Christianity is the national religion throughout the more elevated
portions of Abyssinia; but the wild Galla has overrun her fairest
provinces, and located himself in her most pleasant places--the bigoted
Moslem crowds thick upon the skirts of her distracted empire, and the
tenets that she professes are base, foolish, and degrading. Engrafted
on the superstitions of the Jew, the Mohammadan, and the Pagan--
promulgated by rude and ignorant men--and received by a people emerging
only into the first stage of civilisation--the light of religion must
have been feeble, even in the beginning; but as it was imparted, so it
still remains. Sects and parties have arisen, and province has been
banded against province in all the fiery wrath of the zealot; but, lost
in the maze of subtle controversy, these internal wars have raged for
generations without disturbing the original doctrine; and the same
errors of the church prevail to this day throughout the land, as when
first propounded in the beginning of the fourth century.
The Abuna or Archbishop is the spiritual chief of Ethiopia. Consecrated
by the Patriarch of Alexandria, and possessing with rich revenues the
intelligence of other lands, the Primate is universally feared and
respected throughout the empire, and all religious differences and
dissensions must be carried for the final decision of his Holiness.
Princes and rulers pay implicit deference to his high behest, and,
seated on the ground before his episcopal throne, receive with the
utmost respect his every wish and advice. Feuds and quarrels betwixt
state and state are satisfactorily arranged in his presence; and war,
tyranny, and violence, are controlled by his all commanding voice of
mildness and benevolence. But whilst his influence is thus potent, the
extent of his diocese is also great; and many local difficulties
opposing the pastoral visit to the extremities of his see, the kingdom
of Shoa has for ages been deprived of the advantages accruing from the
residence of an archbishop.
In the hand of the Abuna is vested the exclusive power of consecration.
Bishops, priests, and deacons, can from him alone receive holy office.
He only it is who grants absolution for heavy offences against either
God or man; and the ark of a church, whether newly constructed or
polluted by the unhallowed touch of a Mohammadan, must be purified by
his hands with the holy _merom_, before being entitled to that high
adoration which it thenceforward receives.
The second place in spiritual dignity is filled by the Etchegue, the
Grand Prior of the monks of Debra Libanos. Seated on the throne of
Tekla Haimanot, one of the first founders of the orders of Seclusion, he
engrosses the management of all the various monastic establishments
throughout the land, and in his hands remains the charge of the existing
literature and education. Deeply versed in the subtilties of theology,
his opinion is held of the highest import in the never-ceasing disputes
upon the uninteresting subjects of false faith which occupy the mind of
the Abyssinian divine; but his authority extends only to the simple
admittance into the monkish order, and to granting absolution for minor
offences.
The Comus, or Bishop, who ranks next above the Priest, is without
diocese or even authority over the inferior members of the church; and
his peculiar function is to bless and purify the sacred ark, should it
accidentally receive the impure touch of deacon or layman; to repeat the
prayer of admission, and sign the cross on the skull-cap of the
candidate for monastic seclusion; and to afford absolution for trivial
offences against the conscience.
Twelve thousand clerical drones, "Fruges consumere nati," fatten in
idleness on the labour of the working classes, and employ their
influence to foster the prejudice, bigotry, and superstition of their
flock. The kiss imprinted on the hand of one of these licentious
shepherds being believed to purify the body from all sin, they are
treated with the highest respect and veneration, are fed and caressed
both by high and low, and invariably addressed as "Father."
Upon payment each of a few pieces of salt, many hundred candidates
receive the breath of the Holy Ghost from the Abuna in a single day; but
every Abyssinian being ignorant of his own age, it is essential to the
reception of priestly orders that the beard should have appeared.
Deacons are chosen from among boys and children, because on reaching
maturity the life of the adult is not always distinguished by that
spotless purity which is held indispensable. The juvenile novices are
present during divine service in capacity of servitors, and they
complete the requisite number at the administration of the holy
communion.
The father confessor is bound to the strictest secrecy; and it is
believed that on this point a dread oath is taken before ordination,
when all the mysteries of religion are expounded by the Abuna, and
especially those which have reference to the preparation of bread for
the holy supper. In a small house styled Bethlehem, which rises
immediately behind every church, the mysterious ceremony is performed.
