Jewish Cultural Elements in the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwaḥədo Church: - 9781463241308

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Jewish Cultural Elements in the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwaḥədo Church

Gorgias Eastern Christian Studies

55 Series Editors George Anton Kiraz István Perczel Lorenzo Perrone Samuel Rubenson

Gorgias Eastern Christian Studies brings to the scholarly world the underrepresented field of Eastern Christianity. This series consists of monographs, edited collections, texts and translations of the documents of Eastern Christianity, as well as studies of topics relevant to the world of historic Orthodoxy and early Christianity.

Jewish Cultural Elements in the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwaḥədo Church

Afework Hailu

gp 2020

Gorgias Press LLC, 954 River Road, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA www.gorgiaspress.com Copyright © 2020 by Gorgias Press LLC

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise without the prior written permission of Gorgias Press LLC. ‫ܘ‬

1

2020

ISBN 978-1-4632-0717-5

ISSN 1539-1507

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A Cataloging-in-Publication Record is available from the Library of Congress. Printed in the United States of America

in loving memory of gašše/Hailu Beyene, and ətete/Aregash Bekalu

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgments ............................................................................... xi Acronyms and Abbreviations ........................................................... xiii Transliteration ..................................................................................... xv Gə‘əz – Amharic (‘Fidel’) characters..........................................xv General ........................................................................................ xv Labiovelars .................................................................................. xv Vowels (first to seventh order respectively) ..............................xvi Introduction .......................................................................................... 1 Part I. Studies on the ‘Judaic Heritage’ of the Ethiopian Church ..... 17 Chapter 1. ‘Jewish’ And ‘Judaic’ Elements In Ethiopia ...................... 19 Early Reflections and Literature on ‘Judaic-Hebraic’ Ethiopian Culture .............................................................. 19 Non-Ethiopian References and Related Literature .................. 19 Medieval and Later European Accounts ................................... 22 Developments in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries ....27 Travellers’ Impressions of the Betä Ǝsra’el (Ethiopian Jews) .... 31 Literature and Academic Perspectives ....................................... 34 Conclusion .................................................................................. 43 Chapter 2. The ‘Judaic’ Identity Of Aksum: Jewish Impact Prior to the Fourth Century CE?......................................................... 45 The Immigration Hypothesis .................................................... 45 ‘Jews from Egypt’ to Aksum ..................................................... 46 South Arabian ‘Jewish Settlers’ in Aksum ................................ 48 ‘Hebrew’ Loanwords in Ethiopic............................................... 61 The Identity of Ethiopic Bible Translators ...............................72 Conclusion ................................................................................. 80 vii

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Part II. ‘Judaic’ Reverberations in the Ancient Ethiopian Church ... 83 Chapter 3. Aksum and the Introduction of Christianity: ‘Jewish’ and ‘Old Testament’ Heritages .................................................. 85 Pre-Christian Aksum: setting a historical context as a critique of the ‘Judaic foundation’ of the EOC ................ 85 The ‘Adulis Inscription’ ............................................................. 93 እግዚአ ሰማይ (‘Ǝgzi’a Sämay’): the ‘Lord of Heaven’ ................. 96 Establishment and Consolidation of Christianity in Ethiopia 102 The impact of the Old Testament on the Aksumite Church .. 115 Conclusion ................................................................................ 137 Chapter 4. From the Bible in Aksum to the ‘Tabot’ (‘Ark’) in Lalibela: Tracing ‘Israelite’ Ethos and ‘Judaic’ Cultural Development in the 6th Century CE ........................................ 139 Finding Jews in cosmopolitan Aksum: the religio-political situation in and after the 6th century CE ........................ 140 The Aksumite-Ḥimyarite Jewish Relationship ....................... 142 Towards the ‘Ark of the Covenant’ ......................................... 150 After Aksum, to the Zagʷe ....................................................... 156 Circumcison among Ethiopians ................................................159 Developments of the EOC’s ‘Judaic’ cultural elements and notes on the presence of Jews: the case of Eldad HaDani .................................................................................. 163 Queen Bani al-Hamwiyah: ‘Yodith’ the Jewess? ..................... 166 The Zagʷe’s and their ‘Judaic’ Legacies.................................... 170 Building Jerusalem in Ethiopia..................................................175 Prayers of Haṣani Lalibäla: Tabot and the Sabbath ................ 177 The ‘Israelite’ Zagʷe Kings ........................................................183 The Last Decades of the Lasta Dynasty ................................... 186 Conclusion ................................................................................ 188 Part III. ‘Solomonic’ Identity and ‘Judaic’ Elements in the Ethiopian Church ...................................................................... 191 Chapter 5: From ክብረ ነገሥት (Kǝbrä Nägäśt) To መጽሐፈ ብርሃን (Mäṣḥafä Bǝrhan): Thriving ‘Judaic’ Identity in the Ethiopian Church ..................................................................... 193 Developments of ‘Judaic’ Themes in Ethiopic Literatures after the 13th Century ........................................................ 193 Enforcing ‘Judaic’ Heritage: Commanding the Innovation..... 196

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Kəbrä Nägäśt and Ethiopia’s Solomonic State: God’s Will Done in Ethiopia .............................................................. 196 Ideas for Sabbath Observance in Canonical Books: ይቤሉ ሐዋርያት በሲኖዶሶሙ/‘The Apostles Stated in Their Senodos’ ........................................................................... 208 The Growth and Impact of the Betä Ǝsra’el (‘House of Israel’), the Ethiopian Ayhud (Jews) ................................ 213 The Betä Ewosṭatewos: debates and their ‘Judaising’ Legacies ............................................................................. 219 Sabbath Observance: Two-Phase Reactions of the EOC Scholars ............................................................................. 227 Early Anti-Sabbath Stances ...................................................... 227 ኢይስዕርዋ ሰብእ ለቀዳሚት ሰንበት (‘People Should Not Break Sabbath’): The Council at Däbrä Məṭmaq and the Shaping of Sabbath Tradition in the EOC ..................... 234 ‘Pagan’ Implant on the ‘Judaic spirit’ of the EOC: The Three-Concentric-Circle Church Architecture as a Case for Reciprocal Influence ................................................. 240 Conclusion ................................................................................ 245 Chapter 6: Attempts to Delineate the Position of the Church on ‘Judaic’ Cultural Practices and Concomitant Impact............. 247 The ‘Judaic’ Identity of the EOC at the Crossroads (15th -16th c.) ...................................................................................... 248 Embracing ‘the Alien’: Firm Consolidation of ‘HebraicJudaic’ Norms in the EOC .............................................. 249 Jesuit missionaries’ Reaction to the EOC’s ‘Judaic’ Elements, ‘Jewish Superstitions’ ...................................... 257 Choices between Amendments and Adjustments ................. 264 Not Judaic, but Israelite! The Decree of Aṣe Gälawdewos in Defence of the EOC’s ‘Judaic’ Practices .......................... 265 Making Sense of the ‘Judaic’ Cultural Practices ...................... 273 Against Jewish Cultural Elements: Attempt to Establish the West in the East by Eating Pork as Proof of ‘Conversion’ ..................................................................... 275 The andəmta texts: meant to be the final words? .................. 279 Biblical Andəmta and the Placating of ‘Judaic’ Tension ........ 285 Haymanotä Abäw (‘Faith of the Fathers’) and Fətḥa Nägäśt (‘Law of the Kings’).......................................................... 292

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Conclusion ............................................................................... 297 Conclusion ........................................................................................ 299 Bibliography ...................................................................................... 305 Primary Sources ........................................................................ 305 Secondary Sources..................................................................... 310 Books and Articles .................................................................... 310 Other books .............................................................................. 330 Internet sources ......................................................................... 330 Appendices .........................................................................................333 Appendix A: Biblical andəmta: additional selected texts .........333 Appendix B: Sabbath in the Dəggʷa, selected text ................. 340 Appendix C: Pictures................................................................ 343 Index of Authors ............................................................................... 345 Index of Subjects and Persons ..........................................................349

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The idea of this book was first developed in 2007 in an IES/AAU’s MA Program seminar convened by the historian Fikru G/Kidan through a discussion of themes in Ethiopian studies. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Dr Fikru, and all of my friends and colleagues who listened to my ideas from that time onwards and who tirelessly provided positive criticism as well as necessary materials until this project was finished. I am deeply indebted to Dr Erica C. D. Hunter (SOAS). I recognise with great respect her invaluable encouragement, guidance and critical comments at every stage of this project. My sincere thanks also go to my SOASian language support team (Swiss-American Dr Florence Hodous; British-Ethiopian Dr Ralph Lee – who supported me in many other ways too, including critically engaging with my research idea and providing many corrections), and to the many selfless EOTC scholars who assisted me immeasurably. In addition, a huge thanks goes to all who offered me both financial and other necessary support towards the development of this research – Dr Steve Bryan’s family, my family members (particularly Genet and Wesen), and great family-friends (the likes of Aster, Zerihun, Meron, Sofanit, and Yospeh whom I have met at EGST and in the UK). Balancing the time required for research (from 2009–2014) and commitments to my family was not easy, and was one of the most testing tasks in the course of writing; such that still do I remember my lovely children (Leeena, Meleet, Heyaw and MekreAb) telling me that they can’t believe that their ‘ababi has finished his job’! In this project, my wife Tensae Desalegn excelled as a champion as always, flawlessly taking the entire burden at home and withstanding xi

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all challenges and struggles alongside me on this incredible journey with amazing endurance: I acknowledge without reserve that this book is produced by us.

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS Amh. BSOAS CSCO DAE EA

Amharic Bulletin of School of Oriental and African Studies Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Oroientalium Deutsche Aksum-Expedition [Vol. I–IV, E. Littmann (ed.) Encyclopaedia Aethiopica [Vol. 1–3, S. Uhlig (ed.); Vol. 4, S. Uhlig in cooperation with A. Bausi (eds.), 2010. EC Ethiopian Calendar. [The western calendar runs approximately seven years ahead of the Ethiopian Calendar. The Ethiopian New Year falls on the 11th of September (of the western calendar), and there are 13 months: twelve have 30 days, and the thirteenth has 5 or 6 in a leap year.] EMML Ethiopian Microfilm Manuscripts Library EOC The Ethiopian Orthodox Church (the official name of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is The Ethiopian Orthodox Täwaḥədo Church, EOTC). EOTC The Ethiopian Orthodox Täwahïdo Church [Ephraim Isaac’s] JSS Journal of Semitic Studies JES Journal of Ethiopian Studies IJES International Journal of Ethiopian Studies NEAS North East African Studies (Journal) NPNF Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers NRSV The Holy Bible, New Revised Standard Version r. Reigned xiii

TRANSLITERATION G Ə‘ ƏZ – AMHARIC (‘FIDEL’) CHARACTERS General ሀ

hä

ኀ

ḫä

ጀ

ğä

ለ

lä

ነ

nä

ገ

gä

ሐ

ḥä

ኘ

ñä

ጠ

ṭä

መ

mä

አ

a

ጨ č̣ä

ሠ

śä

ከ

kä

ጰ

p̣ä

ረ

rä

ኸ

ḩä

ጸ

ṣä

ሰ

sä

ወ

wä

ፀ

ṣä

ሸ

šä

ዐ

‘a (ᶜa)

ፈ

fä

ቀ

qä

ዘ

zä

ፐ

pä

በ

bä

ዠ

žä

ተ

tä

የ

yä

ቸ

čä

ደ

dä Labiovelars

ጓ gʷa

ጔ gʷe

ጕ gʷä ቋ qʷa

ቊ qʷä

xv

ኊ ḫʷä

xvi

ä

JEWISH CULTURAL ELEMENTS

u

Vowels (first to seventh order respectively) i a e ə (or without) o

INTRODUCTION The Ethiopian Orthodox Täwaḥədo Church (henceforth referred to as EOTC or EOC) is one of the oldest churches in the world. From the outset of its ‘official’ establishment in Aksum in the first half of the fourth century, the church has influenced and shaped the culture of a majority of Ethiopians. Its prominence in the religious and political discourse of the nation, particularly until 1974, means that the study of the EOC is an essential element of understanding Ethiopia. This fact has been noted in many of the studies conducted by both Ethiopians and non-Ethiopians, which demonstrate the place of the Ethiopian church in shaping the Ethiopian identity. As such, for many centuries European explorers and scholars have written extensively on the relationship between the EOC and other Christian traditions, as well as the disposition of its interaction with other nonChristian religions; but more importantly, they have written on its unique ‘Judaeo-Hebraic’ elements. These ‘Jewish’ elements that inarguably shaped the cultural identity of most Ethiopians are one of the principal topics that have interested Ethiopists. The means by which such elements were established in Ethiopia can be rightly contested: as this book aims to discuss, the church appears to have remained faithful to similar customs manifested in the writings and spirit of the Old Testament and/or cultural elements exhibited among Jews/followers of Judaism. The numerous ‘Judaic’ characteristics which seem to have been integrated into the religious life of Ethiopian Orthodox Christians can be observed in the daily social life of Ethiopians living in the central and northern parts of the country. Examples of such cultural practices amongst members of the EOC include the circumcision of male children on the eighth day 1

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after birth and the observance of dietary customs which almost conform to the Old Testament. The arrangement of church buildings into three concentric circles has also been thought to echo the divisions of Judaic temple architecture.1 The EOC accepts two Sabbaths – Saturday and Sunday – and currently, in some cases, its members observe both Sabbaths with many restrictions attached to it. Other practices include: the burning of incense considered by some to be similar to Old Testament practices; the vestments of the priests and musical instruments which others identify with Old Testament traditions; and potentially the most significant element in this regard is the presence of Jewish Aramaic loanwords that are found in Gə‘əz. The claim that the Ark of the Covenant is kept in a chapel in Aksum in Ethiopia is another; as a result of this tradition, the tabot (Ark of the Covenant) and ṣəlat (a replica of the tablets of the Ark of the Covenant) play a key role in the consecration of new church buildings while the image of Jerusalem is also prominent in the religious ethos. I believe the official view of the EOC regarding the process in which this ‘Judaic’ identity was formed emanates from the Kəbrä nägäśt (‘The Glory of Kings’), a highly respected book that is regarded as a sort of national epic articulating the official version of the origin of the ‘Solomonic dynasty’ in Ethiopia.2 Essentially a compendium of material which circulated in different forms in the medieval period (it claims to have been written in the Coptic language and to have been translated to Gə‘əz in the fourteenth century from an ArEdward Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible, The Schweich Lectures (London: Oxford University Press, 1967) 87–89; Calvin E. Shenk, ‘Reverse Contextualization: Jesuit Encounter with the Ethiopian Orthodox Church’ in Direction 28 (1) 1999, 88. 2 See David Allan Hubbard, ‘The Literary Sources of the Kebra Nagast.’ PhD dissertation, University of St. Andrews, 1956; Irfan Shahîd, ‘The Kebra Nagast in the Light of Recent Research’, in Le Muséon (89) 1976, 133–178; recently, Paolo Marrassini, ‘Kəbrä Nägäśt’ in Siegbert Uhlig (ed.) Encyclopaedia Aethiopica [EA] Vol. 3 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2007) 364–368. Further discussion on the Kəbrä nägäśt appears later in this book, particularly in Chapter 4 and Chapter 5. 1

INTRODUCTION

3

abic version),3 the book gives a detailed account of the visit of Queen Makədda (otherwise known as the Queen of Sheba) to King Solomon (of Israel) and how she bore him a son named Mənilək, who, according to the story, eventually became King Mənilək I. Kəbrä Nägäśt narrates that in the beginning of the tenth century BCE, Mənilək visited Jerusalem; and upon his return to Aksum, Jewish priests joining him in the journey back conspired to purloin the Ark of the Covenant from the Temple without the king’s knowledge. They succeeded in their venture and took the Ark of the Covenant with them to Aksum. In the process, the glory of the Lord departed from Israel and passed to Ethiopia; Aksum became the Ethiopian Jerusalem4 and the ‘navel,’ or centre, of the world. And now, due to the presence of the priests and, even more importantly, of the Ark, Judaism found new ground in Aksum as a deeply established religion of the kingdom. As a result, mass conversion was followed by the The Queen of Sheba and her only son Meneyelek (I): being the ‘Book of the glory of kings’ (Kebra nagast) a work which is alike the traditional history of the establishment of the religion of the Hebrews in Ethiopia, and the patent of sovereignty which is now universally accepted in Abyssinia as the symbol of the divine authority to rule which kings of the Solomonic line claimed to have received through their descent from the house of David. E. Wallis Budge (tr.) (London: Oxford University Press, 1932) [which is translated from Kebra Nagast Die Herrlichkeit Der Könige. Carl Bezold (ed.) (Muenchen: K. B. Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1905)]; only Bezold/Budge’s version of the text is used in this book. Budge’s book is usually regarded as not a best English translation of Kəbrä nägäśt, but I see that my use of the texts from it may not cause incongruence to the idea developed in my book. There are also brief comments regarding Kəbrä nägäśt in numerous books from diverse disciplines; see for example David Phillipson, Ancient Churches of Ethiopia, Fourth – Fourteenth Centuries (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2009) 2 and 22; Adrian Hasting, The Church in Africa 1450–1950 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996) 12. 4 Liber Axumae. C Conti Rossini (ed.) CSCO, Script. Aeth. 8 (Louvain: Peeters Press, 1910) 72 (text) [Liber Axumae is Maṣhafa Aksum]; also, in Sergew Hable Sellassie, Ancient and Medieval Ethiopian History to 1270 (Addis Ababa: Haile Selassie I University, 1972) 41. 3

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near-extinction of ‘paganism’ from the land.5 Consequently, not only did existing Judaic practices blend into the life of the church in the Christian Era, but the royal bloodline of Mənilək I has long been the central idea for strengthening the foundation of the Solomonic kingdom in Ethiopia, which supposedly continued uninterrupted until 1974 except for the period of the Zagʷe Dynasty,6 who were considered ‘usurpers’.

Unlike what Kəbrä Nägäśt seems to claim regarding the Ethiopians’ conversion to Judaism in toto, different opinions have emerged among the EOC’s writers. For writers like Archbishop Yisehaq, there is ‘no doubt [that] elements of all forms of worship were practiced in Ethiopia’ after the tenth century BCE (The Ethiopian Tewahedo Church: An Integrally African Church (Nashville, TN: James C. Winston Pub. Co., 1997) 3). Other Ethiopian tradition attaches the origin of the monotheistic Ethiopian nation to the second son of Noah, Ham, who was also presumed to have been the follower of monotheistic religion in line with the Israelites (see E. Wallis Budge, A History of Ethiopia, Nubia and Abyssinia (According to the Hieroglyphic Inscriptions of Egypt and Nubia, and the Ethiopian Chronicles) Vol. I (London: Methuen & Co, 1928)). In this case, the connection of Ethiopia to the biblical story is stretched beyond Kəbrä nägäśt’s chronology. One basic importance of Kəbrä nägäśt is its establishment of a foundational conception of Ethiopia as a chosen nation, strengthening Ethiopia’s peculiar claim to three thousand years of Christianity. Considering both stories, Ham’s and Kəbrä Nägäśt’s, the assertion that ‘Abyssinians were never at any time pagans, and that they always worshiped the One God of Noah and his descendants’ has long served as a well established claim among some Ethiopian writers; extreme takes on this are expressed in some popular books. See Fisseha Yaze Kasa, የኢትዮጲያ የአምስት ሺህ ታሪክ (ከኖህ እስከ ኢህአዴግ) [‘Ethiopia’s Five Thousand Years of History (from Noah to EPRDF’] (Addis Ababa: 2011); Nibure-Id Ermias Kebede Wolde-Yesus, Ethiopia: The Classic Case: A Biblical Nation Under God That Survived Great Trials for 7490 years of its Existence and Ordained to Invoke Divine Judgement and Condemnation Upon the World! (Washington DC: The Kingdom of God Services, 1997). 6 Zagʷe’s rule probably stretched more than 300 years; they were in power until about 1270 CE (see Chapter 4). 5

INTRODUCTION

5

Based on Kəbrä Nägäśt, as shown in the writings of EOC’s historians Abba Gorgorious and Lule Melaku,7 the church affirms the presence of Judaic culture in Aksum, detailing how Judaism became a state religion and left its resilient mark on the practices of the church in later eras. According to these traditions, Judaism maintained a prominent place until the fourth century CE, and its impact continued after the inception of Christianity in Aksum:8 some of the 7

Gorgorios (Abba), የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ቤተክርስቲያን ታሪክ [Amh., The History of Ethiopian Orthodox Täwaḥədo Church], 2nd ed. (Addis Ababa: Bərhanənna Sälam Printing Press, 1986 E.C.) 23; Lule Melaku, የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ቤተክርስቲያን ታሪክ [Amh., The History of Ethiopian Orthodox Täwaḥədo Church] (Addis Ababa: Bərhanənna Sälam Printing Press, 1997 E.C.) 8. 8 The term Aksum (‘አክሱም; አኵስም’/Akʷǝsəm) stands for the name of both the city and the kingdom. The legend of Aksum found in Mäṣḥafä Aksum, a literary work from the seventeenth century CE, reports that the city was formerly built on the site of the tomb of the founder of the Ethiopian state, Ityop̣is (son of Kush, son of Ham, son of Noah), before it became the capital city of the Queen of Sheba in the tenth century BCE (Liber Axumae, 27). An Ethiopian writer offered an etymology of Aksum, suggesting that it derived from ‘አ፡ኵሽም/ ’A-kᵂšəm,’ or ‘the land of Kush, Cush’ (Kidanewold Kifle, መጽሐፈ ሰዋስው ወግስ ወመዝገበ ቃላት ሐዲስ [The New Book of Grammar, Verb, and Dictionary] (Addis Ababa: Artistic Printing Press, 1956) 219. According to Sergew, its origin is from a combination of two words, Semitic Siyyum (‘chief’) and Agaw Aʷ (‘water’), yielding AʷSiyyum; or it may have been derived from the earlier Semitic term Mayshum. Both possible origins would have meant ‘Water-Chief’ (Segew, Ancient, 68; also, Taddesse Tamrat, ‘Processes of Ethnic Interaction and Integration in Ethiopian History: the Case of the Agaw’, in Journal of African History, 29 (1988), 8.) See further comments in C F Beckingham and G W B Huntingford, The Prester John of Indies: A True Relation of the Lands of the Prester John, Being the Narrative of the Portuguese Embassy to Ethiopia in 1520 Written by Father Francisco Alvares (Cambridge: Hakluyt Society, 1961) 521; Enno Littmann (et. al.), Deutsche Aksum-Expedition, 1905–1910 Vol II (Berlin: Verlag der königl Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1913) XXVII; Deutsche Aksum-Expedition is henceforth quoted as DAE. See also H. N. Chittick, ‘Excavations at Aksum, A Preliminary Report’, in Azania

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elements were supposedly contextualised and appropriated by the church. It is further claimed that, due to the conversion of the high priest and other followers of Judaism to Christianity in the fourth century (including the king), the ‘temple of the Israelites’ was then converted to a Christian church and named Maryam Ṣəyon (‘Mary Zion’).9 The majority of the followers of Judaism were converted to Christianity and integrated into the EOC;10 since existing Judaic practices were thought to be non-essentials that would not affect the truth of Christianity, they were incorporated into the church.11 According to this narrative, some rejected Christianity and continued to uphold Judaism; these later identified as the Betä Ǝsra’el.12

IX (1974) 192. It seems that the city of Aksum was established not earlier than the first century BCE. The city (alongside the port city Adulis) remained a centre of culture, civilization and trade in Northeast Africa and attained its zenith of influence on the neighbouring countries between the third and sixth centuries CE. Today, having completely lost its previous prestige and being known only for its archaeological significance and as a place for religious pilgrimage and tourist attraction, Aksum is currently a small town located in the northern part of the country. See Edward Ullendorff, The Ethiopians: An Introduction to the Country and the Culture (London: Oxford University Press, 1960) 4–12. 9 Abba Gorgorios, የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ, 13; Sergew, Ancient, 41; The Queen of Sheba and her only son Meneyelek (I), 42. 10 See Chapter 3 for a criticism of this. 11 Abba Gorgorios, የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ; Lule Melaku, የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ, 10– 13; The Queen of Sheba and her only son Meneyelek (I), 12; The Ethiopian Orthodox Täwaḥədo Church Patriarchate, The Ethiopian Orthodox Täwaḥədo Church: Faith, Order of Worship and Ecumenical Relations [Amharic/English] (Addis Ababa: Tensae Publishing House, 1996). 12 Referred to by many scholars as Fälasha (see, however, discussion in Ch 1 B); in relation to Betä Ǝsra’el, some scholars of Ethiopian Jewry have suggested that a Jewish community arrived in Aksum via either Egypt or South Arabia between the sixth century BCE and the fourteenth century CE. For the glut of materials on this topic written before 1988, see for example Steven Kaplan and S. Ben-Dor, Ethiopian Jewry. An Annotated Bibliography (Jerusalem, 1988). Many works have been written thereafter, mainly in the

INTRODUCTION

7

Observers and travellers of the medieval period were also intrigued by their discovery of an ancient church in Ethiopia with a unique ‘Hebraic-Judaic’ culture. These impressions paved the way for subsequent academic discussion (see Chapter 1). Generally, at least three trends dominated the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century European observation and discussion of the EOC’s ‘Judaic’ elements. Some of the writings are products of a ‘scornful assessment’ of the Ethiopian Church’s ‘Judaic’ practices, a trend that largely reflected the missionaries’ generally polemical approach in presenting their version of Christianity in an attempt to proselytize the members of the EOC. Others tried to see the main facets of the EOC within the context of the ancient church. In this regard, the EOC’s tradition was evaluated ‘moderately,’ which treated the ‘unique’ Ethiopian culture within the wider context of Eastern Christianity and its practices. Other writers chose to analyse the EOC’s Judaic cultural elements as product of the ‘mixture’ of Judaism ‘in Christianity’, postulating the possibility of direct contact with Judaism in ancient Ethiopia.13 The academic works of the nineteenth and twentieth century appear to be a sophisticated, extensively documented and scholastically nuanced extension of these views, and they also resulted in rather conflicting conclusions about the origin of the EOC’s ‘Jewish cultural elements.’ The claim that ‘Judaic elements’ originated from direct contact with Judaism, in agreement with some of the assertions of the official stance of the EOC but demonstrating substantial difference in details and presentation, has received the support of many scholars of outstanding academic calibre, including Enno Littmann and the highly acclaimed Ethiopologist Edward Ullendorff. Ullendorff contended that Judaic practices had been in effect even before the introduction 1990s; but very important scholarly works also apeared in the first decades after 2000. 13 See discussion in Maxime Rodinson, ‘On the Question of “Jewish Influences” in Ethiopia’, in Alessandro Bausi (ed.) Languages and Cultures of Eastern Christianity: Ethiopia (Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 2012) 179–180. This is a translation of ‘Sur la Question des “Influences Juives” en Ethiopie’ in JSS 9 (1) 1964, 11–19 (translated to English by Abigail Jamet). See Chapter 1.

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of Christianity at Aksum, having entered mainly via South Arabia;14 Frederick Gamst rightly dubbed this a ‘traditionalist’ view.15 On the other hand, other writings show that the ‘Jewish cultural’ aspect of the EOC was the product of the introduction of Judaic elements due to a Christian ‘missionary’ impact through the earliest missionary works of monks from ‘Syria’ who were thought to have been the prime bearers of Jewish Christianity to Aksum (thus referred to as a ‘missiological’ contribution here). According to this theory, Jewish Christianity took root through the aegis of the earliest JewishChristians, who had migrated from Jerusalem to Syria after the destruction of the city in 70 CE.16 In contrast to the ‘Via Syria’ hypothesis proposed by Ephraim Isaac, French scholar Maxime Rodinson highlighted the place of the Bible in introducing the world of the Old Testament to the Aksumites, maintaining that the translation of the Bible informed the process of imitation of the Old Testament and had a prominent role in the origin of Judaic practices in the EOC.17 This view carefully considers the ideas previously formulated by the renowned scholar August Dillmann, who emphasized the fifteenth century CE religious reformation activity of Ethiopians such as aṣe (Emperor) Zär’a 14

See ‘Literature and Impressions’, below. Edward Ullendorff, ‘HebraicJewish Elements in Abyssinian (Monophysite) Christianity’, in JSS 1 (3) 1956, 216–256. See also The Ethiopians; Ethiopia and the Bible; David Kessler, The Falashas: The Forgotten Jews of Ethiopia (New York: Africana Publishing Company, 1982). While they mostly agree that, contrary to the narrative of the Kəbrä Nägäśt, Jews arrived in Ethiopia during a post-exilic period (after 586 BCE), they are not in agreement regarding the direction from which Jews came to Ethiopia (see below, Chapter 1. For a brief discussion on the identity of the Ethiopian Jews, Betä Ǝsra’el/‘Fälasha, see Chapter 1). 15 Frederick Gamst, ‘Judaism’, in EA Vol. 1, 305–6. 16 The contribution of ‘Syriac missionaries’ in the fourth to sixth centuries is analysed by Ephraim Isaac, ‘An Obscure Component in Ethiopian Church History: An Examination of Various Theories Pertaining to the Problem of the Origin and Nature of Ethiopian Christianity’, in Le Muséon 85 (1–2) 1972: 225–258; see also Chapter 2. 17 Rodinson, ‘On the Question of ‘Jewish Influences’, 179–186.

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Ya‘əqob (r. 1434–68) as the source of the Judaic tradition in the EOC.18 These scholarly discussions pertaining to the ‘Judaic’ identity of the Ethiopian population in general and that of the EOC in particular no doubt have significantly contributed to the study of Ethiopian Christianity and history. Nonetheless, I argue that they have failed to properly and adequately address the issue—for several reasons—and thus need critical examination. To this end, in forwarding the main question as to how Judaic identity in the EOC was formed and shaped, important critical questions are posed to augment historical explanations for this phenomenon: o What was the religious context of the country before the introduction of Christianity? o What is the evidence for the existence of followers of Judaism (and even the Ethiopian Jews, the Betä Ǝsra’el) in Ethiopia before the introduction of Christianity? o What were the means by which the ‘Judaic’ elements were introduced to the church? o What is the relationship between the ‘Judaic practices’ of the EOC and those of Judaism, indigenous African cultural elements, and earliest Jewish Christianity? What roles did missionary endeavours play in the development of Judaic practices in the EOC? o Is there historical evidence for sociocultural and political developments in Ethiopia that reflect the parallel development of the ‘Judaic’ cultural elements in the EOC? o What are the testimonies of Ethiopic primary sources regarding the ‘Judaic’ character of the EOC? Critical historical responses given to such questions, in addition to forwarding a nuanced academic hypothesis, would no doubt challenge the claim for the existence of Jewish culture in Aksum before

August Dillmann, Über die Regierung, insbesondere die Kirchenordnung des Königs Zar’a-Jacob (Berlin: die K. Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1884). The mentioned views are further discussed in this book. 18

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the fourth century CE. I thus addressed the query in this particular book by reconsidering: • pertinent historical data and reflections to analyse theological and ecclesiastical developments that stem from Aksum’s ecumenical and political relations after the fourth century CE. • the possible cultural exchange between Jews and Aksum in and after the sixth century CE, particularly in relation to the expedition to Ḥimyar by the Aksumite nəguś Ǝlla Aṣbəḥa (Kaleb). • the contribution of indigenous cultural elements (for example, circumcision) that were possibly acculturated into the EOC practices and later seen as ‘Jewish.’ • the understanding of EOC scholars, which grew from Kəbrä Nägäśt and theological developments after the ninth century CE that significantly affected the history of the church before the 15th century. • the historical complexity of the development of the ‘Judaic’ heritage of the EOC, as witnessed in Ethiopic primary sources. This includes the translation of canonical ecclesiastical books from the Alexandrian Orthodox Church (such as Didəsqəlya and Senodos) to Gə‘əz, or Ethiopic, in the 12th to 14th centuries. This translation process became the basis for the development of ‘Judaic’ themes in the cultural milieu of the EOC, not books written by Ethiopian writers in the 15th century (such as Ṭomarä təsbə’ət, Mäṣḥafä məśṭir) that later added to the repertoire of Ethiopic literature. Following the above points, what I want to accomplish in this book is not only to accentuate the lack of historical and literary evidence for the existence of ‘Judaic’ elements in Aksum before the fourth century, but also to show the diverse ways in which ‘Jewish’ cultural elements were introduced and developed in Ethiopia. I intend to present an alternative that assesses different trajectories present after the sixth century CE, mainly following the expedition of Ǝlla Aṣbəḥa (Kaleb) against the last Ḥimyarite Jewish kingdom in South Arabia. This is to affirm that the ‘Judaic elements’ and practices that formed the ‘Judaic’ identity of the EOC are not the result of direct contact between Ethiopians and Jewish communities or Judaism before the fourth century CE (as advanced by the traditionalists). Considering

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the restricted Jewish-Aksumite relations beginning from the sixth century CE, the book proposes, against views forwarded by missiological and imitation/reformation views, that the ‘Judaic’ identity in the EOC was formed and developed through a gradual and complex sociocultural and political process over centuries. Christian literature from Coptic sources contributed to the formation of the identity alongside indigenous elements that were acculturated into the church through contextualisation, as in the case of circumcision. It is thus through theological construction based on these sources that ‘Judaic’ identity further evolved in the 15th century. I have framed my research in such a way as to question the shaping of the ‘Judaic’ identity of the EOC, partly by proposing a methodology that shifts the balance from an exclusively Judaeo-centric hypothesis to investigate, among others, the impact of indigenous cultures, canonical and ecclesiastical literature, and theological innovation of Ethiopian scholars. In this book, the views that endorse a one-time event in relation to the introduction of Judaic cultural elements into the EOC are critically re-examined in light of historical and literary evidence in an attempt to show how the ‘Judaic’ identity of Ethiopian Christianity was formed and developed in the post-fourth-century period through complex and multi-layered processes that involved different trajectories through many centuries. The study thus traces the contribution of numerous ‘Judaic’ factors to the formation of the EOC’s identity, which can shed new light on the understanding of the church in particular and the history of the country in general. Thus, to put it succinctly, the main thesis of this book is to contend that the ‘Judaic’ cultural identity of the EOC was established neither due to an influence of Jews and Judaism in Aksum prior to the fourth century nor as a result of a one-time event but as a result of sociopolitical, cultural factors after the sixth century CE and spanning many centuries, shaped substantially by biblical and ecclesiastical narratives as well as Ethiopian indigenous cultural expressions that were developed through contextualisation and theologising processes. Definition and Usage of Terms: There are many terms used in academic discussion pertaining to the Ethiopian ‘Judaic’ heritage. The EOC’s cultural practices that are comparable to some of the (Old Testament’s) Jewish cultural elements like Sabbath observance

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are loosely referred to by scholars in one or more descriptive terms: ‘Hebraic-Jewish elements’, ‘Judaic religious practices’, ‘Jewishness’, ‘Jewish cultural elements’, ‘Jewish elements’, ‘Hebraic’, ‘Hebraic mould’, ‘Judaic’, ‘Judaic-Hebraic’, or ‘Judaeo-Hebraic’; or they refer to the EOC as a ‘church with biblical flavour’ (meaning a church that follows some of the Old Testament’s rules and regulations). Since I propose that these elements in the EOC originated through complex political and cultural factors as well as contextualisation of indigenous cultures and theological processes that spanned a millennia (instead of solely through direct contact with Jews and Judaism, as has been assumed by some), the terms in connection to the EOC cultural elements are placed in quotation marks (‘ ’; for example ‘Jewish’) throughout the book. Source Materials: I have examined texts in Gə‘əz and Amharic, as well as published and unpublished scholarly works available to me, in order to assess the perception of ‘Judaic’ identity in Ethiopic literature and how this relates to the stance of the EOC. Sources from the earliest Ethiopic literature (like Kəbrä Nägäśt, Didəsqəlya, Senodos, Qälemənṭos, Fətḥa Nägäśt, Haymanotä Abäw) have been consulted alongside books written by Ethiopian church scholars between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, notably Dəggʷa, Zena Mäwa‘el, Andəmta, Ṭomarä Təsbə’ət, Tä’ammərä Maryam, Mäṣḥafä Bərhan, Mäṣḥafä Məśṭir. The andəmta (commentaries) of some of the basic EOC’s books have also been used. In addition to these, the research identifies and utilizes archaeological and historical studies of the pre-Christian Aksumite era through the earliest Christian period in and around Aksum. In order to highlight the formation and development of the ‘Judaic’ heritage of the Ethiopian Church, therefore, in contrast to conclusions reached from any single academic discipline on the study of pre- and post-Aksumite cultural contexts, I employed a multidisciplinary approach that considers diverse narratives. Thus indigenous literature sources as well as findings from the fields of philological and linguistic studies are analysed. I also tried to use sources from other disciplines (mainly findings from archaeological and historical studies) in order to build up an interpretive model that adequately explains the political and historical sociocultural complexity involved in the dissemination of ‘Judaic’ culture in Ethiopia. As such, the investigation

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also employs various heuristic tools to address the numerous lacunae in the historical data of the long history of Ethiopian Christianity. And admittedly, some published and unpublished primary and secondary sources may perhaps be omitted due to inaccessibility of the materials during the research process. Structure and Scope of the Study: My book is primarily a historical narrative based on material evidence, historical data, and Ethiopic literature that demonstrate the different layers (and thus gradual development) of different trajectories (complex and multi-layered processes) in the dissemination of ‘Judaic’ identity in the EOC. The first part of the book briefly presents the earliest reflections and impressions of European travellers and academic literature pertaining to the presence of ‘Judaic’ identity, as well as the Jewish community, in Ethiopia (Chapter 1). The South Arabian hypothesis, which identifies the immigration of Jews to Aksum as a main source of the introduction of ‘Judaic’ cultural elements to Ethiopia, is analysed in order to critically address the principal arguments of the traditionalist view—which became the basis for academic discussion in the twentieth century and remained of interest to many writers focusing on the history of the Ethiopian church in particular and the African church in general (Chapter 2). Critical analysis of the subject shows that the evidence presented, as well as methodologies employed, to verify the existence of Judaic culture in the Aksumites’ pre-Christian period may not be easily substantiated. Part two assesses the historical investigation into fourththrough late-thirteenth-century EOC history during the Aksumite and post-Aksumite eras based on archaeological and historical evidence to illustrate further the dearth of evidence in conjecturing the presence of Jews in Aksum before the introduction of Christianity. It is followed by a brief survey of fourth- to sixth-century CE developments in Aksumite Christianity to highlight the fact that the expression of Christianity introduced in Aksum was basically trinitarian, essentially deriving from the Coptic Christian tradition. In Chapter 3,19 the Aksumite Church’s relationship with Jewish Christianity 19 See particularly Chapter 3.

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(and/or Judaeo-Christianity) is also assessed; this is followed by a definition of the term that serves to determine the problematic nature of categorising the EOC’s cultural elements as part and parcel of ‘Jewish-Christianity.’ It attempts to address critically the ‘imitation’/’reformation’ and ‘missiological’ hypotheses regarding the origin of the ‘Judaic’ elements and aims to ascertain what can be known about the presence of ‘Jewish’ elements during the establishment and development of the earliest period of Ethiopian church history until the sixth century CE. In this part of the research, I conclude that there is almost nothing that can be identified as Judaism/Judaic in the pre-fourth-century Aksumite and early Aksumite cultural milieu; I compare this to the steady dissemination of ‘Judaic’ elements after the sixth century. In addition to highlighting the development in Aksum following Kaleb’s expedition to South Arabia, historical narratives of the foundation and development in the teachings of the EOC serve to identify factors in the formation of its ‘Jewish’ heritage. In particular, the Zagʷe claim of ‘Israelite’ heritage (which, interestingly, remains a precursor to the assertions of the Kəbrä Nägäśt) is analysed as the earliest attempt to connect Ethiopia to the biblical Israel (Chapter 4). This earliest development, however, is only scantily supported by few reliable historical documents. The third and final part of my book is a presentation of the historical development of ‘Judaic’ elements as attested in historical and literary sources. The introduction of canonical ecclesiastical books and subsequent theological reflection, as well as the establishment of a ‘Solomonic’ state ushered in by the ethos of the Kəbrä Nägäśt, was consummated in the theological debates of the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries between the Betä Täklä Haymanot and the proSabbath Betä Ewosṭatewos. These debates are presented as the fundamental factor in the shaping of ‘Judaic’ identity in the EOC, thus amending the ‘reformation’ view of the chronological significance of pre-fifteenth-century theological developments in the EOC (Chapter 5). How the growth of Judaic cultural expressions shaped the way European travellers perceived and interpreted the traditions of Ethiopian Christianity beginning from the medieval period is also analysed in Chapter 5. In Chapter 6, I attempt to demonstrate that another phase of translation, beginning in the second half of the fif-

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teenth century, perhaps stabilised both the internal friction (between the anti- and pro-Sabbathean Ethiopian scholars) and external pressure (from Jesuit missionaries). The literature from this period serves in the effort to strike a balance between the consideration of the ‘Judaic’ elements introduced prior to the fourteenth century (indicated in the earliest canonical and ecclesiastical books) and the later local writings produced in the midst of an intense theologisation effort in the fifteenth century, thus providing a glimpse of the active participation of the Ethiopian clergy and kings in the shaping of the church’s Judaic identity and cultural façades.

CHAPTER 1. ‘JEWISH’ AND ‘JUDAIC’ ELEMENTS IN ETHIOPIA The study of ‘Judaic’ practices in the EOC and the relationship between Judaism and the EOC have been analysed by scholars alongside (or under) diverse topics, including: A) the earliest reflections on ‘Judaic-Hebraic’ Ethiopian culture by Europeans travellers and academic discussion regarding the ‘Judaic-Hebraic’ elements and practices in the EOC; and B) in relation to Jewish Studies, alongside the quest for the identity of the Betä Ǝsra’el, the Ethiopian Jews.

EARLY REFLECTIONS AND LITERATURE ON ‘JUDAICHEBRAIC’ ETHIOPIAN CULTURE Non-Ethiopian References and Related Literature The information we have about the city of Aksum and its sphere of political influence before the introduction of Christianity exists in snippets. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, written around 59–79 CE, is the earliest non-Ethiopian source which outlined, albeit briefly, ‘the city of the people called Auxumites [Aksumites]’, and Zoscales as the king of the country.1 In the middle of the second cenThe Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. Wilfred H. Schoff (tr. and ed.) (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1912) 22–24; the travelling writer mentions Adulis as the main port and provides some details on import/export commerce of the country, reporting that the king, Zoscales, ‘is miserly in his

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tury, the famous Greek astronomer and geographer Ptolemy of Alexandria (Claudius Ptolomaeus) also described Aksum as the seat of the king’s palace.2 Gaius Plinius Secundus, also known as Pliny the Younger, who was a Roman writer of the first century CE, mentioned Adulis as Aksum’s only window on the world;3 and Mani (d. 276 CE), the founder of the Manichaean religion, asserted that Aksum was one of the four most important kingdoms in the world, along with Persia, Rome, and Silos (China?).4 Subsequently, the first detailed account of the culture, civilisation, and the life of the kings of the Aksumite kingdom comes from The Christian Topography, written in the sixth century CE by Cosmas Indicopleustes, a contemporary of nəguś Ǝlla Aṣbəḥa (Kaleb). This work, written by an eyewitness who visited Aksum, describes the churches and monasteries in the royal city.5 However, this historical document does not men-

ways and always striving for more, but otherwise upright, and acquainted with Greek literature’ (p.23); for a recent translation see, The Periplus Maris Erythraei, Text with Introduction, Translation, and Commentary. Lionel Casson (tr. and ed) (Princeton University Press, 1989). It is suggested that Zoscales was ruler of the ‘coastal region rather than – as has usually been assumed – at Aksum’ (see David W Phillipson, Foundations of an African Civilisation: Aksum & the Northern Horn 1000BC – AD 1300 (James Currey, 2012) 64. It can be conjectured that Adulis was perhaps the capital city of the Aksumite kingdom before the establishment of Aksum; in the sixth century CE, Adulis served as a port for the Aksumites. See Cosmas Indicopleustes, The Christian Topography. J.W. McCrindle (trans. and ed.) (London: Hakluyt Society, 1897) 54. 2 Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolomaeus), The Geography of Claudius Ptolemy. Edward Luther Stevenson (trans. and ed.) (New York: New York Public Library, 1932) 108. 3 Pliny (Plinius Secundus), Naturalis Historia. B H Rackham (trans. and ed.) (London, 1948) 467–469. 4 H. J. Polotsky, et al. (tr. German) Kephalaia I (Stuttgart: Kohlammer, 1940) 188–189. 5 Cosmas, Topography, 55. Aksum remained the capital city and a cultural centre of Aksumite Kingdom until about 8th century CE (for a good analysis on Aksum and its civilisation, see David Phillipson, Ancient Ethiopia,

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tion any Judaic elements, including the veneration of the tabot at Aksum. One could still argue, however, that this may simply be due to the fact that his focus was on other matters. In contrast, other sixth-century documents do mention the Ark, first from the other side of the Red Sea’s shore. The Book of Himyarites, for example, relates how a Ḥimyarite Jewish ruler, in the face of a strong Christian army, swore by the Torah and the Ark of the Covenant to make peace with the Christians6 (the implication of which is discussed further in Chapter 4). As discussed in some detail in this book, the other document that mentions the Ark is the Kəbrä Nägäśt, parts of which most probably date back to the sixth century CE.7 Much later, a book attributed to ‘Abū Ṣāliḥ’,8 an Armenian Aksum: Its Antecedents and Successors (London: British Museum Press, 1995) 7. 6 The Martyrs of Najrân, New Documents. Irfan Shahîd (tr.) (Bruxelles: Société des Bollandistes, 1971) 45. On the source of the events involving the persecution, see The Book of Himyarites, Fragments of a Hitherto Unknown Syriac Work. Axel Moberg (ed. and tr.) (Lund: CWK Gleerup, 1924). 7 Hubbard, ‘Kebra Nagast’, 357; Marrassini, ‘Kəbrä Nägäśt’, 364–368. 8 Abū Ṣāliḥ, The Churches and Monasteries of Egypt and Some Neighbouring Countries. B.T.A. Evetts (tr. and ed.) (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1895) 287–288. According to a scholar, Abū Ṣāliḫ the Armenian, a Christian author from the 13th century, ‘is wrongly held to be the author of the famous description of “The Churches and Monasteries of Egypt and some Neighbouring Countries”. The Arabic text of the Taᵓrīḫ al-Kanāᵓis wal-adyra was […] compiled by a Coptic priest named Abu l-Makarim Sadallah b. Girgis b. Masud, who died after 1208 A.D.’ (Franz-Christoph Muth, ‘Abū Ṣāliḥ’, in EA Vol. 1, 54); H. Den Heijer, ‘The Composition of the History of the Churches and Monasteries of Egypt: Some Preliminary Remarks’ in D. W. Johnson (ed.), Acts of the Fifth International Congress of Coptic Studies Washington, 12–1 August 1992, Vol. 2, Part 1 (Rome: CIM, 1993), 209–219; Johannes den Heijer concluded that the book covers a period that ‘stretches over centuries, from the mid-twelfth century to the midfourteenth, and subsequently the [book] cannot be the work of just one person. Abu al-Makarim is only one of the authors’ (Witold Witakowski, ‘Coptic and Ethiopic Historical Writing’ in Sarah Foot and Chase F Robinson (eds.), The Oxford History of Historical Writing, Volume 2: 400–1400

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residing in Egypt who apparently never visited Ethiopia, reports a solemn celebration of the Ark of the Covenant in Ethiopia. Medieval and Later European Accounts Information from early European travellers regarding the ‘Judaic’ practices of the EOC is scanty but significant. It is interesting that the primary impressions of Europeans regarding the ‘Judaic’ culture of Ethiopia stem from their encounter with Ethiopian pilgrims to Jerusalem.9 This pilgrimage to Jerusalem seems to have remained the main platform for the interaction of Aksumites with the outside world. Johann von Wureburg, who visited Jerusalem in 1165, for example, reported having met Ethiopians there.10 In many cases, particularly in the medieval period, European understanding of the introduction of ‘Judaic’ culture in Ethiopia was no doubt informed by EOC’s existing cultures, in which some of these ‘Jewish’ elements were already well established. The travellers were impressed by the unique Christian elements they observed and disapprovingly reflected upon the ‘Jewish’ cultural mould of Ethiopian church practices. Jacques de Vitry, a French Benedictine monk, in a letter dated 1217, criticised Jacobite (Ethiopian) ‘barbarians’ who practiced circumcision.11 Around 1335, Jacopo da Verona, an Augustinian, claims these Jacobites practised three kinds of baptism: baptism by circumcision, baptism by marking the front with fire, and

(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012) 144; for discussion on quotations from ‘Abu Salih’, see Chapter 4. 9 Ethiopian relations with Jerusalem can be traced back to the beginning of fourth century CE; this can be further attested by Aksumite coins found in Jerusalem and the greater Palestinian area. See Kirsten Stoffregen Pedersen, ‘Jerusalem’, in EA Vol. 3, 276; E. Ceruli, Etiopi in Palestina, Storia della communità etiopica di Gerusalemme Vol. 1 (Rome: Liveria dello Stato, 1943), 144. 10 Pederson, ‘Jerusalem’, 276; Following Ceruli’s effort, Pederson has made an impressive study on the subject. 11 E. Cerulli, Etiopi in Palestina, Storia della communità etiopica di Gerusalemme Vol. 1. (Rome: Liveria dello Stato, 1943), 55–60.

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baptism by water.12 During his pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the 1480s, Felix Faber made acquaintance with the Ethiopian community and noticed that ‘although they do and observe [… Christian practices], yet they have been infected with fatal errors and are heretics hateful to the Holy Church. For together with the Jews they accept the useless, or indeed condemnable circumcision.’13 After the fifteenth century, Jesuit missionaries, contemptuous of the ‘Jewish’ traditions of the EOC, but more strenuously opposed against its miaphysite Christological position, tried to convert the church to Catholicism.14 ‘Scornful comments’ against the EOC’s ‘Jewish’ characteristics are thus a trend which continued to dominate the narrative of European missionaries to Ethiopia for centuries.15 A representative example of this attitude can be discovered in Henry Stern’s brief comment: The Abyssinian Church, although she has pertinaciously resisted the innovations of Rome, and the no less dangerous assaults of Islam, merits but little praise for her attachment to a creed which is a libel upon the Gospel and a caricature on the true Christian faith. Weaned from idolatry, without being thoroughly enlightened by the truth, she soon substituted asceticism for purity of life, and a mechanical performance of certain rites for the true worship of the living God. Fasts and penances, the adoration of the virgin, and the intercession of saints, together with the practice of circumcision, the observance of the Jewish Sabbath, and

Ibid., 131–132. Quoted in Ullendorff, ‘Hebraic – Jewish Elements’, 217; see also John T. Pawlikowski, ‘The Judaic Spirit of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church: A Case Study in Religious Acculturation’, in Journal of Religion in Africa 3 (4) 1971–1972, 178–199. 14 See Chapter 6. 15 This is typical of most sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Jesuit missionaries’ reaction and, as shown in Chapter 6, is a view which was also shared by Protestant missionaries arriving in Ethiopia beginning from the eighteenth century. 12 13

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JEWISH CULTURAL ELEMENTS all of the mosaic restrictions as to clean and unclean animals, form the essential teachings of her creed.16

Stern went on to characterise the EOC as an Old Testament community rather than a New Testament church. The ‘Judaic’ culture of the Ethiopian Church became a topic of academic discussion in seventeenth-century Europe. In contrast to the trend described above, we find the works of Job (Hiob) Ludolf (1624–1704), who was regarded by some as the founder of Ethiopian Studies in Europe;17 his outstanding book Historia Aethiopica (and also supplemented in parts by Commentarius)18 remains an essential reference for many scholars to this day.19 More specifically, his discussion of circumcision, dietary rules, and Sabbath observance is a mine of important information for subsequent discussion. Although he asserts that the Church strictly follows many Judaic practices that Henry A. Stern, Wanderings Among the Falashas in Abyssinia (London: Wertheim, Macintosh, and Hunt, 1862), 304–305; note that Stern is a convert from Judaism to Protestant Christianity, and his bias against his former religion is evident. 17 See Eike Haberland, ‘Hiob Ludolf, Father of Ethiopian Studies in Europe,’ in Proceedings of the Third International Conference of Ethiopian Studies I (Addis Ababa, 1969), 131–136; Richard Pankhurst, ‘Ethiopia Revealed,’ in Roderick Grierson (ed.) African Zion: The Sacred Art of Ethiopia (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1996), 25–26. 18 Hiob Ludolf’s Historia Aethiopica (Frankfurt: Zunner, 1681). See its English translation: A New History of Ethiopia. J.P Gent (tr.) (London, 1682); Commentarius ad suam Historiam Aethiopicam (Frankfurt: Zunner, 1691) 237–241, 365–368; see also Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible, 29. 19 In terms of the date of publication (but not necessarily the borrowing of ideas), the works of the French scholar Richard Simon, quoted by Rodinson, seem to appear later—after the publication of the book by Ludolf: Simon asserted in his Histoire critique de la créance et des coutumes des nations du Levant (Frankfort, 1684, 46) that some of the ‘Judaic’ elements in EOC like observance of Sabbath and abstinence from eating strangled meat are ‘not specific to the Abyssinians: the entire Eastern Church holds to this practice […]’ (quoted in Rodinson, ‘On the Question of ‘Jewish Influences’, 179–180). 16

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became its basic features, his writings generally adopt a less critical stance towards the EOC’s ‘Judaic’ practices than many European writers of his time. Echoing the Kəbrä Nägäśt narrative, he writes, Some people think that they have had the notion of the true God from the time of Solomon; and the Jewish rites such as circumcision, abstinence from foods forbidden by the Law of Moses, the observance of the Sabbath; marriage between a brotherin-law and a sister-in-law and similar traditions stem from that root. Yet since they share these either with other nations or with the Christians of the early Church, who adapted their ways to those of the Jews, one cannot state with certainty that these are vestiges of rites received from Judaea itself, after so many centuries.20

What makes this work more interesting is that, in addition to Portuguese sources, the prime informants of his study were Ethiopian converts to Catholicism who, like their European counterparts, were critical of the centrality of ‘non-Christian’ ‘Judaic’ elements in Ethiopian Christianity. These sources were in turn criticised by Ludolf.21 Taking a ‘middle ground’ on the issue, Joachim Le Grand, commenting in his translation of Jerome Lobos’ book into French, Ludolf, Commentarius, 368f, quoted in Pawlikowski, ‘The Judaic Spirit of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church’, 181. The most important document, Confessio Claudii (The Decrees of aṣe Gälawdewos), which is discussed in Chapter 6, is primarily published in this book. 21 It seems Ludolf also critically analysed the account of his Ethiopian informers, who were ex-EOC members converted to Catholicism. It’s also clear that they were critical of ‘Judaic’ practices in general (though sympathetic to their tradition; they often found it difficult discussing some ‘bad’ practices of the country with outsiders. Ludolf noted that on ‘the Circumcision of the Females […] Gregory [Gorgoryos] was somewhat ashamed to discourse’) (A New History, 247). Regarding the antagonism between the Catholics (missionaries and converts) and the clergy of the EOC in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, see Donald Crummey, Priests and Politicians. Protestant and Catholic Missions in Orthodox Ethiopia, 1830–1868 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972). 20

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asserted that in light of the Judaic practices that Ethiopians ‘hold from the ancient Law’, it is difficult not to draw the conclusion that there truly is a ‘great mixture of Judaism in the Christianity that they profess.’22 The sixteenth-century European encounter with Betä Ǝsra’el became another piece of corroborating evidence for scholars who subscribed to the Judaic thesis.23 In line with this discussion, frequent mention of ‘Judaic’ elements in the EOC occurs in the writings of the famous eighteenth-century traveller James Bruce’s Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile.24 He discussed the EOC at large but also provided a basic methodology for understanding Judaic influence on the EOC. He assumed that the early missionaries intentionally accommodated Judaic practices in the EOC: The first Christian missionaries, finding […numerous] Jewish traditions confirmed in the country, chose to respect them rather than refute them. Circumcision, the doctrine of clean and unclean meats, and many other Jewish rites and ceremonies are therefore part of the religion of the Abyssinians at this day.25

22

Quoted in Rodinson, ‘On the Question of ‘Jewish Influences’, 180. This is a reference to Jerome Lobo, Voyage historique d'Abissinie, trans. Legrand (Paris, 1728); English translation is found in Jerome Lobo, Voyage to Abyssinia, With a Continuation of the History of Abyssinia down to the Beginning of the Eighteenth Century, and Fifteen Dissertations on various Subjects relating to the History, Antiquities, Government, Religion, Manners, and natural History of Abyssinia, trans. Samuel Johnson (London: 1735), 76. 23 Rodinson, ‘On the Question of ‘Jewish Influences’, 180; See below, Chapter 1. 24 James Bruce, Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, 5 vols. (Edinburgh: C.G.J. and J. Robinson, 1790). His conclusion in general harks back to the assertions of Kəbrä Nägäśt, and his writings introduced the EOC’s scholars’ stances and claims to the European readers (and these stances were further expounded in other European writers’ works after him). 25 Bruce, Travels, Vol. 3, 13.

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Thus, according to Bruce, the country adhered to Judaism before embracing Christianity. This interpretation, which can be termed the ‘traditional’ view, dominated modern academic discussion. Developments in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries The academic discussion dealing with ‘Judaic’ influence on Ethiopia took a decisive turn in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Against the ‘traditionalist’ view, which affirms direct Jewish influence on Aksumite Christianity, the prominent German Ethiopologist August Dillmann (1823–1894) argued that the ‘effort for a deeper Christianisation’ by aṣe Zär’a Ya‘əqob constituted a crucial period for the formation of Judaic practices in the EOC.26 In his writing, Dillmann notes that there were Jewish people living in Ethiopia before the fifteenth century but argues that the ‘so called Judaic customs’ were not basically a result of direct Jewish influence but rather should be credited to religious reform of the fifteenth century CE in which a general acceptance of Judaic practice occurred in the EOC. The reform was a conscious repression of already widely spread Christian customs and ‘brutal restoration’ of ancient customs.27 This remains a very important observation on the introduction of some, but not all, ‘Jewish’ elements in the EOC. Chapters 4, 5 and 6 will discuss the complexity of this issue that may have involved more parties than what is suggested by Dillmann; in particular, these chapters will address the Israelite ethos of the Zagʷe, efforts of the Betä Ewosṭatewos, and the influence of the religio-political position taken by aṣe Dawit (r. 1382–1413), father of Zär’a Ya‘əqob. In the twentieth century, numerous writings aimed to provide a better historical context for questions pertaining to the inception of Christianity in Aksum in the fourth century CE. In particular, the pioneering archaeological findings of the distinguished Orientalist Enno Littmann shed a new light on understandings of Aksumite

26 Dillmann, Kirchenordnung 27 Ibid.,

68.

des Königs Zar’a-Jacob, 51, 68.

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culture.28 Reaffirming the pre-nineteenth-century ‘traditionalist’ view, Littmann contended that Christianity was introduced around the middle of the fourth century and that Abyssinians were partly pagans, partly Jews before their conversion to Christianity.29 It is also interesting to note that his conclusion coincides with the Ethiopian tradition that asserts the existence of both worship of the Serpent and the acceptance of the Mosaic Law in pre-Christian Aksum.30 His comment became foundational for some scholars in the interpretation of Ethiopian ancient history and appears to enhance the claims of Ullendorff and also those of Theodore Nöldeke, who assumed the ‘Jewish religious influence over the ancient Abyssinians.’31 Littmann, DAE, Vol. I, 1–4. Though the German expedition included no archaeologists on its team, and the interpretation of the data was done solely by the renowned philologist (who was accompanied by two architects and a medical doctor), the study remains a landmark for other archaeological studies in the twentieth century. 29 He writes: ‘Aus historischen Gründen sind […] wir […] zu dem Ergebnisse gekommen, daß die Einführung des Christentums etwa um die Mitte des 4. Jahrhunderts stattgefunden haben muß, und daß die Abessinier vor ihrer Bekehrung zum Teil Heiden, zum Teil Juden waren’ (Littmann, DAE, Vol. I, 51). Interestingly, his historical reasoning (‘Aus historischen Gründen’) on this is a conclusion reached based on Liber Axumae (Mäṣḥafä Aksum), a book which he vaguely mentions. We know that the book (at least, the portion believed to be the earliest) was written during the reign of aṣe Zär’a Ya‘əqob—which was in the mid-15th century (see Gianfrancesco Luisini, ‘Aksum: Mäṣḥafä Aksum’, in EA Vol. 1, 185. 30 Sergew, Ancient, 95–96. 31 Theodore Nöldeke, ‘Dies Wort würde allein genügen, jßdlischen relgiösen Einfluß bei den alten Abessiniern zu konstatieren’, in Neue Beiträge zur semitischen Sprachwissenschaft (Strassburg: K.J. Trübner, 1910), 36, quoted (alongside his other works) in Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible, 4, 24, 37. Nöldeke appears to contend that the influence of Judaism on the Abyssinian Church was far greater than what Dillmann esteemed it to be, and he also asserts that ‘daβ es blos Juden gewesen sein können, welche die zahlreichen Korrekturen der Geezbible nach dem Habräischen vorgenommen haden’—making a claim for Jews’ earliest involvement in correcting the Gə‘əz Bible; it seems, however, that he did not hazard a guess as to the exact 28

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Early twentieth-century Ethiopian studies engaged in examining the ‘original’ identity of the Semitic Ethiopians (particularly those who lived in the northern region) in relation to South Arabian immigrants; this later led to the hypothesis of Jewish immigration from Arabia to Aksum.32 On the subject of Arabian immigration, the famous Italian Ethiopologist Carlo Conti Rossini’s book, Storia d’Etiopia, published in 1928, remained a standard for other works published thereafter. Conti Rossini stressed two points: (i) he argued against the notion that Ethiopians and their civilisation are originally African, and (ii) he proposed that the immigration of the Aksumites’ ancestors was from South Arabia.33 In establishing his first point, he contradicted some nineteenth-century British writers’ understanding of the African origin of Ethiopians, as definitively expressed in Henry Salt’s book, A Voyage to Abyssinia, written in 1814. In his book, Salt claimed that ‘the Axomites (as they were called by Romans) are descended from a race of aboriginal inhabitants of Africa, composed of native Ethiopians who became in the course of time mixed with [African] settlers from Egypt, and that they do not exhibit any claims to an Arabian descent.’34 Both dismissing the idea that the Aksumites were indigenous period in which these Jews were literarily active (Ibid., 37). See also H. J. Polotsky, ‘Aramaic, Syriac, and Ge’ez’, in JSS 9 (1) 1964, 5–6. 32 See Chapter 2. The earliest development of this view is related to Ludolf and other 17th- and 18th-century writings. 33 Carlo Conti Rossini, Storia d’Etiopia, Parte prima: Dalle origini all’avvento della dinastia Salomonide (Bergamo: Istituto Italiano d'Arti Grafiche, 1928). He asserts that ‘il giudaismo sia antico in Etiopia’ and assumes that there were ‘nuclei giudaici qua e là sparsi’ in ancient Ethiopia (144–145). 34 Henry Salt, A Voyage to Abyssinia […] in the years 1809 and 1810 (London: F.C. and J. Rivington, 1814), 458. Henry Salt argues against an idea forwarded by a certain Mr Murray: he criticises that the main ‘and indeed sole argument on which Mr Murray founded his opinion, was drawn from similarity between the Gə‘əz and the Arabian languages […] whereas, on the other side […] the general tenor of the history of the Abyssinians, their buildings, written character, dress, and the description of them given in the earliest Arabian and Byzantine writers, all tend to prove them a distinct race from the Arabs’ (459).

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Africans and simultaneously affirming South Arabia as the early Aksumites’ place of origin, Conti Rossini concluded that the South Arabian migrants brought their civilisation to Aksum, affecting the Aksumite material and religious cultures tremendously.35 His conclusions are representations of twentieth-century European scholarship, which attempted to locate the origin of ancient Ethiopians and the roots of Ethiopian identity. Following Conti Rossini’s conclusion, particularly on South Arabian immigration, Ullendorff developed his hypothesis asserting the presence of a Jewish community among the South Arabian immigrants.36 This community was successful in establishing Judaic identity among the Aksumites before the introduction of Christianity—an idea that has been utilized by scholars in the second half of the twentieth century and onwards to demonstrate the extent to which Ethiopian Christianity is a strange and remarkable Christian tradition in the whole of Eastern Orthodoxy.37 Conti Rossini, Storia d’Ethiopia, 102–104. His views on Jews and Judaism in ancient Ethiopia are very important for many reasons. Interestingly, while no doubt in line with Dillmann (whom we discuss below), he argues that some of the Judaic elements were introduced at a later time, after the introduction of Christianity; and he notes the relations between ‘Jewish’ elements in the EOC and pagan customs, pointing out that other elements were integrated into the EOC through the ‘adoption of Old Testament’ (144). This view, primarily suggested by Dillmann, was also implemented in Rodinson’s view of ‘l’imitation de l’Ancien Testament’/ ‘imitation of the Old Testament’ discussed in Chapter 2. 36 See Chapter 2. Writers on Ethiopian Christianity have never failed to acknowledge the place of Professor Ullendorff in shaping the late-twentiethcentury academics; even those who disagreed with some of his conclusion acknowledge his monumental place in Ethiopian studies and his academic calibre (Maxime Rodinson, ‘Review of Edward Ullendorff’, in Languages and Cultures, ed. Alesandro Bausi (New York: Routledge, 2016), 163. 37 The ‘Judaic character’ of the EOC is also discussed by Professor Ephraim Isaac in his recent book, The Ethiopian Orthodox Täwahïdo Church (New Jersey: The Red Sea Press, 2012); this book is hereafter referred to as EOTC. Some of the articles written on the issue of the ‘Judaic’ identity of the EOC have been edited by Alessandro Bausi in 2011; see Part 3, ‘The Judaic Com35

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TRAVELLERS’ IMPRESSIONS OF THE BETÄ ƎSRA’EL (ETHIOPIAN JEWS) A topic discussed in conjunction with the uniquely Judaic characteristics of the Ethiopian Church—in the writings of the earliest European explorers and visitors to Ethiopia as well as in scholarly discussions—is that of the ‘Fälasha’, 38 the Ethiopian Jews, who are also known as the Betä Ǝsra’el. ponent’, Languages and Cultures, ed. Alessandro Bausi; in addition to Ullendorff’s article ‘Hebraic-Jewish Elements’ (discussed below), two articles written by Maxim Rodinson are translated from French to English. 38 Their origin and identity is also a major point of contention among the scholars of Ethiopian Jewry (in particular, see discussion on Eldad, implied in Chapter 4; regarding Betä Ǝsra’el in the fourteenth to fifteenth centuries in Ethiopia, see Chapter 5). The name ‘Fälasha’ (presently considered as pejorative by the Betä Ǝsra’el) seems to have had a different meaning: ‘those who migrated’, yefelesu; ‘those who to migrate, landless people’ falasawi; ‘monks’ falasyan. In this study, the terms ‘Fälasha’, Ethiopian Jews, and Betä Ǝsra’el are used interchangeably, although each of these terms can bear unique meanings and represent competing scholarly and political opinions on the identity of the Jews of Ethiopia (see Steven Kaplan, The Beta Israel (Falasha) in Ethiopia, From Earliest times to the Twentieth Century (New York and London: New York University Press, 1992) 65–73). In light of Gə‘əz usage of the term Felaseyan, which relates to dispersion as in the context of Jewish diaspora, the origin of the term hardly seems pejorative. For example, andəmta of the Bible on Ezekiel 14:7 refers to ‘እመቤተ እስራኤል ወእምፈላስያን’, ‘the house of Israel and the exiled’, in connection to the Jewish diaspora after the Babylonian incursion; see መጽሐፈ ሕዝቅኤል አንድምታ ትርጓሜ [‘Andǝmta Commentary to the Book of Ezekiel’] (Addis Ababa: Tənsa’e Zä-Guba’e Printing House, 1990), 135. In Ezra 4:1, this is clearly assumed: ደቂቆሙ ለፈላስያን ይሐንጹ ቤተ እግዚ/‘the children of the exiles [fälasiyan] will build the House of the Lord.’ in Gə‘əz, the word fälasa, meaning ‘exiled’, thus seems to be a term used not fundamentally to refer to ‘landlessness’ in Ethiopia but to refer to Jews dispersed in the Babylonian Empire. If this is the case, the name might have been used by the community in the earliest times as a reminder of the exile of their ancestors from their land in the sixth century BCE. However, beginning from the medieval period, the name ‘Fälasha’ was used derogatively by the non-Betä Ǝsra’el Ethio-

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Numerous references to the Betä Ǝsra’el by European writers and travellers exist as early as the fifteenth century.39 The impressions of medieval writers and travellers reveal intrigue at the stories of Jews in northeast Africa who staunchly upheld Old Testament religious elements (along with their Christian countrymen). James Bruce’s description clearly captures the tradition: The account they give of themselves, which is supported only by tradition, is, that they came with Menilek from Jerusalem, so that they perfectly agree with Abyssinians in the story of the queen of Saba […] They agree also, in every particular, with the Abyssinians, about the remaining part of the story, the birth and inauguration of Menilek, who was their first king; also the coming of Azarias, and the twelve elders from the twelve tribes, and other doctors of the law, whose posterity they deny to have ever

pian Christian community, probably to undermine their land right. Unfortunately, some researchers indicate that victimisation of these people by the ‘majority’ remains unchanged, even while they are in their new home country, the State of Israel, their promised land. 39 ‘David ibn Abi Zimra (1479–1589) mentions in his Responsa (iv. 219) a question in regard to the Falashas. There is a possible reference also in Obadiah of Bertinoro (1488). The cabalist Abraham Levi (1528), writing from Jerusalem, speaks of Falasha as being three days’ journey from Suakin; he speaks of a Jewish king and a Christian king, Theodorus, who killed 10,000 Jews in Salima in 1504. Levi’s contemporary, Israel, mentions in a letter Jews who came from Cush and a Jewish king who had Mohammedan and Christian subjects. Elijah of Pesaro (1532) speaks of the Jews in Ḥabesh, while Isaac ibn ’Aḳrish (1550), in the preface to his ‘Ḳol Mebasser,’ reports that he heard from an Abyssinian envoy in Constantinople that the Mohammedan governor there would have been annihilated had it not been for the help of the Jewish prince and his 12,000 horsemen. The Falashas are further mentioned by Moses de Rossi (1534; “J. Q. R.” ix. 493); Abraham Yagel (16th cent.), who speaks of them as inhabiting the Mountains of the Moon; and Moses Edrei (1630), who knew of a Jewish king, Eleazar, in Abyssinia’ (J. D. Pe. G., ‘FALASHAS’, JewishEncyclopedia.com, accessed on 26 Jan., 2010. http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/5987–falashas.

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apostatised to Christianity, as the Abyssinians pretend they did at conversion.40

This apparently coincides with a tradition held by Ethiopian Christians on their ‘Jewish’ origin as expressed in the Kəbrä Nägäśt. The Betä Ǝsra’el assume that, as found in the Kəbrä Nägäśt, their ancestors where devout Jews who accompanied the Ark of the Covenant to Aksum during the time of Mənilək, ‘the son of Solomon and Sheba.’41 Some explorers of the nineteenth century also showed a keen interest in investigating the relationship between the Betä Ǝsra’el community and the Jewish people in general.42 In 1830, the Anglican missionary Samuel Gobat noted that the Betä Ǝsra’el of his time had no knowledge of what Israelite tribe they came from and that they also lacked adequate knowledge of the period in which their ancestors settled in Ethiopia: ‘Some say that it was with Menelic, the son of Solomon; others believe that they settled in Abyssinia after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans.’43 The writing of Antoine d’Abbadie in the 1850’s demonstrates the confusion surrounding (some of) the claims of the Betä Ǝsra’el. The inconsistency is most evident in the claims of Abba Yeshaq, the High Priest of the Betä Ǝsra’el: ‘Nous sommes venus avec Salamon […] Nous sommes venus après Jérémie le prophète. Nous ne comptons pas l’année de l’arrivée de Min Ylik. Nous vînmes sous Solomon.’44 Jewish missionaries and 40 Bruce, Travels,

vol. 2, 406. See Kay Kaufman Shelemay, Music, Ritual and Falasha History (Michigan: Michigan State University, 1986), 17–18. 42 David Kessler, The Falashas: A Short History of the Ethiopian Jews. 3rd ed. (London: Frank Cass, 1996), 74–93; as shown above, the first print of Kessler’s book is titled The Falashas: The Forgotten Jews of Ethiopia. See also Shelemay, Falasha History, 25. 43 Samuel Gobat, Journal of Three Years’ Residence in Abyssinia 2nd ed. (London: 1850), 467. 44 Antoine d’Abbadie, ‘Réponses des Falashas dit Juif d’Abyssinie aux questions faites par M. Luzzato’ in Archives Israélites 12 (1851–52), 183 ; see Kaplan, Beta Israel (Falasha), 23–24. 41

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explorers of the nineteenth century, Joseph Halévy45 and Jacques Fitlovitch,46 expressed similar impressions after having contact with a Jewish colony living in Ethiopia.47 As argued in the next chapters, while there are a few references to Jews in the Aksumite Kingdom (this only in and after the sixth century CE), many accounts of interactions between Betä Ǝsra’el and the Christian kingdom come from later eras.

LITERATURE AND ACADEMIC PERSPECTIVES Six scholars have written articles particularly relating to the origin of ‘Judaic’ elements in the EOC. Their writings, although developments of the reflections of earlier scholars, have shaped contemporary academic works and discussions on ‘Judaic’ culture in Ethiopia. A seminal and articulate study in this regard was the article by Ullendorff: ‘Hebraic – Jewish Elements in Abyssinian (Monophyite) Christianity’48, which became foundational for subsequent scholarly

45

Joseph Halévy, ‘Rapport au comité central de l’Alliance Israélite Universelle’, in Bulletin de l’Alliance Israélite Universelle (1868), 85–102; J. Halevy, ‘Travels in Abyssinia’ (trans. by J. Picciotto) in A. Lowy (ed.) Miscellany of Hebrew Literature, series 2, 2. (London: Trubner, 1877), 37. 46 Jacques Faitlovitch, Notes d’un Voyage chez les Falachas (Juifs d’Abyssinie) (Paris: Leroux, 1905). 47 Recent study on the Betä Ǝsra’el primarily focuses on their identity, a topic which also necessitated a historical investigation on their origin (see Michael Corinaldi, Jewish Identity: The Case of Ethiopian Jewry (Jerusalem: The Magnus Press, the Hebrew University, 1998). 48 ‘Hebraic – Jewish Elements’, 216–256. Ullendorff is aware that his preliminary notes (to use his words, notes which were made ‘in the nature of prolegomena’) on the EOC’s cultural elements in ‘connexions’ to ‘Hebraic elements’ will be ‘studied in the following [which] may, in some cases, either be fortuitous or be part of the general Semitic heritage; in other instances, the parallels may seem too flimsy or capable of a different explanation, but it may be worthwhile, and indeed important, to investigate a few selected aspects—rather in the nature of a pilot-study’ (ibid., 216).

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discussions.49 Reliant on principles laid down by both Enno Littmann and particularly Nöldeke,50 Ullendorff meticulously used Conti Rossini’s51 findings to argue for the presence of a Jewish community in Aksum among the South Arabian immigrants. In this article, which revived new academic interest in the field in the 1960s and 1970s, Ullendorff outlined his basic premises for the presence of Judaic practices in Ethiopia through careful documentation of all possible connection between Jews and Ethiopians. He identified at least seven main topics to indicate the direct influence of HebraicJudaic culture on the EOC: o references from European explorers and scholars; o the church structure of three concentric circles, which he argued resembled the Old Testament temple; o the EOC’s cultural distinctiveness: the veneration of tabot and ṣəlat (‘the tablets of the Ark of the covenant’) tradition, dietary laws, Sabbath observance, emphasis on circumcision, ritual cleanness, music and musical instruments; o immigration factors by which Jews from South Arabia reached Aksum before the introduction of Christianity, together with the relationship between Yemen and Aksum that made Jewish-Ethiopian contacts possible; o the identity of the Betä Ǝsra’el; o linguistic evidence from Hebrew loanwords in Gə‘əz; o the similarity of magical practices held by Jewish people and members of the EOC. Ullendorff uses these elements to demonstrate skilfully that Ethiopia in general and the EOC in particular had direct contact with Judaism This article was presented, but revised and expounded, in his book Ethiopian and the Bible; in this book, he reconsidered his approaches to the subject and dealt with some of the critiques which have been written against the article without altering his main hypothesis. 50 Nöldeke’s take on Jewish direct influence on Aksumites is depicted above; also see, Chapter 2. 51 Ullendorff refers to him as ‘Nestor of modern ethiopisants’ (‘Hebraic – Jewish Elements’, 219). 49

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before the introduction of Christianity in the fourth century. He went on to elaborate the same argument in his later books: The Ethiopians,52 Ethiopia and the Bible,53 and The Two Zions.54 Discussions in the next chapters critically examines his problematic arguments. The year 1964 saw three further publications on the subject. Maxime Rodinson’s critique of Ullendorff’s The Ethiopians, an Introduction to Country and People was published in the journal Bibliotheca Orientalis.55 In this article, Rodinson, referencing Dillmann’s work, argues that imitation of Old Testament practices—as opposed to direct influence from Judaism—was the proper background to Judaic practices in the EOC. His ‘Sur la Question des ‘Influences Juives’ en Ethiopie’, which seems a development of his previous critique, remains one of the most significant works on the subject, introducing another perspective on the origin of ‘Judaic’ elements in the EOC.56 He assumes that ‘l’imitation de l’Ancien Testament’— going as far as ‘l’identification avec Israël’—explains the formation of Judaic practices in the EOC.57 Thus, Rodinson concedes the presence Ullendorff, The Ethiopians, 48–112. Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible, 5–30; 73–130. 54 Edward Ullendorff, The Two Zions: Reminiscences of Jerusalem and Ethiopia (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1988). 55 Rodinson, ‘Review of Edward Ullendorff.’ 56 Rodinson, ‘Sur la Question des ‘Influences Juives’, 11–19 / ‘On the Question of ‘Jewish Influences’, 179–186. Rodinson’s critique is addressed in Ulllendorff’s 1968 book Ethiopia and the Bible; Ullendorff admits that he has ‘underestimated the force and importance of the imitatio Iudaeorum et Veteris Testament’ (p. 15, n. 1). See additional critique by Rodinson in his ‘Review, Edward Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible, The Schweich Lectures of the British Academy 1967 (London: Oxford University Press, 1968) in JSS 17, 1972, 166–170 (in this article, Rodinson further expresses his discontent towards Ullendorff’s conclusions). 57 Rodinson, ‘Sur la Question des ‘Influences Juives’, 18. According to Rodinson, ‘l’imitation de l’Ancien Testament’ (imitation of the Old Testament [according to Ullendorff’s writings, ‘imitatio Veteris Testamenti’])—even to the extent of ‘l’identification avec Israël’ (identification with Israel)—‘appear in a recurrent way within Christianity, triggered by the simple reading of the sacred texts and the very bases of Christian dogma. 52 53

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of a certain number of Jews in Aksum who came from South Arabia even before the introduction of Christianity and had some impact on Ethiopian Christianity (this, however, can be regarded as an academic guess that cannot be substantiated by any material evidence);58 he nonetheless argues that the EOC, under aṣe Zär’a Ya‘əqob, accommodated Old Testament practices without the intervention of ‘any actual Jews’, paralleling similar developments in other contexts.59 These are: the conception of the Church (or of the sect which considers itself as the Church) as the authentic successor to Israel, as Verus Israel; then the less common idea of a historical connection between a given Christian community and Israel. These three ideas (often related to one another and between which gradation exist) are present in Ethiopia, and also appear, outside of any significant contact with Jews, in the most diverse of Christian groups’ (‘On the Question of ‘Jewish Influences’, 184–185). 58 Ullendorff refers to a personal letter sent to him from Rodinson, in which Rodinson expressed his view that some Jews provided technical support during the translation of the Old Testament: ‘Il est bien possible aussi qu’ils [les Juifs] aient fourni des conseils techniques pour la traduction de l’Ancien Testament en guèze’ (Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible, 37, n. 5). As far as Rodinson’s published works address the time period of the Jews’ arrival in Aksum, he stressed the likelihood of the sixth century CE, which may coincide with the time of the translation of the Bible; see Rodinson, ‘On the Question of ‘Jewish Influences’, 184. 59 English puritans once had ‘the ridiculous habit of entwining their names with a Biblical verse’; and in England, there was once a suggestion ‘that many English customs should be replaced by others mentioned in the Bible’ (Rodinson, ‘On the Question of ‘Jewish Influences’, 185). Note that in the published works of Rodinson, the arrival of Jews in Aksum is dated to the sixth century CE, which may coincide with the time of the translation of the Bible. Rodinson’s argument regarding a process of cultural adaptation due to the imitation of the Old Testament, though it challenges the ‘traditionalist views’, seems to fall short of offering a plausible explanation for the existence of numerous Ethiopian ‘Jewish’ cultural expressions. Echoing Edward Ullendorff’s response to the writing of Rodinson, Steven Kaplan seems right when concluding that ‘the overwhelming Hebraic-biblical cast of so much of Ethiopian culture, both Jewish and Christian, can hardly be explained totally as the product of imitatio Veteris Testamenti’ (Steven Kaplan, ‘Ancient Judaism or

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There was, at this time, an attempt to reclaim the heritage of the ancient churches, and members of the EOC were obliged to give their children biblical names in identification with Israel.60 Moreover, and less commonly seen, the Ethiopians forged a ‘historical’ relation with Israel through the Sheba-Solomon myth.61 The renowned philologist Hans Polotsky’s article, ‘Aramaic, Syriac, and Gə‘əz’, which was published in the Journal of Semitic Studies, offers an important direction in understanding a direct contact between Jews and Aksumites.62 To address the question of Aramaic loanwords in Gə‘əz, Polotsky adopted a philological approach which sought to demonstrate that ‘Hebrew’ loanwords in Gə‘əz (which Ullendorff raised as proof for the direct Jewish influence) were in fact Jewish Aramaic and had been introduced to the Aksumites in the post4th c. era. Polotsky stressed that there was Jewish religious influence on Aksumite society before the introduction of Christianity, though he admits that this alone cannot explain the exact historical context in which the Judaic influence reached Aksum.63 In 1965, Ernst Hammerschmidt wrote an article64 that made use of additional sources to expand the points discussed by Ullendorff in order to argue that ‘Jewish’ elements existed in pre-Christian Aksum. Evolving Ethiopian Tradition? A Review of Kay Kaufman Shelemay, Falasha History' in The Jewish Quarterly Review, New Series Vol 79 (1) 1988, 52; see Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible, 15–30). 60 Rodinson refers to the Italian village of San Nicandro ‘which went over to Judaism under the leadership of a prophet, who, initially, did not even know that there were still Jews alive on earth, and who was basing himself solely upon the reading of the Old Testament’ (ibid., 185). 61 The ‘English sectarians claimed that England had been colonised by the tribe of Dan’ (ibid., 185). 62 Polotsky, ‘Aramaic, Syriac, and Ge’ez.’ 63 ‘The ancient Abyssinians had undergone Jewish religious influence’ (Potosky, ‘Aramaic, Syriac, and Ge’ez’, 5–6); but his suggestion on the necessity of further historical study is an important insight, which I would comment on, below; see Chapter 2. 64 Ernst Hammerschmidt, ‘Jewish Elements in the Cult of the Ethiopian Church’ in JES 3 (2) 1965, 1–12.

