Monasteries and Monastic Monks in Ethiopia

Ethiopia is a land of god which since the time of the Old Testament, through the biblical faith and worship she followed, has produced innumerable christians and saints of the Testament.

the biblical faith and worship in this country was able to bear so much fruit because the word of God which was broadcasted on the heart of the people was a seed which fell on fertile ground.

although it is difficult to speak in figures about the many saintly laity who rose, in particular starting from the time of the transition of the country and people from the Old Testament religion to the christian faith when the word of the Gospel was heard in the first century A.D up to the time when the faith was strengthened in the 4 th century, it is possible to mention many examples.

In the canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church those who became the saints of the Testament and the "shields of religion" did not only come from the monastic personalities. They emerged too from the ranks of those, like Henock, Noah, Abraham, Moses and the like, being in this world and shouldering family and community responsibility still performed deeds of sainthood. The source of life of the Ethiopian monasteries is the existence of such saints.

To be able to speak by turn and in order about the establishment of monasteries and monastic community members the pattern of their life, their kinds and number, the contribution past and present of monasteries and the monastic communities to the country, it is essential to recount briefly of the early history of monastic life. A "Monastic Person" is according to the practical definition "a man of god, who lives without tasting refined and delicious food, without wearing colorful and warm clothes, who waters his mouth with dew of the grass, has stones as his pillow, is unscarred by the roaring noises of wild animals and the majesty of the night and shuns worldly life, reserves himself from needs of the flesh and from joy and happiness, avoids joy in all his daily life and dependency on others, relies on and helps himself, is fully engaged in fasting and praying and preoccupied on acts of martyrdom and goodness".

The founder of such monastic life was the Egyptian hermit Father Antonios who rose up in the 4 th century. The monastic rules and regulations were laid down by another Egyptian hermit Father Pachimos who also lived in the same century. That the monastic life, its regulations and its contemporary form and content, owes itself fundamentally to these saintly fathers is accepted by all churches. Although it is necessary to make the history of these two persons the starting point of a discussion of monasticism, it is likewise essential to point out that another hermit called "the kind Pauli" even before these two fathers was pursuing a similar kind of life in the wilderness.

The rules and regulations of mastic life do not permit that men and women pursue monastic communal life in the same monastery. It is believed that when monasteries were first established for men by the above mentioned fathers, monasteries for women were also established for women contemporaneously by a certain woman named Mary, the sister of Father Pachimos.

After these Fathers, monastic seclusion drew the attention of the whole world of christendom and thus spread rapidly. Among the countries which received this gift Ethiopia is one of them.

Part 2.a Establishment of Monasteries in Ethiopia

As much as Ethiopia is the home of numerous churches, it is also a country which has many monasteries. The establishment of these monasteries started at the end of the 5 th century with the arrival of the nine saints from Syria, Egypt and the Greco-roman territory. These are the Fathers who at present are referred to in Ethiopia to as the nine saints. These saints came to Ethiopia fleeing from the dangerous disturbance caused by the Arian heresy and they chose Ethiopia because they have heard it was a free christian country which strongly opposed the Arian heresy. The nine saints according to the records and evidences of church are the following:

Abba Alef

Abba Aregawi

Abba Likamos

Abba Aftsi

Abba Garima

Abba Gub

Abba Yimata

Abba Pantoliwos

Abba Tsehima

Others like Abune Gebre Menfes Kidus and Abba Libanos who arrived in Ethiopia before and after the nine saints have also contributed their part for the establishment of Monasteries. The arrival of these saints to Ethiopia laid the foundations for the establishment of monasteries and gave to the spiritual life of the church the scope and content it had in the past and what it has at present. This is because of the educational value of monastic life to those worldly groups who in pursuit of worldly honour and wealth humiliate human beings in exploitation, injustice and violence.

Part 2.b Pattern of Monastic life in Ethiopia

Monastic life is divided into two parts. The first one is communal monastic life and the second one is private monastic life. In communal monastic life the whole monastic order works together, eats together, prays together and renders services together.

In this kind of monastic life no form of personal property is permitted. It is strictly forbidden to stay idle without praying and working. It is not allowed to go outside the monastery without adequate reasons and without the permission of the monastic Association. With regard to food it is not permitted to eat beyond the type and quantity of food laid down by the rules of the monastery. Grieving and weeping for a departing member of the monastery, half-heartedness in duty, hiding one's own mistakes, in general becoming a slave of worldly desire and of the flesh are not the distinguishing mark of monastic life. To be ready to serve others than being served is one other obligation of monastic life. Along with this as a monastery is a place of work and not a place for supporting the indolent, every monastery lives on the income of the labour of its members. Not being indolent being one other characteristic feature of monastic life, except those who by reason of sickness or old age are unable to work, nom member is allowed to live in dependency. Even those who are weak, unless the monastery seeing their weakness releases them from work, he/she will not rest from work or ask to be given rest. Although a communal monastery basically and in short is a common institution of life of these people of ascetic life, among them those who attained a spiritual life as complete as possible may by permission and blessing of the monastic association and without isolating themselves from the communal monastery, could live a life of seclusion restricted to one place. These kind of secluded people, since they possess the spiritual strength to withstand all the trials of the life of seclusion, they are not exposed to evil thoughts.

This being the case, the attempt at a description of Ethiopian monasteries and about the life of asceticism will not be complete without mentioning that there are places of asceticism where except roots and fruits no other food is tasted.

