteraic2

practice. It explores not only the theological contradictions these rituals present, but also the

social and moral complexities that allow them to endure. My aim is not merely to catalogue these

rituals but to ask a deeper question: What does their persistence say about the state of catechesis,

pastoral care, and spiritual accountability in the EOTC? I argue that this is not just a theological

issue but a spiritual crisis—one that calls not only for correction, but for renewal.

A. Historical Background

The intertwining of Christianity and esoteric practices in Ethiopia has a long and complex

history that predates even the formal establishment of the EOTC.3 From its early centuries,

Ethiopian Christianity developed in close contact with Jewish, Coptic and other Near Eastern

1
A debtera is a religious specialist within the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Churches, as well as
among the Beta Israel. While they participate in ecclesiastical functions such as chanting and teaching, debteras are
also known for engaging in practices outside the official teachings of the Church, including rituals, exorcisms, and
acts commonly described as sorcery or magic, which are not sanctioned by orthodox doctrine. The plural form of
debtera in Ge’ez is debater. However, for the purpose of simplicity and clarity, I will use debteras in this study.
2
For the purposes of this study, I use the term debteraic sorcery to refer to all occult practices performed by
debteras.
3
Kristen Windmuller-Luna, “Ethiopian Healing Scrolls,” Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, April 1, 2015, accessed July 25, 2025, https://www.metmuseum.org/essays/ethiopian-healing-
scrolls; Chernetsov, “Ethiopian Magic Texts,” 190.
 Berhane, 2

traditions, many of which already contained elements of secrecy, angelology, demonology and

the use of divine names.4 These strands contributed to the formation of a uniquely Ethiopian

religious formation—one where the boundaries between orthodoxy and magic have often been

blurred.

The term debtera originally referred to highly trained church scholars, typically laymen,

who had undergone extensive education in liturgical music, Geʿez grammar, theology, poetry

and exegesis. Historically, debteras were respected as the intellectual elite of the Church, often

acting as scribes, cantors, astrologers, and teachers. By the medieval period, many debteras had

come to be associated with the crafting of talismans, the use of incantations, and the invocation

of angelic and demonic powers using asmat—secret names believed to hold spiritual efficacy.5

As Turaev observed in the early twentieth century, members of the clergy often profited

by copying and selling spurious prayers.6 Such practices contributed to a vast body of

“forbidden” writings, among which spells and incantations occupy a prominent place in

Ethiopian literary tradition.7 As Steven Kaplan has aptly remarked, “it is impossible to write

about religion in Ethiopia without writing about magic as well”.8

These practices were often justified using apocryphal texts or pseudo-Solomonic legends

that credited King Solomon with the divine knowledge of commanding spirits.9 This association

4
Ibid.
5
Getatchew Haile, “Spiritual Healing in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church,” in Science, Religion, and Society: An
Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Controversy, ed. Arri Eisen and Gary Laderman, vol. 1 (Armonk, NY:
M.E. Sharpe, 2007), 633–41.
6
Turaev, B. A. “Abissinskie magicheskie svitki” [Abyssinian Magic Scrolls]. In Sbornik statei v chestʹ grafini P.
S. Uvarovoi, 173. Moscow, 1916
7
Krachkovsky, I. Yu. “Abissinskii magicheskii svitok iz sobraniya F. I. Uspenskogo” [An Abyssinian Magic
Scroll from the Collection of Fedor Ivanovich Uspensky]. Doklady AN SSSR, 163. Leningrad, 1928.
8
Steven Kaplan, “Magic and Religion in Christian Ethiopia: Some Preliminary Remarks,” Studia Aethiopica
(2004), 413–23.
9
Jacques Mercier, Ethiopian Magic Scrolls (New York: George Braziller, 1979).
 Berhane, 3

with sacred kingship gave magical practices a sense of legitimacy among both clergy and laity,

even when such acts clearly violated orthodox teachings.