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He assumed the direct influence of Judaism in Ethiopian culture: ‘prior to the middle of the 4th century’ some of the Aksumite were ‘heathen’ and ‘others were adherents of a Judaized form of religion.’65 The central concepts of Christianity in the EOC—which he refer to as ‘a genuine Christian society’—were ‘clothed in the Jewish elements […] which are partly of Jewish origin.’66 The impact of Jewish cultural elements is thus clearly displayed in the place given to the Kəbrä Nägäśt, the division of the structure of churches, the peculiar cult surrounding the Ark, circumcision, the observance of Sabbath, dietary laws. For Hammerschmidt, this affirms that: the Ethiopians and their church have no cause for denying the Jewish heritage in their cult. The elements of these traditions stem from Judaism, but – and this is decisive factor here – they have undergone a process of re-shaping and re-forming consistent with the basic Christian ideas.67

Other scholars have also emphasised the place of Jewish Christianity in the shaping of the EOC’s ‘Judaic’ practices. Prominently, John T. Pawlikowski, in an article published in 1972 entitled ‘The Judaic Spirit of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church: A Case Study in Religious Acculturation’, stressed the presence of Judaism in Aksum due to the immigration of Jews from South Arabia.68 The article aimed to find a working model in the acculturation process based on the experience of the EOC which, as one of the ancient churches, faithfully retained a Jewish spirit in its Christianity. Maintaining that Judaism, Christianity and indigenous African understanding of nature are harmoniously assimilated in the EOC, Pawlikowski tried to accommodate the factor of African religion simply under Judaism; but he cautiously called the EOC ‘an Africanized church’, arguing that the Jewish notion of creation is a common background to Christianity 65 Ibid., 1–2. 66 Ibid., 3.

67 Ibid., 3–12. 68

Pawlikowski, ‘The Judaic Spirit’, 178–199. He appears to use Ullendorff’s article and book (The Ethiopian) extensively to develop his ideas.

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and native African religion.69 Pawlikowski partly aimed to criticize the notions of European missionaries, as well as Ullendorff, who regarded the EOC as ‘syncretic’, ‘primitive’ and ‘fossilized’.70 Upholding Polotsky’s argument against Ullendorff, Ephraim Isaac, in his article ‘An Obscure Component in Ethiopian Church History: An Examination of Various Theories Pertaining to the Problem of the Origin and Nature of Ethiopian Christianity’71, concentrates on presenting the role of ‘Syrian missionaries’72 in introducing Judaic culture to Ethiopia. He argues that all of the Judaic elements in the EOC were introduced after the fifth century through the missionary activities of Syrian Christians, who themselves were adherents of Jewish Christianity. He goes on to argue that a new doctrine was imposed on the EOC in the thirteenth century by Copticled clergy ‘revolutionaries’ like Täklä Haymanot, converts to ‘Coptic Mononphysitism’.73 The ‘suppression’ of the ancient Jewish Christianity continued until the time of Zär’a Ya‘əqob, who persecuted not only Jews but also Jewish Christians: Many of these Jewish Christians who refused to accept the new officially approved doctrinal line [including Trinitarian theology] were dispersed by force until in reaction a number of them,

69 Ibid., 197. 70

It is worth noting that Pawlikowski is responding to a comment made by Ullendorff, which asserted the ‘Fälasha’, ‘together with their Christian fellow-Ethiopian […] are stubborn adherents to fossilized Hebrew-Jewish beliefs, practices and customs’ (‘Hebraic-Jewish Elements’, 256). 71 Ephraim Isaac, ‘An Obscure Component’, 225–258. This is a most important article that include his hypothesis expressed in his 1965 article (Ephraim Isaac, ‘The Hebraic Molding of Ethiopian Culture’, in Mosaic, A Jewish Student Journal (Winter, 1965)); this article includes findings from his PhD dissertation submitted in 1969, published as A New Text-Critical Introduction to Mäshafä Birhan. With a Translation of Book 1 (Leiden: Brill, 1973); see Chapter 3 for the same argument in his most recent book, EOTC. 72 These missionaries were from the West/East Roman Empires and were referred to by some Ethiopists as ‘Syrians.’ 73 Ephraim, EOTC, 44.

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41

including even one of his sons, went altogether to the side of the extreme group [… the] Felasha (exiles).74

Regarding the presence of Judaism in Ethiopia before the introduction of Christianity and claims for a ‘non-Trinitarian’ aspect of the Jewish Christian heritage of the Aksumite Church, this article decisively breaks away from the previously established European scholarship.75 From 1972 to the end of 20th century, the issue of ‘Judaic’ practices in the EOC has largely not been seriously considered by scholars as a separate topic. Exceptions to this include Kristen Stoffregen’s 1999 article, which tried to analyse scholarly views on Judaic cultures in the EOC—with some important reflections76—and Bausi’s thoughtful re-publication of the aforementioned Rodinson’s article—with some other previously known important works (referenced in this book).77 However, any literature that discusses the history of ancient Ethiopia and/or the origins of the EOC unfailingly takes up one or more of the ideas presented in the writings mentioned above. The South Arabian immigration hypothesis forwarded by Littmann and Conti Rossini, which Ullendorff accommodated in his query of the development of Judaic identity in Ethiopia, has been influential in that it has been adopted by most subsequent writings about Ethiopian history and culture,78 though the view has been 74

Ibid.

75 However, the various weaknesses of his hypothesis are discussed in Ch. 3. 76

Kirsten Stoffregen Pedersen, ‘Is the Church of Ethiopia a Judaic Church?’, Warszawskie Studia Teologiczne, XII/2/1999, p. 203–216. 77 Alessandro Bausi (ed.). Languages and Cultures of Eastern Christianity: Ethiopia (Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 2012). 78 The list is long, but see Sylvia Pankhurst, Ethiopia, A Cultural History (Essex: Lalibela House, 1955), 43–48; John D Fage, A History of Africa (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1978), 54–55; Robert July, A History of the African People (Illinois: Waverland Press Inc., 1992), 36–38. See also Ethiopian writers: Taddesse Tamrat, Church and State in Ethiopia, 1270–1527 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1972), 5–20; Belay Gidey, Ethiopian Civilization (Addis Ababa: 1992), 7. Ullendorff has meticulously used the hypothesis to argue for the Jewish immigration from South Arabia in the fifth through first centuries BCE (see below, ‘South Arabian and Jewish Immi-

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challenged (see Chapter 2) by prominent contemporary scholars including De Contenson,79 Anfray,80 Munro-Hay,81 and, most recently, Phillipson.82 These discussions, and others from a range of academic disciplines, provide additional insight into to this ongoing and contentious issue, often by arguing against the ‘influence of South Arabian culture on Aksum’, which also significantly challenges Ullendorff’s argument for pre-Christian Aksum Judaic elements.83

grants Hypothesis’). On how the theory of earliest Jewish impact was further used in interpreting some aspects of Ethiopian contemporary culture, see Elias Yemane, Amharic and Ethiopic Onomastics, A Classic Ethiopian Legacy, Concept, and Ingenuity (Lewiston, Lampter: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2004), 10–11. Munro-Hay presents the view when he writes that the ‘Ethiopian church ritual today contains many extraordinary features, which may well date even to pre-Aksumite times’; but note that he himself is critical of such a claim (see Stuart Munro-Hay, Aksum: An African Civilisation of Late Antiquity (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), 208; 12. For further discussion, see Chapter 2. See also H. De Contenson, ‘PreAksumite Culture’, in G. Mokhtar (ed.), The General History of Africa,Vol. II (California: Heinemann/UNESCO, 1981), 355. 79 H. De Contenson, ‘Pre-Aksumite Culture’, in G Mokhtar (ed.), The General History of Africa, Vol. II (California: Heinemann/UNESCO, 1981), 355. 80 F. Anfray, ‘The Civilization of Aksum from the Fourth to the Seventh Century’, in G Mokhtar (ed.), The General History of Africa, Vol. II (California: Heinemann/UNESCO, 1981), 377–378. Emphasis is given to Aksum’s impact on the cultures of nations across the Red Sea. 81 Munro-Hay, Aksum, 62. In one of his writings, he attempts to deconstruct the ‘myth’ behind the claim for the presence of the Ark of the Covenant in Aksum (Stuart Munro-Hay and Roderick Grierson, The Ark of The Covenant: The True Story of the Greatest Relic of Antiquity (London: Weildenfield & Nicolson, 1999). See also Paul Henze, Layers of Time, A History of Ethiopia (London: Hurst & Co., 2000), 20. 82 Phillipson, Ancient Churches, 19. 83 See ‘The Immigration Hypothesis’ in Chapter 2. In Chapter 3, archaeological evidence is presented against the assumption of the cultural impact of Jews in pre-Christian Aksum.

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CONCLUSION The impressions of the earliest travellers of the Aksumite era, despite giving detailed information on some aspects of Aksumite Christianity, do not include ‘Judaic’ customs in their reflections. It was in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries that reflections, both critical and explanatory, of ‘Judaic’ practices like Sabbath observance started to appear. This trend dominated the impressions of European writers until the sixteenth century. The ‘Judaic heritage’ of Ethiopian dynasties (after the fall of Aksum) surfaced in some ninth- to thirteenthcentury non-European writings originating in Egypt.84 The accounts are from an Abū Ṣāliḥ and later in the Kəbrä Nägäśt, which respectively developed the Israelite and Solomonic heritages of Ethiopian kings and their Christianity. Subsequent European writings provide exhaustive and detailed narratives based on an Ethiopian religiopolitical ethos established by the Kəbrä Nägäśt. For most European writers in the sixteenth century, Ethiopia was a ‘Judaic’ nation: its Christianity arose in the fourth century on the soil of the vibrant and strong presence of Judaism that moulded Aksumite culture. Assumptions about the ancient ‘Judaic’ heritage of the EOC, entwined with the search for non-Christian Jewish remnants, mainly amongst the Betä Ǝsra’el, steered the birth of academic discussion in seventeenth-century Europe. As a result of this query, different views developed which proved foundational for nineteenth- and twentiethcentury academic discussion on the ‘Judaic’ heritage of the EOC, analysed in the next chapters.

84

On circumcision, see a ninth- or tenth-century Coptic story about Bishop Yehuanna, discussed in Ch. 4.

CHAPTER 2. THE ‘JUDAIC’ IDENTITY OF AKSUM: JEWISH IMPACT PRIOR TO THE FOURTH CENTURY CE? As briefly seen in Chapter 1, Edward Ullendorff not only revived contemporary discussion on the ‘Judaic’ identity of the EOC; using his outstanding knowledge of Semitic philology, he also contributed to linguistics and literature, provided a comprehensive knowledge of the history of Ethiopian Christianity, and (re)postulated a theory on how Jews immigrated to Aksum via South Arabia. Using all available data from archaeological and linguistic fields of study and considering all documents known to him, he exhaustively demonstrated the evidence for the presence (and cultural impact) of a Jewish colony in Aksum before the fourth century CE. In this chapter I will attempt to critically assess the basic assertions and assumptions behind his theory and related topics, including the identity of the translators of the Ethiopic Bible, evaluating how the hypothesis tallies with literary trends and historical as well as archaeological findings.

THE IMMIGRATION HYPOTHESIS The quest for the presence of Jews and their culture in Aksum is the subject of academic discussion that seriously considered alleged Jewish immigration before the fourth century CE. ‘Judaic’ influence on Ethiopia was therefore presumed to have happened in pre-Christian Aksum one or both of two possible ways: through Jews who travelled to Aksum either from Egypt or South Arabia. 45

46

JEWISH CULTURAL ELEMENTS ‘Jews from Egypt’ to Aksum

Some scholars considered Egypt as the main route of Jewish immigration and cultural influence on Aksum, making the scholarly discussion on the subject more interesting. The prime reference for this theory was biblical accounts asserting that during the time of the Jewish exile in the sixth century BCE, Jews went to Egypt and beyond. Jeremiah 44:1 mentions the presence of Jews in northern and southern (Upper) Egypt. Zephaniah 3:10 states that, ‘From beyond the river of Kush [Nubia/Ethiopia?] my suppliants, my dispersed community, shall bring my offering.’ A similar reference is also discovered in Isaiah 2:1–2. Ullendorff admits that ‘the value of all these scattered verses is, nonetheless, limited, even though it seems reasonable to deduce that Jews had penetrated as far as Upper Egypt, Nubia, and possibly beyond’,1 reaching Ethiopia. The historian Herodotus, writing in Greek in the fifth century BCE, related how certain garrisons, after having been on duty at Elephantine for three years without being relieved, revolted against Psammetichus and went to Ethiopia.2 Ignazio Guidi3 and David Kessler uphold this view; and, to strengthen the argument, Kessler stressed the similarity of sacrifices and priests between the Elephantine Jews and the Betä Ǝsra’el.4 However, the migration of Jews to Aksum from Egypt can be queried on several fronts: (1) the terms ‘Ethiopia’ and ‘Kush’, as used 1 Ullendorff, ‘Hebraic-Jewish’, 219.

Some details concerning this view are presented in Conti Rossini, Storia d’Etiopia, 144; Ullendorff further explains this view in Ullendorff, ‘HebraicJewish’, 219. 3 Ignazio Guidi, Storia della letteratura etiopica (Roma: Istituto per l'Oriente, 1932) 95, n. 2. 4 Kessler, The Falashas, 42–44. He further noted that ‘It would have been impossible for the descendants of the small Elephantine community, far removed from its roots in Jerusalem, to have survived if it had not admitted proselytes who became fully-fledged Jews by religion in accordance with the precepts of the Torah’, p. 47. See also Menachem Waldman, The Jews of Ethiopia (Jerusalem: JDC, 1985), 10; Joseph M. Modrzejewski and Porten Bezalel, Archives From Elephantine: the Life of an Ancient Jewish Military Colony (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1997). 2

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in the Old Testament, are ambiguous, and it is not clearly known what geographical regions were precisely meant;5 (2) the incident which Herodotus relates as having happened at the time of Psammetichus, who reigned in 593–588 BCE concerns ‘a certain garrison’, not necessarily the Jewish military garrison of Elephantine, which emerged in the fifth century. Nor is a purported desertion to Ethiopia or Nubia tantamount to the settlement of Jews in Aksum, as Ullendorff suggests.6 In this vein, Shelemay writes that: This perspective is based on description, found in Egyptian papyri of the period, of the destruction of an Egyptian holy place which may have been a Jewish temple. We have no record of the migration, but geographical proximity and the longstanding historical relationship between Egypt and Ethiopia have encouraged this speculation.7

This indicates why Ullendorf himself argues that the theory of immigration ‘from the Jewish garrison of Elephantine or the conjecture that Jewish influences in Abyssinia had penetrated by way of Egypt are devoid of any reliable basis.’8 Further study of the existing debate on the subject shows that the hypothesis of the immigration of Jews from Egypt fails to hold up under critical scrutiny: This theory, which in the past was espoused by, among others, the outstanding Italian Ethiopianist Ignazio Guidi and the respected scholar and second President of Israel Itzhak Ben Zvi has long been rejected by most scholars.9 Recent advocates of this position have brought little that is new to the debate and have 5 This is further demonstrated in

Chapter 3.

6 Ullendorff, ‘Hebraic-Jewish’, 220. 7 Shelemay, Falasha

History, 18.

8 Ullendorff, ‘Hebraic-Jewish’, 220.

See Kaplan, Beta Israel (Falasha), 174, n.67 for discussion on scholars supporting the view: Ignazio Guidi (who later withdrew his support for it), Itzhak Ben Zvi, Louis Marcus (in the 1820s), and Abraham Epstein. Scholars against the view are Conti Rossini, Philoxene Luzzato, and Edward Ullendorff. 9

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JEWISH CULTURAL ELEMENTS usually failed to either contend with or overcome the numerous objections presented to this theory.10

Irrespective of the historical difficulties it poses, nonetheless, this still remains important for the Betä Ǝsra’el community, currently living in the State of Israel.11 South Arabian ‘Jewish Settlers’ in Aksum The central ‘South Arabian immigration’ hypothesis strengthened by Conti Rossini12 and used by Ullendorff to propose the direct influence of Judaism on the culture of Aksum assumes the presence of Jewish immigrants among South Arabians who immigrated to Aksum in pre-Christian times. This theory, which was first put forward by Hiob Ludolf as early as the seventeenth century, proffered the South Arabian immigrants as the originators of the Semitic cultures and languages in Aksum.13 Ullendorff further advances the possibility of Jewish infiltration into pre-Christian Aksum.14 Tradition affirms the presence of Jewish refugees in Arabia as early as the time of the destruction of the first Temple in the sixth century BCE. According to Ullendorff, a sizeable Jewish community most probably entered the peninsula only after the destruction of Jerusalem by Emperor Trajan in 70 CE.15 The Jewish traveller ‘Aqba, in Midrash Bemidbar Rabba IX (dated to 130 CE), relates the presence of Jews in South Arabia; this is probably the earliest testimony of the existence of Kaplan, Beta Israel (Falasha), 26–27. This theory also overlooks the relative ease by which anyone may have travelled from Egypt (Elephantine) via the Red Sea rather than via the Nile. To get to Aksum using the Nile would probably have been a monumental feat. 11 Kessler, Falashas; Waldman, The Jews of Ethiopia. 12 Conti Rossini, Storia d’Etiopia. This monumental work had an immense influence on the writings of Ullendorff and others; it is unanimously used, as shown in this book, as a basic interpreting tool in numerous books and articles written by both Europeans and Ethiopians academics of the twentieth century. 13 Ludolf, A New History. 14 Ullendorff, ‘Hebraic-Jewish’, 219. 15 Ullendorff, ‘Hebraic-Jewish’, 220. 10

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Jewish colonies in Arabia.16 The existence of a Jewish community in South Arabia thus seems undisputed primarily because it would scarcely have been worthwhile for R. ‘Aqiba, whose purpose was to incite the Jews of Arabia to fight against Rome, to undertake so strenuous a journey.17 He also relates that the king of the Arabs at the time, incidentally and interestingly, was black and Ethiopian.18 In pre-Islamic Arabia, there are accounts of a Jewish population in Yathrib (Medina) and their success in converting a large community to Judaism.19 Ullendorff notes that the Arab writer ‘Al-Jumahi’, in his biographies, also mentions several Jewish poets of Medina.20 The main argument, in this regards, is that the social and cultural impact of this Jewish community extended to the other side of the Red Sea in Aksum: ‘So early and widespread a settlement of Jews in the Arabian peninsula makes it more than likely that some Jewish elements at least were included in the South Arabian waves of migration across the Red Sea into Abyssinia.’21 Ullendorff further articulates this claim as follows: In the Semitic culture which the immigrants from South Arabia had transplanted across the Red Sea into the Aksumite kingdom, the Jewish elements must have been prominent. That was due not only to the undoubted presence of Jews and Jewish proselytes among the immigrant traders and settlers, but also to

16 Ibid. 17 Ibid.

18 Ibid., 220–1. 19

‘Whole tribes seem to have gone over to Judaism and accepted monotheism before the rise of Muhammad’ (Ibid.). 20 Muḥammad ibn Sallām al-Ǧumaḥī, Ṭabaqāt aš-šuʻarāʼ. Joseph Hell (ed.) (Laydan: Brīll, 1916), 70, quoted in Ullendorff, ‘Hebraic-Jewish’, 222. However, al-Ǧumaḥī (756–845) lived in the third century Hijri (which is the ninth century CE), and the reference to him seems unimportant to the point which Ullendorff tries to make. 21 Ullendorff, ‘Hebraic-Jewish’, 221. For the impact of this hypothesis in the historical writings afterward, see Fage, A History of Africa, 55; July, A History of African People, 36–38.

50

JEWISH CULTURAL ELEMENTS the strong Hebraic-Jewish admixture in South Arabian civilization at the period.22

The relationship between the South Arabian Jewish communities that had been ‘transplanted’ to Aksum is also raised in other disciplines, the primary assumption being that there were waves of immigrants to Aksum: The second wave of emigrants, in the sixth and fifth century [BCE], would reign over the kingdom of Da’amat (D’MT), and would have been accompanied by Hebrews fleeing after Nebuchadnezzar’s capture of Jerusalem; an explanation for the later Ethiopian traditions with their Jewish and Biblical flavour, and for the Falashas or the black Jews of Ethiopia.23

The South Arabian hypothesis—used to locate ‘Jewish immigration’ to Aksum—has been favoured over the Egyptian thesis by some prominent scholars, including Ethiopian historian Taddesse Tamrat.24 It should be noted that the immigration issues discussed by these scholars essentially deal with two different but related topics: (a) the cultural and economic impact of the immigrant Semitic people (including Jews) of South Arabia, who are considered to be the founders of (pre-)Aksumite civilization, and (b) the quest for the identity of Jewish people in Ethiopia (including the Betä Ǝsra’el).25 On the former point, Ullendorff asserts that ‘South Arabia must thus be considered the principal avenue by which Jewish and early Biblical elements reached the kingdom of Aksum and gained admission in a variety of forms.’26 Since the hypothesis that forwards a pre-Christian Jewish immigration and its impact on Aksumite culture is skilfully interwoven 22

Ullendorff, ‘Hebraic-Jewish’, 225–226. Munro-Hay, Aksum, 65. 24 See for example Taddesse’s view in his ‘Introduction’: Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 5–20. 25 This book asserts that Jews’ direct impact on Aksum started no earlier than the sixth century (Chapter 4). 26 Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible, 21. 23

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by some scholars with the South Arabian ‘transplant’ theory, it needs further explanation. Presumably the Aksumite state was established in the first century BCE.27 Kaplan has suggested that the civilization of the pre-Aksumite period started around the fifth century BCE and that South Arabian influence28 existed from this initial period and continued to the third century BCE. He further elaborates: Roughly speaking, the pre-Aksumite period can be said to begin around the fifth century B.C. Already at the outset of this period, there is clear archaeological evidence of a strong South Arabian influence on the northern part of the Ethiopian highlands and the predominantly Agaw peoples of the region. [..I]mpact of South Arabian immigrants are also found in the religious beliefs and social-political organization of this period. Indeed, so powerful does this South Arabian influence appear at first glance that some scholars have depicted pre-Aksumite civilization a little more than a reflection of influences that arrived from across the Red Sea.29 27 See Phillipson, Ancient

Ethiopia. As some historical evidence shows, the Sabaean Kingdom existed beginning from about the ninth century until the sixth century BCE. However, it is proper to note that there is still an ongoing discussion on the origin of the kingdom; territories in both South Arabia and the northern part of Ethiopia had been ruled under the same kingdom during the Sabaeans and the subsequent kingdoms—which created similar cultural heritages on both shores of the Red Sea—particularly until the sixth century CE (see also Sergew, Ancient, 1–32; J. Spencer Trimingham, Islam in Ethiopia (Oxford: Geoffrey Cumberlege for the University Press, 1952), 32–45). As noted above, the theory is propagated in the modern scholarship primarily by scholars like Conti Rossini; the earliest inscriptions found in Ethiopia are written in Sabean scripts, and among many of the earliest Ethiopists it was believed that the ‘immigrant from South Arabia’ brought the Sabaean writing system to the African side of the Red Sea. Some claimed that classical Ethiopic, or Gə‘əz (and also the contemporary Amharic alphabet, fidel), have many similarities with the Sabaean inscription, making Ethiopia the only African nation to use its own script. For a careful analysis and critique on this, see Stepfan Weniner, ‘Gə‘əz’, in EA II, 732. 29 Kaplan, Beta Israel (Falasha), 15. 28

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Accordingly, the South Arabian immigrants contributed to the establishment of pre-Aksumite civilization; and as a consequence, the basic tenets of the culture of the Aksumite kingdom were highly influenced by South Arabian religions and beliefs.30 Judaism as a religion and Jewish/Hebraic elements were thus introduced in Aksum by Jews who were part of the South Arabian immigrant population.31 Following this analysis and echoing Littmann, who described the population in Aksum before Christianity as partly ‘pagans’, partly Jews,32 Ullendorff referred to Ethiopia as ‘Abyssinia proper, the carriers of the historical civilisation of the Semitized Ethiopia.’33 In this case, the twofold argument (critical analysis regarding the origin of the Betä Ǝsra’el people and the quest for the South Arabian impact on Aksum) was used to demonstrate the presence of a Jewish community in South Arabia, some of whom immigrated to Aksum, thus exerting cultural influence on the indigenous Aksumites. The Jewish presence in Arabia, in line with the view held by Ullendorff and adopted by other scholars, is related to the South Ara30

As such, the origin of the (northern) Ethiopians is explained through the fusion of ‘Semites’ and ‘Hamites’: ‘Physically, the Hamito-Semitic union has produced a handsome race, elegant, subtle, and nervous. Most travellers and observers have gained the impression that the Ethiopians are exceptionally intelligent, mentally agile, and quick to absorb knowledge. They are proud, yet courteous, and good manners are highly esteemed; they are also accomplished diplomats, perhaps somewhat suspicious, but generous and uncalculating. Ethiopians are given to litigiousness, but their sense of honour and justice is satisfied once the matter has been argued out at length; they will present a case with great dexterity and a distinct flair for oratory. Their hospitality retains something of a Biblical and patriarchal flavour; and few of those who have savoured it have been able to resist their exquisite compelling charm.’ Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible, 4; 1 Kings 9:27–28 speaks of Solomon’s time, when there was at least a temporary presence on the other side of the Red Sea coast creating some major trade centres; further connection to the other shore of the Red Sea can probably assumed; the trade route may have extended from Adulis to Aksum. 31 Munro-Hay, Aksum, 65. 32 Littmann, DAE, Vol. I, 51. 33 Ullendorff, The Ethiopians, 32.

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bian cultural influence in Aksum. There appears, however, to be chronological disparity between the Jewish presence in Arabia and the alleged Arabian immigration inasmuch as Jewish presence in Arabia after 70 CE is invoked to prove the presence of Jews among the South Arabian immigrants in the fifth to third centuries BCE. This is only one part of the problem of Ullendorff’s hypothesis; but, as shown below, scholars are yet to unravel some of the ambiguity surrounding the origins of civilization and cultural make-up of Aksum both in pre-Aksumite and Aksumite periods. There are, however, a few points to note. (1) The South Arabian immigration theory, or rather ‘transplant model’ of pre-Aksumite society,34 is primarily an academic construct that is not corroborated definitively by historical or material evidence. Thus this view is only tentatively proposed even by its strongest proponents, as noted in this summary offered by Taddesse Tamrat: It is most likely that at the time of their earliest contact with the south Arabians the native people were in a primitive stage of material culture […] The immigrants themselves probably consisted of small tribal groups, each constituting a different political unit of its own […] Each of these groups probably imposed itself on the section of the local people in whose neighbourhood it happened to settle.35 (Emphasis mine.)

By definition, therefore, an academic assumption is subject to amendments or change as more historical and archaeological data becomes available and as new findings in the field of linguistics, literature, and religion also shed light on the life and practices of ancient Ethiopians. Ullendorff himself, reportedly modified his own views 34For a recent observation on this

model by Matthew C. Curtis, see ‘Ancient Interaction across the Southern Red Sea: New Suggestions for Investigating Cultural Exchange and Complex Societies During the First Millennium BC’, in Paul Lunde and Alexander Porter (eds.), Trade and Travel in the Red Sea: Proceedings of Red Sea Project I held in the British Museum (Oxford: BAR International Series, 2004) 59–60. 35 Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 8.

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on Jewish immigration to Aksum, which he had held for more than four decades, in the 1990s.36 (2) Though scholarly argument regarding Jewish influence in Ethiopia is interwoven with the assumption that South Arabian immigrants arrived in Ethiopia with their civilisation, until recently, other possible factors indicating the African origin of the Aksumite kingdom were overlooked.37 Arguments in line with immigration theory have now been challenged: as Alessandra Avanzini noted, ‘In recent years, many scholars have underscored […] the South Arabian presence in Ethiopia ephemeral, and belittling its rôle in the origin and development of the most ancient Ethiopian civilisation.’38 In the 1970s and 1980s in particular, a number of writings from prominent Ethiopists seriously challenged the assumption of South Arabian influence. Scholars like Abraham-Johannes Drewes and

36Tracing

his personal communication with Professor E. Ullendorff in 1991, Steven Kaplan reports that Ullendorff abandoned his earlier view regarding the Jewish immigrant to Aksum in the pre-Christian era; he previously asserted that ‘a small early Jewish population is said to have been superseded by a later Christian community with only a tiny remnant of Jews surviving […., thus t]he Beta Israel are essentially a fossilized survival from preChristian Aksum’ (Kaplan, ‘Inventions’, 646.) 37 Indeed, two centuries earlier, Henry Salt tried to present arguments against the contention of contemporaneous European scholars that the Aksumites were descendants of South Arabian immigrants. He contended that, ‘the Axomites (as they were called by Romans) are descended from a race of aboriginal inhabitants of Africa, composed of native Ethiopians who became in the course of time mixed with [African] settlers from Egypt, and that they do not exhibit any claims to an Arabian descent, as was supposed by [other European writers]’ (Salt, A Voyage to Abyssinia, 73). 38 Alessandra Avanzini, ‘Inscriptions’, in EA Vol. 3, 152. See recent studies that are devoted to shedding light on the socio-political interactions between both shores of the Red Sea in Paul Lund and Alexandra Porter (eds.) Trade and Travel in the Red Sea: Proceedings of Red Sea Project I, British Museum, October 2002 (Oxford: BAR International Series, 2004).

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Roger Schneider challenged Conti Rossini’s ‘transplant model’ and proposed another ‘acculturation model.’39 Schneider, in 1977, argued against the ‘Sabaeization of Ethiopia’, contending that the South Arabian immigrants arrived in the midst of a vibrant Ethiopian culture.40 Similar assertions seem to have an immediate impact on the academic interpretation of Aksumite history. Peter L. Shinnie discusses the origins of the Aksumite kingdom that ‘go back to well into the first millennium BC’, when settlers from South Arabia and the Yemen introduced ‘Semitic languages, building in stone, and literacy’ and may also have been ‘the first to introduce agriculture into the area’; he also, however, expresses awareness of how precarious this hypothesis is in light of more recent investigation on the history of Aksum.41 Another scholar, Henri de Contenson, argued that influences on the Aksumite kingdom were exerted from different places and claimed that numerous attempts have been made in recent times to realize the original aspects of this culture.42 According to him, even though there was South Arabian influence, very significant impact came from indigenous elements that formed the basis of the Aksumite civilisation. In this case he chose to term the civilisation as undergoing an ‘EthiopoSabaean period’ rather than referring to it categorically as the ‘South Arabian civilisation of Aksum.’43 In line with the idea of an African foundation for pre-Aksumite civilisation are recent proposals that the civilisation began before the alleged immigration commenced. According to Munro-Hay:

39

Abraham-Johannes Drewes and Roger Schneider, ‘Origine et développement de récriture éthiopienne jusqu’à l’époque des inscriptions royales d’Axoum’, in Annales d’Ethiopie 10 (1976), 95–107. 40 Roger Schneider, ‘Les Debuts De L’Histoire Ethiopienne’, in Conference on Ethiopian Origins, SOAS (London: 1977), 47–54. 41 Peter L Shinnie, ‘The Nilotic Sudan and Ethiopia c. 660 BC to c. AD 600’, in J. D. Fage (ed.), The Cambridge History of Africa Vol. 2 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978), 262. 42 De Conteson, ‘Pre-Aksumite Culture’, 355. 43 Ibid.

56

JEWISH CULTURAL ELEMENTS Evidently the arrival of the Sabaean influences does not represent the beginning of Ethiopian civilisation. For a long time different peoples had been interacting through population movements, warfare, trade and intermarriage in the Ethiopian region, resulting in a predominance of peoples speaking languages of the Afro-Asiatic family. The main branches represented were the Cushitic and Semitic […]; these and other groups had already developed specific cultural and linguistic identities by the time any Sabaean influences arrived.44

The observation by Munro-Hay further challenged the very core of the South Arabian immigration hypothesis, even if it did not fully respond to its basic points. Historical and archaeological evidence shows that until the seventh century CE, both sides of the Red Sea were bound in a robust relationship sharing pari passu cultural influence due to immigration, war, and other social and cultural factors.45 Phillipson suggests that the Aksumites may have exercised political control over parts of southern Arabia as early as the third century AD, and certainly did so for periods of the fourth and sixth centuries. These cultural links lasted until the rise of Islam in the seventh century, when the Red Sea came once more under the control of people living on its eastern shore.46 Munro-Hay, Aksum, 62. See Ephraim Isaac and Cain Felder, ‘Reflection on the Origins of the Ethiopian Civilization’, in Taddese Beyene (ed.), Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference of Ethiopian Studies I (Addis Ababa: University of Addis Ababa, 1984), 71–83. Roderick Grierson, following Isaac and Felder, also in line with a ‘moderate’ view, asserted that ‘Ethiopia and South Arabia are seen as compromising parts of a single Red Sea cultural area, without either side assuming a dominant position’ (Roderick Grierson, ‘Dreaming of Jerusalem’, in Roderick Grierson (ed.), African Zion: The Sacred Arts (New Haven, CT, and London: Yale University Press, 1993), 7. 46 Phillipson, Ancient Ethiopia, 42. Paul Henze writes that ‘It used to [erroneously] be thought that they [the South Arabians] arrived among primitive African hunter-gatherers, with whom they had no more in common 44 45

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This constituted an important development in scholarship on Aksumite civilisation in the second half of the twentieth century. He further notes: ‘It was formerly believed that overseas influences dominated in Aksumite technology, but this view is now seen as a serious exaggeration’.47 More importantly, in his recent book he notes that the theory, which almost became a ‘mythology’, considered ‘colonisation’ by southern Arabians as ‘responsible for numerous cultural innovations’. Phillipson also stresses that this idea was first proposed by Conti Rossini but popularised by Ullendorff and ‘has been widely—if uncritically—accepted and has passed into much historical understanding, and for that matter, mythology.’48 Recent studies highlight the possibility of the reverse impact— namely that civilization might possibly have been transported from Aksum to South Arabia. This notion, as will be as discussed below, seems to nuance knowledge of cultural influence, revealing that while there is rich archaeological and epigraphic evidence of cultural traits common to both shores of the Red Sea, there is no clear and convincing evidence which side of the Red Sea was the source to the so-called ‘South Arabian civilization.’49 Hailu Habtu’s response to Ali Mazrui’s ‘The Semitic Impact on Black Africa: Arab and Jewish Cultural Influences’, probably influenced by Schneider’s thesis, reflects a concerned elucidation of this perspective.50 Hailu asks if there than the first European had with most Native Americans’ (Henze, Layers of Time, 20). 47 Ibid., 19. 48 Phillipson, Foundations, 19. He asserted that earlier epigraphic and, more recently, archaeological evidence show ‘that a number of innovations to which Conti Rossini had attributed a southern Arabian origin were in fact indigenous African developments’ (ibid.). 49 From the sparse but strong archaeological, historical, and linguistic evidence, we know that both sides of the Red Sea were ruled by the Sabaean Kingdom, sharing the same civilisation most probably until the sixth century BCE (see, de Contenson, ‘Pre-Aksumite Culture’, 355). 50 Ali Mazrui, ‘The Semitic Impact on Black Africa: Arab and Jewish Cultural Influences’, in Issue: A Journal of Opinion 13 (1984), 3–8; http://www.jstor.org/stable/1166342, retrieved on 20 January 2010.

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were other ways to see the complexity of cultural exchange than the view almost unanimously held by European scholars: In any discussion of ancient Ethiopia, perhaps all that can be stated safely from the present level of research and scholarship (which incidentally is acquainted only superficially with the very profound exegetic tradition of classical Ethiopic) is that its contacts with the ancient Egyptians, Hebrews, Chaldeans, etc., were close and that its civilization certainly antedates the coming of the hypothetical “civilizing ‘Semitic’ Sabeans” from across the Red Sea Straits of Babel Mandeb. Where ancient Ethiopians, Egyptians, Hebrews, Chaldeans, Sabeans, etc., are concerned, the directions of influence, the degrees of their reciprocity, and the nature of their emerging convergences or divergences are difficult enough to unravel for any scholar […] It is a matter of profound concern that there is a compulsion for many a scholar of African culture, history, religion, etc., to search ceaselessly for the external cultural and historical determinator, even when no such single clue remotely suggests itself and even where, on the contrary, all the available historical evidence compels the reverse hypothesis. 51

Furthermore, a decade after Schneider’s proposal, in 1987, the French scholar Jacqueline Pirenne also proposed that the South Arabian civilisation was shaped by Aksumite civilisation, noting that ‘il est donc vraisemblance que l’expansion ne s’est pas faite du Yémen vers l’Ethiopie, mais bien en sens: de l’Ethiopie vers le Yémen.’52 Proposing that the Assyrian source refers to Sabaeans as a people of the northern part of Arabia, not the south, Pierene suggests an alternative hypothesis whereby one group of Sabaeans who would have Hailu Habtu, ‘The Fallacy of The Triple Heritage Thesis’, in Issue: A Journal of Opinion 13 (1984) 29, 28; http://www.jstor.org/stable/1166346, retrieved on 20 January 2010. 52 Jacqueline Pirenne, ‘La Grèce et Saba après 32 ans de nouvelles recherches’, in L’Arabie préislamique et son environnement historique et culturel, Colloquium University of Strasbourg, 1987, quoted in Munro-Hay, Aksum, 65–66. See also Grierson, ‘Introduction’, in African Zion, 7. 51

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lived in North Arabia left for Ethiopia under pressure from Assyrians in about the eighth century, after which they continued on into South Arabia.53 A second wave of immigrants, composed of Hebrews fleeing after Nebuchadnezzar’s capture of Jerusalem, also went to Ethiopia during the kingdom of Da’amat (D‘MT) providing an explanation for the Jewish and Biblical flavour of later Ethiopian traditions and for the origin of the Fälashas or Black Jews of Ethiopia. These Sabaeans also travelled on into South Arabia, taking with them the writing system and architecture of Aksum. In the fourth and third centuries BCE, other Sabaean émigrés left Ethiopia for Yemen, leaving elements of their civilisation and traditions firmly embedded in the way of life of Ethiopians. For Munro-Hay, this expresses a highly theoretical alternative for the background to preAksumite civilisation and culture, which forwards a complete reversal of previous assumptions.54 The contention proposed by Pirenne and others against the dominant South Arabian immigration hypothesis clearly shows the complexity of the issues surrounding the historical rise of Aksum,55 and more importantly, the problematic basis of theories of immigration or ‘transplant models.56 This critique thus invites us to address ‘Jewish’ influence (even as related to South Arabian immigrant) in a different manner than proposed by Ullendorff. (3) In light of this, the influence exerted by Judaism in Arabia in both the pre-Aksumite and Aksumite period needs to be further considered and a better hypothesis suggested. In response to Ullendorff’s claim for Judaic influence on Aksum via South Arabian immigrants, Maxime Rodinson rightly asserts that Judaism was not strongly established in South Arabia until around 375 CE, a period after the adopSummarised by Munro-Hay, Aksum, 66. Ibid. 55 See Matthew C. Curtis, ‘Ancient Interaction across the Southern Red Sea: New Suggestions for Cultural Exchange and Complex Societies During the First Millennium BC’, in Lund and Porter (eds.), Trade and Travel in the Red Sea, 57–65. 56 See Messay Kebede, ‘Eurocentrism and Ethiopian Historiography: Deconstructing Semitization’, in IJES 1 (1) 2003, 1–19 53

54

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tion of Christianity in Ethiopia. His conclusion is based primarily on the lack of any Jewish sources.57 The claims and assumptions about the exact identity of those who allegedly brought the Jewish influence on Aksumite culture are, according to Ullendorff himself, lacking evidence and cannot be more than a generalization: While it is possible to point to certain Jewish influences and manifestations in the emergence of Abyssinian culture [through the South Arabian immigration], we possess no information about the identity of the carriers of those influences. For the history of the Jews in Abyssinia we lack nearly all genuine and trustworthy source material. Generalizations of all sorts abound, but there is almost complete absence of historical detail.58

The discussion in this section serves to elucidate the untenability of viewing Akumite culture as a passive recipient of South Arabian influence, an assumption which underlies Ullendorff’s theory of ‘5th to 3rd centuries BCE immigration.’59 To summarise, the discussion in this section serves to query the foundational assumptions behind theories proposed to explain ‘Jewish/Judaic/Hebraic’ in Ethiopian traditions both in the EOC and other non-Christian ethnic groups like the Betä Ǝsra’el.60 At the Rodinson, ‘Edward Ullendorff, The Ethiopians’; Shelemay, Falasha History, 19. 58 Ullendorff, ‘Hebraic-Jewish’, 226. 59 However, in discussing the ancient civilisation of Ethiopia, Ephraim Isaac and Cain Felder argued for the ‘essential difference between historical and cultural ties and concept of cultural dominance’ and noted that the South Arabian hypothesis is formulated based on 18th-century historiography that attempted to ‘“Caucasianize” a major African civilization rather than relying on evidence from linguistic, epigraphic, and literary findings; they rather realised a reciprocal influence among the people living in both sores of the Red Sea and highlighted in their concluding comment that the South Arabian thesis wrongly attributed Ethiopian civilisation ‘to a core group of superior Semitic colonists’ (Ephraim Isaac and Felder, ‘Reflections’, 71–72). 60 The Betä Ǝsra’el are not the only Ethiopian non-Christian people who exhibit some cultural elements regarded as ‘Judaic/Hebraic/Jewish.’ See 57

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heart of the migration hypothesis lies the usually unstated assumption that both the religious rituals of the EOC and the Betä Ǝsra’el were, with minor exceptions, identical with whatever form of ancient Judaism reached Ethiopia. As seen above, the origin of such elements is mostly ascribed to alleged Jewish migrants from South Arabia and Egypt. While the origins of these elements need to be further analysed in light of historical, archaeological, and linguistic evidence as well as a critical review of previous literature, as shown below, the immigration hypothesis seems to fall short of offering a satisfactory conclusion and to require further study, as undertaken here. But I see that our enquiry of the subject should further discuss whether migration of Jews occurred in pre-Christian Aksum or not; or, more importantly, whether direct ‘Judaic influence’ ever happened before the sixth century CE.

‘HEBREW’ LOANWORDS IN ETHIOPIC Textual witnesses of the Gə‘əz versions of several Old Testament and apocryphal books provide valuable insight into ‘Judaic’ influence on Ethiopia. Some ‘Hebrew’/Jewish Aramaic loanwords in Ethiopic found in these texts are taken by some serious scholars as decisive evidence for the existence of Jewish cultural elements before the fourth century CE. Even though Ethiopic versions are almost certainly based primarily on versions of the Greek text of the Old Testament (Septuagint or LXX), they offer numerous examples of reliance on a Hebrew as well as Aramaic Vorlage.61 For example, Polotsky notes that a research on Qemant and other Ethiopian peoples in Frederick C Gamst, The Qemant: A pagan-Hebraic Peasantry of Ethiopia (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1969). 61 Edward Ullendorff, ‘Hebrew Elements in the Ethiopic Old Testament’, in Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 9 (1987), 42–50. Polotsky concludes that on a priori grounds, the Gə‘əz Bible is translated from Greek, and it is unlikely that it ‘should have been translated very much later than the introduction of Christianity’ (Polotsky, ‘Aramaic, Syriac, and Ge’ez’, 2). It is argued that the translation of the Bible must have taken place before the sixth century (The Book of Saints of the Ethiopian Church, a Translation of the

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connection between Aramaic loanwords and other Aramaic and Syriac features of the Christianization of Ethiopia and the translation of the Bible into Ethiopic were first identified by Hiob Ludolf.62 In the 1880s, scholars like Gildemeister, Guidi, and Praetorius independently contributed to the study,63 but there were differences between them regarding the place of Syriac/Aramaic: They differ as to whether the missionaries who brought Christianity to Ethiopia were also the translators of the Bible: Gildemeister dates the Bible translation much later than the beginnings of Christianization, while Guidi and Praetorius tend to identify missionaries and translators. They agree in regarding the Aramaic words as evidence that the missionaries were speakers of Aramaic, or more exactly of Syriac; that these missionaries were the creators of the Christian-Ethiopic literary language; and that it was they who introduced the Aramaic words, as expressions for fundamental notions of the Christian faith. Gildemeister quotes the following examples: haymànot “faith”, ’arami “heathen”, ’orit “the Jewish law, the Torah, the Pentateuch (or rather Octateuch)”, si’ol “the nether world, Hades.64

Ethiopic Synaxarium Vol. 1. E A Wallis Budge (tr.) (London and Cambridge, 1928), 289); also quoted in Munro-Hay, Alexandria and Ethiopia, 79; Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible, 30; Sergew, Ancient, 119; Polotsky, ‘Aramaic, Syriac, and Ge’ez’, 2; cf. St. John Crysostom Homily II, NPNF, trans. and ed. P. Schaff, vol. XIV, p. 5). This (the early period for the translation of the Bible into Ethiopic) should not overrule the possibility of numerous revisions and recensions in the later periods (Michael Knibb, Translating the Bible, The Ethiopic Version of the Old Testament (Oxford University Press, 1999), 45–6). 62 Polotsky, ‘Aramaic, Syriac, and Ge’ez’, 3. Polotsky assumes that it was actually Hiob Ludolf’s friend, docteur de Sorbonne, who should be credited for the findings; but see Polotsky’s critique on some of their conclusions (ibid., 3–4). 63 Ibid., 5. 64 Ibid., 4–5. He noted that though the words ‘chosen as examples by Gildemeister were not really Syriac, but originally Jewish-Aramaic […] They had, however, become fully naturalized in Syriac, and there is no reason

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More specifically, Nöldeke maintained that the word (ምጽዋት) məṣwat alone can be taken as sole proof for Jewish religious influence in Ethiopia: ‘würde allein genügen, jüdischen religiösen Einfluss bei den alten Abessiniern zu konstatieren’65; this no doubt remains one of the strongest cases for the claim of ‘Judaic’ influences on Ethiopian Christianity.66 It is in line with this that Polotsky claims ‘this word alone would suffice to establish the fact that the ancient Abyssinians had undergone Jewish religious influence,’67 and concludes that what the words ‘denote belongs to the Judaic leaven in Christianity.’68 Even if this remains a strong case for the claim that there was Jewish influence on Aksumite culture before the fourth century CE, however, the conclusion is still problematic due to the fact that such loanwords in Ethiopic are only found in Biblical materials produced in later eras.69 why they should not have come into Ethiopic through speakers of Syriac’ (ibid., 5). 65 Nöldeke, ‘Dies Wort würde allein genügen’, 36, quoted in Ullendorff, ‘Hebraic-Jewish’, 226; Ethiopia and the Bible, 24, 37. Wolf Leslau goes further by noting that not only məṣwat but other words—also ṭa‘ot, ‘idol,’ gahannam, ‘hell,’ and other words—‘demonstrate Jewish religious influence among the Abyssinians […] thus the Hebrew expressions were kept’ (Wolf Leslau, Review, The Ethiopians, by Edward Ullendorff, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 21 (3) 1962, 229); further critique is in Polotsky, ‘Aramaic, Syriac, and Ge’ez’, 6. 66 In Biblical, mediaeval, and modern Israeli Hebrew, miṣwa means ‘commandment’, and it was only during the first century CE that məṣwathā meant ‘alms’; one can easily conclude, then, that the introduction of this loanword to Aksum must have been during that period. 67 Potosky, ‘Aramaic, Syriac, and Ge’ez’, 5–6. 68 Polotsky, ‘Aramaic, Syriac, and Ge’ez’, 10. He also underlines that it is hardly plausible that Aramaic words could have been introduced by Syriacspeaking missionaries who translated the Bible. 69 Even though the presence of Jewish Aramaic loanwords in Ethiopian languages before the fourth century CE can be proposed, it is important to note that, as Polotsky himself puts it, the Gə‘əz məṣwat indeed follows not the Hebrew Bible but ‘Midrashic literature’; and any remark that the Hebrew expression was kept in Ethiopic ‘would make sense only if the Ethiopic Bible—including the New Testament—had been translated from Hebrew, and from a rather peculiar kind of Hebrew at that’ (Polotsky, ‘Arama-

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What is interesting about the discussion of loanwords as evidence of a Jewish cultural presence at Aksum before the fourth century is how it is implied and amplified in Ullendorff’s thesis: he used it to further develop his main argument, stating that these loanwords were a contribution of ‘Jewish or Judaized immigrants from South Arabia’ who helped with the translation of the Ethiopic Bible ‘in any period till about the seventh century.’70 He also asserts that nothing ‘would prevent us from assuming that all three [Greek, Syriac, and Hebrew] might have been employed, in one form or another, directly or indirectly, by a team of translators.’71 Ullendorff claims: The absence of direct historical sources [to prove the immigration of Jews to Aksum before the introduction of Christianity], however, compensated, at least in part, by fairly numerous threads of indirect evidence which, in their cumulative effect, present an impressive picture. Words like Eth. Ta‘ot “idol”, gähännäm “hell”, ‘aťharä “to purify”, .., məśwat “alms”, etc., must have been introduced by Jewish merchants from Arabia at an early date, for they show Hebrew rather than Syriac forms and a specifically Jewish connotation.72

ic, Syriac, and Ge’ez’, 5, 6, 7). Needless to say, that was not the case. What is further encouraging is that Polotsky has already suggested that the ‘interpretation of these linguistic facts [indigenous and loanwords … in Ethiopic] in terms of history may be left to those who are better qualified than’ him (ibid., 10). Indeed, the earlier studies did not help much except to provide hypotheses; we still lack historical and literary evidence as to whether or not the ‘Hebrew’/Jewish Aramaic loanwords were known in Aksum before the introduction of Christianity. Taking a cue from the basic problem posed in this conclusion is the fact that Ethiopic biblical materials with such loanwords are only available from after the fourth century CE. We may ask: what if the loanwords were introduced later, and how? 70 Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible, 57; on the impact of Jewish migrants, see Ullendorff, ‘Hebraic-Jewish’, 225–6. 71 Ibid., 56. 72 Ullendorff, ‘Hebraic-Jewish’, 226. Other words in focus are Orit (Torah, Law), fassiha (Easter), haymanot (faith), qurban (oblation, sacrifice, Eucha-

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He brings together all his other arguments for Judaic influence in Ethiopia under the linguistic umbrella to conclude that Jews at Aksum played a great role in the formation of the Hebraic culture of the EOC by participating in the translation of the Ethiopic Bible: The legend of the Queen of Sheba […] in all its manifold ramifications has given rise to such deeply-rooted traditions as the Aaronite origin of the Aksumite clergy, the reference to Abyssinians as däk’ik’ä ’Esra’el, “children of Israel”, and the consciousness of having inherited from Israel the legitimate claim to being regarded as the chosen people of God. It is clear that these and other traditions, in particular that of the Ark of the Covenant at Aksum, must have been an integral part of the Abyssinian national heritage long before the introduction of Christianity in the fourth century; for it would be inconceivable that a people recently converted from paganism to Christianity (not by a Christian Jew, but by the Syrian missionary Frumentius) should thereafter have begun to boast of Jewish descent and to insist on Israelite connexions, customs, and institutions. […A]fter the introduction of Christianity into the Aksumite Empire the Jews were probably subjected to severe persecutions. There exist, of course, no records to substantiate this opinion, but in view of the cherished descent from Israel and the widespread Judaization in pre-Christian Abyssinia one may well doubt the cogency of this conjecture. Moreover, it is likely that many of the immigrant Jewish nuclei, spiritually isolated as they must have been, became voluntary adherents of Christianity. To what extent Abyssinian Christianity reacted, by way of local retaliation […] is impossible to determine. In any event, it seems probable that those Abyssinian Jews who had been converted to

rist), ṣälot (prayer), ṣom (fast), mäqdäs (sanctuary), arb (Friday), all of which are believed to have ‘specifically Jewish connotation’ (see Ephraim Isaac, ‘An Obscure Component’, 243 and 245).

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JEWISH CULTURAL ELEMENTS Christianity became the effective carriers of Hebraic elements, rites, and forms current in, the Christian Church of Ethiopia. 73

Ullendorff seems to point out that these words, which were in existence in pre-Christian times at Aksum, continued to exist after the introduction of Christianity with minor shifts in meaning and substance.74 This evidence of ‘Hebrew’ loanwords is thus taken as substantiating his arguments for the presence of a Judaic community as the source of the earliest Jewish cultural elements in Ethiopia. While the presence of loanwords has been taken by some scholars as strong evidence to suggest the presence of Jews in pre-Christian Ethiopia and their possible role in Bible translation, I argue that disproportional emphasis is given to the loanwords.75 While this is the case, indeed an attempt to examine how these loanwords were introduced into the Ethiopic Bible no doubt offers a better understanding on the issue. To this end, the range of scholarly arguments I discuss below serves to indicate that the argument based on the existence of some loanwords seems inconclusive, thus requiring further study. First, the limited nature of the academic discussion on the relationship between Semitic languages and our understanding of possible Semitic common roots is noted by Rodinson: Dire qu'un mot éthiopien et un mot hébreu remontent au fond sémitique commun exprime une réalité, car les deux langues sont des formes évoluées d’une même unité linguistique disparue. Mais dire qu'un trait culture! Israelite et un trait culturel éthiopien remontent a un patrimoine sémitique commun est une formulation qui n'apporte qu'une indication vague et même suggéré des idées fausses. Chaque peuple de langue sémitique a eu une évolution historique et culturelle propre et on ne peut savoir presque rien sur la culture du noyau originel, ce groupe humain dont on suppose qu'il parlait, on ne sait ou et on ne sait quand, l’Ursemitisch.76

73

Ullendorff, ‘Hebraic-Jewish’, 225–6. Ibid., 236, 252; Ullendorff, The Ethiopians, 100. 75 See note 171 above. 76 Maxime Rodinson, ‘Reviews, Edward Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible’, 168. 74

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His hypothetical argument, though perhaps not as strong as it seems, should be taken into consideration in light of the common roots of Hebrew and Gə‘əz. In the absence of a thorough comparative study concerning ‘proto-Semitic’, conclusively claiming that one Semitic language had dominance over the other (and putting one Semitic language only of the receiving end of influence) is probably a tenuous claim that may indicate the need for further in-depth comparative study of the topic.77

77

The uncontested fact is that there are many loanwords in Ethiopic; such loanwords as the names of the biblical God, gähannäm (hell), tabot (ark), Orit (Torah, Law), fassiha (Easter) are only explained as being Aramaic loanwords with specifically Hebrew connotations. A brief perusal in the Comparative Dictionary by Leslau suggests that Gə‘əz is the loanword recipient. Apart from identification of loanwords in the development of thological-biblical concepts in Ethiopic, one can further suggest that the question of thorough comparative grammar study needs to be vigorously done to identify Semitic cognate words; this would help clearly identify the loanwords from the commonly shared ones. Comprehensive study and reflection about whether or not those loanwords were already existent in Gə‘əz even before the translation of the Bible (in the form of cognates that are possibly shared with Hebrew or Jewish Aramaic) seems to provide important direction for further inquiry, which unfortunately still awaits thorough research. On another note, even in the strongest case of ‘Jewish Aramaic’ loanwords like gähannäm, tabot, Orit, and fassiha, the roots of a few of these words need further study to conclusively establish how they were introduced to Ethiopic originally: via Hebrew or Jewish Aramaic or other routes. For example, the word tabot is not originally Hebrew but is derived from Egyptian language, having a root of db3t (Leslau, Dictionary, 570). Tangentially, in addition to the presence of loanwords, it is noted that Gə‘əz had already developed distinct vocabularies to convey the Biblical religious messages; perhaps the contribution of Gə‘əz in providing some religious words for the translation of the Bible can be taken as an initial observation for such a study; and as Polotsky writes, ‘It is perhaps remarkable that perfectly good indigenous words were found for Christian notions like “baptism”, “savior”, “cross”, “resurrection” (Polotsky, ‘Aramaic, Syriac, and Ge‘ez’, 10).

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Secondly but more importantly, to claim the existence of Jewish element in the pre-Aksumite era as an explanation for the existence of ‘Hebrew’ or Jewish Aramaic loanwords in Gə‘əz before the introduction of Christianity seems an overstatement. Kaplan, after stating that ‘the existence of this linguistic and literary evidence for early Jewish influences on Ethiopian culture is not open to dispute’78, interestingly admits that ‘the precise circumstances under which Jews or other bearers of such material might have been involved in the translation of text into Gə‘əz remain unclear’,79 which is an excellent conclusion that needs to be underlined.80 But what does this imply? We noted that the loanwords in discussion come from Biblical literature. Questions relating to the context of the translation and the vorlage of the Ethiopic Bible have not yet been conclusively addressed, and these questions are even more convincing when asked regarding additional Ethiopic materials that were no doubt translated after the Ethiopic Bible. It is agreed that ‘no views on the time, authorship, the vorlage of the Ethiopic Bible Translations can lay claim to any measure of finality.’81 The issue is further nuanced by Michael Knibb, who has pointed out ‘the absence of any very substantial or reliable external evidence about the date of the translation and the circumstances in which it was made,’82 adding that except for a few brief quotations from biblical texts in the inscriptions, ‘there is an enormous gap between the date of the translation and the manuscripts that we possess.’83 His conclusion in this regard stands for the quest to identify the course of revision of the Ethiopic Old Testament:

78 Kaplan, ‘“Falasha” Religion’, 53. 79 Ibid., 52–53. 80

In line with this, to make the matter contentious, some scholars have consistently argued that the ‘Jewish’ influence was only a phenomenon which came due to a Jewish Christian influence evidenced in post-sixth century Ethiopian Christianity (see Ephraim, EOTC, 44–46). 81 See Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible, 31–72. 82 Knibb, Translating the Bible, 17. 83 Ibid.

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There is clear evidence that the Ethiopic translation was made from a Greek text, or at least primarily from a Greek text. It is argued that at a second stage this original translation, the socalled Old Ethiopic, was revised on the basis of Arabic or SyroArabic texts to produce what has been termed the ‘vulgar recension.’ This process of revision is attributed to the midfourteenth century, to the literary renaissance that began during the reign of Amda Sion at the time of the ‘restoration’ of the Solomonic dynasty. Finally, it is argued that in the second half of the fifteenth century, or a little later, a further revision was undertaken, this time on the basis of the Hebrew text. This revised Ethiopic text represents the so-called academic recension.84

This appears to be another important factor pertaining to ‘Hebrew’ loanwords, but it only further suggests the complexity of the issue. It seems, therefore, important to highlight that Polotsky’s assertion that the loanwords indicate a ‘Judaic leaven’ in Ethiopian Christianity by itself, as he himself suggests, cannot fully demonstrate preChristian Aksum’s Judaic context. This means that it offers no conclusive answer to the most important question concerning the time of the introduction of such ‘Jewish’ cultural elements and the identity of its bearers. Neither does it supply an answer for any query on the way in which such loanwords were introduced into the Ethiopian languages;85 thus arguments for the presence of Jewish Aramaic loanwords (including ምጽዋት/məṣwat) in pre-Christian Aksum cannot be easily substantiated. Indeed, if anything has to be said on this, 84

Ibid., 3. It is stated that the earliest available version of the Bible comes from the thirteenth century CE. For a good documentation of the stages of revision of the Ethiopic Bible, see the academic works of Dillmann, Praetorius, Guidi, Zotenburg, and Löfgren in Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible, 37–51. 85 Wolf Leslau commented that the introduction of loanwords like məṣwat ‘go back simply to the Biblical text that was translated into Ethiopic about the fifth century, and thus the Hebrew expressions were kept’ (Leslau, ‘Review of The Ethiopians’, 229a; for a critique, see Polotsky, ‘Aramaic, Syriac, and Ge’ez’, 6), 21.

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it has to be clearly underlined that even important question of the transmission and the process of translation of the Ethiopic Bible in the post-Christian period remain unresolved.86 What I can conclude then is that some of the loanwords might have been introduced later (post-4th c. CE) with the translation of the Ethiopic Bible, which passed through several recensions based on different sources including the Syriac Peshitta, which could explain how Jewish Aramaic words might have been introduced into Ethiopic.87 In light of the historical context in which Christianity was in86

As mentioned above, even though there is an assumption that ‘Hebrew’ or Jewish Aramaic loanwords possibly ‘become fully naturalized in Syriac’ and later introduced ‘into Ethiopic through speakers of Syriac’, Polotsky, based on his study of Aramaic loanwords in Ethiopic, cast doubt on one of the roles the Syriac-speaking missionaries allegedly assumed: ‘in the light of the linguistic evidence it seems hardly possible that the Aramaic words should have been introduced by Syriac-speaking missionaries or Bible translators’ (Polotsky, ‘Aramaic, Syriac, and Ge’ez’, 5, 10; also, Ullendorff, ‘Hebraic-Jewish’, 126). It has to be noted that Paolo Marrassini, in his important article, discusses the identity of these ‘Nine Saints’ (‘Some Considerations on the Problem of the ‘Syriac Influences’ on Aksumite Ethiopia’, in JES 13 (1990), 35–46; also, in “Once Again on the Question of the Syriac Influences in the Aksumite Period”, in Languages and Cultures, 209 -219. [A translation from, ‘Ancora sul problema degli influssi siriaci in età aksumita’, in Biblica et Semitica:Studi in memoria di Francesco Vattioni (ed. Luigi Cagni; Naples: Istituto UniversitarioOrientale, 1999), pp. 325–337]); see discussion below. 87 This is by taking seriously the fact that the translation of the Ethiopic Bible was not done before the fourth century. How, then, were the loanwords introduced to Ethiopic? If one suggests another working hypothesis, it is most likely that the loanwords were introduced at Aksum in the later era: (i) One possibility is that they were introduced through the Syriac tradition, most probably through some mediums that retained məṣwathā as ‘alms’: for example, this term was naturalised in the Syriac language and preserved in its literatures. Then, later on, those from this ‘Syriac’ tradition used the term in the process of translation of the Ethiopic Bible. Polotsky tangentially discusses this, asserting that the Hebrew or Jewish Aramaic loanwords probably ‘become fully naturalized in Syriac and there is no rea-

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troduced at Aksum and the historical developments of the fourth through sixth centuries, as shown in the next two chapters, it is more convincing to consider that ‘Hebrew loanwords’ were introduced into Ethiopian languages through Syriac/Jewish Aramaic in and through the recension process in much later eras than the fourth century CE. And the fact remains that the earliest documents that mentions such elements are Ethiopic Christian materials, existent only son why they should not have come into Ethiopic through speakers of Syriac’ (Polotsky, ‘Aramaic, Syriac, and Ge’ez’, 5), and my conclusion here understandably begs a slight amendment to Polotsky’s main hypothesis shown above. But this conclusion still makes sense only if the Aramaic words are naturalised in Syriac. In terms of historical evidence, note that the first Christians in Edessa were Jewish Christians: unlike other Gentile Christians, they knew Hebrew/Jewish Aramaic and translated the Peshitta from Hebrew. Thus some of them who might have been in Aksum probably represented Christian missionary groups, missionaries like the ‘Syrian’ Nine Saints. We also know that the earliest Arabic version of the Bible, which might have been used in this process, was a translation based on the Syriac Peshitta. But we have noted above that the ‘Syriac’ origin of, particularly, the ‘Nine Saints’ is highly contested by Marrassini; it is then a contested view that these men or others (who were also involved in the recension process, as Knibb argues) introduced the Jewish-Aramaic loanwords into Ethiopic. Or: (ii) In the absence of historical and literary data from pre-Christian Aksum, I only assume that the introduction of those loanwords took place in the long history of Ethiopian Christianity. Thus loanwords like məṣwat then ‘go back simply to the Biblical text that was translated into Ethiopic about the fifth century, and thus the Hebrew expressions were kept’ (Leslau, ‘Review of The Ethiopians’, 229a). The loanwords were then introduced to Ethiopic later, thus not through direct contact with followers of Judaism. It is then possible that people and/or literature that retained same meaning of the word (məṣwathā=alms) also might have been later involved during the ‘academic recension’, in which process loanwords like məṣwathā were translated according to their traditional meanings (as Poltosky rightly puts it, ‘the mere fact that an Aramaic word occurs in our ordinary editions, especially as regards the New Testament, does not yet prove that it formed part of the old translation’ (Polotsky, ‘Aramaic, Syriac, and Ge’ez’, 2).

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after the sixth century CE; the burden of proof, then, still rests upon those who wish to maintain the contrary.

THE IDENTITY OF ETHIOPIC BIBLE TRANSLATORS An important element that needs to be raised at this juncture is the identity of the translators of the Ethiopic Bible. Relying on the Kəbrä Nägäśt, the Ethiopian Church traditionally claims that the Levites of the ‘Sheba-Solomon’ era are responsible for the translation of the Old Testament into Gə‘əz. A prominent and prolific Ethiopian writer of the fifteenth century, Abba Giyorgis ZäGasəč̣č̣a (also known as Abba Giyorgis ZäSägla/Säglawi, d. 1427), seems to be the first to make this claim in theological discussion:88 he asserts that the Old Testament was primarily and directly translated from the Hebrew original manuscript into Ethiopic during the time of King Solomon of Israel: ‘ወመክብበ መጻሕፍቲሃሰ ዘብሉይ ተዐልዋ እምዕብራይስጢ ኀበ ግዕዝ በመዋዕሊሃ ለንግሥተ አዜብ እንተ ሐወጸቶ ለሰሎሞን ፡፡ ወበእንትዝ ኮነ ጽሩየ ፍካሬሆሙ ለመጻሕፍተ ነቢያት ዘውስተ ብሔረ አግዓዚ እስመ በሕገ አይሁድ ነበሩ እምቅድመ ልደት ክርስቶስ፡፡’ (‘Her [Ethiopia’s] Old [Testament] books were primarily translated from Hebrew when the queen of Azeb [‘the South’] visited Solomon. For this reason the writings of the prophets were purely preserved by the people of Aga‘azi89 who were the followers of Jewish law before the birth of Christ.’)90 Had it been translated after Christ, he argues, ‘እሜጡ ሰቃላያን ቃለ ጽድቅ ዉስተ ስምዐ ሐሰት’ (‘the crucifiers could have For other important comments on this, see Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible, 31, 68. 89 Possible meanings are ‘the free people’; the Aksumites (?); ‘People of the Gə‘əz, aGə‘əzi (?)’. 90 Giyorgis ZäGasəč̣č̣a, መጽሐፈ ምሥጢር/‘Mäṣhäfä Məśṭər’, in Mäməhər Heruy Ermiyas (tr. (Amh.). and ed.) (Addis Ababa: Abba Giyorgis and Abba Ṭselotä Mika’el Union Monastery, 2001 EC), 61. According to Abba Giyorgis, the preservation of ‘Hebrew’ terms such as Eli/ኤሎሄ and Adonai/አዶናይ in the Gə‘əz Bible is due to the direct translation from Hebrew, a claim hardly substantiated. ኤሎሄ/Eli is a translation from the Greek Bible, not Hebrew (cf. Mtt 27: 46: ‘ἡλεὶ ἡλεὶ’/ ‘ኤሎሄ ኤሎሄ’); and the term is Aramaic, not Hebrew. 88

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inserted their errors’).91 He also claims that the New Testament Ethiopic Bible was translated to Gə‘əz from Greek (ጽርዕ/ Ṣrə’ə), and that it was translated ‘before the Council of Chalcedon’ thus ‘ወበእንተዝ ኮነ ፍካሬ መጻሕፍትሃ ለብሔረ አግዓዚ ዘብሉይኒ ዘሐዲስኒ ንጡፍ ከመ ወርቅ ወፍቱን ከመ ብሩር ወንጹሕ ከመ ሐሊብ ዘአልቦ ቱሳሔ’ (‘for this reason, the writings of the New and Old [Testament] of the people of Aga‘azi remained pure as gold, tested as copper, pure milk unmixed with water.’92 Abba Giyorgis’s view, which importantly shows the influence of the Kəbrä Nägäśt, not only sheds light on the theological articulations of medieval Ethiopian Church scholars, but also demonstrates how it soon became the basis for ‘the official view’ of the Ethiopian Church.93 Studies in the field show that there is no evidence for the production or translation of any religious book earlier than the fourth century CE. Academic consensus indicates that the Bible was the first Christian Ethiopic literature in the fifth century CE, with the Old Testament being translated from the Septuagint and the New Testament from the Lucianic Greek version.94 ምሥጢር, p. 61. Ibid. 93 Because of some contradictory accounts, treating this as the ‘official view’ of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church seems challenging, as with many other theological issues. See Aymro Wondmagegnehu and Joachim Motovu (eds.) The Ethiopian Orthodox Church by (Addis Ababa: 1970) and Sergew Hable Sellassie, et.al (eds.), The Ethiopian Orthodox Church: A Panorama of History (Addis Ababa: 1970, 78). Both books, published under the acknowledgment of the EOC mission and patriarchate in 1970, claim that the Old Testament was translated from the Septuagint. However, a recent publication of the Church partly reiterates the view proposed by Abba Giyorgis and asserts that the Ethiopic Old Testament was translated from Hebrew while the translation of the New Testament from Greek took place in the first half of the fourth century CE by Frumentius (also known as Abba Sälama, the first Ethiopian Bishop at Aksum). The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church: Faith, Order of Worship and Ecumenical Relations (Addis Ababa: 1996), 24. 94 The first to identify the use of a Greek version for the translation of the Ethiopic Bible was Dillmann, in the nineteenth century (Ullendorff, Ethio91 Giyorgis, መጽሐፈ 92

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In the nineteenth century, Nöldeke assumed that, although the Betä Ǝsra’el of his time had no knowledge of Hebrew, they had once possessed ‘sicher auch größere litterarische Bildung.’95 The assumption that Jews must have assisted in the translation of the Bible, albeit unofficially, is also forwarded by Rodinson.96 Ullendorff also emphasised the significant role played by Jews in the translation process of the Ethiopic Bible, opining: ‘There is no difficulty in seeking such helpers among the Jewish or Judaized immigrants from South Arabia in any period till about the seventh century.’97 However, other Ethiopists credit ‘Syrian’ and Coptic monks—a view most probably forwarded by Jesuit missionaries, as Hiob Lupia and the Bible, 37). Scholars afterwards sought to identify which of the several Greek recensions served as the vorlage for the Ethiopic New Testament; but according to Getatchew Haile, it was done most probably ‘from Lucianic text then current at Antioch. The Gə‘əz New Testament manuscripts we have inherited show that the translation was revised several times, mostly on the basis of Arabic versions’ (Getatchew Haile, ‘Ethiopic Literature’, in Roderick Grierson (ed.) African Zion: The Sacred Arts (New Haven, CT, and London: Yale University Press), 48). Since external evidence shows that there are at least some books that were translated to Ethiopic, it is argued that the entire Bible was translated not later than mid-sixth century CE. According to Knibb (p. 2 and p. 17 n.2) the explanation given for this is that the ‘process of translating the Bible into Gə‘əz properly began in the fifth century’, and the Bible must have been translated before the decline of the Aksumite kingdom, for ‘the circumstances no longer existed in which translation of the scriptures, particularly translation from Greek, is likely’, which is evidenced by the deterioration of the Greek language, as numismatic evidence confirms. 95 Quoted in Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible, 37. Ullendorff, though a supporter of the claim for the presence of a Jewish community in Aksum in pre-Christian time, rejects their connection with Betä Ǝsra’el. 96Rodinson remain a main critic of Ullendorff’s thesis. It must be clear, however, that he follows Ullendorff’s idea when writing ‘Il est bien possible aussi qu’ils [les Juifs] aient fourni des conseils techniques pour la traduction de l’Ancien Testament en guèze.’ See the mention of a private letter Rodinson sent to Ullendorff in Ethiopia and the Bible, 37, n. 5. 97 Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible, 57.

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dolf reported in the 17th century.98 Conti Rossini followed the same tradition,99 and his work became the foundation for the views on the subject held by many contemporary scholars.100 On the involvement of ‘Syrian missionaries’ in the translation of the Bible, Conti Rossini refers to the Ethiopian traditions found in the Gädlä Ma’ta.101 The gädl maintains that one of the saints from ‘Syria’, Ma’ta (also known as Libanos), translated the Gospel of Matthew.102 Ullendorff’s analysis on the subject shows that it was the famous Syriac scholar Arthur Vööbus who revived this view in the twentieth century.103 Following Vööbus, Ephraim Isaac wrote an article that tried to shed light on the historical context of the translators, contending that the task was completed by the ‘Syrian missionaries’ who were highly influenced by ‘Jewish Christianity’—an ancient form of Christianity which had strong roots in Syria beginning from the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. Thus: It would be only natural for Aramaic-speaking Jewish Christians who would come to Syria not only to be exposed to Syriac language as well as to the Septuagint, the Bible of early Jewry, but 98 For a good analysis, see Knibb,

Translating the Bible, 23, n. 3.

99 See C. Conti Rossini, ‘Sulla versione e sulla revision delle sacre scripture in

ethiopico’, in Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie. 10:1 (1918), 236–241, quoted in Knibb, 23, n.3. Knibb further refers to criticism of Conti Rossini’s view by Rahlfs in ‘Die äethiopische Bibleübersetzung’, in Septuaginta-Studien I-III², 666–68. 100 Sergew, Ancient, 119–120; Munro-Hay, Aksum, 14. 101 Rossini edited the gädl; see Ricordi di un soggiorno in Eriterea, fasc. 1, I. La lista reale di Enda Yohannes II. IlGadla Sâdqän. […] C. Conti Rosini (ed.) (Asmara: Tip. della Missione svedese, 1903), 26; discussed in Knibb, Translating the Bible, 24. 102 Ibid. 103 Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible, 51–55. Vööbus assumed the Syriac vorlage of the translation of the Bible into Gə‘əz, while Ullendorff cautiously asserted that ‘the evidence certainly encourages the opinion that, with the advent of Syrian missionaries in the fifth and sixth centuries, Syriac translations were employed in conjunction with Greek text’ (ibid., 56), an opinion challenged by Knibb (see Translating the Bible).

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JEWISH CULTURAL ELEMENTS also, in due time, to become Syriac-speakers as well as users of the Septuagint, while retaining strong Jewish Aramaic traditions. If some of them had eventually become missionaries there is no doubt that they would have, therefore, taken with them their multiple cultural heritage to distant lands.104

According to Ephraim, these originally Jewish Christian missionaries, who were primarily exposed to the Aramaic and then Syriac languages, became the first to establish an oral Christian tradition in the Ethiopian Church before collaborating with the translators to produce the Gə‘əz Bible. He proposed that these Jewish Christian Aramaic-Syriac-speaking missionaries must have played a role in Bible translation.105 In the process, they left their imprints in the form of Hebrew loanwords. 106 He further asserts that ‘it goes without saying that by the time Christianity was an established religion in Ethiopia, there was undoubtedly a sizable community of ‘Christians from Syria’ in the country.’107 The interaction and presence of the Aramaicspeaking Jewish Christians in Syria and the alleged Syrian origin of the missionaries shaped the discussion regarding the careers of some of the missionaries who arrived in Aksum via Egypt in the sixth century CE.108 Critical response to the involvement of ‘Syrians’ in the translation of the Ethiopic Bible have been forwarded on two fronts: the 104

Ephraim, ‘An Obscure Component’, 239. ‘[W]e conceded that the earliest form of Christianity in Ethiopia was influenced by Jewish Christians who came from Syria [whose Christianity was primarily influenced by ‘Jewish-Aramaic-speaking Jews’], and who established first oral tradition and then collaborated with the Bible translators’ (Ephraim Isaac, ‘An Obscure Component’, 244–245, and p.239). 106 This is a conclusion reached in the context of discussion on loanwords (ibid., 243–245; p. 244 n. 73 and 74; 245 n.75). 107 Ephraim, ‘An Obscure Component’, 242. 108 Ibid. Besides, the Ethiopian tradition claims that the missionaries were from ‘ROM’, suggesting that they were from parts of the Byzantine Empire and beyond. Sergew asserts that at least two of the nine ‘Syrian missionaries’ have Greek names, and the other seven seem to be Syrians (Sergew, Ancient, 115). 105

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first is in regards to their role in particular, and the second involves a general query vis-à-vis the identity of the Bible translators. Conti Rossini’s use of a less-than-reliable version of the Gädlä Ma’ta contributes to the challenge of his assumption of the ‘Syrian’ origin of the missionaries.109 Further arguments, presented on the basis of the style of transcription of biblical proper names into Ethiopic, suggested the earlier view on the identity of the translators needed reconsideration: It is clear that the problem of the transcription of the proper names in the Ethiopian Bible [from the Greek Bible is the] starting point from which the entire theory of the Syrian influences in Ethiopia was born [...] Guidi [another Italian scholar in the field] had said that the correspondence between the personal names and the places of origin of the saints had no weight at all, were it not for this ‘Aramaean’ way of transcription.110

This should not be taken as a basis for definitively positing their identity, for, as noted by the renowned philologist Paolo Marassinni, even the names of the seven ‘Syrian’ missionaries do not necessarily suggest Syriac origin.111 He nevertheless makes an important point in relation to the identity of the translators, noting that the Ethiopic Bible was indeed translated by Semitic people, but not exclusively 109

Getatchew provided a critique on Conti Rossini’s view that was based on a ‘much reworked’ gädl, arguing that the assumption that holds Libanos/ Mat’ta as ‘the translator into Gə‘əz of the Gospel of Matthew needs a stronger evidence’ than provided by Conti Rossini (Getatchew Haile, ‘The Homily of Abba Eleyas, Bishop of Aksum, on Mattâ’, in Analecta Bollandiana 108 (1990), 29–35). 110 Paolo Marrassini, ‘Some Considerations’, 39. 111 Marrassini, ‘Some Considerations’, 53. A similar argument against scholars like Vööbus (who argued for the Ethiopic Bible’s Syriac vorlage over the Greek) is presented by Witakowski, ‘Syrian Influences in Ethiopian Culture’, 19. Though he considers the view held by Marrassini as an overstatement, Knibb also asserts that ‘the arguments used in the past provide no justification for the assumption that the translators must have been Syrians’ (Knibb, Translating the Bible, 29).

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Aramaeans. This observation has pointed towards a further question as to whether it was possible or not that other Semitic-languagespeaking people (other than the ‘Syrians’) translated the Bible. Regarding this matter, Marrassini comments that the transcription demonstrates that the equivalence between the Greek and Ethiopic dentals and velars is not characteristic of only Aramaic or Syriac, but is typical of Semitic languages in general.112 He therefore goes on to make a significant conclusion: ‘If a choice has to be made, it should not be a difficult one. The people who translated the Bible into [… Ethiopic] must have been Ethiopians themselves.’113 Understandably, the task of translation primarily required proficiency in both languages (in this case, Greek and Gə‘əz) or more; and in the particular cases of the style of translation to Gə‘əz, the current academic discussion has been directed towards the choice between two Semitic-language-speaking groups: native Aksumites and ‘Syrian’ missionaries. Available inscriptions from the 4th to 6th centuries CE show that some Gə‘əz speaking Aksumites were also well acquainted with the Greek language.114 Based on this evidence, Getatchew Haile also concludes that the work of translating the Bible ‘was left [...] to the Ethiopians’, reasoning that ‘it is easier to translate from a foreign language into one’s own than vice versa, especially if one learns the language at an advanced age.’115 Although the context and details remain obscure, he maintains that it is unlikely that the knowledge of the language acquired by the ‘Syrian’ missionaries had reached such a level that they could translate the Bible to Gə‘əz.116 His hypothesis appears to raise important points. He offers two reasons to demonstrate that the Bible was translated by Ethiopians: 112

Marrassini, 41. Ibid., 41–42; Knibb, Translating the Bible, 29. 114 Getatchew, ‘Ethiopic Literature’, 47. 115 Getatchew Haile, ‘Highlighting Traditional Ethiopian Literature’, in Taddesse Adera and Ali Jamir Ahmed (ed.) Silence is not Golden: A Critical Anthology of Ethiopian Literature (Lawrenceville, N.J.: Red Sea Press, 1995), 45. 116 Ibid. 113

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An examination of the translated texts shows that the translation was done by scholars who knew Geez better than the languages from which the translations were made. Their translation mistakes [as well as the mistakes made during the later recension process] demonstrate shortcoming in their knowledge of the language of the Vorlage (Arabic or Greek), not Geez. Therefore, the translators could not have been Egyptians or Syrians or Armenians or Greeks. Finally, at that time [i.e., during the recension period in the twelfth to thirteenth centuries] there were more Ethiopians who knew Arabic (the language of Copts) than Copts and other foreigners who knew Geez.117

In addition to the views proposed by Marrassini and then by Getatchew, arguing for the Aksumites as the most likely translators of the Ethiopic Bible, another collateral point which needs to be noted is the translators’ use of Greek versions of the Old Testament (Septuagint) and the New Testament as opposed to Aramaic translations, which were more likely familiar to Syrian Christians. In light of the discussion above we can thus conclude that while the Ethiopians might have been supported by others (mainly ‘Syrians’ or missionaries who were well versed in Jewish Aramaic or Hebrew) during the process of translation and/or ‘academic recension’, it seems plausible that the Ethiopians themselves were the primary translators of the Ethiopic Bible.118 117 Ibid.

For scholarly discussion, see Knibb, Translating the Bible. The ‘Syrians’ had Greek names, and argument based on the Greek names of the ‘Syrians’ does not make any difference on the identity of these ‘Syrian’ missionaries and their activities; besides, it is possible that the early Syrian Christians might have been named both by Syriac or Greek names, since Syria had been a largely bilingual region. Moreover, Syrian influence on the EOC should not be underestimated. This is succinctly addressed by Witold Witakowski: ‘Syrio-Ethiopian contacts were most intensive in the early history of Ethiopia. Moved by missionary spirit Syrians, who seem to be the more active side, spread the Christian faith in the country, shaped Monophysite character of the Ethiopian Church, participated in translating the Bible and religious literature, contributed to creating Christian vocabulary, estab118

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CONCLUSION The deconstruction of the South Arabian immigration theory conclusively challenges the idea of an immigration of Jews via South Arabia, leaving the presence of Jews and Judaism in Aksum as only an academic hypothesis. Moreover, I have demonstrated the implausibility of arguments for a Jewish presence in the context of preChristian Aksum on the basis of Hebrew/Jewish Aramaic loanwords. It is more likely that the presence of such words indicates the presence of ‘Syriac’ and Egyptian missionaries119 aiding in the process of Ethiopian Biblical translation, and/or perhaps during further rcension process. This does not, however, disallow the convincing possibility that the act of translation was primarily conducted by Ethiopians themselves. 120 Additionally, the absence of material evidence regarding the contribution of Jews and ‘Judaic’ elements before the introduction of Christianity in Aksum only demonstrates lished monastic centres, and built churches’ (Witold Witakowski, Syrian Influences in Ethiopian Culture. Orientalia Suecana 38–39 (1989–1990), 198); Ephraim, ‘An Obscure Component’, 242.The numerous loanwords are one of such contributions (see Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible, 123– 124; Marrassini, ‘Some Considerations’, 38–39; Witakowski, ‘Syrian Influܳ ܳ ܰ ences’, 129); relevant words include ሃይማኖት, Haymanot: from ‫ܝܡ ܽܢܘܬܐ‬ ‫ܗ‬, ܳ ܺ ܰ haymānutā (‘faith’); ቀሲስ, qäsis: from ‫ܩܫܝܫܐ‬, qaššiša (‘priest’); መዝከር፣ ܳ ܰ መዘከር, mäzəkär, mäzäkär (‘keeper of records’): from ‫ܡܕܟܪ ܳܢܐ‬, madkәrānā (‘recorder, chronicler’). 119 The Alexandrian Coptic Church played an important role in shaping the EOC’s teachings (see also its contribution to the earliest formation of tabotcentered worship; Chapter 4). Following many scholarly works, there was also Syriac influence on Ethiopian Christianity, particularly from the time of the coming of ‘Syrian’ missionaries until the early period of the ‘Solomonic Dynasty’ in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Some Ethiopic literature, even Kəbrä nägäśt, shows Syriac influence on Ethiopian Christianity. Important points are discussed below. (See also Ephraim Isaac, ‘An Obscure Component’, and Witakowski, ‘Syrian Influence in Ethiopian Culture’).

