Welcome to ‘Sehalite Mehret’ – Saint Mary Church’s website of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOTC) at the magnificent and adorable Alberta’s Capital- Edmonton, in Canada .

‘Sehalite Mehret’ – Saint Mary Church was established on Jan 07, 2014 [‘Tahisas’ 29, 2006 E.C.], while the annual holiday of the EOTC, Christmas, otherwise called ‘Gena’ was colorfully celebrated through the concerted efforts of the laities in Edmonton and its surrounding areas.

When the church was first founded, there were only two priests and about 35 parishioners. At that time, one of the benevolent parishioners within the church has offered all the necessary relics to smoothly conduct the day-today services that were supposed to be provided. Since the church didn’t have its own building by then, the services were continued to be conducted by cooperating with various churches in Edmonton city. The provisions of the services were accordingly conducted by either renting churches of other Christian dominions and at times via the buildings provided to us free of charge by different churches.

As the day went on, the number of laities started to increase. By then, may his grace be unto us, His Holiness, the late Abune Mathias, the then Archbishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in Canada, gave us the permission to establish our own church. The church accordingly invited His Holiness Abune Mathis to bless the church we were granted to provide services temporarily. On the 1st day of May [according to the Ethiopian Calendar], where the birthday of Our beloved Saint Maryam is commemorated, the church started to provide its services in its full swing. From that time on wards, the church continued to celebrate two annual feasts [holidays] at least fully, which are of Saint Mary in November and May in accordance with the traditions of the church.

With the grace and assistance of our almighty God, the number of believers or laities continued to increase day in and day out. However, the services being provided by the church were still limited by the hours arranged by the renters and some of the other philanthropists. Those moments were very challenging for both the priests, deacons, and the laities alike. They can’t get the sanctified services calmly. That was the moment where many have proposed to own or purchase our own building and have a new church they could properly and adequately served and being served.

By the will of God and through the help of the Holy Virgin Mary, the building we currently use [where we are currently conducting service] was purchased from Ebenezer United Church in 2015. After the church was purchased, the building underwent extensive maintenance and remodeling according to the architectural traditions of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. After it went through the renovation and restructuring, the church was officially inaugurated while the Ark ‘tabot’ was permanently placed in its designated location on August 24, 2016.