The deacon can alone bake the cake; and the most vigilant guard is
invariably preserved against the approach or intrusion of females or
other improper visitors during the hour of solemn occupation.
Certain revenues and estates are set apart for the support of each
clerical establishment; and to ensure the proper distribution, an Alaka,
or chief, is selected by the monarch from either class of society.
Whilst a successful foray is invariably followed by donations from the
throne, the safe return from a journey is acknowledged by an offering on
the part of all private individuals; and the shade of the venerable
juniper-trees, which adorn the churchyard on the summit of the greenest
knolls, is ever crowded with groups of sleek, hooded priests, who bask
in the enjoyment of idle indulgence.
There are, perhaps, more churches in Abyssinia than in any other part of
the Christian world; and he who has erected one believes that he has
atoned for every sin. But even the best are very miserable edifices of
wattle plastered with mud, only to be distinguished from the surrounding
hovels by a thin coating of whitewash, which is dashed over the outside
to point with the finger of pride to the peculiar privilege of the two
great powers in the land. Circular in form, they have a door to each
quarter of the compass, the apex of the conical thatch being surmounted
by a brazen cross, which is usually adorned with ostrich eggs, whilst
the same depraved and heathenish taste pervades the decorations of the
interior. Sculpture is strictly forbidden; but the walls are bedaubed
with paintings of the patron saint of the church, the blessed Virgin,
and a truly incongruous assemblage of cherubim and fallen angels, with
the evil one himself enveloped in hell-flames. Timbrels and crutches
depend in picturesque confusion from the bare rafters of the roof; no
ceiling protects the head from the descent of the lizard and the spider;
and the _tout ensemble_ of the slovenly Abyssinian church presents the
strangest imaginable picture of cobweb finery.
The Jewish temple consisted of three distinct divisions--the fore-court,
the holy, and the holy of holies. To the first laymen were admitted, to
the second only the priest, and to the third the high priest alone. All
entrance was denied to the Pagan,--a custom which is rigorously enforced
in Abyssinia; and her churches are in like manner divided into three
parts.
Eight feet in breadth, the first compartment stretches, after the
fashion of a corridor, entirely around the building. It is styled _Kene
Mahelet_, and, strewed throughout with green rushes, forms the scene of
morning worship. To the right of the entrance is the seat of honour for
priests and erudite scribes; and beyond this court, save on certain
occasions, the bare foot of the unlearned layman cannot pass.
_Makdas_ is the second compartment. This is the sanctuary in which the
priests officiate, and a corner is set apart for laymen during the
administration of the holy supper, whilst a cloth screens the mysteries
of the interior. Here also hang, arranged around the walls, the bones
of many deceased worthies, which have been carefully gathered from the
newly opened sepulchre, and are deposited by the hand of the priest in
cotton bags. By the nearest relative, the first opportunity is embraced
of transporting these mouldering emblems of mortality to the sacred
resting-place of Debra Libanos, where the living and the dead are alike
blessed with a rich treasure of righteousness, since the remains of
Tekla Haimanot, the patron saint of Abyssinia, still shed a bright halo
over the scene of his miracles upon earth.
To _Kedis Kedisen_, the holy of holies, none but the Alaka is admitted.
Behind its veil the sacrament is consecrated, the communion vessels are
deposited, and the tremendous mysteries of the _tabot_, or ark of the
covenant, are shrouded from the eyes of the uninitiated. The gold of
the foreigner has penetrated the secret of the contents of this box,
which are nothing more than a scroll of parchment, on which is inscribed
the name of the patron saint of the church; but the priest who dared to
open his lips on the subject to one of his own countrymen would incur
the heavy penalties due to the sacrilege.
The most ridiculous exploits are recorded of Menilek the son of Solomon
and the Queen of Sheba, who crowned a long course of iniquity by
plundering the Temple of Jerusalem. The true ark of Zion is believed
still to exist in the church at Axum; but prayers, vows, and oblations,
are equally made to the handicraft of any vain ecclesiastic, which may
be held up to the admiring multitude as having been secreted in a cave
during the inroad of the conquering Graan, and since revealed by a
miraculous dream from Heaven.