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the contribution of the Bible, which is indeed a compendium of Jewish and Christian cultural heritage. This by itself may support the notion that the ‘Judaic’ identity of the Aksumites arose through the influence of Christian literature; and this must be after fourth century CE, as we will explore in the following chapters. The next chapter discusses how the claims for the presence of ‘Jewish’ elements before the fourth century CE also lacks convincing historical and literary evidence. In this regard, we will attempt to pose a number of questions in order to find other explanations for the presence of ‘Judaic’ elements in Ethiopia that amend the prethird-century BCE timeframe proposed in the past: was there any direct impact of Jews before or after the fourth century? Do imitations of Old Testament practices play a prominent role in the introduction of ‘Judaic’ elements in the EOC? To what extent are ‘Jewish’ elementsof the EOC—like circumcision—directly copied from Jewish practices? Is it possible to see these as an adaptation of indigenous cultural expressions? What is the role of the influence of Coptic and Syrian Churches (Eastern Christianity; ‘Jewish Christianity’) in introducing the ‘Judaic elements’ in Ethiopia? In order to adequately address these questions, it seems important to discuss the cultural complexity of the Ethiopian environment in which Christianity took root and developed in the fourth to sixth centuries CE. While Ullendorff’s understanding of the early history of the ‘Judaic’ heritage of Ethiopia can be taken as a possible academic hypothesis, analysis of pertinent historical sources and literature will be required to obtain better explanations to the questions posed above.

CHAPTER 3. AKSUM AND THE INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY: ‘JEWISH’ AND ‘OLD TESTAMENT’ HERITAGES PRE-CHRISTIAN AKSUM: SETTING A HISTORICAL CONTEXT AS A CRITIQUE OF THE ‘JUDAIC FOUNDATION’ OF THE EOC The view that contends for the presence of Judaism before the official introduction of Christianity has been forwarded both by Ethiopian tradition and also in academic hypotheses postulated by renowned Ethiopists. We have seen above that, in keeping with the narrative of the Kəbrä Nägäśt, assertions have been made that Ethiopia has had a Judaic identity from the time of the legendary tenthcentury BCE Queen of Sheba (Saba).1 This claim is traditionally closely intertwined with glimpses of the history of the Sabaean dynasty.2 Legend holds that the ruins of the temple at Yeha that date 1

Numerous versions of stories exist on the lost Ark of the Covenant and its connection to Aksum (see popular writings: Graham Hancock, The Sign and The Seal: Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant (New York: Touchstone, 1992); Robert Cornuke, Relic Quest: The True Story of One Man's Pursuit of the Lost Ark of the Covenant (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2005); see Chapter 4. 2 Abba Gorgorios, የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ, 23; Lule Melaku, የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ, 8. However, it seems that there were a number of dynasties from the ninth century BCE to the seventh century CE; the Sabaeans were followed by

85

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back to at least the fifth century BCE3 represent a temple for the worship of Yahweh, the God of Israel, supposedly built in the 10th century BCE.4 Some scholars also affirm the presence and integral impact of Judaism on the cultural milieu of pre-Christian Aksum; and for Professor Ephraim Isaac, ‘Jews must have come to Ethiopia after the destruction of the First Temple or the Second Temple, in Hellenistic and Roman times, and, possibly, in pre-Solomonic times. Additionally, some Ethiopians converted to the religion of Israel.’5 Sergew Hable Selassie also notes that ‘Judaism was practiced by a group of people in Ethiopia before the introduction of Christianity.’6 In a similar vein, Steven Kaplan, following Ullendorff,7 also assumes that there was some Judaic practice and influence before the introduction of Christianity:

Damaat (DMT), and then came the Aksumite dynasty. There may also have been others in the middle, known as ‘proto-Aksumite.’ After the fall of the little-known DMT dynasty, a local polity known as the Aksumite established a strong dynasty in the northern part of Ethiopia proper, probably in the first century BCE (see Stuart Munro-Hay, ‘The Rise and Fall of Aksum’, in JES 13 (1990), 47–53; also, importantly, Phillipson, Foundations, 19–74). 3 Sergew, Ancient, 30–31. 4 The connection is skilfully intertwined with the Solomon-Saba/Sheba story. However, based on evidence from inscriptions, the altar of the temple was most probably dedicated to Almaqah (David W. Phillipson, Archaeology at Aksum, Ethiopia (London: The British Institute in Eastern Africa, The Society of Antiquaries of London, 2000), 334; Foundations, 24–29). 5 Ephraim Isaac, ‘The Question of Jewish Identity and Ethiopian Jewish Origins’, in Midstream 51, 5 (2005), 29–30. The writings and views of Ullondorff, Hammerschmidt, and Pawlikowski, with similar premises, are discussed in the Introduction and in the previous chapter. 6 Sergew (Ancient, 97) opines that the community existed in Ethiopia for a long time ‘with all its archaic ritual and religious practices’ (p. 96). 7 ‘[A]mong the South Arabian immigrants into the Aksumite Empire there must have been some Jews’; ‘Jewish influences [in pre-Christian Ethiopia] that may have entered Abyssinia via South Arabia: here the source material is somewhat ampler’ (Ullendorff, ‘Hebraic-Jewish’, 222, 220).

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Even before the crucial transformation [of adoption of Christianity] another earlier religious tradition, that of Jews and Judaism, had succeeded in striking roots in Aksumite culture [and] there can be little question that prior to the introduction of Christianity in the third and fourth centuries, Judaism had had a considerable impact on Aksumite culture.8

In addition to the use of linguistic and philological sources in critically analysing pre-fourth-century presence of Judaism at Aksum, as partly presented in the previous chapter, such claims have to be examined in light of pre-Christian historical and archaeological findings.9 I want to stress again that not only the Sheba-Aksum story of the Kəbrä Nägäśt but also the possibility of Judaic influence has long been rightly scrutinised by scholars.10 Archaeological studies into the Kaplan, Beta Israel (Falasha), 17. Kaplan, however, rejects the antiquity of Betä Ǝsra’el and assumes that they are Ethiopian converts to Judaism from the 14th–16th centuries. 9 Trade and peoples’ interaction across the Red Sea is extensively discussed in Paul Lund et al. (eds.), Trade and Travel in the Red Sea Region, Proceedings of Red Sea Project I, British Museum, October 2002, Society for Arabian Studies Monographs No. 2 (Oxford: BAR, 2004). See also Heinzgerd Brakmann, To para tois barbarois ergon theion: Die Einwurzelung der Kirche im spätantiken Reich von Aksum (Bonn: Borengässer, corp., 1994). Brakmann’s study is extensive in dealing with the earliest Aksumite church context but is brief in its dealing with the question of the pre-Christian ‘Judaic’ heritage of the EOC (pp. 43–46); even though he asserts the presence of Jewish merchants in pre-Christian Aksum, his conclusion concerning the lack of evidence on the impact of Judaism is agreeable to what has been claimed in this book. 10 ‘There are major inconsistencies between this traditional attribution [of the Sheba story] and the evidence which is currently revealed by archaeology. The Queen of Sheba is clearly recalled as a contemporary of King Solomon, whose reign must be placed around the tenth century BC. There is no archaeological evidence that the site of Aksum was settled until approximately one thousand years after this date. Dungur appears to have been constructed in about sixth century AD; and the Gudit Stelae Field was in 8

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cultural and material milieu of Aksum and its environs have yet to produce any epigraphic and archaeological evidence that could possibly suggest the presence of Judaism in pre-Christian Aksum, as compared to ample evidence regarding other deities. The preChristian archaeological data (which can be traced to as early a date as the Sabaean kingdom11) shows that numerous religious practices connected with South Arabian gods, including Hawbas (Habas, the use during the first half of the first millennium AD. An attribution to the Queen of Sheba is thus contradicted by the chronological evidence revealed by archaeology. It must be recalled, however, that the Queen of Sheba traditionally occupies a central position in Ethiopian (and, specifically, Aksumite) history which has been reinforced by many centuries of political and ecclesiastical manipulation’ (Phillipson, Ancient Ethiopia, 142). Judaic influence continues for many centuries, as some claim; in his article written in 1881, a scholar assumed that before conversion to Christianity, one part of Ethiopian people were followers of Jewish religion while others worshiped the snake (René M. Basset, ‘Études sur l’histoire d’Éthiopie’, in Journal Asiatique 18 (1881), 93–94); this is based on the account of Mäṣḥafä Aksum, which also used by Littmann. He reports that before the conversion of Aksum to Christianity under Ella Aṣbəḥa, some Ethiopians believed in Arəwe, and others were Jews; in those times ‘there still was no Turk (Muslim)’ (DAE Vol. I, 51). This can be an interesting point, but it cannot be taken as a reliable conclusion (cf. Kobischanov, Axum, 234). 11 Sheba, or Saba, is the name of the kingdom, and the Ethiopian sources assume Makkǝda is the name of a queen of Sheba (cf. The Queen of Sheba and her only son Meneyelek (I), 1–7). The origin of the queen of Sheba remains contentious; in the first century CE, Josephus wrote that Sheba was the queen of Egypt and Ethiopia (Flavius Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews, VIII, Ch. 6: 5–6, William Whiston (tr.). London: 1737 (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2848/2848–h/2848–h.htm#link82HCH 0008, retrieved 12 Feb 2018). Sawirus ibn al-Muqaffa, History of the Patriarchs of the Egyptian Church: known as the History of the Holy Church II, II: 118–20. Aziz Atiya, Yassa ‘Abd al-Masih, and O.H.E. Burmester (trans. and eds.) (Cairo: Société d’Archéologie Copte, 1948) locates Sheba in alHabashat, Abyssinia; in around 1200 CE, ‘Abu Salih’ writes: ‘Abyssinia [Ethiopia] is the kingdom of Sheba; from it the Queen of Yemen came to Jerusalem’ (Abū Salih, The Churches and Monasteries of Egypt, 284–285).

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probably a moon god), Dhat-Himyam (the incandescent), DhatBa’adan (the distant), of which a premier figure was the male god of heaven, also known as Astar or Astate.12 It is asserted that the worship of Astar ‘was common to all Semitic countries, the only difference being that this god was worshipped by the other Semitic people as a female goddess.’13 The worship of gods like Beḥer, Baḥr, Mədr, Ashtar/Atar, and Sämai was prevalent,14 as well as worship of another principal South Arabian god Ilmouqah or Almouqah (Sin, a moon god), who was also mentioned in many inscriptions: An altar with Sabaean inscription was dedicated [for Almouqah…] in northern Ethiopia.15 It bears geometric decorations and symbol of the god, the crescent and disc, of the god of light. The feminine goddess was Shams, goddess of the sun. She is attested to by an inscription in Akile-Guzay, northern Ethiopia. A temple and altar were dedicated to her [...]. In Yeha16 two South Arabian gods, Nurau and Sin, are attested to by Sabaean inscription […]. But the principal god in Ethiopia in preChristian times was Mahrem,17 patron and personal god of emperors.18

Sergew, Ancient, 31; Phillipson, Ancient Churches, 22. Ibid. 14 A few of these names were adopted into Christianity: ብሔር, bəḥer, ‘land, country, nation, world’ was incorporated in the Christian name of God, እግዚአብሔር, ’Ǝgzi’abəḥer, to denote Lord of the world/nation (see Leslau, Dictionary, 91; Dillmann noted that Astar is mentioned in Sirach 37:21, one of the earliest pieces of literature: ‘እስመ ኢይሁቦ አስታረ ሞገሰ, ‘for God did not give Astar honor’ (August Dillmann, Lexicon Linguae Aethiopica (Lipsiae: T.O Weigel, 1865), 750 (cf. Lee, ‘Symbolic’, 16). 15 See Pawel Wolf and Ulrike Nowotnick, ‘The Almaqah temple of Meqaber Ga’ewa near Wuqro (Tigray, Ethiopia)’, Proceedings of the the Seminar for Arabian Studies 40 (2010), 367–380. 16 Yeha is an ancient town of the Aksumite kingdom in the northeast of Aksum. 17 In the parallel Greek inscription from the fourth century CE, Mahrem was replaced by Ares (Sergew, Ancient, 31), further suggesting that Mahrem 12 13

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Sergew further explains that Nurau was believed to be a god of light and sometimes is identified with Attar.19 Sin was the principal god in ‘Hadramawit and there he is known by the name Lm... [and] mentioned only in Yeha on the altar in a Sabaean dedicatory inscription’ which reads ‘Sacrificial altar of Sin.’20 Evidence for the worship of the snake god Arwe has also been discovered at Aksum.21 Commenting on archaeological findings, Phillipson notes that ‘Several pieces of massive snake-like figures were found [in Aksum]’,22 and an engraving of a serpent is still visible today on the fallen stelae at Aksum.23 Numerous ancient inscriptions that have been preserved have enhanced our understanding of the history of ancient Aksum, which stretched its rule over northeast Africa and South Arabia from the second to sixth centuries CE.24 Some of the inscriptions were produced to exalt the victories of the kings as well as the aid rendered by the gods. During this period, the script underwent change, with the Aksumite kingdom retaining Sabaean traditions at first but soon

was the same as the South Arabian god named Hariman, a moon-god (ibid.). 18 Sergew, Ancient, 31. 19 Ibid. 20 Ibid. 21 Ibid., 96–98. 22 Phillipson, Archaeology, 334. 23 Sergew, Ancient, 95–96, 31. The similarity between the snake worship in Ethiopia and that of Persia is underlined: the description in the Avesta, the sacred book of the Persians, concerning the legend of Arəwe worship is similar to the tradition found in Ethiopia; in the Avesta, ‘it is mentioned that there was a certain snake, Adjis Dahaka, who was the king and god of Persia. The inhabitants gave him 100 mares, 1,000 cows and 1,000 buffalos. A man whose name was Tretawona killed the monster and he himself became king’ (ibid., 95–96). In an Ethiopian tradition, the father of the Queen of Sheba, Gebgebo (or Angabo) killed the Arəwe, which regularly demanded an Aksumite sacrifice of numerous animals and humans, and became king. 24 Phillipson, Foundations, 47–97.

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changing it to Gə‘əz, used in parallel with Greek.25 As Yuri M. Kobishchanov writes, the culture change indicates that the second century CE witnessed ‘an upsurge. Northern Ethiopia and a part of Central Ethiopia are united under Aksum rule. The powerful Aksumite kingdom emerges and spreads its hegemony over neighbouring countries.’26 The inscriptions that have survived have been discovered in places that span both sides of the Red Sea (including present-day Yemen and Eritrea) to Lake Tana in the northwest of Ethiopia. They remain living witnesses to the cultural and political development of ancient Aksum.27 Dedicatory28 and triumphal29 inscriptions continued to develop over this period. However, despite the mention of worship of many other gods,30 any Judaic religious renderings seem to be entirely absent at Aksum (even if some may refer to the Queen of Candace, which is discussed below). What needs to be stressed is that, if any form of Jewish worship ever existed in Aksum before the fourth cen25

‘Geez (sometimes written in South Arabian script) and Greek were used in Ethiopia as written languages. Greek was used at least until Christianity became the state religion’ (Getatchew, ‘Ethiopic Literature’, 47). 26 Yuri M. Kobishchanov, ‘The Origins of Ethiopian literature’, in Essays on African Cult (1966), 32. 27 ‘Every inscriptions, even the most primitive, is a product of conscious literary creativity; once made, the inscriptions could not be changed and for this reason a certain amount of literary craft was needed to write and dedicate inscriptions. It was up to the author to find a clear and very laconic form for informing god of the dedication of a cult object to him (an altar, a stone throne, a statue, an image of sacred animal, etc.)’ (Kobishchanov, ‘Origin’, 31). 28 During the Aksumite period, ‘the type of inscriptions could be called memorial, intended to leave in the minds of people, not gods, the memory of an event or person […and in some cases inscriptions do not] mention any gods’ (Kobischanov, ‘Origin’, 32); see Getatchew, ‘Ethiopic Literature’, 47. 29 Kobischanov refers to three triumphal inscriptions; in particular, the Greek inscription found in Adulis is important for our study, as consulted below. 30 The main gods described in inscriptions are Meder, Semai, Astar or Astate, Ilmouqah (Almouqah), Nuaru, Ares, Poseidon, and Mahrem.

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tury CE, as some scholars suggest,31 such a form of religion was never established as the dominant or sole religion practiced in pre-Christian Ethiopia. One can still argue that the absence of any definitive material evidence of Judaism in Aksum before the fourth century CE32 can not necessarily rule out any claim for the existence of Jews or followers of Judaism in Aksum before the introduction of Christianity in Aksum. The Aksumite kingdom had a connection with the outside world. Indeed, the reputation of the Aksumite kingdom and its city Aksum, at least in the third century CE, indicates this: ‘The Persian religious leader Mani, the founder of the Manichaean religion, who died in 276 or 277 AD, is reported by his followers to have described the four most important kingdoms of the world as comprising Persia, Rome, Aksum and Sileos, the latter possibly China’.33 Since Aksum was a cosmopolitan city with international trade connections with South Arabia which can be dated back at least to the first century CE, the presence of diverse expatriate communities cannot be ruled out. This includes, most probably, the presence of Jewish traders; however, if we rely on historical and literary evidence, such presence can only be traced beginning from the sixth cent CE.34 Ullendorff, ‘Hebraic-Jewish’, 225–226; Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible, 36–55; Sergew, Ancient, 97. 32 There also seems to be no material evidence for the presence of Judaism (at least in the royal court) in the 4th to 6th centuries CE, and comments on the Aksumite relationship with Jews and Judaism can only be made based on some non-Ethiopian historical documents from after sixth century and extending to the 13th century. 33 Cited in Munro-Hay, Aksum, 17. 34 Commenting on the later eras of the Aksumite kingdom (i.e. the sixth century CE), Kobischanov asserts that Judaism may have entered the Aksumite Kingdom and that ‘its bearers probably were Jewish merchants from Palestine, Egypt, and Arabia’ (Youri M. Kobishchanov, Axum, trans. (from Russian) L. T. Kapitanoff, (Joseph W. Michels, ed. for the English trans.) (University Park, London: Pennsylvania State University Press , 1979), 234). The small image of Buddha found in Aksum also attests to the cosmopolitan nature of Aksum with the presence of merchants from India. 31

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Material evidence can shed some light on religious practices in the pre-Christian Aksum period, which allows us to comment on the existence and features of the worship of numerous gods before the fourth century CE. In light of this evidence, we can safely conclude that any worship related to Judaism was not known—at least, not as a dominant culture or among the Aksumite royal court.35 In addition to this discussion, two important examples among the numerous inscriptions found in Aksum can shed light on demographic and religious queries regarding Judaic heritage. The ‘Adulis Inscription’ Written in Greek characters in the second or third century CE on the back of an ancient throne, the ‘Adulis Inscription’ is one of the earliest inscriptions discovered at Aksum.36 Cosmas Indicopleustes, who visited Aksum in the first three decades of the sixth century CE, reports that the lower part of the tablet on which the inscription was written had fallen down and was badly damaged while inscriptions on the throne remained intact.37 The Aksumite king at the time, Ella Aṣbəha (Kaleb), asked him to make a copy of the inscription, which Cosmas did with the aid of a merchant called Mênas, saving a copy for himself. The inscription on the throne addresses the tribes and people groups ruled by an unnamed king who ruled over many nations, including Aksum and its surroundings.38 The monarch39 is reported to have ruled over the Aksumite kingdom and lands in South Arabia, as well as the eastern parts of Africa, including Barbaria (Somalia) and Sasu, a country located far south of

35

This is also forwarded by a comparatively recent study by Frederick C. Gamst (‘Judaism’ in EA Vol. 3, 303–308). 36 See Cosmas, Topography, 54–67. 37 The ‘damaged’ tablet mentions the exploits of Ptolemy I, suggesting Greek-Adulis contact. See a comment by McCrindle on p. 54 n. 2. 38 The date of the inscription is a subject of discussion (Ibid., 59 n. 59). 39 The unnamed king was perhaps ruling from the coastal region of Adulis (see Phillipson, Foundations, 64).

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Barbaria.40 In addition to the many ‘tribes’ that submitted to him willingly and ‘became likewise tributary’, the king tells of his success in bringing numerous ‘nations’ under his rule. He further declares: I sent a fleet and land forces against the Arabites and Cianaedocolpitae41 who dwelt on the other side of the Red Sea, and having the sovereigns of both, I imposed on them a land tribute and charged them to make travelling safe both by sea and land. I thus subdued the whole coast from Luencê Cômê to the country of the Sabaeans. I first and alone of the kings of my race made these conquests. For this success I now offer my thanks to my mighty God, Arês, who begate me, and by whose aid I reduced all the nations bordering on my own country, on the East to the country of frankincense, and on the West to Ethiopia42 and Sasu.43 Of these expeditions, some were conducted by myself in person, and ended in victory, and the others I entrusted to my officers. Having thus brought all the world under my authority to peace, I came down to Aduli and offered sacrifice to Zeus, and to Arês 40

Quoting V. de Saint-Martin, McCrindle gives us a summary of the vast area ruled by the monarch: ‘at least of the districts and tribes mentioned in the inscription shows us his first conquest in the neighbourhood itself Aksum, and at a little distance from that city, which was evidently the seat of his native principality. Then we see his arms carried successively into [...] Tana [...] the kingdom of Adel, into the country of Harrar and the Somalis [...] Finally crossing over the narrow basin of the Arabian Gulf...’ (Ibid., 59– 60, n. 3). 41 This could possibly mean ‘a branch of the great tribe of Kinda, to which the tribe of Kelb united itself. They occupied Hedjaz, which is now the Holy Land of Arabia, containing as it does the sacred cities of Mecca and Medina’ (Ibid., 64 n. 1). 42 Ibid., 65 n.1. Here Ethiopia might have been a reference to Nubia (Sudan), or possibly to the territories in the interiors of the kingdom. 43 The whereabouts of Sasu (rightly, Kasu) are debated: while Kaffa, the southern part of Ethiopia proper, is suggested as an option, scholars like Dillmann, Glaser, and McCrindle assume that it is ‘located only in or near Meroe [… thus] The king penetrated westward to Ethiopia and Kasu, that is, into the region of Khartoum’ (Ibid., 63– 64 n. 1).

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and Poseidôn, whom I entered to befriend all who go down to the sea in ships. Here also I reunited all my forces, and setting down this Chair in this place, I consecrated it to Ares in the twenty-seventh year of my reign.44

The ‘Adulis Inscription’ mentions the names of the ‘nations’ subjected within the territory of the king and tells how he managed to bring many tribes under his kingdom, securing peace and ensuring safe travel routes. From northeast Africa, the area that includes Aksum, he waged war against ‘nations’ and brought them all under his rule, naming Gaze, Agame, Sigye, Aua, Tiamo, Gambela, ‘and tribes near them’ such as Zingabane, Angabe, Tiama, Athagus and Semenoi—‘a people who lived beyond the Nile on the mountains difficult of access and covered with snow, where the year is all winter with hailstorms, frosts and snow into which a man sinks knee-deep.’45 He also conquered many other ‘tribes’: Lazine, Zaa, Gabala, Atalamo, Bega.46 On the borders of Egypt, he went against Tangaitae and ‘made a footpath giving access by land into Egypt from the part of’ his dominions; from the coasts of the Red Sea area, ‘tribes’ like Annine and Metine as well as Sesea became his subjects, and the king tells that it was the ‘Rhausi I next brought to submission: a barbarous race spread over wide waterless plains in the interior of the frankincense country. [And then advancing towards the sea] I encountered the Solate whom I subdued and left instructions to guard the coast.’47 The king also adds that, in addition to those submitted to him ‘of their own accord’, even those ferociously resistant were soon overwhelmed by his war strategy: though they had been protected ‘by mountains all but impregnable, I conquered, after engagements in 44

Ibid, 64–66.

45 Ibid.

Ibid, 59–62. See footnotes on these pages regarding the geographical locations for all these ‘nations.’ Many of the places and ‘nations’ mentioned can be traced to these days, and for example, on Semenoi (Ibid, 62 n. 1). 47 Ibid, 62–63.The ‘tribes’ mentioned were from areas that stretch from borders of Egypt to south of Somalia. 46

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which I myself was present. Upon their submission I restored their territories to them, subject to the payment of tribute.’48 The Adulis Inscription is important since it details imperial formation under the (pre?)Aksumite kingdom, which took place not later than the second century CE. It is both a triumphal and a dedicatory inscription in which not only the names of the ‘tribes’ and ‘nations’ under the rule of the king are listed, but also the religious conviction of the king is recounted. There is no mention of a Jewish nation or Jewish tribe in the lists of conquered people. Yes, it can be argued that they may have been integrated into the kingdom and so were not treated as ‘tributaries’; it can also be further claimed that Jews would not have had a nation of their own at the time and that they might also have been constituent elements within the society of the kingdom.49 This would, however, still be no more than an academic hypothesis. Thus it seems right to argue that even though the inscription also cannot be taken as a proof for any argumentum e silentio, the absence of the mention of Jews and Judaic forms of belief—if taken seriously, at least in light of the king’s religious convictions and the numerous ‘nations’ and tribes mentioned—only encourages us to further query the timeframe in which Jews started to settle in the post-Christian Aksumite era. እግዚአ ሰማይ (‘Ǝgzi’a Sämay’): the ‘Lord of Heaven’ Among numerous inscriptions found in Aksum and its surroundings by an archaeological expedition of German archaeologists led by Littmann in 1906,50 many are dedicatory to a god or gods, indicating a functioning polytheistic society. One inscription is of particular 48 Ibid., 63–64. 49

Jews might have comprised part of those ‘tribes’ and ‘nations’ peacefully submitted to the king; had they been mentioned in the inscription, though, it could have been used as a strong point of argument for Ullendorff and his proponents. See discussion below on a very debatable identity of the Ethiopian eunuch. 50 See ‘Literature and Views’ in Chapter 1; the findings are published in four volumes in DAE.

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interest. On a stela installed prior to his conversion to Christianity ca. 330 CE,51 nəguś ᶜEzana invokes and gives thanks to the ‘Lord of Heaven who has power over all things on earth and heaven [...] who reigns forever.’52 To quote ten of the fifty-two lines: [Line 1] [በ]ኀይለ እግዚአ ሰማይ [in the power of Lord of Heaven] [ዘበ] ሰማይ ወምድር መዋኢ ለዘ ኮነ ዔ [2] [ዛና] ወልደ (እለ) ዐሚዳ ብእስየ ሐ(ሌ)ን ንጉሠ አክሱም ወዘ ሕሜ [3] [ር] ወዘ ረይዳን ወዘ ሰበእ ወዘ ሰልሔን ወዘ ጽያሞ ወዘ ብጋ ወ [4] [ዘ] ካሱ ንጉሠ ነገሥት ወልደ (እለ) ዐሚዳ ዘአይትመዋእ ለፀር [5] [በ]ኀይለ እግዚአ ሰማይ ዘወበኒ እግዚአ ዘለ ዘልፍ ፍፁ[መ] [6] [ይነግ]ሥ ዘአይትመዋ(እ) ለፀር ቅድሜየ አይቁም ፀር ወድኀሬየ . . [49] [...] ዘመንበረ ዘተከልኩ ለእግዚአ ሰማይ ዘአንገሠ(ኒ) ወለም [50] ድር [...] [51] [...] ወተከልኩ ዘመ [52] ንበረ በኀይለ እግዚአ ሰማይ

As compared to other inscriptions, the identity of the god involved appears to be ambiguous;53 and ᶜEzana’s worship of the ‘Lord of 51

The inscription mentions ᶜEzana’s ‘faith in God and in the power of the Father and Son and the Holy Spirit, in the one […]’, and is further quoted below. 52 DAE, Vol. IV, p. 32–33, Inscription 11. 53 Another inscription dedicated to the Lord of Heaven by ᶜEzana reads: ‘I set up a throne here in Shado by the might of the Lord of Heaven, who has helped me and gave me sovereignty [...] May they preserve this throne, which I have set up for the Lord of Heaven […] If there shall be anyone who shall remove it, destroy it, or overthrow it, he and his kinsfolk shall be looted out and removed from the land. I have set up this throne by the might of the Lord of Heaven’ (quoted from a translation by Richard Pankhurst, Historic Images of Ethiopia (Addis Ababa: Shama Books, 2005) 37– 38. The inscriptions that come from earlier years of his rule, it clearly shows that ᶜEzana worshiped Mahrem (‘[ወ]ልደ መሕረም ዘይትመዋእ ለ[ፀ]ር ፀብኡ / son of Mahrem the invincible, destroyer of his enemies’). The typical invocation of Mahrem can be seen from another inscription (DAE. Vol. IV, p. 28, Incr. 10). [1] [ዔ]ዛና ወልደ እለ ዐሚዳ ብእስየ [2] ሐሌን ንጉሠ አክሱም ወዘ ሕሜር

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Heaven’, in addition to providing the superiority of እግዚአ ሰማይ (‘Ǝgzi’a Sämay’) in the imperial court over other gods, raises several questions: is ‘the Lord of Heaven’ in this inscription a ‘pagan’ god, thus belonging to the pantheon of gods at Aksum? Or does the epithet incline towards monotheism, being a representation of ‘a nonTrinitarian Judaeo-Christian’, Arian or Jewish notion of God? These are important queries that require reflection. It is claimed that the inscription belongs to the Sabaean ‘pagan inscriptions circle’ that had been produced before the introduction of Christianity in Aksum and thus is not Christian.54 Moreover, the etymology of the name Du Samay (ḏsmy)—‘Lord of heaven’—is uncertain; it belongs to the ‘South Arabian pantheon’, which was also used by the monotheistic ‘Judaised’ population of South Arabia in the sixth century CE.55 A reference to religion in most parts of [3] [ወ]ዘ ረይዳን ወዘ ሰበእ ወዘ ሰል [4] ሔን ወዘ ጽያሞ ወዘ ብጋ ወዘ ካሱ [5] [ወ]ልደ መሕረም ዘይትመዋእ ለ [6] [ፀ]ር ፀብኡ ጸረኔ መንግሥቶሙ […] 54 E. Littman, Äithiopische Inschrifte, MAB, II (Berlin: 1950), 126, 127; Kobishchanov, Axum, 86–7. Steven Kaplan succinctly summarised scholars’ views on ᶜEzana’s worship of the ‘Lord of Heaven’: ‘Conti Rossini, Guidi, Sergew Hable Sellasie, and Bahiru Tefla accepted that Ezana had become a Christian, others, nothing the absence of specifically Christian formulae in the inscription, offered differing interpretaions. The Russian Scholar Yuri Kobichtchanov argued for a vague monotheism similar to that found in some South Arabain inscriptions. A. Z. Aescoly suggested that Ezana had become a Jew. Ephraim Isaac wrote that both the phrase “the Lord of heaven” and the use of the cross on Ezana’s later coins were in keeping with strong “Jewish-Christian” tendencies in Ethiopian Christianity’ (Steven Kaplan, ‘Ezana’s Conversion Reconcidered’, Journal of Religion in Africa, 2 (1982), 103). For a more recent rejoinder to the first view, see Stephanie L. Black, ‘“In the Power of God Christ”: Greek inscriptional evidence for the anti-Arian theology of Ethiopia's first Christian king’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 71.01 (2008) 100. 55 G. Ryckmans, ‘Heaven and Earth in the South Arabian Inscriptions’, in JSS (3) 3 (1958) 231–232. Ryckmans asserted that the term was common in Semitic languages: Safaitic, Akkadian, Sabaean, and Arabic; concerning the

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Arabia shed light on the names of the dominant deities, but the complete absence of descriptions makes a reconstruction of the Semitic pantheon impossible. From the appellations of the gods, it is, however, clear that the religion of Sheba closely resembled the pre-Islamic Arabian cult, and showed certain affinities with the Assyro Babylonian system as well. Among the Sabean gods the most important were Almaḳah (‘the hearing god’?), Athtar (a protective deity and the male form of ‘Ashtaroth,’ to whom the gazel seems to have been sacred), Haubas (possibly a lunar deity), Dhu Samawi (‘lord of heaven’), Ḥajr, Ḳainan, Ḳawim (‘the sustaining’), Sin (the principal moon-god), Shams (the hief solar deity), […].56

The names of these gods (including Dhu Samawi, ‘lord of heaven’) were known amongst both the Sabeans and the Aksumites; the discovery of their names in the inscription indicates not only a common background but probably also the pagan monotheistic tendency of ᶜEzana’s devotion before his conversion to Christianity—albeit exhibiting divided loyalty to the war god Ares and Mahhrem.57 Kobishchanov asserts that in ᶜEzana’s worship, ‘The Lord of the Heavens’ was merged with the cult of ‘The Lord of Earth’: ‘Probably these two designations were primarily connected with two different cults; the designation ‘The Lord of the Heavens’ was [… the] more sixth-century South Arabian Jews’ use of the term, see Ullendorff, ‘HebraicJewish’, 222. 56 Other names are ‘Yaṭa', Ramman (the Biblical Rimmon), El (‘god’ in general), Sami' (‘the hearing’), Shem (corresponding in functions to the general Semitic Ba'al), Ḥobal (possibly a god of fortune), Ḥomar (perhaps a god of wine), Bashir (‘bringer of good tidings’), Raḥman (‘the merciful’), Ta’lab (probably a tree-god), and Wadd (borrowed from the Mineans). A number of goddesses are mentioned, among them Dhat Ḥami (‘lady of Ḥami’), Dhat Ba’dan (‘lady of Ba’dan’), Dhat Gaḍran (‘lady of Gaḍran’), and Tanuf (‘lofty’); http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12969–sabeans, accessed on 5 June 2013. 57 See the place of Mahrem in Aksum in Sergew, Ancient, 31.

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official one. This could only have been the cult of Mahrem merged with the cult of Astar.’58 I assume that the Lord of Heaven’s connection with Mahrem and Astar should be taken seriously and that the deity has no direct connection with Jewish and Christian worship. In this light, it seems important to note that any attempt to connect the worship of the Lord of Heaven to non-Triniterian versions of Christianity, as Ephraim Isaac did, is precarious; he posits that it is an inscription which confirms a non-Trinitarian Jewish aspect to ancient Aksumite Christianity. He writes: Now if Esana was actually converted to ‘orthodox’ Christianity how can he omit ‘... and Jesus Christ’ if not ‘and the Holy Spirit’ from his important record? No scholar seems to have raised this question, perhaps because Esana’s conversion to Christianity is confirmed by his later coins which are minted with what appears to be the cross on one side. For Esana, in a clearly engraved inscription to emphasize ‘the Lord of the Heavens’ instead of the accepted Christian formula: ‘Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit’ is, however, rather odd unless his converts (even if Frumentius) had made such a Jewish emphasis.59

Understandably, he uses an archaeological finding that was published in DAE in 1905 to build the premise that the earliest Aksumite Church had a non-Trinitarian Jewish Christian theological conviction, which was only later manipulated to Trinitarianism due to the influence of pro-Coptic Church ‘revolutionaries’ and the religious change that was instigated by aṣe Zär‘a Ya‘əqob (r.1434–68).60 Subsequent findings from as early as the 1960s, however, dictate a critical Kobishchanov, Axum, 236. A fascinating article by Paolo Marrassini uncovers the background to the development of the monotheistic religion in South Arabia and beyond. See particularly the Lord of Heaven’s relation with Athtar or Astar (Paolo Marrassini, ‘Lord of heaven’, in Rassegna di Studi Etiopici 4 (2012), 103–117). See also Kaplan, ‘Ezana’s Conversion Reconcidered’, 107. 59 Ephraim Isaac, ‘An Obscure Component’, 243–6. 60 Ibid., 242–3; EOTC, 44. 58

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reconsideration of Ephraim Isaac’s hypothesis regarding the identity of the early Aksumite Church: in numismatic evidence, the conversion of ᶜEzana to Christianity is confirmed in light of the sign of a cross engraved on the coins issued by him.61 Most important, though, was the discovery of a ‘Trinitarian’ inscription in which ᶜEzana declared that the wellbeing of his kingdom was preserved by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Some of the lines from this inscription62 are self-revealing: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [10] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20]

In faith in God and in the power of the Father and Son and the Holy Spirit, in the one who preserved my kingdom through faith in his Son Jesus Christ, who helped me and always helps me, I, Azanas, king of the Axumites and Himyarites... ...servant of Christ, thank the Lord my God;... and has given me great name through his Son, in whom I have believed, and for me he makes him leader of my whole kingdom on the basis of faith in Christ according to his will and through the power of Christ [...] indefatigable

ᶜEzana’s conversion to Christianity—to the Trinitarian God—as demonstrated in the inscription found in 1969 is clear. The conclusion is most probably that ᶜEzana, before his conversion to Christianity, was devoted to Mahrem and the Sabaean god, the ‘Lord of Stuart Munro-Hay, ‘Aksumite Coinage’, in African Zion: the Sacred Art of Ethiopia (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1993), 102; Stuart Munro-Hay and Bent Juel-Jensen, Aksumite Coinage (London: Spink, 1995), 45. 62 Primarily discussed in 1970 by F. Anfray, A. Caquot and P. Nautin, ‘Une nouvelle inscription grecque d’Ézana, roi d’Axoum’, in Journal de Savants (Oct – Dec 1970), 270–74; the portion reproduced here is from an English translation in Aloys Grillmeier with Theresia Hainthaler, Christ in Christian Tradition, Volume 2, From the Council of Chalcedon (451) to Gregory the Great (590–604), Part Four, The Church of Alexandria with Nubia and Ethiopia after 451, trans. (From German), O. C. Dean (London: 1996), 297–8. 61

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Heaven’, እግዚአ ሰማይ (‘Ǝgzi’a Sämay’)—or, more clearly, to the god called ሰማይ (‘Sämay’), one of the pagan deities celebrated in the Aksumite royal court;63 thus the claim proposed by Ephraim Isaac fails to duly consider the implications of other archaeological evidence.

ESTABLISHMENT AND CONSOLIDATION OF CHRISTIANITY IN E THIOPIA Much like the status of Judaism in pre-Christian Ethiopia, there are also different opinions regarding how and when Christianity reached Ethiopia. Traditionally, it is claimed that either ‘one of the Apostles’ or ‘Ethiopians who had been present on the day of the Pentecost’ brought the Gospel to Aksum.64 John Chrysostom, in his Epiphany Homily, reflects upon Pentecost and claims that although Luke did not mention them specifically, the Ethiopians also must have been present.65 On the other hand, there is a tradition that Matthew preached the gospel to the Aksumites and became a martyr.66 This tradition that connects the Aksumite Church with the apostolic ministry suggests an argument that the Ethiopian church had a strong ‘Jewish Christian’ tradition from its inception. It is assumed that even though Christianity was introduced in Aksum in the first century, its presence appears to have been restricted to the northern regions around Aksum: ‘the Gospel is not said to have been preached to all Ethiopians, especially to such as live beyond the river’—apparently a reference to the Blue Nile.67 This claim, though difficult to prove with historical evidence, suggests the presence of Christianity in the first three centuries. 63

Kobishchanov, Axum, 236.

64 Sergew, Ancient, 97.

65 Quoted in Sergew, Ancient, 97.

Gillman and Hans-Joachim Klimkeit, Christians in Asia before 1500 (Richmond: Curzon Press, 1999), 9. See also Sergew, Ancient, 99. EOC’s historians are not against the ministry of Matthew in Aksum but reject the idea that Ethiopians shed the blood of apostles (see Abba Gorgorios, የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ, 20). 67 Origen, quoted in Sergew, Ancient, 97. 66 Ian

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Some of the Church Fathers, generally referring to the biblical accounts (Acts 8: 26–39), assumed that Christianity was introduced in Ethiopia in the middle of the first century. The conversion of the eunuch has great significance for historians of the Orthodox Church, and they perceive it as the root for the steady development of Ethiopian indigenous Christianity at Aksum. The event is also cited by the fourth-century historian Eusebius: the eunuch, who he maintains was the treasurer of an Ethiopian queen, ‘was the first to receive the divine Word from Philip by revelation, and the first to return to his native land and preach the Gospel.’68 His identity as a ‘Jew’, as well as the relationship between the queen mentioned and the traditional Ethiopian account of Aksumite rulers, poses a question in relation to the cultural and political elements in Aksum. We know that Acts 8 does not refer to the ethnicity of the eunuch; the passage simply refers to him as an ‘Ethiopian’ from ‘Ethiopia’ who had gone to Jerusalem to worship God. But the salient question is whether we can consider Queen Candace as a queen of ‘Ethiopia’ in relation to the city and kingdom of Aksum:69 are there any external documents that may shed light on the context of Aksum in the first century CE and on the identity of Queen Candace? It needs to be stressed that it is medieval sources which place the geographical location ruled by Candace within the kingdom of Aksum: Francisco Alvarez narrates that, ‘Aquaxumo’ [i.e. Aksum] was the capital city of the kingdom of the Queen of Sheba and that of Queen Candace, whose personal name was Giudich [Judith or Gudit], who reigned before ‘the beginning of the country’s being Christian [...] they say that here was fulfilled the prophecy which David spoke ‘Ethiopia shall arise, and stretch forth her hands to God’; and reports that he has seen a ‘large and handsome tower [...] a Eusebius of Caesarea, The Church History, A New Translation with Commentary, Paul L. Maier (tr.) (Baltimore: Kregel Publications, 1999), 59; EOC’s writings affirm that Christianity came to Ethiopia by the Ethiopian eunuch of Acts 8. 69 Munro-Hay, Aksum, 15–16. The term may also denote the kingdom of Meroe. 68

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royal affair, all of well hewn stone.’70 Apart from such narrators’ confusion in general, other sources also show the complexity involving the designations. Some Arab writers use the term ‘Habasha’ (Abyssinia) for Aksumite. Making the issue even more intricate, Cosmas, who visited Aksum in the sixth century CE, speaks of churches ‘in Ethiopia and in Axum’, which seems to differentiate between the two regions.71 Furthermore, John the Deacon, in the eighth century, likewise depicted the Nubians as Habasha.72 Moreover, in one Greek inscription, the Nubian king Silko (who was probably a contemporary of ᶜEzana of Aksum) referred to himself as king ‘of the Nobadae and all the Ethiopians’73, thus making the subject more intricate,74 unless Ethiopia, taken as a territory, had once fallen under his rule. However, as noted by Munro-Hay, he ‘could not conceivably have ruled anywhere further afield than the Nile valley.’75 Interestingly, the Ethiopic Mäṣḥafä Aksum (Book of Aksum, Liber Axumae)—produced in a much later period—outlines the names of the kings who ruled ‘in Aksum’ beginning from Mənilək I; Francisco Alvarez, The Prester John of the Indies – A True Relations of the Lands of Prester John, being the narrative of the Portuguese Embassy of Ethiopia in 1520 (2 Vols), Lord Stanley (tr.), C.F. Beckingham and G.W.B. Huntingford (eds.) (Cambridge: Hakluyt Society, 1961), 434. This is conflation of the identity of Queen Candace with Judith (Gudit) who reportedly was a queen of Aksum in 10th century CE, and even more confusing is taking the Sabaean temple as the place of worship of Queen of Candace. We see that the legend of Ethiopia in Europe by the time was also no less confused (cf. Munro-Hay, Aksum, 16). 71 Cosmas, Topography, 120 (but see p. 54, where it seems ‘Ethiopia’ identified as a coastal territory that comprises Aksum and Adulis); Kobishchanov, Axum, 78. 72 John the Deacon, cited in Munro-Hay, Alexandria and Ethiopia, 12. 73 Munro-Hay, Alexandria and Ethiopia, 14. 74 The Ethiopian tradition solved this by taking both ‘Ethiopia’ and ‘Abyssinia’ as names of the same territory; ‘Ethiopia’ is thus derived from Etiopis (‘Ityop̣is’), ‘the son of Cush’, and his country encompassed by ‘river Gihon’ (cf. Gen. 2:13); while ‘Abyssinia’ is derived from ‘Abis’ who was one of the descendants of Cush. See, ‘አቢስ (‘Abis’) and ኢትዮጵያ (‘Ethiopia’) entries in, Kidane-wold, መጽሐፈ ሰዋስው, 199, 248. 75 Munro-Hay, Alexandria and Ethiopia, 14. 70

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but it makes no mention of Candace,76 leaving the question of the Aksumite identity of Queen Candace undecided. Moreover, both Roderick and Munro-Hay have pointed out that ‘Ethiopian tradition does not display any knowledge of the institutions of Meroïtic royalty’77, a statement that invites further explanation on the relationship between the queen and Aksum against our incomplete knowledge regarding the geographical extent of ancient ‘Ethiopia’s’ territories.78 According to Munro-Hay’s analysis: Some eastern writers, in Hebrew and Syriac for example, used the name Kush, originally an ancient Egyptian designation for Nubia, for Nubia/Meroe or Aksum. Ancient Greek and Latin writers generally referred to the Meroitic and Nubian kingdoms as Ethiopia, and to present-day Ethiopia as India. In such texts India may be referred to as simply India, or with a set of definitions to distinguish the various Indias, themselves by no means consistent; India major, minor, interior,79 exterior, ulterior etc. Sometimes Ethiopia is meant […] South Arabia, sometimes the

See Liber Axumae. However, this book, as a literary production of the seventeenth century, although representative of the Ethiopian tradition, seems unreliable in its chronological details. 77 Roderick Grierson and Stuart Munro-Hay, ‘Candace’, in EA Vol. 1, 679; after discussing the place of Candace in Ethiopian tradition, the authors concluded that ‘confusion [surrounding the origin of Candace] seems almost limitless’ (ibid.). 78 For different opinions on the geographical location of Ethiopia of the first century CE (cf. Acts 8), see Kenneth S. Latourette, A History of Christianity Vol. I (Revised ed.) (San Francisco: Harper and Bow Pub., 1975), 104; Sergew, Ancient, 97; Edward Ullendorff, ‘Candace (Acts VIII.27 and the Queen of Sheba’, in New Testament Studies 2 (1955–56), 53–56. It is asserted that the court official enuch was ‘from what is now Sudan rather than Ethiopia itself’ (Black, ‘“In the Power of God Christ”’, 96. 79 ‘Interior India’ is probably Ethiopia proper(?). 76

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JEWISH CULTURAL ELEMENTS subcontinent of India itself; once apparently even Caucasian Iberia, the modern Georgia.80

The use of the term Ethiopia in the Book of Acts, written in Greek, then needs some comment. In Greek tradition, Αἰθίοπες (‘Aithiopes’/Ethiopia) does not explicitly reference a geographical location but is rather an allusion to the people living south of Egypt, ‘the country of Aithίopes/Αἰθίοπες (sg. Aithìops/Αἰθίοψ) “the land of burnt-faces.”’81 Homer, in the Iliad, writes that Αἰθίοπες represent ‘the oldest and most perfect example of mankind, who has special relationship with gods’.82 The Hebrew term ‘Kush’ (‘Ereṣ Kûš’) used in the Old Testament, which ‘was applied to any inhabitants of Africa to the south of Egypt’ was also translated to Greek as Αἰθίοπες.83 Corresponding to this term, Αἰθίοπες in the Greek New Testament also seems to be a rendering for Kush (Cush). In regard to these references, some scholars assume that the term Ethiopians ‘probably indicate Nubians or, more generally, black Africans.’84 I assume that, in light of the vast region ruled by the Aksumites for many centuries, Αἰθίοπες may have been used for the Aksumite Empire, the term standing for black people living in areas south of Egypt, of which Nubia can rightly be considered as part and parcel.85 On this, considStuart Munro-Hay, Alexandria and Ethiopia: The Metropolitan Episcopacy of Ethiopia (Warszawa: Zaś Pan, 1997), 11. 81 “The land of burnt-faces, Negroes” (Rainer Voigt, ‘Aithiopía’ in EA Vol. 1, 162). 82 ‘Homer, in his Odyssey, locates the country in the South East. Aischylos (6th cent. B.C.) reports of the sun god Hēlios diving into water there and rising again. In connection with the river Aithíops, Aischylos discuss dark peoples and the origin of the Nile’ (ibid., 162); ‘Homer and Herodotus call all the peoples of the Sudan, Egypt, Arabia, Palestine and Western Asia and India Ethiopians’ (Budge, History of Ethiopia, Vol. I, p. 2). 83 Phillipson, Ancient Ethiopia, 24. 84 Ibid., 24 85 Whether the Aksumites were referred to by the Alexandrian Church as Ethiopians (using a term Άιθιοпις) before the sixth century (due to the influence of Greek language, alongside that of Coptic language) is unknown. At least during the twelfth century, the Alexandrian Church used the term 80

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erable information comes from the Aksumite trilingual inscriptions. This inscription uses the name ‘Ethiopians’ (ΑΙΘΙΟΠΩΝ) in its Greek version while the parallel Gə‘əz and Sabaean versions use the term Habashat,86 in this case most probably referring to one of the nine Aksumite regions: The Greek, pseudo-Sabaic, and classical Ethiopic (Gəᶜəz) versions of the ᶜEzana is designated as king of nine countries. In the 4th position he is named king of the ΑΙΘ[Ι]ΟΠΩΝ ‘Ethiopians’, which appears in the other versions as (pseudo-Sabaic) ḤBS²TM and (Gəᶜəz) ḤBŚT ‘Abyssinia’, respectively. The hellenized name of Habessinias, ABACCIN, appears on an Aksumite coin of 400 A.D., shortly after King ᶜEzana.87

ᶜEzana is thus the ‘king of the Ethiopians’ (βασιλεύς Αἰθιόπων), corresponding to Gə‘əz version of the title, which reads ነገሠ ሐበሰተ ‘king of Abyssinia.’ Be that as it may, particularly due to the ambiguity surrounding the geographical connection between Ethiopia and Aksum and the vagueness surrounding the identity of the ‘Ethiopian’ Jew as well as Queen Candace’s relation to Aithiopes, it seems impos-

‘Habash’ (see Munro-Hay, Alexandria and Ethiopia), probably due to Arabic influence. It seems that the earliest usage of the term in relation to proper ‘Ethiopia’ was most probably in the Ethiopic Bible (see a comment at the end of this chapter) and the Kəbrä Nägäśt. On the latter, we know that it was compiled from many Arabic and other sources no earlier than the thirteenth century. If, again, Kəbrä Nägäśt is compiled based on a sixthcentury source—though some scholars doubt this—it is possible to assume that term must have been Άιθιοпις, not Habesh, leaving the case undecided at this stage. 86 DAE, Vol. IV, 4, 6, 7. 87 Reiner Voigt further notes that ‘in the earlier [ancient Sabaean] texts, the name [Habashsat] may refer to both sides of the Red Sea, whereas in later texts ḤABS²T clearly means what is later known as “Habessinia”’ (Reiner Voigt, ‘Abyssinia’ in EA Vol. 1, 59,62.

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sible to specifically determine the historical issues surrounding the characters recounted in Acts 8.88 The first historical evidence for the introduction of Christianity at Aksum thus arguably only emerges in the fourth century CE89 (even though there was likely no presence of Christianity in Aksum before the fourth century, in the opinion of Sergew, it might have existed on a limited and unofficial scale).90 Indeed, the fourth century is a watershed for world Christianity in many aspects, but particularly for its expansion; at almost the same time Emperor Constantine 88

However, the shortcoming can possibly be compensated in light of an assumption that there must have been a territory, ruled by a queen, which might have been part of Aksumite Kingdom. The political and military power balance in Aksum and its neighbouring countries, as attested in an inscription during the time of ᶜEzana, may have made it possible for the Aksumite dynasty of the time to rule over geographical locations south of Egypt (Nubia and Meroe), as well as parts of contemporary Ethiopia and Yemen (in South Arabia). One can only then precariously argue that there were, at least, some followers of Judaism, immigrants or converts, who must have succeeded in becoming officials in the wider parts of the Aksumite kingdom (possibly Nubia or South Arabia) where a queen (rather than a king) was a ruler of the land. Such a parallel story can be drawn from the person of a Syrian/Tyrian Frumentius, who became one of the high officials of the king of Aksum (discussed below). 89 For numismatic evidence, see Munro-Hay and Juel-Jensen, Aksumite Coinage, 45. 90 Sergew, Ancient, 97. As in some cases of world history, religious historical data from Aksum relates to the story of religious life of the elites, mainly kings, making it difficult to find sources that shed light on common people’s religious practices. Interestingly, the EOC writers tried to accommodate the Christianity of ‘the royal court’ with that practiced amongst the commoners. A writer noted that introductions of ‘Christianity’ predate the establishment of a ‘church’ in Aksum; he assumed that Christianity was practiced in Aksum uninterrupted from the middle of the first century (Acts 8) among the populace, while the establishment of the church only occurred in the fourth century when the sacrament was first administered, affirming that ‘there is no church without sacraments’ (Abba Gorgorios, የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ, 12).

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of the Roman Empire showed an interest to Christianity, it was also recognised at Aksum.91 In the absence of additional evidence, however, what seems to be evident is that the first half of the fourth century remains a turning point because of the establishment of Christianity at Aksum, at least at the royal court in Aksum, among the elites.92 It seems likely that in contrast with the Greco-Roman world, where Christianity only became a recognised religion during the reign of Constantine after three centuries of persecution, in Ethiopia Christianity began as a religion of the king and the elites and thereafter spread to the population, most probably in a piecemeal process.93 In Aksum, the capital, it seems that from the outset, the church and state forged a strong relationship, establishing a pattern that continued until 1974. As shown in the story by Rufinus, the introduction of Christianity at the royal court took place no later than 330 CE, when Frumentius was consecrated by Athenasius of Alexandria as its first bishop;94 when he returned back to Aksum from Alexandria, he H. M. Jones and Elizabeth Monroe, A History of Ethiopia (Oxford: Clarendon, 1966), 26–27; Pankhurst, Ethiopia, 56; Sergew, Ancient, 99. 92 Jones and Monroe, History, 26–27; Pankhurst, Ethiopia, A Cultural History, 56; Sergew, Ancient, 97. 93 Sergew, Ancient, 104. 94 Read the detailed account related to Frumentius in Rufinus, The Church History of Rufinus of Aquileia, Book 10:9–10. Philip R. Amidon (tr.) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), 18–20; Pankhurst, Ethiopia, A Cultural History, 56–57; this is further attested by documents from Alexandria (quoted in Jones and Monroe, History, 27; see also Donald Crummey, ‘Church and Nation: The Ethiopian Orthodox Täwahedo Church from the Thirteenth to the Twentieth Century’, in Michael Angold (ed.) The Cambridge History of Christianity Vol. 5 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 457. Thus traditionally, Frumentius’s name is Abba Sälama Käsate Bərhan; while ‘Selama’ is his consecration name, the Aksumites also named him ‘Käsate Bərhan’ (‘Revealer of Light’) to denote his role as the one who ‘brought’ the light of the gospel to Aksum. The link between the Patriarch of Alexandria and the Ethiopian church was not broken until 1951, and the Alexandrian Church remained a custodian of the Ethiopian Church. The relationship between the Ethiopian and Coptic Churches, 91 A.

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might have brought some books written in Greek.95 This, no doubt coincides with the reign of ᶜEzana.96 however, was based on the pseudo-Canon Nicene, which is known as the 42nd Canon (or sometimes numbered 36th or 47th) of ‘the Council of Nicene’, affirming the supremacy of Alexandrian ecclesiastical power over and control in ‘Ethiopia’, i.e. Nubia: ‘The Ethiopians have no power to create or choose a Patriarch, whose prelate must rather be under the authority of the Patriarch of Alexandria; or in case they should come at any time to have one among them in the place of the Patriarch and who should be styled Catholicos, he shall not, withstanding that, have a right to ordain Archbishops as other Patriarchs have, having neither the honour nor the authority of Patriarch; and if it should so happen that a council should be assembled in Greece, and this prelate should be present at it, he shall have the seventh place therein, next after the bishop of Seleucia; and in case he should it any time have power given to him to ordain Archbishops in his province, it shall not be lawful for him to advance any natives o that dignity; whosoever does not yield obedience to this, is excommunicated by the Synod’ (G. Vantini, The Excavations at Faras, A Contribution to the History of Christian Nubia (Bologna: Nigrizia, 1970), 62–63). It was only on 14 January, 1951, that the Coptic Church decided to consecrate an Ethiopian metropolitan, Abbuna Basilios, in Cairo; and in 1959, he was consecrated as the first Ethiopian Patriarch. Even though the ‘canon’ was most probably aimed at Nubians, the way in which this pseudo-text later impacted the EOC is briefly mentioned in Chapter 5. 95 Books like Egyptian Church Order (see Paulos Tzadua, The Divine Liturgy According to the Rite of the Ethiopian Church (Addis Ababa: 1973), 11). 96 Tradition asserts that ᶜEzana had a twin brother by the name of Saizanas, who was a co-ruler of the Aksumite kingdom, overseeing the southern part; they became Christians in their young age under the care of Frumentius, who gave them Christian names. ᶜEzana was ‘baptised’ as Abrəha (‘he who gives light’, though this may actually be a throne name), and Saizanas was named Aṣbəha (‘who brings dawn’). Jones and Monroe highlighted that the names Aṣbeha and Abrəha seem to have been taken from two Aksumite personalities of the sixth century: Ella Aṣbəḥa (Kaleb) at Aksum and Abrəha in South Arabia (Jones and Monroe, History, 27; on a similar theory on the throne names Ella Abrəha and Ella Aṣbəha, see Getatchew Haile, ‘An Anonymous Homily in Honour of King Ella Asbeha of Aksum’, in NEAS 3 (2), 1981, 25–37). But this could not possibly disprove the view that

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Numismatic evidence confirms that ᶜEzana was the first Ethiopian king to become Christian,97 and Christianity is recognised as the main dominant religion of the Aksumite royal court in ca. 330 CE.98 We know that it was only a few years before this that ᶜEzana attributed his victories against his neighbours to his favourite god Mahrem,99 referring to himself as ወልደ መሕረም (‘son of Mahrem’).100 After his conversion, however, ᶜEzana gives credit to Christ for his victories over the Nubians:

the introduction of Christianity took place in the first half of the fourth century, and it is unconvincing in light of Constantius II’s comment on ‘ᶜEzana and his brother’, even though the latter’s name is not mentioned (see Munro-Hay, Aksum, 78; Sergew, Ancient, 97). Wolfgang Hahn also asserted that ᶜEzana’s possible ‘co-rulers Saezanas and Caleb in theory could have had the throne name Ella Asbeha, and we might even presume that Caleb took it intentionally, styling himself modestly as another successor to Ezana’ (Wolfgang Hahn, ‘Ezanas and Caleb, the Pair of Saintly Kings’, in Siegbert Uhlig (ed.) XVth ICES Hamburg 2003 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2006), 262). 97 Munro-Hay and Juel-Jensten, Aksumite Coinage, 41–47; Sergew, Ancient, 31. Munro-Hay claims, ‘Perhaps the most characteristics reverse motif on silver and bronze coins after the conversion of Ezana is the cross [...] It seems almost certain that the Aksumite kings were the first Christian rulers to display the cross on their coins, sometime not long after A.D. 330’ (‘Aksumite Coinage’, in African Zion, 102). The crosses are not simply ‘space fillers’ since ᶜEzana’s coin ‘shows a single unmistakable cross above the king’s head at 12 o’clock, replacing the disc and crescent’ (ibid., 108). A change of name from ᶜEzanas to ᶜEzana is also noted (ibid., 108). After a thorough analysis of the style and weight of the coins issues by the time of ᶜEzana, Munro-Hay and Juel-Jensen rejected the view (held by Kobischanov) that there were two or even three kings called ᶜEzana (Aksumite Coinage, 45–46), affirming the date of the introduction of Christianity in the royal court as ca. 330 CE. 98This remains the case until the Marxist revolution of 1974, during which church and state probably separated for the first time. 99 Mahrem is named Ares in Greek parallel inscription. 100 Littmann, DAE, IV, no. 8. See also inscriptions no. 6, 7, 9 and 10.

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JEWISH CULTURAL ELEMENTS In faith in God and in the power of the Father and Son and the Holy Spirit, in the one who preserved my kingdom through faith in his Son Jesus Christ, who helped me [...]101

Such sentiments were also expressed in Aksumite coinage affirming the replacement of Mahrem, who used to assist the Aksumite warrior against enemies. Instead, the Christian message of the saviour was adopted to legitimize political power. The providence and powers of ‘pagan’ gods were replaced by the divine deeds of the new Christian God, Jesus the victor. Due to the absence of pertinent historical data, little is known about the history of the Aksumite church in the more than one hundred years between ᶜEzana and Kaleb (Ǝlla Aṣbəḥa, d. ca. 525). Taddesse asserts that there is ‘practically no documentation for the details of the life of the Church’ during its earliest establishment.102 While it has been traditionally claimed that a short time afterwards, Christianity gradually disseminated to the northern part of the country where the rule of the king was well established, there is scant information regarding the Aksumites in general and the religious conviction of the kings who reigned in Aksum during the time between the two renowned monarchs ᶜEzana and Kaleb. We thus know little of the complex sociocultural development from the time of ᶜEzana in the fourth century to Kaleb in the sixth century, but it can be assumed that Christianity was firmly established in some parts of the kingdom over this period.103 The Aksumite kings of the time likely regarded themselves as guardians of the faith and were concerned with Christian activities from the beginning. As some sources show, for example, the first convert king, ᶜEzana, probably rejected the attempt of Emperor Constantius II to advance Arian interests in the country.104 The sixth-century ruler of Aksum, nəguś Ella-Aṣbeha 101 Sergew, Ancient,

297. Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 30. 103 Phillipson, Foundations, 102. 104 The letter from Constantius is preserved: see Athanasius, ‘Apology to the Emperor (Apologia ad Constantium)’, in NPNF 2–04, 31. Though we 102

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(Kaléb), also marched to Yemen to relieve the beleaguered Christians of Naǧrān from the hands of Ḥimyarite Jews.105 It is important to note here that the initial support that the church enjoyed due to ᶜEzana’s conversion, contrary to what Rufinus recounts, was not without challenge from parts of the society. Even though there have been claims that ‘the Ethiopian Orthodox Church has not suffered persecution’106 after establishing itself in the Aksumite Kingdom, this is not completely supported by evidence. According to some material sources found in Aksum, there were ‘strong local sentiments [that] forced the king to be very cautious in his enthusiasm toward the new religion.’107 As the new religion was adopted in the royal camp, there would have been those in Aksum who would have seen it as a threat to the traditional status quo, pos-

don’t know if this letter reached him or not, it is certain that ᶜEzana did not respond. One can rightly argue that ᶜEzana was not aware of the theological differences shaking the churches (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf204.xviii.ii.xxxi.html?highlight=fru mentius#highlight, accessed on 12 Feb 2018). ‘Constantius, leaning towards the Arian heresy, was currently at loggerheads with patriarch Athanasius of Alexandria, who had consecrated Frumentius for his new see probably around 330AD. Athanasius had been sent into exile, and an Arian bishop installed. It was to this man, George of Cappadocia, that Constantius, much concerned ‘for the Christian faith in Aksum’, wanted ᶜEzana and his brother to send Frumentius back; possibly the request was ignored by Aksum and Fruementius remained loyal to Athanasius’s creeds, and as the Ethiopian Synaxarium puts it, he ‘died in peace’’ (The Book of Saints, Vol. IV, 1164–5; cf. Munro-Hay, Aksum, 78). 105 Moberg, Himyarites, pp. cxxxvii-cxlvi; The Martyrs of Najrân, 214ff; Trimingham, Islam in Ethiopia, 41. The question of Kaleb’s religious conviction is discussed in Chapter 4. 106 Sergew Hable Selasse, ‘Church and State in the Kingdom of Aksum’, in Proceeding of the Fourth International Conference of Ethiopian Studies (Addis Ababa, 1969), 6. 107 Taddesse Tamrat, ‘A Short Note on the Traditions of Pagan Resistance to the Ethiopian Church’, in JES 10 (1) 1972, 137; see E. Cerulli, Storia della letteratura Etiopica, Nuova Accademia (Milano: 1956), 20–21.

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sibly challenging their cultural and political establishment and dominance in the kingdom. It was potentially as a consequence of such persistent resistance that Christianity grew slowly in Aksum until the sixth century and may have been confined to a narrow corridor between Adulis and Aksum along main caravan routes. Phillipson argues that The status of Aksumite Christianity during the late fourth century and much of the fifth remain uncertain. The state was nominally Christian and its rulers were probably firm adherents, but there are indications that the new religion was not yet widely accepted in the rural areas […] It is likely that, for more than a hundred years following Ezana’s conversion, Christianity was largely restricted to Aksum itself and perhaps other urban centres, and to the upper echelons of society.108

The tradition of erecting stelae for commemoration of the dead after the fourth century may lead one to assume that pagan practices were not obsolete in the capital Aksum up to the sixth century.109 In contrast, contemporary Aksumite coinage shows that the Aksumites continued issuing coins bearing crosses110 reflecting the kings’ loyalty to their Christian religion. In this vein, Munro-Hay notes: The coins of the Aksumite kings, with their prominent, even gold-inlaid, crosses, and with emphatically Christian mottoes forming the legends, offer absolutely firm evidence that there was no return to paganism by Aksumite royal house after the first conversion of Ezana in the fourth century. There is no hint

108 Phillipson, Ancient

Churches, 113. Based on recent archaeological findings of burial places, it is suggested that some of the Aksumites retained their ‘pagan’ belief; on other burial sites, the cross-motif was found paired with the crescent and disc (see Munro-Hay, ‘The Rise and Fall of Aksum’, 47–54; Phillipson, Foundations, 99. 110 Ibid. 109

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of apostasy; the sequence shows that all the kings from Ezana to Kaleb were Christians.111

This analysis further challenges the Ethiopian tradition which assumes the wholesale conversion of the Aksumite kingdom following the conversion of Ezana.

THE IMPACT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT ON THE AKSUMITE CHURCH There seems to be no strong objection to the notion that Christians formed a very important nucleus among Aksumites in the first decades of the fourth century and that the connection with the Alexandrian Coptic Church and possible links with ‘Syrian’ Christianity were established in this early period. What seems to require further investigation is the sociocultural character of the earliest church in Aksum and the depth of its relationship with the Alexandrian and other churches in the Byzantine Empire. Soon after the introduction of Christianity, a number of churches were built in the capital at Aksum and the surrounding towns.112 According to some scholars, the altar of the earliest church built in Aksum is inscribed as Ǝmmenä Ṣəyon (‘Our Mother Zion’) to emulate the Church of Zion in Jerusalem.113 Marilyn E. Heldman refers to a pilgrim account of Jerusalem in 518 CE that describes the Church of Zion as ‘Holy Zion, the Mother of All Churches.’114 Later Munro-Hay, Alexandria and Ethiopia, 84; see also his book The Coinage of Aksum (New Delhi, 1984); ‘Aksumite Coinage’ in African Zion, 101–116. 112 Phillipson, Ancient Churches, 114–117. 113 M. E. Heldman and Getatchew Haile, ‘Who is Who in Ethiopia’s Past, Part 3: Founders of Ethiopia’s Solomonic Dynasty’, in Northeast African Studies 9 (1987), 9. According to Mäṣḥafä Aksum, this church was first built by Ella Asbeha (Kaléb) in the first two decades of the sixth century; Liber Axumae, Script. Aeth. 27. For a thoughtful discussion on this, see Phillipson, Ancient Ethiopia, 114–118. 114 Marilyn E. Heldman, ‘The Heritage of Late Antiquity’ in Roderick Grierson (ed.) African Zion: The Sacred Arts (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1993), 118. On another note, the contact between Ak111

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traditions in the medieval period must have amended Ǝmmenä Ṣəyon to Maryam Ṣəyon (‘Zion Mary’), which seems to be typologically fitting for Christian thought since it shows how the glory of the earthly Zion is superseded by the heavenly Zion in the person of Mary.115 Concomitant with the spread of Christianity, the translation of the Bible, as the foundation for the teachings and traditions of the church, no doubt became necessary. It is maintained that the translation of the biblical books into Ethiopic, particularly of the Old Testament, made an impact on the development of ‘Judaic’ identity within the Ethiopian Church. In this vein, Kaplan has commented that the Ethiopian Church is a staunch follower of Judaic culture in the spirit of the Old Testament: No church anywhere in the world has remained as faithful to the letter and spirit of the Old Testament as has the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Numerous biblical customs have survived in the practice of Ethiopian Christians. Thus, for example, male children are circumcised on the eighth day after birth. The Saturday Sabbath long held sway in Ethiopia and figured prominently in ritual, liturgy, theological literature, and even politics of the Church. Traditional Ethiopian dietary laws conform closely to those of the Old Testament, and the three-fold division of the sum and Jerusalem and its surroundings, at least economically, has been corroborated by historical evidence. This is supported by the fact that ‘few fourth-century Aksumite coins have been found there and in Caesarea’ (Munro-Hay, Aksum, 16) which could have arrived by the way of trade or pilgrimage. Disciples of St. Jerome noted as early as the 380s that there were ‘Ethiopian pilgrims to Jerusalem.’ Even in this regard, the pilgrims ‘could potentially be also from Nubia, for it is difficult to distinguish Ethiopians and Nubians in classical and medieval texts’ (Pederson, ‘Jerusalem’, in EA Vol. 3, 274). 115 The typology that designates Mary as Zion is striking and is a theme in much Ethiopic literature, including Kəbrä Nägäśt and Dəggʷa (see Lee, ‘Symbolic’, 84–91). The Ethiopian tradition asserts that the church’s building was a temple of Yahweh and named ‘Zion Mary’ soon after the conversion of the population to Christianity from Judaism in the fourth century.

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Ethiopian churches in Ethiopia clearly replicates the architectural structure of the Temple in Jerusalem. On literary level, the biblical ethos of Ethiopian Christian culture is epitomized in the country’s national epic Kebra Nagast (The glory of kings), which depicts the rulers of Ethiopia as direct descendants of Menilik I, the putative son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.116

Furthermore, echoing Ullendorff and other European scholars, as noted above, Kaplan assumes that ‘Judaic’ elements are adopted into the Ethiopian Church from a pre-Christian culture in Aksum that was influenced by the Old Testament. At this stage, then, it is important to ask how and when the Ethiopian Church became faithful to the ‘spirit of Old Testament.’ Based on our previous discussions, we have been able to establish that the view that proposes a pre-Christian Judaic culture in Aksum should be rightly discarded. Thus a review of contemporary literature seems necessary in order to assess the development of ‘Judaic’ elements and ‘Jewish Christian’ influences in the earliest period of Christianity in Ethiopia in the fourth to early sixth century. The translation of all 81 canonical books of the Ethiopic Bible117 over the course of a century must have had an impact on the formation and growth of Aksumite Christianity.118 Distinctively, the Kaplan, Beta Israel (Falasha), 17–18; for similar statements, see Kaplan, ‘Addendum’, in Corinaldi, Jewish Identity, The Case of Ethiopian Jewry, 154. Ullendorff opines that the custom was introduced in Aksum by Jews from South Arabia crossing ‘the Red Sea in the early centuries of the first millennium A.D.’ (Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible, 111). 117 The Aksumite church also used Greek as its liturgical language in its earliest period; ‘internal evidence of textual nature makes it clear that the local Church received its first Christian literature through Greek’ (Getatchew, ‘Ethiopic Literature’, 47); also E. Cerulli, ‘Ethiopic Languages and Literature’, in New Catholic Encyclopaedia, Vol. 5 (Catholic University of America Editorial Staff. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967), 591. 118 There is not yet a complete critical edition of the entire Gə‘əz Bible. Important at this point is that the Ethiopian Church has recently published its 116

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Ethiopic Bible includes books such as Esdras, the Book of Enoch, the Ascension of Isaiah, The Book of Jubilees.119 The translation of these books no doubt played an enormous role in shaping the practices and theology of the church in Aksum, beginning from the earliest decades. It is important to note at this point that, unlike the other Biblical books that were translated from Greek, it was books such as Senodos, Didəsqəlya, and Qälemənṭos—also included in the Ethiopic canon, most likely translated from Arabic to Gə‘əz in the thirteenth century CE—that in fact played a decisive role on the arguments of EOC’s scholars concerning Sabbath and related issues in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. 120 The translation of the Old and New Testaments into Gə‘əz introduced foundational works to the Ethiopic repertoire. Ecclesiastical materials were also translated from Coptic and Syriac sources, affirming the influence of multiple Christian traditions on Aksumite Christianity. Nevertheless, themes pertinent for the discussion of own ‘official’ Amharic Bible, mainly based on the ‘authoritative’ Gə‘əz Bible, which the present study consulted for a reference. 119 These are translations from Greek, not Hebrew. Guidi assumes that the translation of these books to Ethiopic was done mainly because Ethiopians’ traditional ethos urged them to be interested in apocalyptic books, an explanation that ignores the fact that these books were been translated and used ‘among Byzantines, Egyptians and Syrians’ (Merid Wolde Aregay, ‘Literary Origins of the Ethiopian Millenarianism’, in Proceedings of the Ninth International Congress of Ethiopian Studies (Moscow: Nauka Publishers, 1986), 163–4). In a wider context, the Ethiopic Old Testament was translated from the Septuagint (LXX) version, which was translated from Hebrew into Greek by Jews living in Alexandria before the advent of Christianity, suggesting the basic Jewish heritage of many writings included in Christian literature; see David J Wasserstein, The Legend of the Septuagint: From Classical Antiquity to Today (Cambridge University Press, 2009). 120 Getatchew, ‘Traditional Ethiopian Literature’, 48; J.M. Harden, An Introduction to Ethiopic Christian Literature (London: SPCK, 1926), 63. The importance of these books in the fourteenth to fifteenth century’s theological debate on Sabbath in the EOC remains enormous. See Chapters 5 and 6.

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‘Judaic’ elements seem generally absent from the earliest literature.121 An important exception is discovered in the Dəggʷa or antiphonary of the EOC. This book, whose authorship is attributed to the Ethiopian St. Yared, is probably the most important literary work originating in the sixth century, with no doubt many additions being made in later centuries.122 In addition to its place in the music of the church123 and its role in shaping many theologically significant texts, 121

My brief perusal of the themes of earliest Ethiopic literature (like the Rules of Pachoumis [Maṣhafä Ṗaqumiis], the Book of Cyril [Maṣhafä Qerlos], Liturgy [Maṣhafä Qeddasə] and anaphora [Qeddasə], Horologion [Sa’atat], Veneration of Mary [Wəddase Maryam]) and ‘apocryphal’ books, (such as the Paralipomena of Baruch, the Physiologus, and the Shepherd of Hermas) seems to show this; admittedly, further study on all available versions is still needed. 122 For example, Harden thinks that the Dəggʷa was written during the ‘Golden Age of Ethiopic Literature’, i.e. not earlier than the era of Zär’a Ya‘əqob (1344–68) (Harden, Ethiopic Literature, 29); Cerulli suggests that it was revised in the twelfth century (quoted in ibid., 29). Indeed, the Dəggʷa, like other theological subjects, lacks a systematic approach to the issues we are discussing, making it difficult to distinguish between what was written in the sixth century and the interpolations from after the thirteenth century. 123 The Ethiopian traditional church music (Yaredewai zema (‘melody’), musical instruments, and the šəbšäba dance) have been considered to be echoes of Old Testament musical traditions, which were ‘adopted’ by Christians (Sergew, Ancient, 174–5). Tradition asserts that Yared’s family was connected to Jewish Levites; he created the traditional music and changed the Egyptian ‘soft whisper’ to Ethiopian melody (Budge, Synaxarium Vol III, 103–104); but Taddesse provides an important critique and background to the saint and his work: ‘It is interesting to note that there are distant echoes of Yared’s musical modes in the medieval records of the Coptic Church. Yared’s modes — Ge’ez, Ezl, and Araray ... are sung at particular types of religious ceremonies depending on whether these are sad or happy occasions in the calendar of the church. In the same way, the Copts also had different tunes which change according to the nature of their feasts and according to the time of the year. Their happy tunes were used for the major festivals such as Christmas Day and Easter. The sad and mel-

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ancholic tunes were sung in times of sorrow such as Passion Week. They also had other sad tunes used for funeral services and commemorations. Although the technical terms for the modes or tunes, and the number of these tunes are different in the Ethiopian and Coptic churches, the liturgical purpose for which they are used seem to be the same. This may at least point to the same origin for both the Ethiopian and the Coptic church music. Just like the Ethiopians, the Copts attribute the origin of their music to the divine inspiration of one of their holy men. This saintly man, they say, was originally a layman and a mere potter; and he invented their sacred music when he later joined the monastery of St. Macarius. Essentially, the same theme runs through the Ge’ez story of the life of Yared […I]t seems almost certain that it was the traditions of the mother Alexandrian church which had a lasting impact on the formation of the Ethiopian tradition about Yared and his musical talents […]It is apparent that in this period [after seventh cent. that] the Holy Bible and particularly the Old Testament began to serve the Ethiopians as an inexhaustible source of cultural inspiration. […]This vital development was accompanied by a deliberate process of immitating (sic.) and adopting the cultural and social institutions of the Old Testament […]A major aspect of the Ethiopian Church music is the ritual dance that always accompanies the liturgical chant. Monneret de Villard, a well-known student of Ethiopian Christian art and of the history of the Nile Valley, has suggested that the liturgical dance of the Ethiopians may have originated in ancient Egypt. There are indeed distant echoes of this ancient Egyptian interaction in the flowing gowns of the dabtara, their use of the sistrum and even the long graceful prayer sticks which are all represented in the great monuments of the Nile Valley [a claim which seems to clarify questions surrounding assumptions of Jewish influence on the Ethiopian music]’ (Taddesse Tamrat, ‘A Short Note On the Ethiopian Church Music’ in Annales d'Ethiopie Volume 13, 1985, 137–141). For a view on the dating of Yared, a contemporary of Gäbrä Mäsqäl, see Getatchew Haile, ‘A New Look at Some Dates of Early Ethiopian History’, in Le Muséon, 1982, 318–319; Sergew Habteselassie, ‘Yared’, in L.H. Ofosu-Appiah (ed.), The Encyclopaedia Africana Dictionary of African Biography Vol. I, 1997. http://www.dacb.org/stories/ethiopia/yared2.html, accessed on 10 June 2011. The question involving the musical instruments needs further study as some instruments (like the systrum) that are considered by EOC scholars to be part of Jewish heritage were also used in Egypt from antiquity.

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its Biblical exposition is striking.124 Although there are clear traces of later recensions, makeing it difficult to consider categorically selected texts as part of its earlier compositions,125 some aspects of the Dəggʷa indicate the earliest traditions. For example, the book claims that the Ark of the Covenant was captured by Babylonians: ዕዝራኒ ርእያ ወተናገራ ወሶበ ርእያ ከመብእሲት ሕዝንት ወትክዝት እንዘ ትበኪ በእንተ ውሉዳ ዕዝራኒ ርዕያ ወተናገራ ወይቤላ ኢትሬእዪኑ ላሀ ዚአነ እንተረከበተነ በእንተ ጽዮን ወይቤላ ኢትሬእዪኑ ከመተነስተ መቅደስነ ተስእረ መዝሙርነ አርመመ ስብሃቲነ ወወድቀ ምክህን ወጠፍአ ማህቶተ ብርሃን ወተበርበረት ታበተ ሕግነ ወተገመነ ቅድሳቲነ ወረኩሰ ስምዕነ ወሐስሩ አግአዝያኒነ ወውእዩ ካህናቲነ ወተፄወዉ ሌዋውያኒነ ተቀትሉ ደናግሊነ ተስህቡ ጻድቃኒን ወደክሙ ጽኑአኒነ እምኩለሰ ዘየአቢ ተሐትመት ጽዮን ወወድቀ እምኔሃ ክብራ ወገባእነ ውስተ እደ ጸላእትነ::126 Ezra saw her and said to her; he saw her in an image of a woman. He saw her in agony and crying, worried for her children; he said to her, ‘do you not see our cry, our suffering for Zion, how our sanctuary is destroyed, how our song has been stopped, how our praises made still’, he [also] said to her ‘do you not see how our pride vanished, how light of our lamp extinguished, how the Ark of our Covenant has been captured, how our sanctity has been defiled, how our name put to shame, how our capturers humiliated us, how our priests have been burned, how the Levites taken captive, do you not see how our mighty warriors became powerless, more than all this, how [the doors of?] Zion has been closed, how her honour has gone from her, how we have fallen at the hands of our enemies. For its exposition on Zion, cross, and tabot, see Lee, ‘Symbolic’, 85–92. Dəggʷa has passed through many revisions, and it is not clear which text comes from the earliest times; strikingly, it mentions the names of Ethiopian scholars from the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries. 126 መጽሐፈ ድጓ ዘቅዱስ ያሬድ (‘The Mäṣḥafä Dəggʷa of St. Yared’) (Addis Ababa: Tənsa’e Zä-Guba’e Printing House, 1988). Note that I have used some Ethiopic/Amharic materials solely for historical purposes (without criticalphilological engagement beyond my knowledge), confident that some typos and words missing from the Ethiopic/Amharic documents (and even more as a general disclaimer, my ‘free-style’ translation of Gə‘əz texts to English) would not make any significant difference to our understanding (of the historical construction) of the discussion at hand. 124 125

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This demonstrates a remarkable departure by the writer(s) of the Dəggʷa from the few Ethiopic writings of the thirteenth to fourteenth centuries that were highly influenced by the Kəbrä Nägäśt. In this regard, the story of the Dəggʷa closely follows the claims of the biblical accounts of 4 Esdras 9, where it is narrated that an angel consoles the ‘weeping woman’ who asks: ቤተመቅደሳችን እንደ ፈረሰ፣ መሠዊያችን እንደ ተሰባበረ አታዪምን? ግናያቱ እንደ ጠፋ፣ ምስጋናችን እንደ ቀረ፣ዘመራ ዘዉዳችን እንደ ወደቀ፣ የመቅረዛችን መብራት እንደ ጠፋ፣ የቃል ኪዳናችን ታቦት እንደ ተማረከች፣ ንዋየ ቅዱሳችን እንዳደፈ [አታዪምን]?127 Do you not see how our sanctuary is destroyed, how our altar is broken? Do you not see how our thanksgiving has disappeared, how our praise has stopped, the chanting of our crown has fallen, how the light of our lamp has disappeared, how the Ark of our covenant has been captured [….]128

The text indicates a specific temporal context: things have been turned upside down, […] our name has been defiled, how our lords have been humiliated, how our priests have been burned, how our Levites have suffered adversity, how our virgins have been killed, how our wives have been taken away by force, how our righteous men (or holy ones) have been dragged along the ground, how our young men have been enslaved, how our sons have been taken away by force, how our warriors have been made weak? More than all this, Zion has disappeared, and her honour has gone with her, we have fallen at the hands of our enemies. Stop this, for the Most High and 127

መጽሐፈ ዕዝራ ሱቱኤል 9:21, 22, in መጽሐፍ ቅዱስ; የብለይ እና የሐዲስ ኪዳን መጻሕፍት [‘The Holy Bible, Old and New Testament Books’] (Addis Ababa, The Bible Society of Ethiopia, 2000 E.C). The impact of this text is far reaching. It is well captured in Dəggʷa (written in the sixth century but interpolated numerous times) and also in Dərsanä Maryam (a fifteenthcentury Mariological writing), which show that the claims of Kəbrä Nägäśt were not taken seriously among Ethiopian writers at least until the fifteenth century. 128 4Esdras 9:21, 22.