Theologically, the Church has long condemned sorcery and divination. Patristic sources

such as St. Basil and St. John Chrysostom condemned the use of spells and charms as demonic

distortions of divine grace.10 In the Ethiopian context, however, the Church's condemnation of

magical practices was frequently undermined by the very institutions that produced the debteras.

The same church schools and monasteries that taught Scripture also allowed for the circulation of

magical texts—whether under the guise of healing, protection, or hidden wisdom.11 This duality

has persisted into modern times, as contemporary ethnographic studies demonstrate that debteras

today often continue to function both as church assistants and magical service providers.12

Moreover, efforts to root out magic were rarely sustained, and many debteras simply

adapted by masking their practices with more theological language or relocating their services

outside the visible bounds of ecclesial authority.13 The debteras and other clergy, as the society’s

literate elite, have long been the ones who copy and distribute these magical texts.14

B. Sorceries Practiced

10
John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew, trans. George Prevost, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers,
vol. 10 (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1999); Basil the Great, Canonical Epistles, Canon 65 and Canon 72, in Nicene and
Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II, Vol. 8, ed. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, trans. Charles F. H. Johnston (Peabody,
MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1994), https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3202217.htm.
11
Gidena Mesfin Kebede, “Ethiopian Abǝnnät Manuscripts: Organizational Structure, Language Use, and Orality”
(PhD diss., Universität Hamburg, 2017), https://ediss.sub.uni-hamburg.de/handle/ediss/7027.
12
Steven Kaplan, “Magic and the Church in Christian Ethiopia,” in Encyclopedia of Religion, ed. Lindsay Jones,
2nd ed. (Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005); Kebede, “Ethiopian Abǝnnät Manuscripts”; Malara,
"Sympathy for the Devil"; Chernetsov, “Ethiopian Magic Texts,” 188; Siena de Ménonville, “Approaching the
Debtera in Context,” Cahiers d’études africaines [online], no. 231–232 (2018), posted December 15, 2020, accessed
July 15, 2025, http://journals.openedition.org/etudesafricaines/22890;
https://doi.org/10.4000/etudesafricaines.22890; Reidulf Knut Molvaer, Socialization and Social Control in Ethiopia
(Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 1995), 34, 44, 50, 67, 70, 111, 142, 259; Tadesse Tsega W/Silasse,
YeMenafistu Mender (Addis Ababa: Mereb Publishing, 2020); Tadesse Tsega W/Silasse, Gizotegnaw Gini (Addis
Ababa: Mereb Publishing, 2020); Tadesse Tsega W/Silasse, Menafistu Besheloko Wist (Addis Ababa: Abay
Publishing, 2021).
13
Haile, “Spiritual Healing”, 638.
14
Chernetsov, “Ethiopian Magic Texts,” 188.
 Berhane, 4

The sorcerous practices associated with debteras in the EOTC are as diverse as they are

spiritually perilous. Although often hidden behind a facade of piety or cultural tradition, these

rituals span a wide spectrum—from healing to hexing, from spiritual invocation to demonic

manipulation. What makes this phenomenon particularly insidious is that these practices are not

carried out by external enemies of the Church, but by insiders: educated men who possess

liturgical training and sometimes even hold clerical positions.

Gidena Mesfin Kebede recorded that the manuscripts he gathered—from

debteras, monasteries and churches—contain incantations serving a range of illicit and demonic

purposes, encompassing both so-called white magic (aimed at personal gain or protection) and

black magic (intended to cause harm to others). Some of them are:

against an enemy (ለፀር), to induce illness (ለመስተሐምም), to gain wealth (ለሀብት), for head

protector (ለዓቃቤ ርእስ), love charm (ለመስተፋቅር), to induce strife (ለመስተፃልዕ), against thief

