Giyorgis of Segla | |
|---|---|
 Late 17th century portrait of Giyorgis of Segla by Baselyos | |
| Nebura'ed (abbot) ofDebre Damo | |
| Born | c. 1365 Tigray Province[1] orWollo Province[2],Ethiopian Empire |
| Residence | Ethiopian Empire |
| Died | 1 July 1425(1425-07-01) (aged 59–60) |
| Venerated in | Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church |
| Feast | 14 July[3] |
| Controversy | Sabbath in Christianity |
| Major works | Hours andBook of Mystery |
| Part of a series on |
| Oriental Orthodoxy |
|---|
 |
| Oriental Orthodox churches |
Independent churches |
History and theology
|
Liturgy and practices
|
Major figures
|
Links and resources |
 Christianity portal |
Giyorgis of Segla (c. 1365 – 1 July 1425[a]), also known asGiyorgis of Gasicha orAbba Giyorgis,[b][3][8] was an EthiopianOriental Orthodox monk, saint,[9] and author of religious books.
Giyorgis' work has had great influence on Ethiopian monastic calendars, hymns andGe'ez literature. He is considered one of the most importantGe'ez writers in fifteenth-century Ethiopia.
Giyorgis was involved in a controversy concerningSabbath in Christianity and consequentially fell into disfavor of emperorDawit I. He managed to continue his work later in life, under the reigns ofTewodros I andYeshaq I.
It is possible that two or three prominent religious figures have been mixed into the same figure inEthiopian Church tradition, and Giyorgis' identity remains uncertain. One theory is that Abba Giyorgis of Dabra Bahrey and Giyorgis of Segla (or Gasicha) are separate persons who lived in the mid-14th century. Abba Giyorgis of Dabra Bahrey may haveflourished during the reign of emperorAmda Seyon I (1314–1344). He would have been the disciple of saintIyasus Mo'a at the monastery ofHayq. Giyorgis of Segla (died between 1424 and 1426) would have been the writer, the preacher and the musician. A single remaining copy of hisGadl is being kept in the monastery of Hayq.[3]Gadl (Saint's Life) is a traditional form ofGe'ezhagiography written by disciples of the saints after their demise.[10]
It is said that he was born in either inTigray orWollo and that his parents were of noble descent.[11][3] Giyorgis' father was Hezba Tseyon, a court chaplain of emperorDawit I. His father was known by his contemporaries as "a comprehender of the Scriptures like Salathiel" (Salathiel refers toEzra the Scribe) and his mother was Emmena Seyon.[3][12][8] Giyorgis is among the monks who are claimed to have been students of Ethiopian saint and monastic leaderIyasus Mo'a atLake Hayq's prominent monastery,[13][14] which had become a place of pilgrimage already during Iyasus Mo'a's lifetime.[15] The beginning of Giyorgis' career was not without hardship. He was so slow in learning that his teacher had lost hope at one point. Ethiopian education of the time relied heavily on memorization, and without showing ability one would not get very far in studies where knowledge was preserved orally. It has been told that:[3]
Faced with this problem, Giyorgis went daily to church, where he prayed with tears and total concentration to God and the Blessed Virgin. One night, the BlessedVirgin appeared to him and told him to be diligent in his learning, forgoing even sleeping by night.[3]
Giyorgis was among the most important (theological) authors in Ge'ez language during the fifteenth century in medieval Ethiopia.[6][16][17][18] His stature can be compared to those of emperorZara Yaqob and a pseudonymous author known only by the name Ritu'a Haymanot ("The One with the Orthodox Faith").[18] Out of his writing, Giyorgis is mostly remembered for hisbook of hours, known simply asHours (Sa'atat), andThe Book of Mystery (Masehafa mestir). Before his work on calendars, the Ge'ez version of theCoptic Book of Hours was a widely used book, even though many monasteries opted to compile their own books of hours. Use of the Coptic Book of Hours prevailed to some extent, despite Giyorgis' book being the most prevalent book in use.[3] His book was gradually expanded to include additional material, such as hymns, during the century following from its inception.[19] A late 17th-century Ethiopian book fromGondar, theMiracles of Mary (Te'amire Maryam),[20] includes a story howVirgin Mary favored Giyorgis' book of hours.[7]
Giyorgis had risen into a position of court chaplain during emperor Dawit I's reign like his father had before him.[8] Royal princes were tutored by him in the court.[8][4] Notably Giyorgis' student and future emperor Zara Yaqob held very similar theological views throughout his life.[21] Giyorgis' thoughts concerning theSabbath, however, got him into trouble with other churchmen and Dawit I, who imprisoned him.[8][3] Disputes about the Sabbath were politically destabilizing, and the realm was troubled with monastic infighting during the 15th century.[22] Ethiopia of that time had much contact with the outside world, which brought many missionaries of competing traditions and other travelers into the country. TheMiaphysite Church and monastic leaders found themselves occasionally at odds with foreigners who managed to influence political leaders. A foreigner called Bitu, who had wielded great influence on the emperor, was involved in a decision to imprison Giyorgis. There were differences in religious views between Bitu and Giyorgis, as shown in theBook of Mystery where Giyorgis devotes a chapter to refute Bitu's views on theImage of God.[3] He was finally released[3] when one of his former royal students,Tewodros I, rose to the throne. Despite his dissidence, he continued to hold influence until his death during the reign of emperorYeshaq I.[8] While Giyorgis had wished to join a monastery of Dabra Libanos, disputes about the Sabbath led him to join Dabra Gol in historicalWollo region instead.[8][3] There, late in his life, he became the head of the community of Abba Batsalota-Mikael.[8][3] Many of his former royal students, who were the eight sons of emperor Dawit I, one by one became rulers of theEthiopian Empire.[4][8][3]