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Mighty to forgive you, and for God to give you rest from your exhaustion, abandon your great mourning!’129

The Ark of the Covenant, we are told, ‘has been captured’130 at the time of the destruction of the Temple. The assertion that the Ark of the Covenant was captured during the Babylonian invasion, which stands in contrast to the claims of the Kəbrä Nägäśt, seems to have been the view of the earliest Aksumite Church, competing views being most likely adopted at a later time. Strikingly, scholars of the Ethiopian Orthodox give greater credence to the story of the Kəbrä Nägäśt (which narrates the arrival of tabot to Aksum) in the face of this account, which is most likely earlier and is attested by a canonical book,131 showing the immense influence of the Kəbrä Nägäśt. What then can we safely conclude? The translation of biblical and Christian books that began after the fourth century CE and that was finalized in about the fourteenth century provided a plausible narrative and foundational basis for the EOC but contributed little to the development of ‘Judaic’ elements and heritage. An overview of Ethiopic literary sources that have been summarised shows that the ‘Jewish Christian’ spirit of the EOC, even in the case of Sabbath observance and the formation of ‘Solomonic’ religio-political culture, stems from Christian tradition through the translation of Christian books in later eras. The translation of the books validates the fact that the church has faithfully followed the tradition of Christian churches and the EOC’s ‘Old Testament spirit’. No doubt the impact of the Bible on Aksum has been significant, and its role in cultural formation needs further comment. The earliest message of the Christian faith, as well as the translation of the 129 4Esdras 9:

23–25. Biblical scholarship suggests that after the demise of the Temple at the hands of the army of Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BCE, the whereabouts of the Ark of the Covenant were unknown. 131 One of the techniques is the adoption of the interpretation method known as andəmta, which offers numerous possible interpretations for a particular text, often harmonising conflicting views. Andəmta is discussed in Chapter 6. 130

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Bible (the Old and New Testaments),132 introduced the Christian cultural world to the Aksumites. Through the message of Christianity and the reading of its holy books, Old and New, Judeo-Christian cultural traits were transmitted. Hence, in addition to the already existing indigenous, Sabaean and Graeco-Roman polytheistic religious cultures, the cosmopolitan city of Aksum incorporated the Judaeo-Christian cultural ethos through the propagation of the Christian message, mainly due to the positive response of the royal camp towards the new faith. Indigenous and ‘pagan’ mythological concepts were accommodated within the Christian message and then reflected upon it through the new religious book. Thus life after death that was deeply entrenched in the religious ethos of the Aksumites was interpreted through the new cultural prism of the biblical books evolving from Judaism into Christianity. In light of this perspective and of the absence of direct influence of Jews and Judaism in Aksum, we may question whether the Ethiopian Church imitated the Old Testament before or after receiving the New Testament. The ‘Judaic elements of the Ethiopian Church’ that Rodinson suggested originated from imitatio Veteris Testamenti might be amended to be imitation of the Old and New Testaments. Nonetheless, if a conclusion is necessary, as the EOC is a Christian church, it is likely that imitatio Novum Testamenti was first and foremost, which led to imitation of the Old Testament. Additionally, the translation of the name ‘Ereṣ Kûš’ in the Hebrew Bible to Αἰθίοπες (‘Aithiopes’/Ethiopia) in the Septuagint133 and then to the Gə‘əz Bible as ኢትዮጵያ (‘Ityopya’) has had a lasting effect in further bringing Ethiopians into the biblical world; the term ‘Ethiopia’ is mentioned over sixty times in the Greek version of the Bible, and the verse stating that ‘Ethiopia shall stretch her hands to 132

Findings show that at least some texts, if not the entire Old and New Testaments, were in circulation before the seventh century CE (Knibb, Translating the Bible, 46–54; Paolo Marrassini, ‘Once Again on the Question of Syriac Influences in the Aksumite Period’, in Languages and Cultures, 214–216). 133 There are about 48 references.

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God’134 is prominent among Ethiopians.135 In this case, the Judaic influence exerted by the translation of the Bible in Ethiopian Christianity is rightly explained by the term identification: identification of Ethiopians with the ‘Ethiopia’ of the Old Testament as it has been rendered by the Septuagint. Perhaps in order to affirm that the Ethiopian church followed the spirit of the Old Testament, there must be a point of reference. How ‘unique’ was the ‘Judaic’ Aksumite Church as compared to ‘other ancient churches’? Although there are diverse views in defining Jewish Christianity,136 it seems, as argued by Joan Taylor, that the 134

Psalm 68:31 (NRSV): ‘Let Ethiopia hasten to stretch out its hands to God.’ 135 This effect, however, was only realised after the compilation of the Kəbrä Nägäst in the fourteenth century and the identification of the term ‘Ethiopia’ as the name of the country. More importantly, the country is presented in the book as the custodian of the Ark of the Covenant and a nation chosen for the benefaction, service and worship of the God of Israel (see Chapter 5). As noted in this book, it was the Zagʷe, not the ‘Slomonides’, who first identified themselves with an Israelite lineage. See Chapter 4. 136 On definitions, views, and even ambiguity entailed in ‘Jewish Christianity’, see Marianne Dacy, The Separation of Early Christianity From Judaism (New York: Cambria Press, 2010), 48–60. For further study, see George Strecker, ‘Appendix 1: On the Problem of Jewish Christianity’, in Walter Bauer, Orthodoxy and Heresy in the Earliest Christianity. Robert Kraft (trans. from German) (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1971), pp. xxiv; 241– 287; Adam H. Becker and Annette Yoshiko Reed (eds.), The Ways that Never Parted: Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism (Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2003), 28; Emmanuel Testa, The Faith of the Mother Church: An Essay on the Theology of the Judeo-Christian, trans. Paul Rotondi (Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 1992), 11–13. While some consider Jewish Christianity as a ‘Jews-only’ membership of Christianity, as opposed to Gentile Christianity whose members are from a Gentile background, others prefer to analyse the issue not in terms of ethnicity but in terms of religious tendencies (taking as an example the Judaisers from Jerusalem who attempted to convince the Gentiles in the Galatian church to observe Mosaic laws in order to be fully recognised in the newly founded religion, Christianity; see Epistle to Gala-

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term stands not only to denote Christians from Jewish communities but also those who, with their Gentile converts, upheld the praxis of Judaism.137 Thus in the first two to three decades, the early church, which was established on the ethos of Judaism in Jerusalem, developed some ceremonial and ritual practices based on Jewish laws.138 From the beginning, it seems that there were differences in respond-

tians of the New Testament Bible). The fundamental teachings and character of Jewish Christianity is presented in Jean Daniélou, The Theology of Jewish Christianity: A History of Early Christian Doctrine Before The Council of Nicaea, trans. from French, John Austin Baker (London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1964): first, Jewish Christianity may designate those Jews who acknowledge Christ as a prophet or a Messiah but not as the son of God, thus forming a separate class half-way between Jews and Christians (p.7–8); secondly, one possible meaning of the term ‘Jewish Christianity’ is the Christian community of Jerusalem, dominated by James and the tendencies for which he stood (p.8–9); and finally, the third possible meaning of the term ‘Jewish Christianity’ is a type of Christian thought expressing itself in forms borrowed from Judaism (p. 9). On this, see a detailed discussion by Lee (‘Symbolic’, 118–121). On the third category, particularly its literature, Daniélou defined Jewish Christianity as ‘the expressions of Christianity in the thought-form of Later Judaism’ i.e., of the Pharisees, Essenes and Zealots, contemporary with Christ. Lee focused on ‘JewishChristian’ heritage as expressed in common symbolisms shared by Ethiopic and Ephremic literature, while Ephraim Isaac highlighted the presence of Jewish Christians from the earliest era of Aksumite Christianity whom he regarded as introducers of Jewish customs. I am also interested in questions of when and how the ‘Judaic’ elements (such as Sabbath and circumcision) were introduced in Ethiopia. However, findings in my research stand in contrast to the view held by Ephraim Isaac. 137 Joan Taylor, Christians and the Holy Places: The Myth of JewishChristian Origins (Oxford: Clarendon, 1993), 20. 138 David Flusser with R. Stephen Notley, Jesus, 2nd revised. ed. (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1977), 56.

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ing to the implication of the spirit of the Old Testament.139 As one scholar has noted: New Testament texts indicate that the first Christians were made up of two groups, one which accepted proselytes on the condition that they kept the Noahide laws (Acts 15:19), and the other which objected to the admission of proselytes who did not accept Jewish halakhah. This group also accused Peter of socialising with the uncircumcised (Gal 2:12; Acts 11:3).140

We are told that ‘Christian observance of the Sabbath was quite common in certain places until about the end of the third century.’141 Jewish Christians seemed to continue to follow the tradition of the ‘Nazorean’ version of Christianity, whose members retained some of the Jewish customs and mainly found safe haven in Asia Minor. Were there traditions influencing the Syrian Christian tradition that also impacted the Aksumite Church ab extensio, as suggested by Ephraim Isaac?142 While there remains considerable ‘Syrian’ influence on Ethiopian Christianity, particularly after the sixth century, the ‘Syrian’ origin of its first bishop, Frumentius, may not conclusively lead one to assume that he was a bearer of ‘Jewish Christianity’ to Aksum. There exists no strong evidence to indicate whether his teaching was primarily shaped by Greek or Syrian (Jewish Christian143) tradition before his arrival at Aksum. We have almost no evidence as to whether he was a theologian per se while in Tyre or if he had a strong affiliation to the church before his arrival in Aksum. It 139

Discussions on ‘the church in Jerusalem versus the church among the Gentiles’; Paul versus Peter; Peter the mediator between Paul and James the Just... 140 Dacy, The Separation of Early Christianity From Judaism, 23. 141 Ibid., 92. 142 Ephraim Isaac, ‘An Obscure Component.’ See also Chapter 2. 143 Ephraim Isaac assumes that the earliest Aksumite tradition, under Frumentius, was Jewish-Christian (and also non-Trinitarian); but what is known about Aksumite Christianity rightly ‘thwarts any attempt to call Frumentius a Jewish-Christian missionary’ (Grillmeier with Hainthaler, Christ, 331–332).

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is possible that his Christian faith might have grown while he was at Aksum and might have been shaped by the teaching of the Coptic Church.144 There is no clear evidence that shows Aksumite Christianity’s Jewish Christianity except to the contrary, for the fact is that such tradition seems to have already been undermined in Christian churches even before the fourth century. It can be stressed that before the fourth century, Jewish Christianity had lost prominence. Even more: those Christians who continued to hold on to Jewish ritual laws such as circumcision, food laws, and other practices not assumed by the church, were ostracised and eventually driven out from orthodox Christianity. The new religion – for that is what Christianity became – soon would not long tolerate members who professed to be Christian yet retained Jewish practices.

It seems that ‘Judaic practices’ became suppressed as the church became more dominated by Christians of non-Jewish background. 145 The first Christian council that urged Christians to safeguard themselves from having relationships with Jews and aimed to protect Christians from practising Judaic elements took place in 305/6 CE at the Council of Elvira.146 Canon 16 forbade intermarriage between Christians and Jews; Canon 29 forbade making the Sabbath into a festival; Canon 49 prohibited having fields blessed by Jews; Canon 50 forbade Christians to eat with Jews; and Canon 78 forbade adultery specifically with Jewesses and Gentile women. The Synod of Laodicea in 360 CE forbade any acquaintance with Jewish ‘superstitions 144

Below is a discussion on the Coptic Church’s teaching regarding Sabbath (and on circumcision, see Chapter 4). 145 Even before 70 CE, in the Apostolic Church, ‘non-circumcision for gentile converts was an issue over which early Christianity began to separate from Judaism [...by] spiritualisation of circumcision’ (Dacy, The Separation of Early Christianity From Judaism, 76). 146 Charles Joseph Helfele, A History of the Councils of the Church from Original Documents Vol. 1, trans. William R. Clark (New York: AMS, 1972), 167–171.

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and magic’ in Canon 36 (and similar decisions were reached at Carthage in 419 CE); Canon 16 declared that Christians shall observe Sunday and work on Saturday. This was expanded in Canon 29: ‘Christians shall not judaise and be idle on Saturday, but shall work on that day; but the Lord’s Day they shall especially honour, in every way possible as Christians. If however, they are found judaising, they shall be shut out from Christ.’147 The impact of these decisions on religious cultural development, mainly in and after the fourth century, should be carefully considered in order to deal with church traditions in general and of the Aksumite Church in particular. Since the Aksumite Church was under the auspices of the Alexandrian Church from the beginning, it is also important to discuss Coptic tradition on this matter.148 We know that in addition to Sunday, Coptic Christians gathered on the Sabbath for sacrament, at least until the sixth century. According to Patriarch Timothy I (c. 381 CE), the faithful should abstain from marital relations on the Sabbath and on Sunday since they should prepare to partake of ‘the spiritual sacrifice’149, which no doubt shows the tradition of Christian gathering during the Sabbath as well as Sunday. In about 419–420 CE, the historian Palladius also describes the habits of Egyptian monks (who were followers of Pachomius) going ‘to Communion on Saturday and Sunday.’150 The same is noted in a book of canons attributed to Athanasius (c. 296–373): believers should take sacra-

147 Helfele, A

History of the Councils, Vol. 2, 316. Any scholarship that undermines the impact of the Alexandrian Church (in favor of the cultural influence of Syrian Church) does little justice to our understanding of the development of the EOC. 149 Patriarch Timothy I, The Canonical Answers of Timothy, the Most Holy Bishop of Alexandria, Who Was One of the CL Fathers Gathered Together at Constantinople, to the Questions Proposed to Him Concerning Bishops and Clerics, Question XIII, in NPNF/2, 14, Appendix IX, 613. 150 Palladius, The Lausiac History of Palladius. W. K. Lowther Clarke (tr.) (London: SPCK, The Macmillan Company, 1918), 112. 148

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ments ‘on the Sabbath and Sunday.’151 Other writings recognised the place of the Sabbath but were critical of its significance. In another (pseudo-)canon attributed to Athanasius, for example, we find a clear statement that Christians gather on the ‘Sabbath’ together with advice that they should not get ‘infected with Judaism’ and observe ‘false Sabbaths’ but should ‘come on the Sabbath to worship Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath’, reasoning that not ‘we alone despise the Sabbath, but the prophet is the one who cast aside and said, “Your new moons and Sabbaths my soul hates.”’152 Thus, while some evidence suggests that Christians continued to gather for Eucharistic celebrations on the Sabbath, it seems the dominant tradition of the Coptic Church was more adamantly against Sabbath observance. Socrates Scholasticus (c. 440 CE) observed that: Although almost all the churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries on the Sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, have ceased to do this. The Egyptians in the neighbourhood of Alexandria, and the inhabitants of Thebaïs, hold their religious assemblies on the Sabbath, but not participate of the mysteries in the manner usual among Christians in general: for after having eaten and satisfied themselves with food of all kinds, in the evening making their offerings they partake of the mysteries.153

The Canons of Athanasius of Alexandria, The Arabic and Coptic versions edited and translated with introductions, notes and appendices. Wilhelm Riedel and W. E. Crum (trans.) (London and Oxford: Williams and Norgate, 1904), 60; many scholars have doubted its authenticity (p. vii). 152 Quoted in Werner K. Vyhmeister, ‘The Sabbath in Egypt and Ethiopia’, in The Sabbath in Scripture and History, in Kenet Strand (ed.) (Washington, DC: Review and Herald, 1982); Vyhmeister gives an in-depth historical investigation of Sabbath observance in Egypt and Ethiopia. 153 Socrates Scholaticus, The Ecclesiastical History of Scrates Scholasticus. A. C. Zenos (tr.) (New York: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886), 131; cf. Vyhmeister, ‘The Sabbath in Egypt and Ethiopia’, 171. 151

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Another historian, Sozomen, in his Ecclesiastical History, probably relying on the same source, also presents varying traditions in different Christian traditions: The people of Constantinople, and almost everywhere, assemble together on the Sabbath, as well as on the first day of the week, which custom is never observed at Rome or at Alexandria. [Interestingly, however] several cities and villages in Egypt where, contrary to the usage established elsewhere, the people meet together on Sabbath evenings, and, although they have dined previously, partake of the mysteries.154

Moreover, the change of perception of the Sabbath was dramatic, following violent conflict between Christians and Jews in the fourth century. It is reported that in Alexandria, the Jews sent persons into the streets to raise an outcry that the church named after Alexander was on fire. Thus many Christians on hearing this ran out, some from one direction and some from another, in great anxiety to save their church. The Jews immediately fell upon and slew them; readily distinguishing each other by their rings. At daybreak the authors of this atrocity could not be concealed: and [Patriarch] Cyril, accompanied by an immense crowd of people, going to their synagogues — for so they call their house of prayer — took them away from them, and drove the Jews out of the city, permitting the multitude to plunder their goods. Thus the Jews who had inhabited the city from the time of Alexander the Macedonian were expelled from it, stripped of all they possessed, and dispersed some in one direction and some in another.155

Sozomen, The Ecclesiastical History of Sozomen Comprising a History of the Church from A. D. 324 to A.D. 440. Edward Walford (tr.) (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1855), 344. 155 Socrates, The Ecclesiastical History, 133; in this story, presented by a Christian writer, it was the Jews who instigated the violence. It seems that the struggle for prominence between Jews and Christians had been a pattern 154

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Most probably following the incident, and due to the growing animosity between Jews and Christians in subsequent decades, Christians in Alexandria stopped gathering on the Sabbath during the first half of the fifth century, 156 likely indicating an attempt to disassociate from anything that has to do with the Jews. Also, similar to the thoughts reflected in the writings of the ante-Nicene Fathers,157 the Alexandrian Coptic Church, contrary to other Eastern Churches, finally determined against Sabbath observance.158 Based on such polemical tradition, the prominence and importance of Sunday159 over the Sabbath was recognised and theologized: After the first creation, God rested. For the reason that generation [the Jews] has observed the seventh day. But the second creation has no end. For the reason he [God] has not rested, but he still works. So, we do not observe a Sabbath day as in the times of the first (creation); but our hope is in the coming Sabbath of Sabbaths, when the new creation will have no end, but it will be revealed and will celebrate a perpetual feast. The Sabbath was given to the first people for the following reason: that they

in Alexandria from the first century CE until the Muslim conquest in the seventh century CE. 156 ‘It seems more than coincidental that Sabbath services disappeared from the Alexandrian churches apparently during the time of Archbishop Cyril’ (Vyhmeister, ‘Sabbath in Egypt and Ethiopia’, 172). 157 For the writings of Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle of Barnabas, Justin Martyr and many others on the issue, see http://www.earlychristianwritings. com. 158 Basically, the Alexandrian church seems to have been less interested in Sabbath observance even before the first half of the fourth century: in 306 CE, Patriarch Peter of Alexandria (d. 311), in canon 15 of his Canones Poenitentiales, asserted that ‘Wednesday is to be fasted, because then the Jews conspired to betray Jesus; Friday because then suffered for us. We keep the Lord’s Day as a day of joy, because then our Lord rose’ (ibid., 169). Saturday is omitted from the list. 159 This is reflected in one writing attributed to king Lalibäla (see Chapter 4).

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would know equally well the end of (the old) creation and the beginning (of the new) […] It is not because of the physical rest that (God) gave the Sabbath, but so that they [the Jews] would recognize the end of the first creation [….] He wanted, precisely, that in knowing its end, they would search for the beginning of the following (creation). Then, the end of the first creation was Sabbath; the beginning of the new one is the Lord’s day, when he has renewed and begun anew the old one.160

The polemic against Sabbath was also, by implication, directed to circumcision: Circumcision, performed on the eighth day, anticipated “the spiritual rebirth of all after the seventh day”: As the Lord’s day is the beginning of creation and the end of the Sabbath, so having regenerated man, it has put an end to circumcision. These two things are in fact, accomplished on the eighth day: the day beginning of creation and of regeneration of man. For this reason, the eighth day has abolished the Sabbath, and not the Sabbath the eighth day.161

After the sixth century, as Werner Vyhmeister stated, ‘there are no references to Sabbath observance among Egyptian Coptic Christians.’162 While the observance of Sabbath among Copts vanished, it is significant for our discussion (Chapter 5 and 6) to note here that early accounts detailing the honouring of Sabbath were retained in many of the earliest writings. Books like the Apostolic Tradition, which was translated to Sahidic (a Coptic dialect of Upper Egypt) no later than

160 Pseudo-Athanasius, in Vyhmeister, ‘Sabbath in Egypt and Ethiopia’, 170. 161 Ibid., 170. 162

Ibid., 173. The Alexandrian Copts seem unconcerned with the observance of sacred days in the later centuries: ‘if Alexander Ross (1590–1654) is to be trusted, by the seventeenth century the Egyptian Copts kept “no Lords day, no feasts except in cities”’ (cited in ibid., 173).

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the fifth century and subsequently translated to Arabic, also kept the tradition that reached Ethiopia after the thirteenth century: Let the servants (of the Lord) work five days; on the Sabbath (Sabbaton) and the Lord’s day (Kyriake) let them rest for the church that they may be instructed in piety. The Sabbath because God himself rested on it when He completed all the creation. The Lord’s day because it is the day of the resurrection of the Lord.163

Ibn al-Assal’s collection of ancient canons, probably compiled from such sources in 1238, states that Christians participate in qurbaan, Eucharist, each week on Wednesday, Friday, Sabbath, Sunday, and during feast days.164 Then, intriguingly, the canons are translated and then discovered in the thirteenth-century Ethiopic Didəsqəlya,165 and the book became one of the favourites of the Ewosṭateans and the clergy of aṣe Zär’a-Ya‘əqob in their struggle for the dissemination of pro-Sabbath stances in the EOC.166 Among the ancient Copts, we thus observe three traditions in relation to the Sabbath: complete rejection, regarding it as a day of worship and rest as in Judaism, or simply regarding it as one of the days on which sacraments are offered. We are not sure, however, which tradition influenced Aksumite Christianity during its earliest developments; in light of the resistance of EOC scholars to Sabbath observance in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, though, the former seems more plausible, though the others may also merit consideration.167 163

Quoted in Vyhmeister, ‘The Sabbath in Egypt and Ethiopia’, 173. Ibn Al-Assal, Al Magmou Al-Safawy Le Ibn Al-Assal. William A. Hanna (tr.) (St Louis, Missouri: St Mary & St Abraam Coptic Orthodox Church, 1996), 59, 209. Ibn al-Assal also sates that there is ‘no abstention on Sundays or Saturdays’ (ibid., 66). 165 The Ethiopic Didascalia, ed. J. M. Harden (London: SPCK, 1920), 36, (Ch. XXXVIII. vii); also p. 288. 166 The other prominent book is Senodos; discussed at length in Chapter 5. 167 This means, though, that the burden of proof falls to those who attempt to claim otherwise. Indeed, as we may see next, it cannot be easily substanti164

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After the sixth century, and particularly after the translation of the Bible, the reverberation of Jewish cultural elements must have been present. The growth of the church at Aksum probably gained momentum in the sixth century, the main impetus being the arrival of the ‘Syrian’ missionaries, a prominent event in the development of the church in the Aksumite Kingdom and one which made an impact on Ethiopian Christianity. Phillipson writes about the advent of these Täsä’atu Qəddusan (‘Nine Saints’) from the Byzantine Roman Empire (‘Rum’)168: Significantly, the years round AD 500 are traditionally associated with the arrival of the ‘Nine Saints’ – a group of ecclesiastics who came from ROM [the Byzantine Empire] and who, with other adherents known as tsadqan, were responsible for the expansion of Christianity and the establishment of monasteries in areas of Aksumite hegemony away from the capital.’169

The missionary work of the ‘Nine Saints’ (who might have arrived over a period of time from different parts of the West/East Roman empires) and the Ṣadqan (‘the Righteous’), who might have arrived in Aksum a few decades earlier than the former, left a remarkable legacy.170 Despite the absence of conclusive evidence about any direct ated that Jewish notions impacted the Aksumite EOC’s ‘Jewish elements’, like Sabbath observance and circumcision customs. 168 They were ‘monophysite’ Christians who might have been persecuted by the Byzantine church, a persecution led by Emperor Justin I the Elder (518– 527), following ‘the schism in Eastern Christendom over the two natures of Christ, as defined by the imperial Council of Chalcedon’ (Ephraim, EOTC, 21). 169 Phillipson, Ancient Churches, 31. See also Sergew, Ancient, 115–21; Munro-Hay, Alexandria and Ethiopia, 75–7. In addition to this, for a good analysis on ‘Syrian’ influence in Ethiopian culture, see Witakowski, ‘Syrian Influence’, 191–202. 170 Abba Libanos (‘Libanus’), known as Met’a ‘arrived before the Nine Saints’ (Ephraim, EOTC, 21. n. 17). During his trip to Aksum, Cosmas witnessed the spread of Christianity in the Aksumite kingdom (Cosmas, Topography, 55).

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involvement of the ‘Syrian’ Nine Saints in the translation of the Ethiopic Bible, their contribution, particularly in the growth of theological terms and Jewish/Aramaic loawords, can be considered—as discussed in the previous chapter.171 It is rightly asserted that these monks ‘were instrumental in shaping the monasticism and religious life of Ethiopia’ after 450 CE.172 Theologically, it is suggested that the Ethiopian Church remained a strong follower of non-Chalcedonian miaphysite tradition due to their influence.173 This establishes both 171 See Abba Gorgorious, የኢትዮጵያ

ኦርቶዶክስ, 24; Lanfranco Ricci, ‘Ethiopian Christian Literature’ in The Coptic Encyclopaedia, Vol. 3. Aziz S. Atiya (ed.) (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1991), 976. Mainly according to Witakowski, ‘Syrio-Ethiopian contacts were most intensive in the early history of Ethiopia. Moved by missionary spirit Syrians, who seem to be the more active side, spread the Christian faith in the country, shaped Monophysite character of the Ethiopian Church, participated in translating the Bible and religious literature, contributed to creating Christian vocabulary, established monastic centers, and built churches’ (Witakowski, ‘Syrian Influences’, 198), even though there remains a debate as to whether or not all the activities mentioned were accomplished by them. 172 Gillman and Klimkeit, Christianity in Asia, 61. Kobishchanov noted that ‘[e]vidently in the VI century A.D. the pagan temples of Axum, Adulis, and Yeha were converted (or rebuilt) into churches’ (Kobishchanov, Axum, 238). Although, regarding the ‘Syrian’ influence, Munro-Hay provided a most critical article on the Syrian ‘Nine Saints’ (Stuart Munro-Hay, ‘Saintly Shadows’, pp. 221–252). 173 Further comment is given below, but it is important to note here that the current EOC defines its Christological position as miaphysite and nonChalcedonian and vehemently condemns monophysitism—an important consideration which many scholars writing on the Ethiopian (as well as the Alexandrian Coptic) Church have failed to recognize, erroneously labeling the EOC as a ‘monophysite’ church (see the titile of Ullendorff’s article). The word ተዋሕዶ, täwaḥədo, meaning ‘fusion’ or, most importantly, ‘union’, describes the Christological position of the church, as it is expressed in the church’s official title የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ቤተክርስቲያን (Amh., ‘The Ethiopian Orthodox Täwaḥədo Church’). However, not all the nonChalcedonian miaphysites would agree with the term: some ‘brush it aside as an unnecessary vindication of their obvious claim to Orthodoxy’ (Diar-

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the Coptic and ‘Syrian’ heritage of Aksumite Christanity in this particular era.174

CONCLUSION The literary, historical and archaeological findings uncover, among other things, vital information regarding pre- and earliest postChristian Aksumite religious culture of the élites in the royal court. While vital evidence of indigenous, Greco-Roman and Sabbaen worship has been revealed, this earliest account fails to provide any substantiated confirmation of Judaic worship or the presence of Jews in Ethiopia. We have also been able to demonstrate that the use of the ‘Lord of Heaven’ does not necessarily indicate Jews/Judaism or Jewish Christianity. The traditional view on the foundation of Judaism in Ethiopian Christianity is also further thwarted through an analysis of the account of the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8. Despite the attention the text has received traditionally, there seems no strong argument to unequivocally attest to his Aksumite heritage. Through our discussion above we have established that the Aksumite Church was influenced by both Coptic and Syriac traditions. While the former exerted its influence from the outset, the latter was felt in the sixth century. Jewish-Christian elements such as the observance of the Sabbath were not known in the Aksumite Church, and this probably tangentially stems from the abolition of the Sabbath in the Coptic Church from the fourth to the sixth century. This maid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years (London: Penguin, 2012), 228; 227. Phillipson, in line with Grillmeier, assumes that the ‘starting point of Ethiopian Christology is preChalcedonian, not anti-Chalcedonian’ (Foundations, 104). It seems an attempt was made to bring the Aksumite church into Chalcedonian creeds; Timothy II Salofakiolos, a Chalcedonian patriarch of Alexandria (460–475 and 477–482) consecrated Thomas as bishop of Ethiopia (Sergew, Ancient, 110). Witakowski comments that the ‘efforts were not successful, perhaps due to the activities of “Monophysite” monks who may have fled there from Roman Empire’, i.e., groups like the ‘Nine Saints’ (Witold Witakowski, ‘Chalcedon, Council of’ in EA Vol. 1, 710. 174 See Chapter 2.

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fact argues against any attempts to connect the Aksumite Church with ‘Jewish Christianity’ during its establishment. The earliest Aksumite church was thus not ‘Judaic’ in any form. This is corroborated by the earliest examples of Ethiopic literature, such as the Dəggʷa and 4 Ezra, which demonstrate that the idea of the Ark of the Covenant coming to Aksum was foreign to the earliest tradition of the Ethiopian church. The reflections in this chapter, therefore, lead us to conclude that, at least before the sixth century, there was no material, literary, or historical evidence to suggest the formation of a Jewish or ‘Judaeo-Christian’ heritage in Aksum. All these discussions, however, indicate the need to further query the sociopolitical situation in and after the sixth century in order to offer an assessment of the Jewish-Aksumite relationship that shaped, probably more than any other factor, the Aksumite ‘Judaic’ culture and politics after the sixth century CE. This is discussed in Chapter 4.

CHAPTER 4. FROM THE BIBLE IN AKSUM TO THE ‘TABOT’ (‘ARK’) IN LALIBELA: TRACING ‘ISRAELITE’ ETHOS AND ‘JUDAIC’ CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE 6TH CENTURY CE Compared to the dearth of evidence for the presence and influence of Judaism in Aksum before the wide-scale introduction of Christianity in the fourth century, substantial information for some ‘Judaic’ cultural expressions emerges in Aksum following the sixth-century activities of nəguś Ǝlla Aṣbəḥa (Kaleb). Moreover, in addition to the introduction of Copto-‘Syriac’ Christian traditions through teachings and missionary contacts, the Ethiopian tradition also affirms that, before the end of the first millennium, there had been an uprising of the alleged ‘Jewish’ community led by a queen named Yodith against Christian Aksum.1 Non-Ethiopian sources also report the devastation of the kingdom by a queen named Bani al–Hamwiyah and present the Zagʷe kings as being of Israelite descent. These and other subsequent developments raise several questions that need to be carefully addressed by analysing both the literary and historical evidence. Were there any groups who were bearers of ‘Judaic’ culture in Aksum after the sixth century? If so, what roles did they play in boosting and re-shaping Aksumite culture? These queries will perhaps shed light on the demographic strata of the Aksumite kingdom 1 Sergew, Ancient, 255–232.

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in the second half of the first millennium and on the possible origins of ‘Jewish’ elements in Ethiopia. Small but significant evidence is available to indicate the development of Judaic identity in the EOC up to the emergence of the ‘Solomonic’ kings some six centuries later. I will therefore examine the earliest Ethiopic literature to further address the question of the development of ‘Judaic’ identity in the earliest history of the church to the thirteenth century CE.

FINDING JEWS IN COSMOPOLITAN AKSUM: THE RELIGIOPOLITICAL SITUATION IN AND AFTER THE 6TH CENTURY CE Evidence discovered from the first half of the sixth century reveals that, as in earlier centuries, Aksum seems to have remained a cosmopolitan city. It appears that ‘from the start, the kings and bishops encouraged the advent and settlement of Christian missionaries.’2 The arrival of the missionaries from Byzantium and beyond, and also probably from Egypt, had importance not only theologically but also as an event which seems to have added to the diverse culture of the cosmopolitan city of Aksum. As noted above, there were also resistant non-Christian, ‘pagan’ communities in Aksum and its environs. Pre-Christian ‘pagan’ influence was resilient in the face of the strong challenge posed by the missionary activities of the church. Hagiographical traditions report that the Ṣadqan and some of the ‘Nine Saints’ were confronted with considerable opposition,3 showing the long process by which the established ‘pagan’ societies and Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 30. Egyptian monks, like Abbunä Gäbrä Mänfäs qəddus, might also have engaged in missionary work; Gäbrä Mänfäs qəddus is assumed to have evangelised Shoa and, as pilgrimage to the monastery at Zəqʷala shows, is a highly revered saint of the EOC. See an edition of his gädl in ‘Vita Omelia Miracoli’ del Santo Gabra Manfas Qeddus. Paolo Marrassini (ed. and tr.) (Lovanii: 2003). 3 For example, see Gädlä Ṣadqan and Gädlä Arägawi. Despite the Aksumite state effort to strengthen the church, there was resistance, as the tone used even by ᶜEzana in his earliest non-pagan inscription seems to suggest that ‘strong local sentiments forced the king to be very cautious in his enthusiasm towards the new religion’ (Taddesse, ‘Pagan Resistance’, 137; cf. E. Cerulli, Letteratura, 20–21). 2

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the new Orthodox Christian community negotiated Aksum’s religious space. Aksumite tolerance towards versions of Christianity other than the miaphysite Orthodox tradition seems to have created a more diverse religious context in Aksum. Cosmas Indicopleustes, who visited Aksum during the time of nəguś Kaleb, claimed to have met with Diophysites or Nestorians.4 This suggests that, irrespective of their primary allegiance to the non-Chalcedonian creed via the missionaries and despite the establishment of the Miaphysite Church as the official religion in the kingdom, the Aksumites were tolerant of other strands of Christianity.5 Surpassing theological divisions, there were more contacts than would be anticipated with the Byzantine Empire. This is established in an account in the Martyrium of Arethas, which recounts the content of the letter of Emperor Justin I (518–527) written to Patriarch Timothy III (517–535), requesting him to use his influence with the Aksumite king—although an opponent in Christological terms—to persuade him to intervene and help the beleaguered Christians of Ḥimyar.6 There is also evidence of a robust political and ecumenical relationship, which indicates that the Aksumite Church retained strong ties with the Roman world despite Christological differences. This led Getatchew Haile, in his reflection on the Ethiopic Acts of St Mark, to assume that the Aksumites could have been adherents of Chalcedonian tradition because ‘an anti-Chalcedonian Church would not have admired the religion of the “Romans.”’7 But, I think as Munro-Hay rightly emphasised, there should not be any doubt Cosmas, Topography, 55. There were exceptional incidents to such general claims; for example, an Egyptian Melikite who arrived in Aksum to assume a metropolitan see in an attempt to usurp the theological view was burnt and put to death (quoted in Munro-Hay, Alexandria and Ethiopia, 91–92). 6 Munro-Hay, Alexandria and Ethiopia, 79; the Ethiopian tradition agrees with this but with some additional details; see The Book of Saints Vol. 1(London, 1928); 289; The Martyrs of Najrân. 7 Quoted in Munro-Hay, Alexandria and Ethiopia, 22; the book positively mentions the ‘[Christian] religion of the Romans.’ 4 5

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about the non-Chalcedonian stance of Kaleb and the ‘Nine Saints’; Munro-Hay thus rightly surmises that the Aksumite relationship with Chalcedonian Christians ‘does not in any way indicate that the Ethiopians themselves must have been Chalcedonian in belief. Politics and commercial considerations transcended the religious question.’8 The Aksumite-Ḥimyarite Jewish Relationship The Aksumite war against the South Arabian Ḥimyarite Jewish kingdom was a major development of the sixth century CE.9 Not very long after the visit of Cosmas, nəguś Ǝlla Aṣbəḥa (Kaleb), led by his general, Abrəha, waged a decisive war against the Ḥimyarite Jews in Yemen, who were led by Yosef As’ar Yaṯẖ’ar (also known as ፊንሐስ, Yȗsuf As’ar Yaṯẖ’ar, Ḏhū-Nuwās, Zur‘a ibn-Zayd, pejoratively as ‘Masrûq’) to relieve the beleaguered Christians of Naǧrān.10 Questions involving his 8

Ibid., 84; 22–23. They were likely also ambivalent to the Christological difference at this period. 9 For a summary of bibliographies on numerous documents related to the Arabian war of Aksum, see The Martyrs of Najrân, p. 277. The JewishChristian relationship and the place of Jews/Judaism in Arabia has received attention in many studies; see Christian Julien Robin, ‘Le Judaïsme de Ḥimyar’, in Arabia 1 (2003), pp. 97–172; Christian-Julien Robin, ‘Ḥimyar et Israel’, in Académie des Inscriptions & Belles-Letters: Comptes rendus des séances de l’anné (2000), pp. 831–908; also, Glen Warren Bowersock, The Throne of Adulis: Red Sea Wars on the Eve of Islam (Oxford; Oxford University Press, 2013). 10 It must be noted that there is a possibility that the expedition was motivated more by trade and political interests than religion, or at least that they were parallel concerns. Since Aksum was under threat as a kingdom because of decline in trade, any disruption by hostile powers in the area could have been very significant. See Ralph Lee, ‘The Conversion of King Caleb and the Religious and Political Dynamics of Sixth-Century Ethiopia and Southern Arabia’, in Peter Sarris, et al. (eds) An Age of Saints? Power, Conflict and Dissent in Early Medieval Christianity (Leiden: Brill, 2011), pp. 77–88; Christian Robin, ‘La première intervention abyssine en Arabie Méridionale (de 200 à270 de l’èe chrétienne environ)’, in Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, University of Addis Ababa

4. FROM THE BIBLE IN AKSUM TO THE ARK IN LALIBELA 143 alleged religious conviction before his war against the Ḥimyarite Jews may also be raised. According to a document written by John Malalas,11 repeated virtually verbatim by John of Ephesus (preserved in an extract in pseudo-Dionysius), the king of Aksum was, before this war, reportedly a pagan, not a Christian.12 The story asserts that King Aidog13 of Interior India (Aksum) waged a war against Dimon, king of the Ḥimyarites, for the latter had executed Roman Christian traders in his territory. If victorious, he vowed to become a Christian: Enmity arose between them and war broke out. When they were gathered ready for battle, Aidog, king of Ethiopians, declared “If it is granted to me that I conquer this bandit, the king of Himyarites, I shall become a Christian; it is the Christian blood that he has shed that I want to avenge.... Soon after this victory, he did not delay in fulfilling his vow, [...] emperor Julian [i.e. Justin?...] sent him bishops and priests... [And the king] instructed in the holy catechesis, received baptism, and became a Christian, together with all the nobles of the kingdom.14 1984, Vol II, Taddesse Beyene (ed.) (Addis Ababa: IES, 1989), pp. 147–162. Regarding the introduction of Christianity to South Arabia, a scholar opines that ‘there is no convincing evidence that true Christianity existed in South Arabia before the sixth century. It was not until the Abyssinians conquered the country in 525 A.D. that this religion was “imposed” on the people’ (Klaus Schippmann, Ancient South Arabia, From the Queen of Sheba to the Advent of Islam, trans. Allison Brown (Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2001), 94. But there must have been Christians whom Yosef persecuted before Kaleb’s expedition (see The Martyrs of Najrân); see also a study on an Ethiopic text regarding Azqir by A. F. L. Beeston, ‘The Martyrdom of Azqir’, in Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, Vol 15, Proceedings of the Eighteenth Seminar for Arabian Studies held at Cambridge on 17th – 19th July 1984 (1985), pp. 5–10; Witold Witakowski, ‘Azqir: Gädlä Azqir’ in EA Vol. 1, pp. 421–422. 11 John Malalas, Oriental Sources Concerning Nubia. G. Vantini (tr.) (Heidelberg and Warsow: 1975), 5–6. 12 Quoted in Munro-Hay, Alexandria and Ethiopia, 85. 13 John Malalas refers to him as King Andas. 14 Munro-Hay, Alexandria and Ethiopia, 85.

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However, the prominent Byzantine scholar Irfan Shahîd has significantly shed doubt on the historicity of such a claim. On the basis that the war between Kaleb and the Jewish kingdom of South Arabia (Ḥimyar) is well documented, Shahîd understands the tale of the conversion of the nəguś to Christianity from paganism to be an addition made by copyists to the texts related to Ḥimyar.15 The war and related events in the context of the sixth century are also mentioned in the Kəbrä Nägäśt.16 I. Shahîd, ‘Byzantium in South Arabia’, in Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 33 (1979), 43; and p.43 n.51, p.64; also discussed by Munro-Hay, Alexandria and Ethiopia, 84. See also Moberg, Himyarites, p. cxxxvii for Christian faith of Aksumites before the war. See also some interesting discussion in The Martyrs of Najrân, 252–260. In fact, the Aksumite garrison in Ẓafār (in Ḥimyar), who were Christians, had been prime victims of Jewish appraisals, and their martyrdom is discussed. 16 The Kəbrä Nägäśt is problematic in many ways, and scholars’ diverse opinions make comments on this book likely precarious. The most important analytical and an in-depth study is made by Hubbard, who has noted numerous sources in the book: biblical, rabbinical, apocryphal, patristic. More importantly, he has extensively discussed the Sheba-Menelik cycle (Hubbard, ‘Kebra Nagast’, 357). Whether it is a translation or not is contested. The book, in its colophon, claims that it is a translation from Coptic sources via Arabic. This is echoed in some monographs, like that of Hasting, who asserted that the present form of the Kəbrä Nägäśt is translated ‘from Arabic dates from the fourteenth century’; and he adds, ‘it seems most probable that the substantial core of the Kebra Nagast […] was originally composed in Coptic to glorify the Ethiopian monarchy of the period as heir of Solomon, superior in authority to the emperors of Byzantium and destined protector for the whole Monophysite world’ (Hasting, The Church in Africa, 12); others doubt this and advocate for a case of local composition of the book. See Marrassini, ‘Kəbrä Nägäśt’, 367; Marrassini asserts that ‘whether the Coptic texts drives from Ethiopic or vice versa, or whether they depend on a common source […], is exactly the core problem’ (Marrassini, ‘Kəbrä Nägäśt’, 367; also p. 367); see also a very strong critique against the reliability of the book in Stuart Munro-Hay, ‘A Sixth Century Kebra Nagast?’ in Annales deÉthiopie XVII (2001), 43–58. However, for an important analysis on the possibility of a sixth-century Kəbrä Nägäśt, see 15

4. FROM THE BIBLE IN AKSUM TO THE ARK IN LALIBELA 145 Subsequent events related to the story following the war against the Ḥimyarite Jews are fascinating. This military expedition to Arabia had significant impact on the future of Aksum’s economic power and on Aksumite-Jewish relations.17 In relation to this last factor in Irfan Shahîd, ‘The Kebra Nagast in the light of Recent Research’, in Le Muséon, 89 (1976); among other discussions, he noted the relationship between the Kəbrä Nägäśt and the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodios (of northern Mesopotamian origin) (ibid., 172–178). See also D. W. Johnson, ‘Dating the Kebra Nagast. Another Look’, in T. S. Miller and J. Nesbitt (eds.) Peace and War in Byzantium (Washington D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1995), 197–208. Despite its claim for the Solomonic/Israelite descent of the Ethiopian kings, it is basically filled with anti-Jewish sentiments, which probably highlights the sixth-century context (pp. 205–206; The Queen of Sheba and her only son Meneyelek (I), 17); (Ralph Lee, ‘Symbolic interpretations in Ethiopic and Ephremic Literature.’ PhD thesis, SOAS, 2011, pp. 66–67. 59–72). See a recent book by Gizachew Teruneh,The Rise and Fall of Solomnic Dynasty of Ethiopia (Los Angeles, CA: Tsehai Publishers, 2015), for a sixth-century claim. The author also takes all the claims of the Kəbrä Nägäśt seriously, particularly the book’s claim that the Ethiopian dynasty is Solomonic via Aksumite, which cannot be substantiated by hsitorical and literary evidence. Ralph Lee offers a refutation of MunroHay’s reasons to assume that the Kəbrä Nägäśt is a thirteenth-century production. However, I argue that even though some of the materials used in the compilation process of the Kəbrä Nägäśt came from the sixth century, the final form of the book as we have it today was completed not earlier than the thirteenth century. Some of the Kəbrä Nägäśt’s claims are discussed in Chapter 5. 17 Sergew highlights the war and its aftermath (Sergew, Ancient, 145–158). Beyond the factor of economic and military challenge for the Aksumite kingdom, the effect of Kaleb’s war against the Ḥimyarites seems farreaching: the presence of some Jews who might have possibly been taken to Aksum after his victory is noted below. Kaleb also assigned Abrəha as tributary ruler of South Arabia; he later defected, and war broke out between him and Kaleb. For accounts of the war between Abrəha and Kaleb, see Sidney Smith, ‘Events in Arabia in the 6th century’ in BSOAS 16 (1954), 425–68. Although Abrəha remained a tributary of the Aksumite king while maintaining full control over Arabia and shaping its history in the sixth century, his deeds were likely a factor in the demise of the Aksumite King-

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particular, nəguś Ǝlla Aṣbəḥa’s adoption of the name ካሌብ/Kaleb (the Ethiopic form of the Hebrew ‫כָּלֵ ב‬/Kalev; Caleb) most likely makes him the first Ethiopian king to adopt an Old Testament appellation as his regnal name.18 Although Caleb was probably not considered messianic (as compared to persons with names like ‘Moses’, ‘Joshua’, and ‘David’), the name alludes to the warrior who fought alongside Moses and Joshua against the enemies of Israel and spearheaded the expansion of the ‘promised land.’ Ethiopian tradition affirms that Kaleb was succeeded by his ‘sons’, Gäbrä Mäsqäl19 and Ǝsra’el (Betä Ǝsra’el),20 whose names signify God’s activities in both dom in a century to come and also might have been an important agent for the shift in the power balance of Aksumite rule towards the other part of the Red Sea. Abrəha’s economic reform in Arabia through the construction of a massive dam (which was later destroyed, as alluded to in the Quran, Surah 34:45) and his subsequent expedition to Mecca to destroy the Ka’aba (alluded to in Sura 105:1–5) were significant in shaping Arabian history of the sixth century. See Richard LeBaron Bowen and Frank P. Albright, Archaeological Discoveries in South Arabia (Baltimore, 1958), 74; M. J. Kister, ‘The Campaign of Huluban, A New Light on the Expedition of Abraha’ in Le Muséon 78 (1965), 426– 427. 18 In addition to Kaleb (r. first half of sixth century CE), as numismatic evidence shows, there were kings named after Old Testament personalities: Ǝsra’el (Israel, mid-sixth century CE), Ioel (Joel?, in mid-to-late sixth century) See Munro-Hay, ‘Aksumite Coinage’ in African Zion, 112–115; C. Conti Rossini, ‘Les listes des rois d’Aksoum’ in Journal Asiatique (1909). Successive kings of Aksum after the seventh century CE mentioned in a study are Ioel, Armah, Dagnajan, Dagajan also called Gidajan, Gudit and/or Esato, Anbesa Wudem, and Dil Na’od; quoted in Munro-Hay, Aksum, 89. There are also many other Old Testament names given to Christians found in inscriptions (see DAE for names like Dawit; see inscriptions such as Inscr 19; Michael, Inscr 23; Semeon, Inscr 93). 19 The final king mentioned in the Kəbrä Nägäśt’s list is Gäbrä Mäsqäl (The Queen of Sheba and her only son Meneyelek (I), 226–7). 20 It appears that Kaleb had three sons, the other being Gäbrä Krəstos (Sergew, Ancient, 161). In the Kəbrä Nägäśt, Israel was appointed as king of Naǧrān (ibid., 226); but inscriptions attest that Abrəha, probably one of the generals, was appointed as vassal king of the Aksumite king. Although the

4. FROM THE BIBLE IN AKSUM TO THE ARK IN LALIBELA 147 the Old and the New Testament: Gäbrä Mäsqäl recalls the work of the cross, and Betä Ǝsra’el literally means ‘the house of Israel’, with the implication of ‘a divinely chosen race.’ An additional development which deserves note here is the inscription found in Aksum on the entrance to the tomb of nəguś Gäbrä Mäsqäl (son of Kaleb), which reads: ‘አነ ይሁዳ ገበርኩ / I, Yehuda, made [it]’; this probably indicates that the (main) builder of the royal tomb was a Christian Jew.21 The person can also represent a new Aksumite interest in Jewish appellation, as also in the case of Kaleb. In both cases—whether the person was a Jew or Aksumite— what one can rightly conclude is that Jewish elements had already been introduced at Aksum in the sixth century. One can also rightly argue that the Aksumite victory may have precipitated a migration of Jews to Aksum. It is suggested that some Jews who were held captive during the war of Ǝlla Aṣbəḥa (Kaleb) against the Ḥimyarites might have settled in the northern part of Ethiopia.22 This is also supported by the claim that Kaleb ‘carries away back to Ethiopia fifty princes of Royal Ḥimyarite family as captives’.23 In line with this, Kobischanov also asserts that the presence of a Jewish community in Aksum should be understood in relation to the incursion of Jews to Aksum after the war.24 I assume that after the war, there was probably an influx of Jews at Aksum who willingly crossed the Red Sea and settled at Aksum Ethiopian sources relate that (Betä) Ǝsra’el was the son of nəguś Kaleb, he ‘seems too far removed from [Kaleb] from numismatic point-of-view’ (Munro-Hay, Aksum, 9, 13); see also, Getatchew, ‘A New Look’, 318–321. 21 DAE, Vol. IV, p. 51. (Inscription 12). Littmann assumed that Yehuda was a Christian; he noted that it was problematic to consider him a Jew as it was hardly probable that a Jew was hired to build the tomb of the Christian king. Kobischanov has quoted the inscription as bearing the term ‘Yehudi, a Jew’, which seems a misreading (Kobischanov, Axum, 234). It can be further suggested that the person was likely a Ḥimyarite Jew, or a Jewish convert to Christianity. 22 Halévy in Kobishchanov, Axsum, 234. 23 Quoted in Shahîd, ‘Kebra Nagast’, 155. 24 Kobishchanov, Axsum, 150–158

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and its environs; this might have continued throughout the Aksumite rule of Abrəha in South Arabia up to the Persians’ defeat of the Aksumite army,25 probably led by Abrəha’s son, Masruk;26 this probably also further augmented the influx into Aksum. This shows that it is most likely that the presence of Jews in Aksum must have been a two-way cultural exchange between the community and the Aksumites, a factor in the development of Jewish cultural elements in the land. In light of the political dominance of Aksum on both shores of the Red Sea, particularly in the sixth century, the presence of foreign merchants, including Jews, is to be expected in Aksum and other towns along the trade routes that connected the capital to the Red Sea port city of Adulis.27 Phillipson also rightly observes that it was probably during the sixth century that ‘feelings of Judaic affinity became firmly established and that Ethiopian Christianity came to emphasise many of the Judaic aspects that it has retained ever since and which have attracted attention from a wide range of commenta-

25

Before the end of the sixth century, the Persians completely eliminated Aksumite supremacy in Arabia (see E.G. Browne, A Literary History of Persia Vol. 1 (London: 1902), 179–180). 26 Arabic sources and inscriptions show that Abrəha was succeeded by his son Yaksum, who was succeeded by his half-brother Masruk (Sergew, Ancient, 152). 27 The cosmopolitan nature and religious tolerance of the Aksumites may have created a favourable situation in Aksum in attracting others (Jews, as shown below, and also the earliest Arab Muslims). The fact that Mohammad sent his relatives to Arabia within a century after Kaleb’s expedition can be taken as evidence; after facing fierce opposition at Arabia in his first mission, Mohammad found it safe to send some of his followers and his relatives to Aksum, a two-group immigration known as Hijarat that comprised more than a hundred people. It is reported that a king of Aksum, ‘najashi,’ treated them well and gave them protection; it is also reported that Mohammad mourned when he heard of this king’s death. See Alfred Guillaume, Islam (London: Penguin Books, 1990); Trimingham, Islam in Ethiopia, 44; Rafiq Zakaria, Muhammad and The Quran (New Delhi: Penguin Books, 1991), 403–4.

4. FROM THE BIBLE IN AKSUM TO THE ARK IN LALIBELA 149 tors.’28 This is a significant observation that sheds important light on the process of unravelling the context in which the EOC’s ‘Judaic’ elements were formed. Thus the movement of people during and after the sixth century, as well as military expeditions, trade links across the Red Sea, and robust relationships between South Arabians and the Aksumite state all contributed to the continued existence and growth of a Jewish presence in the city of Aksum, eventually likely forming a Jewish colony in the Aksumite kingdom. The community strengthened its presence through intermarriage with the local people, which later lead to the development of a distinct Ethiopian Judaic community; this probably offers insight into the antecedents of the Ethiopian Jews, the Betä Ǝsra’el.29 The Jewish-Aksumite relationship is also suggested from the name of later Aksumite king Ǝsra’el. In an attempt to redefine the chronology of the reign of some Aksumite kings, Getatchew Haile posited the relationship between Ǝsra’el (or Betä Ǝsra’el, nəguś Kaleb’s ‘son’) and the Betä Ǝsra’el community.30 He developed his analysis along the lines of an alleged rivalry between the two heirs of Kaleb, which led to the separation of Jews from the Aksumite Christian community. According to this theory, Betä Ǝsra’el later became a leader of the dissident Jews. He assumes that the Kəbrä Nägäśt served as a polemical tool against these Jews. In line with this, Kaplan notes: The appearance of his name (the designation used by the Falasha to refer to themselves) in precisely the period […] suggested that 28 Phillipson, Foundations, 102. He added, ‘This is not to preclude the possibil-

ity that some elements now described as ‘Judaic’, such as dietary practices, may be of considerably greater antiquity in the northern Horn’ (ibid., n. 54). 29 Halévy in Kobishchanov, Axsum, 234. The case of the Ethiopian Jew Eldad Ha Dani is discussed below. 30 See Getatchew, ‘A New Look’, 311–322. However, it is also noted above that the reign of Ǝsra’el ‘seems too far removed from [Kaleb] from numismatic point-of-view’ (Munro-Hay, Aksum, 9, 13), but not later than the late seventh century.

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JEWISH CULTURAL ELEMENTS the Aksumite Jews ‘were separated’31 is truly a remarkable coincidence and may be much more than that. The departure of the Aksumite Jews (should we already say Beta Israel?) may have been provoked by a combination of religious and political rivalry. The growing animosity between Judaism and Christianity in the kingdom might possibly have also been expressed in the struggle of rival political leaders for the throne. Beta Israel, the defeated head of the Judaised group, would than [sic] have departed with his followers to a less hospitable region such as the Semien.32

This not only suggests further development of tension between Jews and Christians in the Aksumite era at the national level, but also points both to increasing political weakness in Aksum and the diversity of the Aksumite kingdom in terms of religion and social structure. Towards the ‘Ark of the Covenant’ Other possible effects of the movement of people and the development of ‘Judaic’ cultural elements may also be noted. In relation to Kaleb’s war against South Arabia, one can observe the interplay of two unrelated stories (from two literary sources): a mention of the Ark as related to Aksum-South Arabia and the story of the Ark of the Covenant as narrated by the Kəbrä Nägäśt. The first story is related to the Ḥimyarite Jews and supplies the first and earliest mention of the Ark of the Covenant in relation to the sixth-century larger 31 The Ethiopic book that tries to

outline the chronology of Ethiopian kings, Tarikä Nägäśt (‘History of Kings’), a late mediaeval period production, mentions the time ‘Bäzəya täläyé Fälasha’/‘at this point the Falasha were separated’, which Kaplan assumes to be an earliest Aksumite period (Kaplan, Beta Israel (Falasha), 39). 32 Ibid. The Ethiopian Jews used to dominate the area known as Semein, a place where, interestingly, Cosmas mentioned: ‘As for Semenai […] the King of the Axomites expatriates anyone whom he has sentenced to be banished’ (Cosmas, Topography, 144–5). The region is located in the northwestern part of proper Ethiopia.

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Aksumite context. It is reported that the Ḥimyarite Jewish ruler, Yosef, forced to compromise in the face of a strong Christian army, swore to make peace with the Naǧrān Christians by ‘Torah’ and the ‘Ark of the Covenant.’ The story narrates that this ruler sent three army commanders to the city of Naǧrān to fight the Naǧrānite Christians. When these commanders were defeated, Yosef himself came with a stronger army, but he saw that the city was not easily reduced by war and he sent Jewish priests from ṬYBRYÂ , bearing the Torah of Moses and a letter of oaths with the seal of this Jewish king; and he swore to them by the Torah, the Tablets of Moses, the Ark, and by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that no harm would befall them if they surrendered the city willingly and came out to him.33

In light of the fact that the Old Testament books were already in use among the Christians in the city of Naǧrān as well as in Ẓafār among the Aksumites, they no doubt knew stories about the powerful Ark of the Covenant.34 It is thus convincing to assume that the reference to the Ark was meant to offer a strong guarantee for the peace treaty. The place of the ‘tablets of Moses, the Ark’ might also indicate pompous propaganda to convince the Christians of Naǧrān that the Ḥimyarite ruler had strong trust in the powerful icon. In relation to the reference to the Ark of the Covenant in this narrative, Shahîd understands the epithet of Masruq35 (meaning either ‘stolen’ or ‘robbed’) as the designation by which Yosef was known to Naǧrān Christians. Advocating the ‘stolen’ option, he assumes that ‘it could be a retort to a Jewish jeer that what the Ethiopians prize as the Holy of their Holies, namely the Ark of the Covenant in Aksum, was by their own admission only a thing “stolen” from Jerusalem.’36 The Martyrs of Najrân, 45. Cf. 1 Samuel 5. 35 The king is presented as Masrūq in Moberg, Himyarites. 36 Shahîd, ‘Kebra Nagast’, 150. He saw the implication of ‘robbed’ in light of Jewish Messianism in Deutero-Isaiah (cf. Isa. 42:22–23) (ibid., 148–150). 33

34

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However, I think that this point would only be valid if the Ark of the Covenant was in Aksum before the sixth century, which is unlikely.37 I suggest that it is more plausible to argue that ‘Masruq’ meant ‘robbed’ and was taken as a response to a ‘Jewish jeer’ that the Aksumites plundered the Ark of the Covenant (or an object that represented it) and took it to Aksum. Strengthening this reading is the possible settlement of Ḥimyarite Jews in Aksum38 as a result of the military action and the possibility that they took their religious artefacts with them, including an object known to them as the Ark. The second story is that of the Kəbrä Nägäśt. It is notable that before its final colophon, the book concludes by recounting events in the sixth century.39 Not only does it narrate the Aksumite custodianship of the Ark of the Covenant, but the last Aksumite kings mentioned in the Kəbrä Nägäśt are of the sixth century: Kaleb and his son Gäbrä Mäsqäl. It further mentions both Kaleb’s war and victory against the ‘King of NÂGRÂN’ as well as his abdication of the throne to his son Gäbrä Mäsqäl.40 The compiler of the Kəbrä Nägäśt in the fourteenth century must have included earlier sources (whether written or oral form) that vividly retained the memory of the sixth century,41 emphasising the prestige of Aksum as the destination of 37 Cf. Munro-Hay, ‘Sixth Century Kebra

Nagast?’, 52. This process was probably even more intensified following the defeat of the army of Masruk, son of Abrəha, by the Persian army and the Jewish trek to Aksum. This might also have implications for when, before the end of sixth century, the Persians completely eliminated the Aksumite supremacy in Arabia (see E.G. Browne, A Literary History of Persia Vol. 1 (London: 1902) 179–180). 39 The Queen of Sheba and her only son Meneyelek (I), 267; Marrassini, ‘Kəbrä Nägäst’, 365. This is a point of interest for Shahîd, who discussed the book in a sixth-century context (Shahîd, ‘Kebra Nagast’). Among other important discussions, he noted the relationship between the Kəbrä Nägäśt and events of the sixth century, as well as the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodios (of northern Mesopotamian origin) (ibid., 157–157–172; 172–178); also Johnson, ‘Kebra Nagast’, 197–208. 40 The Queen of Sheba and her only son Meneyelek (I), 226–7. 41 The original sources for the compilation of the Kəbrä Nägäśt might relate to an oral or written tradition of the sixth century that corresponded to the 38

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the most revered relic of the Jews; this then served as polemical rhetoric that Aksum, a Christian nation and co-religionists, had a divinely elected king. This underscores the Kəbrä Nägäśt’s portrayal of the holy object (which is an essential requirement in the worship of God in that it conveys a representation of the presence of God)42 that departed to Aksum. It is supposed that these two stories are related by common themes, particularly that of the ‘Ark’, and that they might have affected the history of the nation through the twelfth century and beyond. Moreover, it is when we consider the sixth-century JewishAksumite scenario that we find an interesting picture of cultural development in connection to the Ark of the Covenant. As has been time of Gäbrä Mäsqäl (cf. Shahîd, ‘Kebra Nagast’, 145). The final chapter of the book claims that ‘then the kingdom of the JEWS shall be made an end of and the Kingdom of CHRIST shall be constituted until the advent of the False Messiah,’ which also provides an important point regarding the polemical purpose of the book against a non-Christian ruler. (It is not clear whether ‘the False Messiah’ mentioned is a reference to the founder of Islam or Yosef/Yȗsuf). In this chapter and the next, I discuss how the Kəbrä Nägäśt served as a piece of political propaganda (among other main purposes). The introduction of Christianity to Aksum and the name of ᶜEzana and events after the sixth century are absent from the book; no doubt the compiler of the Kəbrä Nägäśt must have had access to numerous sources coming in written or oral forms from the sixth century and must have composed the work in Gə‘əz in the early fourteenth century. Despite further complication, it seems right to assume that, in contrast to any other previous views, important primary sources for the compilation of the Kəbrä Nägäśt had been produced not in Egypt but in southern Arabia or Byzantium by a Ḥimyarite Christian(s) who must have lived under the lingering memory of the victory and glory of Ǝlla Aṣbəḥa (and his successor Gäbrä Mäsqäl); it was afterwards, probably passing through complex transmission phases, that the sources finally reached monasteries in Egypt and Ethiopia. 41 Shahîd discusses the importance of the mythical developments of the sixth to tenth centuries for the formation of Jewish-related legends in Ethiopia (‘Kebra Nagast’, 137–145). 42 The Queen of Sheba and her only son Meneyelek (I), 13, 195–197.

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discussed above, a significant number of Jews likely arrived in Aksum soon after the war of Kaleb against Arabia. It can further be inferred that the Jewish community in Aksum most probably brought with them a religious artefact identified by them as the Ark of the Covenant. On a related issue, is important to note here that the story of Ethiopian custodianship of the ‘Ark of the Covenant’ surfaced again a few centuries later in a non-Ethiopian source,43 probably prethirteenth century related to the Zagʷe era. What I surmise here is that though nothing seems to be known as to whether the pre-thirteenth century reference to the Ark had any relation to one or both of the stories from the sixth century, subsequent developments show a remarkable evolution of the tabot tradition in Ethiopia. To highlight the development, here I refer tangentially to the Coptic Christian concept of a sacramental ‘Covenant Box’44, which almost resembles the EOC’s tabot/ ṣəlat tradition.45 43

In the thirteenth century, a writer named ‘Abū Ṣāliḥ’, although he had never been to Ethiopia, reported that the Ark of the Covenant was among the Zagʷe’s (this is probably not earlier than twelfth century; for important comments on him, see Chapter 1). 44 The tabot/ṣəlat is not unknown among the Copts and was also probably existent among Aksumites beginning from the fourth century; the Coptic Church has a tradition of consecrating a ‘Covenant Box’, or Ark, shaped approximately like a cube. Known in Arabic as ‘Maḍbaḥ’, these are similar to the tabot/ṣəlat, which might have been introduced to Aksum along with the sacraments. For a detailed discussion on the altar among the Coptic Orthodox Church, see Youhanna Nessim Youssef, ‘The Ark/Tabernacle/Throne/Chalice-stand in the Coptic Church (revisited)’, in Ancient and Near East Studies 48 (2011), 251–259; E.L. Butcher, The Ancient Coptic Churches of Egypt Vol. 2 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1884), 1–36. See Appendix C, fig. 2 and 3; this tradition in the Latin West is also known as ‘mensa’ (or ‘Sancta Mensa’) and as ‘Hagia Trapeza’ among the Greek Orthodox; these, too, can be compared to a similar teaching of the EOC on tabot and ṣəlat, in which Senodos advises the consecration of a holy altar/table for the preparation of the Eucharist (see Chapter 5). This is also implicated in the Kəbrä Nägäśt at least two times, where the ‘Ark of the Church’ is differentiated from the Ark (The Queen of Sheba and her only son Meneyelek (I), 189, 195; cf. Lee, ‘Symbolic’, 201).

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What I can tentatively suggest is that the two intertwined stories (related to the sixth century) served as the basis of tabot-centred worship in the EOC. This could possibly explain how the distinction was made between the main tabot (the relic from Ḥimyar that has now become the EOC’s Ark of the Covenant, perhaps known as tabotä Ṣion, claimed to be preserved at Aksum) and its ‘replica’ tabot/ṣəlat (which must be available in each parish), a tradition exhaustively developed through the creative genius of religio-political-oriented reflections in and after the sixth century.46 It was only during the Amharan ‘Solomonic’ era that the ‘Ark of the Covenant’, now tabotä Ṣion, ensconced in the Maryam Ṣəyon Church in Aksum, was supported by a new myth discovered in the Kəbrä Nägäśt claiming that the Ark had been purloined from not Ḥimyar but the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem I assert that the EOC’s ‘Judaic’ cultural element related to the Ark of the Covenant probably emerged primarily between the sixth and thirteenth centuries—although the first half of the sixth century is most likely—and derived (mainly and first loosely) from a Coptic tradition and was later developed through the idea of the ‘Ark’ which was confiscated from the Ḥimyarites. Even though this is From EOC’s side, see Richard Pankhurst, ‘Some brief notes on the Ethiopian Tabot and Manbara Tabot’, in Quaderni di Studi Etiopici 8 (9) 1987–8, 28–32; interestingly, tabot is derived from the Egyptian term, db3t (tabot) (Leslau, Dictionary, 570). 45 The difference between the Ark of the Covenant (tabot) and the ‘replicas’ (also known as tabot and more specifically ṣəlat; kept in each local church) should be carefully noted. I hold the view that tabot/ṣəlat is a tradition well known at Aksum from an earlier time—at least the sixth century—due to the influence of the Coptic Church. 46 The tabot and tabot/ṣəlat distinction also seems to be implicated in the Kəbrä Nägäśt at least two times, where the ‘Ark of the Church’ is differentiated from the Ark (The Queen of Sheba and her only son Meneyelek (I), 189, 195; cf. Lee, ‘Symbolic’, 201). From EOC’s side, see Richard Pankhurst, ‘Some brief notes on the Ethiopian Tabot and Manbara Tabot’, in Quaderni di Studi Etiopici 8 (9) 1987–8, 28–32; Interestingly, tabot is derived from the Egyptian term, db3t (tabot) ) (Leslau, Dictionary, 570).

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mainly conjecture (which considers the cultural context of Aksum as well as the two intertwined stories from the sixth-century accounts as the substratum for the development of this tradition), it has to be noted that there is a striking continuity, and perhaps similarity, in the development of the EOC’s tabot tradition and the ideas that emerged in these centuries. Considering the absence of exhaustive and pertinent historical data from pre-Christian Aksum on the one hand and the growth of ‘Judaic’ cultural expressions between the sixth and twelfth centuries on the other (as further discussed below),47 this reflection might suggest a legitimate origin for the Ethiopian claim for custodianship of the Ark of the Covenant and the development of the remarkable tabot-centred worship of the EOC.

AFTER AKSUM, TO THE ZAGʷE Munro-Hay opines that the term ‘Aksumite’ seems unsuitable in referring to the history of Ethiopia after the seventh century.48 With the exception of a few important sources that shed light on religiopolitical developments, the scantiness of information available on Ethiopian history between the time of the downfall of the Aksumite kingdom in the seventh century and the emergence of the Zagʷe, probably in the eleventh century, is also noteworthy. As an inscription written by haṣani (King?) Daniel shows, by the late seventh century, animosity between now weaker Aksumite rulers and their opponents had grown. This source reveals that the situation of the Aksumite rulers had become precarious to the point of their losing con-

47

This book discussed the development of ‘Judaic’ elements, mainly as related to Jews and Judaism, in the periods after the sixth century by considering the story of a tenth-century queens whom tradition relates to Judaism, the evidence from growth of ‘Judaic’ culture during the Zagʷe, and also based on a story related to a Jewish Eldad, who claims to have lived in ‘Ethiopia’. These clearly indicate that the Jewish community in AksumiteEthiopia might have influenced the natives by whom they have been significantly influenced. 48 Munro-Hay, Alexandria and Ethiopia, 133.

4. FROM THE BIBLE IN AKSUM TO THE ARK IN LALIBELA 157 trol over the capital city. Haṣani Daniel refers to his victory over Aksum: [በስመ አ]ብ ወወልድ ወመንፈስ ቅዱስ[::] አነ ሐፃኒ ዳንኤል ወልደ ደብረ ፌሬም[::] አመ ማሰነ ሰብአ ወልቃይት ብሔር ዘሐሰለ ወመፀ አክሱም[ሃ] ወአማሰነ ሥኖ ወጸንዐ አሜሃ ቀተልክዎሙ ወጼዎኩ መሀረ ፶፻ ወአልህምተ ፰፻፪ ወአሕለፍክዎሙ ሰብአ::49 In the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit. I, haṣani Daniel, when the people of Wolqayt devastated the land and came to Aksum, I expelled them and killed them and captured 5000 foals and 802 cattle.

This seems the earliest account of the final fall of Aksum as a capital city, of the imminent decline of the kingdom, and, even more importantly, of the rise of a powerful Christian ruler haṣani Daniel. Another inscription written by haṣani Daniel clearly describes how the Aksumite Dynasty lost its control over the kingdom: ወመፀ: ንጉስ: ወፈተወ[:] ይንግስኒ: እንዘ: ሀሎኩ[:] በአክሱም: ዘከመ: ግእዘ: አበዊሁ: በነደየ፤ ጼዊዎኒ[:] ጼዋ መፀ አክሱም ወፂዕየ[ሰ] [ወአፍሪህየ:] ዘዕድዉየ [ጼ]ወዉኩ[:] ዘመጽአ፤ እምቅድመ: [ይት]ከዐዉ[:] ደም ቀ[ነ]ይኩ: ንጉሰ: አክሱም: ወፈነዉክዎ:ይነጽር: አክሱም: ብሔረ: መንግስትየ[:] [ወተፈ]ነወ[፤]ወ .. [አዉ]ፈርኩ[:]50 And there came the King while I was in Aksum and [he] wanted also to rule after the way of his fathers, as a poor man (?); he came to Aksum also looting and catching. But when I moved out and [startled] my enemy (?), I imprisoned the newcomer without bloodshed; I subjugated the King of Aksum and I released him in order to govern Aksum, as a land under my dominion; [and he] was released (?) And I sent into the battlefield.

This seventh century military action likely shaped the history of northern Ethiopia. The dynasty of the haṣani was thus established on the ruins of Aksumite rule, and the city of Aksum ceased to serve

49 DAE, Vol IV, 45. Inscription 13. 50 Ibid., 46. Inscription 14.

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as a capital city before the middle of the seventh century51—its ‘importance had greatly declined, its monuments were in disarray.’52 This significantly confirms the end of Aksumite dominance and the beginning of a new dynasty, which Littmann posited as a forerunner of the Zagʷe Dynasty.53 The period that follows this, at least until the thirteenth century, provides another important glimpse into the development of the Judaic character of the EOC. The tension of regime change had far-reaching effects beyond that of its political significance. Munro-Hay reports that for more than four hundred years after the 750s, the presence of Alexandrian bishops in Ethiopia remained minimal.54 From the 830s to 1003, only two metropolitan abunnatä were sent to Ethiopia. Ethiopian tradition and the History of the Patriarchs mention that the Ethiopians, in the person of their kings, expressed their repentance for ‘driving away their vicar’ (an action that was believed to bring calamity from God).

Munro-Hay, Alexandria and Ethiopia, 133. ‘Aksum itself seems to have been abandoned as the capital of the Ethiopian kingdom by about 630 AD’ (ibid., 58). After the decline of Aksum as a capital city, the centre of gravity turned to the eastern Tǝgray where many churches were built; rock-hewn churches continued to be excavated following the earlier development in Aksum, and the number of church buildings increased in the southern region stretching to the ‘Lalibäla’ area (see Phillipson, Foundations, 106, 209– 223). 52 Phillipson, Ancient Ethiopia, 128. 53 DAE, Vol. IV, p. 48. See also comments on Lalibäla, who also refers to himself as haṣani. Understandably, the chronology of Zagʷe’s rule remains problematic (Sergew, Ancient, 255); but in contrast to Sergew’s conclusion that the Aksumite dynasty had been defeated by the queen, it seems probable, in light of the inscription by haṣani Daniel and the scant information from the Zagʷes, that the haṣani were probably predecessors of the Zagʷe and relinquished the Aksumite power; then the haṣani’s might have lost their kingdom for about forty years to a non-Christian queen(s) before reestablishing their kingdom, this time being known as the Zagʷe. 54 Munro-Hay, Alexandria and Ethiopia, 127–130. 51

4. FROM THE BIBLE IN AKSUM TO THE ARK IN LALIBELA 159 Circumcison among Ethiopians The long-awaited arrival of a bishop in the 930s stirred both excitement and strong opposition:55 it is reported that the ‘friendly king’ of the Ethiopians ‘rejoiced’ over the arrival of the bishop and his companions; but there was soon dissension, for the bishop was found to be uncircumcised.: Satan the enemy of peace, suggested an idea to some of the people of the country. Accordingly they waited upon the king, and said to him ‘we request thy Majesty to command this bishop to be circumcised, for all the inhabitants of our country are circumcised except him. And the working of Satan was so powerful that the king approved this proposal, namely, that the aged bishop should be taken and circumcised, or else that he should return to the place whence he had come.

Both ideas were unacceptable to Bishop Yuhanna. Concerned for the ‘salvation of these souls’, he decided to stay in Aksum and sought a miracle from God. This was soon granted to him: ‘when they took him to circumcise him, and stripped him, they found the mark of circumcision in him, as if he had been circumcised on the eighth day after birth.’ 56 The story is relevant for various reasons. At least at the time of its writing by Patriarch Joseph (831–849), who appointed Yuhanna and also to whom the bishop related his story, there was an understanding among the Coptic Christians that ‘all the inhabitants’ of Ethiopia practiced circumcision.57 Ethiopians had already adapted (perhaps Christianised) the indigenous practice of circumcision, contextualising it in light of the teachings of the Old Testament at least

The Book of Saints Vol I, 185–186; also quoted in Munro-Hay, Alexandria and Ethiopia, 123–124. 56 The Book of Saints Vol I, 186. 57 Sawirus, History of the Patriarchs, II, part 3, 330. 55

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before the time of Sawirus, which is not later than the end of the tenth century.58 What is striking is that circumcision was also long-since practiced among the Copts; and in light of this ancient practice of male circumcision among the Copts, the ‘uniqueness’ of the Ethiopian Church may not fully address the issue, necessitating additional remarks. Circumcision is an ancient and widely practiced cultural element in Africa and Asia. It seems reasonable to assume that the Jewish were not responsible for disseminating this practice in these parts of the world. The practice is indigenous among many people groups, possibly produced by peculiar social, cultural, geographical, climatic, religious, domestic and historical settings. Although the concepts and values regarding the practice might have varied from place to place, the practice of circumcision in Ethiopia appears to share common elements with the practice of other groups in Asia and Africa in general and that of the Arabs or Egyptians in particular. As early as the sixth century BCE, Herodutus noted that the practice of circumcision was prevalent in Egypt and Ethiopia: ‘the AEgyptians were the first that instituted the Ceremony, or else learnt it from the Ethiopians. From thence it came to be in use among the Colchi, Phoenicians, and Syrians.’59 In later periods, circumcision was not only practiced among the general Egyptian Arab/Islamic society60 but also ‘very commonly practiced among the Copts, especially in the provinces. But there is none disgusting display which signalises it among the

58

Sawirus was a bishop of Al-Asmunim (Hermopolis) in Egypt around the end of the tenth century CE. 59 Ludolf, A New History, 241 (quoting from Herodotus’s Thalia). Ludolf also discusses the practice among Homerites, the Arabs and Muslims. 60 For discussion of some customs from ancient to modern times, see E.W. Lane, Manner’s and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, 2nd ed. (Hague and London: East-West Publications, 1989). Among Arabs, a boy is circumcised at ‘the age of five or six years, or sometimes later’ (ibid., 64).

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Moslems, nor is it enjoined as a religious rite.’61 According to Otto Meinardus: In some instances, the Coptic priest officiates as barber. Before circumcision, the hands and feet of the boy are dyed with henna, and on the day before the ceremony, the barber or the Coptic priest cuts the boy’s hair in particular way, known as the mukarras. The tufts of the boy’s hair are then dedicated to the saint, in whose honour the mûlid is celebrated. On the day of the circumcision, the boy is dressed in his finest clothes and often a beautifully embroidered cap is placed upon his head. After the ceremony, a service is being conducted in the church. Then, sacrifices in the form of pigeons, goats and lambs are offered, the meat of which is distributed among friends and the poor.62

Although Coptic circumcision is different from that of the Muslims, it appears to be a much more formal ritual than that of the EOC. Why then was bishop Yuhanna not circumcised, and why did he reject the request? It seems possible that the members of the Coptic Orthodox Church and the EOC shared the same stance on circumcision as a cultural practice in general but that this particular dispute involved a matter of ecclesiastical position rather than a social and cultural issue. Compared to the strong Ethiopian position that required every person to be circumcised, the Copts might have been more accommodating about some males being uncircumcised, which could clarify the taboo involved when a solitary uncircumcised male was identified in Ethiopia. This may have been exacerbated by Yuhanna’s position as bishop. Additionally, the Coptic Church’s teaching on the relationship between circumcision and baptism might shed some important light on the issue. The Coptic Church’s official stance asserts that a believer should not be compelled to be circumcised after being baptised: a scholar summarised that the ‘JewE.L. Butcher, The Story of the Church of Egypt (London: Smith, Elder, and Co., 1897), 424. 62 Otto F.A. Meinardus, Christian Egypt: Ancient and Modern (Cairo: Cahiers d’Histoire Égyptienne, 1965), 100. 61

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ish’ practice of circumcision ‘is usual, but not compulsory. It is performed on the eighth day after birth, but must not take place after baptism.’63 This teaching was later canonized by Patriarch Cyril II in the eleventh century CE (1077–92).64 According to this principle, the bishop, who was already baptised, might have considered the idea of circumcision to be unChristian. It seems that the Ethiopian Church continued to hold no clear teaching on the relationship between baptism and circumcision and persisted in making circumcision compulsory even for those who were baptised. Sawiros reports that Cyrill II had to write a letter to the Ethiopians ‘forbidding them to observe the custom of the Old Testament’65, most probably referring to this strong stance on circumcision.66 Ethiopian scholars only addressed the issue centuries Montague Fowler, Christian Egypt: Past, Present, and Future, Book I (London: Church Newspaper Company, 1901), 204; according to Lane, ‘baptism for boys is at age of forty days, and the girls at the age of eighty days […] but earlier if they be ill and apparent danger of death […] most of the Copts circumcise their sons […] there is no fixed age for its performance: some of the Copts are circumcised at the age of two years, and some at the age of twenty years or more’ (Lane, Manner’s and Customs, 526, 527–528). Meinardus also comments that ‘the Copts strongly prohibit the circumcision to be performed after baptism, except in the case of girls who are circumcised before the age of twelve’ (Meinardus, Christian Egypt, 100). 64 Patriarch Cyril declared that ‘customs established in Coptic churches shall not be changed, such as circumcision before baptism’; ‘the practice of circumcision prior to baptism is canonically laid down in the 11th century Canons of Cyril II, 67th Patriarch of Alexandria’ (Meinardus, Christian Egypt, 100). 65 Sawirus, History of the Patriarchs, II, part 3, p. 330. 66 Taddesse assumes that ‘apart from the customs of circumcision and marriage, the bishop may also have had the Sabbath in mind. However, the early position of the Alexandrian Church itself is not very clear on this point’ (Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 209). Nevertheless, we know of the Copts’ stance against Sabbath observance after the sixth century; and, as shown above, at least beginning from sixth century the observance of Sabbath (and also the view of circumcision as compulsory?) had long been completely discarded in Egypt (in Ibn al-Assal’s Collection of 63

4. FROM THE BIBLE IN AKSUM TO THE ARK IN LALIBELA 163 later in the edict of aṣe Gälawdewos67 and the andəmta commentary, which was formally compiled after the sixteenth century CE.68 Developments of the EOC’s ‘Judaic’ cultural elements and notes on the presence of Jews: the case of Eldad Ha-Dani The early tenth century also saw new developments in another aspect of the formation of ‘Judaic’ identity in Ethiopia. The biography of Patriarch Kosmoas (923–934) mentions Abyssinia in relation to the Solomon-Sheba story: ‘al-Habasha […] is a vast country, namely the kingdom of Saba from which the queen of the South came to Solomon, the Son of David the King.’69 This clearly suggests that, as in the narrative of the Kəbrä Nägäśt, at least in its original form, the Solomon-Saba story had already been ascribed to Ethiopia proper by Alexandrian officials before the tenth century. Further comment emerges from the writing on Eldad Ha-Dani, known as Sefer Eldad ha-Dani, which was written in the ninth century.70 It claims that a Jewish man named Eldad, who was darkskinned, suddenly turned up in Egypt and created great surprise among the Egyptian and Mediterranean Jewish communities by claiming that he had come from a Jewish kingdom of pastoralists far to the south.71 After giving an account of their way of life, Eldad re-

Canons compiled in 1238, circumcision is described as ‘a custom/tradition, not a commandment’ (Chapter 52:8)); besides, Sabbath became an issue of theological concern in the EOC most probably not earlier than thirteenth century CE. 67 See Chapter 6. ‘Not Judaic, But Israelite!’ 68 See Chapter 6. 69 The Book of Saints Vol. III, 666–668; Munro-Hay, Alexandria and Ethiopia, 131. 70 ‘Various versions of the book were published by Abraham Epstein; for a good analysis of the book, see Corinaldi, Jewish Identity, The Case of Ethiopian Jewry, 88–95. 71 See also Letters of Jews Through the Ages, vol. 1 2nd edition. Franz Kobler (ed) (London: East and West Library, 1953), 105.

