A layman of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church walks close to the rock-hewn church of Debretsion, which stands on top of a massif with the spectacular Gheralta Mountains of Northern Ethiopia rising 8,000 feet in the distance. In the fastness of the Gheralta Mountains about thirty rock-hewn churches were built in early Christian times. In all, Tigray _ Ethiopia's northern-most region _ has more than 120 rock-hewn churches.