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النشر الإلكتروني

THE

AND

MISSIONARY MAGAZINE.

No. 12.

MAY, 1813.

MISCELLANEOUS.

ACCOUNT OF THE EMPIRE AND

CHURCH OF ABASSINIA.

The following article is taken from the Christian Observer for October last, and was doubtless furnished for that work by the Rev. Mr. Yeates, a professor in the university of Cambridge. The information here collected is, therefore, wor by of particular attention. Africa has many and strong claims upon the Christian world. Those who are earnestly engaged to promote the knowledge of the Gospel, in every part of the earth, will inquire as to the practicability of establishing missions in Africa, as well as Asia; in places partly enlightened with Christianity, as well as among pa

gans and idolaters. It will be observed, that Mr. Yeates has spelt the word Abassinia differently from the common mode. As he probably has the means of being correct in this particular, we have

followed him.

ED. PAN.

VOL. V.

ABASSINIA is a vast and extensive country, situated on the eastern confines of Africa, where it is bounded by the shore of the Red Sea, towards the Straits of Babelmandel. Its extent is computed at a million of square miles. It contains several principalities, subject to the same sovereign, of which one, called Tigri, formerly the seat of the Ethiopian kings, comprehends twenty-four provinces: these principalities are, in reality, so many petty kingdoms. Abassinia distinguishes Christian from Pagan Ethiopia; which last is considerably more extensive, and comprehends a number of nations.

Gondar, or, as it is called, Gondar a Catma; i. e. the City of the Seal; is the capital of the empire, and the chief residence of

To the Editor of the Christian Ob. the Emperor, and of the Abuna,

server.

As, Sir, you wish to gratify your readers with some useful and authentic information respecting the Ethiopic Christians, and seem to invite such communications, I here transmit to you what I have collected from various books; being part of a work I may hereafter publish, under the

tle of Ecclesiastical Collections, chiefly Oriental, &c. T.Y. VOL. V. New Series.

or Patriarch, who has a handsome palace contiguous to the patriarchal church. The city is three leagues in circumference, and contains a hundred Christian churches.

Emfras, next to Gondar, from which it is distant a day's journey, is one of the most considerable cities of Abassinia, and the only one where the Mahometans are allowed the public exercise of their religion, and where their

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houses are intermixed with those read in their churches, as also of the Christians. their liturgies and other church books.

The population and strength of the empire may be inferred from the numerous armies they can raise at a short time, and at a small expense. They wage war with the Pagans annually, for the security of their own do minions,and to prevent the growing power of their enemies, especially the kings of Galla and Changalla. Their armies are very large: one commanded by the Emperor in 1699, or 1700, consisted of between four and five hundred thousand men.

In Europe, says my author, we have long been in an error about the color of the Ethiopians; because we have confounded them with the blacks of Nubia, who are their neighbors Their natural color is brown, or rather that of the olive; their stature is tall and majestic; they have good complexions, beautiful eyes, well-set noses, thick lips, and white teeth: whereas the inhabitants of Nubia, or Sennar, have flat noses, thick lips, and very black complexions.

The language of the country is a dialect of the Arabic, called by some the Amharic tongue, and is probably no more than a corruption of the ancient Ethiopic, formerly spoken in the kingdom of Tigri. The Ethiopic is their learned language; and herein all their ancient writings are extant, and all books of prime note in the religion and laws of the empire continue to be written, because they esteem it a noble tongue. They pretend to have derived it from Chaldea, and therefore call it also Chaldee. It is in this language that the Holy Scriptures are written and