A private monastic life differs from a communal one in that under the former a certain measure of private property is permitted. Otherwise as there are no difference in the life of the asceticism, there is no special account to make about the private monasteries.

In talking about the monastic life of Ethiopia, there is one other important point which should be mentioned. There are times when imposing people appear dressed in a special way like Melke Tsedik and John the Baptist and live in some caves found at a distance from the communal monastery. People call these hermits anchorites.

"Hermits" means "a hidden person who lives far away from people". No one can search and find or see them. When seen their appearance is overpowering. Since people know this secret when they find skeletons, books, cross-ended support sticks and fly whisks, littered on the ground in the wilderness they recognize that these are the remains of these saints.

Part 2.c List of Leading Monastic Figures

Among these saints, some of them combined monasticism with apostolic work and martyrdom and social service. Others by living the monastic life secluded from the world have become saints of the testament through their martyrdom and services. Thus many of them have churches built in their names and chronicles of their deeds written, while others have their names and deeds mentioned in the synxsarius.

Since the time when monasteries and monastic life made their appearance in Ethiopia, a life of asceticism has drawn the special attention of many that even monarchs used their palaces as monasteries here they lived a life of asceticism, many of them attained sainthood.

Monarchs who were Ascetic in their home and palaces, attained sainthood and had churches constructed in their names

Name Period

Saint Abraha 4 th century A.D

Saint Atsbaha 4 th century

Saint Lalibela

Saint Yimharane Kristos 12 th century

Saint Gebre Mariam 12 th century

Saint Neakuto Leab 12 th century

Saint Tsadiku Yohannes etc. 17 th century

The emperors like Kaleb, Gebre Meskel, Zera Yacob, Naod were righteous emperors who were good examples of christians to the people they led and were also shields of the christian faith.

Explanations on the Hermit and Righteous Monarchs

•  Abraha and Atsbaha were two saints who after the eunuch of Candace accepted the christian faith and spread it; they resisted and opposed the Arian heresy from making its way into the Ethiopian church. Without joining the monasteries, in their spiritual lives they lived a life of asceticism. They were christian rulers known throughout the world of their time. the son of the Great Constantions who was a supporter of the Arian heresy wrote a letter to these Ethiopian emperors entreating them to accept the Arian heresy. Saint Athnatius also wrote a letter of thanks to these kings on the positions they took.

•  Saint Lalibala, Yimaharene Kristos, Gebre Mariam, Neakuto Lab, Tsadiku Yohannes following the true god, they were just and upright to their people, like the apostles they were witnesses and teachers of the christian faith, like monastic people they shunned all that which is worldly, were kind shepherds of the people, lovers of god and humanity and Gods messiah, they have become saintly kings in whose name churches have been built and chronicles of their martyrdom have been written.

Along with this Saint Lalibela was responsible for the building of the world famous rock hewn churches. Tsadiku Yohannes besides the above mentioned saintly deeds he avoided using for himself money collected from the people and he was an ascetic king who lived on the income got from his handwork. he had installed a bell in a public square where people who had been victims of injustice would ring this bell and thus be summoned to audience with him and their grievance redressed. Due to this he is called Tsadiku (the righteous) Yohannes by the church and people of Ethiopia

•  Although Emperor Kaleb (16 th century) was not one of those saintly kings in whose

name churches have been constructed, his name is no less remembered than the others. He attained this honour firstly when a Jew known as Finhas perpetrated acts of cruelty and persecution against christians in Yemen, on the requests of the christian king of Constantinople, Lostinos, and of the Alexandrian archbishop Timotheos the Third and on his own initiative, he set sail to Yemen and conducting a crusade he defeated the archenemy of the christians and liberated them. Socondly after this epic of martyrdom, he was a man who renounced his throne to enter the monastery.

•  Emperor Zera Yacob (15 th century) likewise was named Constantine for expanding and strengthening the christian faith in the country. While on his throne he had a spiritual life comparable to that in a monastery. To satisfy his spiritual desire he was a christian king who journeyed to a monastery and like Kaleb his name continues to be remembered spiritually. Furthermore many books were translated from foreign language into Geez and new works were composed during the reign of this emperor and thus he is king who occupies a major place in the history of our church.

The kings who had such a spiritual life were not only these ones. It is not also difficult to imagine why this happened and it happened because of the strength of the christian faith, and of the impact of the establishment of monasteries on the christian life of Ethiopians.

Part 2.d Services of Monasteries to Ethiopian Society

Although monasteries are places of asceticism, their services to the society and country is not limited to praying. they have since long been serving as sources of literate education, church music and of the study of the Holy Book. They were also among other things school of arts, museums of relics and libraries and thus it is difficult to estimate the value of services given by the monasteries to the Ethiopian people. The present Patriarch His Holiness Abune Paulos Patriarch of Ethiopia and Itchegue of the See of Tekle Haimanot is one of the products of the monasteries.

Concerning the number of monasteries, out of the 35 thousand parish churches one thousand are monasteries. Of these the majority are monasteries for men and a few are for women. In 1984-1988 following the drought and famine in Northern Ethiopia, many monasteries suffered from this situation and the assistance which these monasteries from the Canadian Council of Churches is vividly and gratefully remembered. Since the monasteries as explained are not only places of asceticism but the preservers and places of the history and culture of the country. His Holiness among his great efforts hand works for the wellbeing of the church is the special attention he pays to the wellbeing of these monasteries.

The Church of Ethiopia Past and Present