(ለሌባ), to inherit spiritual, especially evil characteristic and power (ለውርሻ), against

sharp pain (ለውጋት), to make the hands run i.e. speed while copying text (ለምርዋፀ ዕድ),

against difficult delivery (ምጥ ለጠናባት ሴት), against cattle death (ከብት ለሚሞትበት), against

impotence (ለዘሞተ እስኪት), for killing someone (ለመቅትል), to evict a person (ለመስተባርር), for

nullipara (ለመካን ሴት), to make someone mute (ምላስን ለማሰር), to make somebody’s back

hunch (ሰውን ጐባጣ ለማድረግ), undoing of charms (መፍትሔ ሥራይ), against evil eye (ለዓይነ

ወርቅ), against diarrhoea (ለተቅማጥ), to get a woman (ለአምጽኦ ብእሲት), to attract a demon,

wealth etc.(ለምስሀብ), among many others.15

In his article “Sympathy for the Devil: Secrecy, Magic, and Transgression among

Ethiopian Orthodox Debtera”, Diego Maria Malara provides detailed ethnographic accounts of

15
Kebede, “Ethiopian Abǝnnät Manuscripts” 5-6.
 Berhane, 5

two debteras.16 The first debtera, a man in his fifties, had served as a church administrator for

over fifteen years.17 Due to the insufficiency of church income to sustain his livelihood, he

supplemented his earnings by offering spiritual healings.18 Malara’s interviews with several of

the debtera’s clients revealed that many believed his profound and esoteric knowledge enabled

him to perform illicit acts of magic.19

Furthermore, Malara notes that the debtera disclosed that some of the magical texts he

employed were also possessed by ordained priests.20 This aligns with a personal account shared

by a friend, whose father and grandfather were both priests in Tigray. He recounted that local

villagers would seek their help when cattle went missing, and in response, the priests would

perform a ritual chant using seven stones and instruct the seekers to throw the four stones in four

different directions and put the other three under their pillow. It is believed that by doing so, the

lost animals would be safeguarded from hyenas and other wild predators. Ethiopian journalist

Tadesse Tsega W/silase, who has worked as a journalist for over 20 years and holds a graduate

degree in folklore from Bahir Dar University, also documents in his book about the same

practices he learned while interviewing debteras in the northern part of Ethiopia.21

The second debtera interviewed by Malara openly expressed his aspiration to attain great

wealth through the summoning of demonic powers.22 Malara notes that the debtera acquired his

esoteric knowledge through instruction at numerous remote monasteries, noting that such

knowledge was transmitted both formally by teachers and informally among students, often

16
Ibid.
17
Ibid.
18
Ibid.
19
Ibid., 6.
20
Ibid., 6.
21
Tadesse Tsega W/Silasse, Gizotegnaw Gini (Addis Ababa: Mereb Publishing, 2020).
22
Ibid., 6.
 Berhane, 6

contingent upon monetary payment.23 He emphasized that students were typically required to

study under multiple church teachers in order to gain access to a diverse range of debteraic

teachings.24

Unlike the first debtera, who exhibited no apparent remorse for his activities, Malara

records that the second debtera expressed an intention to repent and cease his magical practices

once he achieved great wealth.25 Malara further observes that, in many cases, the sources of

authorized ecclesiastical teachings and those of debteraic magical knowledge are many times the

same teachers and places of learning.26 This finding agrees with Kebede’s research.27

Siena de Ménonville explains in her studies that debtera operate in private settings—

homes, hillsides, or hidden huts—where they produce talismans and conduct consultations under

the veil of discretion.28 As she notes, nearly every person she interviewed in northern Ethiopia

had, directly or indirectly, been in contact with a debtera, but few would admit it publicly due to

the social and spiritual stigma.29

This matches Kebede’s observation that while debtera’s notebooks are revered for their

perceived power, they are also shrouded in moral ambiguity and rarely displayed in public.30

Ethnographic data further supports the prevalence of these practices. According to Alula

Pankhurst, about 80% of the Amhara population turns to spiritual healers—many of them