In the presence of the mysterious casket consists the only sanctity of
the church. Heretics alone doubt of its inherent virtues; and every
individual who professes Christianity must during life make his vows and
oblations to the one he has selected, in order that after death he may
enjoy the privilege of interment under its sacred influence. Young and
old, rich and poor, prostrate themselves to the ground as the idol is
carried in procession through the streets under the great umbrellas; and
when replaced in its case in the holy of holies, the air is rent by the
attendant priests with shouts of "The temple of the eternal God!"
All the disqualifications of the Levitical law oppose entrance to the
sacred edifice, and both the threshold and the door-posts must be kissed
in passing. Like the Jews, the Abyssinians invariably commence the
service with the Trisagion, "Holy, holy, holy, is God, the Lord of
Sabaoth." The sweet singer of Israel danced before the Lord, and a
caricature imitation remains, the chief point of Abyssinian worship.
Capering and beating the ground with their feet, the priests stretch out
their crutches towards each other with frantic gesticulations, whilst
the clash of the timbrel, the sound of the drum, and the howling of
harsh voices, complete a most strange form of devotion. The lessons are
taken partly from the Scriptures, partly from the miracles of the holy
Virgin and of Tekla Haimanot, the life of Saint George, and other
foolish and fabulous works; but all are in the ancient Ethiopic tongue,
which to the congregation is a dead letter; and the sole edification of
a visit to the church is therefore comprised in the kiss that has been
imprinted on the portal.
In order to obtain the desired and enviable position of eating the bread
of comparative idleness, a sacrifice is indispensable. The priest is
restricted to the possession of a single wife; and on her demise or
infidelity, no second marriage is authorised. A small portion of lore
must, moreover, be imbibed--the Psalms of David must be carefully
conned--and the mysteries of Abyssinian song and dance be fully
penetrated, before the sacred office can be attained. The lessons of
early youth are, however, speedily forgotten, and the constant
repetition of the same words removes the necessity of retaining the
character. Few in after years can read--still fewer respect the vow of
chastity--and the employment of the morning hours of the Sabbath, and of
the holydays, in dancing and shouting within the walls of the church,
entitle the performer to all the immunities and comforts pertaining unto
holy orders.
In every clerical conclave the king possesses the supreme voice of
authority; and the despotic monarch may in Shoa be justly regarded as
the head of his own church. Loss of office is the great punishment
inflicted by the spiritual court, which is composed of the assembled
members of the individual church, and degradation is followed by the
expulsion of the offending brother from the community. But the great
hall of justice is not unfrequently graced with the presence of the
refractory priest; and fetters in the dungeon, or banishment from the
realm, maintain a wholesome fear of the royal power of investigation in
matters ecclesiastical.
The monk is admitted to the order of his choice by any officiating
priest. A prayer is repeated, the skull-cap blessed with the sign of
the cross, and the ceremony is complete. But a more imposing rite
attends the oath of celibacy before the Abuna. The clergy assemble in
numbers, and fires are lighted around the person of the candidate. His
loins are bound about with the leathern girdle of Saint John, and the
prayer and the requiem for the dead rise pealing from the circle. The
_Glaswa_--a narrow strip of black cloth adorned with coloured crosses--
is then placed on the shaven crown, and shrouded from view by the
enveloping shawl; and the archbishop, clad in his robes of state, having
repeated the concluding prayer and blessing, signs with his own hand the
emblem of faith over the various parts of the body.
Education was in former days to be obtained alone from the inmate of the
monastic abode, and a life of scanty food, austerity, and severe
fasting, was embraced only by the more enthusiastic. But the
skin-cloak, and the dirty head-dress, now envelope the listless monk,
who, satisfied with a dreamy and indolent existence, basks during the
day on the grassy banks of the sparkling rivulet, and prefers a bare
sufficiency of coarse fare from the hand of royal charity, to the
sweeter morsel earned by the sweat of his brow.
Priest-ridden and bigoted to the last degree, the chains of bondage are
firmly riveted around the neck of the infatuated Abyssinian. The most
ridiculous doctrines must be believed, and the most severe fasts and
penances must be endured, according to the pleasure and the fiat of the
church. Uncharitable and uncompromising, her anger often blazes forth
into the furious blast of excommunication; and for offences the most
trivial, the souls of men are consigned to eternal perdition.
