Suchergebnisse

This article connects two events that occurred in 1881: the arrival of four Coptic bishops in Ethiopia and the attempt by the Copts to remodel the Dayr al-Sulṭān monastery in Jerusalem. First, connecting these two events contradicts the idea that the Copts agreed to appoint four bishops without any compensation—on the contrary they sought a compensation in Jerusalem. Second, it sheds light on Yoḥannǝs's diplomatic policy, which enabled him to thwart the Coptic ambitions in Jerusalem and to kill two birds with one stone: he obtained four Coptic bishops, while preserving the rights of the Ethiopians in Jerusalem, and this without any compensation to be given in exchange to the Copts or anyone else. This article shows that behind a friendship demonstrated at the time by Ethiopians and Copts were hidden elements of deep discord. It therefore suggests the need, in the future, to rethink the place to be given to the 1881 agreement in the history of relations between Copts and Ethiopians and its influence on subsequent events.

Abstract
Between 1850 and 1903 Europeans and Ottomans were in conflict regarding the status of Ethiopians living in Jerusalem. According to the Ottomans, Ethiopians in Jerusalem were Ottoman subjects. European powers like Great Britain, France, and Italy contested this opinion. According to them, Ethiopians in Jerusalem were not subjects of the Ottoman Empire but of the Ethiopian kingdom and as such they held an Ethiopian identity, not an Ottoman one. We will see that the first issue at stake here was the European protection of Ethiopians in Jerusalem. But we will show that the discourse proposed by Ethiopians to their interlocutors in Jerusalem concerning what is supposed to be the Ethiopian identity played an important role. In order to reach their goals in Jerusalem, Ethiopians played the game of Europeans while avoiding directly confronting Ottoman authorities. But in supporting the point of view of the Europeans, Ethiopians developed Ethiopian essentialism, solely centered on the Christian characteristics of Ethiopian identity. Between 1904 and 1916, this essentialism came into conflict with the new social reality of the Ethiopian kingdom.

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The article deals with a peculiar document that was found during a field research conducted by the team of the Ethio-SPARE project during the spring 2010 in church libraries of Gulo Mäkäda wäräda, north-east Təgray (historical ʿAgame). This document is a Gəʿəz text written during the 19th century and dedicated to the refutation of the Catholic doctrine. Because of its apparent historical significance, the text and its translation are presented here. Taking into consideration the literary form (discourse) of the work and the place where it was found (the area of the active Catholic preaching) we can assume that the text is a summary of the anti-Catholic argumentation, possibly used by the Orthodox priests, and a witness of the local attitude to the Catholic missionary activities. The treatise does not provide any hints to the political issues of the Catholic settlement in Ethiopia. However, it does highlight some elements of the discourse against Catholic faith in the context of the emergence of a strong religious Täwaḥǝәdo identity.

The article deals with a peculiar document that was found during a field research conducted by the team of the Ethio-SPARE project during the spring 2010 in church libraries of Gulo Mäkäda wäräda, north-east Təgray (historical ʿAgame). This document is a Gəʿəz text written during the 19th century and dedicated to the refutation of the Catholic doctrine. Because of its apparent historical significance, the text and its translation are presented here. Taking into consideration the literary form (discourse) of the work and the place where it was found (the area of the active Catholic preaching) we can assume that the text is a summary of the anti-Catholic argumentation, possibly used by the Orthodox priests, and a witness of the local attitude to the Catholic missionary activities. The treatise does not provide any hints to the political issues of the Catholic settlement in Ethiopia. However, it does highlight some elements of the discourse against Catholic faith in the context of the emergence of a strong religious Täwaḥǝәdo identity.

Faithful of the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwaḥǝdo Church gather sometimes into a religious association. We can distinguish two types of religious associations: the maḫbär and the sänbäte. These two types are organized on the same scheme and are led by the faithful themselves. Both are based on a fundamental concept, which is to gather faithful around a banquet for a commemoration. Maḫbär and sänbäte are a representation of a zǝkǝr, a crucial concept in the Ethiopian Christianity. The religious authority is shared by one priest who leads the liturgy of the ritual. The presence of a priest without an organizational role highlights the influence of the laymen to organize their own religious life outwards the cast-iron ecclesiastical organisation. The social and religious influence of these organizations is very important in towns and in the countryside. To be member of these associations is a sign of an important social status in the parish community and the reality of both maḫbär and sänbäte shows the existence of a way of dialogue between the Church and the faithful.

It has been known that only a part of the parchment manuscripts of Mäqdäla library seized by British expeditionary force in 1868 entered European collections. Many of those manuscripts stayed in Ethiopia but not much was known about them. New information on these manuscripts has been recently gathered by the team of the project "Ethio-SPaRe: Cultural Heritage of Christian Ethiopia – Salvation, Preservation and Research". Among manuscripts registered in monasteries and churches of East Tǝgray, some could have been identified as manuscripts previously coming from Mäqdäla library. The article presents these manuscripts and some of their features.