he

It

The sovereign of Abassinia is a Christian prince; and from the extent of his dominions, and the multitude of his subjects, claims the title of emperor. is by virtue of his profession of the Christian faith that he holds the empire, and bears the imperial titles. His motto is, “Jesus, Emperor of Ethiopia, of the Tribe of Judah, victorious;" and this is the seal of the empire, displayed by a lion holding a cross, which are his arms. His titles of embassy to foreign princes announce his descent, religion, and government, in the usual forms of Oriental magnificence, of which we have a specimen in letters of embassy sent to Pope Clement VII, and Don Emanuel, King of Portugal, as follows: "David the Beloved of God, Pillar of the Faith, of the blood and line of Judah, Son of David, Son of Solomon, Son of the Pillar of Sion, Son of the Seed of Jacob, Son of the Hand of Mary, Son of Nabu after the flesh, Emperor of the Great Ethiopia, and of all the kingdoms and countries thereon depending, &c. &c." It may be observed, that formerly, not only Abassinia, but all Ethiopia, was subject to the Emperor; but these domains having fallen into paganism, were lost to the empire; nevertheless, the title of sovereignty is claimed by all that succeed to the throne of Abassinia.

Next to the Emperor is the Abuna, i. e. our Father, who is the patriarch, and sole bishop of all Abassinia: he ordains all priests and deacons, appoints

them to benefices, nominates the superiors of monasteries, and has an absolute power over the monks, who are there very numerous; he is the only bishop of the Ethiopic church, but is himself subject to the patriarch of Alexandria in Egypt, by whom he is consecrated and invested with the powers and title of his office. The Abuna is nominated by the Emperor, who is supreme in all ecclesiastical as well as civil affairs.

We may judge of the great ness of the ecclesiastical establishment from this; that, at one ordination, the Abuna is said sometimes to ordain ten thousand priests, and five or six thousand deacons. The whole ceremony of the ordination consists in this: the Abuna, sitting down, repeats the beginning of the Gospel over the heads of such as are made priests, and gives them his benediction with an iron cross, which he holds in his hand, weighing seven or eight pounds: "but as for the deacons, he gives them his benediction without reciting the Gospel.

The Ethiopic church is entitled to the veneration due to every Christian church of early foundation. It is a tradition among the Abassinians, that their empire became Christian in the days of their celebrated Queen Candace, who was converted by the Eunuch baptised by Philip the deacon, as it is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. But however this may be, the constitution of their church, and the purity of its doctrine, bear evident signs of an early original; and though it may not have been of apostolic foundation, yet it probably was planted not later

than the expiration of the apostolic age. Ruffinus writes, that their conversion was brought about by the instrumentality of one Frumentius, in the fourth century; but this seems a far less probable statement; and could I enter into the subject, ample testimony might be produced in favor of an carlier date.

The Ethiopic Christians acknowledge the Holy Scriptures to be the only rule of faith and practice. They worship one God in Trinity. They believe in the incarnation of the Son of God; and that Christ is perfect God and perfect man. They own the merits of Jesus Christ to be sufficient for eternal salvation. They celebrate the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, and administer the latter in both kinds to clergy and laity, conformably to the custom of all the eastern churches. Finally, they use the Nicene Creed in their liturgy, which comprises the fundamental articles of the Christian faith.

As to forms and ceremonies in worship, wherein ail churches differ more or less, as well in the East as West; in these the Ethiopian Christians have prescribed for themselves, as other churches have done, tho' perhaps with less deviation from the principles of Christianity than is to be found in some of the western churches.

Circumcision is with them a national custom, and not a relig ious rite: they circumcise their children, both male and female, eight days after the birth; but this is not done out of a compliance either with the Jewish law, or with the practice of the

ancient Judaizing Christians: they assign other reasons for it. They baptise their male children at forty days old, and females on the eightieth day after the birth, except in cases where there is danger of death. The children, it is said, are not im mersed in the water at baptism, but only dipped, or sprinkled.

Adult baptism is performed in the following manner: The priest begins with reciting Psalm li, and then perfumes the person with incense, and asks his name; certain other prayers are then recited, and several parts of the body are anointed with holy oil; the priest then lays his hand upon the head of the person, while he renounces the d and his works, makes his vow to Christ, and rehearses the creed; after which he is again anointed with oil. The remainder of the consecrated oil is then poured into the baptismal water, when the priest descends into the pool; and the new convert being conducted thither by the deacons, is plunged thrice under water by the priest, who uses the form of words, "I baptise thee," &c. taken from Matt. xxviii, 19. After baptism, he is assisted by the deacons, who lead him out of the pool; and put on him a white under garment, to signify purity of soul, and over it a red vest, in token of his salvation purchased by the blood of Christ; and being thus initiated into the church of the faithful, he partakes of the holy communion. At his dismissal, he is presented with milk and honey; and the priest, laying his hand upon his head, gives him his benediction; "Son of baptisin, go in peace."