Fasts, penances, and excommunication form, in fact, the chief props of
the clerical power; but the repentant sinner can always purchase a
substitute to undergo the two former, and the ban of the church is
readily averted by a timely offering. Spiritual offences are indeed of
rare occurrence; for murder and sacrilege alone give umbrage to the easy
conscience of the native of Shoa, and all other crimes written in the
book of Christian commandment have been well-nigh effaced from his
tablet. Abstinence and the disbursement of suitable largesses to the
priest and mendicant, are of themselves quite sufficient to ensure the
requisite absolution for every sin committed in the flesh.
The death-bed and the funeral feast are attended with much advantage to
the temporal interests of the church. The choicest food is unsparingly
dealt out, and the bereaved widow is glad to leave the management of her
affairs to the assiduous father confessor, who is entertained in the
house of all who can afford the expense. The dying man bestows a
portion of his estate in this world for the bright hopes which
absolution extends in that which is to come; and the holy sacrament is
even administered after the soul has quitted the tenement of clay, in
order that the superstition of grateful relatives may grant a rich
reward for the blessing of the priest, and for his undeniable assurance
of exemption from punishment hereafter.
But the Abyssinian possesses no idea of the more salutary doctrine of
Christianity. Polluted faith is here reflected in the mirror of
depraved manners, and long severe fastings constitute the essence of his
degenerate religion. The idol worship of saints has made rapid progress
in the land, and the ignorance of the clergy is only to be equalled by
the impurity of the lay classes. Their belief in Christianity, if that
term can be applied, is strange, childish, and inconsistent; and bigoted
to the faith of their ancestors, they abhor and despise all who refuse
acquiescence in this their absurd confession:--
"That the Alexandrian faith is the only true belief.
"That faith, together with baptism, is sufficient for justification; but
that God demands alms and fasting, as amends for sin committed prior to
the performance of the baptismal rite.
"That unchristened children are not saved.
"That the baptism of water is the true regeneration.
"That invocation ought to be made to the saints, because sinning mortals
are unworthy to appear in the presence of God, and because if the saints
be well loved, they will listen to all prayer.
"That every sin is forgiven from the moment that the kiss of the pilgrim
is imprinted on the stones of Jerusalem; and that kissing the hand of a
priest purifies the body in like manner.
"That sins must be confessed to the priest--saints invoked--and full
faith reposed in charms and amulets, more especially if written in an
unknown tongue.
"That prayers for the dead are necessary, and absolution indispensable;
but that the souls of the departed do not immediately enter upon a state
of happiness, the period being in exact accordance with the alms and
prayers that are expended upon earth."
All ideas regarding salvation are thus vague and indefinite; and vain;
foolish doctrines have taken entire possession of the shallow thoughts
of the Christian of Ethiopia. Born amid falsehood and deceit, cradled
in bloodshed, and nursed in the arms of idleness and debauchery, the
national character is truly painted in the confession of one of her
degenerate sons:--"Whensoever we behold the pleasing ware, we desire to
steal it; and we are never in the company of a man whom we dislike, that
we do not wish to kill him on the spot."
The uphill task of the missionary is therefore hard, and the wonder is
that so much has been accomplished--not that the harvest is scanty. The
example of a holy life cannot fail to produce a beneficial effect, and
the preacher of the Gospel is acknowledged to possess every quality that
is good, mild, and just; but disliked as a stranger of envied
accomplishment, despised as an alien to the land, and hated by the
jealous priesthood, the words of truth fall unheeded from lips the most
eloquent, and the best directed endeavours prove of small avail.
Perfectly satisfied with his own creed, the Abyssinian finds it easier
to kiss the holy book than to peruse its contents, and to trust to the
fast and the priestly absolution than to mould his conduct according to
the Gospel; and it is not until commerce with the arts of civilised
society shall have been introduced, that the barrier can be overcome, or
one step be gained towards the restoration to the unhappy country of the
true word of God. The bigotry of ages is confirmed by the self-pride
and the excessive ignorance of the present race; and on the rising or on
the unborn generation must rest the sole hope for a moral resurrection.