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lated that he belonged to an independent colony of Jews settled in Cush: They were advised to go to Egypt [...] to cross the Pishon to the land Cush [....] And we reached Cush [....] And the Danites were not prevented from settling since they took the land by force and they dwelt there many years and they multiplied greatly and acquired much wealth.72

Other twelfth- and thirteenth-century sources also offer information on the subject. The Jewish traveller Benjamin of Tudela, in his The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela, reports the presence of a powerful independent Jewish state, at war with a Christian state, in the mountainous regions west of the Red Sea known as ‘Continental India’. He states: ‘The country is mountainous. There are many Israelites here, and they are not under the yoke of the gentiles, but they possess cities and castles on summits of the mountains from which they make descents into the plain country […].’73 This account suggests that Eldad’s claim ought to be seriously considered; the question of his identity, however, has attracted differing opinions. While E. David Goitein proposes that Eldad was an Ethiopian Jew,74 Kaplan offers the following comments: Eldad himself claimed to be from the tribe of Dan (hence the name Ha Dani), which lived along with Naftali, Gad, Asher, and the ‘sons of Moses’ ‘beyond the rivers of Cush.’ To this day Quoted in Corinaldi, Jewish Identity, The Case of Ethiopian Jewry, 89; for a translation of the works of Eldad, see Elkan Nathan Adler (ed.), Jewish Travellers (London George Routledge and Sons, 1930). 73 Rabbi Nathan Alder commented affirming the report of Benjamin (see Coinaldi, Jewish Identity, 96); also, see a thought-provoking article stressing the relevance of studying the account: Fauvelle-Aymar and François-Xavier, ‘Desperately Seeking the Jewish Kingdom of Ethiopia: Benjamin of Tudela and the Horn of Africa (Twelfth Century)’, in Speculum 88.2 (2013), 383– 404. 74 E. David Goitein, ‘Note on Eldad the Danite’, in The Jewish Quarterly Review, New Series 17 (4) (1927), 483 http://www.jstor.org/stable/1451494; retrieved on 12 February 2018. 72

4. FROM THE BIBLE IN AKSUM TO THE ARK IN LALIBELA 165 scholars remain uncertain about his origins and motives. While some have dismissed him as a hoax, others have viewed him as a Karaite, Arabian, or Ethiopian Jew. Abraham Epstein, who almost one hundred years ago published what remains a definitive study of Sefer Eldad, cast grave doubt on Eldad’s Ethiopian origins.75

Ullendorff, in line with Epstein, agrees that Eldad was a Jew; but, after analysing both the language and the narrative, he argues that Eldad was from South Arabia: His language reveals no trace of Ethiopic nor does his narrative betray any first-hand knowledge of Abyssinia. He knows, however, more than a casual acquaintance with Arabia, and his Hebrew offers some evidence of an Arabic substratum. It is therefore likely that he was a Jew from South Arabia.76

Ullendorff and Kaplan are critical about the claims of the Betä Ǝsra’el belonging to the lost tribe of Dan, which have been linked to the ninth-century document written by Eldad Ha-Dani. The argument that the narrative lacks any trace of Ethiopic, offered as evidence for the non-Ethiopian origin of Eldad, fails to be convincing as it can easily be suggested that communities with their own cultural, religious and linguistic structures could coexist alongside one another without it being necessary for them to adopt or even be intimately familiar with each other’s language.77 With this in mind, Eldad’s testimony needs to be considered and analysed not Kaplan, Beta Israel (Falasha), 25; Steven Kaplan, ‘Eldad Ha-Dani’, in EA Vol. 2, 252; 76 Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible, 25–26. 77 An Ethiopian may also remain adamant if asked about the cultures of the neighboring people of Kenya, Sudan, and Somalia while possibly knowing nothing of tribal languages in these countries; relations in ancient times might have been even more remote. This book discusses the claim of Eldad, which could be considered debatable but, interestingly, has been used as a halakhic testimony for the acceptance of the Betä Ǝsra’el as Jews to their ‘promised homeland, Israel.’ 75

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only in light of the historical validity of the relationship between the Betä Ǝsra’el and the lost tribe of Dan, but also due to its relevance to our understanding of the development of ‘Judaic’ cultural elements during this period. Thus the Betä Ǝsra’el may or may not be the remnants of the people whom Eldad represented, and Eldad’s community may or may not have been related with the Betä Ǝsra’el; but if there had been a Jewish colony in Aksum following the military expedition of the sixth century, it seems possible to draw a relationship between the Aksumite Jews of Kaleb’s era to the people whom Eldad represents. It is possible that some of the Jews in Aksum may have seen themselves as the lost tribe of Dan who were living ‘beyond the rivers of Cush’; thus his claim should be seen in light of the movement of Jews to Aksum. Queen Bani al-Hamwiyah: ‘Yodith’ the Jewess? Additional support from Ethiopian tradition regarding the presence of a Jewish community during this period is discovered in the life and works of the legendary Judith, a purported Jewish rebel who toppled the last king of Aksum and completely destroyed the civilisation of the kingdom. It is important to note the scarcity of records or material evidence on the history of seventh- to thirteenth-century Ethiopia. This absence of source materials for constructing Ethiopian history stretches from the inscriptions of haṣani Daniel up to the early thirteenth century, after which point an abundance of Ethiopic literature becomes available. The absence of records is largely due to ‘a lacuna in transmission of manuscripts’ in those centuries.78 What appears to be clear from the little information analysed from both Ethiopic and non-Ethiopic sources is that the fall of the haṣani’s dynasty was due to a combination of internal political troubles led by ‘pagan’ resistance and challenges from external forces, amongst

Cerulli, Letteratura, 35, quoted in Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 30–31, n. 5. 78

4. FROM THE BIBLE IN AKSUM TO THE ARK IN LALIBELA 167 which Arabic and Islamic forces were prominent.79 It seems that the haṣani of that particular period had minimal power to withstand sporadic internal uprisings by non-Christian powers. Both the History of the Patriarchs and the Synaxarium of Alexandria recall a letter that was sent from an unnamed king of Aksum to the Nubian king George (Girgis) II, who was in power at the end of the tenth century CE: In his (Philotheus) days, the king of Abyssinia sent to the king of Nubia, a youth whose name was George, and made known to him how the Lord had chastened him, he and the inhabitants of his land. It was a woman, a queen of Banî al–Hamwiyah, had revolted against him and his country. She took captive from it many people and burned many cities and destroyed churches and drove him, (the king) from place to place.80

The letter also mentions the absence of an Egyptian metropolitan and its consequences: ‘Six patriarchs have sat and have not paid attention to our lands, [....which] abandoned without a shepherd, and our bishops and our priests are dead, and the churches are ruined.’81 The Arab writer Ibn Ḥawqal, who lived in the second half of the tenth century CE, after briefly mentioning Abyssinia as a ‘vast empire’, also remarked on how a queen succeeded to power: The country of Abyssinia has been governed by a woman for many years; she killed the king of Abyssinians, who was called Hadani [‘Haṣani’]. Until now she reigns completely independently over her country and the surrounding lands of Hada-

79

On the earliest Arab and Islamic pressure on the Christian kingdom of Ethiopia, particularly from the Red Sea area, see Trimingham, Islam in Ethiopia, 46–47; 60–65. 80 The Book of Saints Vol I, 233–234; History of Patriarchs, II, II, 171–172. See Munro-Hay, Alexandria and Ethiopia, 133–138. 81 The refusal to send a bishop was due to local clergy’s mistreatment of a Coptic bishop (Munro-Hay, Alexandria and Ethiopia, 135; Trimingham, Islam in Ethiopia, 52).

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This report, which was apparently written between 977 and 988 CE, supplies a rough chronology for the rule of the queen in Ethiopia.83 In what seems to be related to the raids of Queen Bani al–Hamwiyah and the demise of haṣani, later Ethiopian tradition also attributes the downfall of the ‘Christian kingdom’ to the revolt and forty-year rule of a legendry Jewish queen named Yodith/Judith (also known as Gudit).84 Neither the Egyptian nor the Arabic sources address the M. El-Chennafi, Mention nouvelle d’une ‘reine Éthiopienne’ au IVe s. de l’Hegire / Xe s. ap. J-C., AE X (1976), 119–121, quoted in Munro-Hay, Alexandria and Ethiopia, 137. 83 Munro-Hay, Alexandria and Ethiopia, 137. 84 The Book of Saints Vol I, 233–234; see Sergew, Ancient, 225–232. Her place of origin is contested: some stressed her Agäw origin (Halévy, in Sergew, Ancient, 230); others assumed that she was a ‘pagan’ from ‘Damotah, a region in the west Gojam, where a very strong Kushitic kingdom existed until the close of the thirteenth century’ (Conti Rossini, Storia d’Etiopia, 286 and Sergew, Ancient, 230); or a ‘pagan’ queen of Damoti (Sidama): ‘the queen and her pagan followers destroyed churches and killed Christians’ (Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 38). Ullendorff also suggested that she was probably from ‘Sidama, among whom the matriarchal system had for long been maintained. This would tally well with the story of Queen Judith, who, one might surmise, would have encountered little difficulty in enlisting rebellious Agäw tribes in support of her campaign of loot and destruction. The presence of the Agaw may have lent a Hebraic veneer to a revolt which was principally directed against the southward expansion of the Christian Abyssinian Empire. An interesting concomitant of these developments was the flight of the Bilen from Lasta province to their present habitat in Eritrea. This marked a return of Abyssinian and Christian tribes to the northern highlands which they had forsaken, some centuries earlier, under the pressure of the Beja invasion’ (The Ethiopians, 61). Conti Rossini and Ullendorff’s discussion remained influential in academia; but it is possible that she had been influenced by Judaism, as Ignatio Guidi suggests (I. Guidi in Sergew, Ancient, 230). The acceptance of prophetesses as judges at this crucial time was not unknown in the Bible, as the story of Deborah shows (Book of Judges, ch. 4 and 5), suggesting a fe82

4. FROM THE BIBLE IN AKSUM TO THE ARK IN LALIBELA 169 reason for the queen’s revolt, nor do they establish whether Yodith/Gudit and Bani al–Hamwiyah were the same person. These sources are also silent as to the existence of other queens who succeeded her to the throne and whether those who preceded and/or succeeded her belonged to the same tribe.85 If we consider this tradition seriously, we are able to note its paradoxical assertion that the reign of Yodith, who was related to Judaism, 86 was brought to an end by ‘Israelite’ kings, as it is ascribed to the Zagʷe kings based on

male’s inadvertent prominence in a patriarchal community. Note that when dealing with her achievements, some also confuse her with another queen known as Esato (‘the Fire’), who probably revolted against the Christians in Amhara, in the southern part of the Ethiopian kingdom, during the fifteenth century CE (see a good analysis on this in Munro-Hay, Alexandria and Ethiopia, 135, and also Knud Tage Andersen, ‘The Queen of the Habasha in Ethiopian history, tradition and chronology’, in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 63.01 (2000), 31–63). 85 See ‘The Problem of Gudit’ in Sergew, Ancient, 255. The Ethiopian tradition on this matter should be revisited; for a discussion on an Ethiopian source, see Molvaer, Reidulf K., ‘The Defiance of the Tenth-Century Empress Yodït (Judith) of Ethiopia from an Unpublished Manuscript by Aleqa Teklé (TekleÏyesus) of Gojjam’, in Northeast African Studies 5.1 (1998), 47–58. 86 The Ethiopian tradition describes Yodith as a beautiful woman who agreed to a sexual relationship with a deacon of the church of Aksum in exchange for ‘golden shoes’, which he was only able to provide by tearing parts of the church’s ‘golden curtain of Sion’; the elders falsely accused her as guilty under the pretext of the young age of the deacon and ‘condemned her to cut her right breast and be exiled from the country’. In her exile, she met a Jewish prince of Sham called Zenobis whom she married. Under her instigation, he waged war against Aksum in the absence of its king and succeeded in her plunder for about forty years (ibid., 255–229). The association made between ‘Yodith’ and the Judith of the (canonical) Old Testament Bible of the EOC is striking; her story and success are also shared by the Betä Ǝsra’el, who include it as part of their history of striving for independence (see Louis Rapoport, The Lost Jews, Last of the Ethiopian Falashas (New York: Stein and Day Pub., 1980), 4).

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the information from ‘Abū Ṣāliḥ.’87 What seems clear is that for many centuries after the demise of the dynasty to which the haṣani belonged, there was a non-Christian uprising that assumed political dominance at least for half a century, which consequently made the relationship between the Alexandrian and Ethiopian Churches more precarious.88 The only aspect that is definitively known is that the Zagʷe dynasty, which ruled Ethiopia to c. 1270, ‘appear to have come shortly after widespread raiding and destruction attributed to a queen.’89

THE ZAGʷE’S AND THEIR ‘JUDAIC’ LEGACIES The decline of the kingdom of Aksum is roughly dated to the end of the seventh century. Internally, the rise of haṣani, and later the queen(s) (Bani al–Hamwiyah/Yodith(?)), seems to have contributed extensively to the eventual downfall of the Christian kingdom. In addition to the pressure from Islamic forces, it is likely that sporadic war between major ethnic groups played a role in the eventual collapse of the kingdom(s).90 We understand that a Cushitic Ethiopian Christian kingdom of Agäw in the southwest region grew on the ruins of the ‘Semitic’ Aksumite kingdom; it is known that although almost ‘encircled’ by the ‘Semitised’ people, this Cushitic people of Agäw had preserved their tribal and linguistic identity for a longer

87

The rulers of Zagʷe (roughly 12th–13th century) and the succeeding Amhara dynasties considered themselves to be Israelites; the writings produced during the Amhara Dynasty era claim that the Amhara dynasty rulers are legal heirs of the Aksumite kingdom, which they assumed to be ‘Solomonic.’ 88 This may suggest that the EOC leadership formed a relationship with other churches over the Coptic, most probably with the Syrian and Armenian Orthodox churches. 89 Phillipson, Ancient Ethiopia, 127. The Zagʷe dynasty likely started much earlier than the 11th century. 90 Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 53; also, Taddesse Tamrat, ‘The Abbots of Däbrä Hayq 1248–1535’, in Journal of Ethiopian Studies 8 (1) 1970, 88, n. 7; Trimingham, Islam in Ethiopia, 46–47; 60–65.

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time, while at the same time incorporating Aksumite (Christian) culture—for example, in their use of Gə‘əz in the church.91 In spite of a gap in knowledge about the era, we are then able to surmise that the centre of the kingdom first shifted to eastern Tigray and then to the southern region,92 towards the Agäw region, which had some relations earlier with the Aksumite kingdom, as mentioned in the writings of the sixth-century Cosmas (who refers to a certain ‘governor of Agäw’).93 In the first half of the eleventh century, the Agäw made successful incursions against the already fragile kingdom and established a new Christian dynasty known as the Lasta or Zagʷe dynasty,94 allegedly with Märara as its first king.95 The kings of the 91

Aksumite-Zagʷe architecture is discussed below. Understandably, the rise of this kingdom was in the midst of continual pressure from the ‘Semitised’ Təgre and Təgrəgñña speaking population in the north and the Amhara in the south (mainly in Angot); Taddesse writes: ‘The region of Lasta, from which he [the founder of the Zagʷe dynasty] derived much of his support, differed from the rest of the central parts of the kingdom in one important factor. The local people, although as much Christian and part of the Aksumite cultural tradition as the peoples of Tigre and Amhara, had apparently preserved their linguistic identity and used Agäwigna outside the church’ (Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 53, 57). There is also a geographical factor for this uniqueness: despite the early progress of the Church among them, ‘the compact and inaccessible nature of the area, which is almost totally enclosed by the rivers Ṣällärī and Täkäzé’, helped the Agäw to retain their own distinctiveness (ibid., 53). 92 See Phillipson, Foundations, 209–243. 93 Cosmas, Topography, 139–140; Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 53–64; much earlier, the name Athagaus/Atagaus was also mentioned in the second-century CE Adulis Inscription (Cosmas, Topography, 61–62). 94 The term Zagʷe may have originated from Zä-Agäw (‘Of the Agäw’). A good overview of the history of Agaw is given by Taddesse, ‘Processes of Ethnic Integration.’ 95 See Conti Rossini, Storia d’Etiopia, 304–305. Lalibäla ‘gives his genealogies as “Son of Morara, son of Zan-Siyum, son of Asda” […T]he name of the general who married the daughter of the last Aksumite king and who founded the dynasty is usually given as Mära Täklä-Haymanot’ (Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 55, n. 3). It is now believed that the Agäw

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new dynasty may also have been related to the haṣani (kings) of pretenth-century Ethiopia since one of the Zagʷe rulers, Lalibäla (c. 1181–1221), refers to himself as haṣani rather than nəguś.96 The demise of the Aksumite kingdom thus saw not only the political and economic weakening of the region and rise and fall of at least another Christian kingdom;97 it also witnessed a decline in the ruled for about 300 years (cf. Phillipson, Foundations, 228). It is noted that the chronology of the Zagʷe Dynasty is contentious; it probably began between 1030–1050 CE (Sergew, Ancient, 240). 96 ‘በአኮቴተ አብ ወወልድ ወመንፈስ ቅዱስ አጉለትኩ አክሰምኩ ወአምነይኩ አነ ሐፃኒ ላሊበላ ወስመ መንግስትየ ገብረ መስቀል […] ብእሲ ዓዛል ዘኢየጠምዋዕ ለፀር በኃይለ መስቀሉ ለኢየሱስ ክርስቶስ […] Exalting the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, I, haṣani Lalibäla, whose throne name is Gebre Meskel, a powerful man invincible to his enemy in the power of the cross of Jesus Christ…’ (Zena Lalibäla, in Sergew, Ancient, 266). Understandably, this gädl is written in the later eras; as Steven Kaplan puts it, numerous gädlat were written which are ‘usually composed many years and even decades or centuries after the death of their saintly protagonists’ (‘Gädl’, in EA Vol 2, 643; 642–644; also Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 54, n. 3), making it difficult to use them as historical accounts. But note that the aforementioned haṣani Daniel is probably the king among the forerunners of the Zagʷe Dynasty; besides, it is now believed that the Agäw ruled for about 300 years (cf. Phillipson, Foundations, 228). It is noted that the chronology of the Zagʷe Dynasty is contentious; it likely began between 1030–1050 CE (Sergew, Ancient, 240). 97 Like the Aksumites, the Zagʷe kings also tried to maintain the unity of the church under the leadership and custodianship of the Alexandrian church, a task that proved precarious at times, especially since the relationship between the Ethiopian and Alexandrian churches had weakened following the demise of the Aksumite kingdom. This relationship worsened as the Zagʷe rulers apparently tried to make their church self-governing by appointing a local cleric as a metropolitan through the aegis of the Antiochene Orthodox Church. The cleric, according to the account of Abba Ṭomas, an Ethiopian monk residing in the Ethiopian monastery at Jerusalem, ‘tried to profit from a dispute between the patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch to have himself consecrated bishop of Ethiopia’ (Pederson, ‘Jerusalem’, in EA Vol. 3 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2007), 274; and also Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 70–72).

4. FROM THE BIBLE IN AKSUM TO THE ARK IN LALIBELA 173 production of religious texts, resulting in a lacuna in historical evidence.98 In other words, although the coming of the Lasta/Zagʷe Dynasty to power seems, in many ways, like an attempt to restore the glory of Aksum, as far as literature is concerned, ‘no significant work has come down to us from their period, either translations or local composition.’99 Fortunately, there is evidence relevant to the issue of 98

There is no single piece of internal literary or material evidence extant from this period that offers an account of the sustained internal conflict that continued for another four centuries and of the changes in successive dynasties apart from the very important but brief information provided by non-Ethiopian sources on the era of the ‘queens’, as discussed above. There are no Ethiopic documents that could shed light on the religious development of the eleventh and twelfth centuries of the EOC other than the hagiographical gädlat, written centuries later; ‘four of the Zagwé kings, YimrhaKristos, Lalibäla, Nä’akuto-Lä’ab, and Yitbaräk have hagiographies [… but] all of them were composed after the downfall of the Zagʷe dynasty’ (Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 54, n. 3). 99 Getatchew, ‘Ethiopic Literature’, 48. In light of the political strife resulting from persistent power struggle and questions regarding the legitimacy of dynastic succession, it is not unreasonable to posit that the successors of the Zagʷe—the Amhara dynasty rulers—destroyed the literary records of the Zagʷe. It is doubtless, however, that the wide-scale destruction of Ethiopic materials in the sixteenth century by the raids of the Adalite Muslim warrior Aḫmad bin Ibrahim al-Ġāzī, nicknamed Grañ (‘the left handed’), which saw the destruction of numerous churches and their literary riches, must have been a key factor in the lack of literature produced during the Zagʷe Dynasty period. If there were any other religious texts produced during the Zagʷe, the reason they did not survive remains unknown; explanation can likely be found in the future destruction of Christian religious materials, which were set on fire in the sixteenth century: ‘The amount of destruction brought about in these [a little more than ten] years can only be estimated in terms of centuries. [Grañ’s] chronicler outlines in Futuh al Habasha a large number of cases in which beautiful churches were pulled down, their riches plundered, the holy books burnt to ashes, and the clergy massacred’ (Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 301). Only those monasteries and churches that were located in impenetrable areas and took their texts to inaccessible places managed to keep those texts intact. Unfortunately, the Lalibäla Church was spared from destruction by the personal order

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the ‘Judaic’ identity that appears to have been developed during the Zagʷe’s rule; this evidence appears, albeit briefly, in non-Ethiopian sources as well as literary witnesses produced later (discussed below). Moreover, the commercial activity of merchants via the port of Zeila is well recorded, and it seems that Jewish merchants, alongside Muslims, were active during the period of the Zagʷe dynasty.100 This suggests that the kingdom attracted the settlement of different people groups, including Yemenite Jews, Armenians, Syrians, and Arabs.101 As the available sources show, then, it is also possible for us to assume that the ‘Judaic’ cultural expressions had become part of the cultural expressions of the society at large during this period; thus, besides political achievement, there are a few important developments in the Zagʷe era in relation to ‘Judaic’ elements.

of Grañ while the riches stored in the church were looted. (See Šihāb ad-Dīn Aḥmad bin ‘Abd al-Qāder bin Sālem bin ‘Uṯmṯān, Futūḥ Al-Ḥabaša: The Conquest of Abyssinia [16th Century], Paul Lester Stenhouse (tr.) and notes by Richard Pankhurst (Hollywood: Tsehai Publishers, 2003). See p. 244– 254 for attacks on churches in Amhara region.) 100 Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 66. 101 A fifteenth-century document asserts that a wealthy Jew named Joseph settled in Amhara under the Zagʷe (see Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 66; Taddesse, ‘The Abbots of Däbrä-Hayq’, 112–113; Getatchew Haile, ‘Ras ‘Amdu: His and his Ancestors’ Role in Ethiopian History’ in Siegbert Uhlig (ed.), Proceeding of International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, Hamburg July 20–25 2003 (Wiesbaden: Harraassowitz Verlag, 2006), 251–259). Note that Bəḥətwäddäd Ras ‘Amdu, a prominent figure of the 15th century’s Ethiopian history, was a descendant of Joseph. EMML 1768’s translation is provided: ‘The origin of this Ras 'Amdu was Israelite, from the tribe of Joseph. In the time of the reign of the Zagwe, there came from the land of Aden a Jewish man, called Joseph, who was named after his father. He was very honored and wealthy. And he settled in Hllaw(a)z, in the land of Amhara.’ We are not sure of the effect of the Crusades in Europe on the development of the Zagʷe Dynasty; we are left with lacunae in our information concerning whether or not foreigners—including Jews— arrived in Lalibäla due to the effects of Christian-Muslim wars of the era.

4. FROM THE BIBLE IN AKSUM TO THE ARK IN LALIBELA 175 Building Jerusalem in Ethiopia In spite of the apparent linguistic differences, the rise of the Zagʷe dynasty can be regarded as a continuation of the Aksumite tradition in terms of both Christianity and architecture.102 The new dynasty tried to maintain the existing Christian tradition and to rediscover the Aksumite civilisation and architecture.103 A prime example of the extension of Aksumite civilisation is well expressed in the famous eleven monolithic rock-hewn churches, known today as the ‘Lalibäla Churches.’104 Interestingly, Ethiopian tradition asserts that the build-

A good description of each church is presented in Phillipson, Foundations, 227–243. Phillipson assesses the distinctiveness and continuity between the Aksumite and Lalibäla churches’ architecture and the extended period (10th–12th century) it took the Zagʷe to build the churches. See also Sergew, Ancient, 271–278. Opinions differ as to who built these eleven churches: Alvarez was informed by local clergy that the Egyptians built them (Francisco Alvarez, The Prester John of the Indies – A True Relations of the Lands of Prester John, being the narrative of the Portuguese Embassy of Ethiopia in 1520 Vol I, Lord Stanley (tr.). C.F. Beckingham and G.W.B. Huntingford (eds.) (Cambridge: Hakluyt Society, 1961), 207) while Conti Rossini observed Arab and Byzantine influence (Storia d’Etiopia, 315); but it seems that the monolithic churches are innovations of the Zagʷe with ‘a continuation and development of Aksumite art and architecture, which of course does not exclude the possibility of foreign influences’ (Segew, Ancient, 274). See also David Buxton, The Rock-Hewn and other Medieval Churches in Tigré Province Ethiopia (Oxford, 1970). Trimingham observed that ‘there are some 200 other Monolithic churches in the same region’ (Trimingham, Islam in Ethiopia, 56, n.5). 103 See Tekeste Negash, ‘The Zagwe period re-interpreted: post-Aksumite Ethiopian urban culture’, in Africa [Rome] 61 (2006), 120–137. See also Claire Bosc-Tiessé et al., ‘The Lalibela rock hewn site and its landscape (Ethiopia): An archaeological analysis’, in Journal of African Archaeology 12.2 (2014), 141–164. 104 ‘Originally the place where the rock-hewn churches are found was known as Werwer. It was probably changed to Roha after Al-Roha, the Arabic name for the Syrian city of Edessa, during the early period of their construction’ (Sergew, Ancient, 273). The name of the town ‘Adäfa’ is also 102

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ings were meant to establish a New Jerusalem in Ethiopia,105 and it is reported that Jesus appeared to Haṣani Lalibäla to announce his blessings: ለዛቲ መካን ወባርክዋ ሊተ አነ ወይእዜኒ ረስይከዋ ትኩን መካነ ቅድስተ ከመ ደብረ ታቦር መካነ ምሥጢርየ ወቀራንዮ መካነ ስቅለትየ ወከመ ኢየሩሳሌም ሀገረ እምየ ወመካነ ሥጋየ ዘነሣእኩ እምሥጋ ዚአሃ ንጹሕ፡፡ ወለ እመ ነበረ ዉስቴታ ብእሲ ወለእመ ነበረ ዉስቴታ ብእሲ ወለእመ ነገደ ኀቤሃ ይኩን ከመ ዘነግደ ኀበ መቃብርየ ኢየሩሳሌም ወለእመ ተመጠወ ሥጋየ ወደመየ ዉስተ እማንቶን አብያተ ክርስትያናት ይሠረይ ኲሎ ኃጢአቱ:: I blessed this place and from now onwards let it be a holy place as Mount Tabor, the place of transfiguration, as Golgotha, the place of my crucifixion, and as Jerusalem the land of my mother and where I took flesh from her pure flesh. If somebody abides in it, or undertakes pilgrimage to it, it is as equal as if he went to my Sepulchre in Jerusalem. And if somebody receives my flesh and blood in those churches he will be redeemed of all his sins.106

The churches remained a source of inspiration and hope for the members of the EOC, considered comparable in significance to those in Jerusalem.107 The Zagʷe desire to identify their building venture with Jerusalem probably indicates another layer of ‘Judaic’ development in Ethiopia. As noted by historian MacCulloch, ‘as so often in Ethiopian history, it is impossible to know whether centuries of subsequent meditation, wishful thinking and purposeful political rebranding have overlaid whatever original scheme was intended at Lalibela, to produce its present rich skein of associations with Jerusalem.’108 probably a corruption of Edessa. It is still debatable whether the rock-hewn buildings were built solely for religious purposes. 105 The idea of Aksum becoming the second Jerusalem is one of the themes of the Kəbrä Nägäśt (on Aksum, see Sergew, Ancient, 41); for a critical reflection on the buildings, see Stuart Munro-Hay, Ethiopia, the Uknown Land: A Cultural and Historical Guide (London: 2000), 190–193. 106 Zena Lalibäla, quoted and translated by Sergew (ibid., 276). 107 Ibid., 276. 108 MacCulloch, History, 280. Note that almost all the names of the church are related to Christ/ianity, including Golgotha and Betä Mädǝhanä‘aläm.

4. FROM THE BIBLE IN AKSUM TO THE ARK IN LALIBELA 177 In relation to the rock-hewn churches, we still need better explanations of the era of the Zagʷe and of how they contributed to the development of Ethiopian Christian religious tradition. In this vein, an engraving of a symbol similar to what is known as Magen David, the Star of David,109 is available on the interior of one of the rock-hewn churches, Betä Maryam (‘House of Mary’). There is still no substantial comment available in the works of art historians regarding this engraving. On the one hand, we simply cannot tell if this has any relation with Jews/Judaism, and it may not demonstrate any ‘Judaic’ heritage among Ethiopian Christians of that era. The symbol might have been carved as a simple decoration and may not be indicative of any Jewish impact on the church’s architecture. On the other hand, the symbol may not have been common among Jews of the era. If the representation has a Jewish connection, however, it reflects an understanding of Judaism and Judaic motifs at least among its architects and builders, if not among the general Christian population of Adäfa.110 Prayers of Haṣani Lalibäla: Tabot and the Sabbath A booklet titled Questions about the Kibre Negest presents a copy of the prayers of (haṣani) Lalibäla, which the writer reports were ‘engraved on the panels that form the sides of the wooden altar of Debrä Sina, one of the rock-hewn churches in the Goləgotha – Mi-

See Appendix C, fig. 1. The history of the Star of David among Jews is uncertain, but the earliest occurrence of the symbol ‘has recently been noted on a Jewish tombstone at Tarentum, in southern Italy, which may date as early as the third century of the common era [….] The earliest Jewish literary source which mentions it is the “Eshkol ha-Kofer” of the Karaite Judah Hadassi’ (middle of the 12th century). (http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com /articles/10257–magen-dawid, accessed, 7 June 2013). 110 Many designs and symbols appear on the rock-hewn ‘churches’; a swastika-cross design on the window of the same building might have originated in Egypt (as a scholar quoted in Sergew suggests; Ancient, 274 and n.66), but it seems more likely to assume an Indian origin. 109

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chael – Lalibäla’ building complex.111 Noteworthy is the mention of the altar in the church made to commemorate the Christian Sabbath: በስመ: አብ: ወወልድ: ወመንፈስ: ቅዱስ: ፩ አምላክ: እግዚአብሔር: አምላክነ: እዌድሳ: አነ: ለሰንበት: ክርስቲያን: ዕበያ: ወክብራ: ከመ: አክበራ: እግዚአብሔር: ፈጣሪሃ: ወረሰያ: ክብርተ: ወበዐለ: ዓባየ: ቀደሳ: ወባረካ: ወይቤላ: ምህረትየ: አንቲ: ለዉሉደ: ሰብእ: መድኃኒት: ወከመ: ተንሥአ: እግዚእነ: ባቲ: ወከመሂ: ተሐደሰ ኩሉ::112 In the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, one God, God Our God, I praise the greatness and honour of the Sabbath of Christians as God her creator honoured her and made her honourable and great holiday, He praised and blessed her and said to her ‘you are my mercy to the children of men, means of salvation, and in you our Lord rose from the dead;’ and the whole creation has been renewed in her blessings.

The prayer of Lalibäla also mentions tabot: And for this reason, I pleaded and made an Ark and called its name the Sabbath of the Christians hoping for His mercifulness; sinner and transgressor, I your servant Lalibela, have mercy on me and bless me, and do not hold against me my transgressions and offenses, those that are covert as well as overt [....] O my Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen me [...] As David said, ‘this is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.’ And hoping your clemency, I entreated the Ark and I called it Sabbath of Baye Feleke, Questions about the Kibre Negest (Addis Ababa: Artistic Printing Enterprise, n.d.), 44–49. He claims that the inscriptions ‘engraved on the panels of the altar’ were copied for him by an official of the church, Afä Mämə’hər Alebachew Retta. There is a gädl of Lalibäla (in J. Perruchon, Vie de Lalibala, roi d'éthiopie: texte éthiopien et traduction française. Paris 1892), which is probably similar to a copy which Alvarez claimed to have accessed (Alvarez, Narrative, 121). The gädl might have been written in the later centuries, though. For a good look at the churches and some aspects of the legends of Lalibela, see Marilyn E. Heldman, ‘Legends of Lālibalā: The Development of an Ethiopian Pilgrimage Site’, in RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics, 27 (1995), 25–38. 112 Quoted by Baye Feleke, Questions, 48. 111

4. FROM THE BIBLE IN AKSUM TO THE ARK IN LALIBELA 179 the Christians. Let your mercifulness dwell here at which the Ark dwell [... as we] calling your name at the place which that Ark dwells each week [...] Count me with those that stand on your right hand side and introduce me, your servant Lalibela, into the Sabbath of Sabbath [i.e., eternal life] and give a time of rest of honour and of life for your servant Lalibela [...]113

If we recognise this prayer as a production of the haṣani Lalibäla himself and not a later writing ascribed to him, it demonstrates that the prevalent understanding at the time of the Zagʷe, at least among the clergy whom Lalibäla may well represent,114 already included some theological development regarding the tabot, or replica of the Ark of the Covenant.115 The document is a unique witness, for it gives an account of the first attested mention of a tabot being dedicated to a particular name, Christian Sabbath;116 indeed, documents

113

Ibid., 44–46; the writer presents both the Gə‘əz copy and a translation of the prayers of Emperor Lalibäla. 114 Some of the Zagʷe dynasty rulers hold political power as well as priestly roles. 115 As discussed previously (Chapter 4). 116 Beginning from the Aksumite era, it seems that the local churches were named after a Christian saint or after a saint that established the monastery/local church (ex. Ṣəyon, Abba Gärima....). We have no information whatsoever as to whether the tabot was consecrated or not during the Aksumite era, a tradition that seems to have flourished during the Zagʷe and to have become highly institutionalised during the ‘Solomonic’ era. The recent studies by Marilyn E. Heldman (on ‘Tabot’) and Emmanuel Fritsch (on ‘Tabot: Mänbärä tabot’ [the ‘seat, stand, throne of the tabot’]), both in Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, provide little chronological investigation regarding the presence of tabot in the church; Heldman starts with a reference of the Alvarez’s sixteenth-century writings (discussed in this book); Fritsch provide an ambiguous ‘tentative chronology’, which puts Manbärä Tabot in Mika’el Amba and Lalibäla churches as belonging to the ‘second stage’ development of its types and forms (see entries ‘Tabot’ and ‘Tabot: Mänbärä tabot’ in EA Vol. 4 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag), 802–807).

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produced within a few decades after this period report that the tabot also assumed a cardinal role in the liturgy of the Ethiopian Church.117 Another gädl (which was probably produced a century later) also mentions the tabot during the Zagʷe era. At the death of haṣani Lalibäla, a power struggle appears to have broken out between his son Yətbaräk and another prince named Nä’akʷəto-Lä’ab (a nephew of Lalibäla and probably the son of Harbə, a Zagʷe king deposed by Lalibäla).118 Nä’akʷəto-Lä’ab assumed the throne temporarily but finally lost his rule, defeated by Yətbaräk. He escaped, and his chronicler writes that Yətbaräk accuses Nä’akʷəto-Lä’ab of taking the ‘kingdom before, and now […] hiding in a cave with [...] tabot of Ṣəyon.’119 It seems that the tradition of reliance on the help of a tabot (which is also a tradition of the contemporary EOC) was well established in this era. The comment of thirteenth-century historian ‘Abū Ṣāliḥ’120 on tabot celebration in Ethiopia also shines an interesting light on the subject: The Ark of the Covenant is placed upon the altar, but is not so wide as the altar; it is as high as the knee of a man, and is overlaid with gold; and upon its lid there are crosses of gold; and there are five precious stones upon it, one at each of the four corners, and one in the middle.121

‘Abū Ṣāliḥ’ relates that the Ark received solemn regard during a typical celebration in which the relic was carried by the ‘sons of a Jew.’ If the report by ‘Abū Ṣāliḥ’ is accurate, which remains difficult to ascerOn the tabot presence in each parish, manuscripts after the thirteenth century clearly show a similar trend almost throughout the kingdom. For a specific report, see Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 111. 118 ‘Gli atti di Re Na’akueto La’-ab’ in Annuario dell’ Instituto Universitario di Napoli nuova serie 2. C. Conti Rossini (ed.) (1943), 118–151; in Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 62. 119 ‘Gli atti di Re Na’akueto La’-ab’ (quoted in Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 64; ‘the reference is to the cave church of Qoqhinna’). 120 See Chapter 1. 121 Abū Ṣāliḥ, The Churches, 287–288. 117

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181

tain, this reading poses some additional questions regarding the development of the tradition surrounding the ‘Ark of the Covenant’, which the Ethiopians had acquired at least by the thirteenth century.122 Is this the actual Old Testament Ark of the Covenant, arrived in Ethiopia? Or an object related to or believed to be ‘an Ark’, which likely came with the Ḥimyarite Jews? Or is this a unique object growing out of the Coptic tradition of the ‘Covenant Box’, theologised to include ideas of the Old Testament Ark of the Covenant on the basis of the Himyarite relic? The amalgam of the last two seems more probable, although, as shown above, there is insurmountable obscurity surrounding the earliest history of Ethiopia to determine this. Whatever the case, ‘Abū Ṣāliḥ’ reports the solemn procession of the ‘Ark of the Covenant’ during this period, offering a detailed description: The Abyssinians possess [the Ark of the Covenant…]. The liturgy is celebrated upon the Ark four times in the year, within the palace of the king; namely on the feast of the great Nativity, on the feast of the glorious Baptism, on the feast of the holy Resurrection, and on the feast of the illuminating Cross […;] a canopy is spread over it when it is taken out from [its own] church to the church which is in the place of the king [..].123

This indeed suggests that the concept of ‘the powerful tabot’ had already developed before the thirteenth century (a very similar belief is held among the members of the contemporary EOC that regards the tabot as a divine medium that protects, delivers, and brings provision). Interestingly, the king of Al-Mukurrah also possessed the Ark of Noah: The king of Al-Muḳurrah, who is an Abyssinian, and is an orthodox king, is a Great King among the kings of his country, because he has an extensive kingdom […] he is the fourth of the kings of the earth, and no king on earth is strong enough to reThedistinction between the Ark of the Covenant tabot and the tabot/ṣəlat (of local churches) is noted above. 123 Abū Ṣāliḥ, The Churches, 288 122

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Since ‘Abū Ṣāliḥ’ shares the same Orthodox Christian faith with the king, his exaggeration about the king’s power is understandable. He mentions two Arks, raising the question as to whether the Ark of Noah was a replica of ‘the Ark of the Covenant.’ The reported relationship between the king and Abyssinia (Ethiopia)—via his ethnicity—may suggest the continuity of the Aksumite-Nubian relationship (which commenced in the fourth century) and the influence of the Ethiopian church in the development of some traditional expressions, such as the tabot in Mukurrah’s church. The prominence given to Sunday, according to the report by ‘Abū Ṣāliḥ’, is also striking. The report indicates that a king of the Zagʷe Dynasty held Sunday in high regard: ‘When the king of Abyssinia wishes to make the tour of his country, he spends a whole year in going round it, travelling on all days except Sundays and festivals of the Lord, until he returns to his capital city.’125 We know that after the fourteenth century, an argument on the importance of the observance of Sabbath in addition to the Christian Sabbath took centre stage in theological discussion in Ethiopia. Can we then assume that there had already been concern about the prominence of the Christian Sabbath, Sunday, among Ethiopians before this period? Is this a conscious distinction between Sunday and the other days, including Sabbath? If the story is to be trusted, the devotion of the emperor to the glory of Sunday may show an earlier attempt to theologise aspects of the ‘Christian Sabbath’, unless one argues that it is simply emphasised by ‘Abū Ṣāliḥ’ out of his own concern to highlight the prominence of Sunday. What is important at this stage is to note the possible implication this ‘Sunday-only’ view provides to the main debate on the Sabbath among later Ethiopian scholars.126

124

Ibid., 286.

125 Ibid., 285.

126 Chapter 5.

4. FROM THE BIBLE IN AKSUM TO THE ARK IN LALIBELA 183 The ‘Israelite’ Zagʷe Kings ‘Abū Ṣāliḥ’ not only mentions the celebration of tabot and the sacredness of Sunday during the time of the Zagʷe, but he also gives a description of the identity of the priests and the kings. He wrote that ‘the Ark is attended and carried by a large number of Israelites descended from the family of the prophet David, who are white and red in complexion, with red hair.’127 The Ark of the Covenant was looked after by the Israelites. Interestingly, ‘Abū Ṣāliḥ’ also attempts to connect the heritage of the Zagʷe to that of Moses and Aaron of the Old Testament: ‘It is said that the Negus was white and red of complexion, with red hair, and so are all his family to the present day; and it is said that he was of the family of Moses and Aaron, on account of the coming of Moses into Abyssinia.’128 He wrote that they then belong to this family on the basis that ‘Moses married the king’s daughter.’129 In contrast to this, Sergew assumes that the Israel-Zagʷe relation, as narrated by ‘Abū Ṣāliḥ’, is a myth created by the Zagʷe in an attempt to ‘refute’ the allegation that they were not of Israelite descent; he assumes that they therefore created yet another tradition highly connected to the Kəbrä Nägäśt: To justify their legitimacy as a dynasty with Solomonic origins as well, they recounted another legend. When the Queen of Sheba went to Jerusalem she was accompanied by many maids, one of whom Solomon knew before the Queen on the same night. On their return, both the Queen and the maid gave birth to boys on the same day on Ethiopian territory. The Queen’s son was called Menilik while the child of the maid was later named Zage ዛገ.130

The claim vaguely echoes the writer of the colophon of the Kəbrä Nägäśt, which portrays the Zagʷe as ‘non-Israelite’ usurpers: And God neglected to have it translated and interpreted [Kebrä Nägäst] into the speech of ABYSSINIA. And when I had pon127 Abū Ṣāliḥ, The 128 Ibid., 288.

129 Ibid., 288.

Churches, 288

130 Sergew, Ancient, 241.

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JEWISH CULTURAL ELEMENTS dered this—Why did not ’ABAL‛EZ and ABALFAROG who edited (or, copied) the book translate it? I said this: It went out in the days of ZÂGUÂ, and they did not translate it because this book says: Those who reign not being ISRAELITES are transgressors of the Law. Had they been of the kingdom of ISRAEL they would have edited (or, translated) it. And it was found in NÂZRÊT.131

Sergew’s reflection is based on the account of the Kəbrä Nägäśt, which possibly alludes to the story of Sarah and Hagar as presented in the account of the Book of Genesis132 and may play upon the legitimacy of both the descendants of the queen and those of the maid based on the fact that they shared the same patriarch, one de jure and the other de facto. Sergew’s claim exhibits some chronological fallacy, and thus the potential antecedents of this story are unsubstantiated for many reasons. It is difficult to understand why the legitimate Zagʷe rulers would ascribe the lineage of the Queen to their competitors while relating their own ancestry with that of the ‘maid.’133 In addition, we must assume that the writing of ‘Abū Ṣāliḥ’ most probably reports Ethiopian events before the thirteenth century having the ‘Israelite’ Zagʷe’s as the center with legitimacy to rule. In this

The Queen of Sheba and her only son Meneyelek (I), 229. The final chapter of the book (chapter 117) mentions the glory of the Aksumite kings of the sixth century, whom the writer depicts as descendants of the son of the tenth-century BCE Israelite king Solomon (Ibid., 227). This is no doubt a clue as to why the Za were considered as usurpers; in line with this are the differences between them and the ‘Semitised’ Təgre- and Təgrəgññaspeaking population (in the north) and the Amhara (in the south): ‘Essentially based on this linguistic difference, the Zagwe kings have been dismissed, in the dominant traditions of their political enemies, as an alien and impious group of adventurers’ (Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 53, 57). 132 The story of Sarah and Hagar in Genesis 16 and 21. 133 Marrassini, ‘Kəbrä Nägäśt’, 365–6. 131

4. FROM THE BIBLE IN AKSUM TO THE ARK IN LALIBELA 185 context, any attempt to write/compile the Kəbrä Nägäśt134—which is certainly religio-political propaganda—is an attempt to appropriate a similar story to that of the Zagʷe, not the reverse. Understandably, the producer(s) of the Kəbrä Nägäśt aimed to undermine the already established legitimacy of power of the Zagʷe and then usurp the kingdom. If the ‘original’ Coptico-Arabic version of the narratives detailing the Israelite descent of the Ethiopian kings existed, both the Zagʷe’s and the original composer of the Kəbrä Nägäśt had access to a single written or oral tradition as a source for the claim of the Israelite descent of the kings. It seems possible that it was the fourteenthcentury compiler of the Kəbrä Nägäśt who creatively manipulated the story to create a pro-North (then later pro-South) Semiticised religio-political agenda in order to legitimise a dynasty they aspired to establish. Thus the Kəbrä Nägäśt’s construction of the ‘illegitimacy’/usurpation of the Zagʷe seems to reflect the historical perspective of the fourteenth century, which was formulated after the demise of the Zagʷe kingdom. As will be discussed in the next chapter, the compiler of the religio-political propaganda in the Kəbrä Nägäśt sought to promote thirteenth-century usurpation by skilfully positing the failure of the Zagʷe in a framework of legitimacy. The colophon of the Kəbrä Nägäśt is admittedly riddled with problematic assertions and is rightly scrutinized.135 What if, however, it could be taken as an important source of information reflecting why they would reject the Solomon-Sheba story? Obscurities of all kind shroud the period, but one can surmise that consideration of 134

It is argued that the book might have been written between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries (cf. Muth, ‘Abū Ṣāliḥ’, in EA Vol. 1, 54; Witakowski, ‘Coptic and Ethiopic Historical Writing’, 144). 135 For example, as already noted, the colophon claims that Kəbrä Nägäśt is a translation; such an assertion can only be considered relevant if any original text of the same content exists (in Coptic or Arabic). What can be concluded now is that the Kəbrä Nägäśt was compiled in the fourteenth century to legitimise a northern (Təgrayan) opposition against the Amhara rule (later known as the ‘Solomonic dynasty’) (cf. ‘Marrassini, ‘Kəbrä Nägäśt’, 366–367).

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the story for the Zagʷe—who were ‘Israelites’ accorded with the ‘Ark’—means that though their political affairs were in internal turmoil, simply an accommodation of another version of Israeliteness would add little or nothing to their rule, as they were rulers over the New Jerusalem.136 It is also possible that they found the newer story and claims of the Kəbrä Nägäśt—particularly its story of a purloined Ark of the Covenant, which contradicts their reading of biblical tradition as presented in 4 Esdras 9:18–25 and the teaching of St Yared (as presented in dəggʷa—hard to credit. Since a tabot tradition had already developed among the Zagʷe, the claims of the Kəbrä Nägäśt seemed an implausible idea. It is thus likely that had the ‘original version’ of the Kəbrä Nägäśt been known to them, they might have perceived it, in much the same way as a contemporary reader, as a legendary literary production. The fall of the Zagʷe became evident in c. 1270, but the military and political scenario of the time explains beyond what has been narrated of the Kəbrä Nägäśt. The Last Decades of the Lasta Dynasty The Lasta/Zagʷe Dynasty lost dominance in the second half of the thirteenth century. The collapse of the regime may not be fully attributed to the military might of the Amhara troops that took the last king of the Zagʷe’s by surprise.137 In spite of the success this dynasty had in maintaining Christian tradition and civilisation, as particularly expressed in the architecture of the eleven ‘rock-hewn churches’ of Lalibäla, it seems anti-Zagʷe movements persisted nationally among the ‘Semitic’-speaking peoples. This sentiment may have affected some monasteries in the north and south, causing some abbots to take a stance in opposition to the Zagʷe and imbuing the movement with religious fervour. The last two decades of the Zagʷe era thus seem to have been a time of growth in religious nationalism among the Ethiopian clergy as they apparently sought a lasting solution for the ongoing political strife that led them to favour regime136 Sergew, Ancient, 276. 137

The apparent tension between the Zagʷe and the Semitic-languagespeaking people is mentioned above.

4. FROM THE BIBLE IN AKSUM TO THE ARK IN LALIBELA 187 change.138 The leading monasteries in Təgre, particularly those of Aksum, Däbrä Damo, and Däbrä Libanos, had previously expressed some discontentment with the Zagʷe that affected the far South. Däbrä Libanos in Shemäzana in Eritrea, established in the area of the ancient centres of Semitic civilisations in Ethiopia, ‘was rich and influential and a centre of continuing Zagwé resistance.’139 According to Kaplan, ‘the anti-Zagwe attitudes professed by these Tigrean clergy were spread via their disciples to other parts of the realm. One such disciple, the Amharan monk Eyäsus Mo’a, played a crucial role in the overthrow of the Zagwe dynasty.’140 The Zagʷe had been engaged in numerous wars against the chieftains of the Təgrəgñña- and Təgre-speaking north, as well as of the Amhara in the south, who were often in revolt.141 In addition to the impact of internal struggle for power among the members of the ruling family,142 the religio-political anti-Zagʷe movements finally led to the down fall of the dynasty. In about 1270, a military power that was supported mainly by the Amharas from the Shoa plateau in the 138

It is reported that as soon as he took power, Yəkunno Amlak ordered a land grant for Däbrä Libanos and St. Stephen’s monastery in Hayq, Wollo (Donald Crummey, Land and Society in the Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia, From the Thirteenth to the Twentieth Century (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2000), 25). Both monasteries were among the most influential learning centres that exerted continuing resistance to the Zagʷe Dynasty. 139 Crummey, Land and Society, 25. 140 Steven Kaplan, The Monastic Holy Man and the Christianization of Early Solomonic Ethiopia (Franz Steiner Verlag Wiesabaden Gmbh, 1984), 19–20. Other factors also strengthened the Amhara over the Lasta: the growth of Islamic states in the vast areas south of the Amhara had much benefit for the economic development of the Amhara region (Trimingham, Islam in Ethiopia, 62–69). 141 The two ethnic groups belong to the so-called Semitic stock (see Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 53–68). 142 Sergew, Ancient, 265; the internal strife even led Lalibäla to replace the Agäw officials with the Amharas, a decision which no doubt contributed to the later empowerment of the Amhara and the eventual downfall of the regime.

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southern part of the Zagʷe kingdom in the Amhara region, led by a chieftain named Yəkunno Amlak, was able to establish a new Christian dynasty in Ethiopia after successfully defeating the power of the Zagʷe army and killing its last monarch, Yətbaräk.143 Nəguś Yəkunno Amlak (ca. 1270–1285) became the first monarch of the Amhara Dynasty—a dynasty perhaps better known as the ‘Solomonic’ Dynasty espoused by the Kəbrä Nägäśt.

CONCLUSION In spite of the inhibiting lacuna in historical records, we are able to establish that the sixth to thirteenth centuries were essential to the development of ‘Judaic’ culture in Aksum. We note that circumcision was Christianised into the Ethiopian Church by the tenth century if not in the earliest Aksumite period. The presence of Jews at Aksum, precipitated by Kaleb’s war, as well as their possible impact on the society, can also be affirmed in this era. A relic assumed to be the Ark of the Covenant (or an object that represents it) might have been transported to Aksum from Ḥimyar, potentially becoming one of the theological sources for the establishment of tabot-centred worship in Ethiopia. This unique worship had presumably already emerged much earlier than the thirteenth century, most probably beginning in the sixth century, based on an amalgamation of at least two traditions: the tabot/ ṣəlat tradition as handed down by the Coptic Orthodox Church and the idea of the Old Testament Ark of the Covenant. Subsequent theological reflection based on these ideas suggests that the EOC’s later tabot and tabot/ṣəlat culture is likely a production of Coptico-biblical cultural interaction; or to put it correctly, it emerged through the union of Coptico-biblical-Ethiopian 143

For an account of the struggle for power and the final establishment of the Amhara dynasty, see Taddesse Church and State in Ethiopia, 64–68. Ethiopian sources ‘systematically supressed’ his name from hagiographies (ibid., n. 1) in the form of damnatio memoriae. The Zagʷe’s tried to maintain the status quo, for ‘they had crowned another king, Dilnada’, and after some times also a king named Yikwinat (ibid., 68); but they failed to keep up with the political and religious sentiment for change.

4. FROM THE BIBLE IN AKSUM TO THE ARK IN LALIBELA 189 customs. This was further developed during the Solomonide dynasty. We have also noted the mutual cultural influence between Jewish and Ethiopian communities, with the possibility that some converted to Christianity while others retained their unique cultural identity. The ‘pagan’ queen(s) said to have caused the downfall of the haṣani’s kingdom could possibly be of Jewish origin, as suggested by Guidi. In the absence of any evidence to the contrary, we can argue further that a Jewish colony must have already been established after the sixth century and might have challenged the Ethiopian Christian kingdom before and after the tenth century, primarily in the person of queen Bani al–Hamwiyah (and her revolts that are probably related to a Jewish movement) and then in the stories of an ‘Ethiopian’ Jewish colony represented by Eldad Ha-Dani and of followers of Judaism in medieval Ethiopia during the era of the ‘Solomonides’ (as confirmed by many historical sources). The Zagʷe’s emergence, most probably in (or perhaps before) the eleventh century, suggests the development of the ‘Judaic’ heritage in the form of an Israelite ethos of the king and the claim for the presence of ‘Ark of the Covenant.’ Shrouded as it is with many historical obscurities, it is nonetheless clear that it was within these vibrant multi-cultural contexts that the ‘Semitic’ Amhara Dynasty toppled the Lasta/Zagʷe kingdom. The Amhara Dynasty, which later claimed to be ‘Solomonic’, successfully brought the full thrust of a ‘Jewish’ heritage into Ethiopia in a successful merger of the Ethiopian religio-political system, as demonstrated in the following chapters.

CHAPTER 5: FROM ክብረ ነገሥት (KƎBRÄ NÄGÄŚT) TO መጽሐፈ ብርሃን (MÄṢḤAFÄ BƎRHAN): THRIVING ‘JUDAIC’ IDENTITY IN THE ETHIOPIAN CHURCH DEVELOPMENTS OF ‘JUDAIC’ THEMES IN ETHIOPIC LITERATURES AFTER THE 13TH CENTURY A few literary and historical sources have highlighted the historical construction of the quest for understanding the EOC’s ancient ‘Judaic’ heritage until the thirteenth century. Even though the period between the sixth century and the time of the Zagʷe remains significant, the existing evidence, as has already been noted, is not able to clear up ambiguities surrounding the development of ‘Judaic’ characters. In comparison to the absence of additional sources during this era, the development during the medieval period is portrayed much more clearly in the various ‘Judaic’ themes expressed in copious Ethiopic literature, mainly translated from Arabic sources and produced by Ethiopian church scholars between the 13th and 16th centuries.1 These phases highlight the multi-layered development in the continued formation of ‘Jewish’ cultural elements in Ethiopia. 1

As we have seen above in Chapter 3, many books have been translated to Ethiopic during Aksumite era (important discussion is already provided here on a few pertinent writings; as a general note, many of those books from Aksumite era probably have no or little contribution to the Jewish cultural development in the EOC).

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The first phase includes the Kəbrä Nägäśt and other canonical books. In addition to the biblical and related works that were translated from Arabic into Gə‘əz during the earliest period of the socalled Solomonic era of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, numerous texts were also produced locally by Ethiopian writers. The importance of the Kəbrä Nägäśt starts in the fourteenth century and lies mainly in its impact on the teachings of the EOC and in its shaping of the ‘Judaic’ cultural heritage of Christian Ethiopia. The translation of additional canonical books from Arabic sources—including Senodos, Didəsqəlya, and Qälemənṭos; (‘The Book of Clement’)— also sets a benchmark for the dissemination of ‘Judaic’ elements in Ethiopia.2 A century or so after the translation of these important canonical materials, in the fifteenth century, there ensued another phase of the revival of indigenous Christian writings, as represented by books like Ṭomarä təsbət, Mäṣḥafä bərhan, Mäṣḥafä məśṭir, andTä’ammərä Maryam, written by Ethiopian kings (e.g. aṣe Zär’a Ya‘əqob, r. 1434–1468) and formidable clerics like Abba Giyorgis ZäGasəč̣č̣a (d. 1427) and others. The writings of this period were primarily initiated within the context of theological debates, discussions, and reflections among EOC’s scholars. More significantly, debates on the Trinity that involved almost all theologians of the church, together with the rivalry between the Betä Ewosṭatewos and the Betä Täklä Haymanot on the issue of Sabbath observance culminating in the Council of Däbrä Məṭmaq (ca. 1450), contributed to the production of these writings. The growth of Gə‘əz literature in the fifteenth century continued until the end of the sixteenth. Within this same period, books from mainly Arabic sources added to the range of Ethiopian literature via the Alexandrian Orthodox Church. This can be referred to 2

The translation of numerous books in the fourteenth century is ascribed mainly to Abba Salama II, the Coptic prelate in Ethiopia (1348–1388), who was also known as ‘አባ ሰላማ መተርጕም/‘Abba Sälama Mätärəgᵂǝm (‘the translator [of the Scriptures]’); alongside his translation work, he might have also made revisions to ‘the existing Bible translations’ (Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible, 35).

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as the third phase in the production of Ethiopian literature in relation to the development of the ‘Judaic’ heritage of the EOC. As with the earlier translations, these later translations (such as the Fətḥa Nägäśt and the Haymanotä Abäw) were also translations of doctrinal books that aimed to guide the theological and practical life of the church. This is further strengthened by the formalisation and compilation of the Ethiopic andəmta commentary, tradition mainly on biblical and doctrinally significant books. In light of the debates and factions among the EOC’s scholars that almost challenged the church, the translation of dogmatic writings to add to the repertoire of Ethiopian literature likely indicates that these writings were intended to play a role of arbitration.3 The brief presentation of some of the earliest literature clearly shows progress in the formation of a ‘Judaic’ identity in Ethiopia.4 This chapter (together with chapter 6) demonstrates that these stages in literary development are the basis for understanding the main stages in the evolution in ‘Judaic’ heritage that shaped the EOC’s ‘Jewish’ elements. This has been established through studying the literature in this era that successfully defined and established the EOC’s ‘Judaic’ character, blending ancient ethos with religionationalism and forging the past with the contemporary. The following analysis shows that it was in the first two phases (the compilation of the Kəbrä Nägäśt and the canonical books like Senodos) that the EOC’s teachings in general, and the ‘Judaic’ heritage of the nation in particular, were decisively implanted.

3

See, for example, Chapter 6. The impact of the literature produced by Ethiopians is discussed in relation to Betä Ewosṭatewos, preceded by brief presentation of the growth of Betä Ǝsra’el.

4

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ENFORCING ‘JUDAIC’ HERITAGE: COM M A NDING THE

I NNOVA TION

Kəbrä Nägäśt and Ethiopia’s Solomonic State: God’s Will Done in Ethiopia The Kəbrä Nägäśt can rightly be regarded as one of the books that shaped the religious and political ethos of post-fourteenth-century Ethiopia.5 It has received enormous attention by many Ethiopists hailing from a wide range of disciplines.6 Two very important but interrelated themes dominate the Kəbrä Nägäśt:7 it asserts that the glory of God departed from Israel as the Ark of the Covenant was taken to Ethiopia; and, as a consequence of this, the divine will sealed the supremacy of the Ethiopian kings. As discussed below, this latter theme dominated Ethiopian religio-political life until the second half of the twentieth century. The divine will attested in the Kəbrä Nägäśt served as the most important aspect of identity formation in Ethiopia by promoting God’s choice of this holy nation as the favoured new Israelite kingdom: And DĔMÂTĔYÔS (the Patriarch TIMOTHEUS (?) who sat from 511 to 517), the Archbishop of RÔM (i.e., CONSTANTINOPLE, BYZANTIUM), said, “I have found in the Church of [Saint] SOPHIA among the books and the royal treasures a manuscript [which stated] that the whole kingdom of the world [belonged] to the Emperor of RÔM and the Emperor of ETHIOPIA.” […] From the middle of JERUSALEM, and from 5 Marrassini, ‘Kəbrä Nägäśt’, 366–367. 6

Ibid. Note that numerous writings on Ethiopia from the disciplines of religion, history, politics, and anthropology have discussed the impact and influence of the Kəbrä Nägäśt. In previous chapters, I have already presented some important reflections on the Kəbrä Nägäśt (see Chapters 3 and 4). 7 Scholars now understand that the existing Arabic version of the Kəbrä Nägäśt is very different from that of the Ethiopic and is very brief as compared to the latter. For a translation of an Arabic version, see The Queen of Sheba and her only son Meneyelek (I), p. lxiv- xlvi. .

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the north thereof to the south-east is the portion of the Emperor of RÔM; and from the middle of JERUSALEM from the north thereof to the south and to WESTERN INDIA is the portion of the Emperor of ETHIOPIA.8

This divine will for Ethiopia’s supremacy over the whole world is reasoned-out in terms of the law of the Old Testament that assigns a double portion to the first born: ‘The Emperor of RÔM is the son of SOLOMON, and the Emperor of ETHIOPIA is the firstborn and eldest son of SOLOMON.’9 The supremacy of the king of Ethiopia received ‘more glory, and grace, and majesty than for all the other kings of the earth because of the greatness of ZION, the Tabernacle of the Law of God, the heavenly ZION.’10 This allocation of the world among the heirs of Solomon was claimed to be made in Jerusalem in the presence of an archbishop who ‘was to make ready offerings and they were to make offerings, and they were to establish the Faith in love, and they were to give each other gifts and the salutation of peace, and they were to divide between them the earth from the half of JERUSALEM.’11 In these, one could safely conclude that the book has unprecedented impact on the religio-political ethos of Orthodox Christians for many centuries. The Kəbrä Nägäśt suggests that Ethiopia regained its ‘Solomonic’ heritage after the fall of the Zagʷe.12 The claim that the clergy was involved in the regime change and in bringing the dynasty ‘from usurpers to the legitimate ruler’, which could have been an innova8 Ibid., 16–17 (Chapter 19 and 20). 9

Ibid., 17 (Chapter 20); it affirms the Israelite heritage of the Ethiopian king and tries to clear Mənilək from any conspiracy involving purloining the Ark: ‘Whilst they were here his companions took the opportunity of revealing to DAVID the fact that they had carried off the Tabernacle ZION, and that it was there with them. AZARYAS told ELMEYAS to “beautify and dress our Lady”, and when DAVID II saw her he rose up and skipped like a young sheep, and danced before the Tabernacle even as did his grandfather DAVID I (2 Sam. vi. 14)’ (ibid.). 10 Ibid., 228 (Chapter 117) 11 Ibid., 227. 12 Accordingly, the Aksumite kings were also considered as ‘Solomonides.’

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tion at best, is ascribed to the diplomatic work of the clergy of the church. As Ethiopian traditions report in the Gädlä Täklä Haymanot, notable clerics played significant roles in the dynastic struggle, headed by Abba Täklä Haymanot, deposing the ‘illegitimate’ rulers of Zagʷe in order that a God-ordained (‘Solomonic’ and ‘Aksumite’) dynasty could (re)take the royal leadership. According to this source, God told Täklä Haymanot that he had returned the throne to Yəkunno Amlak, the son of David (‘ዛሬስ ለዳዊት ልጅ ለይኩኖ አምላክ የጌታዉን መንግሥት መልሼለታለሁ የልጅ ልጁ ይገዛል’); and in effect, there was ‘peace, love, and unity’ in the kingdom following the investiture of Yəkunno Amlak as the new king (‘በነገሠም ጊዜ በየሀገሩ ሁሉ ጸጥታ ፍቅር አንድነት ሆነ’).13 The story of this gädl, written no earlier than the fifteenth century, seems to have been developed by the disciples of Täklä Haymanot to demonstrate the significance of their master and the importance of Däbrä Asbo (later named Däbrä Libanos) in Shäwa, the monastery claimed to be founded by the same saint.14 The credibility of the story is further scrutinised by a scholar who notes that Täklä Haymanot ‘was still in the early stages of his monastic career in 1270, and that role which he is said to have played in bringing Yəkunno Amlak to power is only legendary.’15 Even 13

ገድለ ተክለ ሃይማኖት (‘Gädlä Täklä Haymanot’) (Addis Ababa: Tensae ZaGubae Printing House, 1947 EC), 83; see Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 161. Another Ethiopian tradition, Bə’əlä nägäśt, details the ‘fourterm’ peaceful power transfer from ‘the usurpers’ Zagʷe to the ‘legitimate Solomonic’ kings (see Sergew, Ancient, 286–7). 14 Regarding the several recensions of the gädl, see Denis Nosnitsin, ‘Täklä Haymanot’ in EA Vol.4, 831–833. Ephraim Isaac posited that Täklä Haymanot collaborated with Yəkunno Amlak to overthrow the ‘old established Ethiopian dynasty’ (‘An Obscure Component’, 249–250), which seems unlikely. 15 Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 162, n. 2. On the life of Täklä Haymanot, see The Life of Takla Haymanot in the Version of Dabra Libanos and the Miracles of Takla Haymanot in the Version of Dabra Libanos, and the Book of the Riches of Kings, trans. E. Wallis Budge (London 1906). The young age of Täklä Haymanot during the establishment of the Amhara Dynasty in 1270 is one of the reasons Conti Rossini suspects the

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though this tradition lacks substantial historical support to its claims and simply forwards the clerical preference for Amhara rule over that of the Zagʷe’s, the Gädlä Täklä Haymanot, written more than two centuries after the incident, upholds the narrative of the Kəbrä Nägäśt, which denounces the latter as usurpers to the throne of the Solomonids. In light of the internal strife and the struggle for the establishment of the new ‘Solomonic’ dynasty,16 one might claim that the book of the Kəbrä Nägäśt is often wrongly characterised as having an unprecedented impetus for swiftly legitimising the usurpation of the newly founded Amhara dynasty. For many decades, the power struggle after the fall of the Zagʷe dynasty remained a critical contest between the ‘Semitic’ peoples in the north and south—the Təgreyans and the Amhara. The strong Church-State relationship did little in appeasing the northerners’ revolt against the Amharas.17 The resistance of some church scholars to the usurpation of Yəkunno Amlak in about 127018 suggests the change in dynasty was not an easy task at all. This also means that recognition of the Kəbrä Nägäśt among the Ethiopians must not have been an easy process, as some try to depict, which suggests that the process in which the Shebacredibility of the story (a position also forwarded by Taddesse; see Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 67). 16 It is apparent that the Təgrä/Təgrəgñña and Amharic-speaking ‘Semitic’ Christians formed an alliance to overthrow the Zagʷe (Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 64–66), but the power contention between the two must have remained strong. 17 As the language of the king (ልሣነ ንጉሥ/Lesanä negus) become Amharic, the possible growth of distrust seems apparent (Sergew, Ancient, 278–9); on the account of the Zagʷe’s joining with the Təgre army, see Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 68. 18 Merid, ‘Millenarianism’, 165; though it is difficult to reconcile the relationship between a Syrian monk who became the head of the Ethiopian Church during the reign of Yəkunno Amlak (Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 69–72) and the resistance of the Ethiopian clergy (who were possibly faithful to the Coptic Church), the usurpation proved to be not an easy task for the new king.

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Solomon myth was adapted in Ethiopia was more complex than previously thought. Indeed, as compared to the Zagʷe rulers, the Amharan monarch Yəkunno Amlak appears to have taken a different diplomatic stance in trying to appease the clergy, a very important factor in striking the political balance. He no doubt understood the place and influence of the local clergy on the Christian population and proceeded to follow strategies and approach the church with gifts and promises of ample land grants to win the allegiance of celebrated monasteries. He soon bestowed ‘gult land on the monastery of Däbrä Libanos, in Shemazana in Eritrea.’19 He likely also shifted his alliance to the Syrian Church, and apparently a new prelate from the Syrian Church was recognised as the head of the Ethiopian Church in order to control the church’s opposition to the new dynasty.20 However, as the EOC’s alliance shifted back to the Coptic Church sometime in the next few decades,21 this seems to have produced less enduring impact. In light of this, the Amharan rulers of the new dynasty were conscious of the arduous task of establishing legitimacy. This was finally done when the clergy sought to fashion the Kəbrä Nägäśt’s myth to serve the claim of the divinely ordained royalty of the new kingdom by connecting it to a version of the ‘Solomonic’ lineage. This, howCrummey, Land and Society, 25; see Merid, ‘Millenarianism’, 163, 165–6. It seems that influential monasteries in Eritrea were caught in the tension; it was reported that they also received land grants from the struggling Zagʷe’s last two kings, ‘Dilnada’ and ‘Yikwinat’. See Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 68; see also Jean Doresse, Ethiopia. Elsa Coul(tr.) (London: Elek Books, 1967). 20 Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 69. There may have been Egyptian Coptic Church opposition to the usurpation; but according to Taddesse, the new king indeed ‘repeatedly asked for a new Egyptian bishop who never sent from Cairo’ but was not successful. This ‘may have induced him to look for a prelate from elsewhere’ (ibid., 69–70). Such an attempt was not new; it is reported that a Zagʷe king, Harbe, when his plan to make the Ethiopian church autocephalous failed, requested the Syrian Patriarch to ordain a bishop for Ethiopia (also, Sergew, Ancient, 254). 21 See below regarding the role of Täklä Haymanot on this. 19

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ever, must have taken a few decades to disseminate, mainly from the time of the most successful king of the Amhara dynasty, neguś Amdä Ṣəyon (1314–1344).22 During this process, new developments began to reshape the Ethiopian religio-political ethos. Although it finally served in ‘legitimising’ the new Amhara dynasty, in fact the creation of the Kəbrä Nägäśt was not among the Amhara but the Təgre/Təgrəgñña-speaking north.23 After the fall of the Zagʷe dynasty, the compiler (perhaps represented by the ‘Godloving governor YÂ‛EBÎKA ’EGZÎ’Ĕ’24) may have aimed to connect himself (and a group of people he apparently represented) with the earliest glory of the Aksumite kingdom to seek legitimacy in the midst of a power struggle between the north and the south. Interestingly, the last ‘Solomonic king’ mentioned by the Kəbrä Nägäśt is the Aksumite Gäbrä Mäsqäl, and strikingly, as Marrassini and other scholars have identified, Ya‘əqäbä Ǝgzi’ə was from Təgre, the northern part of the kingdom where the main Aksumite political power was once located.25 This implies that in the midst of such struggle for the throne, a Təgreyan writer, who identified himself with the city of

The Amhara Dynasty (1270–1974), based on the claims of the Kəbrä Nägäśt, was assumed to be ‘Solomonic’, and the kings regarded themselves as inheritors of the Solomonic dynasty and further claimed that the dynasty have been usurped by the Zagʷe’s for a short period of time (in a time gap between the ‘true Solomonides’ of Aksumite kings and the Amhara in Shäwa). 23 Marrassini, ‘Kəbrä Nägäśt’, 366–367. 24 The Queen of Sheba and her only son Meneyelek (I), 229. 25 The colophon of the book claim that a certain Isaac ‘translated’ the book to Gə‘əz under the order of a ‘God-loving governor YÂ‛EBÎKA ’EGZÎ’ (Ibid., 279). The governor is well known in Ethiopian history during the first decades of the fourteenth century: he was a ruler of Ǝndärta in Təgre, and was ‘appointed some years 1318, was no longer in power in 1322, when he was substituted by Queen Bəlen Saba […]; this is why the ultimate date proposed for the completion of the K.n. is 1321’ (Marrassini, ‘Kəbrä Nägäśt’, 366, 367). Hubbard, ‘Kebra Nagast’. 22

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Aksum if not with the Aksumite dynasty,26 meticulously produced the Kəbrä Nägäśt as a means of propaganda to forward the Təgreyan superiority. However, the propaganda failed to match the military strength developed in the Amhara region over that of the Təgreyans. The political power struggle contributed to the dissemination of the Kəbrä Nägäśt’s myth, which promises the favour of God on the true inheritors of the Solomonic kingship. The new religiously oriented nationalistic propaganda for supremacy thus perfectly matched the military might of the southerners, particularly that of the Amhara kings like Amdä Ṣəyon, who was one of the most successful of all the Amhara kings. In this aspect, the book was finally destined only to serve Amdä Ṣəyon and his dynasty in later times as he succeeded in plundering the ‘pagan’ territories his successors cherished. The expansion of the Christian kingdom into the once Muslim-dominated regions of the Red Sea coastal area and the southern and eastern frontiers, together with the king’s victorious war in the territories occupied by the Ethiopian Jews, the Betä Ǝsra’el, no doubt gave an impression to both friends and enemies of the new kingdom that this is no less than a sign of the divine will working in Ethiopia. 26

While his Aksumite ethos and the claim for restoration of the Aksumite inheritance might stem from the geographical proximity of Ǝndärta to the capital of the kingdom, the Aksumite rulers may not have been rightly represented by contemporaries of YÂ‛EBÎKA ’EGZÎ, Təgrayans in ethnic terms. For example, Ezana, in his fourth-century inscription, identified himself as ‘[ዔዛና] ወልደ እለ ዐሚዳ ብእስየ [ሐሌ]ን / Ezana the son of Amida the man from [the tribe of ] Halen’. (See DAE, IV, no 8. See also inscription no. 6, 7, 9 and 10.) This may not be identified with any of the surviving ethnic groups in contemporary Ethiopia; moreover, the ‘Adulis inscription’, written in about 150 CE by an Aksumite king, mentions several nations that were subjugated by him, and people living in parts of contemporary Təgray were mentioned as nations brought under his rule. (See Cosmas, Topography, 54–67, and also Chapter 3). Additionally, the linguistic difference between Gə‘əz and Təgre/Təgrəgñña can be presented as a likely evidence for the ethnic difference between Aksumites and the Təgreyans. The power shift towards the other side of the Red Sea and its implication for the demise of the Aksumites is suggested in Chapter 4.

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His successful victories made him a natural heir of the glory of the Aksumite kings destined to ‘rule over the world’ and defeat the rebellious Jews. As a result of this myth, his enemies were now enemies of Ṣəyon, and any resistant to his rule were described as coveting ‘the throne of David’ and accused of posing a threat to the ‘reign of Ṣəyon.’27 The implications were enormous as his success also brought his main competitors, the Təgre, within the fold of his kingdom.28 Indeed, the successive victories of Amdä Ṣəyon are no less than what the Kəbrä Nägäśt promises; thus the military and political power of the south propitiously blended with the northern myth of the Kəbrä Nägäśt. The Ethiopian king was now of Israelite heritage. Aksum was the New Jerusalem. The Ethiopian temporal kingdom was garbed in an eternal divine agenda. The formation of ‘Judaic’ identity attained its apparent zenith among the EOC clergy, particularly among the Kaḥnatä Däbtära, during the time of Amdä Ṣəyon (the impact of which has been farreaching, shaping the culture of Ethiopian Christian society to the 27

Amano, a Muslim rebel who refused to pay tribute to Amdä Ṣəyon, is referred to as ‘a rebel against the king of Ṣiyon’ (Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 249). Only centuries later, the implication of the Kəbrä Nägäśt further reached their grandiose impact: for example, during the reign of Bä‘ədä Maryam (1468–78), the imperial edict ordered only ‘a son of Levi to become a priest or deacon’ in the Ethiopian Church (quoted in Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 232). Probably in the same century, the writers of the Gädl of Täklä Haymanot also ascribed Täklä Haymanot’s ancestry long back to the High Priest Zadok of the tenth century BCE in Israel (ገድለ ተክለ ሃይማኖት, 21). 28 Amdä Ṣəyon became a uniting force in a divided nation by manipulating the situation through his diplomatic and military achievements. As a fulfilment of the great promise and prophecy given through the Kəbrä Nägäśt, he assumed a regnal name, ‘Amdä Ṣəyon/Pillar of Zion’, and was a regular visitor to Maryam Ṣəyon’s church in Aksum. Although a most influential king of Ethiopia, some of his liberal stances on the matter of faith and his unorthodox marital affairs stirred antagonism from some prominent church leaders whom he flogged in public and persecuted (Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 106–9, 183).

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20th century and beyond).29 Historical sources affirm that Amdä Ṣəyon had a plan in which tribally diverse peoples were brought into a single Christian identity:30 From […] cultural realities a ‘national’ destiny was derived and formalized into a literary epic, known as the Kebrä Nägäst, which claimed for Christians, Semitic-speaking Ethiopians the patrimony of biblical Israel. Ethiopia was, quite simply, the New Israel. Its rulers took their regnal names seriously: Amdä S’eyon ‘Pilar of Zion’, Newayä Krestos ‘Possession of Christ’, Zär’a Ya’qob ‘Seed of Jacob’, Bäe’dä Maryam ‘By the Hand of Mary’. Christianity gave Ethiopia’s rulers access to a tradition of social thought, running back to the teachings of St. Paul, which enjoyed submissive behaviour to the powers that be.31

As the story of the Kəbrä Nägäśt was gradually disseminated among the Ethiopian elite, the Zagʷe came to be widely considered as usurpers, exactly in line with what is claimed in the colophon of the Kəbrä Nägäśt. This no doubt minimised any possible opposition from the Agäw side. What is not clear is how the EOC clergy, at least in the Lalibäla area, responded to the move. They may have been weak and thus were forced to reiterate the Kəbrä Nägäśt as it gained recognition in the wider circle of EOC scholars and may have later accepted the status ascribed to them as the descendants of the maid of the Queen of Sheba. As previously mentioned, the presence of a relic that was solemnly celebrated in the same manner as the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament had taken a central place in the worship of the church in earlier times (probably as early as the Zagʷe’s rule).32 Now, in addition to the development regarding the tabot and its efficacy in relation It seems that the ‘full effect’ of the influence of the Kəbrä Nägäśt is not easily realised at this time; in the middle of the fifteenth century, some Stephanite monks seemed to challenge the Solomonic descent of the Ethiopian kings. 30 Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 99. 31 Crummey, Land and Society, 21. 32 See Chapter 4. 29

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to the prayer of the faithful and its protective powers, the idea of ‘a powerful tabot’ was fostered and expanded according to the narratives found in the Kəbrä Nägäśt. Central within the Kəbrä Nägäśt is the claim that the Ark of the Covenant was taken to Aksum from Jerusalem. This legend was accepted and has proven to be enduring. It seems probable, therefore, that in the first half of the fourteenth century, a more developed theology of tabot was established, supported by some Old Testament texts but primarily strengthened by the story of the Kəbrä Nägäśt. This theology encompasses not only the legend of the Ark of the Covenant, but also the tabot in every local church and the ṣəlat (‘the replica’ of the tablets of the Ark of the Covenant)33 considered to possess power to bless and protect. Each tabot (mainly represented by the ṣəlat during ceremonial celebrations) is recognized as a medium in which a powerful God would dispense his might in favour of those who trust in him. The efficacy attributed to it is demonstrated by accounts such as that discovered in the chronicles of Amdä Ṣəyon, where it is reported that the tabot accompanied the king’s army to war: The king [Amdä Ṣəyon] sent [his men] to bring him a tabot from the monastery of Ṣana because he wished to set out on an expedition. They took for him a tabot consecrated in the name of Qīrqos. Having taken this, he went to war and defeated the rebels (who were) his enemies.34

We do not know whether or not this account should be taken as a later addition/edition that aimed to affirm the importance of the power of a tabot, but it remains the first mention of a tabot accompanying a king’s soldiers to a war zone to render divine support. The Kəbrä Nägäśt’s legacy no doubt goes beyond these important developments. It has been noted that it is the earliest manu33

It is noted above that the Covenant Box is a common notion shared with the Copts, though the two concepts do exhibit a few striking differences. As shown next, this is also advised in Senodos, which is an EOC canonical book. 34 Gädlä Yafqirännä-Igzī. I. Wajnberg (tr. and ed.) (Orientalia Cristiana Analecta, no. 106 (Institut pontifical, 1936), 18–22, quoted in Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 190.

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script, at least after the Aksumites, which mentions ኢትዮጵያ (‘Ityopya’) in relation to contemporary Ethiopia.35 Two important developments follow this identification. Firstly, the early translation of the Bible meant that by this time the EOC was fully cognizant of the biblical world. Thus, as soon as the name ‘Ethiopia’ was adopted in connection to Ethiopia proper, it had an impact which is fully evident in the religio-political life of the people, a discussion which often seems to be overlooked by scholars.36 Through the name ‘Ethiopia’, Ethiopians were now able to discover promises from the Bible which directly referenced them: ‘Ethiopia shall stretch her hands to God.’37 The name ‘Ethiopia’ thus helps the Ethiopians to negotiate a unique place in God’s ‘salvation history’ like that of the Jews; and the Kəbrä Nägäśt then affords them even more privilege. Ethiopia and Ethiopians were thus invested with a divinely mandated destiny to receive favour and serve and worship God. In the process of ‘Judaic’ identity formation, biblical figures like the queen of Sheba and the eunuch who was on pilgrimage to Jerusalem (Acts 8) are now considered to have been from Ethiopia proper. Secondly, the adoption of the name ‘Ethiopia’ as found in the Kəbrä Nägäśt had a long-reaching impact on ecclesiastical issues. As noted above, a pseudo-Nicene creed asserts that the ‘Ethiopians’ (probably the Nubians, whose church was also under the custody of the Coptic Church) ‘have no power to create or choose a Patriarch, whose prelate must rather be under the hierarchy of the Patriarch of

35

As noted above, the term used in the ‘original’ sixth-century writing(s)/sources of the Kəbrä Nägäśt to name Ethiopia is unknown. It is also noted that, as later writings from after the twelfth century show, the Alexandrian Coptic Church used ‘Habesh’. It is probable that the name ‘Ethiopia’ was used by the Zagʷe in relation to Ethiopia, but there seems no extant record to substantiate this claim. 36 An exception to this claim is what we can read as a passing remark in an article written by an Ethiopian historian Merid Wolde Aregai. See his ‘Millenarianism’. 37 Psalm 68:31. The NRSV reads, ‘Let Ethiopia hasten to stretch out its hands to God.’