Giyorgis writes in hisBook of Mystery that man is a creature ofGod with an immortalsoul. With the divine gift of soul, man becomes different from other creatures, as man is an intelligent and speaking thing. Giyorgis' view of man can be characterized as dualistic.[23] With the book, Giyorgis also attempted to refute heretical beliefs. It is an extensive anti-heretical work composed of 30 chapters. Treatises on heresy are meant to be read during importantfeast days of the Ethiopian Church. Each treatise concentrates on a different heretical doctrine, and the book refutes them one by one. The book was completed on 21 June 1424. It is the most important original Ethiopian theological work.[23][3] The book is still used in liturgy.[3]
At one point, Giyorgis held the position ofabbot (Nebura'ed) of the important monastery ofDebre Damo.[3][8][12][24] He also founded the monastery of Debre Bahriy in Gasicha.[18] At the monastery named after him, there is a crosscut inwarka tree's bark claimed to have been left behind by Giyorgis himself.[25]
In addition to being a renowned author of religious books, Giyorgis also composed hymns,[26] such as ones in honor ofSaint Peter andSaint Paul.[7] He authored a collection of hymns that competed with other hymnals of the time for recognition as the hymnal of the Ethiopian Church's saints, and its contents leaned towards viewpoints of theRoman Catholic Church at a remarkably early date. EmperorZara Yaqob's hymnal, however, was the most successful one.[27] Under Giyorgis' leadership, scholars from Debre Negudgad and Debre-Egziabiher separated hymns of the fasting season into their own section. This was an innovation compared to the traditional division ofSaint Yared's 6th century hymnals (degua) which featured only three divisions.[28] The full extent of Giyorgis' compositions is unknown, and various localanaphoras of theDivine Liturgy may have been originally composed by him.[3]
Giyorgis sought to justify Christian observation of the Sabbath onSunday based onOld Testament scripture.[29]
As is customary in Christianity, Giyorgis held thatJesus had established Sunday as theLord's Day. But Giyorgis went further than that. He reasoned that if Jesus had come to fulfill theMosaic Law, then one would expect to find hints of the Sunday Sabbath in thePentateuch.[29] He sought to do this by presenting mathematical proof based on the calendar found in theBook of Jubilees and the similarEnoch calendar in theBook of Enoch. The features of these calendars are a 364-day-year,[30] a seven-year cycle culminating in theJubilee (year of the release),[31] and a particular arrangement of biblicalJewish holidays.[30] Giyorgis sought to demonstrate that Sunday corresponds to the Jubilee year,[31] the "Sabbath's Sabbath".[32]
Relying on the authority of the Jubilee and Enoch calendars was possible because both the Book of Jubilees and Enoch are part of the EthiopianOrthodox Tewahedo Church'sBiblical canon.[30] The Church, however, had already long before switched to the 365-dayEthiopian calendar (based on theJulian calendar). In effect, this meant that Giyorgis' calculation would have no practical impact on theliturgical year of the Church.[33]
Giyorgis lays out his idea in the following passage of hisSermon on the First Sabbath:[34]
And in substitution of the number of the days of the year of release the Lord gave the commemoration of His resurrection, that is the first of the Sabbath [= μία τῶν σαββάτων]. And the number of the days of the year of release is 364. And the fifth one is the shifting day that rolls around the days of the years and revolves them, from this to that, and from the second to the third, and, at the fourth year, catches up [lit. becomes equal] – due to the birth of the light after 30 days after the creation of the world – with the 30th hour of the fourth day after the birth of the ṭəntəyon. And because the number of the first days [= Sundays] of the seven years is 364, and because (the fifth day) shifted them when catching up [lit. becoming equal], it [sc., the day of resurrection = Sunday] remained hidden in the bosom of the Scripture, and its greatness has not been revealed until the commemoration of the resurrection. And, for the commemoration of the resurrection, we have left the year of release and accepted the commemoration of the resurrection that is the first [of the Sabbath = Sunday], because with the reckoning of the days of the year of release he [sc. the Lord] reckoned the first [after the Sabbath] days [= Sundays] of the six years.[35]
This can be summarized as:
At the first year of the four-year cycle, the beginning of the year falls on Wednesday. Then, at the second and the third years, it moves by one day forward, that is, from Wednesday to Thursday and from Thursday to Friday. The next, fourth year is the bissextile one. This year, the shift is not of one but of two weekdays. Thus, this day falls on Sunday. For Abba Giyorgis, however, there is no Sunday as a separate day but rather a part of the 49-hour Sabbath. Therefore, he continues counting of the hours of the Sabbath after the number 24. The 30th hour of Sabbath ("the fourth day after the birth of ṭəntəyon") is Sunday midnight, the approximate time of Christ's resurrection.[36]
Ethiopian saints by feast day | ||
|---|---|---|
| January |  | |
| March |
| |
| May |
| |
| June |
| |
| July |
| |
| August |
| |
| September |
| |
| October |
| |
| November |
| |
| December |
| |
| All months |
| |
Giustino de Jacobis (Roman Catholic),Nine Saints • Armenian Apostolic liturgical calendar,Coptic calendar,Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar • | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
.svg)
