According to the 4th-century historian Rufinus (x.9), who cites Frumentius' brother Edesius as his authority, as children (ca. 316) Frumentius and Edesius accompanied their uncle Meropius from their birthplace of Tyre (in present-day Lebanon) on a voyage to Ethiopia.
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In about 356, the Emperor Constantius II wrote to King Ezana and his brother Saizanas, requesting them to replace Frumentius as bishop with Theophilus, who supported the Arian position, as did the emperor.
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He became the first Abune — a title given to the head of the Ethiopian Church.
Orthodox Christianity became the established church of the Axumite Kingdom under king Ezana in the 4th century through the efforts of a Syrian Greek named Frumentius, known to the churches' followers as Abba Selama, Kesaté Birhan ("Father of Peace, Revealer of Light").
He banished the Jesuit bishop André de Oviedo and his companions to a village between Axum and Adwa called Maigwagwa (Tigrinya may gwagwa, 'noisy water'), which the Jesuits optimistically renamed Fremona, after the missionary Frumentius.