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Alexandria.’38 Due to the mediation of Täklä Haymanot, who negotiated the recognition of the rulers of the Amhara Dynasty by the Coptic Church in about 1300 CE,39 the Coptic Church once again became the custodian of the EOC. This, however, came about at great price. Two unrelated issues merged to form a case for the sole custodianship of the Coptic Church over the EOC. As a result of the ban on ‘Ethiopians’ (probably Nubians) appointing a Patriarch from their own people in the pseudo-Nicene Creed, the pseudo-canon was inevitably applied to the namesake Ethiopia proper. This undermined not only the involvement of the Syrian prelate but also any attempt for autocephaly in the centuries to come, a tradition sustained until 1959.40 The alliance of the northern region with the newly emerging Amhara dynasty served to promote the Kəbrä Nägäśt, allowing it to serve a national interest of unifying the county in the following centuries, up to at least the second half of the twentieth century. Over this period, it was successfully embedded in the minds of the faithful that Ethiopia was a God-chosen nation that no earthly power could conquer; as Marrassini has observed: The central topics of the K.n. – Ethiopia as Verus Israel; the Ethiopians as the chosen people […] and the Ethiopian kings’ supremacy […] – offered the people a sense of shared cultural identity and shaped their mentality [... T]he narrative of the K.n. became, indeed, the Ethiopian ‘national saga’; as such, it greatly contributed to the development of Ethiopian nascent ideology, in particular in 19th – 20th cent.[…] The authority of the K.n. stood behind ch. 2 of Ethiopia’s 1955 Constitution, pro-

38 Vantini, Excavations

at Faras, 62–63. The pseudo-Canon Nicene, known as the 42nd Canon (or sometimes numbered 36th or 47th), is quoted in Chapter 3. 39 Among Ethiopian saints, in almost 1600 years of the Coptic custody over the EOC, only Täklä Haymanot was canonised by the Coptic Church (see Sergew, Ancient, 282). 40 This no doubt is a great achievement for the Alexandrian Church in light of the loss of the see of Nubia (which perished to Muslim forces in the same era).

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This identity-forming myth has played an enormous role in keeping the nation as a unified entity for more than seven hundred years, perhaps epitomized by the plea of aṣe Yohannes IV for the return of the copy of the Kəbrä Nägäśt that was looted during Napier’s expedition to Ethiopia in 1868: ‘Again there is a book called Kebra Nagast which contains the Law of the whole of Ethiopia; and the names of the chiefs, churches, and provinces are in this book. I pray you will find out who has got this book and send it to me.’42 The importance indicated here shows the massive impact the book had in shaping the Ethiopian psyche for many centuries, which was also reflected during and after the two Italo-Ethiopian wars (in 1888 and 1935–41). Ideas for Sabbath Observance in Canonical Books: ይቤሉ ሐዋርያት በሲኖዶሶሙ/‘The Apostles Stated in Their Senodos’ In addition to the biblical books that were translated from Greek into Gə‘əz in the sixth century,43 some canonical books—including the Apostolic Canon [Mäṣḥafä Senodos],44 a collection of ecclesiasti41

Marrassini, ‘Kəbrä Nägäśt’, 367. He concludes that ‘after 1974 [of the Ethiopian revolution] the stipulation lost its legal power, yet the K.n. still remains an important element of the culture and consciousness of the Ethiopians, both in the country and in the diaspora’ (ibid., 367). 42 The Queen of Sheba and her only son Meneyelek (I), xxxiv-xxxv. Budge’s translation contains the additional phrase ‘for in my country my people will not obey my orders without it’, which Ullendorff asserts is not present in the original letter (Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible, 74–5. n. 4). 43 Chapter 3. 44 The Apostolic Canon [Mäṣḥafä Senodos], also known as the Ethiopian Church Order, is a canonico-liturgical collection which mainly deals with some ecclesiastical regulations that include an anaphora. The time of its translation is contentious; for a strong case for the earliest translation of parts of the Senodos, see Alessandro Bausi, ‘The Aksumite background of the Ethiopic "Corpus Canonum’, in Siegbert Uhlig (ed.) Proceedings of the XVth International Conference of Ethiopian Studies. Hamburg July 20–25, 2003 (Aethiopistische Forschungen 65, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag,

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cal constitutions and liturgy—were also translated in and after the thirteenth century from Arabic sources.45 Alongside Didəsqəlya and Qälemənṭos46, the Senodos is one of the eight books that make up the 46 New Testament canonical books recognized by the EOC47 and is part of, to use Roger Cowley’s term, the ‘Ethiopian Octateuch.’48 As Bausi notes, the book is the ‘most important canonico-liturgical collection’49 of Ethiopian Church literature. Importantly, it has been studied alongside other foundational and important books in the arat(u) guba‘eyat (lit. ‘four councils’ or ‘four collections’), the church’s highest level of education.50 The impact of the Senodos, Didəsqəlya and Qälemənṭos is enormous because, as articulated by 2006), 532–541. Bausi assumes that more sections of the Senodos can be considered to be translated from Greek sources earlier than the thirteenth century, thus ‘forming an Aksumite collection’, a conclusion which, particularly regarding its anaphora, seems plausible (also, ‘Senodos’ in EA Vol.4, 624). According to Irénée-Henri Dalmais, though, it was translated not earlier than the fourteenth century (Irénée-Henri Dalmais, et al (eds.) The Church at Prayer: Principles of the Liturgy Vol. 1 (Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press, 1987), 27–43). 45 The translation of the Arabic books to Gə‘əz from the Alexandrian repertoire of literature started a century or so after the Alexandrian Church adopted a new trend of translating Coptic materials to Arabic, which started mainly due to the influence of Arabic on Egyptian Christians; this began slowly in the tenth century but took place more rapidly and at larger scale after the middle of the eleventh century. For the best discussion on this, see Samuel Rubenson, ‘The Transition from Coptic to Arabic’, in Les Langues Égypte Premiere Série 27–28 (1996), 77–92. 46 There are I and II Qälemənṭos. 47 Others are Abəṭəlis, Sərə’atä Ṣion, Mäṣḥafä Tə’əzaz, Gəṣəw, Mäṣḥafä Kidan. 48 R. W. Cowley, ‘The Identification of the Ethiopian Octateuch of Clement, and its Relationship to the Other Christian Literature’, Ostkirchliche Studien, 27 (1978), 37–45. 49 Alessandro Bausi, ‘Senodos’ in EA Vol.4, 623. The writing is claimed to have been handed down from the Apostles and influential Church Fathers such as St. Clement and Hippolytus of Rome. 50 See Chapter 6.

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Getatchew Haile, it was in the translation of these books that ‘the Hebraic-Jewish practices were reinforced [and these] are part of the Church’s canonical scriptures.’51 The Senodos has many treatises and teachings on the essence of the Trinity, as well as commentary on the Decalogue ascribed to John Chrysostom, which offers further discourse dealing with the ‘refutation of the Jews’, presenting a Christian interpretation of the biblical texts that further defines arguments relating to ‘Judaic’ cultural expressions.52 The pro-Sabbath Ethiopian scholars of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries repeatedly quoted selected texts from the Senodos to prove their case against the anti-Sabbath group that had support from bishops and leaders of main monasteries prior to the fourteenth century. Their position in claiming the observance of Sabbath is based on the instruction of ‘Apostles’; to mention one of the many instructions:53 We order you, O believers in Christ, that you rest on the important holy days. Let the servants rest two days every week, namely (Saturday) Sabbath and Sunday, (uniting) the two together. Rest on it [sic] for the holy Church and for hearing the Scriptures and the commandments. I, Peter, and I, Paul, Apostles of Jesus Christ, order that servants serve five days in a week and rest on (Saturday) Sabbath and Sunday, and go to church

51

Getatchew Haile, ‘The Fourty-Nine Hour Sabbath of the Ethiopian Church’ in JSS 2 (33) 1988, 233. Other important books are Mäṣḥafä Kidan ‘Testament of Our Lord’, Mäṣḥafä Ǝl'atqärfa ‘the Book of the Miracles of Jesus’. 52 Harden, Ethiopic Literature, 62. 53 As noted in Chapter 3, although Sabbath observance had already been abolished among the Copts after the sixth century CE, some of their writings, as expressed in the Senodos as well as the Didəsqəlya, faithfully retained the earliest discussions and decisions of their scholars. The use of these books among the pro-Sabbath groups and some of the quotations from the book are discussed below.

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(on these days) to petition God and to show respect to [lit. to fear] him.54

The Apostolic Constitution [Qänona Hawaryat, ‘Canons of the Apostles’] offers guidance mainly focusing on the clergy. It offers a basic theological foundation for the observance of Sabbath as well as a glimpse of the restriction or delineation of social interactions between Christians and the Jewish community. It particularly warns against association with Jews, as in Command 45: ‘ለእመ ተረክበ ፩እምካህናት አዉ ሕዝባዊ ዉስተ ምኩራብ አይሁድ ወመካነ ዕልዋን ከመ ይጸሊ ካህናት ይሰዐሩ ወሕዝባዊ ይሰደድ’ (‘If any one of the clergy or layman, enter into a synagogue of the Jew or heretics to pray, let the clergy deprived and the laity suspended’). Command 44 clearly states the place of Sabbath in Christian worship, that ‘ለእመ ቦአ ፩እምካህናት ዘይጸዉም በእለተ እሁድ አዉ በእለተ ሰንበት ዐባይ ባሕቲታ እንተ ፋሲካ ይሰዐር’55 (‘If anyone of the clergy is found fasting on the Sunday or on Sabbath day, except the Sabbath day during the Pasch, let him be suspended’). The Senodos also gives the instruction that There should be two altars in every parish, one is that carried from place to place like the stone of the children of Israel that was carried from place to place in the wilderness, and another that should not be removed from its place [and has to be kept in the Church].56

Senodos, Order 4, Səm’on Qänänawi ‘Order of Peter and Paul, the Heads of the Apostles, Concerning Rest which is Necessary on Holy Days [‘əläta bä‘alat]’, translated by Getatchew, ‘The Forty-Nine Hour Sabbath’, 236. 55 Canones Apostolorum Aethiopice, Winandus Fell (ed.) (Kessinger Legacy Reprints, 1871), 21. 56 Il Sēnodos etiopico. Canoni pseudoapostolici: Canoni dopo l’ Ascentione, Canoni di Simone Cananeo, Canoni Apostolici, Lettera di Pietro. Alessandro Bausi (ed. and tr.), CSCO (Lovani: 1995), 552, 553 [Sae 101, 102], 300 [text]; see also Marilyn E. Heldman, ‘Tabot’ in EA Vol.4, 802. This is similar to the Kəbrä Nägäśt’s ‘Ark of the Church’ (The Queen of Sheba and her only son Meneyelek (I), 189, 195); mentioned in Chapter 4, n. 449. 54

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The practice of celebrating particular feast days of the church accompanied by a relic (‘Ark of the Covenant’), which probably started before or during the Zagʷe period and later came to be applied to the tabot/ṣəlat of local churches, dominated the landscape of Ethiopian Christian tradition in the fourteenth century and beyond (to contemporary times). The idea of tabot/ṣəlat, supported by the Senodos, assured the full thrust of development of a ‘Judaic’ element in the early medieval Ethiopian church. The Didəsqəlya was translated to Gə‘əz, most probably from Arabic, no ‘later than in the 14th cent.’57 As one of the eighty-one canonical books of the Bible of the Ethiopian Church, the book remains highly cited in matters of Church Order. It is attributed to St. Clement, who reportedly wrote the words uttered by the Twelve Apostles. Bausi asserts that the book ‘is a pseudo-apostolic text […] corresponding to the first seven of the eight books of “Constitutions of the Apostles.”’58 According to this book, Sunday is the Christian ‘Sabbath’,59 not Saturday, and should be observed according to Christian practices, not like Jews: ‘But if ye watch not day and night, and do not according as we say, ye are transgressors against God, and enemies unto Him […] And the foolish Jews, though ungodly (and) unbelieving, yet work six days, and rest on the seventh day.’60 It gives further instruction in regard to the Sabbath: ‘Wherefore He hath commanded us to rest on every Sabbath day, because on the Sabbath day our Lord rested from all His work […] And greater than all these is (the day of) His holy resurrection which our Lord and

Alessandro Bausi, ‘Didəsqelya’ in EA Vol. 2, 154; Getatchew, ‘Ethiopic Literature’, 48; this is another work worth mentioning. It was soon considered to be the most important theological book among Ethiopian scholars, and its relevance can be seen in how the book was used to define a proper ontological understanding of the Godhead, particularly during the fourteenth-century religious controversy (Getatchew, ‘Ethiopian Traditional Literature’, 48; Harden, Ethiopic Literature, 63). 58 Ibid. 59 Harden, Didascalia, 66. Ch. X. ii, 59. 60 Ibid., p. 79. Ch.XII.ii.60. 57

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Saviour and Creator, God the Word, hath taught us (to observe).’61 Christians should not keep the Sabbath as the Jews but also ‘ought not to fast on Sabbath, except on the day (the Sabbath) of Passion; but the other Sabbaths let us honour because our Lord rested from all His work on the Sabbath day.’62 As such, the Senodos, together with the Didəsqəlya, was widely referred to in the scholarly discussion of the church during the fourteenth century, especially in relation to the pro-Sabbathian movement of the Betä Ewosṭatewos (‘House of Ewosṭatewos’).63 Although these books do not necessarily forward the observance of Sabbath, it is striking how much attention select parts received in theological discussions on the issue. As we will see below, these references to the Sabbath particularly attracted the Betä Ewosṭatewos and aṣe Zär’a Ya‘əqob, who tried to utilize them in justifying their perspectives on the observance of Sabbath.

THE GROWTH AND IMPACT OF THE BETÄ ƎSRA’EL (‘HOUSE OF ISRAEL’), THE E THIOPIAN A YHUD (JEWS) The origin and growth of the Betä Ǝsra’el is a much contested issue, as we attempted to see in previous chapters.64 Although some scholars assume that the Betä Ǝsra’el emerged no earlier than the fourteenth century, we have established that there were Judaic-oriented societies in the earlier periods of Ethiopian history.65 The likelihood of an estab61 Ibid., 178. Ch. XXXVIII.vii, 36. 62

Ibid., 127. Ch.XXIX.v.13. The impact of the book reached its zenith in the fifteenth century: ‘In the works of aṣe Zär’a Ya ‘əqob the S[inodos] enjoyed its highest success: together with Didəsqelya and Kidan, it was assumed and quoted as the paradigm of the Christian law’ (Alessandro Bausi, ‘Senodos’ in EA Vol. 4, 625, 624). See Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 218, n. 2; 127. 64 Views discussed in Chapter 1; some assume their solely Ethiopian origin, while others try to see the expansion of a non-Christian Judaic community, evolved from a small group of Jewish migrants/missionaries that later grew through intermarriage with the local converts to Judaism. 65 The likely migration of Jews to Aksum from South Arabia is discussed in Chapter 4. Also a case of a ninth-century ‘Ethiopian’ Jew in the person of Eldad ha-Dani is noted in Chapter 4. The raids of Bani al-Hamwiya in the 63

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lished Hebraic-Judaic community in Ethiopia is strengthened when we note the arrival of Jewish missionaries as early as the thirteenth century. A fifteenth century manuscript relates that, ‘In the days of Zagʷe kings there came out, from the country of Aden, a man, a Jew called Joseph, named after his father. He was exceedingly rich and wealthy. And he settled in Ilawz in the land of Amhara.’66 Thus, despite some difficulties surrounding their origin and the development of the community, a reconstruction of the scant information we have on cultural and political developments after the sixth century demonstrates the existence of non-Christian groups with Hebraic characteristics that posed some threat to the Aksumite and other Christian kingdoms and which may constitute the primary originators of the Betä Ǝsra’el.67 As a result of diverse elements, such as mobility and other sociocultural factors, historical sources show that they settled in places like Lake Tana, Damot, Seqet, Gonder, and Hadya, where the Betä

tenth century CE are discussed in Chapter 4, with a discussion related to the Ethiopian tradition pointing to the same era, which assumes there was a Jewish revolt led by a queen named Yodith. The apparent presence of Judaized portions of the Ethiopian population before the thirteenth century is thus assumed in the previous chapter: there appear accounts that might point to the settlement of Jewish communities in Ethiopia dating from the sixth century CE. As noted above, there is a record of the pre-thirteenthcentury settlement of a Yemenite Jewish merchant in Ethiopia. 66 Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 66. 67 On some Hebraic groups in Ethiopia like the Qemant, see Frederick, The Qemant. Gamst, in his earlier writings, assumes that a few carriers of Hebraic religion arrived in Ethiopia before the fourth century and that their Judaic cultural patterns diffused into some ethnic groups’ culture (see p.12 ff). In his most recent contribution, he writes, agreeing with Brakmann, that ‘an Aksumite J[udaism] of late antiquity is unprovable: as a prerequisite for the Christianisation of Aksum; as a rival of Christians struggle for domination of the kingdom; or as a determining factor in the early history of Aksumite Church. More specifically, regarding various presentations on pre-Christian Judaic influences, on methodological grounds alone, these do not account for ‘Solomonid’ ideology of the monarchical state’ (Frederick C. Gamst, ‘Judaism’ in EA Vol.3, 304).

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Ǝsra’el remained until recently.68 These Judaic-Hebraic groups then advanced into the southern part of the Aksumite kingdom (presently, northwestern Ethiopia). At the end of the fifteenth century, the Betä Ǝsra’el had established their presence in Ethiopia and become an important element in shaping the political life of the Christian kingdom. Getatchew Haile reflects on an Ethiopic text, Life of Habta Maryam, in which the author mentions that ‘the Jews who deny [Christ’s] birth’ became powerful in Ethiopia69 and further notes their status in Ethiopia from earliest times: these Jews were ‘who, since ancient times, lived leading men and women astray.’70 Particularly after the fourteenth century, the term Ayhud clearly designated the non-Christian Judaic communities, as well as those who are considered heretics, deviants.71 In many cases, kings targeted Jews or Judaised communities, most probably the Ethiopian Jews, though the possibility of interpreting this as being aimed at the Jews of biblical times cannot be easily overruled: ‘ወለምንትኬ ትትካሀድ ኦአይሁዳዊ ልደቶ እምእግዚአብሔር አብ ወዳግም ልደቶ […] እማርያም ድንግል’ (‘why do you, O Jew, deny the birth [of Christ] from God the Father and his second birth […] from the Virgin Mary?’) They are accused for being ‘crucifiers of the Son of the living God, in flesh the son of Mary’ /‘ሰቃልያነ ወልደ እግዚአብሔር ሕያዉ ወወልደ ማርያም ስግዉ።’72 In other cases, however, Christians (for example, the Stephanites) had been labelled አይሁድ/Ayhud (‘Jews’) for refusing to prostrate to Mary, the cross and the king:73 ‘ስማዕ ኦአይሁዳዊ ርጉም ጸአሊሃ 68 See Gamst, Qemant. 69

Getatchew Haile, ‘The End of a Deserter of the Established Church of Ethiopia’, in Sixth International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, Tel Aviv, 14–17 April 1980 (Rotterdam: A. A. Balkema, 1986), 194. 70Ibid., 194; see Kaplan, Beta Israel (Falasha), 81. 71 See Zar’a Yā‘qob, Maṣḥafa Milād und Maṣḥafa Sellāsē Part I. (አይሁድ/ Ayhud: ‘Jew’ also ‘Jews’). 72 Zar’a Yā‘qob, Maṣḥafa Milād und Maṣḥafa Sellāsē Part I, 6. 73 See Taddesse Tamrat, ‘Some Notes on the Fifteenth Century Stephanite ‘heresy’ in the Ethiopian Church’, in Rassegna di Studi Etiopici 22 (1966), 103–115; Getatchew Haile, ‘The Cause of the Ǝsțifanosites: A Fundamental

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ለማርያም’ (‘Hear, O condemned Jew, hater of Mary’)74; in relation to this, we see that the Stephanites were accused of failing to adhere to the king’s explanations on the teaching of Trinity, as well as refusing to offer prostration to Mary: ‘ስማዕ ኦብእሲ ወልደ እስጢፋ ርጉም በባህር ከሃድ ሥጡም ዘትብል ኢይሰግድ ለማርያም ትብሉአ ፫ቃል ወ፫መንፈስ። ወንሕነሰ ንብል ፩እግዚአብሔር አብ ወ፩ቃል ዘዉእቱ ወልዱ ወ፩መንፈስ።’(‘Hear O condemned disciples of Ǝstifa, drown yourself in the sea of unbelief; you refused to prostrate for Mary and also teach Three Words and Three Spirit [in the Godhead]. We, however, proclaim One God the Father, One Word, and One Spirit’.75 Interestingly, the Stephanites ‘in return, joined other Christians in referring to the Betä Ǝsra’el as ayhud.’76 The tendency to apply the term Ayhud to any apostates and challengers of the status quo might indicate the real threat that the Betä Ǝsra’el posed for the Ethiopian Christians. Interestingly enough, the Betä Ǝsra’el themselves were cautious about using the term Ayhud, and in later centuries they avoided the designation. A Jewish missionary in the nineteenth century reports that The [Betä Ǝsra’el] crowd that surrounded me prevented me from entering into conversation with them, but I managed to ask them in a whisper, ‘Are you Jews?’ They did not seem to understand my question, which I repeated under another form,

Sect in the Church of Ethiopia’, in Paideuma 29 (1983), 93–119. See also Kaplan, The Beta Israel, 60–61, and Kaplan, ‘The Invention of Ethiopian Jews’, 653. Kaplan, quoting one of Getatchew’s articles, writes that the term ‘ayêhud’ was also used against the king’s political enemies; for example, his son Gälawdewos, who participated in the failed coup, is accused of being an ‘ayêhud ’(p. 61). 74 Zar’a Yā‘qob, Maṣḥafa Milād und Maṣḥafa Sellāsē Part I, p. 11. 75 Ibid., 38. 76 Kaplan, Beta Israel (Falasha), 61.

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‘Are you Israelites?’ A movement of assent mingled with astonishment, proved to me that I had struck the right chord.77

The lingering memory of the derogatory connotations of the term Ayhud in the medieval period as a label attached to those perceived as rebellious (as with the memory of Yodit (Bani al–Hamwiyah?)) or heretics in relation to orthodoxy may indicate why they would have preferred the name ‘Israelites’ (thus, ‘Betä Ǝsra’el’). Their lack of response to the question posed by an outsider may indicate a lasting legacy of reluctance to be called Ayhud by others, a view shared with the wider Jewish community living in the midst of Christian populations.78 Recurrent attempts to identify perspectives believed to deviate from mainstream Ethiopian Christianity with the Ayhud may strongly indicate the threat that followers of Judaism posed for Ethiopian society. They survived in the midst of growing Christian mission in their areas and resisted the efforts of assimilation by Amdä Ṣəyon. They were accused of denying Christ ‘like the Jews [ከመ አይሁድ / kämä ayhud] who crucified him’; for this reason, as the zena mäwa‘əl of Amdä Ṣəyon reports, the king sent his army to destroy them.79 Richard Pankhurst identifies this group as being none other than the ‘Fälasha’, Betä Ǝsra’el.80 Several Ethiopic scholars have discussed such cultural interaction, as well as the rebellion of Judaic groups against the Christian kingdom and their survival in the midst of unprecedented pressure.81 The Betä Ǝsra’el were not only able to pose a threat to the Christian kingdom; they also managed to establish their presence in the vast areas of the northwestern parts of the kingdom, and the pressure J. Halevy, ‘Travels in Abyssinia’ (tr. by J. Picciorro) in A. Lowy (ed.) Miscellany of Hebrew Literature (London: Trubner, 1877), 37, cited in Kaplan, ‘The Invention of Ethiopian Jews’, 653. 78 The people’s preference of the name ‘Israel’ over being called a ‘Jew’ is obvious. 79 This is highlighted by Pankhurst (‘The Falashas’, 568). 80 See Pankhurst, ‘The Falashas’, 568. 81 Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 199; Getatchew Haile, ‘The End’, 194; Shelemay, Music, 209. See Pankhurst, 570–1. 77

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they exerted on the Christian rulers of Ethiopia continued up to the time of Śärṣä Dəngəl (r. 1550–1597): በንጉሥ ሠርጸ ድንግል በ፳፬ኛው ዘመነ መንግሥት እግዚአብሔርንና የቀባውን ንጉሥ የደፈረ ጉሽን የተባለ አይሁዳዊ በሰሜን በኩል ተነሣ፤ ወደ ወገራም ወረደ የእኽላቸውንም ክምር አቃጠለ፤ ቤቶቻቸውንም አፈረሰ፤82 On the 24th year of the reign of nəguś Śärṣä Dəngəl, a Jew named Gušän rose up in the north against God and his anointed king. He went to Wägära and set on fire their crops, and razed their house to the ground.

The writer of the chronicle comprehensively presents the king’s determination to destroy the rebellion led by Gušän as well as detailing previous battles led by the king’s General, Fiqṭor, who marched against the Betä Ǝsra’el and defeated them for the first time.83 It is reported that the king successfully looted their town and that numerous people were killed, an active subjugation that continued to the seventeenth century. It is likely that forced conversion also ensued.84 Some monastic movements like the Betä Ewosṭatewos (‘House of Ewosṭatewos’) had engaged in mission towards the Betä Ǝsra’el.85 It is difficult, however, to ascertain whether this was missiologically and theologically oriented in contradistinction to the EOC’s missionaries. Interestingly, it is reported that the Betä Ǝsra’el were said to have succeeded in converting a sizable portion of the Christian population to their Judaic cause.86 It seems that in the thirteenth 82

የአፄ ሠርጸ ድንግል ዜና መዋዕል ግዕዝና አማርኛ [‘The Chronicle of the Emperor Śärṣä Dəngəl, Geez and Amharic], Alemu Haile (trans. (Amh.) and ed.), (Addis Ababa, 1999 E.C.), 102. 83 Ibid., 87. 84 Ibid., 96–97. 85 Kaplan, Monastic Holy Man, 40. 86 A certain ‘renegade monk named Qozmos joined the Fälasha and led them in a revolt against the reigning Solomonic king, Dawit […] Under his guidance, the Bētä Esra’ēl came perilously close to freeing themselves from Solomonic rule, destroying many churches and killing numerous monks and nuns in Enfranz’ (Ibid., 40).

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century there was mass conversion to Judaism, and the main missionaries who accounted for the conversion of many Christians to Judaism were no other than ex-priests and monks of the Ethiopian Church, indicating that the message of the followers of Judaism had not only reached the public but might have also challenged the clergy. Such stories indeed reflect early and definitive evidence of what was probably a long-established cultural interaction between adherents of the Ethiopian Church and followers of Judaism.

THE BETÄ EWOSṬATEWOS: DEBATES AND THEIR ‘JUDAISING’ LEGACIES The celebration of the Sabbath is an additional layer of ‘Judaic’ elements and practices that were introduced into the EOC during the ‘Solomonic’ era, mainly due to the persistent claims of the Betä Ewosṭatewos.87 This development coincides with the era of the EOC’s mission towards the Betä Ǝsra’el as well as the time when Ethiopian rulers established their ‘Solomonic’ descent in line with the narratives of the Kəbrä Nägäśt. However, the direct impact of these political and religious developments on the emergence of a proSabbath stance among the Betä Ewosṭatewos seems difficult to trace.88 What can be clearly known is the fact that the leaders of the 87

According to Ephraim, it was during the time of Zär’a Ya‘əqob that ‘the succession of Monophysite tradition and the suppression, if not by conviction then by force, of the old Jewish tradition in Ethiopia’ took place (‘An Obscure Component,’ 252). He assumes that the Betä Ewosṭatewos and the view of some non-Trinitarians expressed by an Ethiopian clergy like Gämalǝyal and Zämika’el was not a new phenomenon but rather an example of the ancient Ethiopian Jewish Christian tradition (ibid., 54–255). For a critique on this, see below, Chapter 5; see also Taddesse’s presentation of the introduction of non-Trinitarian theology and Sabbath tradition in Ethiopia (Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 230). 88 The ‘Solomonic’ kings’ legitimacy stems from the Kəbrä Nägäśt, while Betä Ewosṭatewos relied on the Senodos. What is common among them was the discussion of themes related to the Old Testament texts: while the former traces the Solomonic bloodline, the latter deals with the claim for Sabbath observance. True, the ‘Solomonic era’ is unique for the introduc-

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movement primarily relied on the canonical books of the EOC to forward their case for Sabbath observance. The origins of the Betä Ewosṭatewos remain unclear.89 According to an Ethiopian tradition,90 Ewosṭatewos (c. 1273–1352), the founder of the movement, was a relative of Abba Daniel of Gärǝ’alta, a very influential church teacher of his time.91 It is reported that Ewosṭatewos studied under him just before establishing his own monastery in Sära’e, in Təgre, which later became a vibrant monastic community and a locus for pro-Sabbath Christians. What is indubitable is that historical evidence from the fourteenth century onwards demonstrates the unprecedented legacy of the Betä Ewosṭatewos in the development of the ‘Judaic’ identity of the EOC, particularly in relation to the observance of the Sabbath. Beginning from the end of the fourteenth century and particularly throughout the fifteenth century, the Ewosṭateans were distinguished for their vigorous contention over the observance of Sabbath. They saw no reason to discard the ten commandments and argued that observance of the Sabbath is a Christian tradition that needed to be (re)affirmed in the Ethiopian Church according to the tradition of the ‘Apostolic Fathers’ as taught in the Christian religious books.92 The Senodos and Didəsqəlya were particularly im-

tion and development of some ‘Judaic’ cultural elements. However, even in this case, to claim that Judaic cultural elements were introduced during this era, or in the fifteenth century, as Dillmann asserted, seems an overstatement. For example, the question of circumcision and the relevance of tabot had already been recognised in the earliest centuries. This does not, however, in any way support Ephraim Isaac’s claim that Aksumite (Ethiopian) Christianity before the fourteenth century was a non-Trinitarian Jewish Christianity (Ephraim Isaac, ‘An Obscure Component’, 252–257). 89 Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 206. 90 ‘Gädlä Éwosṭatéwos’ in Monumenta Aethipiae Hagiologia, fasc. iii (B Turaiev (ed.) (Petrolpoli: 1905). 91 ‘Gädlä Éwosṭatéwos’, 6, 23. Ewosṭatewos’s name before his ordination was Ma‘əqäbä Ǝgzi’ə. 92 Ibid., 11–16.

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portant in their discussion of the Sabbath.93 Their writings clearly show that Abba Ewosṭatewos and his disciples frequently quoted both books, which must have already been in circulation in Ethiopian church schools as early as the fourteenth century. One of the Ethiopian accounts written almost a century after the translation of these books describes the earliest teachings of the disciples of Abba Ewosṭatewos: ደቂቀ ማዕቀበ እግዚእሰ ያከብሩ ሰንበታተ ቀዳሚተ ሰንበተ ወ እኁደ፡፡፡ ወባሕቱ ኢይበዉኡ ዉስተ ቤተ ነገሥት ወኢዉስተ ቤተ ጳጳሳት ወኢይነስኡ ክህነት፡፡ እስመ በቤተ መንግሥትኒ ኢጸንዓ ክብራ ለቀዳሚት ሰንበት፡፡፡ ወበቤተ ጳጳሳት94 ስዑር ይእቲ ቀዳሚት ሰንበት ወይሬስይዋ ድምርተ ምስለ ፭ ዕለታት ለገቢረ ግብር ወይሬስይዎሙ ከመ አይሁድ ለእለ ያከብርዋ ወያወግዝዎሙ ወኢይኃድግዎሙ ይባኡ ዉስተ ቤተ ክርስቲያን፡፡፡ ወበእንተዝ ነበሩ ደቂቀ ማዕቀብ እግዚእ በስደት ብዙኅ ዓመታት ኃዲጎሙ አብያተ ክርስቲያናቲሆሙ እስመ አዉገዝዎሙ ጳጳሳት ከመ ኢያክብሩ ቀዳሚተ ሰንበተ፡ ፡፡95 The disciples of Ma‘əqäbä Ǝgzi’ə observed the Sabbaths, Saturday and Sunday; but since they abide neither to the house of the kings nor the metropolitans, they did not receive the Holy Orders. The observance of the Sabbath was not [yet] established in the kingdom; the Sabbath was abolished in the realm of bishops [of Alexandria and they] considered it just like the five working days [of the week]. They also considered all those who observed as Jews, they excommunicated them, and did not give them permission to enter the churches, in like manner, the disciples of Ma‘əqäbä Ǝgzi’ə and their churches had been persecuted and anathematised by the bishop for so many years. 93

The word ‘intensified’ simply takes into consideration the attempt to draw a distinction between Sabbath and the Christian Sabbath in the prayers of Lalibäla in the 13th century. It is quoted above that the faithful should keep the Sabbath on the basis that ‘it is actually on Saturday that God rested after having achieved [the creation of] the universe; as for Sunday, it is the day of resurrection of the Lord.’ 94 Or, ‘ሊቀ ጳጳሳት’ 95 Zar’a Yā‘qob, Mäṣḥafä Berhān II, in Conti Rossini (in collaboration with L. Ricci) (eds.) CSCO. (Louvain, 1964–1965), 145–6; translation depends upon Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 210.

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The account clearly indicates that observance of Sabbath was only instituted in Ethiopia after the establishment of the Ewosṭatean movement.96 The text also relates that the observance of the Sabbath was ‘abolished’ in Alexandria giving the impression that it had been observed in earlier times.97 Indeed, the pro-Sabbath teaching ought not to be solely attributed to the Betä Ewosṭatewos. There were also other monastic groups who were observing the Sabbath even over the Christian Day of the Lord. The Stephanites, who were severely punished by aṣe Zär’a-Ya‘əqob in the fifteenth century for not prostrating to Mary, the cross, and the king, had also once been accused of being Sabbath observant while ‘breaking and travelling’ on Sundays.98 The new-found zeal for Sabbath observance actually came at a price to its proponents. The Betä Ewosṭatewos were from Təgre, and the origin of the movement in the northern part of the kingdom coupled with the apparent political tension at the time between the southerners and the northerners no doubt was a factor in shaping the discussion on the Sabbath. Moreover, at this time opposition to this group was mainly localized in the monasteries in the south. The growth of a strong anti-Sabbath movement in the Amhara area, represented by Anorewos of Shäwa,99 in addition to concerned groups from monasteries and churches in the north, who were also sceptical of the new movement, might have indicated political strife in the eyes of aṣe Amdä Ṣəyon (1314–1344). In one incident,

96

The idea that Sabbath observance in Ethiopia was an ‘ancient custom’ should rightly be discarded. According to Ephraim Isaac’s unsubstantiated claim, ‘By and large there is now scholarly agreement that keeping Saturday Sabbath is an ancient Ethiopian custom’ (Ephraim Isaac, Mäṣḥafä Berhān, 67, 68). 97 This is discussed below. 98 Taddesse, ‘Some Notes on the Fifteenth century Stephanite “Heresy” in the Ethiopian Church’, in Rassegna Di Studi Etiopici, Vol. 22 (1966), 106. 99 He was one of the disciples of Täklä Haymanot.

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The two monastic leaders [i.e., Ewosṭatewos100 and Anoréwos], we are told, once met at the royal Court of King Amdä Ṣion. They began to discuss the question of Sabbath in violent terms, and this was reported to Amdä Ṣion. The king summoned his fellow Shäwan, Anoréwos, to his presence and had him flogged because ‘you will divide my kingdom by your religious disputes.101

Gädlä Ewosṭatewos also asserts that a rival of Ewosṭatewos, a cleric of Sära’e, persecuted him to the extent of making an attempt on his life due to his views regarding Sabbath and thus forced him into exile. Accompanied by three of his disciples (Bakimos, Märqorewos, and Gäbrä-Iyäsus), he went to Cairo. Once there, he was deeply unsatisfied to witness that the Copts had no respect for the Sabbath, a custom which seemed unknown to them.102 The frustration he felt seems understandable in light of his position based on texts from the Didəsqəlya and Senodos—books that had been translated from Coptic sources. He finally met Patriarch Benjamin of the Coptic Orthodox Church (1327–1339) in Cairo but was not happy with the position the patriarch took on his views. He refused to reconsider his teaching on Sabbath in light of the established practices of the Coptic Orthodox Church,103 and reportedly responded to the patriarch: 100

There are some traditions regarding the involvement of Abba Ewosṭatewos in such arguments in the court of kings: while Mäṣḥafä Tarik reports the incident at the court of Amdä Ṣəyon, ‘which appears to be of recent formulation’, ‘another [tradition as presented in Gädlä Märqorewos] only takes him to Lasta’ (Mal’aka-Birhan Ṣige, Mäshafä-Tarīk, MS. B. 30 (Addis Ababa: National Library, n.d.), 45–46, in Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 208–9, n. 9). 101 Mäshafä-Tarīk quoted in Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 208. Why he ordered Anorewos to be flogged but not Ewosṭatewos is not clear. In addition to being politically sensitive, we are not sure if the king is much interested on the subject. 102 See Chapter 3. Sabbath was abolished in the Coptic Church after the sixth century. 103 It seems probable that the Alexandrian Church did not spare time to impose its anti-Sabbath teaching.

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JEWISH CULTURAL ELEMENTS I came to your country so that I may die for the word of God, for I have found no rest in this world. In Ethiopia they said to me, “Break the Sabbath and the [other] rest Days like us,” and I refused. And here you say to me “Be one with us in prayer” while you do not observe the rest Days.104

He then left for Palestine. On his way, it seems some teachers of the Coptic Church attempted to coerce him to recant his views. According to the writer of the Gädlä Ewosṭatewos, at the monastery of Scete, the monks put him in fetters simply for ‘defending the law of God.’105 His stance against the existing teaching of the Ethiopian Church and, even more, against those of its custodian the Coptic Orthodox Church might suggest his strong conviction on the issue which shaped his disciples, the future leaders of the movement in Ethiopia. A disappointed man, he went to Cyprus through Palestine and finally reached Armenia.106 His death in Armenia following a fourteen-year sojourn did not mitigate the influence of the growing movement on the traditions of the EOC.107 In the 1350s, his three disciples, now accompanied by an Armenian monk,108 returned to Ethiopia.109 Taddesse asserts that ‘they may have brought their own copies of religious books back with them’,110 probably accounting for the literary character of the movement, which ultimately influenced its theological development and possibly serves ‘as a decisive land104

‘Gädlä Éwosţatéwos’, 91.

105 Ibid., 96.

106 Ibid., 91–130. 107

Before leaving Ethiopia, Abba Ewosṭatewos was able to assign Abba Absadi, one of his disciples, to lead the already weakened community. 108 Tradition tells that there were other members of the community with foreign origin, including Bruk-Amlak (Cont-Rossini, ‘Un santo eritreo: Buruk-’Amlak’, in Rendicoti della Reale Accademia dei Lincei, ser vi, Vol.xiv (1938), 21–2, quoted in Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 207). 109 Their return in the 1350s coincided with the ministry of Abbunä Sälama II (for his legacy, see Taddesse, ‘The Abbots of Däbrä-Hayq’, 102–103). 110 Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 210.

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mark in the cultural renaissance of the whole of the Ethiopian Church.’111 While this may be one factor, the literary development that flourished after the return of the disciples of Ewosṭatewos should be understood as supplemental to the translation of works from Arabic to Gə‘əz based on the books acquired from the Coptic Orthodox Church. After the return of the disciples, leaders established numerous monastic groups, predominantly in the northern part of the country,112 ‘collectively known as the Seven Disciples of Ewosṭatewos’113, boosting the ministry of the community. The monasteries of Däbrä Maryam, Däbrä Bizän114 and Däqi Yəta are prominent examples of these monasteries established by the Disciples of Ewosṭatewos. Their ministry came under scrutiny on various fronts, but they insisted on teaching their view on Sabbath with much fervour. Even though their leaders were ‘debarred from receiving Holy Orders at the hands of the Egyptian bishop’, they soon developed a robust leadership under a ‘lay brother with absolute powers over the religious conduct of the members’, which apparently enabled them to flourish on the peripheries where the rule of the Church was minimal: ‘Despite his lack of sacerdotal powers, he [the lay brother] fully exercised the authority of an ordinary abbot. He conferred the monastic habit on the novices in the community; confessions had to be individually reported to him and he fixed all penances given by the priests.’115 The movement must have had a charismatic character as 111 Ibid. 112

Taddesse mentions that ‘during their sojourn in the Levant they probably had much access to the literature of the early Christian Church, and they may have brought their own copies of religious books back with them.’ (Ibid., 210). 113 ‘Apart from that of Gäbrä-Īyäsus, who proceeded to Infraz in Bägémdir, two of the communities were in the Northern Tigre and the remaining four in Sära’é and Hamasén’ (Ibid., 208). 114 This monastery was founded by Filəp̣p̣os, who became the most influential leader of the pro-Sabbath movement after Abba Ewosṭatewos. 115 ‘However, they apparently needed a small number of ordained priests, whom they admitted into their group only after giving them penance for

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they insisted on the appointment of lay members to the offices that were heretofore only filled by ordained priests. This practice, which seems to have helped the fast growth of the movement,116 was doubtless the primary reason why the king and the officials of the EOC were determined to bring it into the fold of the established church. The fourteenth century thus witnessed the major success of the Betä Ewosṭatewos in propelling ‘Judaic’ cultural development in Ethiopia. They were able to challenge the existing117 tradition of the church in an unprecedented manner. Gäbrä Iyäsus, one of the earliest disciples of Betä Ewosṭatewos, explicitly focused his evangelization towards the Betä Ǝsra’el and succeeded: he rejoiced that ‘even

having been members of other communities. These priests were mainly required to celebrate mass for the group’ (Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 212). Each monastery also established its own convents, and Däbrä Bizän in particular developed additional structures: ‘they appointed an ‘እመ ምኔት’/‘Mother Superior’ as the leader: the head of the monastery bestowed on her a relatively an authority to minister in her convent. In addition to having the liberty of conferring the monastic habit on the novices (‘ወታለብሶን አልባሰ ምንኩስና ወታቀንቶን ቅናተ ወትሁቦን ቆብአ ወአስኬማ ወትሁቦን’), she also could serve as a mother confessor (‘ወለእመሰ ወድቀት አሐቲ እምኔሆን ዉስተ ዓቢይ ኃጢአት ትነግር ኃጢአታ ለእመ ምኔት’) (Zar’a Yā‘qob, Mäṣḥafä Berhān II, 150–151). A medium of communication was established between her and the abbot through a lay brother, who reported all the confessions to the latter, who then fixed the penance. 116 The community’s structure and strength, as well as the speed with which it grew, can be discovered in the numbers aṣe Zär’a Ya‘əqob supplies in his Mäṣḥafä Bərhan: ‘ደቂቀ ማዕቀበ እግዚእ ይነብሩ ደብረ ማርያም ወዘምስሌሃ ምኔታት ፹ወ፩ መነኮሳት ቀሳዉስት ወዲያቆናት ብዙኅ እግዚአብሔር ያአምር ኆልቆሙ [… ወ] አድባረ መበለታት ፳ወ፫’ (‘the disciples of Ma’iqaba-Igzi who were in Däbrä Maryam consisted of 81 monasteries with many priests and deacons [… and also had an additional] 23 convents’) (Zar’a Yā‘qob, Mäṣḥafä Berhān II, 150). 117 Ephraim Isaac assumes that it was rather the Ethiopian church that tried reverting an existing Judaic culture, which seems to have undermined the impact of the Coptic Church on Ethiopia from the earliest time, or at least at of the time of Zagʷe dynasty.

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the sons of the Jews believed, received baptism and entered into his teaching.’118

SABBATH OBSERVANCE: TWO-PHASE REACTIONS OF THE EOC SCHOLARS Early Anti-Sabbath Stances Not unexpectedly, the rapid successes of the movement alarmed ‘the anti-Sabbath party within the EOC.’119 At least until the first half of the fifteenth century, scholars of the church persistently resisted the quest for Sabbath observance, considering it ‘alien to church practice.’120 With the full support of the Alexandrian metropolitan Bärtäloméwos, who was in office beginning from about 1398/9, this group brought the matter to aṣe Dawit (r.1382–1413). Their suit particularly accused the monastery at Däbrä Bizän, which at this time was under the leadership of Filəp̣pọ s. The main figure among the ‘Christian Sabbath only’ group was the ‘aqqabe sä‘at Säräqä Bərhan121 of the famous peninsula monastery of Hayq in Wollo, who was a much respected clergy member among both the priests in the royal court and fellow church scholars from various monasteries. With the full support of the bishop, he asked the king to help him bring ‘the recalcitrant “house” of Ewosṭatewos back to strict Alexandrian discipline.’122 The king was willing. The writer of Gädlä Filəp̣p̣os complains that the king entrusted the issue to the ruling of the bishop,

118

Conti Rossini, ‘Note di agiografia etiopica: Gäbrä-Īyäsus’, 446, in Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 213. 119 Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 213. 120 Sergew, Ancient, 280. 121 He was one of the most respected abbots of the monastery of Hayq. See Taddesse, ‘The Abbots of Däbrä-Hayq’, 103. 122 Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 213.

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telling him that he could punish Filəp̣pọ s until he accepted the teaching of the church according to the Alexandrian tradition.123 The king’s decision was most probably intended to avoid personal involvement in the religious matters of his kingdom, but it no doubt left the pro-Sabbath defendants exposed to abuse because of the tremendous influence of Säräqä Bərhan at the royal court.124 Gädlä Filəp̣pọ s further elaborates how Filəp̣p̣os and his ‘brothers’ courageously defended their perspective on the Sabbath at an assembly of EOC leaders, even though they had no chance of winning their case. The metropolitan tried to coerce them by threatening to anathematise them. They refused, were put in chains and were told that they would only be freed if they confirmed they had changed their views. The detention of Filəp̣pọ s at Hayq posed a challenge to the movement as some of its leaders started to recant in the face of the harsh treatment they received from the church. The writer of his hagiography condemns those who started to defect due to the unbearable pressure and persecution. According to Taddesse, it seems that ‘there had been no complete unanimity among the Ewosṭatean leaders. And, faced with the hardships of detention in Amhara, some of them probably took the earliest opportunity to have their excommunication lifted, and to live on peaceful terms with the metropolitan’ which ‘apparently created a lasting feud’ among the proSabbath followers of Ewosṭatewos—for example, between Matyas of Shilmagillé and Filəp̣pọ s.125 However, ‘on the whole, the number of defections was very insignificant’, for it is reported in the Gädlä Filəp̣p̣os that even the great majority of the colleagues of Matyas ‘followed Fīlipos in holding fast to the teachings of Éwsoṭatéwos.’126 Conti Rossini (tr. and ed.), Il ‘Gädla Filipos’ ed il ‘Gadla Yohannes’ di Dabra Bizan in Memorie della Reale Accademia dei Lincei viii (1901), 112– 114. For the full account of the story, see pages 111–120. 124 The strong leadership of Dawit regarding the church-state relationship is well recognised (Kaplan, The Monastic Holy Man, 55). 125 Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 215. 126 Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 215. Gädlä Fīlipos reports that Matyas of Shilmagillé and Zäkaryas of Bärbäré were among those who de123

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In spite of the religious persecution, the detention of Filəp̣p̣os in Amhara led the movement to make a lasting impact in the southern part of the kingdom. Taddesse opines, ‘In fact, Fīlipos’s sojourn in Amhara opened a new period for the ‘house’ of Éwosṭatéwos, and seems to have won many more allies among the powerful attendants and influential clergy of the royal Court.’127 ‘Aqqabe Sä’at Säräqä-Bərhan, the ardent opponent of the Ewosṭatean view, died in about 1403. His death was the beginning of a new era for the movement as it dealt a major blow to the influence of the metropolitan and his Ethiopian anti-Sabbath circle.128 Immediately after the death of Säräqä-Bərhan, aṣe Dawit decided to send messengers to relieve Filəp̣p̣os from prison129: aṣe Zär’a-Ya‘əqob writes, ወሶበ ሰምዓ አቡየ ዳዊት ንጉሠ ኢትዮጵያ ርእሰ ነገሥት ከመ ሞቱ ብዙኃን በረሐብ ወበጽምእ ወበኩናት ወበአፈ አራዊት እንዘ የዓይሉ ዉስተ ምድረ በድዉ ፈነወ ላእካነ ከመ ያስተጋብእዎሙ እምዝርወቶሙ ለደቂቀ ማዕቀብ እግዚእ ወይሚጥዎሙ ኃበ አብያተ ክርስቲያናትሆሙ ወገብሩ ከማሁ ላእካነ ንጉሥ፡፡ ወገብኡ ደቂቀ ማእቀብ እግዚእ ዉስተ መካናቲሆሙ፡፡፡ ወካዕበ አዘዞሙ ንጉሥ ለደቂቀ ማእቀበ እግዚእ ከመ ያክብሩ ክልኤሆን ስንበታተ በከመ አዘዙ ሐዋርያት በ ሲኖዶስ::130 My father Dawit, king of Ethiopia, head of kings, hearing that many of them are dying from hunger and thirst, (?)condemned and being devoured by beasts, roamed about in the land; he sent messengers so that they might bring back the disciples of Ma‘əqäbä Ǝgzi’ə from the areas where they had dispersed, so they re-enter their churches. The king’s messengers did this, and the disciples of Ma‘əqäbä Ǝgzi’ə returned to their places. The king also commanded the disciples of Ma‘əqäbä Ǝgzi’ə to obserted, and the gädl tells that even Fīlipos cursed Matyas and his students after his release from prison (Gadla Filipos, 120). 127 Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 215. 128 Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 215, n.5. 129 Dawīt and the Aqabé Sä‘at were friends, and the former delayed any support for the pro-Sabbath as long as the latter was alive. 130 Zar’a Yā‘qob, Mäṣḥafä Berhān II, 146; translation is based on Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 216.

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This change in approach to Filəp̣pọ s developed due to the sympathy of the king. It is also possible that it was due to political pressures from northern military leaders who were, according to Gädlä Filəp̣p̣os, frequently visiting the royal court at the time.131 Taddesse assumes that ‘Fīlipos’s old age132 and his unswerving leadership won much respect and admiration in Amhara, and the pro-Ewosṭatewos lobby at the royal Court had been growing fast.’133 Most importantly, the victory of the Ewosṭateans at the time of aṣe Dawit lies in the enormous contribution of the community to the development of the scholarship of the EOC. Even more than the sympathy of the king and that of EOC scholars in later decades, as will be discussed below, the steadfast commitment of the Ewosṭateans to their cause against all odds and their evangelistic work in the kingdom contributed to their success. This victory, which was no doubt against the wishes of the Coptic bishop, more than likely afforded the Ethiopian church scholars a degree of freedom to reflect upon a range of theological issues. Coupled with the growth of political nationalism formed due to the military strength of the time,134 their successes could have significantly (and negatively) affected the influence of the Coptic bishop in times to come. The decree of aṣe Dawit allowed freedom of observance of ‘two Sabbaths’ in Ewosṭatean monasteries. Taddesse offers this comment: The ‘house’ of Éwosṭatéwos emerged from the struggle with tremendous success. Its status was suddenly transformed from one of an actively persecuted minority sect into that of a respectable school. It was not only tolerated, but also fully protected by 131 Gadla 132

5).

Filipos, 65. ‘He died in 1406, at 83’ (Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 215 n.

Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 215. Ibid. King Dawit’s most successful military raid against the Muslim kingdom of Adal in 1403 might have stirred a new nationalistic movement that apparently reflected on religious nationalism. 133

134

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a special royal decree. Towards the end of the reign of King Dawīt, the Éwoṭathians seem to have acquired complete freedom of movement throughout the kingdom. This provided them with much of their internal development to this period.135

This meant that they no longer were persecuted for their view on the Sabbath and were allowed to plant churches and monasteries without any constraints. The edict, however, seems to have distinguished between the Ewosṭateans and the non-Ewosṭateans—the latter were not compelled to follow the edict. In this case, the king was careful in entertaining the views of both parties: the Ewosṭateans were allowed ‘ከመ ያክብሩ ክልኤሆን ስንበታተ በከመ አዘዙ ሐዋርያት በሲኖዶስ’ (‘to observe both Sabbaths as the Apostles had prescribed in the Synods’).136 Interestingly, however, this edict, apparently found in the Senodos, appears not to have been considered binding on other anti-Sabbath members (monasteries) of the EOC. The king’s prevaricating approach to solving the problem did not adequately settle the whole issue: Neither the diehards among the Ewosṭateans, nor the antiSabbath party, were fully satisfied by his half-measures. The most drastic effect of his intervention was only to undermine the prestige of Bishop Bärtäloméwos, and weaken the position of his ardent supporters who were completely loyal to Alexandria.137

The apparent acquiescence to the idea of tolerance towards the new tradition no doubt reveals the same outlook likely espoused by the elites. Thus this readiness to accept honour of the Sabbath in the royal court needed further support from the church’s scholars, and many of them joined the pro-Sabbath party. The change of attitude among the non-Ewosṭatean EOC scholars is particularly evident in

135 Taddesse, Church

and State in Ethiopia, 217. Zar’a Yā‘qob, Mäṣḥafä Berhān II, 146; see the observation of Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 216–7. 137 Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 217. 136

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the life and works of Abba Giyorgis ZäGasəč̣č̣a (d. 1427)138 and aṣe Zär’a Ya‘əqob (r. 1434–68).139 Though they were non-Ewosṭateans in their earliest religious orientations and, even more, had received religious instruction in anti-Sabbath schools, both later played a decisive role in the official establishment of Sabbath observance in the EOC. Abba Giyorgis devoted a chapter in his Mäṣḥafä Məśṭir to the significance of the Sabbath. In a stance that demonstrated his staunch pro-Sabbathean perspective, he offered a detailed explanation on why it is necessary to take Sabbath seriously. He warned believers to ‘ንጽሐዉ’ (‘wake up’) and realise the intention of God in

Giyorgis zäGasəč̣č̣a. Taddesse discusses his life and work (Church and State in Ethiopia, 222–226). Abba Giyorgis of Gasəč̣čạ was the son of a secular priest at the royal court. He studied at the monastery of Hayq under ‘aqqabe sä‘at Säräqä-Bərhan, the abbot of the monastery and an ardent antiSabbath teacher. It is claimed that ‘when his father retired into a monastery he replaced him as a secular priest at the royal court.’ He became a most ‘talented scholar, and a prolific writer’ who had won a great reputation among kings Dawit and Yəsḥaq (1413–30). A formidable scholar, it is noted that he wrote many books including Arganonä Wəddase, Wəddase Mäsqäl, Mäṣḥafä Sǝbhat, Mäṣḥafä Məśṭir, and Mäṣḥafä Sä‘atat (or, Mäṣḥafä Ṣälot). 139 He probably was an ardent student of Abba Giyorgis. Zära Ya‘əqob’s personal life is sketched in Gädla Zena Marqos (discussed in Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 220–221); the gädl reports that he, though the youngest son of King Dawit (born from one of his many wives), had ‘many saintly monks’ prophesy his future kingship; and he had to spend many years in a monastery in Təgray hiding incognito. ‘He remained there until all his brothers had reigned in succession and died. Troops were sent in search of the hidden prince, who was only discovered with much difficulty. He was then brought back to Court and crowned by force’ (Ibid., 221). Taddesse argues that the story was improbable, for he was politically active and ‘in the running for the crown particularly after the death of King Yishaq (1413–30). His struggle for the succession with Hizbä-Nagn (1430– 33) and his two sons is well remembered in some traditions […] Zär’aYa’iqob himself relates that he was brought down from the royal prison of Mount Gishan only on the eve of his accession to the throne’ (Ibid., 221). 138

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establishing the Sabbath. Discussing various texts from the Old Testament, he concludes in his Mäṣḥafä Məśṭir: ሁኬ እስትጉቡእ ቃለ ነቢያቲሁ ለእግዚአብሔር በእንተ ዑቃቤሃ ለሰንበት፡፡ ወከመሂ ኢንበል ነቢያትሰ አዘዙ ላቲ ዕረፍተ እስመ ሰንበቶሙ ይእቲ ወበሐዋርያት ተፀርዐ አክብሮታ፡፡ ወእሙንቱሂ ይቤሉ በትምህርተ ዲድስቅልያዎሙ፡፡ በእንተ ዘከመ መፍትዉ ናዕርፍ በሰንበታት ወናጽምእ ቃለ ቅዱሳት መጻሕፍት ከመ ንግበር ፈቃዶ ወንዘከር ሕማማቲሁ ዘገብረ በእንቲአነ እግዚአብሔር ቃል […] ወናክብር እሑደ ሰንበት ንሰብሕ ወንዘምር ለዘሞኦ ለሞት፡፡140 Now is discussed the words of the prophets of God on the observance of Sabbath. In light of the prophets’ command, do we question the apostles have not observed it? [Surely] they have ordered it according to their Didəsqəlya. They have told us on [Didəsqəlya] we should rest on it and hear the Word of God, and that we may do his will, to meditate on the suffering [of the Lord …]. And let’s also observe Sunday Sabbath by giving praise and songs to the one who defeated death.

The relative victory of pro-Sabbatheans who basically relied on the Christian tradition of the ‘Apostolic’ Father’s, as transmitted in the Senodos, is likely to have significantly shaped the church’s hermeneutics towards Old Testament texts and their norms. It is possible to argue that once Sabbath observance was validated by a reading of the Old Testament through the prism of the New, justification of any cultural element with seemingly Judiac characteristics was made possible using the same interpretive framework. This method of finding an authority to justify a practice must have paved the way for Ethiopian scholars to find justification for some of the ‘Judaic practices’ of the EOC. A theological reflection on such elements as circumcision, Sabbath observance, the church’s architecture and the veneration of tabot in the EOC shows that some indigenous cultural elements and ancient church traditions that had no direct connection with Jews

መጽሐፈ ምሥጢር, 293–4. Also see Giyorgis Zä-Säglaa, ‘Il Libro del Mistero: Maṣḥafa Mesṭir’, CSCO, Scr. Aeth. 515. Tom. 89, Yaqob Beyene (ed.) (Louvain: Aedibus E. Peeters, 1990).

140

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and/or Judaism were now often considered as ‘Judaic’ and ‘Old Testament’ customs. However, it is the council of Däbrä Məṭmaq in the middle of the fifteenth century that offered a final conclusion to the issue of Sabbath observance, as discussed below. It is perhaps after this council that the revival of Ethiopic literature began, opening the second phase of literary development, particularly concerning ‘Jewish’ elements in the EOC. ኢይስዕርዋ ሰብእ ለቀዳሚት ሰንበት (‘People Should Not Break Sabbath’): The Council at Däbrä Məṭmaq 141 and the Shaping of Sabbath Tradition in the EOC In the middle of the fourteenth century, the church was bitterly divided over theological controversies that had sprung up among the leading monastic schools. The question of Sabbath, despite the effort of aṣe Dawit, lingered as an important issue of contention in the EOC. Some monastic teachers reconsidered their previous acceptance of the Sabbath while others strengthened their vigorous opposition. There were other issues at stake too, such as the development of different and conflicting theological conceptions regarding the Trinity, Mariology, and millennialism, which led to controversy involving church scholars like Gämaləyal, Zämika’el, and Ǝsṭifanos.142 In the 141

While the Ethiopian tradition asserts that the council took place in Däbrä Məṭmaq, other accounts also assume that it was held in Däbrä Bərhan (Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 230, n.4). 142 For the explanation on the nature and person of the Trinity (Gämaləyal and Zämika’el’s contentions against the king’s view), the extent of the honour due to the king and Mary and the stance of the disciples of Ǝsṭifanos (Stephanites) against the king, see Zär’a Yaəqob, Tomarä Təsbə’t, / The Epistle of Humanity of Emperor Zära Ya‘əqob, CSCO Vol.522, trans. and ed. Getatchew Haile (Lovanii: 1991), 31–32. The Stephanites also questioned the prostration due to Mary and the king. Different views on millennialism also became a cause of strife between Zämika’el (also Stepahanite) and the king; see Zar’a Yā‘qob, Maṣḥafa Milād und Maṣḥafa Sellāsē Part I, 37–44. Zär’a Ya‘əqob held the view that there would be a thousand-year banquet on Mount Zion (‘məṣaḥ bä-Däbrä Ṣəyon’), which was rejected by many

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scholars of the church of his time, including Zämika’el and Ǝsṭifanos. We also know that controversies on the nature of the Trinity were settled in favour of the king’s version of Trinitarian teaching: God is ‘in one divinity, one kingdom, one glory, and one authority’ but ‘in three persons, three essences, and three hypostases’ (Zar’a Yā‘qob, Zar’a Yā‘qob, Maṣḥafa Milād und Maṣḥafa Sellāsē, 136–145);Taddesse writes: ‘Two notorious Ethiopian priests, Zämīka’él Aṣqa and Gämalyal, as well as Bishop Bärtäoméwos, are accused of denying the Three persons of the Trinity on different occasions’ (Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 230, n. 4); see also, Taddesse, ‘Stephanite “Heresy”’, 110–112. The main reason seems to be that the example they used to explain their teaching differed radically from that of the king: they compared God to a single sun that had three features (the disc, the light and the heat) while the king, following the teaching of some Church Fathers ‘compared the Trinity to three suns’ (Getatchew, ‘Ethiopic Literature’, 49). In a book written to disseminate the decision, he reproaches the Stephanites: ‘ከመዝ እመን አበኒ በገጹ ወበመልክዑ ወበአካሉ ወልደሂ እመን በገጹ ወበመልክዑ ወበአካሉ። መንፈሰ ቅዱሰሂ እመን በገጹ ወበመልክዑ ወበአካሉ’ (‘Believe that the Father has his own feature, image, and person; believe the Son has his own feature, image, and person; that the Holy Spirit has his own feature, image, and person’) (Zar’a Yā‘qob, Maṣḥafa Milād und Maṣḥafa Sellāsē Part I, 34). And in other place, he gives a concise formulation of the teaching of Trinity in the EOC: ‘ወበእንተ ሥላሴሂ ነአምን አበ በገጹ ወበመልክዑ ወበአካሉ ወልድሂ በገጹ ወበመልክዑ ወበአካሉ ወመንፈስ ቅዱሰሂ በገጹ ወበመልክዑ ወበአካሉ። ወበዘከመዝ እምነትነ ንብል ከመዝ ንሰግድ ለአብ ወወልድ ወመንፈስ ቅዱስ ለዘ፫፡ ፩ ወለዘ፩፡ ፫’ ‘(We believe in the Trinity; we believe that the Father has his own feature, image, and person; the Son has his own feature, image, and person and the Holy Spirit has his own feature, image, and person. We believe and worship the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit who is while 3 yet 1, while 1 yet 3’) (Zar’a Yā‘qob, Das Maṣḥafa Milād Und Maṣḥafa Sellāsē, Part II, 65). Interestingly, Ephraim Isaac wrongly assumes that the Trinitarian decision was a change in the EOC’s ancient Jewish Christian teaching, instigated by pro-Coptic ‘revolutionary priests and kings’, mainly Täklä Haymanot and aṣe Zär’a Ya‘əqob, and that the EOC persecuted Jewish Christians like Ewosṭateans and the Stephanites (Ephraim Isaac, EOTC, 43; 44–47; Ephraim Isaac, ‘An Obscure Component’, 255–258). Not only does his assumption fail to appropriately recognise the Trinitarian teachings of the early Aksumite Church as revealed in the inscription of Ezana, but he also appears to have conflated the quest of Gämaləyal and Zämika’el (which was

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process of theological discussion, even though the emergence of various theological positions created divisions and strife, the resultant reflection of church scholars on Christian religious texts led to the production of a large corpus of Ethiopic literature and had a direct bearing on fifteenth-century theological discourse in Ethiopia. The king and his allies in the church acted in accord to bring unity of Christian religion to the kingdom. It was mainly necessary for the new and powerful king, aṣe Zär’a Ya‘əqob, to forge a solution for the apparent animosity between monastic schools of the EOC, including on the issue of the Sabbath, which to him was the ‘hottest issue that had divided the clergy for as long as he could remember.’143 His handling of the religious issues that were mainly initiated in the northern part of the kingdom (which had already demonstrated opposition to the rule of the Amharan dynasty) can be seen as potentially having aggravated the existing fragile relationship between north and south in medieval Ethiopia. Zär’a Ya‘əqob seems to have recognized the strength and growth of the Betä Ewosṭatewos movement in Təgre and the persistent opposition to this movement from Amhara abbots, as in the time of aṣe Amdä Ṣəyon, and its apparent political implication. To tackle this, he primarily sought agreement from leaders of major monasteries and influential churches, particularly in Aksum. In relation to this, he made clear that he was the heir of the Aksumite ‘Solomonic’ kings and maintained cordial relationships with the Aksumite clergy and the church, Ṣəyon.144

regarding Trinitarian teaching) with that of the Ewosṭatean and Stephanite questions on honouring the Sabbath and Mary respectively (his view is partly refuted in Chapter 3. ‘እግዚአ ሰማይ (‘Ǝgzi’ə Sämay’): ‘the Lord of Heaven’). 143 Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 222. 144 Richard Pankhurst (tr.), ‘The Chronicle of the Emperor Zara Yaqob (1434–1468)’ in Ethiopian Observer, 5 (2) 1961, 153–165; it adds, ‘This stone, together with its supports, is only used for coronation.’ The ceremony was sealed in what was described as colourful and extravagant: his rite of coronation in Aksum was held on the 21st of the month of Ter [Ṭər, September], the commemoration of the day of the death of St. Mary Ṣəyon, during which ‘the king was seated on a stone throne.’

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Aṣe Zär’a Ya‘əqob no doubt had strong theological convictions regarding Sabbath. Even before the Council at Däbrä Məṭmaq, he had already expressed his intention of upholding the two Sabbaths. In the eighth year of his reign, in 1442, eight years before the Council of Däbrä Məṭmaq (which decided in favour of Sabbath observance), he sent a book to the Ethiopian community in Jerusalem with the following message: ‘I hereby send you this book of Senodos so that you may get consolation from it on the days of the First Sabbath and on Sundays.’145 Moreover, making the situation more favourable for him, the anti-Sabbath Alexandrian Church metropolitan Bärtäloméwos had long been succeeded by two infamous prelates, Abba Mikael and Abba Gäbrə’el, whose names, according to Taddesse, ‘have become inseparably connected with that of Zär’a Ya‘əqob in the ecclesiastical traditions of Ethiopia. The king sought their full cooperation in his plans to restore the unity of the Ethiopian Church.’146 They were willing to stand with him. Finally, the tremendous success of the Ewosṭateans through the edict on the observance of the Sabbath was sealed irrevocably at the Council of Däbrä Məṭmaq147: The two bishops, the followers of Éwosṭatéwos and the abbots of leading monasteries attended the council. The debate has already been exhausted in the previous years, and it appears that the gathering was principally intended for the formal reconciliation of the Éwosṭateans and the Egyptian bishops and their followers.148

Agreement was reached at the council of Däbrä Məṭmaq regarding formal authorisation for the observance of the Sabbath (in addition to Sunday) among the members of the EOC; the incorporation of the Ewosṭateans into the EOC ensured their eligibility to receive Holy Orders from the Egyptian bishops. 145 Taddesse, Church 146 Ibid., 228. 147

and State in Ethiopia, 229.

The dating given by scholars varies: August 1449, or 14 Feb 1450 or 1451. In addition to Sabbath observance, other theological issues were also addressed at this gathering. 148 Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 230.

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JEWISH CULTURAL ELEMENTS ወካዕበ ለብዉ ወእግዚአብሔርሰ መሐሪ ዘይፈቅድ ምክንያተ ምሕረት ለኵሉ ሰብእ ከሰተ ሎሙ ክብረ ክልኤሆን ሰንበታት ለአበዊነ ቅዱሳን ወክቡራን ጳጳሳት አባ ሚካኤል ወአባ ገብርኤል ዘኢከሰተ ለጳጳሳተ ኢትዮጵያ እለ ወጽኡ እምቅድሜሆሙ፡፡ ወኮነ አመ ፳ወ፩ለወርኃ የካቲት በበዓለ እግዚእትነ ማርያም፡፡ እንዘ ሀሎነ በደብረ ምጥማቅ ወእምአመ አንበረነ እግዚአብሔር ዲበ መንበረ ዳዊት አቡነ ንጉሠ ኢትዮጵያ ርእሰ ነገሥታት በ፲ወ፮ዓመት ወንበሎሙ ለአበዊነ ጳጳሳት አባ ሚካኤል ወአባ ገብርኤል፡፡ በምንትኑ ምክንያት ይስዕርዋ ሰብእ ለቀዳሚት ሰንበት […] ወሶበ ስምዑ አበዊነ ጳጳሳት አባ ሚካኤል ወአባ ገብርኤል ዘንተ ነገረ ሐብሩ ምስሌነ በአክብሮ ክልኤሆን ሰንበታት መጸሐፉ በእደዊሆሙ አክብሮቶን፡፡149 And God, because of his mercy and his will, revealed the honours of the two Sabbaths to our fathers, the reverend bishops Abba Mika’el and Abba Gäbrə’el, a revelation that he has not made to the [Alexandrian] bishops of Ethiopia who came before them. This happened on the 21 of [the month] Yekatit [October], during the honour of Our Lady Mary. It took place during the 16th year God established me on the throne of my father Dawit, king of Ethiopia, the head of kings, when Abba Mikaə’el and Abba Gäbrə’el had been bishops. [They explained] why we observe the Sabbath. And our fathers Abba Mika’el and Abba Gäbrə’el agreed with us on the observance of the Sabbath, and they declared this in their own hands.

The religious change of the time was indeed a remarkable success for the pro-Sabbath party. The two Egyptian prelates, as expected, also stood with the aṣe against their own Coptic tradition. Sabbathean movement grew tremendously as a result of the enthusiasm created by the long-awaited victory at the royal court and the consequent change in attitudes towards it that were finally sealed at the Council of Däbrä Məṭmaq. The era thus brought the Ethiopian Church one step forward towards the strengthening of ‘SolomonZar’a Yā‘qob, Mäṣḥafä Berhān II, 153–155; translation depends upon Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 230. The issue of Sabbath observance and the strong arguments regarding its relevance that highly shaped the EOC’s theology and practice in 14th and 15th c. have already been exhausted and, apart from certain individuals’ commitment in some parts of the country (for example, Gojjam), there seems to be little or no attention given to it. 149

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ic’/’Israelite’ tradition. It should be noted, however, that the idea forwarded by the Ewosṭateans only stemmed from their theological conviction and certainly did not initially aim to strengthen ‘the Solomonic’ claim and the ‘Hebraic root’ of Ethiopia’s political and religious leadership. However, the discussion regarding the Sabbath seems to have made an important impact on religious nationalism, which was espoused by the time of the fourteenth-century Ethiopian development of the Solomonic-Sheba epic discovered in the Kəbrä Nägäśt. Those who already cherished the Kəbrä Nägäśt might have taken the issue of the Sabbath to develop their claim of a ‘Solomonic Ethiopia’ since the observance of Sabbath was one of the defining elements in Israelite worship of God. This religious issue was apparently taken up by the ‘Solomonic’ royal court for political exploitation, with the king and the secular clergy indicating preference for the Ewosṭateans over the anti-Sabbath party. Promoters of the new dynasty may have also felt that the Ewosṭateans, because of their emphasis on observing Sabbath with its related ‘Judaic’ ethos, were a religious movement committed to implementing the same ‘Solomonic’ agenda. Striving to achieve their goal, both the Ewosṭateans and the Solomonide rulers equally contributed to the further development of ‘Judaic’ identity in Ethiopia. Regardless of the reasons for this, it is clear that religious sentiment towards Sabbath observance among some notable EOC scholars, as discussed below, indubitably changed in the first decades of the fifteenth century. The Council at Däbrä Məṭmaq was thus significant in many ways, for it aimed to bring the theologically divided church into accord. The attempt to unify the church was also undoubtedly meant to maintain the unity of the kingdom.150 The decision shaped the theological discussion of the church going forth towards incorporating and enhancing other ‘Judaic’ elements. It also enhanced ‘indige150

As compared to the significant military success of his predecessors, like Amdä Ṣəyon and Dawit, Zär’a Ya‘əqob found himself in a critical moment. The advance of the Muslim kingdoms in the eastern and southern part of the country was significantly felt in the country and apparently challenged northern Christian Ethiopia.

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nous’ theological reflection that often challenged the authority of the Coptic Orthodox Church. However, this ‘indigenising’ theological endeavour of the church was yet to be tested in relation to the decision regarding the extent to which the faithful should observe new religious elements and include such into their devotion and practice—a question that surfaced in the sixteenth century due to an encounter with Western missionaries.151 It also posed a challenge regarding the extent the local clergy could contextualise other cultural elements, particularly indigenous cultural elements that the church encountered during its expansion in the ‘pagan’-dominated southern parts of the kingdom.

‘PAGAN’ IMPLANT ON THE ‘JUDAIC SPIRIT’ OF THE EOC: THE THREE-CONCENTRIC-CIRCLE CHURCH ARCHITECTURE AS A CASE FOR RECIPROCAL INFLUENCE One of the uniquenesses of the EOC often mentioned is its circular church structure, its origin being credited to the Old Testament Temple’s architecture.152 Ullendorff, among other scholars, regard the innovation involving church edifices as an auxiliary reflection of the growth and wide spread impact of ‘Judaic culture’ and identity in Ethiopia in this era. It is assumed that the three-concentric-circle structure of many Ethiopian churches serves as one more of the many ‘proofs’ that the EOC was influenced by Judaic culture before the introduction of Christianity. Ullendorff interpreted this ‘peculiar’ church structure as one of the conspicuous reflections of the survival of Old Testament culture in Ethiopia: ‘[i]t seems that the form of Hebrew sanctuary was preferred by Ethiopians to the basilica type which accepted by early Christians elsewhere.’153 It seems, however, important to discover whether developments in theological reflection on the Old Testament temple lay behind this new characteristic in church building. 151 See Chapter 6.

Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible, 89. Ibid. Ullendorff refers to Ludolf, Rathjens, Lüpke and Littmann in his line of argument (ibid., 87–88). 152 153

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Highlighting Ullendorff’s main hypothesis, Calvin Shenk notes that unique aspects of contextualization must be understood against the background of several significant aspects involving cultural developments within the EOC. Accordingly, he contends that ‘much of Ethiopian culture has been affected by the biblical Hebraic tradition, [… and] many traditions stem from Judaism’, and this includes the internal threefold division of the Ethiopian Church building which ‘is based upon the temple of Solomon.’154 Shenk follows the same premises to argue that the main features of these circular or octagonal church structures have been influenced by the three-part structure of the temple of the Old Testament; The innermost part where the ark rests is called the mekedes. Here only the senior priests and kings are admitted. The middle section is called the kiddist, where the priests and those receiving communion stand. The outside ambulatory, the kine mahlet, is where the hymns are sung by the debterra [däbtära] (cantors) and where many of the congregation stand.155

The EOC’s official stance adopts a similar interpretation to that of Ullendorff. It seems important to highlight that the circular shape of church architecture became one of the features of church buildings in the earliest ‘Solomonic era’ in contrast to the basilica style dominant in late antiquity: The essence of this new plan is an enclosed square sanctuary located at the core of the church structure. The common form of 154

Shenk, ‘Reverse Contextualization’, 88. In the nineteenth century, a writer also noted that Christians in Ethiopia ‘are Christian rather by profession than in practice, many of their observances being clearly Jewish. Their very churches … remind one of the altars and temples spoken of in the Old Testament, not only from their being mostly built on high places, and surrounded by groves, but also from their internal construction’ (Mansfield Parkyns, Life in Abyssinia (London: 1853), 289–90, quoted in Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible, 87, n.2. 155 Shenk, ‘Reverse Contextualization’, 88.

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JEWISH CULTURAL ELEMENTS the new plan is circular (or octagonal) church with walls of wattle and daub or stone and with a conical thatched roof (metal roofs) are more recent innovations.156

Such development in church edifices—from the basilica (a style with a clear influence from post-sixth-century Mediterranean construction157 found into the modern era) to the circular or octagonal threeconcentric-circle church structure comprised of the mäqdäs, qəddəst, and qəne maḫlet—only became common after the 15th century. This means that the introduction of the impressive three-concentric-circle church building style appears to have been introduced in the 15th century. As much as he is interested in considering the ‘Jewish’ impact on the EOC, Shenk seems to reflect upon the church’s innovation in the context of the church’s ‘isolation from the Christian world and the presence of enemies threatening her survival turned Ethiopia inward and made her rely on her own theological resources, thus “theological resources” and its creativity in “contextualization” became more important.’158 To limit ourselves to the issue we are discussing, it seems important to deal with what resources were available to the church and how they contributed to the introduction of the circular church architecture. Two possible suggestions are ‘Judaeo-Christian’ theological influence and ‘pagan’ impact. Ralph Lee asserts that ‘Ephrem’s description of the threefold division of the Heavenly Tabernacle intimates a close connection between the Ethiopic perception of Paradise and the JudaeoChristian milieu of the Syriac speaking church. It may even be possible that Ephrem’s description of Paradise, which is reiterated in the Dəggwā is the inspiration for the round shape of Ethiopian church-

Buildings’ in EA Vol.1, 737, 738. Ibid, 737. In light of the ancient ‘basilica’ styled Sabbean temple structures that survived in Aksum and its environs, dated back to 6th cent BCE, Heldman’s view seems to fall short of giving a better comparative analysis on religious building architectures of Aksum. 158 Ibid, 88. 156 Marilyn E. Heldman, ‘Church 157

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es.’159 Another possibility is that it was a contextualisation that was developed as the political and religious centre of the Ethiopian Church-State moved further southward and came increasingly into contact with non-Christians. Some traditional practices were adopted into the church through a gradual process due to the expansion of the church towards ‘pagan’ areas. While the place of the EOC in impacting and shaping the practices and cultural expressions of much of the Ethiopian population is admittedly profound, the counter-effect of the encounter between the church and non-Christian societies needs to be further explored.160 As the armies of the ‘Solomonic’ Christian empire (re)expanded into non-Christian territories further south, it created a new mission field for the EOC. The (re)accommodation of conquered areas into the empire in the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries enhanced church growth. Church planting in the new territories was encouraged by the kings, further strengthening the hegemony of Church-State in the newly conquered areas. The encounter with a non-Christian world proved to be both an opportunity and a challenge for the EOC clergy. The church grew both geographically and numerically; at times, apparent mass-conversion to Christianity followed the conversion of the ruler of a tribe or a nation. On the other hand, the church faced new challenges in striking a balance between protecting itself from ‘syncretism’ and adopting some contextually relevant indigenous cultural elements into its evolving Christian tradition. In this respect, it is interesting to note that a book published under the official auspices of the EOC tried to establish a relationLee, ‘Symbolic’, 201–202, 176, 179; andəmta of Genesis 8:19 on Noah’s Ark: ‘the boat is a symbol of the Church, and her being in three divisions is a symbol of the three divisions of the church. Noah together with his children is a symbol of the believers’ (ibid.; cf. መጻሕፍተ ብሉያት ክልኤቱ (ዘፍጥረት ወዘጸአት)፡ አንድምታ ትርጓሜ (Addis Ababa, Tənsa’e Zä-Guba’e Printing House, 1999 EC.), 6). 160 Reflections by Ullendorff and Hammerschmidt (‘Jewish Elements in the Cult of the Ethiopian Church’) can be taken as a good starting point for further discussion. 159

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ship between the church’s expansions southward and the development of the new type of church edifices. Housing designs further south of the Ethiopian kingdom are similar to the circular shape of Ethiopian church buildings, suggesting that one of the outcomes of contextualisation was perhaps the adaptation of church edifices in accordance with the local tradition and environment: In the mediaeval period, ecclesiastical architecture underwent a radical change. Churches of octagonal or circular shape were constructed. It seems probable that these forms were increasingly adopted as Ethiopian power moved southwards and the churches acquired the form of the round dwellings common in the south. This type of circular or octagonal church is abundant in the southern and western areas where Christianity was introduced later. The basilica form has been retained to a large extent in northern Ethiopia.161

Moreover, the circular style of church building notably resembles ‘holy’ houses where traditional healers, witchdoctors, and judges sat and ministered to their people.162 Thus, contextualisation and the innovation of the EOC clergy should be taken into consideration in dealing with the development of the three-concentric-circle style of church building. The church’s innovation and accommodation of indigenous cultural elements through the reading of Christian literature once again facilitated the adoption of local elements. Our discussion so far shows that at least two ‘Judaic elements’ thus appear to have evolved from the contextualisation of indigenous practices. Circumcision, while it was a cultural element practiced by the Ethiopians, as discussed in previous chapters, was theologised and adapted by the Christian community no later than the 161

Sergew Hable Selassie and Bleyanesh Mikael, ‘Worship in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church’, in Sergew Hablesselassie, et.al. (eds.) The Church of Ethiopia: A Panorama of History and Spiritual Life (Addis Ababa, 1970), 64–65. 162 For an example of the building structure of traditional religion shrines, see ‘Eqo’ in EA Vol. 2, 346.

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tenth century. As its sphere of influence expanded further southward into the areas dominated by ‘pagans’, the indigenising process became inevitable, with some indigenous cultural aspects taking a Judaic semblance. In addition to circumcision, the above analysis indicates that there were certainly some other indigenous cultural elements adopted and branded as part of Ethiopian Christian practices. This reflection suggests that the practices of the church should be analysed not only in relation to the influence of biblical and other Christian texts but also in light of surrounding indigenous cultures that were theologised and contextualised in light of Christian thought.

CONCLUSION In the medieval EOC, the complexity of cultural interaction intensified, theological reflection became nuanced, and literature with ‘Judaic’ flavour became more common. The Kəbrä Nägäśt successfully shaped the dialogue in the formation of Solomonic heritage; designed to serve the Tǝgrayan religious ethos and identity, it was ultimately hijacked by powerful militaristic Amharan kings. The ‘Ark of the Covenant’ (or an object that represented it) was firmly established as the original Old Testament artefact purloined from Jerusalem. Regarding further development of the Judaic character of the EOC, the likely reciprocal interaction between the EOC and the Betä Ǝsra’el should be noted as a potentially more significant factor than previously recognized. ‘Judaeo-Christian’ elements such as the Sabbath—although primary refuted by the anti-Sabbath movement (mainly due to the stance of the Coptic bishop)—finally won favour by drawing support from Christian canonical books translated from Coptic sources. The Däbrä Məṭmaq council initially allowed Sabbath observance among the Betä Ewosṭatewos, but non-Ewosṭateans, such as aṣe Zär’a Ya‘əqob, came to support the honouring of the Sabbath by the church in general. Christian–‘pagan’ interaction contributed further to the development of the ‘Judaic’ character of the EOC. The adoption of the three-concentric-circle-style church building in the medieval period no doubt reflects the influence of the architecture of ‘pagan’ religious centres as a result of the Church’s expansion southward. It is also probable that scholars and members of the EOC were inspired by the theological concept of ‘the division of

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heaven’ while theologising this custom. As will be discussed in the next chapter, these multi-layered customs merged together to influence almost every aspect of the life of the Christian community; and these unique and resilient characteristics, dubbed ‘Judaic’, served to influence subsequent perspectives on the church. As the next chapter shows, the EOC was now undoubtedly ‘Judaic’ in many ways, and its ‘Jewish’ practices were to be either defended or amended by the faithful in the face of different perceptions and/or criticisms of foreign (European) visitors and missionaries.

CHAPTER 6: ATTEMPTS TO DELINEATE THE POSITION OF THE CHURCH ON ‘JUDAIC’ CULTURAL PRACTICES AND CONCOMITANT IMPACT There was considerable change in the trajectory of religious identity within Ethiopia during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. This was mainly due to vigorous theological arguments and reflections as well as cultural interaction with ‘pagan’-dominated areas. At the forefront was the development of ‘Judaic’ cultural elements, which was enhanced by literature translated from Arabic sources as well as books compiled and/or produced by indigenous writers that led to strong religio-nationalism and theological congruence. A need for common theological understanding continued to be a concern for kings and priests in the fifteenth to sixteenth centuries. Christian–‘pagan’ interactions increased in this period, particularly when the northern, Christian-dominated parts of the kingdom faced significant challenges from Muslim fighters in the southern parts of the kingdom, as well as the expansion of the ‘traditional religion’ of the Oromo people. Survival and expansion left an important mark on the shape of the Church–State relationship, which reached its zenith in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It is doubtless that as a result of these interactions, further adaption and ‘syncretism’ developed. Merid Wolde Aregay tries to shed light onto the context of the era and the reaction of the church: Its syncretism developed from the deliberate policy of toleration and acceptance which emperors adopted in order to maintain peace among their culturally heterogeneous subjects. The em-

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The challenge on the frontiers from both Muslims and ‘traditionalists’ later invited the full-fledged involvement of the Portuguese military (followed by Catholic Jesuit missionaries) into Ethiopian politics and full-scale engagement in Ethiopian religious affairs. In addition to its involvement in the political affairs of the country and in appeasing recurrent theological dissent among its own (Sabbathean and non-Sabbathean) scholars, the EOC now had to interact with three other external factors: the Muslims, the ‘Pagan’ Oromo, and the Catholics. Indisputably, these factors, collectively, had a substantial impact on the shaping of the tradition of the church, particularly leaving a lasting legacy on the development of its ‘Judaic’ culture.

