Stephanites

The Stephanites was a 15th–16th century monastic reform current within the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, centred on the monastery of Gunda Gunde in Tigray. Founded by the monk Abba Estifanos (d. c. 1450), the movement was marked by strict biblicism, rejection of certain royal and ecclesiastical practices, and an emphasis on the autonomy of monastic communities. It faced severe repression under Emperor Zär’a Yaʿqob (r. 1434–1468) and his successors, yet its network of affiliated monasteries endured for centuries.


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