Volume 3, Chapter XVII.
ABYSSINIAN RITES AND PRACTICES WHICH WOULD APPEAR TO HAVE BEEN BORROWED
FROM THE HEBREWS.
The appellation of _Habeshi_, "a mixed and mingling people," is aptly
exemplified in this strange medley of religion, to which the Jew, the
Moslem, and the Pagan, has each contributed. A mixture from different
nations, as stigmatised by the original term, the Abyssinians have
garbled the faith of all their ancestors; and there is assuredly no
Christian community in the whole world which has jumbled together truth
and falsehood with such utter inconsistency as the vain church of
Ethiopia.
Many circumstances have conspired to render the nation more peculiarly
susceptible of Hebrew influence. The first Christian missionary found
the people idolaters and worshippers of the great serpent Arwe; but the
ancestors of those Jews who to the present day exist in the country,
unquestionably arrived long before the nation had embraced the Christian
religion; and in their attempts to obtain a moral influence over their
pagan hosts were far from being inactive in their adopted home. Thus
the early Christian church, that of Egypt especially, by which many
Hebrew customs had been embraced, was the more readily received when
introduced into a nation amongst whom similar doctrines and practices
were already in use.
Boasting a direct descent from the house of Solomon, and flattering
themselves in the name of the wisest man of antiquity, the emperors of
Abyssinia preserve the high-sounding title of "King of Israel," and the
national standard displays for their motto--"The Lion of the tribe of
Judah hath prevailed." The tradition of queen Maqueda has been ascribed
to the invention of those fugitive Jews, who, after the destruction of
Jerusalem by the Emperor Titus, migrated into the northern states by way
of the Red Sea--who disseminated it with the design of obtaining the
desired permission to settle in the country, and whose descendants are
the Falashas still extant among the mountains of Simien and Lasta. But
whatever may be thought by others of the legend of descent, the firm
national belief in the origin traced, will in a great measure account
for the general inclination and consent to receive Hebrew rites and
practices as they were from time to time presented. Jews as well as
Christians believe the forty-fifth psalm to be a prophecy of the queen's
visit to Jerusalem, whither she was attended by a daughter of Hiram the
king of Tyre--the latter portion being a prediction of the birth of
Menilek, who was to be king over a nation of Gentiles.
Whatever the true date of their arrival, it is certain that the Hebrews
have exercised a great influence upon the affairs of Abyssinia since the
days of their dispersion; and although their religion was abjured by the
nation on the promulgation of the Gospel, the children of Israel,
moulding a portion of their worship on the formulae of the Christian
faith, and esteemed as sorcerers and cunning artists in the land, found
a safe asylum among the mountains, and exist to the present day, here as
elsewhere, a separate and peculiar nation.
With the destruction of the race of Solomon, the Jewish party for a time
obtained the preponderance. Again, on the restoration of the legitimate
dynasty, they were hunted among the mountains as a race accursed, and
the feeling reigned paramount to sweep the wanderers from the face of
the land. But the custom of ages had impressed the Hebrew practices too
deeply to be removed. They were, in fact, regarded in the light of
orthodox Christian doctrines; and, as might have been expected from a
bigoted and superstitious people, the severest persecutions were
enforced against the members of another creed, without the nation
observing in how far they were themselves tainted with those very
principles which in others they considered so justifiable to oppress.
The Abyssinian Christian will neither eat with the Jew, nor with the
Galla, nor with the Mohammadan, lest he should thereby participate in
the delusions of his creed. The church and the churchyard are equally
closed against all who commit this deadly sin; and the Ethiopian is
bound by the same restrictions which prohibited the Jews from partaking
of the flesh of certain animals. The act which is deemed disgraceful in
the eyes of men, is regarded as a moral transgression, and is visited,
as was the case in the Mosaic institution, by the stern reprimand of the
priest. The penance of severe fasting, or of uneasy repose upon the
bare ground, is enforced by the father confessor to efface the taint of
the interdicted animal; and prayers must be repeated, and holy water
plentifully besprinkled over the defiled person of that sinning
individual who shall have dared to touch the meat of the hare, or the
swine, or the aquatic fowl.
