Man should devote himself to God by giving him everything that is most exquisite and beautiful. Both words and song, which are regarded as the ultimate forms of prayer in all true religions, can express this reverence.
The Ethiopian Church has adapted its music to the style of the religious services it is employed at, the season of the ecclesiastical year, and the solemnity of the feast in order to make it appropriate for the spirit of its services. It makes it magnificent and joyous during joyful festivals and sorrowful during penitential seasons and during funeral rites. Church music’s zema (tone) consists of worship, thanksgiving, supplication, sorrow, joy, and triumph. The sacred liturgy is the main focus of Ethiopian Orthodox devotion. The center of all the various forms of Orthodox prayer and liturgy is the Mass, which the Lord instituted the same night that He was betrayed. It is incorrect to discuss the various liturgies of the Ethiopian Church. It is more accurate to discuss various anaphoras. The Ordo Communis, as it is sometimes called, changes, although the anaphora, which is the core of the service, corresponds to the Western Canon. The phrase “Qedasse of St. Dioscorus,” for instance, might refer to the Ordo Communis together with the same Anaphoras or the variable part, the Anaphora, that carries the name of that Saint.
