Tekle Haymanot | |
|---|---|
 Painting of Abune Tekle Haymanot in a publication | |
| The Righteous | |
| Born | 1215 Bulga,Shewa |
| Died | 1313 (aged 97–98) Debre Libanos,Ethiopian Empire |
| Venerated in | Coptic Orthodox Church Ethiopian Orthodox Church Eritrean Orthodox Church Ethiopian Catholic Church Eritrean Catholic Church Coptic Catholic Church |
| Majorshrine | St. Takla Haymanot's Church (Alexandria) Debre Libanos,Ethiopia |
| Feast | 30 August, December, every 24th day of the month, May 12(Ethiopian Orthodox) |
| Attributes | Man with wings on his back and only one leg visible |
| Patronage | Ethiopians |
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Abune Tekle Haymanot (Ge'ez: አቡነ ተክለ ሃይማኖት; known in theCoptic Church asSaint Takla Haymanot of Ethiopia; 1215–1313) was an Ethiopiansaint andmonk mostly venerated as ahermit. He was theAbuna of Ethiopia who founded a major monastery in his native province ofShewa. He is significant for being the only Ethiopian saint popular both amongstEthiopians and outside that country. Tekle Haymanot "is the only Ethiopian saint celebrated officially in foreign churches such as Rome and Egypt."[1] His feast day is 30 August (Nehasə 24 inEthiopian calendar), and the 24th day of every month in the Ethiopian calendar is dedicated to Tekle Haymanot.[2]
Tekle Haymanot was born in Zorare, a district inSelale which lies on the eastern edge ofShewa where ChristianAmhara families had migrated from the north around the time of the decline ofAxum.[3] As an ethnic Amhara, and his 13th-14th centuryhagiography traces the place nameBete Amhara as far back as the mid 9th century.[4] He was the son of thepriest Tsega Zeab (ጸጋ ዘአብ "Grace of God") and his wife Egzi'e Haraya ("Choice of God"), who was also known as Sarah; Tekle Haymanot was born after his parents, who had failed to have children, pledged their firstborn to God.[5][6]
During his youth, Shewa was subject to several devastating raids byMotolomi Sato, the pagan king of theKingdom of Damot, which lay beyond theJamma River. One of Matolomi's most notorious predations was the raid which led to the abduction of Egzi'e Haraya; she is said to have been reunited with Tsega Zeab through the intercession of the ArchangelMichael. When Matolomi discovered they were escaping, he threw a spear which turned around in the air and slew him instead.[7] There are several traditions like that describing Tekle Haymanot's interactions with King Matolomi.
His father gave Tekle Haymanot his earliest religious instruction. Later, he was ordained a priest by thePope Cyril III of Alexandria (known as Kirollos inCoptic).
E. A. Wallis Budge states Tekle Haymanot was one of the first great teachers ofChristian asceticism in Ethiopia, and is worthy to be classed withAnthony the Great, andMacarius, andPachomius of Egypt. He has always been held to the highest regard by Tewahedo Christians as the greatest Christian ascetic which their country has produced. His paternal and maternal ancestors were people of wealth and high social position, and his father ministered in the church of his city Zorare (in southernBulga), and contributed to it considerable material support. His relatively early Christian education found so much success that Cyril, Bishop of ’Amhara, appointed him adeacon of the Church at the age of fifteen[8]
The first significant event in his life was when Tekle Haymanot, at the age of 30, travelled north to seek further religious education. His journey took him from Selale toGrarya, then Katata,Damot,Amhara,[7] to end at the monastery ofIyasus Mo'a, who had only a few years before founded a monastery on an island in the middle ofLake Hayq in the district ofAmba Sel (the present-dayAmhara Region). There Tekle Haymanot studied under the abbot for nine years before travelling toTigray, where he visitedAxum, then stayed for a while at the monastery ofDebre Damo, where he studied under Abbot Yohannes, Iyasus Mo'a's spiritual teacher. By this point he had developed a small group of followers, attracted by his reputation.
Eventually, Tekle Haymanot left Debre Damo with his followers to return to Shewa. En route, he stopped at the monastery of Iyasus Mo'a, where tradition states he received the full investiture of an Ethiopian monk'shabit. The historianTaddesse Tamrat sees in the existing accounts of this act an attempt by later writers to justify the seniority of the monastery in Lake Hayq over the followers of Tekle Haymanot.[9]
Once in Shewa, he introduced the spirit of renewal that Christianity was experiencing in the northern provinces. He settled in the central area between Selale and Grarya, where he founded in 1284 the monastery of Debre Atsbo (renamed in the 15th centuryDebre Libanos). This monastery became one of the most important religious institutions of Ethiopia, not only founding a number of daughter houses, but itsabbot became one of the principal leaders of the Ethiopian Church, called theEchege, second only to theAbuna.
Tekle Haymanot lived for 29 years after the foundation of this monastery, dying in the year before EmperorWedem Arad did; this would date Tekle Haymanot's death to 1313. He was first buried in the cave where he had originally lived as a hermit; almost 60 years later he was reinterred atDebre Libanos. In the 1950s, EmperorHaile Selassie constructed a new church at Debre Libanos Monastery over the site of the Saint's tomb. It remains a place of pilgrimage and a favored site for burial for many people across Ethiopia.
Tekle Haymanot is frequently represented as an old man with wings on his back and only one leg visible. There are a number of explanations for this popular image. C.F. Beckingham and G.W.B. Huntingford recount one story, that the saint "having stood too long for about 34 years, one of his legs broke or cut while Satan was attempting to stop his prayers, whereupon he stood on one foot for 7 years."[10] Paul B. Henze describes his missing leg as appearing as a "severed leg ... in the lower left corner discreetly wrapped in a cloth."[11] The travellerThomas Pakenham learned from the Prior of Debre Damo how Tekle Haymanot received his wings:
Many traditions hold that Tekle Haymanot played a significant role inYekuno Amlak's ascension as the restored monarchy of theSolomonic dynasty,[13] following two centuries of rule by theZagwe dynasty, although historians like Taddesse Tamrat believe these are later inventions. (A few older traditions credit Iyasus Mo'a with this honour.)
Another tradition credits Tekle Haymanot as the onlyLek'e P'ap'as of Ethiopia who was born in Ethiopia and who wasEthiopian.The Christian population andBishops of Ethiopia wanted Tekle Haimanot to become theLek'e P'ap'as of Ethiopia. After the newLek'e P'ap'asAbuna Yohannes from Egypt sent by thePatriarch of Alexandria arrived at Ethiopia he decided to separate: One part of Ethiopia to Tekle Haimanot and one part to himself, but Tekle Haimanot didn't want the high rank asLek'e P'ap'as anymore and retired from his position to become a monk again.[14]
A number ofhagiographies of this saint have been written. G.W.B. Huntingford mentions two differentgadlat: "one written by Abba Samuel of Waldiba in the first quarter of the 15th century and the other by one Gibra Maskel of Debre Libanos early in the 16th century".[citation needed]E.A. Wallis Budge has translated a third one, entitledThe Life of Täklä Haymanot,[15] which is attributed to one Täklä Sion. Tesfaye Gebre Mariam adds to these another version, popular at the monastery of Debre Libanos and containing far more details of the saint's life than any other version of thegadla, and which Tesfaye confirmed was written byIchege Yohannis Kema.[1]
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