"The children of Israel did not eat of the sinew which shrank, which is
upon the hollow of the thigh." This in the Amharic language is termed
_Shoolada_, and it is held unlawful to be eaten in Shoa, more especially
to the members of the royal blood; a universal belief prevailing, that
the touch of the unholy morsel would infallibly be followed by the loss
of the offending teeth, as a direct proof of the just indignation of
Heaven.
The Jewish Sabbath is strictly observed throughout the kingdom. The ox
and the ass are at rest. Agricultural pursuits are suspended.
Household avocations must be laid aside, and the spirit of idleness
reigns throughout the day.
By order of the great council of Laodicea, the Oriental churches were
freed from this burden; and the industrious gladly availed themselves of
the ecclesiastical licence to work on the Saturday. Here, however, the
ancient usage agreed too well with a people systematically indolent; and
when, a few years ago, one daring spirit presumed, in advance of the
age, to burst the fetters of superstition. His Majesty the king of
Shoa, stimulated by the advice of besotted monks, issued a proclamation,
that whoso violated the Jewish Sabbath should forfeit his property to
the royal treasury, and be consigned to the state dungeon.
Ludolf, the celebrated Strabo of Ethiopia, most accurately remarks, that
there is no nation upon earth which fasts so strictly as the
Abyssinians; and that they would rather commit a great crime than touch
food on the day of abstinence. They not only boast with the Pharisee,
"I fast twice a week," but pride themselves also upon their
mortification of the flesh during half the year, whilst the haughty and
self-sufficient monk vaunts his meagre diet as the only means of
expiation from sin and evil desire.
The Abyssinians, in common with other Christian communities who rigidly
observe the fasts of Wednesday and Friday, advance as an argument, that
the Jews seized our Saviour on the first of those days, and on the
second carried into execution their design of crucifixion; but as this
account differs from the evidence of the Gospel, which shows that the
arrest took place upon the Thursday, the observance is most probably an
imitation of the weekly fasts in existence among the Jews.
The fast of the forty days before Easter is observed with much greater
rigour than any other in Abyssinia; and the reckless individual who
shall neglect the great "Toma Hodadi" cannot possess one sentiment of
true religion in his heart. To the abstinence of this season especially
are attached peculiar virtues which completely nullify the effect of
every sin that may be committed throughout the residue of the year.
According to the Jewish practice, all culinary utensils must be
thoroughly cleansed and polished, to the end that no particle of meat or
prohibited food may remain to pollute the pious intention. Journeys and
travel are strictly interdicted; and from the Thursday until Easter morn
no morsel should enter the lip, and the parched throat ought to remain
without moisture.
During the fast of the holy Virgin, children of tender years are not
even exempted from the penance of sixteen days; and during the many and
weary weeks of abstinence which roll slowly throughout the entire year,
the Abyssinian priest would grant no dispensation to the famished
mortal, "were he even to receive an immediate mandate from heaven."
Sahela Selassie arose some years ago a mighty zealot in the cause; and
perceiving that the custom was beginning to decline, proclaimed through
the royal herald pains and penalties sufficiently severe to insure the
future strict observance of the fast. The commands of the defender of
the faith were, however, in one instance, transgressed by a soldier,
during a military expedition; but his excuse of fatigue under a heavy
load of the king's camp equipage was admitted; and although on similar
occasions a certain licence is extended, still the monarch keeps a
strict watch over the maintenance of church discipline.
On the annual day of atonement, the Jews were obliged to confess their
sins before a priest. In like manner the Abyssinians are commanded from
time to time to perform the ceremony, during the great fast of Hodadi
more particularly, and on Good Friday, the day of the Jewish expiation.
And as the slave, in token of his freedom and dismissal, received the
blow from the Roman praetor, so the penitent on absolution receives a
stroke over the shoulders from a branch of the Woira tree, as a sign of
his deliverance from sin and Satan.
Like the Pagans of ancient and modern times, who placed between the most
high God and themselves an inferior deity, the Abyssinians observe this
species of idolatry, although the names of their tutelar spirits have
been changed. Saint Michael and the holy Virgin are here venerated as
in no other country in the world--the former as the martial leader of
all the choirs of angels--the latter as chief of all saints, and queen
of heaven and of earth; and both are considered as the great
intercessors for mankind.