THE ‘JUDAIC’ IDENTITY OF THE EOC AT THE CROSSROADS (15TH -16TH C.) The general enthusiasm for consolidating ‘Jewish’ elements following the success of Ewostateans endured only until it was tested by other Christian traditions. In this period, challenge came not from Alexandria but from Rome in the form of Portuguese Jesuit mis1

Merid Wolde Aregay, ‘Southern Ethiopia and the Christian Kingdom 1508–1708, With Special Reference to the Gala Migrations and their Consequences’ (Thesis submitted for PhD, University of London, SOAS, 1971), 99.

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sionaries, who introduced another episode of theological discussion and negotiation towards establishing the values and relevance of the customs of the Ethiopian Church. Embracing ‘the Alien’: Firm Consolidation of ‘Hebraic-Judaic’ Norms in the EOC The resistance of some church scholars to the observance of Sabbath, which was considered ‘alien’2 as shown above, had faded as proSabbath sentiment received general acceptance. After the dispute between the Church and the Ewosṭateans settled at the end of the fourteenth century, the non-Ewosṭateans started to consider its implications in relation to the wider traditions of the church. The contribution of non-Ewosṭateans at the royal court in favour of the Sabbath thus proved to be enormous for the second phase of Sabbathoriented discussion in the Ethiopian Church. To establish their case, some even tried to trace the presence of Sabbath observance to the earliest history of the church, long before the rise of the Ewosṭateans.3 Beginning from the second half of the fifteenth century, a significant amount of literature was produced to consolidate the Church’s stance on the Sabbath and other theological teachings. As noted above, Zär’a Ya‘əqob took the matter further.4 Even though the decision favouring Sabbath observance at Däbrä Segew, Ancient, 280. Sergew writes that Gädla Qäwosṭos (which is described by its author as having been compiled during the reign of Dawit) assumes that the proposal of observing Sabbath equal to Sunday had been forwarded by Qäwosṭos, a saint who lived in the thirteenth century (Sergew, Ancient, 280). It seems possible that the author, probably a pro-Sabbathean clergy member, attempted to defend his contemporary view by claiming authority with respect to historical saintly figures. 4 Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 284. Zär’a Ya‘əqob found it important to settle some setbacks that his kingdom faced; he tried to eliminate factions among the scholars, he punished numerous witchcraft-practicing ‘devil worshipers’ (even some of his family members were reportedly found guilty), and he harshly dealt with people who refused to adhere to his theological views, the መናፍቃን (mänafe‘qan (‘heretics’), a patronising term that 2 3

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Məṭmaq only concerned the Ewosṭateans, the aṣe was already in favour of more general observance, probably due to the influence of Abba Giyorgis ZäGasəč̣čạ . In this venture, he particularly used the Senodos and Didəsqəlya as the primary authorities to support his stance. In Ṭomarä Təsbit, he cautiously distinguished between his version of Sabbath observance and that of the Jews: ወዕለተ በዓላቲሁኒ ናክብር በከመ ተአዘዘነ ሰንበተኒ ዘአዕረፈ ባቲ እምኵሉ ግብሩ ወፈድፋደሰ በዕለተ እሁድ:: በደመ ተብህለ በዲደስቅልያ:: ወንሕነሰ ንገብር በዐለ በከመ ተአዘዝነ በሲኖዶስ ርሒቀነ እምጠንቋሊ ዘተሰየመ አይሁደ ወመጣዐዌ Let us also honour his feast days as we have been commanded: Saturday – on which he rested from all his works – and Sunday, as has been stated in Didascalia. We observe a feast as we have been commanded in the Synodicon, being far from the magician who is called “a Jew and an idolater.”5

He also expanded his pro-Sabbath teaching in the fourth chapter of his Mäṣḥafä Bərhan.6 He articulated ‘the honour of the two Sabbaths’ (‘ክብረ ክልኤሆን ሰንበታት’) and invited the enemies of the Sabbath to recognise what the Senodos and Didəsqəlya teach on the Sabbath and on Sunday (‘ስምዑ ኦሠዓርያነ ሰንበት ዘከመ አዘዙ ሓዋርያት በሲኖዶሶሙ ከመ ያክብሩ ሰንበተ ወእኁደ’7). He further quotes from these two canonical books to expound his pro-Sabbath stance: now those who deny Sabbath deny the word of God; the two Sabbaths are equal and should both be kept.8 His Mäṣḥafä Milad also refers to the Didəsqəlya as the apostolic authority behind the provision of Sabbath observance among Christians: ይበሉ ሐዋርያት በዲድስቅልያሆሙ ተጋብኡ በቤተ ክርስቲያን ሰርከ ወነግሀ ስብሑ ወዘምሩ ወአንብቡ መዝሙረ ዳዊት በሰንበተ አይሁድ ወበእሑድ

continued to be used against anyone regarded dissident from the EOC’s tradition). 5 Zära Ya‘əqob, Ṭomarä Tesb‘ət, 6, 5. 6 Zar’a Yā‘qob, Mäṣḥäfä Berhān Vol. II, 54–85. 7 Ibid., 64. 8 Ibid., 65–68.

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ሰንበተ ክርስቲያን እንተ ይእቲ ትንሣኤሁ ቅድስት አዕርጉ ሎቱ ስብሐተ ወአኰቴት ወክብረ ለእግዚአብሔር ዘፈጠረ ኲሎ በወልዱ ኢየሱስ ክርስቶስ9 The Apostles said in their Didəsqəlya [the believers] gather in the church and praise and adore [God] and read the Psalm on the Sabbath of the Jews as well as on Sunday – the Sabbath of Christians – in which day the holy resurrection and ascension took place, and for him is praise and adoration for the glory of God through his son Jesus Christ.

Zär’a Ya‘əqob and his allies eventually won the argument, for obvious reasons. His victory in instituting Sabbath observance is narrated by his chronicler: when the trumpet sounded to mark the beginning of Sabbath,10 all activity ceased and that the people, starting their rest, would say, ‘It is now that the Sabbath begins.’ Other feast days were no better observed. The king re-established them and prescribed that the Sabbath should be as holy as Sunday, without any distinction, according to the prescriptions of the holy apostles. […] All these beliefs and practices, as well as others of a similar nature, were expounded by our king who ordered them to be taught to all men and women by calling them all together in every locality every Sabbath and feast day.11

Sabbath, therefore, became part of the tradition of the EOC, and the faithful now celebrated it with much reverence in light of the Old Testament rules. One of the most interesting developments from the time of aṣe Zär’a Ya‘əqob is the attention given to the existing practice of female circumcision (excision), a well established traditional practice from ancient Ethiopia. Hiob Ludolf writes that the Ethiopian tradition traces the origin of the practice to the time of the Queen of Sheba, the mother of Mənilək: ‘by the Decree and Commandments of 9 Zar’a Yā‘qob, Das

Maṣḥafa Milād Und Maṣḥafa Sellāsē, Part I, 36–37. The trumpet sounded in the ninth hour (3 p.m.); the Sabbath was probably observed beginning from Friday late afternoon. 11 The Ethiopian Royal Chronicles, Richard Pankhurst (ed.) (Addis Ababa, 1967), 40. 10

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Queen Maqueda the Women were also to be circumcis’d, as having a certain glandulous piece of Flesh, not unfit to receive the Impression and mark of Circumcision.’12 Zär’a Ya‘əqob worried that the practice in some parts of Ethiopia was in violation of already existing tradition. While stating his disapproval of the trends in Təgray, which followed ‘pagan’ and ‘Muslim’ practices of female circumcision,13 the aṣe argued that the church should continue to properly circumcise both boys and girls in a ‘Christian’ way, which indubitably demonstrates that the Ethiopian experience differed from the Jewish culture of circumcision.14

Ludolf, A New History, 239. Indeed, the ‘same Ceremony [of female circumcision] was not only us’d by the Habssines, but also familiar among other people of Africa [… including] ‘AEgyptians, and the Arabians themselves’ (ibid., 242). 13 One of the concerns of the aṣe was to ‘reform’ the ‘pagan’ way of female circumcision practiced in the northern part of his kingdom, Təgray. He heard that after excision, they ensured that blood closed the hole, without leaving sufficient opening for urine. It would therefore involve removal of the lips, and a healing process closed it almost edge to edge. When the girl got married, her husband may tear the hymen with his fingers. In the case that the husband was too young, his older brother would take the responsibility; and if he too failed, then one of the best men would perform the task with a razor before the husband slept with his wife. Following this description, Zär’a Ya‘əqob criticise that the ‘people of Təgray, though Christians, adopted this practice from Muslims and pagans’ (Zar’a Yā‘qob, Mäṣḥafä Berhān I, , CSCO. Conti Rossini in collaboration with L. Ricci (eds.) (Louvain, 1964–1965), 91). 14 Zär’a Ya‘əqob writes that females should be ‘circumcised as it was prescribed. At the time of her marriage, her husband does not open the seal of virginity with the fingers of his hand and will not open the genitalia of the girl with the razor as God created it. The hallmark of the virginity of the girl will be opened with the body of the man married to the girl, and no razor shall come to his genitals, except on the day of his circumcision, as it was prescribed to Abraham’ (Zar’a Yā‘qob, Mäṣḥafä Berhān I, 91; on a text involving female circumcision, see discussion on biblical andəmta, below). Although there seems a consensus among the contemporary teachers of the 12

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One can conclude that EOC teachers after Zär’a Ya‘əqob treated female circumcision as a traditional and cultural norm that should be practiced but that must performed in a manner distinct from ‘pagan’ and Muslim practices. Since the traditional circumcision of boys was backed by Old Testament teachings, it must have been in light of the same scriptures that the EOC required male circumcision to be performed on the eighth day after birth, a trend once again indicating the mechanisms by which an existing indigenous practice was customised as ‘biblical’/‘Jewish’ in the EOC. This offers a typical example of Ethiopian contextualisation and acculturation (in this case, the process of ‘Judaising’, or, more appropriately, Christianising of indigenous elements).15 Literary evidence shows that ‘Judaic’ elements received significant attention from the EOC’s writers after the fifteenth century. TheTä’ammərä Maryam (‘Miracles of Mary’, which was translated from Arabic sources in the early fifteenth century but developed and expanded at the time of Zär’a Ya‘əqob by pro-Däbrä Məṭmaq Ethiopian writers), for example, presents a miracle story of a certain Ṭiras who neglected the observance of Sabbath and was struck deaf as a consequence: ጢራስ የሚባል አንድ ሰዉ ነበርና ድንግል እናቱና የልዑል እግዚአብሔር ወዳጅ ከሚሆን ከጌታዉ ጋር ሔደ፡፡ ይህ ጢራስ እሁድና ቅዳሜን የሚሽር ነበር፡፡ ከዚህ በኋላ በጥዋት በንጉሥ ዐደባባይ ከጌታዉ ጋራ ሳለ ያን ጊዜ ዲዳ ደንቆሮ ሁኖ መናገር የማይቻለዉ ሆነ::16 There was a person called Ṭiras who went to visit his master – a beloved to Sovereign God and His Virgin Mother. This Ṭiras used to break Sunday and Sabbath. In the morning when he was EOC to abhor the practice, backed by some NGO initiatives, it is still practiced among some Muslims and Christians in some parts of the country. 15 In the same vein, some already existing traditional dietary elements might have been soon contextualised into the EOC in light of the reading of the Old Testament, suggesting a need for an in-depth thematic study that will no doubt shed light on the method behind the complex adoption of many other customs into the Ethiopian Church’s ‘Judaic’ tradition. 16 ተአምረ ማርያም [‘Tä’ammərä Maryam’/‘Miracles of Mary’] (Addis Ababa, 1989 EC), 247–8.

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The deafness and muteness of Ṭiras is clearly a result of his attitude towards the two Sabbaths. The happy ending of the story narrates that he needed the prayers of his faithful master to be healed. The story, which is part of the many miracles of Mary that were intended to be publicly read every Sunday after the mass, is intended to warn the faithful against the error of breaking the ordinance of Sabbath. In another account from the same book, the observance of Sabbath is affirmed as having an implication beyond the transient, affecting a person’s eternal destiny: a person who faithfully observe the two Sabbaths but eternally condemned in hell (because of other sin), could get a relief from torment on Saturdays and Sundays, ሁለቱን የሚያከብር የሆነ እንደ ሆነ ዐርብ በሰርክ ከሲኦል ወጥቶ እሑድ በሰርክ ወደ ሲኦል ይወርዳል፤ አንዱን (እሑድን ብቻ) የሚያከብር ሰው የሆነ እንደ ሆነ ቅዳሜ ሰርክ ከሲኦል ይወጣል፤ እሑድ በሰርክ ወደ ሲኦል ይወርዳል፡፡17 [If a person in his life time used to] observe the two [Sabbaths], he will be [given rest, being] transported Friday evening and return back [to Hades] on Sunday evening. If the person observes only Sunday, he will be taken off [from Hades] on Saturday evening and return back on Sunday evening.

This ordinance would continue until the second coming of Christ, which, according to this text, will take place on Sunday. Therefore, since the person is usually out of Hades on Sundays, he will be eternally pardoned: ‘እንዲህ እያለ ሲኖር ጌታ ማም የሚመጣው በዕለተ እሑድ ነውና እንደ ወጣ ይቀራል/‘in the midst of the routine, he will stay out [of hades] forever because the Lord will return on the day of Sunday.’ 17

ውዳሴ ማርያም ዘእሑድ፣ ክፍል አንድ [starts ‘ውዳሴ ለእግዝእትነ ማርያም ድንግል ወላዲተ አምላክ ዘይትነበብ በዕለተ ሰንበተ ክርስቲያን/praises of our Lady Virgin Mary the mother of God, which is to be read on the day of Christian Sabbath’] (ውዳሴ ማርያም አንድምታ [‘andǝmta Interpretation/Commentary on the Praise of Mary’]. (Addis Ababa: Tənsa’e Zä-Guba’e Printing Press, 1987 EC).

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In addition to deliberating on the importance of Sabbath in the believer’s temporal and eternal life, the Tä‘ammərä Maryam also explicates the miraculous power of the tabot, further evidence of the parallel development of ‘Judaic’ elements in the EOC:18 በድንጋሌ ሥጋ በድንጋሌ ነፍስ በጸናች በክብርት እመቤታችን ስም የተቀረጸች ሳይባርኳት አስቀድሞ በሣጥን ዉስጥ ያኖሯት አንዲት ታቦት በቤተ መንግሥረቱ አዳራሽ ዉስጥ ነበርች፡፡ከዚያም በኋላ የሣጥኑ መግጠምያ ሳይከፈት ከሣጥኑ ወጥታ በነጭ ሐር ግምጃ ላይ ተቀምጣ አገኙዋት የንጉሥ ዕቃ ቤት ጠባቂዎች ይህን አይተዉ ደነገጡና ስለዚች ታቦት ነገር የተደረገዉን ሁሉ ፈጥነዉ ሒደዉ ለንጉስ ነገሩት፡፡ ንጉሥም ገናንነቷን የነገራችሁኝን ያችን ታቦት አምጥታችሁ አሳዩኝ አ[ላ]ቸዉና አመጧት […] ያን ጊዜ ፈጥኖ ከሊቃነ ካህናት ጋራ ከብዙ ዲያቆናትና ከቀሳዉስትም ጋራ ይባርካት ዘንድ ወደ ጳጳስ ላካት ይህችም ታቦት በከበረ አባት በኢትዮጵያ ሊቀ ጳጳሳት እጅ ተባረከች እያመሰገኑም በብዙ ማኅሌት አክብረዉ አገቧት የታቦቲቱንም መምጣት ለንጉሥ ነገሩትና ያን ጊዜ ያችን ታቦት ለመቀበል በብዙ ምስጋና መለከት ቃጭል መረዋን መሰንቆን በገናን ከበሮንም በመምታት መጣ፡፡ በመታበይም በዋዛ ፈዛዛ ነገር ሳቅ ስላቅም በማብዛት በሌሎቹ አብያተ ክርስትያናት እንዳስለመዱ ጀመሩ ያን ጊዜ እመቤታችን በነሱ ፈረደችባቸዉ ከሳቸዉም ገሮሯቸዉ የተዘጋ አሉ ራሳቸዉም የታመመ አሉ የሆዳቸዉ አንጀትም የታመመ አሉ ሁሉም ልዩ ልዩ በሚሆን ደዌ በሽተኞች ሆኑ:: There was a tabot made (lit., engraved) for the name of Our Lady Mary, Virgin in Soul and Flesh, in which they kept her in a chest box in the hall of the palace’s hall without consecrating her. After some time, the custodians of the king’s treasure found her on top of the chest sitting on white wool clothing while the chest box was still closed. The king sent his men to bring the famous tabot; they brought it to him […] and he sent her, with the arch-priests and numerous deacons, to the most honourable Ethiopia’s bishop who then consecrated her. Learning of her return, the king went out to accompany her with joyful songs, playing trumpets, sistrum, one-string fiddle, lyre, and drum. [They kept her in a church]. The priests of this parish engaged in unworthy talk and jokes as they used to do in other churches. By that time, Our Lady sent a judgement on them: some became dumb, others suffered from headache, and there were also some 18 ተአምረ

ማርያም, 183–4.

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JEWISH CULTURAL ELEMENTS struck by stomachache; but all became ill of different kinds of diseases.

The honour given to the tabot seems to reach its zenith in the fifteenth century. As the details of the story of the miraculous tabot, which echo Old Testament accounts, indicate,19 the EOC continued to rely on a well established method of interpretation that forwards the theology of the Christian community through Old Testament stories and typologies.20 It has been argued in this book that circumcision was already a part of the Church’s custom at this time. A more general ‘Judaic’ heritage was at this time deeply entrenched via the Kəbrä Nägäśt and successfully influenced the development of the Ethiopian ethos. Sabbath observance was staunchly defended, and the tabot was magnificently enshrined. It was the final product of these significant developments that European visitors and missionaries encountered. In the absence of a proper perspective on the historical development of these cultural elements, it was therefore possible for them to conclude that such characteristics were directly derived from Judaism and to hold them up as evidence of the impact of ‘Hebrew’ culture 19

The miraculous contest of the Ark of the Covenant versus Dagon (1 Samuel 5) and the dancing of David (tenth century BCE) in front of the Ark of the Covenant (2 Samuel 6) are all brought up in this story of Tä’ammərä Maryam. 20 The tabot theology also developed to incorporate the parallelism of both the relic and the life and works of Mary in the salvation economy of God, albeit with the affirmation of the primacy of the latter over the former. In the writings of Zär’a Ya’əqob, Mary is now defined as ‘የሕይወት የመድኃኒት ሁለተኛ ክፍል’/‘second stage (?) saviour of life’ (the first being Jesus?) and also ‘የመሐላ ጽላት በወርቅም የተለበጠ ታቦት’/‘the covenant Tablet [of the Ark of the Covenant], Ark sealed by gold’, the first Ark being that of Moses (Zär’a Ya‘əqob, አርጋኖን [‘Arganon’] (Addis Ababa: Tesfa G/Selassie Printing Press, 1989 E.C.) 200). See also Abba Giyorgis, መጽሐፈ ምሥጢር/[‘Mäṣhäfä Misṭər’]. Mämeher Heruy Ermiyas (tr. (Amh.) and ed.) (Addis Ababa: Abba Giyorgis and Abba Ṭselotä Mika’el Union Monastery, 2001 E.C.), 119. For a good discussion on Mary as the second Zion and her identification with the Ark of the Covenant, see Lee, ‘Symbolic.’

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in Ethiopia. Once this conception was established, based on the description of travellers and Catholic missionaries who were intrigued and influenced by the narratives of the Ethiopian clergy, Western writers from the medieval period onward assumed the Ethiopian church was a church that had a strong ‘Judaic’ ethos that was ‘erroneously’ dependent on Old Testament rules and regulations. Some of the Ethiopian church’s practices were thus seen as heretical and/or as a cluster of syncretised religious elements that had been formed in the process of mingling with Judaism. Jesuit missionaries’ Reaction to the EOC’s ‘Judaic’ Elements, ‘Jewish Superstitions’ European contact with the ‘Indians’—as the Ethiopians were referred to in Western writings—can be traced back to the literary work of Hugh of Jabala, written in 1122, and a certain Odo of Rheims, abbot of St. Remy (1118–1151).21 After the circulation of the legend of Prester John and the interestingly detailed account of a letter that was reportedly sent from the monarch,22 passion and interest in Christian ecumenical mission to Ethiopia was ignited.23 21

Accounts of ‘a righteous and powerful king’ who successfully ruled vast countries reached Europe in the twelfth century, and the story was mainly based on the claims of an envoy of the Byzantine pope who, on the way to Rome in 1122, reportedly met a certain Nestorian ‘Patriarch of India.’ When Hugh of Jabala, a French-born bishop, presented the version of this narrative of the envoys to a writer, Odo of Rheims, abbot of St. Remy, he probably added some details that created a lasting legend regarding Ethiopia, its Christianity, and the account of its monarch—a certain Prester John. According to Hugh, the monarch was a wealthy and powerful monarch ‘who dwells beyond Persia and Armenia in the uttermost East’ (Vsevolod Slessarev, Prester John. The Letter and the Legend (London, Oxford, Toronto: Thomas Allen. 1959), 27, 95–122). 22 See the content of a letter which had reportedly been sent from Prester John to the Europeans (ibid., 67–79). For other details, see C.F. Beckingham, The Achievements of Prester John (London: 1966); Sergew, Ancient, 254–261. It seems that European fascination with the prestige and power of the king grew tremendously among European monarchs, coupled with the

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Medieval European contact with Ethiopia was established24 when Francesco Alvarez (1471–1541) arrived.25 Living in Ethiopia for passion of Christian writers and myth creation; the myth served the hardpressed Latin Europeans who were in search of a Christian ruler who would ally with them against the threat of Islam (see MacCulloch, History, 284); even after the idea of Crusade had been abandoned in Europe, this search gave way to a new quest in ecumenical relations. 23 Through a delegation of some of the Ethiopian monks from the monastery of Jerusalem, ecumenical relationships had been sought at the Council of Florence in 1441: ‘A commission sorted out the differences of belief and practices between the Ethiopian and Roman Churches and a Bull of Union, Cantate Domino, was solemnly promulgated on 4 February 1442’; however, nothing seems to have resulted from it, for the envoy seems to have been an unofficial representative of the Church; and it is not even certain whether the Bull ever reached the Ethiopian king. Interestingly, the time reference clearly shows that the council took place during the era of Zär’a Ya‘əqob, a king who proved himself an enthusiast defender of the Orthodox faith and to whom the strengthening of ‘Judaic’ spirit of the EOC in the fifteenth century is rightly attributed (Merid, ‘Southern Ethiopia’, 19); Ludolf, A New History, 151–153. 24 The Franciscan monk Ioane de Calabria, accompanied by Giovanni da Imola, arrived in Ethiopia probably in 1482; they met the young king Ǝskəndər (1478–1494) (see Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 290– 291). 25 Alvarez, Prester John. Alvarez was one of the members of the Portuguese embassy who arrived in Ethiopia about 1515; due to this effort, an Ethiopian envoy also visited Lisbon, mainly to request military assistance from Portugal. One of the Ethiopians, Zaga Zabo (Ṣaga zaAb), is reported to have explained the EOC’s stance on Sabbath: ‘we are bound by the Institutions of the Apostles to observe two days […] It is not therefore in imitation of the Jews, but in obedience to Christ and his holy Apostles, that we observe that Day, the favour that was shewed herein to the Jews being transformed to us Christians. [..] We do observe the Lord’s-Day after the manner of all other Christians, in memory of Christ’s Resurrection: But as we are sensible that we have observation of the Sabbath-Day from the Books of the Law, and not from those of the Gospel, so we are not ignorant that the Gospel is the end of the Law and the Prophets’ (Michael Geddes, Church History of Ethiopia (London: Ki. Chiswell, 1825), 88,89).

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about six years, he was able to deliver an evaluation of the Ethiopian Church’s ‘Judaic’ traditions and the well established myth of the Kəbrä Nägäśt (though he was unable to free himself from the lingering memory of the legend of Prester John26): [Aksum] was the city, chamber abode (as they say) of the Queen Saba, who took the camels laden with gold to Solomon, when he was building the temple of Jerusalem. There is in this town a very noble church, in which we found a very great chronicle [possibly, Kebra Nagast] written in the language of the country [stating…] How the Queen Sabaas hearing related the great and rich works which Solomon had begun in Jerusalem.27

The locals related to him that the church of St Mary of Zion in Aksum was built by Queen Saba, and its tabot was brought from Jerusalem; ‘they say that it is so named because its altar stone came from Sion […] This stone which they have in this church, they say that the Apostles sent it from Mount Sion.’28 Following this trend, he reported, it was the custom of the country to put an altar stone in each church.29 By the time of the visit of Alvarez in the sixteenth century, the story of the Kəbrä Nägäśt (which he describes as ‘a very great chronicle’) had become well established and elaborately commented upon. The local people related to him that the book had first been written in ‘Hebrew, and afterwards from Greek into Chaldee, and from Chaldee into the Abyssinian tongue’30 suggesting that the Ethiopians of the time had already excessively elaborated on the origin of the Kəbrä Nägäśt. In addition to traditional reflections and interpretations on ancient practices that had developed locally, Alvarez also 26

His idea of Ethiopia is one of the examples of European fascination with the land of Prester John: ‘He not only stretched the country to the Indian Ocean but peopled some of its regions with amazons and sea-people’ (Merid, ‘Southern Ethiopia’, 19). 27 Alvarez, Prester John, 78. 28 Ibid., 81. 29 Ibid. 30 Alvarez, Prester John, 78.

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believed that inscriptions he saw in Aksum had to have a connection with the story of Solomon and Saba: commenting on the obelisks, he writes that ‘most of them have large inscriptions, which the country people cannot read, neither could we read them; according to their appearances, these characters must be Hebrew.’31 This is probably a reference to Sabaean script, but his conclusion reflects the overwhelming influence of Ethiopian stories about the ‘Jewish heritage’ of the country. These conclusions offer an example of the reaction of the earlier European missionaries and travellers to the social and religious life of Ethiopians, which would have a profound effect on the manner in which others subsequently defined the EOC in the medieval period and beyond. This observation is clearly echoed in A Voyage to Abyssinia, written in the seventeenth century by Jerome Lobo (1593–1678), a Portuguese Jesuit. He observed that the Christianity of the Abyssinians is ‘nothing but a kind of confused miscellany of Jewish and Mahometan superstitions, with which they have corrupted those remnants of Christianity which they still retain.’32 This understanding regarding the practices of Ethiopian Christianity, which is described as a host of ‘abuses and irregularities’, is also a sentiment which continued to be reflected down the centuries among some Western writers.33 For another visitor, for example, the followers of the EOC ‘have been infected with fatal errors and are heretics.’34 These convictions are based on the assumption that some of the cultural elements witnessed in the EOC were no less than syncretised Judaism, an assumption that shaped the discussion on the issue over the subsequent cen31

Ibid., 83; he was probably referring to none other than the trilingual inscriptions of Aksum, written in Greek, Gə‘əz, and Sabaean scripts. 32 Lobo, Voyage to Abyssinia, 76. 33 Fr. Remedius Prutky reported in the 18th century that the Ethiopian Christians ‘have something in common with all people: Baptism with Christians; Sabbath with Hebrews; a multitude of wives, circumcision, and divorce with Turks; many superstitions with the Gentiles, indicating that circumcision as a practice learned from the Turks or probably the Arabs’ (quoted in Crummey, Priest and Politicians, 9). 34 Cf. Ullendorff, ‘Hebraic- Jewish’, 217.

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turies, the ‘Jewish’ elements in focus being mainly Sabbath observance, dietary laws, and circumcision. In the words of Alessandro Valignano (1539–1606), These Abyssinians are Christian, even though they host many Judaic ceremonies, with which they mix and confuse our faith, being neither Christian nor Jewish, as together with baptism they circumcise and next to keeping the Sunday they also keep the Sabbath, and use ritual washing and do not eat pig and finally observe many Judaic rites and ceremonies.35

As Ludolf notes in the first chapter of his The New History of Ethiopia,36 the popular idea of ‘a Jewish Ethiopia’ had already been disseminated in the West as early as the sixteenth century. The idea of ‘Ethiopian Jewishness’37 was fuelled by the writings of Portuguese and Spanish travellers, which austerely criticised Judaic elements in Ethiopian Christianity, probably as a result of Jewish-Christian tension in their respective countries. More than in earlier centuries, the years between 1500 and 1600 exhibited the worst pressure on Jews, and Portugal and Spain expelled their entire Jewish populations;38 hatred towards Jews and their customs was at its zenith, and this is no doubt reflected in their writings on Ethiopia. In addition to EOC–Catholic missionary relations, the resilient relationship between Europeans and Ethiopians at the end of the 35

In Andreu Martínez d’Alòs-Moner, ‘Paul and the other: the Portuguese debate on the circumcision of the Ethiopians’, in https://www.academia.edu/1933032/Paul_and_the_Other_The_Portugues e_Debate_on_the_Circumcision_of_the_Ethiopians, retrieved 12 Feb 2018, p. 42. 36 Ludolf, A New History; Chapter 1. 37 The tolerance toward ‘pagan’ Oromo circumcision as compared to their fierce opposition towards the EOC’s practices is discussed in ibid., 44–49. 38 Merid Wolde Aregai, ‘The Legacy of Jesuit Missionary Activities in Ethiopia from 1555 to 1632’ in Getatchew Haile, Aasulv Lande, and Sven Rubenson (eds.), The Missionary Factor in Ethiopia: Papers from Symposium on the Impact of European Missions on Ethiopian Society. Lund University, August 1996 (Frankfurt am Main ; New York : P. Lang, 1998), 35 n. 4.

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fifteenth century was maintained mainly due to the political intervention in tackling the recurrent aggression from southern Ethiopian Muslims against the northern Christian Ethiopian Empire. This afforded the Portuguese Catholics an upper hand in dealing with religious issues.39 The situation became even more favourable for the Jesuit missionaries when the army of Aḫmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ġāzī (Graň) won a decisive war against the northern Ethiopian Christian Empire in 1529. This marked the onset of a period of Muslim rule that was established in most parts of Ethiopia for about fifteen years.40 However, with the support of a Portuguese cavalry, the army of aṣe Gälawdewos (r. 1521/22–1559) finally defeated the Muslim forces in 1543.41 The presence of the Society of Jesus in Ethiopia after the sixteenth century shaped the country’s religious interactions. The mis39 In response to the quest of ətege

Ǝleni, then Regent for aṣe Ləbnä Dəngəl (sent an Ethiopian embassy to Lisbon led by an Armenian, Matheos), a Portuguese delegation led by Francisco Alvarez reached Ethiopia in 1515. It is noted that there were attempts from the Catholic side to create ecumenical relations with the EOC: both Pope Nicholas IV and Pope John XXII, in July 1289 and in 1329 respectively, issued proclamations of ‘reconciliation’ (Ayele Teklehaimanot et al., ‘Catholicism’ in EA Vol 1, 699); Moreover, on the Council of Florence, see f.n. 737 above. In light of the post-fifteenthcentury EOC–Catholic relations, a Catholic scholar observed, ‘There followed attempts by Catholic Church to establish more formal relations, always complicated by Rome’s assertions of universal superiority’ (Ayele Teklehaimanot et al., ‘Catholicism’, 699). 40 The result of the war was decided in the Battle of Sämbərä Kᵂäre. 41 The military support of the Portuguese, led by Christovão da Gama, the son of the navigator Vasco da Gama, to the aid of the now fugitive king aṣe Ləbnä Dəngəl, is well recorded (Caraman, The Lost Empire, 7–9). When da Gama arrived in Ethiopia, Ləbnä Dəngəl was already dead. He fought alongside his son aṣe Gälawdeows (b. ca. 1521/2, d.1559), but he was captured and taken to the presence of Grañ (b.1506, d.1543) and publicly flogged and beheaded with the other hundred and seventy Portuguese soldiers. The remaining army was finally able to win a decisive war in the region of Lake Tana on 22 Feb, 1543. Many Portuguese soldiers, followers of Catholicism, remained in Ethiopia after their final victory.

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sionary activities of the Jesuits were primarily intended to serve the remaining members of the Portuguese army who had settled in Ethiopia, as well as converting the locals to Catholicism.42 Shortly after the decisive war against Aḫmad Grañ’s army, perhaps in an attempt to seize the opportunity but most probably ‘following a misreading of the intention of the Emperor’, Rome decided to appoint the Jesuit João Nunes Barreto as patriarch of Ethiopia with the mandate of strengthening and ‘supporting missionaries to bring the Ethiopian Church into obedience to and doctrinal conformity with Rome.’43 The act, albeit this time officially from Rome, was only a sequel to the attempted (self-)appointment of João Bermudez as the ‘first’ Catholic patriarch in about 1535.44 In light of seemingly favourable conditions, and following the formal appointment of the patriarch, the Jesuits demanded the conversion of the Orthodox Church to Catholicism. The ‘archaic’, ‘Judaic’ identity of the Ethiopian Church was deemed to require correction, and its theological orientation needed to be ‘reformed’ in line with the tenets of Catholicism. Despite the simplistic attempt to ‘merge’ the two churches under the pretext of Catholic Portuguese military support, there seems to have grown, on both sides, a sense of the differences between their Christian expressions. Holding a miaphysite Christological position, 42

The earliest Catholic mission aimed to take the EOC as a cornerstone for ‘the conversion of the “pagans” of Africa’ (see Crummey, Priests and Politicians, 4–5). For the religio-political context in Ethiopia, see Crummey, Priests and Politicians, 67; B. Tellez, The Travels of the Jesuits in Ethiopia (London: 1710); Caraman, The Lost Empire. 43 Ayele Teklehaimanot et al., ‘Catholicism’, 700. 44 It is reported that the Coptic metropolitan Markos, now almost more than a hundred years old, perhaps under coercion but also due to the ‘passive’ will, appointed Bermudez as the Patriarch of Ethiopia under the pretext of the quick military help Portugal would provide, making him the unofficial ‘first’ Catholic patriarch in Ethiopia (See Andreu Maritinez, ‘Bermudez, João’ in EA Vol. 1, 541). Barreto was followed by Andrés de Oviedo in 1562 (d. 1577); and after a considerable time, Afonso Mendez became the third patriarch in 1622 during the successful years of Catholicism in Ethiopia.

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the Ethiopian church had long defined itself as non-Chalcedonian.45 The EOC had also shown developments in its own right, which climaxed in the remarkable ‘Judaic’ identity mainly instituted in the fourteenth century. For Catholic missionaries, the Ethiopian Church needed to reshape these practices in light of their [European] Christian message: Both circumcision and observance of the Sabbath were held, by Catholics, as heretical or superstitious. At its highest, Catholic missionary activity in Ethiopia sought to bring indigenous Christianity out of isolation into living communion with the Universal Church, and reform abuses and irregularities which were, at times, an affront to the apostolic faith.46

The interaction between the two Christian traditions, as observed in the effects it had on the political and theological strata of the country during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, serves as evidence of the lasting effect of the Portuguese expatriates and the impact of the Jesuit Mission on the Ethiopian Church.47

CHOICES BETWEEN AMENDMENTS AND ADJUSTMENTS In the face of Zär’a Ya‘əqob and the pro-Sabbath clergy who had established the doctrine of Sabbath observance, the church and some kings attempted to tackle the Jesuit challenge in different ways. Aṣes like Gälawdewos were determined to defend the EOC’s pro-Sabbath stance by arguing that the elements were cultural, not doctrinal. 45 This is noted in Chapter 3. 46 Crummey, Priests

and Politicians, 6. As compared to other theological questions, the disputes involving Christological questions and attempts to bring the EOC into the Chalcedonian fold are a subject that has been widely discussed by scholars (see Mebratu Kiros Gebru, Miaphysite Christology (Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2010)). The translations of numerous Arabic sources used to delineate its theological positions became one of the most important developments in the Ethiopian Church. This also led Ethiopian scholars to further reflect on theological issues. On the other hand, the issue contributed to the growth of contentious views among Ethiopians (ibid.). 47

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There were those who remained liberal—probably as in the case of aṣe Śärṣä Dəngəl (r. ?1563–1597)—while others tried to change the traditions in light of the teachings of the Alexandrian Church, as discovered in doctrinal books translated from Coptic sources. The Egyptian bishop Marqos told Alvarez that aṣe Ǝskəndər (1478–1494) had a plan to change some of the ‘Judaic’ practices of Ethiopia, like Sabbath and food regulations.48 A century later, aṣe Susənyos (r. 1607–1632) and some members and clergy of the EOC embraced Catholicism, discarding the ‘Judaic’ elements.49 The development in the EOC during this period shows that three trends dominated the discussion until the first decades of the seventeenth century, at which time scholars decided to substantiate the core traditions by establishing and formalising the EOC’s main teachings in the andəmta. Not Judaic, but Israelite! The Decree of Aṣe Gälawdewos in Defence of the EOC’s ‘Judaic’ Practices In their dialogue with Catholic missionaries, the Ethiopian clergy realised that any attempt at challenging the established norms of the church needed to reflect the future of the EOC, not only regarding its Christology but also its ‘Judaic’ practices. The EOC was under time pressure and was determined to act. Both the church and the king tried to defend the orthodox faith in reaction to the moves made by the Jesuits. In an attempt to refute Catholic criticism that the EOC ascribed to nothing more than a hodgepodge cluster of ‘Judaic’ practices, in 1555 aṣe Gälawdewos sent his famous official edict to the king of Portugal.50 The demand for submission to the Catho-

Alvarez, Prester John, 278–279, 291; cf. Ullendorff, The Ethiopians, 71, 72; Taddesse, Church and State in Ethiopia, 291. 49 Leonardo Cohen, ‘Susənyos’ in EA Vol. 4, 771 50 For the full account of this letter, see Harden, Ethiopic Literature, 104– 107; primarily published in Hiob Ludolf’s Commentarius, also briefly mentioned in his A New History, 242–248. 48

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lic Church had ‘elicited from aṣe Gälawdewos a celebrated rejection of Western doctrine and a re-articulation of the Alexandrian.’51 The letter of Gälawdewos emphasised that the Ethiopian understanding of these ‘Judaic’ elements stood in contrast to what the Catholics had mistakenly assumed. After stating the theological position of the church in terms similar to the decision of ‘the Council of Nicea’ (325 CE), he assured the Portuguese king that Christians in the fold of his kingdom walk along the path of the king, plain, true, and we do not deviate, neither right nor left, from the doctrine of our fathers, the Twelve Apostles, and of Paul, the fount of wisdom, and of the 72 disciples, and of the 318 Orthodox [men] who assembled at Nicaea, and of the 150 at Constantinople, and of the 200 at Ephesus.52

The main purpose of the writing of the letter was evidently to refute the allegation that Sabbath observance, circumcision, and the dietary preferences instituted by the EOC were proof of the EOC’s ‘Judaic’ culture. His deliberate mention of the main ecumenical councils— apart from Chalcedon, which the EOC did not endorse—shows his awareness of the Christological differences with the Catholics. His words clearly show that there had indeed been confrontations on some of the traditions of the EOC: I preach and thus I teach, I Claudius, King of Ethiopia; and my regnal name is ’Aṣnaf Sägäd, son of Wänag Sägäd, son of Na’od. And as to the pretext of our observing (lit. honouring) the day of the earlier Sabbath, it is not that we observe it like the Jews who crucified Christ saying: his blood is upon us and upon our children […] 51 Ayele Teklehaimanot et al., ‘Catholicism’ in EA

Vol 1, 700; text and translation as well as important critical comments on the edict are presented in ‘The Confessio Fidei of King Claudius of Ethiopia’, Edward Ullendorff (tr.) JSS (32) 1987, 159–176; for a translation by Harden, Ethiopic Literature, 104–107. 52 ‘The Confessio’, 171.

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And as to the institution of circumcision, it is not that we are circumcised like the Jews […] And concerning the eating of pork, it is not that it is forbidden to us by virtue of observing the laws of the Pentateuch like the Jews […].53

Gälawdewos primarily tried to distinguish between the nature of the practices of these elements among the Jews and in the EOC. Paradoxically, he claimed to be a descendant of Israelite kings (‘this is my faith and the faith of my fathers, the Israelite kings, and the faith of my flock who are within the boundaries of my kingdom’54) while attempting to affirm the non-Jewishness of the practices of the EOC. He wanted to assure the king (and no doubt also the Catholic priests and missionaries working in Ethiopia) that even though similar practices could be observed among the EOC and the Jews, these practices were founded upon different theological, sociological, and cultural premises. Interestingly, biblical texts were used only to affirm that the EOC’s ‘Judaic’ practices did not stem from Judaeo-Hebraic cultures. The king further asserted that Jews observe the Sabbath with strict laws: they ‘do not drink water nor light a fire, nor cook food, nor make bread, nor move from house to house.’ The priests and members of the EOC in his kingdom, on the other hand, honour and celebrate ‘thereon the Eucharist, and have love-feasts.’55 While the main source of the tradition for Jewish practices is the scriptures, the aṣe relied on the Didəsqəlya to justify these teachings. Accordingly, Christians are exhorted to celebrate these ‘two Sabbaths’ and are told to hold both dates with due honour; but even in this case, Gälawdewos affirms that: We, however, honour it by offering up on it the sacrifice and perform on it the supper as our fathers, the Apostles, have commanded us in the Didascalia. It is not that we observe it like 53

Ibid., 171–2, 173, 174. Ibid., 170. 55 Ibid., 172. 54

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JEWISH CULTURAL ELEMENTS Sunday [lit. the Sabbath of the first day] which is the new day of which David said: This is the day which God has made for us to rejoice and be glad on. For on it our Lord Jesus Christ was resurrected, and on it the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles in the upper chamber of Zion. And on it he became man in the womb of Saint Mary, virgin at all time. And on it he will come again for the reward of the righteous and the requital of the sinners.56

The prominence of observing Sunday over the Sabbath established here not only alludes to the position of the church before the Däbrä Məṭmaq Council’s but seems to reaffirm the decision reached by the Council: while there are ‘two Sabbaths’, the prominence of Sunday over Saturday cannot be compromised. The king argues that circumcision and dietary preferences were merely based on cultural expressions, and he showed cautious reservation about comparing these to the practices described in the Old Testament biblical laws. He proclaims, But the circumcision which we have is according to the custom of the country – like the scarification of the face (practised) in Ethiopia57 and Nubia; and like the perforation of the ears among the Indians. And what we do (we do) not in observance of the Law of Moses, but according to the custom of men.58 56 Ibid. 57

Ullendorff asserts that ‘the juxtaposition with Nubia makes it plain that the reference is to the non-Christian lowland areas of Ethiopia and not to the traditional Abyssinian heartland where facial incisions are uncommon’ (ibid., 173). 58 Ibid., 173–174. The Syrian Church theologian Aphrahat (whose Demonstrations were introduced to Ethiopia probably from Syriac sources and were translated before the fourteenth century; see Witakowski, ‘Syrian Influence’, 196) notes that circumcision is practiced in other parts of the world as a cultural expression: for example, the ‘Egyptians received circumcision as a custom’ (Aphrahat, Aphrahat Demonstrations II, Kuriakose Valavanolickal (tr. from Syriac) (Kerala, Kottayam: SEERI, 2005), 10). This was likely the basis of the king’s claim.

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Both Jews and members of the EOC circumcised their sons on the eighth day after birth; but according to Gälawdewos, the latter do so solely on a cultural basis. This also accords with his argument for dietary preferences: And concerning the eating of pork, it is not that it is forbidden to us […;]59 some [..] abstain from eating the flesh of animals, there are (others) who love the flesh of fish and those who love to eat the flesh of chicken; or those who abstain from eating the flesh of sheep – and everyone follows that which pleases him; thus are the inclination and desire of man [..;] to the pure everything is pure; and Paul says: whoever believes may eat everything.60

He tried to demonstrate his awareness of Christian teaching regarding some of the ‘Judaic’ elements that were practiced among members of the EOC. He defended his church, arguing that they knew and read the Bible: ‘my faith and the faith of the erudite priests who teach at my command within the area of my kingdom is such that they do not stray from the path of the Gospel and from the teaching of our father Paul – neither right nor left.’61 He quoted some texts to support his argument on circumcision, noting: We know the word of the teaching of Paul, fount of wisdom, which says: circumcision is of no avail, and lack of circumcision does not empower either –but rather the new creation which is faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And furthermore he says to the 59

The explanation of the prohibition of eating pork can be substantiated from historical reconstruction of food habits in the land. Archaeological findings in Aksumite Kingdom sites prove that the people consumed wild animals which might have been considered edible. Munro-Hay further notes that: ‘By one hearth in Adulis, the French excavator Francis Anfray found a cooking-pot still containing the mutton bones of a meal never cleared away. Pork eating must have forbidden in a later time since dietary prohibitions are only ‘later reiterated in the Kebrä Nägäst’ (Munro-Hay, Aksum, 178). 60 ‘The Confessio’, 175. 61 Ibid., 175.

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JEWISH CULTURAL ELEMENTS Corinthians: he who has taken circumcision let him not take (off) the foreskin. We possess all the books of Paul’s teaching and they instruct us as regards circumcision and as regards the prepuce.62

He thus defends the practice of circumcision amongst Ethiopians as different from that of the Jews.63 In relation to some of the dietary cultures, Gälawdeows quoted the teachings of Christ and Paul: Whoever eats of it, we do not detest him nor do we consider him unclean; and whoever does not eat of it, we do not compel him to eat of it. As our father Paul wrote to the Romans, saying: Let not him who eats (of it) reject him who does not eat (of it); God accepts all of them. The Kingdom of God is not in eating and in drinking; everything is pure for the pure, but it is pernicious for man to eat with offensiveness. And Matthew the evangelist says: Nothing can defile man – except that which issues from his mouth. But whatever enters the belly finishes up in the latrine and is thrown out and poured away; all food purifies. And by the saying of these words he [Matthew] has demolished the entire edifice of the error of the Jews which they had learned from the Book of the Pentateuch.64

More significantly, Gälawdewos was convinced that he and his kingdom had a better understanding than Constantine in matters of faith (the king probably references Constantine as representing the West62

Ibid., 173. It’s interesting that the edict does not mention female circumcision, a non-Jewish practice that had already been normalised in the church by the time of aṣe Zär’a Ya‘əqob (although it was practiced even before his time). On the circumcision of boys, too, as compared to the Arabs, Copts, and Jews, there is no ceremony or commemoration attached to the practice of circumcision in the EOC, which was performed ‘by some poor woman or other, without any Standers by, not so much as the Father himself’ (Ludolf, A New History, 242); see Chapter 4. 64 ‘The Confessio’, 174–5. 63

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ern Church). He commented, ‘In the book of history is written, in our [copy of the] book, that Constantine the king commanded, in the days of his reign, that to all the Jews who were baptized they should feed (them) the flesh of swine on the day of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ’65; and for Gälawdewos, this was inappropriate. Those who are not used to eating the flesh of swine should not be coerced to eat. He affirms that the kingdom he is leading is more tolerant: with us, ‘[h]owever, just as it pleases some to abstain from eating the flesh of animals’, there are others who eat the flesh of animals according to their preferences.66 According to aṣe Gälawdewos, therefore, the EOC was hardly a Judaic church. But it is still possible to ask whether this letter was a mere defence. Was he covering up what was taught in the church and presenting a case in order to please and convince others? Was he trying to give a superfluous explanation of the ‘Judaic’ culture of the EOC? Was he purposely relying on a cultural explanation, assuming that any claim for support of the practices based on Old Testament biblical texts and a Jewish-Ethiopian historical argument would cause him to lose his argument in light of the New Testament texts on which the missionaries relied? The aṣe reconstructed events during and before his time based on evidence at his disposal to stipulate that the traditions of the EOC were non-Judaic. As a staunch follower of the Orthodox tradition of the miaphysite Alexandrian Church, whose metropolitan bishop was residing at the royal camp, he most probably interpreted circumcision to be a matter of cultural practice not necessitated by any ‘apostolic command.’ This premise might also be applied to dietary regulations. In light of the debate between the missionaries and the clergy of the EOC, it is possible to assume that there had been a revival of reading the biblical materials that offered Christian instruction on the issues. It seems unlikely that the 65 Ibid., 175. 66

Ibid. Archaeological findings show that elites, perhaps urban citydwellers, consumed pork, showing the diversity of the Aksumite population; cf. F. Anfray, ‘Deux villes axoumites: Adoulis et Matara’ in Atti IV Congresso Internationale di Etiopici (Rome: Academia Nationale dei Lincei, 1974), 752–765.

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official addition of Sabbath observance during the reign of Zär’a Ya‘əqob was unknown to him, but it seems that he tried to follow a ‘cultural’ argument to address the ‘Judaic’ practices and fob off the Catholic claims theologically or biblically defended by the church. The king would also have been aware of the Kəbrä Nägäśt’s claims of the Jewishness of Ethiopian cultural elements, but he was determined to interpret these elements as cultural expressions. Whatever the case may be, as Pankhurst notes, Gälawdewos’s Confession helped the EOC to remain ‘steadfast in their adherence to Sabbath observance, circumcision, and the prohibition against pork and other “unclean” foods.’67 Compared to Gälawdewos, his successor aṣe Menas (1559– 1563)68 had a bitter relationship with the Catholic missionaries. He did not demonstrate any sympathy towards Catholics and even engaged in open confrontations on the issue of circumcision, clearly illustrating his stance.69

Richard Pankhurst, The Ethiopians: A History (Oxford: Blackwell, 2001), 95. 68 During the war against Aḫmad Grañ, Gälawdewos’s brother Menas was captured; in a clemency act, he married the daughter of Bati del-Wanbara (the wife of Grañ) and later sent to Yemen to King Zebid Pasha. Soon, Grañ’s son was captured by Gälawdewos. Gälawdewos managed to fix a deal for an exchange, and Menas returned to Ethiopia. After the death of Gälawdewos in 1559, Menas succeeded him (Bruce, Travels, vol. 3, 231); the Catholic missionaries assumed that he had been influenced by Islam rather than Christianity. 69 See Henze, Layers of Time, 93. The dialogue not only made Menas a determined anti-Catholic, but it also led Oviedo to finally decide that the conversion of Ethiopia to Catholicism was possible only through military intervention. 67

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Making Sense of the ‘Judaic’ Cultural Practices Aṣe Śärṣä Dəngəl succeeded Menas to the throne.70 The emperor was well aware of the impact of the tradition of the Kəbrä Nägäśt in legitimising the dynasty’s sole claim to rule in Ethiopia. He chose Aksum as the location of his coronation in 1580 in deliberate consolidation of his ‘Solomonic’ heritage. According to his Zena Mäwa‘əl (‘chronicle’), as part of the ceremonial procedures, as he entered the town, the women of the town asked him: ‘“አንተ ማንህ? ከነማን ነገድ ነህ? ከማንኛውስ ሕዝብ ነህ?” ሲሉ ይህም ንጉሥ:- “እኔ የዳዊት ልጅ፣ የሰሎሞን ልጅ፣ የእብነ ሐኪም ልጅ ነኝ” ሲል መለስላችሁ’ (‘“Who are you? To what tribe you belong? To which people you belong?”’) And this king responded, “I’m the son of David, son of Solomon, son of ƎbnäḤakim.”’71 The story continues to elucidate how he sat on the ‘መንበረ ዳዊት’ (‘throne of David’); according to the chronicler, such a ceremony had never taken place after the reign of Zär’a Ya‘əqob.72 No doubt Śärṣä Dəngəl cherished the tradition of the Kəbrä Nägäśt, probably due to its political significance. It was also probably during his reign that important doctrinal books (such as the Haymanotä Abäw and Fətḥa Nägäśt)73 were brought into the reper70

He followed different religious and political policies towards the Portuguese and followers of Catholicism residing in his kingdom; the Portuguese also participated in his building projects. 71 የአፄ ሠርጸ ድንግል ዜና መዋዕል, 78. Ǝbnä-Ḥakim is Mənilək I. 72 የአፄ ሠርጸ ድንግል ዜና መዋዕል, 79. The first king to hold coronation in Aksum was Amda Seyon (1314–44), who stayed in Aksum after defeating the army of Yä‘abəqə‘a Ǝgzi (under whose supervision the Kəbrä Nägäśt was compiled/written); King Dawit and Zär’a Ya’əqob also held their coronations in Aksum, where the latter stayed for another three years (for some accounts of coronation in Aksum, see Munro-Hay, Ark of the Covenant, 89–95). 73 The importance of these two books in this discussion is mentioned below. It seems that Haymanotä Abäw was around during the time of aṣe Ǝskəndər; the introduction of the book asserts that the book was translated from Arabic to Gə‘əz during the reign of aṣe Ǝskəndər: ‘በዐፄ እስክንድር ዘመነ መንግሥት ከዐረብ ወደ ግዕዝ ተተረጎመ […] ኢትዮጵያ፤ እንደ ወርቅ ከደሩት፤ እንከን ከሌለባቸው ከብሉይ ኪዲንና ከሐዲስ ኪዳን መጻሕፍቶች ጋር ተስማምቶ ስለ አገኘችው

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toire of Gə‘əz literature. At this level, while the ‘Judaic’ identity as provided by the Kəbrä Nägäśt remained important, it seems the church continued in its attempts to delineate its theological position throughout the entire sixteenth century, mainly by reflecting on such doctrinal books. It can be argued that the translation of these books from Coptic sources brought opportunities for the Ethiopian scholars to offer a balance to extreme interpretations of Judaic identity that flourished in the fifteenth century. Explanations might be given for this, but it seems that the impact of the Catholic missions was being felt in the royal camp; and perhaps to address this Jesuit challenge, the church and the kings were forced to focus on doctrinal books. In addition to his great political interest in the West, Śärṣä Dəngəl was likely cognizant of the pressure from the missionaries74 and thus sought to put the issues in perspective. It was during his era that the church was obliged to change some of its strict rules in order to accommodate ‘pagans’ into the fold of the church. Here, his Zena Mäwa‘əl is worth mentioning. The king successfully subdued the land of Ǝna’raya in the western part of present Ethiopia; their ruler surrendered, and his people were asked to convert to Christianity. After the impressive ceremony that followed mass conversion and confirmation, the emperor decided that some of the strict rules should be slackened for them: ‘የጾምን ቀምበርና ሌሎችን አስቸጋሪ የሆኑ ነገሮችን አቀለላቸው’75 (‘He lessened for them the burden of fasting and other difficult things’). Successive wars and military expeditions also seemed to challenge the written codes of the EOC. Although the Sabbath was observed, Śärṣä Dəngəl and his army were only concerned about the ተቀብላ ስታስተምርበት፤ ስታሳምንበት ኖራለች’ (ሃይማኖተ አበው [‘Haimanota-abaw’] (Addis Ababa: Tensae za-Gubae Printing Press, 1967 EC); Fətḥa Nägäśt, trans. Paulos Tzadua, Peter Strauss (ed.) (Addis Ababa: Haile Selassie I University, 2009), p. xvii). 74 It is clear that Śärṣä Dəngəl ‘never responded to appeals to embrace Catholicism; but he sent a few missives to the West’ (Denis Nosnitsin, ‘Śärṣä Dəngəl’ in Siegbert Uhlig and Alessandro Bausi (eds.) EA Vol 4 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2010), 546). 75 የአፄ ሠርጸ ድንግል ዜና መዋዕል, 126.

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observance of Sunday, the Christian Sabbath, after a significant victory over an Oromo army that revolted against the kingdom, the king and his soldiers: በዚያች ሌሊትም ሲደሰቱና ሐሴት ሲያደርጉ፣ በእነዚህ ወንበዴዎች ላይ ድልን ለሰጣቸው ለእግዚአብሔር ምስጋናን ሲያቀርቡ አደሩ፡፡ በማግስቱም በቀዳሚት ዕለት ከዚያ ተነሡ፤ ዐቀበቱንም ወጥተው በተስማሚ ቦታ ሰፈር አደረጉ፡፡ በነጋታውም ያን ቀን ከዚያው ዋሉ፤ ጉዞም አላደረጉም፤ ሰንበተ ክርስቲያን ብለን ሰለምንጠራት ስለ እሑድ ቀን ክብር፡፡76 They spent that night with much delight and festivity; they also offered praises to God throughout the night for giving them victory over those villains. In the next day, on the First [Sabbath] day, they travelled up the hill and camped in a convenient place. On the next day, they stayed there and did not travel for the glory of the Christian Sabbath which we call Sabbath.

The writer seems to be aware of the existence of two Sabbaths, most likely due to the laws given in the Senodos and the decision of Däbrä Məṭmaq; but he seems adamant to forward Sunday as the only Sabbath and speaks about its glory. Against Jewish Cultural Elements: Attempt to Establish the West in the East by Eating Pork as Proof of ‘Conversion’ The dialogue between the Catholic missionaries and the Ethiopian clergy was one of animosity on both sides. In the earliest period, demands by Jesuit missionaries for the eradication of ‘unnecessary’ Judaic elements from the Ethiopian Church were successfully thwarted by the incessant opposition of the Ethiopian kings and clergy, relegating the Catholics to a marginal position until the dawn of the seventeenth century.77 The resistance of Ethiopian church scholars and aṣe Gälawdewos’ attempt to explicate some of the contentious issues between the Catholic missionaries and the EOC proved inadequate to satisfy the demand for reform from the Jesuit side. The attempt made by Gälawdewos to define the place of ‘Judaic’ elements as cul76 የአፄ

ሠርጸ ድንግል ዜና መዋዕል , 119

77 Ayele Teklehaimanot, ‘Catholicism’, 700.

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tural manifestations was easily ignored. Similarly, the EOC’s defence of its teaching had no considerable effect on countering the challenges posed by the Catholic missions, which continued to exert influence on the royal court. Ultimately, however, it seems that it was the promises of military assistance in the face of Muslim and ‘pagan’ attack, more than the impact of theological discussion and the claims of religious exclusivity, that caught the attention of the Ethiopian rulers. The Catholic mission’s persistent attempts to convert the Ethiopian Church finally bore fruit from the end of the sixteenth century as the royal court gradually came to be persuaded by their positions.78 In the first decades of the 17th century, the Jesuit mission, through its construction and education efforts, succeeded in attracting at least two kings: aṣe ZäDəngəl (r. 1603–1604)79 and aṣe Susənyos (r. 1607–1632).80 Their conversion to Catholicism is mainly attributed to the missionary work of Padro Páez.81 It is reported that the king ‘developed a keen 78 This probably started with Śärṣä Dəngəl, as noted above. 79

Zä Dəngəl, who succeeded Śärṣä Dəngəl, must have had a great interest in Catholicism; he reportedly wrote an edict ‘that no person should any longer observe the Sabbath as a Holy day’ (Ludolf, A New History, 326); it is believed that the Ethiopic Ṣäwänä Nafs (‘Refuge of the Soul’) was written by an Ethiopian monk in Egypt, Newaya masqal, to warn the king against Catholicism and attempt to change Sabbath observance. This book is one of the literary productions aimed against Catholicism (Mäṣḥafä Ləbbuna, ‘Asärtu Täsə’əlotat, Fəkare Mäläkot, Hamärä Näfs, and Märs Amin); see Leonardo Cohn, The Missionary Startegies of the Jesuits in Ethiopia: 1555–1632. Aethiopistische Forschungen 70 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2009), 8. The Egyptian bishop released the people from the oath of their alliance to the king and died in a civil war (E. Haberland, ‘The Horn of Africa’ in B.A. Ogot (ed.) General History of Africa V (California: Heinemann, UNESCO, 1992), 730– 731); Páez reported to have met the king shortly before his death. 80 On the missionary work of Páez, see Andreu Martínez d’ Alòs-Moner, ‘Páez, Pedro’ in EA Vol. 4, 89–90. 81 Páez understood that the EOC was established on the ‘Judaic’ foundation of ‘Solomonic’ heritage (see Pedro Páez, Pedro Páez’s History of Ethiopia, 1622, Vol II, Christopher J. Tribe (tr.), sabel Boavida, et al. (eds.), Hakluyt Society, Third Series (Furnham/Surrey, UK and Burlington/VT, USA:

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interest in religious reform and Catholic faith […by] 1622, he received communion from Father Pedro Páez’, though his conversion to Catholicism is dated to 1624.82 Many new churches were consecrated in Gondar and its environs. In addition to declaring the ‘two natures of Christ’ as the Christological stance of his church, which was the main issue of contention, he also ‘renewed’ edicts: He had abrogated the observation of the Sabbath Day, because it became not Christians to observe the Jews Sabbath […He thus] renew’d the Edict about the Sabbath, and commanded the Husbandmen to Plough and Sow upon that Day, adding as a Penalty upon the offenders, for the first Fault the Forfeiture of a weav’d Vestment to the value of a Portugal Patack; for the second, Confiscation of Goods, and that the said Offence should not be prescribed to Seven years; a certain form usually inserted in their more severe Decrees. 83

Although there was strong resistance against the ‘Profanation of the Sabbath’ from the population in many parts of the kingdom in the later days of Susənyos, this can be perceived as a time of the ‘disestablishment of the Orthodox Church’84 and arguably a period of Catholicisation of Ethiopia. It was a time in which the ‘Judaic’ elements of the Ethiopian Church were re-tested through the dissemination of the traditions of the Catholic Church. Soon the arrival of Patriarch Alfonso Mendes in Ethiopia in 1625 elevated Catholic dominance in Ethiopia to an unprecedented level. The new patriarch demanded the conversion of all governors and the clergy to the Catholic faith. All ‘Judaic’ elements were undermined and discarded, while the liturgy and Christology of the EOC were placed under strict revision. During this era of ‘Ethiopian Catholicism’ led by Mendez, the CathAshgate Pub Co., 2011), 309–312); and indeed, he proved to be a fierce critic of its Jewish practices (ibid., 359–364). His fierce criticism of the Jewish practices of the church is presented in pp. 359–364; see also Ullendorff, ‘Hebraic – Jewish Elements’, 218. 82 Cohen, ‘Susənyos’, 771. 83 Ludolf, A New History, 332, 333. 84 Merid, ‘Southern Ethiopia’, 490.

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olic Patriarch of the Ethiopian Church (1622 – 1634), not only did the missionaries attack ‘orthodox’ practices like circumcision, but they ‘went so far as to encourage the eating of pork.’85 Compared to the alleged ‘flexibility’ of Jesuit Paez, Mendez was regarded as tough and rigid, his ‘personality being one of the main factors of the Catholic mission’s failure’ in Ethiopia.86 The conversion of the king to Catholicism, the unwise moves of the Catholic patriarch and the demand for a change in religious identity coupled with political strife finally instigated a firm anti-Catholic position, culminating in a civil war which took the lives of thousands.87 Attempts to amend the edict failed to convince the opposition, and 85 Crummey, Priests

and Politicians, 7. Leonrdo Cohen, ‘Mendez, Afonso’ in EA Vol. 3, 920. He is acclaimed as ‘a great preacher and a man of high erudition’; but as a nineteenth-century writer succinctly describes him, he was also ‘proud, violent, and intolerant; burnt women for witchcraft; treated the native priesthood with contempt; and rendered himself odious to all classes. At last, he went so far as to excommunicate the Negus, who ordered him to retire to a distant convent for the remainder of his life’ (C. R. Markham, ‘The Portuguese Expeditions to Abyssinia in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries’ in Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, 38 (1868), 7). Writings on the Catholic mission in Ethiopia dwelt much on comparing the missionary methods of Mendez with his predecessor Paez’s ‘flexibility’; the former was always portrayed as unsympathetic, less tactful, and self-centred, but his critical approach and regard for Catholicism as ‘superior’ over the other Christian traditions was no doubt typical of the character of most Catholic missionaries of his time. Following assertions by Cohen, a writer concluded that ‘Neither Paez, who in historiographic literature is often portrayed as the “tolerant” face of the mission, nor Manoel de Almeida or Mendez, to mention just those who left the most written evidence, differed in their views from Oviedo or cardinal D. Alfonso. All three dedicated at least one chapter in their major works to the topic, and continued to see circumcision, the Sabbath and dietary prescriptions as obvious Judaic superstitiones, embarrassing remains of the old Law that had to be extirpated’ (d’AlòsMoner, ‘Debate on the Circumcision of the Ethiopians’, 44–45). 87 Merid, ‘Southern Ethiopia’, 527–531; Ludolf, A New History, 333; Crummey, Priests and Politicians, 7. 86

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finally the aṣe decided to abdicate his throne in favour of his son, aṣe Fasildäs (1632–1667). The new leader banned Catholicism, burned Catholic churches and books, and reinstated the Orthodox Church.88 The impact of the Catholic mission did not, however, end here. Traditional sources indicate that the religious factions and differences that greatly challenged and shaped Christian society of the time, such as the Christological controversies and developments of the 17th century, ensued partly due to the challenges of the Jesuit missionaries.89 The scholars of the EOC, most likely in an attempt to refine its teaching in the face of many disparities, embarked on formalising doctrinal and theological books, mostly from Coptic sources. Scriptures and selected other literature were studied extensively, with the interpretations and elaborations made available in the form of the andəmta commentary on the asərawu and awaləd books, as shown below.

THE ANDƏMTA TEXTS: MEANT TO BE THE FINAL WORDS? Literary and historical sources affirm that the debates and discussion of the fifteenth century led to developments regarding Christian practices in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Partly due to the interference of the Jesuits, theological discussions had become an incessant feature of the life of the Church.90 The recurrent debates between the scholars of the Church also bred animosity between some Ethiopian clergy and elites regarding Catholic–EOC relations, theological contentions and some political policies that related to religious issues, which posed strenuous challenges that at times af-

Merid, ‘Southern Ethiopia’, 531; Ludolf, A New History, 350; Budge, A History of Ethiopia, II, 401–402. While Fasildäs targeted expulsion of Jesuits, his successor aṣe Yohannes (1667–1682) expelled all Roman Catholics from Ethiopia in about 1669 (Pankhurst, Chronicles, 102). 89 ‘The origin of the controversy can be easily traced to the early years of Susenyos’s reign, when the emperor was forcing the unwilling clergy to the acceptance of Catholicism’ (Merid, ‘Southern Ethiopia’, 549, also 549– 562). 90 Ibid. 88

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fected the kingdom’s stability.91 Views on the observance of Sabbath in particular remained unsettled for a century or so. In response to multiple divisive religio-political issues, the church was required to seek out another consensus similar to (or even more rigorous than) the fifteenth-century EOC Council at Däbrä Məṭmaq. This time, rather than calling for intermittent councils, the EOC and the court embarked on the dissemination of the teachings of doctrinal books from Alexandrian sources and studying these works in a uniform and coherent way.92 The sixteenth century Christian-Muslim war in Ethiopia had led to the establishment of Gondar as a new capital city that became a safe haven for scholars’ fleeing from important monasteries. The availability of scholars from all traditions in Ethiopian monasteries was conducive for such a task of formulation of a moderate consensus among them regarding the church’s basic teachings.93 91

The religious discussion of the fourteenth to fifteenth century was far from being resolved in the sixteenth century. In many places, views on the Sabbath remained a matter of contention among the church leaders and supporting regional rulers. Theological dialogue among scholars and contentions between leading monasteries had often been strident, particularly at the time of succession to power. Whenever the issue became imbued with political significance, power contests at the royal camp were often introduced with religious fervency in the garb of theological discussions that no doubt affected their respective communities as well as their preferred monasteries. Moreover, the officials of the church also might have found it important to act on their theological positions at a crucial time, during power transfer. Wherever a case had been suppressed in the earliest years by a particular religious leader or a king, or in a situation when an issue assumed some significance for their contemporaries, power transfers invited scholars of the Church to freshly reflect on theological issues. 92 It has to be noted that the Ethiopian church seems to have continued in the tradition of calling for a council whenever issues need a wider consultation. The Council at Boru Medda in 1878, for example, successfully addressed Christological and other questions that appeared during JesuitOrthodox dialogue (Crummey, Priests and Politicians, 20). 93 Getatchew is aware that the establishment of Gondar as a capital city was one of the consequences of religious war in the sixteenth century; thus, ‘the

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To establish a methodology as well as to institute a definite interpretation of the Bible in line with the earliest hermeneutical traditions of the church, the Ethiopic biblical commentary—the andəmta—was formed during the Gondarene era (16th–18th century).94 Similarity and conformity of teaching among the numerous monasteries scattered throughout the country was apparently promoted through the establishment of formal church schools, the initial step towards what later became known as guba‘eyat (‘councils’); these were schools of the andəmta corpus, both of the asərawu ‘main’ books, which are the biblical corpus and its commentaries, and their awaləd, ‘the sons/progenies’ texts, which includes many doctrinal and theological books as well as the writings of the Church Fathers. The strengthening of the Church’s unity through scriptures must have

flight to Gondar may indirectly have encouraged the growth of Ethiopic literature. Many scholars of the kingdom took refuge at the royal camp from the various perils of the time. These scholars were active in translating religious literature from Arabic […]’ (Getatchew, ‘Ethiopic Literature’, 51). 94 No doubt tradition of interpretation of the Bible can be traced back to schools in Aksumite monasteries and churches. In light of the absence of an earliest compendium of commentaries from before the fifteenth century, it seems probable that particularly the biblical commentaries must have been transferred through oral tradition, a method which continued to be used after the compilation of the andəmta. One of the main features of the contemporary andəmta is that it used all available sources to comment on texts. The andəmta follows a chain reference method throughout the corpus that demonstrated ‘unity of style, provenance and outlook, and by the many cross-references it contains’ (Roger Cowley, The Traditional Interpretation of the Apocalypse of John in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (Cambridge: University of Cambridge, 1983), 229). Although unsubstantiated, others have made claims that the andəmta originate in ancient times, in the time of Menelik I (Essaias Demissie, ‘A New Approach to the Problem of Andemta Teaching’ in IER (ed.), Proceedings of the National Workshop on Strengthening Educational Research (Addis Ababa: Addis Ababa University Printing Press. (1995), 16–30).

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been recognized as vital, as demonstrated in the priority given to doctrinal and similar books in study.95 The andəmta were studied in four guba‘eyat, focusing on the study of Old Testament, New Testament, the Books of Church Scholars/Fathers, and the Books of Monks96 and thus became funIn particular, the ‘four-eyed’ Mämhər Esdros finally formalised and prepared the andəmta commentary to be studied in a coherent way in the eighteenth century (Liqä səlṭanat); Habta Maryam Warqnah, yäityopya ortodox täwaḥədo betä krəstiyan emnätənna təmhərt (Addis Ababa: Berhannena Selam Printing Press, 1963 E.C.); R.W. Cowley ‘Mämhәr Esdros and his interpretations. Sixth International Conference of Ethiopian Studies (Tel-Aviv:1980), 41–69; Cowley, ‘Old Testament Introduction in the Andemta Commentary Tradition’, in JES 1 (12), 1974, 133–175. He refined the commentaries and sought to establish the definitive Ge’ez text. His new school of teaching resulted in a division into the ‘upper house’ and the ‘lower house’. The ‘upper house’ rejected his refinements, while the ‘lower house’ or ‘Gondar School’, which is most commonly taught today, accepted them (Lee, ‘Symbolic’, 40–41). For a most detailed study of andəmta, see Roger W. Cowley, Ethiopian Biblical Interpretation: A Study in Exegetical Tradition and Hermeneutics (University of Cambridge Oriental Publications, No. 38, 1988); this is a development from his earlier study on the book of Revelation, titled The Traditional Interpretation of the Apocalypse of John in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (Cambridge: University of Cambridge, 1983). 96 The EOC traditional education schools are ‘a domain of the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwaḥədo Church [..] and consisted of church schools of various level’: these are, 1. nebab bet (‘House of Reading’), 2. qedasse bet (‘Liturgy House’), 3. zema bet (‘School of Chanting’), 4. qəne bet (‘School of Poetry’), and 5. mäṣḥafä bet (‘School of Exegesis’) (Sevir Chernetsov, ‘Education’ in EA vol 2, 228). The most important school of the Ethiopian Church as related to this research is mäṣḥafä bet (‘School of Exegesis’); foundational books and their exegesis (andəmta) are vigorously studied in this final and higher level by students of a high calibre: ‘probably one-tenth of the graduates of a qene bet thereafter entered a mäṣḥaf bet, which has four faculties’ or disciplines (ibid., 229). These four faculties or disciplines under mäṣḥaf bet are known as guba‘eyat (’collections’ or ‘councils’), also known as the four andəmta schools. A scholar establishes his centre of study (guba‘e bemezergat, lit. ‘by spreading collections’ or by spreading a council) to teach 95

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damental; in it, ‘the foundation for the practice of the Orthodox faith is set forth, the education of monks prescribed, the theology of the fathers of the church firmly standardised, the calendar fixed and dogma practised.’97 Numerous Ethiopian writings produced in the fourteenth to fifteenth century seem to be excluded from the lists, suggesting strict selection as to the books for which an andəmta was developed.98 one or more of the four main guba‘e ‘councils’ (aratu guba‘eyat’/‘the Four Councils’): (1) Interpretation of Bəluy Kidan (‘Old Testament’, the 46 books with their exegesis; the teacher of this discipline is known as mäggabe beluy); (2) Interpretation of Ḥaddis Kidan (‘New Testament’, 35 books with their exegesis; the teacher of this discipline is known as maggabe ḥaddis); (3) Interpretation of Liqawənt (lit. ‘Scholars’, writings of Church Fathers, i.e., Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzen, Gregory of Nyssa, John Chrysostom. Also included are Yohanəs Afä’worq (his two books, Dərsan and Tägśaṣ) and such books as the Senodos, Didəsqəlya, Fäws Mänfäsawi, Qerəlos, Haymanotä Abäw); (4) Interpretation of Masahafa manakosat (lit. ‘Books of Monks’, Monastic Literature). Variance to this division is when study of ‘calendric calculations (Baḥrä ḥassab, Märḥaᶜəwwur, and Abušakər) are also included in the curriculum, in which case (1) and (2) are counted together as one field’ (Habtemichael Kidane, ‘Mäṣḥaf Bet’ in EA, vol. 3, 834). According to Habtemichael, everything studied was ‘being transmitted from the master to the pupils orally (bäqal). One gubae usually takes four years of arduous work, meaning 16 years are necessary for the whole course.’ Those who studied in and qualified from all four schools are known as arat ᶜayna (‘four-eyed’). This remains a very rare occurrence, the most recent being mämhər Ayele Alemu of Gondar, under whom Roger W. Cowley reports to have received instruction on andəmta. 97 Friedrich Heyer, ‘The Teaching of Tergum’, in ‘The Ethiopian Orthodox Church’ Proceedings of the Third International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, Vol.2, 1966 (Addis Ababa: Haile Selassie I University, IES, 1970), 140. 98 This comment needs further study to show what basic requirements were used in selecting these books. On another note, the andəmta’s clear emphasis on the New Testament over the Old Testament is striking. In relation to the Old Testament texts, the andəmta identify the relevance of each text in its prime context; accordingly, the first andəm recognise that the Old Tes-

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The new endeavour soon established the andəmta as a source of interpretation towards instituting uniform understanding of the meaning of biblical texts to mitigate strife and division and also, probably, to counter misguided and trivial interpretations of the texts by offering a set of alternative answers for a particular text. Compared to the fifteenth century, in which the content of religious materials produced by numerous Ethiopian writers were often contradictory, the EOC now began to develop the andəmta corpus as its authoritative interpretation, in addition to the translations of additional doctrinal books that had been well established in the Alexandrian Church.99 The study of andəmta of most important books of the asərawu as well as the andəmta of some awaləd was undertaken by renowned and established church scholars of the EOC in guba‘eyat that were mostly stationed in reputed monasteries. This clearly shows the official, prominent position given to these asərawu and awaləd books as compared to the writings produced by Ethiopian scholars in the fourteenth century. This is not the rule, however. It is, of course, important to note that all the writings of the Church have been read popularly and indiscriminately among the general clergy of the EOC. 100

tament is a book written for Israelites, Jews. The first andəm thus gives a context to the text, and briefly describes the very meaning of the text in Israelites’ context. It follows with additional (two or more) andəm that highlights possible meaning(s) of the text which considered to be relevant for Christian community. This is clearly shown in a recent study (Lee, ‘Symbolic’). Application/spiritual meaning is among the most common techniques of andəmta. The andəm options given in the interpretation of a text thus had been designed to remain a final interpretation concerning the text which all of the faithful were expected to adhere to (and this is a common technique applied to the entire andəmta). 99 Significant books like Haymanotä Abäw (‘Faith of the Fathers’) and Fətḥa Nägäśt (‘Law of the Kings’) translated into Gə‘əz. 100 It is important to note that the books continue to dominate the EOC’s formal teachings, despite priority given to the andəmta corpus.

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Biblical Andəmta and the Placating of ‘Judaic’ Tension This biblical commentary offered a set of interpretations of each verse of the Bible in order to, among other reasons, implement strict rules intended to protect the faithful from heretical teachings. In line with its probable development as a polemical tool, the andəmta offered a few important directions regarding ‘Judaic’ elements within the EOC. The discussions of Judaic cultural elements in the preceding two centuries appear to have had a significant effect on the compilers’ thinking. The andəm on the Old Testament seems generally to aim to counter misguided and trivial interpretations of the texts by giving a set of alternative but acceptable interpretations. In this regard, texts were assigned substantial and defined views and were treated as having deeper meanings, particularly when applying to Christians. Accordingly, therefore, the real meaning of the text was not the one addressed to the Old Testament recipients, the Hebrews, but rather what remained hidden in the texts, which could be revealed in its entirety only to Christian believers. Within this framework, the andəmta went on to clarify what the Old Testament teaches about specific topics and their implication for the Church. Below, I will look at a few extracts from the andəmta dealing with circumcision and Sabbath observance that serve to demonstrate the efforts of EOC scholars to affirm the Church’s position.101 Circumcision: As noted above, the custom of circumcision existed in Ethiopia from the earliest times and was later adopted and justified by the Church as an element of Christian culture. The uncircumcised were considered outcasts; and if found, they were compelled to be circumcised, as the incident involving the Alexandrian patriarch in the ninth century shows. Gälawdewos’s edict tried to redefine the meaning of this ritual—perhaps in a more Pauline line—with the context of the Christian tradition that grew out of indigenous cultural expressions.102 The andəmta, thus, discusses circumcision in a manner which accommodates this recent develop101 A few other texts are also dealt with in Appendix A. 102

See above, Chapter 6. ‘Not Judaic, But Israelite!’

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ment with the earliest and ingrained norms of the kingdom. In some instances, it also seems to offer a new opinion. The interpretation of 1 Corinthians 7:18, for example, states that the circumcised community should continue to hold to the practice while noting that the uncircumcised person should not seek circumcision: ለእመቦ ዘተጸውዐ እንዘ ግዙር ውእቱ አይንሳእ ቁልፈተ፡፡ ግዙር በወንጌል ቢያምን ቈላፍነትን አይመኝ፤ ልጁንም አልገዝርም አይበል፡፡ ወእመስ ቈላፍ ተጸውዐ ኢይትገዘር እንኮ፡፡ ቈላፍ በወንጌል ቢያምን ግዝረትን አይመኝ ፤ ልጁንም እገዝራለሁ አይበል103 Lest one who is called [to the Gospel], being circumcised, let him not take up uncircumcision. The circumcised believer in the gospel should not revert to uncircumcision; let him not also refrain to circumcise his child. [TEXT:] And if one who is called [by God] is uncircumcised, let him never be circumcised The uncircumcised gospel believer [too] should neither seek circumcision nor say ‘I will circumcise my child.’

The andəmta tries to defy the established norm, arguing that neither being uncircumcised nor circumcision avails, for Christian belief is established on virtues of faith, not deeds: በጌታችን በኢየሱስ ክርስቶስ፤ መገዘር አይረባም፤ አይጠቅምም፡፡ ወኢተገዝሮሂ ኢያሠልጥ[...]፡፡ ዘእንበለ ሐዳስ ፍጥረት፡፡ ዘአምነ ወዘተጠምቀ ይድናን ያለውን መያዝ ነው እንጂ፡፡104 [TEXT:] In Our Lord Jesus Christ, circumcision is unnecessary; it is of no use. 103

የቅዱስ ጳውሎስ መልእክታት ትርጓሜ [‘Interpretation to/commentary on the Epistles of St. Paul’] (Addis Ababa: Tənsa’e Zä-Guba’e Printing House, 1948 EC.), 222. 104 የቅዱስ ጳውሎስ መልእክታት ትርጓሜ , 406. Andəmta on Galatians 6:15.

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[TEXT:] And also he was not circumcised, and he did not give authority [to circumcise] [TEXT:] [What matters is] being a new creation; to hold on [to what the bible teaches,] ‘those who are baptized are saved.’105

Another andəm supports this perspective without seeking to offer any justification for traditional practices: […] ወግዝረትሰ ግዝረተ ልብ በመንፈስ፡፡ ግዝረትስ የልቡናን ሰንኮፍ በመንፈስ ቅዱስ ምላጭነት ቆርጦ መጣል አይደለምን፡፡ አንድም ግዝረትስ በለኝ የልቡናን ሰንኮፍ በመንፈስ ቅዱስ ምላጭነት ቆረጦ መጣል106 [TEXT:] […] and as for circumcision, it is the circumcision of the heart by the Spirit Is it not circumcision meant to circumcise the foreskin of the heart by the razor of the Holy Spirit? andəm: if you ask me what circumcision [means], it is to circumcise the foreskin of the heart by the razor of the Holy Spirit.

The Old Testament motif which holds up circumcision as a sign of the covenant is redefined in light of Christian inward expression of circumcision, in the Pauline spirit. In this light, therefore, circumcision can only be explained as no more than a cultural practice, as aṣe Gälawdewos tried to elucidate a century ago. This can be further demonstrated in the andəmta’s striking mention of female circumci-

105 Cf. Mark 16.

የቅዱስ ጳውሎስ መልእክታት ትርጓሜ, 48–49; andəmta on Romans 2:27, 29. In Aphrahat’s Demonstration, circumcision is assumed to be replaced by baptism: ‘Blessed are those who are circumcised in the foreskin of the heart and who are born from water, the second circumcision’ (Aphrahat, Aphrahat Demonstrations II, 16).

