National multilingualism, the use of different language codes by substantial segments of the population of a country, is a well-recognized phenomenon, and a number of lines of research on it are currently being pursued. The phenomenon of varied patterns of literacy acquisition within a nation can be found in many African countries, and it deserves study from a number of points of view. The traditional church-school literacy training provides a basic competence for participation in the services of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and completion of the training gives a particular status in the society or marks a particular stage in an individual's life. The two traditional patterns of literacy acquisition were not explicitly related to national development—indeed, the concept of national development is itself a recent notion in the Empire —and the adult campaign pattern in many instances was conceived of as contributing to Christianization or to spiritual growth within Church congregations.