The detrimental influence of this superstition is fully exemplified in
the conduct of the nation. The mediator is ever employed when
individual courage fails in impudent assurance or insatiable beggary.
Time is uselessly wasted in importunity, which all believe must in the
end prove successful; and the practice of invocation and intercession
thus exerts the most baneful tendency even upon the daily dealings of
life.
Like the Jews of old, the Abyssinians weep and lament on all occasions
of death, and the shriek ascends to the sky, as if the soul could be
again recalled from the world of spirits. The Israelites employed hired
mourners; but here the friends and relatives of the departed assemble
for the same purpose, and the absence of any from the scene is ascribed
to want of love and affection. As with the Jews, the most inferior
garments are put on; and the skin is torn from the temples, and
scarified on the cheeks and breast, to proclaim the last extremity of
grief.
In later days, the extravagance of mourning has been somewhat moderated,
through the agency of a priest of the church of Saint George, who stood
boldly forward to arrest a practice equally at variance with the sacred
books of the country, and with the spirit of the New Testament.
Excommunication was thundered upon all who should thenceforth indulge
publicly in the luxury of woe; and the people trembled under the ban of
the church. The death of a great governor soon confirmed the
restriction. Being loved and esteemed by all classes, the prohibition
was severely felt. The complaint was referred to the throne; and as the
deceased was a man of rank, and a royal favourite withal, the clergy
were commanded to grant absolution in this one instance. But Zeddoo,
the stout-hearted priest, arose, and declared that he had no respect for
persons, and that the words of truth must be defended to the death. The
silence of the monarch enforced the ecclesiastical fiat; and to this day
the drum is mute at the funeral wake, and the customary praise of the
defunct is heard no more in the public resorts of the capital.
The Talmud asserts that those who died piously remained in a state of
active knowledge of all the occurrences of this world. Philo, the
learned Jew of Alexandria, informs us, that the souls of the patriarchs
pray incessantly for the Jewish nation, and the erudite rabbins alleged
that angels are the governors of all sublunary things, and that each man
and every country has a guardian angel for protection and direction.
The Abyssinians carry this belief still further--they confidently
anticipate the intercession and assistance of saints and angels in all
spiritual and secular concerns, and invoke and adore them in even a
higher degree than the Creator. All their churches are dedicated to one
in particular, and the holy "tabot" is regarded as the visible
representative of the celestial patron. The ark of Saint Michael
accompanies all military expeditions, to insure success against the
Gentiles; and that of Tekla Haimanot stands the palladium of the north,
to preserve the empire from the attacks of the Mohammadan prince of
Argobba.
All the absurd ideas of the Jewish rabbins regarding the dead have been
received and embraced by the fathers of Abyssinia. They maintain with
the Romanists too, that the soul of the departed does not immediately
enter into the kingdom of joy, but is conducted to an habitation
situated in an invisible spot between the heaven and the earth, where it
remains until the resurrection, in a state of happiness or torment,
according to the alms and prayers bestowed by surviving relatives and
friends. This Abyssinian "limbo" is supposed also to be occupied by the
saints; and the absurdity is increased by the belief that intercession
with the Almighty is absolutely necessary to absolve the Heavenly host
from their spiritual imperfections, and insure their resting in peace
until the coming of Christ.
But the interest of the avaricious priest is concerned in the
preservation of this doctrine, and a corner of the churchyard is sternly
denied to all who die without death-bed confession, or whose relations
refuse the fee and the funeral feast. The payment of eight pieces of
salt, however, wafts the soul of a poor man to a place of rest, and the
_tescar_, or banquet for the dead, places him in a degree of happiness
according to the costliness of the entertainment. The price of eternal
bliss is necessarily higher to the rich; whilst royalty is taxed at a
still more costly rate, and the anniversaries of the deaths of the six
kings of Shoa are held with great ceremony in the capital. Once during
every twelve months, before the commencement of a splendid feast, their
souls are fully absolved from all sin; and the munificence of their
illustrious descendant is still further displayed in the long line of
beeves which afterwards wends its way to the threshold of every church
in Ankober.
Volume 3, Chapter XVIII.