ARETEIOI CANON INDUCTEE

Lived	c. 1592 – 23 November 1642 (Gregorian) c. 11592 – 23 November 11642 (Holocene)
Eras active	Dominion
Associated phase	Descent

Walatta Pēṭros was an Ethiopian Orthodox saint who resisted oppression at the hands of her own government and fought to maintain traditional Orthodoxy in the face of encroaching Catholic colonialism in Ethiopia.

Reasons for Induction

• Principle Over Gain: In the face of death and threats of violence, Walatta Pēṭros resisted colonialism and the cultural erasure of Ethiopian Orthodoxy. She was undeterred in a time of great political upheaval — when even the Ethiopian emperor preyed on her downfall
  • Walatta Pēṭros held firm to her beliefs, though converting would have been politically expedient, a sign of her cultivation of the virtues of right speech and courage
• Strength in Trial: Walatta Pēṭros remained remarkably resilient during horrific events in her early life. She was married off at 16 and all three of her children died in infancy by the time she was 23. Rather than sink into despair, she chose to devote her life to spiritual affairs and become a nun
  • Walatta Pēṭros’s incredible strength in times of great hardship, both in her early life and her time in the church, speak to a deep sense of equanimity
• Leader Beyond Limits: Walatta Pēṭros’s strong leadership pushed the boundaries of what was socially acceptable within the patriarchal framework of feudal Ethiopia. During her lifetime, her work was admired by King Fāsīladas. Her hagiography considers her of equal renown to prominent male Biblical prophets
  • Walatta Pēṭros saw through arbitrary manmade distinctions like gender, affirming the oneness of all things, and rejected child-rearing and marriage as the primary purposes of women
• Paragon of Compassion: Walatta Pēṭros’s deep spirituality was borne out through her actions. She founded seven religious communities for those seeking refuge from persecution in Ethiopia. She was viewed as a mother by those she taught
  • From what we know of her, Walatta Pēṭros strived to embody ethical action and compassion in all aspects of her life, cultivating Right Livelihood
• Life Partners: Walatta Pēṭros’s co-leadership with Ǝḫətä Krəstos and their mutual devotion defied the conventional social structure, proving that women could stand as equals in guiding a spiritual and religious movement. Their relationship challenges the notion that influential relationships in the past fit any one mold
  • Walatta Pēṭros’s nearly lifelong partnership with Krəstos hints that, in spite of her devotion to her Ethiopian Orthodox faith, she was not above reexamining and reinterpreting texts for social and cultural biases that may have distorted the spiritual truth, a mark of true wisdom