The holy sacrament is admin

istered in both kinds, and is received standing both by priests and people. The officiating priest administers the bread, and the deacon the wine in a spoon. The bread is leavened, except on certain days of humiliation and fasting, when they use unleavened bread; and the wine is prepared from the stones of raisins.

They observe Saturday, in re. membrance of the Creation, and solemnly keep the Christian Sabbath, or Lord's day. Their public worship, which they attend once on that day, continues for several hours, when they observe the usual services proper for its solemnization, prayer, reading the Scriptures, singing, and exhortation, or delivering a discourse or homily. In some of their churches they have music, to which they sing; but their instruments and psalmody are not agreeable to an European ear. What is singular among them, is, the practice of sacred dances, to the sound of cymbals and kettledrums, which, they say, is in imitation of David: they call it rejoicing before the Lord. It may be presumed, that this practice is observed more particularly on festivals. Their fasts are many, and they keep them with great strictness.

It is not lawful to communicate in private, or any where else but in the church, with an exception only in faver of the Emperor, when he receives the communion in his royal chapel. This office completes their divine service at all times, being administered every Sunday in every church, after the custom of the primitive Christians.

Their churches are built in

the usual form of those in the East, in imitation of the Temple of Jerusalem; having a sanctuary and an outer court. In the sanctuary stands the holy table, set on four pillars; upon which is placed the tabot, or chest with the utensils for the consecrated elements; and over this is a canopy.

The outer court, or body of the church, resembles that of the cathedral churches amongst us, and consists of a spacious pavement, on which stand the pillars that support the superstructure, or roof, and which is without pews or seats. Age and infirmity compel many to lean where they can for rest; and as their service continues for several hours, and no sitting is allowed, most churches accommodate the weak with a sort of crutches fixed for the purpose, which is also the practice among the modern Greeks.

As to the tabot, or holy chest, it is thought to be in imitation of those used by the Christians in the ages of martyrdom, when, being forced to meet in caves and burying-places in the night, for fear of their persecutors, they carried the sacred clements and utensils in chests made like a coffin, the better to escape the notice of their cruel enemies, and secure a peaceful celebration. In after times, these chests were brought into the churches, and by degrees were made to resemble a table: but the Ethiopian Christians alone seem to retain it in the ancient manner, having both table and chest, tho' the latter is made in a tabular form. In other churches, especially in the West, the table is the altar, without a chest.

These Christians have so great

a veneration for their churches, as the temples of God, that, in riding by them, they alight from their mules and walk a space; and then remount. When they enter, they put off their shoes at the door; and never spit on the pavement, or commit other indecencies in or about the house of worship.

It is observed they have pictures in their churches, but do not allow of any statues; and though they have crosses, they will not suffer crucifixes to be used: it is counted a heinous offence among them to carry even a picture of Christ crucified.

Monks and monasteries abound in Abassinia. The monks labor hard in the fields and gardens; fast daily till three in the afternoon; and assemble for devotion at midnight, and other stated hours: they are subject to priors and superiors, who are all appointed by the Abuna. Their monasteries are more like villages than the Roman convents; and as the country is fertile, and land is plenty, their labors procure them an easy support. The most celebrated of their monasteries is that of Allelujah, which formerly had four thousand monks. The monkish life is purely voluntary, and they are allowed to decline it whenever they please. Some of them are schoolmasters and tutors; and others, of superior ability, are preferred to civil offices, and become principals and governors of provinces. The Ethiopic clergy, like the Greck, are allowed to marry once; but on a second marriage they are degraded -Marriage is forbidden the monks; nor can their children be admit

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