106

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sion.107 The andəmta claims that the son of the leader of the Shekemites was attracted to Dina ‘because she was circumcised and beautiful’ (‘ግዝርት ናትና መልከ መልካም ናትና’).108 This particular andəmta offers a reason why the discussion of circumcision in Ethiopia can also be understood as a stratum of indigenous culture. Furthermore, the biblical commandment to circumcise boys on the eighth day has been clarified in medical terms: (ሐተታ) ከፍ ብሎ [… ወይም] ዝቅ ብሎ [...] ይገዘር ሳይል ስለ ምን በስምንት ቀን ይገዘር አለ? ቢሉ፤ ከፍ ብሎ በዘጠኝ በዐሥር ቀን ቢሆን፣ አካሉ ጸንቶ ባመመው ነበርና ዝቅ ብሎ በስድስት በሰባት ቀን ቢሆን አካሉ ልህሉህ ሆኖ ደም ባፈታበት ነበርና፣ ስለ ርኅራኄ መካከለኛውን ሲፈልግ በስምንት ቀን ግዘሩ አለ፤109 (Discussion) If asked, why is it commanded to circumcise neither after nor before the eighth day? The body gets matured and could cause harm to the man if [the circumcision] takes place after the ninth, tenth days. And [also] if it is done before, that is on the sixth, seventh day, the body is so weak that [the cut can] cause blood discharge. It is thus because of compassion that [God] has chosen the middle [day] and commanded them to circumcise on the eighth day.110

The theological justification and implication of the eighth day is also explained in terms of the role which the Old Testament played in providing instruction and leading the Israelites until the new cove107

Female circumcision is practiced in many parts of the world, particularly in Asia and Africa. It is also practiced among many people groups in Ethiopia, despite the imposition of government rules against it and the move to rename it as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

108

ወንጌል ቅዱስ ዘእግዚእነ ወመድኃኒነ ኢየሱስ ክርስቶስ ከቀድሞ አባቶቻችን ጀምሮ ቃል ለቃል ሲነገር ንባቡ እና ትርጓሜው [‘The Holy Gospel of our Lord and Savior

Jesus Christ: The commentary that has been told word by word since the time of our forefathers’] (Addis Ababa: 1959 E.C.), 424; andəmta on John 4:6. 109 መጻሕፍተ ብሉያት ክልኤቱ (ዘፍጥረት ወዘጸአት)፡ አንድምታ ትርጓሜ (Addis Ababa, Tənsa’e Zä-Guba’e Printing House, 1999 EC, 111/112); andmta on Gen 17:11. 110 መጻሕፍተ ብሉያት ክልኤቱ, 111; andəmta on Genesis 17:11.

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nant was inaugurated: ‘ፍጻሜው ግን የስምንቱ በሐውርተ ኦሪት ምግብና ሲፈጸም ግዝረተ ነፍስ እንደሚሰጥ ይጠይቃል፤ አንድም ስምንቱ ሱባኤ ሄኖክ ሲፈጸም ግዝረተ ሥጋ እንዲሰጥ ይጠይቃል (‘the fulfilment [of number eight] implies the giving of the circumcision of the soul after the fulfilment of the [provision] of the eight books [of the Old Testament]’).111 Sabbath: the andəmta affirms the church’s teaching that Sunday is to be observed as a Sabbath alongside Saturday, primarily because it is the day on which Jesus rose from the dead—thus there exist two Sabbaths.112 It claims that this is prophesied in the Old Testament: […] ወሰንበታትክሙኒ፡፡ የዓመቱን ቅዳሜ ቆጥሮ ሰንበታት ብሎ አበዛ፤ አንድም እሑድን በትንቢት ጨምሮ ቆጥሮ፡፡113 And regarding your Sabbaths. [Discussion] the many ‘Sabbaths’ come by counting all the Sabbaths of the year. andəm: It prophetically includes and counts Sunday.

The andəmta here recognises the Sabbath as one of the days of Christian celebration but uncompromisingly follows Paul’s New Testament’s critique of the strict laws that are attached to its observance:

111

Ibid., 111; I was informed by a traditional church scholar that the eight books are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, and Book of Ruth, and this is a reference to the Old Testament laws and provisions. 112 In general, the andəmta relies on the meaning of Sabbath as ‘rest’, which undermines the significance of strict observance of the day: according to the Epistle to the Hebrew’s andemta, there are three Sabbaths, i.e. rest days; and the day of rest for Israelites (after the 40 years of wandering) implies the ultimate rest for believers after the coming of Christ (የቅዱስ ጳውሎስ መልእክታት ትርጓሜ, 628; ’andemta on Hebrews 4:3–12). 113 ትንቢት ኢሳይያስ አንድምታ ትርጓሜ [‘Interpretation to/commentary on Isaiah’](Addis Ababa, Tənsa’e Zä-Guba’e Printing House, 1986 EC); andəmta on Isaiah 1:13

290

JEWISH CULTURAL ELEMENTS ወካዕበ ኢያንበብክሙኑ ዘሀሎ ውስተ ኦሪት ከመ ካህናት እለ ውስተ ቤተ መቅደስ ያረኩስዋ ለሰንበት […] […]ላሙ ን ሲያርዱ ሥጋውን ሲያወራርዱ መሬቱ ይዳሳል ሥሩ ይበጠሳልና፡፡ ወኢይከውኖሙ ጌጋየ፡፡114 […] እኒያማ የታዘዘውን ቢያደርጉ ምን ዕዳ ይሆናል ትሉኝ እንደ ሆነ ከቤተ መቅደስ የሚበልጥ በዚህ አለ ማለት ምሳሌየን ሲያገለግሉ ሰንበትን ቢሽሩ ዕዳ ካልሆነባቸው አማናዊ ቤተ መቅደስ እኔን ሲያገለግሉ ቢበሉ ዕዳ አይሆንባቸውም ብዬ እነግራችኋለሁ፡፡115 [TEXT] Haven’t you read the priests at the temple also break the Sabbath […] – […] when they slaughter the [sacrificial] bull, the ground gets wet because of the blood. They were not in error. […] If you ask me, ‘Yes, they would not be condemned for this’, my response would be as [Jesus] answered them, ‘Here is better than the Temple, and this means, if there was no condemnation for [the priests] because of breaking the Sabbath while serving the typology,116 [my disciples] will not be condemned for eating [and breaking the rules of Sabbath] while serving me, the true Temple.’

The andəmta commands that there be no strife in observing sacred days, for there are no rules attached to the celebration of the Sabbath among the Christian community: ‘በቀዳም በዓመተ ኅድገት የሚነቅፋችሁ 114

This seems a corruption of Aphrahat’s demonstration on the Sabbath: ‘Also the priests in the temple infringed the Sabbath, yet priests were without any sins because they were offering sacrifice on the day of Sabbath: they slaughtered, they flayed, the cleaved the wood and they lit the fire. They were not blamed because they had broken the Sabbath’ (Aphrahat, Demonstrations II, 44). 115 መጻሕፍተ ሐዲሳት ሠለስቱ፡ ንባቡ እና ትርጓሜው [Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels’] by Liqä Liqawunt Mahari Tirfe (ed) (Addis Ababa: Artistic Printing Press, 1952 E.C.), 97; andəmta on Matthew 12:5–6. 116 The temple is seen as the typology of the body of Christ.

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አይኑር’ (‘No one should criticise you for [not keeping] Sabbath and the days of the year’).117 The andəm on Matthew 3:4 can be seen as an example of the general outlook of the andəmta on Judaic elements: በዘመኑዋ እያሉ እንድታልፍ ለማጠየቅ ኦሪትን አይጠብቋትም ነበር፡፡ በ፰ ቀን ግዝሩ የምትለውን ኢያሱ በ፵ ዘመን ገዝሯል፡፡ ሶምሶን በአፈ አንበሳ መዓር አግኝቶ ተመግቧል ከመንስከ አድግ ውሃ ጠጥቷል፡፡ ኤልያስም በአፈ ቋዕ ሥጋ እየመጣለት ይበላ ነበር፤ ዮሐንስም በቁሙ አንበጣውን ይበላው ነበር፡፡118 Even though they were living in her [the Old Testament’s] era they were not keeping the law. Joshua did circumcise on the 40th day despite the commands to circumcise on the 8th day. Samson consumed honey from the mouth of a lion and drank water from a donkey’s carcass. Elijah also ate food brought to him by a crow. John [the Baptist] also did eat grasshoppers as it is [i.e. uncooked]. 119

Strikingly, this text indicates that Judaic elements were not considered essential even in the Old Testament period, serving as an inter-

117 ቅዱስ

ጳውሎስ መልእክታት ትርጓሜ;, andəmta on Colossians 2:6, 17. ሐዲሳት ሠለስቱ, 35; andəmta on Mathew 3:4.

118 መጻሕፍተ

Getatchew Haile, depending on a passage in the Gə‘əz Senodos that refers to a ‘Book of the Law of Kings’, assumes that the Fətḥa Nägäśt was translated before the Senodos (Getatchew Haile 1981, 94). However, Bausi argues that a ‘similar reference to a “Book concerning the Sentences of the Kings” is already found in the original section of the Arabic Sinūdūs, circulating as early as between 1229 and 1234, i.e. before the composition of Ibn al‘Assāl’s work’ (Abba Paulos Tzadua, The Fetha Nagast, The Law of the Kings 2nd Printing (Durham, North Carolina: Carolina Academic Press, 2009), xxxvii, reference to Bausi 1990, 36f.). Paulos Tzadua further notes that the book, a collection of writings on rules of the church primarily by Church Fathers in Greek and Coptic, was later translated to Gə‘əz from ‘an Arabic work known as Mağmūal-qawānīn, (‘Collection of Canons’), written in the year 1238 by the Christian Egyptian Jurist Abū l-Faḍā’il Ibn al‘Assāl aṣ-Ṣafī, a contemporary of Patriarch Cyril III of Alexandria (1235–43)’ (ibid., xxxvi). 119

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esting example of the reading of the Old Testament through the New Testament typically practiced in the andemta.120 Haymanotä Abäw (‘Faith of the Fathers’) and Fətḥa Nägäśt (‘Law of the Kings’) Haymanotä Abäw, translated most probably during the time of aṣe Ǝskəndər (r. 1478–1494), discusses the Sabbath in Chapter 20. The topic of Sabbath observance is raised in relation to the days of Christian celebration, and the text notes that, as with the main festive days for Christians, there should not be any obligation to fast on the Sabbath or on Sunday.121 Indeed, Sunday is noted to be more prestigious than the Sabbath. Thus, compared to the instruction to guard the faithful from being led astray through persuasion to fast on the ‘holy Sunday’ (‘ኢያሰሕትከ መኑኤ ትጹም በመዋዕለ እሑድ ቅድስት’),122 Christians could fast on Sabbath (exceptionally and particularly on Saturday during Pasch) until 12 am or 1pm: ‘በዕለተ ሰንበት እስከ ዕርበተ ፀሐይ አላ ጊዜ ዘይደሉ እስከ ፮ቱ ሰዓት መአመ አኮሰ እስከ ፯ቱ ሰዓት’.123 The translation from Alexandrian Arabic sources of the Haymanotä Abäw’s teaching regarding the Sabbath seems paradoxical, considering that it was translated from Alexandrian Arabic sources and that the Alexandrian Church had long adopted the view that Sabbath was part of the weekdays. It therefore seems likely that the instruction in the Haymanotä Abäw was developed in line with the instruction of the Senodos and the Ethiopian tradition rather than to forward a Coptic interpretation on this issue. The book, following the precedent of the Senodos, clearly sets boundaries between the honours due to the Sabbath and those due Sunday; as such, the observance of Sabbath should not be as the Jews observes it: ‘ወኢትደመር ምስለ አሕዛብ

120

This seems to draw materials from the early Church Fathers’ interpretation. 121 ሃይማኖተ አበው , 58. 122 Ibid., 58. 123 Ibid., 57

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በበዓላቲሆሙ ወኢትዐቀብ ዕ ለተ ሰንበት ከመ አይሁድ’ (‘You should not relate with ‘pagan’ festivals, and do not observe Sabbath as the Jews do.’124 The Fətḥa Nägäśt served as the sole legal code of the Christian kingdom of Ethiopia until the dawn of the twentieth century. A compendium of legal codes, it served as the canon law of the Church as well as the primary law of the land. Even though the Ethiopian tradition claims that the book was translated from Arabic sources in the fifteenth century at the time of aṣe Zär’a Ya‘əqob, it seems more probable that it came into use in the Ethiopian Church only in the sixteenth century. The growth of scholarly materials in the fifteenth century appears to have initiated diverse views regarding various Christian teachings and traditions,125 which highlights the importance of the translation of the Fətḥa Nägäśt to Gə‘əz. The kings and the scholars of the Church sought to realize the dissemination of established and recognised Christian codes in an attempt to bring the divided Ethiopian Church into alignment with the tradition of the Alexandrian Church. Compared to numerous and detailed rules and regulations in the book regarding many issues, the Fətḥa Nägäśt does not offer a comprehensive or in-depth discussion of Judaic elements. Its remarks on circumcision and dietary laws are remarkable when compared with passages on Sabbath and Sunday—an issue which consumed much of the attention of the Ethiopian clergy at the time. On dietary laws, the book advises the faithful that ‘ወመብልዕሰ በዉስተ መሲሐዊት አልቦ ዉስቴቱ ሕርመት ዘእንበለ ዘከልኡ ሐዋርያት እምኔሁ በመጽሐፈ አብርክሲስ ወበቀኖናሆሙ’126 (‘regarding the food, there is no prohibition for Christians except which the Apostles have forbidden in the Book of Acts and in their canons’). This is no doubt a reference to Acts 15:20, 29, where only a prohibition on the consumption of blood is decreed as binding on Christians. It is also possible that 124

Ibid., 56. Getatchew, ‘The Cause of the Ǝsțifanosites’; ‘The End of a Deserter’; Taddesse, ‘Stephanite “Heresy”’. 126 ፍትሐ ነገሥት ንባብና ትርጓሜው [Fətḥa Nägäśt/Laws of the Kings, Text and Interpretation] (Addis Ababa: Birhanena Selam HS I Printing Press, 1962 E.C.), 149. 125

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the consideration of circumcision as merely a ‘ልማድ’ (‘custom’)127 that is not recognised in the ‘new law’ resonates with the decision of the Apostles in the same chapter, potentially seeking to address Catholic–Orthodox dialogue of the time. On the issue of the Sabbath, the Fətḥa Nägäśt offers very important directions, primarily affirming the relevance of Sabbath and Sunday in Christian worship. Accordingly, Saturday is recognised as the Sabbath: ወአግብርትኒ ይትቀነዩ ሐምስ መዋዕለ ወበዕለተ ሰንበትስ ወ እሑድ ይፀመዱ ለቤተ ክርስቲያን ከመ ይትመሀሩ መልእክተ እግዚአብሔር እስመ በዕለተ ሰንበት አዕረፈ እግዚአብሔር አመ ፈጸመ ፈጢረ ፍጥረታት ወበዕለተ እሑድኒ ተንሥአ እምነ ምውታን128 The clergy should serve in the five days but should be present in the church to learn the words of God; for on the Sabbath God finished creating the creation and rested, and on Sunday he rose from the dead.

While Sunday assumes distinction over the Saturday Sabbath, as affirmed in other articles of the book, the place of the Sabbath in Christian worship is clearly stated. In times when extended periods of fasting coincide with the Sabbath, the Fətḥa Nägäśt advises against fasting on this day to give it due honour: ወኢይደሉ ከመ ይጹሙ በዕለተ ሰንበት ወትረ እስመ እግዚአብሔር አዕረፈ ቦቱ እምኲሉ ግብሩ አላ ይደሉ ከመ ይጹሙ በዝንቱ ሰንበት ባሕቲቱ እስመ ፈጣሬ ፍጥረታት ኮነ ቦቱ ስከብ ውስተ መቃብር፡፡129 Christians should not fast on [Saturday] Sabbath, for God rested from his work on it, but they are only allowed to fast during the Saturday [that set] before Easter for he [Jesus] the creator of all creation has rested on it in the tomb.

Following the same premise, other articles of the book clearly give Sunday prominence as the day of celebration. It orders Christians to

127 Ibid., 25 (article 51).

128 Ibid., 182 (article, 721). 129 Ibid., 152 (article 577).

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carefully observe Sunday and the Church’s holidays in line with the restrictions imposed: ወኢይኩን በዕለተ እሑድ ወበዓላት ክቡራን ስጊድ እስመ እሉ መዋዕለ ፍሥሓ ውእቶሙ ወበእንተዝ ይደሉ ከመናፅርዕ ገቢረ በዕለተ እሑድ ወበዓላት፡፡130 [You] should not prostrate on Sunday and holidays, for they are days of joy. You are commanded to refrain from work on Sunday and holidays.

Since the tradition of the EOC permits prostration in reverence to holy relics and icons (performed by the faithful of the Church on a regular basis), the prohibition of prostration on days like Saturday indicates the particular importance attached to the practice of Sabbath observance. Not only does it make a clear distinction by prohibiting prostration on specific days, it also assumes the prominence of Sunday in Christian worship. Christians are advised to work on Saturday in addition to weekdays, in clear distinction to Sunday, which was set aside for the purpose of ‘spiritual works’: ኢይደልዎሙ ለክርስቲያን ከመ ያፅርዑ ተገብሮ በዕለተ ሰንበት ከመ አይሁድ አላ ይትገበሩ በውእቱ ዕለት ከመ ክርስቲያን፡፡ ወላእመ ተረክቡ እምሕዝብ እንዘ ይገብሩ ግብረ አይሁድ ውእቶሙ ይከውኑ ስዱዳነ እምቅድመ ገጹ ለክርስቶስ፡፡131 Christians should not abstain from work on Sabbath like the Jews but should work like Christians. If some have been found from the people who are acting like the Jews, they are to perish from the face of Christ.

It also rules that believers should not observe Sabbath as the Jews do: ‘ወኢትዓቀቡ ሰንበተ ከመ አይሁድ፡፡’132 The Fətḥa Nägäśt advises that Christians should not abstain from work on the day of the Jewish Sabbath; and if some among the people are found to be abiding by Jewish rules, they should be anathematised. In formulating this particular law, the Church at some points seems to be attempting to 130 Ibid., 181 (article 715).

131 Ibid., 180–181 (article 713). 132

Ibid., 181 (article 714).

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draw a clear distinction between Jewish and Christian worship.133 This probably stems from an apparent cultural competition with prevalent Jewish worship. The Fətḥa Nägäśt thus demonstrates that the ‘Jewishness’ of the EOC needed to be handled within the context of Christian culture, mainly that of the Coptic Church, to whom the primary formulation of the law was directed. From the perspective of Ethiopian history, the translation of the Fətḥa Nägäśt appears to have challenged the very premise of pro-Sabbatheans and offered amendment to the previous views held by the EOC clergy of the Zär’a Ya‘əqob period. This could also serve to counter views exhibited in local writings produced in the fifteenth century, which may have failed to make the appropriate distinction between the observance of Christian and Jewish Sabbaths. More importantly, the formulation here seems to seek to align the Ethiopian Church more closely with the traditions of the Coptic Orthodox Church. This brief excursus into the andəmta also recognizes contextualisation of indigenous cultures; it demonstrates that some of the ‘Ju133

Similar articles clearly make this case. On the celebration of Easter/Passover, the believers have been warned that the day of the celebration of Easter should not coincide with that of the Jews: ‘ወተዐቀቡ በተጠናቅቆ ብዙኀ እም በዓለ አይሁድ ዘውእቱ በሊዐ ናእት ዘይከውን በዘመነ ሚያዝያ ወዘንተ ዕቀቡ እስከ ፳ወ፩ዕለት እምወርኀ ከመ ኢይኩን አመ ፲ወ፬ ለሠርቀ ወርኀ በካልእ ሱባዔ ዘእንበለ በሱባዔ ዘቦቱ ይገብሩ ፍሥሐ’ (‘Get rid of the feast of the Jews, which is the celebration of the Leavened Bread in the month of Miyaziya. Make sure that your celebration may never coincide with theirs, which is on 14th day after the full moon; and you have to be carefully reminded of it beginning from the [first day of the] month to the 21st day’) (ፍትሐ ነገሥት, 182–183; article 730). And also: ‘ይትደልወክሙ ኦ አኀውየ ዘተሣየጠክሙ በደሙ ክቡር ዘውእቱ ደመ ኢየሱስ ክርስቶስ ከመ ትግበሩ በዓለ ፋሲካ በኵሉ ጻሕቅ ወአስተሐምሞ ዐቢይ እምድኀረ በሊዐ ናእት ወኢትግበሩ ዘንተ በዓለ ተዝካረ ሕማሙ ለዋሕድ ፪ተ ጊዜ በ፩ዱ ዓመት አላ ፩ደ ጊዜ በእንተ ዘሞተ በእንቲአነ ፩ደ ጊዜ’ (‘It is proper for you, O my Brothers, who were bought with honourable blood, which is the blood of Jesus Christ, that you celebrate the festival of Easter, with all desire, and with great endeavour, after eating unleavened bread, and do not celebrate the Festival of Remembrance of the Suffering of the One and Only, twice in one year, but rather once, because he died for us once’) (Ibid., 183; article 729).

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daic’ practices in the EOC are traditions that were not basically derived from any ‘Hebraic-Judaic’ connections but rather were elements that had to be dealt with according to biblical Christian traditions. Utilizing a method that interprets the New Testament texts and the teachings of the Church Fathers as a guiding principle to interpret the entire corpus of biblical and Christian materials—for example, by determining what the texts of the Old Testament ultimately intended to teach—the andəmta seems to assume an ultimate authority to instruct.134 This was also applied to interpret the Church’s response to Sabbath observance and circumcision in particular. The interpretation of the biblical materials retains the prominence of the provisions of the New Testament for the Old Testament commands, affirming that the EOC is a New Testament Church that traces its tradition to the Coptic and ancient Eastern churches. It never challenges or attempts to root out the practice of Sabbath observance and doctrinally upholds the custom of circumcision, and it remains an indispensable voice of the EOC in the midst of misunderstanding from travellers and missionaries as well as scholars.

CONCLUSION The theological achievement of the Betä Ewosṭatewos was a great success. Perhaps what was most remarkable was their resilience, which ultimately challenged the non-Sabbathean stance of the EOC. Kings such as Zär’a Ya‘əqob and his associates and influential clergy supported their case. Soon, almost all of the Christian kingdom was committed to Sabbath observance, and the church had officially ‘embraced’ Sabbath as part of its theology. In addition to significant earlier developments, the church’s ‘Hebraic-Judaic’ culture was augmented as a result. It would be wrong to assume that EOC clergy and kings of this period wholeheartedly welcomed the cultural change. 134

Taking its basic alignment from the teaching of the New Testament, as well as the instruction given by the Church Fathers, it establishes that it is the implication, not the literal commandments, which remain important for Christians, since the Old is revealed in the New.

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The challenge from Jesuit missionaries caused some to defend the stance while others made use of it for their own cause and others unequivocally sought to change many of the Judaic customs, mostly in line with the Roman Catholic Church’s tradition. It is in the midst of this process that scholars of the Ethiopian Church tried to delineate its theological stance by redefining its teaching through doctrinal books that had been translated from the Coptic Church’s Arabic sources. In light of the debates and factions among the EOC’s scholars and the challenges from Islam that tested the church, the translation of dogmatic writings that were added later to Ethiopian literature were probably intended to play an arbitrating role. In line with this, the final authoritative word against divisive views was most probably given after the seventeenth century through the andəmta corpus, which offered commentary on many doctrinal books. These were designed to be studied by the guba‘eyat. The process of choosing these books to be studied at a higher level was most probably an attempt to systematically exclude the works of Ethiopian writers from the fourteenth to fifteenth century—even though some of their assertions are included—to appease possible theological strife.

CONCLUSION …. Ethiopians should stop observing ‘the custom of the Old Testament’ (Patriarch Cyril II, 11th cent.) ... not … easy to determine whether the Abyssinians are more Jews or Christians. (Jerome Lobo, 1593–1678) .... how Jewish everything was! … I was exhilarated to discover …. (Encounter magazine 1962, impressions of an European visitor in Ethiopia)

The Ethiopian Church’s unique cultural expressions in general and its remarkable ‘Jewish’ elements in particular have been a fascinating subject of discussion for many across a long period of time. What they have perceived in Ethiopia is a Judaic Church that grew out of Judaism in fourth-century Aksum, retaining archaic Jewish-elements that resolutely maintained for centuries. Outside of external structures, however, historical and literary evidence suggests that ‘Hebraic-Jewish’ cultural influences emerged as a result of neither biblical nor rabbinic Judaism from before the fourth century CE; rather, it evolved through a rich religious culture which developed in a process that is only understood in light of the spectrum of the long history of the Church, beginning from the sixth century CE. In this book, I have demonstrated that the EOC’s ‘Judaic’ cultural identity developed over a time span of more than a millennium, passing through many formative phases and moulded by complex socio-politico-cultural factors that emerged primarily after the sixth century CE. The historical developments of numerous religions and cultural traditions during the pre-Aksumite, Aksumite, postAksumite’s Zagʷe and the Amhara (‘Solomonic’) dynasties, based on 299

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historical and literary sources, suggest that the ‘Judaic’ identity of the EOC emerged as a result of a mix of numerous sources, practices, traditions, and multi-layered processes that involved different trajectories in the long history of (post-fourth-century) Ethiopia. The historical narrative detailed here highlighted the fascinating but complex developments of the ‘Judaic’ tradition in Ethiopia through a discussion that chronologically considered Ethiopia’s long history of Christianity. In contradistinction to an interpretation which posits a ‘one-time event’ for the introduction of ‘Judaic’ elements in the EOC—an assumption underpinning some earlier academic works and also emphasised in the writings that present the official stance of the EOC—I tried to present a comparatively clearer framework for how and when each element was introduced into the Ethiopian Church. This method of looking at the layers of developments in chronological order—as much as allowed by the extant historical and literary evidence—was utilized as a tool to address a recurring misconception. The conclusion we reached after looking at primary sources available and after analysis of secondary sources is that the ‘Judaic’ cultural elements were introduced into the EOC and developed over more than a millennia, in a process that did not reach its culmination until the 17th century. As such, the institution of ‘Jewish’ elements took significantly more time than suggested previously. The finding of this book thus fills a lacuna which is not addressed by previous scholarly discussions, establishing that the EOC’s ‘Judaic’ elements were introduced into the church through steady cultural formation, mainly as a result of a dynamic process of contextualisation and theologisation. The book particularly demonstrated: o the significance of the translation of the Bible and its impact in the process of imitatio that brought the Aksumites to the biblical world. o the impact of peoples’ movement, including Jews’, on the Aksumites’ cultural milieu after the sixth century CE. o that circumcision is an indigenous cultural element that was acculturated into the EOC, although it did not become a matter of ecclesiastical discussion until in the 9th-10th centuries. o that the tradition of the tabot stems from a steady evolution that amalgamated Coptic tradition with the idea of the Ark

CONCLUSION

o

o

o

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of the Covenant as presented in the Old Testament, as well as the practices of Jewish people. The stages can be understood as: 1) the earliest formative era, probably beginning from the sixth century of the Aksumite era, which combined ideas adopted from the Copts’ ‘Covenant Box’ and the relic most probably brought from South Arabia (Ḥimyar); 2) the honour given to this ‘holy object’ representing the Ark of the Covenant (tabot), probably established during the Zagʷe period, to the 13th century; 3) the era of the ‘Solomonic’ rule, particularly after 14th century, indicates the period in which tabot and tabot/ṣəlat reverence reached its apex, continuing until the modern times. that the development of a claim of an ‘Israelite heritage’ among the religious and political elites of the Zagʷe was nuanced by the introduction of the myth of ‘Solomonic descent’ designed to authenticate the Imperial Throne and the Church, sealed and strengthened by the Kǝbrä Nägäśt. This development of a ‘Solomonic’ religio-national ethos significantly shaped Ethiopian Christianity particularly after the 14th century. that the quest for Sabbath observance, which may hardly have received attention earlier, was enhanced by further discussion and theologising after the 14th century, mainly based on reflections oon Christian ecclesiastical texts, in which process Sabbath observance was introduced among Ethiopian Christians. that the three-concentric-circle church architecture, which developed after the 14th century, followed the southward expansion of the Christian kingdom and developed through contact with ‘pagan’ sociocultural elements.

These points come together to show that ‘Judaic’ cultural elements perceived in the EOC were formed and shaped as a combination of biblical and ecclesiastical narratives alongside an active appropriation of indigenous Ethiopian cultural expressions through contextualising and theologising processes; with this, the possible mutual cultural influence between Jews and the Aksumites after the sixth century is recognised.

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The EOC utilized a range of sources to develop its ‘Judaic’ tradition: the application of ‘Syrian’, Coptic, and other Christian traditions, as well as the contextualisation and theologisation of nonChristian sources, suggests more nuanced influences than assumed previously. This network of influences channelled various ‘Judaic’ elements into the EOC. Although Jewish Christians cannot be identified as the originators of ‘Jewish’ elements in the EOC, the role and contribution of the ‘Syrian’ missionaries and writers in shaping Ethiopian literature and scholarly traditions cannot be underestimated. Moreover, the place of the Coptic Church was also seminal in shaping the teachings of the EOC’s ‘Jewish’ elements. It was due to influence from this Church that the EOC remained a non-Sabbathean church until the medieval period. It was also due to this Church that the concept of tabot/ṣəlat tradition was primarily introduced before it evolved and incorporated many other later traditions, finally leading up to the institution of tabot-centred worship in the EOC. It was due to the reading of and reflection on books translated from Alexandrian sources that observance of the Sabbath was adopted by the Betä Ewosṭatewos, which shaped the EOC’s teaching after the fifteenth century. Indigenous ‘pagan’ traditions, notably circumcision and concentric building architecture, were also incorporated within the Christian repertoire. The impact of Jews and Judaism in prefourteenth-century Ethiopia—which likely started in the sixth century CE—may also have contributed to this cultural imprint. The ‘Judaic’ developments in the sixth to twelfth centuries are obscured by many gaps in Ethiopian history, but it is difficult to ignore its place in the formation of Ethiopian identity. The notion of the ‘Israelite’ identity of the Zagʷe’, their ‘custodianship’ of the ‘Ark of the Covenant’, and their motives and determination in attempting to build the New Jerusalem in Ethiopia had a significant role in the development of this identity. A new era in the formation of the ‘Judaic’ heritage of the EOC can rightly be traced to translation and compilation of writings from Coptic sources. Canonico-liturgical books such as the Senodos and Didəsqəlya, among others, shaped and set the theological framework for the institution of Sabbath observance. In addition, the grandiose myths found in the Kəbrä Nägäśt and the incomparable significance they have had in terms of defining the source of ‘Ethiopian Judaic identity’ is part of this pro-

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cess. Designed and based on religio-political ambitions and myths, the Kəbrä Nägäśt served to link Ethiopia and Ethiopians with the cultural milieu of Solomonic Israel. Many existing ‘Judaic’ elements were encapsulated in and reinterpreted by it, and it decisively and successfully sealed the Judaic religio-political heritage of the EOC. The final destiny of the church-state was affirmed in the narrative that all of God’s promises, including the Ark of the Covenant, were transferred to Ethiopia from Jerusalem. The consolidation of the development of ‘Jewish’ cultural identity in the EOC was further fostered in the mid-fifteenth century. This was epitomised by the question of Sabbath observance, which was considered an issue not only by the Betä Ewosṭatewos but also by the EOC in general, as books such as Mäṣḥafä Məśṭir and Mäṣḥafä Bərhan affirm. The staunch perseverance of the Betä Ewosṭateans, coupled with the theological articulation of Ethiopian scholars like Abba Giyorgis zäGasəč̣čạ and the iron fist of aṣe Zär’a Ya‘əqob, meant that Christian faithfulness was judged through one’s commitment to ‘Judaic’ cultural elements, particularly Sabbath observance. This move was supported by the Coptic prelates, and other Church scholars enthusiastically promoted the blessings and importance of Sabbath observance. This ‘national movement’ was the catalyst for the final stage of the development of the ‘Judaic’ identity of the EOC. Thus, in both its theology and its practice, the EOC finally emerged as no less than a Judaic Church. Jesuit missionaries’ criticism of this identity brought about a period of self-evaluation in the EOC, which eventually enriched its ‘Judaic’ culture. New ideas were developed and accommodated, leading to continuity in the theological tradition of the EOC without conformity to a single view, as the theologisation of ‘Jewish’ cultural elements particularly demonstrates. This was discussed and negotiated, often in response to the dictates of political power. There were times when the issue of either the acceptance or rejection of the newer traditions dominated the cultural milieu of the Church, and other times when contentious views were entertained at the royal court. The change in views always benefited the repertoire of Ethiopian literature, as evidenced in the addition of doctrinal books such the Haymanotä Abäw and the Fətḥa Nägäśt, which were translated from Alexandrian sources. The theological reflections and diversity of

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views that led to the production of numerous books frequently established conflicting views, which were addressed in the andəmta corpus, comprised of commentary material on biblical and doctrinal books as well as other important Christian texts. It was after the seventeenth century, in the midst of often conflicting views, that the Church most probably tried to delineate its stance by formalising the andəmta corpus, designed to be studied at a higher level in the guba‘eyat. The ‘Judaic’ profile of the EOC is thus a rather classic example for the study of the formation of culture and identity, a highly nuanced case demonstrating great subtlety in the face of challenges for a common good. It is a living example in which numerous traditions, new and old, merged to form a strong ethos that shaped the religiopolitical life of the nation and would remain uninterrupted for many centuries. There are still many aspects of the ‘Judaic’ identity of the EOC that need to be revealed, and there are still many gaps that need to be filled. As more materials emerge to supplement the repertoire of Ethiopian literature and other findings are unearthed by archaeological and historical findings and become accessible, future studies will undoubtedly amend and critically supplement what has been discussed in this book. Further study will also enrich the academic debate by critically engaging with what has already been discussed and focusing on other ecclesiastical and traditional customs including the liturgy, musical trends and instruments, magic, ritual cleanness, the calendar and feast/fast days—all elements which have been often presented by some writers as proof of the ‘Jewishness’ of the EOC—to comprehensively ascertain the origin of Ethiopian Christianity in general and the roots of the ‘Jewish’ cultural elements in the EOC in particular. The shaping of the ‘Judaic’ identity of the EOC fostered in theological enunciation and imagination has implications for contemporary EOC scholars. The challenges facing the Church in the contemporary context of pluralism and diverse competing ideologies from within and without are bound to require the EOC to learn from and utilize the experience of its great thinkers in past eras to engage in continued theological articulation and cultural development.

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Smith, Sidney. 1954. ‘Events in Arabia in the 6th century’ in BSOAS 16, pp. 425–68. Solomon, Hagar. 1999. The Hyena People: Ethiopian Jews in Christian Ethiopia. Berkley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press. Strecker, George. 1971. ‘Appendix 1: On the Problem of Jewish Christianity.’ Walter Bauer, Orthodoxy and Heresy in the Earliest Christianity. Robert Kraft (tr. from German). Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 241– 287. Stern, Henry A. 1862. Wanderings Among the Falashas in Abyssinia. London: Wertheim, Macintosh, and Hunt. Summerfield, Daniel. 2003. From Falashas to Ethiopian Jews. London: RoutledgeCurzon. Taddesse Tamrat. 1966. ‘Some Notes on the Fifteenth century Stephanite “Heresy” in the Ethiopian Church’, in Rassegna Di Studi Etiopici 22, pp. 103–115. ―. 1970. ‘The Abbots of Däbrä Hayq, 1248–1535’, in JES 8 (1), pp. 87–117. ―. 1972. Church and State in Ethiopia, 1270–1527. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ―. 1972. ‘A short note on the Traditions of Pagan Resistance to the Ethiopian Church (14th and 15th centuries)’, in JES 10 (1), pp.137–150. ―. 1985. ‘A Short Note On the Ethiopian Church Music’, in Annales d'Ethiopie Vol. 13, pp. 137–141. ―. 1988. ‘Processes of Ethnic Interaction and Integration in Ethiopian History: the Case of the Agaw’, in Journal of African History 29, pp. 5–18. ―. 1993. ‘Church and State in Ethiopia: The Early Centuries’, in Roderick Grierson (ed.). African Zion: The Sacred Arts of Ethiopia. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, pp. 33–43. Taylor, Joan. 1993. Christians and the Holy Places: The Myth of Jewish-Christian Origins. Oxford: Clarendon.

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Tekeste Negash. 2006. ‘The Zagwe period re-interpreted: postAksumite Ethiopian urban culture’, in Africa [Rome] 61, pp. 120–137. Tellez, B. 1710. The Travels of the Jesuits in Ethiopia. London. Testa, Emmanuel. 1992. The Faith of the Mother Church: An Essay on the Theology of the Judeo-Christian. Paul Rotondi (tr.). Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press. Trevisan Semi, Emanuela. 2007. Jaques Faitlovitch and the Jews of Ethiopia. London and Portland, Or.: Valentine Mitchell. Trimingham, J. Spencer. 1952. Islam in Ethiopia. Oxford: Geoffrey Cumberlege for the University Press. Uhlig, Siegbert (ed.). 2003. Encyclopedia Aethiopica [EA] Vol. 1. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. ― (ed.). 2005. Encyclopedia Aethiopica [EA] Vol. 2. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. ― (ed.). 2007. Encyclopedia Aethiopica [EA] Vol. 3. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. Uhlig, Siegbert and Alessandro Bausi (eds.). 2010. Encyclopedia Aethiopica [EA] Vol. 4. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. Ullendorff, Edward. 1955–56. ‘Candace (Acts VIII.27) and the Queen of Sheba’, in New Testament Studies 2, pp. 53–56 ―. 1956. ‘Hebraic-Jewish Elements in Abyssinian (Monophysite) Christianity.’ JSS 1 (3), pp. 216–256. ―. 1960. The Ethiopians, An Introduction to the Country and the Culture. London: Oxford University Press. ―. 1967. Ethiopia and the Bible, The Schweich Lectures. London: Oxford University Press. ―. 1988. The Two Zions: Reminiscences of Jerusalem and Ethiopia. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. Vantini, G. 1970. The Excavations at Faras, A Contribution to the History of Christian Nubia. Bologna: Nigrizia, Voigt, Rainer. 2003. ‘Abyssinia’, in Siegbert Uhlig (ed.) Encyclopedia Aethiopica, Vol. 1. Wiesbaden: Harraassowitz Verlag. ―. 2003. ‘Aithiopía’, in Siegbert Uhlig (ed.) Encyclopedia Aethiopica, Vol. 1. Wiesbaden: Harraassowitz Verlag.

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Vyhmeister, Werner K. 1982. ‘The Sabbath in Egypt and Ethiopia’, in Kenet Strand (ed.) The Sabbath in Scripture and History. Washington, DC: Review and Herald, pp. 169–189. Waldman, Menachem. 1985. The Jews of Ethiopia. Jerusalem: JDC. Wasserstein, David J. 2009. The Legend of the Septuagint: From Classical Antiquity to Today. Cambridge University Press. Weingrod, Alex. 1995. ‘Patterns of Adaptation of Ethiopian Jews within Israeli Society’, in Between Africa and Zion. Steven Kaplan, et al. (eds.). Jerusalem: SOSTEJE, pp. 252–257. Weninger, Stepfan. 2005. ‘Gə‘əz’, in Siegbert Uhlig (ed.) Encyclopedia Aethiopica, Vol. 2. Wiesbaden: Harraassowitz Verlag. Witakowski, Witold. 1989–1990. ‘Syrian Influences in Ethiopian Culture.’ Orientalia Suecana 38–39, pp. 191–202. ―. 2003. ‘Azqir: Gädlä Azqir’, in Siegbert Uhlig (ed.). Encyclopedia Aethiopica, Vol. 1. Wiesbaden: Harraassowitz Verlag, pp. 421–422. ―. 2003. ‘Chalcedon, Council of’, in Siegbert Uhlig (ed.). Encyclopedia Aethiopica, Vol. 1. Wiesbaden: Harraassowitz Verlag, p. 710. ―. 2012. ‘Coptic and Ethiopic Historical Writing.’ Sarah Foot and Chase F Robinson (eds.). The Oxford History of Historical Writing, Volume 2: 400–1400. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Wolf, Pawel and Ulrike Nowotnick. 2010. ‘The Almaqah temple of Meqaber Ga’ewa near Wuqro (Tigray, Ethiopia)’ in Proceedings of the the Seminar for Arabian Studies 40, pp. 367–380 Wurmbrand, Max. 1971. ‘Falashas’, in Encyclopaedia Judaica, VI, pp. 1143–1154. Yisehaq (Archibishop). 1997. The Ethiopian Tewahedo Church: An Integrally African Church. Nashville, TN: James C. Winston Pub. Co. Youssef, Youhanna Nessim. 2011. ‘The Ark/Tabernacle/Throne/ Chalice-stand in the Coptic Church (revisited)’, in Ancient and Near East Studies 48, pp. 251–259.

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Zakaria, Rafiq. 1991. Muhammad and The Quran. New Delhi: Penguin Books. Other books Cornuke, Robert. 2005. Relic Quest: The True Story of One Man's Pursuit of the Lost Ark of the Covenant. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers. Fisseha Yaze Kasa. 2011. የኢትዮጲያ የአምስት ሺህ ታሪክ (ከኖህ እስከ ኢህአዴግ) [‘Ethiopia’s Five Thousand Years of History (From Noah to EPRDF’]. Addis Ababa. Hancock, Graham. 1992. The Sign And The Seal: Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant. New York: Touchstone. Nibure-Id Ermias Kebede Wolde-Yesus. 1997. Ethiopia: The Classic Case: A Biblical Nation Under God That Survived Great Trials for 7490 years of its Existence and Ordained to Invoke Divine Judgement and Condemnation Upon the World! Washington DC: The Kingdom of God Services. Internet sources d’Alòs-Moner, Andreu Martínez. ‘Paul and the other: the Portuguese debate on the circumcision of the Ethiopians’, pp. 1–51, in https://www.academia.edu/1933032/Paul_and_the_Other_The Portuguese_Debate_on_the_Circumcision_of_the_Ethiopians, retrieved, 12 Feb 2018. Athanasius, ‘Apology to the Emperor (Apologia ad Constantium)’, in NPNF 2–04, p. 31; http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/ npnf204.xviii.ii.xxxi.html? highlight=frumentius#highlight, retrieved 12 Feb 2018 ‘DNA Clues to Queen of Sheba tale’, https://www.bbc.com/news/ science-environment-18526428, retrieved, 12 Feb 2018. ‘FALASHAS’ by J. D. Pe. G. in http://www.jewishencyclopedia. com/articles/5987–falashas, retrieved on 12 Feb 2018. Goitein, E. David. 1927. ‘Note on Eldad the Danite’, in The Jewish Quarterly Review, New Series 17 (4), 483, http://www.jstor. org/stable/1451494 retrieved on 12 February, 2018.

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APPENDICES APPENDIX A: BIBLICAL ANDƏMTA: ADDITIONAL SELECTED TEXTS

In addition to the texts that have been discussed in Chapter 6, there are some texts from the Biblical andəmta that need further attention. Temple and tabot: There seems to be no instruction regarding the description of the three-concentric-circle church architecture of the EOC. As has been previously discussed,1 the shape of the church building can be interpreted as an adoption from traditional structures rather than merely being similar to the Old Testament temple. The difference of the orientation of the church’s architecture with the tabernacle are emphasised: የብሉይ ኪዳን ሰዎች ወደ ቤተ መቅደስ ሲገቡ ከምሥራቅ ወደ ምዕራብ ይገባሉ፤ ከደስታ ወደ ሀዘን፣ ከብርሃን ወደ ጨለማ እንገባለን ሲሉ፤ እኛ ግን ‘አባ እምኀፅን ነፍስየ’ ብሎ መንገድ ከለወጠልን በኋላ ከሀዘን ወደ ደስታ፣ ወደ ተድላ፣ ከጨለማ ወደ ብርሃን ትሄዳላችሁ ሲል ከምዕራብ ወደ ምሥራቅ እንድንገባ አደረገን፡፡2 Those people who were in the Old Testament used to enter the Temple from East to Westward [symbolically] to denote ‘we enter from joy to sorrow, from light to darkness.’ But we, after he has changed the way for us [by pleading] ‘from the depth (or innermost part of my soul,’ we enter from Westward to East-

1 Chapter 5. ‘Pagan’ Implant on the ‘Judaic Spirit’ of the 2

andəmta on 1 Kings 6:9.

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EOC.’

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The Andəmta asserts that there should be a difference between the orientation of the architectural foundations of the Old Testament’s temple and the Christian Church buildings, and the new positioning of the building expresses spiritual significance. The andəmta of the biblical corpus presents scant mention of the tabot; and when it is mentioned, it is not the object but the spiritual meaning of the tabot that dominates the narrative: ወኩኑ ታቦተ መንፈሳዊ ለክህነት ቅድስት ወንድሕት፡፡ ከክህነተ ኦሪት ለተለየች ለክህነተ ወንጌል መንፈሳዊ ማደሪያ ሁኑ፡፡ (ሐተታ) ቅድስት አለ ያች ምድራዊት ይህች ሰማያዊት፣ ያች አፍኣዊት ይህች ውስጣዊት፣ ያች አምሳል ይህች አማናዊት፣ ያች ሥጋዊት ይህች መንፈሳዊት ናትና3 Be spiritual dwellings [tabot] for the holy priesthood. [andəm] Be spiritual dwelling [tabot] which is different from that of the Old [Testament’s] priesthood. Discussion. He calls it ‘holy’; that [of the Old] is earthly whilst this [of the gospel] is heavenly; that is external, and this is internal; that is a type, and this is real; that is carnal, and this is spiritual.

As Lee noted, the concept of the ታቦት as expressed in this text symbolises the idea of ‘divine indwelling and immanence,’ an idea which was even ‘present when the Ethiopic New Testament was translated, probably in the fifth century CE.’4 This spiritual meaning also dominates interpretation of Old Testament texts, where the tabot is clearly mentioned: ተንሥእ እግዚእ ውስተ ዕረፍትከ Andəmta on 1 Peter 2:5; see also ibid., 125, for andəmta on 1 Peter 1:6. Lee, ‘Symbolic’, 94, where the andemta of Genesis 8:19 is given, in addition to reflecting on the three-concentric-circle church design as a symbol of Noah’s Ark (ዘፍጥረት፤ ዘፀአት, 6; cf. Lee, ‘Symbolic,’176). 3

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ትሩፋንን ወደ ምታሳርፍበት ወደ ኢየሩሳሌም ትሩፋንን ይዘህ ተነሣ አንድም ምእመናንን ወደ ምታሳርፍበት ወደ መንግሥተ ሰማያት ምእመናንን ይዘህ ተነሣ እንተ ወታቦተ መቅደስከ አንተ ታቦተ ጽዮንን ይዘህ፤ አንድም ነቢያትን ካህናትን ይዘህ ተነሣ፡፡ አንድም እመቤታችነን፤ አንድም ምእመናንን ይዘህ ተነሣ፡፡5 [TEXT] Arise, O Lord from your resting place, [andəm]: Arise to Jerusalem, the resting place of the remnants, by taking them with you. andəm: Arise to the Kingdom of Heaven, the resting place of the believers, taking them with you. [TEXT] You and the ark of your temple (Meaning) [Arise] with Ark (tabot) of Zion. andəm: Arise with the priests. andəm: Arise with Our Lady. andəm: Arise, taking with you the believers.

The actual object of the Ark of the Covenant has taken a meaning in the person of priests, Mary, and believers. Most probably, the andəmta tradition tried to focus on the spiritual, not the physical, which seems to strike a balance with the already developed devotion to the ṣəlat and tabot. Food regulations: The andəmta of the Epistle to the Romans discusses food regulations, recognizing that there are no rules on the type of food consumed: [ሐዋርያት] እንዲህ እንዲህ ያለውን ብሉ፤ እንዲህ እንዲህ ያለውን አትብሉ አላሏቸውም፡፡ ኵሉ ዘቦአ ውስተ አፍ አያረኩሶ ለሰብእያለውን ያውቃሉና፡፡ ማቴ. 15: 11፡፡ አረማዊ ቀድሞ ሳያውቅ ይበላው የነበረውን እያወቀ የሚበላው ኾኗል፤ አይሁዳዊም ቀድሞስ በሥርዐት ባንተባበር፡ በሃይማኖት አንድ ባንሆን ነበር፤ ዛሬማ በሃይማኖት አንድ ከኾነ፣ በሥርዐት ከተባበርነ ኦሪት 5 መዝሙረ

ዳዊት, 620; andəmta on Psalm 131: 8; also, andəmta on Psalm 13: 13.

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JEWISH CULTURAL ELEMENTS ኢትብልዑ ዘክልኤ ጥረሲሁ ወዘድፉቅ ሰኮናሁ እያለችህ ምንዋ ብሎታል፡፡ [አረማዊም] የሚያስጎዳማ ከሆነ መምህሬ ቅዱስ ጴጥሮስ ይነግረኝ አልነበረምን፤6 [The Apostles] have not instructed the [believers] neither to eat a particular food nor to refrain from certain foods. For they knew what has been said, ‘All that goes into mouth cannot defile a man.’ Matt 15:11. A Gentile who previously used to eat [anything] without knowledge now eats with an understanding; thus a Jew would then question the Gentile, ‘It is true that we have never walked in a similar tradition and never been one in faith; but since we now have become one in tradition, why can you not consider keeping the commandments [of the Old Testament] that exhort against eating animals that do not chew the cud and do not have cloven hooves?’ The Gentile would say, ‘If these foods are indeed harmful, my teacher St Peter would have told me so.’

The andəm then relate this to Peter’s vision in Acts 10, where the apostle was commanded to eat everything that God has created, for it is holy:7 ጴጥሮስ ርኩስ ነገር በአፌ ገብቶ አያውቅም ማለቱ እስራኤል ከአሕዛብ ጋር አይገናኙም ነበርና፤ እግዚአብሔር የቀደሰውን አንተ አታርክስ ማለቱ እስራኤልና አሕዛብ አንድ መሆናቸው፤ ሦስት ጊዜ መላልሶ ነግሮት ወደ ሰማይ ተመልሶ ማረጉ ሁሉም በአንድ በክርስቶስ አምነው አንድ መንግሥተ ሰማያትን ለመውረሳቸው ምሳሌ ነው፡፡8 What Peter admittedly says, ‘I have never eaten anything unclean’, [follows the meaning] that Israelites did not co-relate with the Gentiles; the meaning of ‘do not call impure anything

ምታ፤ የሮሜ መልእክት መግቢያ, ገጽ, 14 One of the andəm clearly interprets, following what has been clearly stated in the text, that the food presented to Peter has typological representations of people: በመጋረጃው የተያዙት እንስሳት ሥዕለ አእዋፍ የነቢያትና የካህናት ምሳሌ፤ሥዕለ አራዊት የምዕመናን አሕዛብ ፤ እሪያውን እያሳየ ‘አርደህ ብላ’ ማለቱ አሕዛብን አስተምር ሲለው ነው፡፡ 8 ፬ቱ መጻሕፍተ ሐዲሳት, 94; andəmta on Acts 10:11–16. 6 አንድ 7

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that God has cleansed’ is: Israelites and Gentiles are now becoming one; and [the invitation to eat the animals] three times and its taking back to heaven shows the typology that both are inheriting the Kingdom of Heaven by believing in Christ.

The andəmta takes the story to emphasise the cultural difference between the Gentiles and the Jews and provides spiritual meaning for the unity brought forward by Christ. The andəmta on Romans 13 also claims this: ሃይማኖተ ደካማ አይሁዳዊን […] ታገሡት […] በትዕግሥቱ አድኑት አንድም […] መብሉን ተውለት […] በመተው አጽኑት አንድም […] አምኖ ቢበሉት ምን ያስጎዳል በሉት፤ […] እንቢ ቢል ተውለት፡፡ ኹሉን መብላት እንዲገባ የሚያምንስ ይብላ አንድም አማኒስ ኹሉንም መብላት እንደሚገባው መጠን ሁሉን ይብላ፡፡ የሚጠራጠር ግን እህል ይብላ […] የሚበላ አረማዊ የማይበላ አይሁዳዊን አይንቀፈው፤ ይህ ግብዝ ብሎ፡፡ የማይበላ አይሁዳዊም የሚበላ አረማዊን አይንቀፈው፤ ‹‹ይህ ኹሉን ባፌ›› ብሎ፡፡ […] ለንጹሕ ንጹሕ እንጂ ሁሉ ንጹሕ ነው፡፡ ሰውንስ የሚጎዳው እየተጠራጠሩ መብላት ነው፡፡9 Tolerate the Jew10 who is weak in his faith […] and save him by being patient with him […]. andəm: leave the [decision regarding the] food for himself, and then you will save him by doing so. andəm: challenge him by saying, ‘is it not harmless to eat by faith?’; […] but if he is not willing to accept, leave [the food/decision] for him. The one who considers eating every kind of food, let him eat.

9የቅዱስ

ጳውሎስ, 152; andəmta on Romans 14:1–4, 18.

10 Romans 13:1–2 does not explicitly mention ‘Jew.’

338

JEWISH CULTURAL ELEMENTS andəm: the believer should eat all [but only] to the extent he wished to eat. The one who is suspicious about eating all kinds of foods, let him eat food [of his choice]. The Gentile who eats, let him not criticise the Jew who does not wish to eat by calling him ‘you hypocrite.’ The Jew who does not eat, let him not criticise the Gentile who does eat by calling him ‘you [who puts] everything in mouth.’ […Know that] for the clean, everything is clean. What surely hurts a person is eating with doubt.

The andəm of Matt 3:4 can be seen as a general outlook of andəmta on Judaic elements: በዘመኑዋ እያሉ እንድታልፍ ለማጠየቅ ኦሪትን አይጠብቋትም ነበር፡፡ በ፰ ቀን ግዝሩ የምትለውን ኢያሱ በ፵ ዘመን ገዝሯል፡፡ ሶምሶን በአፈ አንበሳ መዓር አግኝቶ ተመግቧል ከመንስከ አድግ ውሃ ጠጥቷል፡፡ ኤልያስም በአፈ ቋዕ ሥጋ እየመጣለት ይበላ ነበር፤ ዮሐንስም በቁሙ አንበጣውን ይበላው ነበር፡፡11 Even though they were living in her [the Old Testament’s] era, they were not keeping the law. Joshua did circumcise on the 40th day, despite the commands to circumcise on the 8th day. Samson consumed honey from the mouth of a lion and drank water from a donkey’s carcass. Elijah also ate food brought to him by a crow. John [the Baptist] also did eat grasshoppers as it is [i.e. uncooked].12

ቅዱስ, 35; andəmta on Mathew 3:4. ወንጌል ቅዱስ. Getatchew Haile, depending on a passage in the Gə‘əz Seno-

11 ወንጌል 12

dos that refers to a ‘Book of the Law of Kings’, assumes that the Fətḥa Nägäśt was translated before the Senodos (Getatchew Haile 1981, 94). However, Bausi argues that a ‘similar reference to a “Book concerning the Sentences of the Kings” is already found in the original section of the Arabic Sinūdūs, circulating as early as between 1229 and 1234, i.e. before the composition of Ibn al‘Assāl’s work’ (Abba Paulos Tzadua, The Fetha Nagast, The

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Strikingly, this text asserts that Judaic elements were not considered essential even in the Old Testament period13 Musical instrument: The andəmta provides little historical data regarding the theological and historical developments of its teachings. Interestingly, however, it offers a glimpse of the historical setting of the introduction of the Ṭəbləqana harp. ስብሕዎ በከበሮ ወበትፍሥሕት ሰብሕዎ በአውታር ወበእንዝራ አውታር ጥብልቃና ይባላል፤ መቶ አምሣ አውታር ያለው ነው፤ በዐፄ መለክ ሰገድ ጊዜ ወደ አገሯችን መጥቶ ነበረ፤ እንቲራ ተራ በገና ነው፤ ያን እየመታችሁ አመስግኑት:: ስብሕዎ በጸናጽል ዘሠናይ ቃሉ ድምፁ ያማረ ናቁሽ ይባላል፤ እንደ መረሞት ያለ ነው፤ ከፈላሻ ቤት ይገኛል:: ይህንን እየመታችሁ አመስግኑት፡፡ ስሕብዎ በጸናጽል ወበይባቤ ተራ ጸናጽል እየመታችሁ በፍጹም ምስጋና አመስግኑት::14 [TEXT]: Praise him with the drums and gladness; praise him with stringed instruments and organs [or flutes: ‘ənzira’]. This stringed instrument is called Ṭəbləqana; it has 150 strings. It was brought to our country during the era of aṣe Mälǝ‘ak Sägäd.15 Ǝntira is an ordinary lyre: ‘praise him by playing with it.’

Law of the Kings 2nd Printing (Durham, North Carolina: Carolina Academic Press, 2009), xxxvii, reference to Bausi 1990, 36f.). Paulos Tzadua further notes that the book, a collection of writings on rules of the church primarily by Church Fathers in Greek and Coptic, was later translated to Gə‘əz from ‘an Arabic work known as Mağmūal-qawānīn, (‘Collection of Canons’), written in the year 1238 by the Christian Egyptian Jurist Abū l-Faḍā’il Ibn al‘Assāl aṣ-Ṣafī, a contemporary of Patriarch Cyril III of Alexandria (1235– 43)’ (ibid., xxxvi). 13 This seems to draw materials from the early Church Fathers’ interpretation. 14 መዝሙረ ዳዊት, 671; andəmta on Psalm 150:4, 5.

340

JEWISH CULTURAL ELEMENTS [TEXT]: Praise him with good sounds of cymbals. The cymbal with good sounds is called Naquš. It looks like märämot;16 it is found among the Fälasha: ‘praise him playing the instrument.’ [TEXT]: Adore him with magnificent praise, playing ordinary sistrem.

It is noted that musical instruments used in the church were allegedly adopted from the Jews and Judaism of pre-Christian Aksum. By contrast, the writer of this andəm realised that some of the church’s musical instruments had been introduced in the early sixteenth century17; those instruments also, strikingly, were similar to those of the Betä Ǝsra’el.

APPENDIX B: SABBATH IN THE D ƏGGʷA , SELECTED TEXT Although it is traditionally ascribed to the sixth century church musician St. Yared, the compilation of the dəggʷa in its present form has undergone numerous recensions: for example, aṣe Gälawdewos (1540–59) is said to have ordered two clerics of his court to systematize the collection and the notations of the dəggʷa. 18 Two other revisions are also reported in the 17th century at the orders of əč̣čẹ ge Qalä Probably aṣe Śärṣä Dəngəl (1563–1597); there were at least two other kings who assumed Mel’ak Sägäd as their throne name: Ya‘əqob I (1597–1603; 1604–1606) and Susənyos I (1606–1632). 16 I couldn’t find significant information on this musical instrument. 17 Rodinson argues that instruments of a similar type are known to have been used in many parts of the ancient Near East (Rodinson, ‘Review of Edward Ullendorff’, 174; The Ethiopians’ in Bibliotheca Orientalis xxxi. 3– 4, (1964) 243); but Ullendorff maintained his position, contending that ‘the veneration of the Bible in Ethiopia and its imitation have brought about relationship also in [… musical instrument] sphere which is closer and more meaningful than the rather general connexions that exist over the Near Eastern and North African regions as a whole’ (Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible, 92). For a possible African heritage of the sistrum, search for ‘sistrum in Egypt’. 18 Sergew, Ancient, 173. 15

APPENDICES

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‘Awadi of Däbrä Libanos; hence the latest version of the dəggʷa is a cumulative product over many centuries,19 which makes the chronological order of its teachings difficult to unravel. Consequently, the dəggʷa contributes little to our understanding of the gradual development of ‘Judaic’ elements in the EOC. It is noted earlier that the dəggʷa’s version of the disappearance of the tabot from the Jewish Temple contradicts the narrative of the Kəbrä Nägäśt and closely follows 4 Esdras’s biblical account.20 The writer(s) of the dəggʷa often rephrase the teaching of Jesus on Sabbath, asserting that it is the Sabbath that was created for man, not man for the Sabbath: ‘ሰንበትሰ በእንተ ሰብእ ተፈጥረት ወአኮ ሰብእ በእንተ ሰንበት.’ Jesus is እግዚአ ለሰንበት’21 (‘the Lord of Sabbath’). Sabbath is the day of praise to God: ‘በዕለተ ሰንበት ለከ ንፌኑ ስብሐተ ወለከ ነአርግ አኮቴተ’. The dəggʷa stresses the observance of Sabbath and the blessings entailed to it: ‘ብፁዕ ብእሲ ዘይትኤገሳ ለስርአትየ ወያከብር ሰንበታትየ’; ‘ወዘያከብር ሰንበተ ይረክብ ህይወተ,’ which seem to prescribe devotion to the Sabbath as instructed in the Old Testament. In trying to distinguish between the Sabbath and the other Sabbath, the writer seems to acknowledge the existence of two Sabbaths of God, thus ‘ሰንበታትየ.’ Furthermore, it takes the New Testament Sabbath—that is, Christ’s Sabbath (‘ሰንበቱሰ ለክርስቶስ’)—as standing prominent over the Sabbath as the rest day for humanity and all the saints: ‘ሰርአ ሰንበት ለሰብዕ ዕረፍተ ለእለ በሰማይ ወለእለ በምድር ለእለ በባህር ወለእለ በየብስ ለጳጳሳት ወለቀሳውስት ለዲያቆናት ወለመነኮሳት ለአበዊነ ለነቢያት ወለሐዋርያት ለጻድቃን ወለሐጥአን ለሙታን ወለሕያዋን ሰራአ ሰንበተ ለሰብእ እረፍተ ሰንበቱሰ ለክርስቶስ ይእቲ ወማህደረ ስሙ ለልዑል::’

19 Taddesse, ‘A short note on the Ethiopian Church Music’, 137–143. 20 Chapter 3. ‘In Search of Jewish 21 Dəggʷa, Yohanes zäMäsqäl.

Christian Heritage of Aksum.’

APPENDIX C: PICTURES Fig. 1; an engrave (?)similar to Magen David, Star of David, at Betä-Maryam (‘House of Mary’) Church, Lalibälla

Photo: © Sam Seyffert

Fig. 2 and 3: Altar and Covenant Box in the Coptic Orthodox Church (example from, St Demiana & St Athanasius Coptic Orthodox Church, Sydney, Australia)

http://stdemiana.org.au/orthodox/coptic_orthodoxy_utensils.html accessed on 30 January 2013. Fig. 2: Altar:

Fig 3: Covenant Box:

Additionally: see a Coptic definition of ‘Altar’ in http://www.copticchurch.net/topics/thecopticchurch/dictionr.pdf retrieved 30 January 2013.

INDEX OF AUTHORS Bruce, James, 26, 32 Budge, E. Wallis, 3-4, 198 Buxton, David, 175

Abū Ṣāliḥ, 21-22, 43, 89, 154, 169, 180-184 Adler, Elkan Nathan, 163 Aescoly, A. Z., 98 Albright, Frank P., 146, Andersen, Knud Tage, 168 Anfray, F., 42, 101, 271, Athanasius, 112, 113, 129, Ayele Teklehaimanot, 262-3, 265, 275 Aymro Wondmagegnehu, 73

Cerulli, E., 22, 113, 117, 140 Chittick, H. N., 5 Cohen, Leonardo, 278 Conti Rossini, Carlo, 29 Corinaldi, Michael, 34, 116, 164-5 Cornuke, Robert, 85 Cowley, R. W., 209 Crummey, Donald, 25, 109, 186

Basset, René M., 88, Bausi, Alessandro, 7, 30, 41, 208209, 211, 212, 213, 274, 292 Baye Feleke, 177-1778 Becker, Adam H, 125 Beckingham, C.F., 103, 174, 257 Beeston, A. F. L., 143 Belay Gidey, 41 Bleyanesh Mikael, 243 Ben-Dor, S., 6 Bezale, Porten, 46 Black, Stephanie L., 98 Bosc-Tiessé, Claire, 175 Bowen, Richard, 146 Bowersock, Glen Warren, 142 Brakmann, Heinzgerd, 87

D’Abbadie, Antoine, 33 D’Alòs-Moner, Andreu Martínez, 261 Dacy, Marianne, 125 Dalmais, Irénée-Henri, 208 Daniélou, Jean, 125 De Contenson, H., 42 Dillmann, August, 8-9, 27, 36, 69, 73, 89, 94, 219 Doresse, Jean, 200 Drewes, Abraham-Johannes, 55 Elias Yemane, 41 Ephraim Isaac, 8, 30, 40, 56, 60, 75-76, 80, 86, 98, 100, 102,

345

346

JEWISH CULTURAL ELEMENTS

126-27, 198, 219, 235 Essaias Demissie, 281 Fage, John D., 41, 49, 55 Faitlovitch, Jacques, 34 Fauvelle-Aymar, François-Xavier, 164 Felder, Cain, 56, 60 Flusser, David, 126 Fritsch, Emmanuel, 179 Gamst, Frederick, 8, 60, 93, 214 Geddes, Michael, 258 Getatchew Haile, 74, 77-78, 9091, 110, 115, 117, 118, 120, 141, 147, 149, 173-174, 198, 209215, 217, 234, 261, 274, 280, 291, 293 Gillman, Ian, 102 Gizachew Teruneh, 145 Goitein, E. David, 164 Gorgorios (Abba), 5-6, 85, 102, 108 Grierson, Roderick, 24, 42, 56, 101, 105, 115, 136, 144, 175 Grillmeier, Aloys, 101 Guidi, Ignazio, 46-47 Guillaume, Alfred, 148 Haberland, Eike, 24, 276 Habtemichael Kidane, 283 Hahn, Wolfgang, 110 Hailu Habtu, 57-58 Hainthaler, Theresia, 101 Halévy, Joseph, 33, 148, 149, 168, 217

Hammerschmidt, Ernst, 38-39, 86, 242 Hancock, Graham, 85 Harden, J. M., 133 Hasting, Adrian, 3 Hefele, Charles Joseph, 128 Heijer, H. Den, 21 Heldman, Marilyn E., 115, 177, 179, 211, 241 Henze, Paul B., 42, 56-57, 272 Heyer, Friedrich, 283 Hubbard, David Allan, 2, 21, 144-145, 201 Johnson, D. W., 21, 145 Jones A. H. M., 108 Josephus, Flavius, 88 Juel-Jensen, Bent, 101 July, Robert, 41 Kaplan, Steven, 6, 31, 37, 47, 49, 51, 54, 68-69, 86, 98, 116-117, 149, 164-165, 171, 187, 216, 219, 228 Kessler, David, 8, 33, 46-48 Kister, M. J., 146 Klimkeit, Hans-Joachim, 102 Knibb, Michael, 62, 68, 71, 74-75, 77, 78, 79, 124 Kobishchanov, Youri M., 90-93, 98, 99, 102, 104, 135, 148, 149 Lane, E.W., 160 Latourette, Kenneth S., 105

INDICES Lee, Ralph, 89, 116, 120, 126, 142, 145, 155, 242, 256, 282-283, 334 Leslau, Wolf, 63, 69 Littmann, Enno, 5, 7, 27, 28, 35, 40, 52, 88, 96, 111, 147, 158, 240 Lule Melaku, 5-6, 85 Lund, Paul, 54 Lusini, Gianfrancesco, 29 MacCulloch, Diarmaid, 136 Maritinez, Andreu, 263 Markham, C. R., 278 Marrassini, Paolo, 2, 21, 70, 71, 77, 79, 80, 99-100, 123, 140, 144, 153, 184, 185, 196, 201, 207 Mazrui, Ali, 57 Mebratu Kiros Gebru, 264 Meinardus, Otto F.A., 161 Merid Wolde Aregai, 206, 261 Messay Kebede, 59 Modrzejewski, Joseph M., 46 Molvaer, Reidulf K., 169 Monroe, Elizabeth, 108 Motovu, Joachim, 73 Munro-Hay, Stuart, 42, 50, 5556, 58-59, 86, 103-106, 144147, 149, 156-158, 175 Muth, Franz-Christoph, 21, 184 Nöldeke, Theodore, 28 Nosnitsin, Denis, 198, 274 Notley, R. Stephen, 126 Nowotnick, Ulrike, 89 Páez, Pedro, 276 Pankhurst, Richard, 24, 97, 155, 173, 217, 236, 251, 272

347 Pankhurst, Sylvia, 41 Paulos Tzadua, 110, 273, 291 Pawlikowski, 23, 25, 39, 86 Pedersen, Kirsten Stoffregen, 22, 41 Phillipson, David W., 42, 51, 5657, 86, 88-90, 93, 107, 112, 113, 115, 134-136,148, 149, 158, 170-174 Pirenne, Jacqueline, 58 Polotsky, H. J., 20, 28 Porter, Alexandra, 54 Rapoport, Louis, 169 Reed, Annette Yoshiko, 125 Ricci, Lanfranco, 135 Robin, Christian, 142 Rodinson, Maxime, 7-8, 24, 27, 30, 36-38, 41, 59-60, 66, 74, 124 Rubenson, Samuel, 209 Ryckmans, G., 98 Salt, Henry, 29, 54 Schippmann, Klaus, 143 Schneider, Roger, 55 Sergew Hable Sellassie, 3, 5, 6, 28, 50, 62, 73-76, 86, 89, 90-91, 98102, 105-109, 111, 119-120, 136, 139, 146-148, 158, 168-177, 183187, 199, 206, 226, 243, 249 Shahîd, Irfan, 2, 21, 144-145 Shelemay, Kay Kaufman, 33, 37, 47, 61, 218 Shenk, Calvin E., 2, 240-241 Simon, Richard, 24 Slessarev, Vsevolod, 257 Smith, Sidney, 145 Stern, Henry A., 23 Strecker, George, 125

348

JEWISH CULTURAL ELEMENTS

Taddesse Tamrat, 5, 41, 50, 53, 78, 112, 113, 119, 120, 140, 143, 162, 167, 170-174, 179, 184, 187, 198-200, 202-203, 214215, 219, 222-237, 258, 293 Taylor, Joan, 125-126 Tekeste Negash, 175 Tellez, B., 263 Testa, Emmanuel, 125 Trimingham, J. Spencer, 51 Uhlig, Siegbert, 2, 110, 174, 208, 274 Ullendorff, Edward, 2, 6-8, 2324, 28-39, 41, 45-57, 59-61, 63-66, 68-75, 80, 86, 92, 96, 98, 105, 116-117, 165,

168, 194, 208, 240-242, 266, 268, 340 Vantini, G., 110, 143 Vööbus, Arthur, 75 Voigt, Rainer, 106 Vyhmeister, Werner K., 129 Waldman, Menachem, 46 Witakowski, Witold, 21, 79-80, 136, 143 Wolf, Pawel, 89 Yisehaq (Archibishop), 4 Youssef, Youhanna Nessim, 154 Zakaria, Rafiq, 148

INDEX OF SUBJECTS AND PERSONS Amhara, Dynasty, 169, 187, 189, 198 - 201, 206-207 Andəmta, 12, 31, 123, 162, 195, 242, 252, 265, 279, 281-291, 296, 298, 304 asərawu- main text, 279, 281, 284 Anorewos, of Shäwa, 222 Ante-Nicene Fathers, 131 Apostolic Canon, see Senodos, 208 Apostolic Tradition, 133 Arês, 94 Ark of the Covenant, see tabot Athenasius of Alexandria, 109 Awaləd, 279, 281, 284 Azarias, 32

Abyssinians, Ethiopians, 4, 24, 28, 29, 32, 38, 63, 65, 105-124, 143, 167, 181, 260-261, 299 Ethiopia, 105-107, 124 Habasha, 104, 107, 163, 168, 173 Aden, 174, 213 Adulis, 6, 19-20, 52, 91, 93, 95, 104, 113, 135, 142, 148, 171, 202, 269 Aga‘azi, 72-73 Aḫmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ġāzī (Graň), 262 Aksum, 1-3, 5-14, 19-21, 28-29, 33, 35, 37, 42-43, 103-104 Aksumites, 19, 72-81, 85-137, 139-156 Aksumite, pre-Christian, 28, 42, 45-73, 85-102, 299, 339 Alexandrian, Coptic Church, 80, 109-110, 115, 119, 127, 130-131, 137, 154-155, 161-162, 199-200, 205-207, 223, 226, 296-297 Alfonso Mendes, 277 Al-Jumahi, 49 Al-Mukurrah, 181 Amda Sion, 69

Bahiru Tefla, 98 Bani al-Hamwiyah, 139, 167-168, 170, 188, 216 Baptism, 22, 67, 143, 161-162, 181, 226, 260-261, 287 Betä Ǝsra’el, 6, 8-9, 19, 26, 31-35, 43, 46, 48, 50, 52, 60-61, 74, 87, 146-147, 149, 165, 169, 195, 202, 213-214, 216219, 226, 244

349

350

JEWISH CULTURAL ELEMENTS

Fälasha, 6, 8, 31, 39, 59, 150, 217-218 ‘Ayhud’, 213, 215-217 Däk’ik’ä ’Esra’el, 65 Betä Ewosṭatewos (Ewosṭateans), 14, 27, 134, 194-195, 212-213, 218-222, 229-238, 235, 244, 249-250, 297, 302303 Betä Täklä Haymanot, 14, 194 Bible, translation, 62, 66, 68, 76, 194 Aramaic, 61 Greek Lucianic version, 73 Gə‘əz / Ethiopic version, see Gə‘əz Septuagint, 61, 73, 75-76, 79, 118, 124 Syriac Peshitta, 70-71 Caleb (Kaleb), see Ǝlla Aṣbəḥa Catholic, Jesuit missionaries, 15, 23, 74, 248, 257, 262, 275, 179, 297, 303 Chalcedon, Council of, 136 tradition, 141 Christological, views Diophysites, 141 Miaphysite, 23, 136, 141, 263, 265, 271 Monophyite, 34 Church buildings, types of, 2, 158, 241, 243, 334, Circumcision, circumcised, 1, 1011, 22-26, 35, 39, 43, 81, 116, 126-128, 132, 134, 159-162,

188, 219, 233, 244, 251-253, 159-162, 264, 266, 268-272, 277-278, 285-288, 293, 297, 300, 302 Constantine, 108-109, 207 Constantius II, 110, 112 Coptic Church, see Alexandrian Coptic, language, 2, 106, 139 Cyril, 161-162, 291, 299 Da’amat (D’MT), 50, 59 Däbrä Asbo, 198 Däbrä Damo, 186 Däbrä Libanos, 186, 198, 200 Däbrä Məṭmaq, Council of, 194, 233, 236-238 Dawit, aṣe, 27, 226, 228-230, 233 David, Star of, 176 Dəggʷa , see Yared Didəsqəlya, 10, 12, 118, 133, 194, 209-212, 220, 223, 232, 250251, 267, 283, 302 Dietary, customs, 2 Eastern, Christianity, 7, 41, 81 Orthodoxy, 30 Ǝgzi’a Sämay, 96, 98, 101 Eldad Ha-Dani, 163-165, 188, 213 Ǝlla Aṣbəḥa, 10, 20, 112, 139, 142, 146-147, 153 Elvira, Council of, 128 Ewosṭateans, see Betä Ewosṭatewos EOTC/ EOC, origin of, 100-114 Ethiopia, see Abyssinia Ethiopian(s), see Abyssinians

INDICES Eunuch, Ethiopian, 96, 103, 137, 206 Eusebius, 103 Eyäsus Mo’a, 187 Ezana, 96-101, 104, 107, 110-114, 140, 153, 201, 235 Fälasha, see Betä Ǝsra’el Fətḥa Nägäśt, 12, 195, 273, 284, 291-296, 303 Frumentius, 65, 73, 100, 108-110, 112-113, 127 Gäbrä Mäsqäl, 120, 146-147, 152153, 201 Gäbrə’el, Abba, 236-237 Gädl, 75, 77, 140, 171, 177, 179, 198, 228, 231 Gälawdewos’s Confession, 272 Gə‘əz / Ethiopic, 2, 9-10, 12-13, 21, 28, 29, 31, 35, 38, 41, 51, 58, 61-64, 67-78, 80, 90-91, 104, 107, 116, 121-124, 126, 133, 137, 140-146, 150, 153, 165, 170, 172-173, 178, 184, 193, 194-196, 201-202, 208-209, 210-212, 214, 217, 224, 233235, 242, 260, 265-266, 273, 276, 280-281, 284, 291, 293 Bible, 45, 63-66, 68-70, 72-74, 76-77, 79, 106, 117, 135 Giyorgis ZäGasəč̣čạ , Abba, 72, 194, 231, 250, 303 Glory of Kings, see Kəbränägäśt Graň, see Aḫmad ibn Ibrahim alĠāzī Guba‘eyat, arat(u) guba‘eyat, 209, 281-282, 284, 298, 304

351

Habasha, see Abyssinians Harbə, 179 Haṣani, 156-158, 166, 172 Haymanotä Abäw, 12, 195, 273, 283-284, 291-292, 303 Herodotus, 46-47, 106, 160 Ḥimyar, 10, 141-142, 144, 155, 301 Himyarites, 21, 101, 113, 143144, 151 Ḥimyarite Jews, Jewish kingdom, 10, 113, 142143, 145, 150, 152, 180 Homer, 106 Ibn al-Assal, 133, 162 Ibn Ḥawqal, 167 Immigration, hypotheses, 45-66 Inscriptions, 51, 54, 68, 78, 86, 89, 90-101, 107, 260 Jerusalem, 2-3, 8, 22, 32-34, 46, 48, 50, 56, 59, 75, 88, 103, 115-116, 125-126, 151, 155, 172, 175-176, 183, 185, 196-197, 203-204, 206, 236, 244, 258259, 302-303 pilgrimage, 6, 22, 115, 140, 176-177, 206 temple, 2-3, 6, 35, 47-48, 8586, 89, 104, 116, 122, 135, 155, 239-242, 259, 289-290 Jesuit, missionaries, 15, 23, 74, 248, 257, 262, 275, 279, 297, 303 Jews, Judaism, 1, 3-7, 9-11, 14, 5-30, 31-34, 35-66, 72, 85-88, 96-98, 102-107, 119, 121-122, 126, 140-

352

JEWISH CULTURAL ELEMENTS

150, 150-156, 160, 163-170, 180-183, 213-218, 299, 340 Job (Hiob) Ludolf, 24 John Chrysostom, 102, 210 John Malalas, 143 John, of Ephesus, 143 John, the Deacon, 104 Joseph, Patriarch, 159 Justin I, 134, 141 Judaism, see Jews Kəbränägäśt, 2-5, 8, 10, 12, 14, 21, 24, 26, 33, 39, 43, 72-73, 80, 85, 87, 106, 121-123, 144-146, 149-150, 152-155, 163, 175, 183186, 188, 194-197, 199-207, 211, 219, 238, 244, 256, 259, 272-273, 302-303 Kush, Ereṣ Kûš, 5, 46, 106, 124 105-106, 168 Laodicea, Synod of, 128 Liturgy, 110, 116, 118, 179-181, 208, 277, 182, 304 Loanwords, 2, 35, 38, 61-64, 6671, 76, 80 Lord of Heaven, see Ǝgzi’a Sämay Mahrem, 89, 91, 97, 99-101, 111 Mani (Manichaean), 20, 92 Märara, 171 Mariology, 233 Mark, St., 141 Mäṣḥafä Aksum, 5, 28, 88, 104, 115

Mäṣḥafä Bərhan, 12, 194, 226, 250, 303 Mäṣḥafä Məśṭir, 10, 12, 194, 231232, 303 Menas, aṣe, 272 Mênas, 93 Mənilək I, 3-4, 104, 273 Mika’el, Abba, 236-237 Millennialism, 233-234 Missionaries, 7, 23, 25-26, 62-63, 70-71, 140-141, 218, 239, 245, 256, 260, 263, 271, 297 ‘Syrian’ Täsä’atu Qəddusan (‘Nine Saints’), 40, 75-80, 134, 302 Nä’akʷəto-Lä’ab, 179 Naǧrān, 113, 142, 146, 151 Nazorean, 127 Nebuchadnezzar, 50, 59, 122 Nestorians, 141 New Testament, 24, 63, 71, 7374, 79, 105-106, 108, 118, 121, 123-126, 147, 209, 271, 282283, 289, 291, 296-297 Nine Saints, see missionaries Nubian, 104-106, 110-111, 115, 166, 182, 206-207 Nubian king, 166 Persia, 20, 90, 92, 148, 152, 257 Prester John, 5, 103, 174, 257-259 Qälemənṭos, 12, 118, 194, 209 Roman Empire, 40, 108, 134-136

INDICES Rome, 20, 23, 49, 92, 130, 209, 248, 257, 262-263 Rufinus, 109, 113 Sabaeans, 51, 58-59, 85, 94 Sabaean god, 101 Sabbath, Christian-Sabbath, 177, 179, 182, 220, 227, 254, 274-275 Śärṣä Dəngə, aṣe, 217, 265, 272274, 276 Senodos, 10, 12, 118, 134, 154, 194195, 205, 208-213, 219-220, 223, 230, 232, 236, 250, 275, 283, 291-292, 302 Sheba, Makedd, 3, 5-6, 33, 65, 72, 85-88, 90, 99, 103, 105, 116, 143-146, 152, 163, 183, 185, 199, 204, 206-207, 238, 251 Sheba-Solomon myth, 38 Solomon, King, 3, 72, 87, 116, 184 South Arabian, 28-30, 35, 41-42, 48-60, 80, 86, 88-90, 98, 142, 149 Solomonic, Dynasty, 2, 69, 80, 115, 185, 188, 199, 201 Solomonic, Ethiopian kings, 140, 198, 202, 219, 236 Stephanites, 215-216, 221, 234-235 Ṣəyon, see Zion Syrian missionaries, see missionaries Tä’ammərä Maryam, 12, 194, 253, 256 Tabot, Ark of the Covenant, 2-3, 21-22, 33, 35, 42, 65, 85, 120, 122, 124, 137, 150-156, 179-182,

353 185, 188-189, 196, 204-205, 211, 244, 256, 273, 300-301, 303 ṣəlat, 2, 35, 154-155, 180, 188, 205, 211, 301-302, 335 Tabot/ṣəlat, tradition, 2, 21, 35, 67, 80, 120, 123, 139, 154-156, 177-182, 185, 188, 204-205, 211, 219, 233, 255, 256, 259, 300-302 Covenant Box, of Alexandrian church, 154, 180, 205, 301 Täsä’atu Qəddusan (‘Nine Saints’), see missionaries Timothy III, Patriarch, 141 Ṭomarä təsbə’ət, 10, 12 Trinity, 194, 209, 215, 233-234 Trinitarian, 100 Ya‘əqäbä Ǝgzi’ə, 201 Yared, Dəggʷa, 12, 116, 118-122, 137, 185, 242 Yeha, 85, 89-90, 135 Yəkunno Amlak, 186-187, 198-199 Yeshaq, Abba, 33 Yətbaräk, 179, 187 Yodith/Judith, 167 see, Bani al-Hamwiyah Yohannes IV, aṣe, 207 Yosef As’ar Yaṯẖ’ar, 142 Yuhanna, Bishop, 159, 161 Zagʷe Dynasty, 4, 158, 169-174, 178, 182, 186-187, 199, 201, 226 Zär’a Ya‘əqob, aṣe, 27-28, 37, 40, 119, 194, 213, 219, 225, 231, 234-236, 239, 244, 249, 251-

354

JEWISH CULTURAL ELEMENTS

253, 256, 258, 264, 270-271, 273, 292, 296-297, 303 Zena Mäwa‘el, 12 Zion, Ǝmmenä Ṣəyon, 115

Maryam Ṣəyon, 6, 155, 203 Zoscales, 19-20