23
Ibid., 9.
24
Ibid., 9.
25
Ibid., 6, 10.
26
Ibid., 9
27
Gidena Mesfin Kebede.(2017). Ethiopian Abǝnnät Manuscripts: Organizational Structure, Language Use, and
Orality. [Doctoral dissertation, Universität Hamburg,Hamburg]. ediss.sub.hamburg. https://ediss.sub.uni-
hamburg.de/handle/ediss/7027
28
Siena de Ménonville, “Approaching the Debtera in Context,” Cahiers d’études africaines [online], no. 231–232
(2018), posted December 15, 2020, accessed July 15, 2025, http://journals.openedition.org/etudesafricaines/22890;
https://doi.org/10.4000/etudesafricaines.22890.
29
Ibid.
30
Kebede, Ethiopian Abǝnnät Manuscripts.
 Berhane, 7

Church-trained debtera—for help with physical, emotional, or supernatural afflictions.31 In these

contexts, the line between priest and sorcerer is not just blurred—it is often functionally

irrelevant to those seeking healing or justice. Consistent with Pankhurst’s findings, my own

personal observations confirm that in Tigray as well, debteraic practices are widespread across

both urban and rural areas.

Moreover, it is not uncommon for priests themselves to direct their spiritual children to

debteras for assistance, further entrenching these practices within local religious life. Notably,

within the Washington, D.C. area alone, I have documented five instances in which priests

recently referred parishioners suffering from health issues to debteras. They refer to them as

merigeta or traditional medicine providers.

In his investigative works, W/silase offers a rare ethnographic window into the

clandestine practices of debteras and some monastic communities in northern Ethiopia. In

Yemenafstu Mender, Woldeselassie recounts extensive interviews conducted with debteras from

Bahir Dar to Gondar, documenting a wide range of ritual practices that starkly diverge from the

official teachings of the EOTC. He describes how debteras claim to assimilate/incarnate spirits

into their bodies and offer sacrifices to demons in order to obtain spiritual powers. These powers

are reportedly used to perform various forms of sorcery, including love spells, curses, and

financial enchantments. The author recounts a disturbing incident he personally witnessed: a

debtera, residing within a church in a small house built over a tomb, raped a young woman who

had sought his assistance for a love spell. The debtera justified his actions by claiming that the

spirits had instructed him to act in this way to ensure the spell’s efficacy.

31
Reidulf Knut Molvaer, Socialization and Social Control in Ethiopia (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag,
1995), 34, 44, 50, 67, 70, 111, 142, 259.
 Berhane, 8

In his second book, Gzotegnaw Jiini, W/silase investigates reports from northern

Ethiopian monasteries where certain monks are said to invoke a spirit known as Meshibe

Kidusan. Once possessed, these monks allegedly acquire the ability to heal and perform other

miraculous acts. However, W/silase also includes the testimony of a monk from the Waldiba

monastery, who emphasized that such practices are not representative of genuine monastic life.

According to this monk, true monasticism centers on prayer, fasting, contemplation, and

communion with God—not with spirits other than God Himself.

W/silase’s third book, Menafstu Besheleko Wəst, further explores these phenomena. He

interviews monks who speak positively of spiritual rituals involving books called Hilme Yosef

and Melka Nolawi, which they claim provides revelatory insight through dream visions and

spiritual possession. The same ritual are reportedly practiced by debteras, who use it to get

divine answers to both past and future questions. However, other monks and clergy whom the

author interviewed denounced them as a work of sorcery that has infiltrated into the Church.

Across all three volumes, W/silase documents numerous testimonies from both male and

female debteras. While a few acknowledge the controversial nature of their practices, the

majority claim that their knowledge is a divine gift reserved for a chosen few. In order to gain

access to these inner circles, W/silase embedded himself within the communities for extended

periods, building trust by offering gifts and establishing rapport—thus uncovering practices

rarely spoken of in public. In all his three books, he documented non-biblical practices debteras

use to get spiritual power such as various sacrifices, including blood, and other sinful acts that

please the demons.

Much of what was once unknown to many has become relatively well-known today, as

debteras now openly advertise their services on social media platforms—offering both white and
 Berhane, 9

black magic—to their clients. Unfortunately, it is now common to see both church servants and

laypeople following sorcery-related ads from such debteras on social media platforms.

