Die neun Heiligen waren eine Gruppe von christlichen Missionierenden, die im späten 5. Jahrhundert eine wichtige Rolle bei der Verbreitung und der Etablierung des Christentums im heutigen Äthiopien spielten. Die nein Heiligen waren:
- Abba Aftse
- Abba Alef
- Abba Aragawi
- Abba Garima (Isaac oder Yeshaq)
- Abba Guba
- Abba Liqanos
- Abba Pantelewon
- Abba Tsahma
- Abba Yem'ata
Rugare Rukuni und Erna Oliver schreiben den heutigen, jüdisch geprägten Charakter der äthiopischen christlichen Gemeinde größtenteils den neun Heiligen zu, die sie als jüdische Christen beschreiben.[1]:6, 8
Herkunft
BearbeitenAlthough frequently described as coming from Syria, only two or three actually came from that province; according to Paul B. Henze, others have been traced to Constantinople, Anatolia, and even Rome.[2]
The Ethiopian historian Taddesse Tamrat speculates that they may have been connected with the anti-Monophysite and anti-Miaphysite persecutions that followed the Council of Chalcedon, which adopted Dyophysitism. Their activities spread Christianity beyond "a narrow corridor between Adulis and Aksum along the caravan routes."[3]
Gründungen von christlichen Klöstern
BearbeitenBesides converting the local inhabitants to Christianity, they also founded a number of monastic houses that followed the rule of Saint Pachomius: Abba Aftse founded the monastery at Yeha; Abba Alef the northernmost establishment at Bi'isa on the south bank of the Mareb River; the foundation of the important monastery of Debre Damo is attributed to Abba Aragawi; Abba Liqanos and Abba Pantelewon are credited with establishing Pentalewon Monastery in Axum; Abba Garima founded Abba Garima Monastery north of Adwa; Abba Guba the one at Madara; Abba Tsahma the one at Sedenya; and Abba Yem'ata founded the southernmost one of the group in the Gar'alta, noted for its Abuna Yemata Guh church named after him.[4]
Abba Garima and the Garima Gospels
BearbeitenRecent radiocarbon dating supports the tradition of Saint Abba Garima's arrival at the Abba Garima Monastery in 494.[5] The Garima Gospels, which Garima is said to have written, is now regarded as "the world's earliest illustrated Christian manuscript" and the oldest surviving Ethiopian manuscript of any kind.[5]
Siehe auch
BearbeitenEinzelnachweise
Bearbeiten- ↑ Rugare Rukuni, Erna Oliver: Ethiopian Christianity: A continuum of African Early Christian polities. In: Hervormde Teologiese Studies. 75. Jahrgang, Nr. 1, Januar 2019, S. 1–9, doi:10.4102/hts.v75i1.5335 (doi.org).
- ↑ Henze, Layers of Time: A History of Ethiopia (New York: Palgrave, 2000) p. 38.
- ↑ Taddesse Tamrat, Church and State in Ethiopia, 1270-1527 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972 Vorlage:ISBN), p. 23.
- ↑ This list is from Richard Pankhurst, The Ethiopians, A history (Oxford: Blackwell, 2001), p. 37 n. 38
- ↑ a b Martin Bailey: Discovery of earliest illuminated manuscript. ? Juni 2010, archiviert vom am 1. Mai 2012.