C. The Deceptive Strategies of Debteras in Justifying Magical Texts

Over time, debteras have developed calculated ways to disguise the nature of their texts,

making them appear pious to the unsuspecting.32 One common tactic is to cloak incantations in

the language of holiness. Many manuscripts open with invocations of the Holy Trinity, Christ,

angels, or saints, only to intermingle these names with unknown words and demonic names. The

aim is rhetorical camouflage: by beginning with what is sacred, the debtera lulls the reader into

thinking the content is Orthodox. Historians note that this pattern became more pronounced after

Emperor Zerayaqob’s fifteenth-century reforms, when stricter measures against sorcery

prompted practitioners to hide behind religious phrases.33 In theological terms, such misuse of

divine names violates the Second Commandment (Exod. 20:7) and, as St. John Chrysostom

warned, invites demonic influence through the profanation of what is holy.34

A second strategy is false attribution. Metshafe Qoprianos, for example, is linked by

debteras to St. Cyprian of Antioch—a saint who famously repented of sorcery and destroyed his

magical books. Debteras have composed magic books in his name for the Christians, for the

Jews and for the Muslims. To attach his name to an occult manual is to distort both history and

hagiography. A third ploy is the claim of possessing “secret knowledge from God,” reserved for

a spiritual elite and often tied to King Solomon’s wisdom.35

D. Why Christianity and Witchcraft Cannot Mix

32
Chernetsov, “Ethiopian Magic Texts”.
33
Haile, “Spiritual Healing”, 638.
34
John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of Saint Matthew, trans. George Prevost, in Nicene and Post-Nicene
Fathers, First Series, vol. 10, ed. Philip Schaff (New York: Christian Literature Company, 1888), Homily 23.
35
Chernetsov, “Ethiopian Magic Texts”, 192.
 Berhane, 10

From its earliest days, the Church has rejected witchcraft, sorcery, and all occult arts as

utterly incompatible with the Gospel. Christianity rests on trust in God’s providence, obedience

to His will, and worship of Him alone. Witchcraft, by contrast, seeks to manipulate hidden

powers for personal ends. One is rooted in surrender, the other in control. To merge them is to

betray the covenant of baptism.

Scripture is unambiguous. The Mosaic Law commands, “You shall not permit a sorceress

to live” (Exod. 22:18), revealing how seriously God views such practices. King Manasseh’s use

of witchcraft provoked divine wrath (2 Chr. 33:6), and Saul’s consultation with the witch of

Endor sealed his rejection (1 Sam. 28). In the New Testament, St. Paul lists sorcery among the

“works of the flesh” barring entry to the Kingdom (Gal. 5:19–21).

E. Conclusion and Recommendations

One of the most damaging effects of debteraic sorcery is the erosion of trust between

clergy and laity. Rumors, or confirmed cases, of priests and chanters engaging in sorcery breed

suspicion toward all spiritual authority, driving some toward Protestant or charismatic groups

that openly denounce such practices. In addition, debteraic sorcery fosters a transactional

approach to God, replacing repentance, prayer, and sacramental grace with spells, rituals, and

offerings designed to secure wealth, relationships, or revenge. This reduces divine blessing to a

purchasable commodity.

The cumulative effect is a weakened witness: inside the Church, confidence in spiritual

shepherds erodes; outside, the Church appears compromised and unable to separate truth from

superstition. This demands clear teaching, moral courage, and reform. Bishops and clergy must

reject sorcery in both word and deed, strengthen theological formation, and lead the faithful back
 Berhane, 11

to Christ, the sole source of healing, power, and peace. Copying, selling, and distribution of

magical texts by anyone in ministry must be prohibited.

In conclusion, this study has shown that sorcery in the EOTC is not merely a historical

curiosity but an enduring pastoral crisis rooted in deep historical and cultural entanglements. For

the sake of the faithful, and for the witness of the Gospel, the Church must choose the way of

Christ over the marketplace of charms. Reform is not optional; it is a matter of fidelity to the

Gospel and the survival of the Church’s spiritual integrity.

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