ḳōmōs[1] corresponds to a Coptic ḳummuṣ (p. 257). The Dabtarā is a learned man who instructs the clergy, teaches them their duties, supervises churches, and so on; but apparently is himself a layman.[2] There is an enormous number of monks. As their founder they honour St. Takla Haimānōt, a very popular Ethiopic saint, who is said to have introduced, or reorganized, the angelic life about the year 620. His name means "Plant of life." His feast is December 24. So in their diptychs for the dead, they pray always: "Remember, O Lord, the soul of thy servant, our father Takla Haimānōt, and all his companions." He was the first 'Itshāgē.[3] The organized monks, who take the usual vows (like Coptic monks), live in monasteries under a ḳōmōs. The head of all of them is the 'Itshāgē, who lives at Gondar, and is the second greatest ecclesiastical person in the land. The 'Itshāgē, being a native, is more popular, and is a formidable rival to Abūna. There are also many hermits, wandering holy men who beg, people possessed by various spirits, and monks (of a kind) who continue to live with their families, are not celibate, but wear a religious dress and practise certain special devotions. There are nuns in convents.[4] Monks wear a tunic, a belt, a great cloak and a hood.[5] The secular priests and bishops dress much as do the Copts, except that a kalemaukion seems common.[6]
6. Rites and Ceremonies
There is an enormous number of churches all over the country, many more than are needed.[7] The Abyssinian church is, apparently always, a round building with the sanctuary in the middle.
- ↑ A dignitary called Alaka seems to be the same as a ḳōmōs.
- ↑ Ludolf (Hist. Aeth. L. iii. c. vii. §§ 26-29) calls him "Canonicus." More about the hierarchy will be found there, c. vii.
- ↑ Ludolf: Hist. Aeth. L. iii. c. iii. §§ 15-28; and his Comment. p. 402.
- ↑ Further information about the angelic life in Ethiopia will be found in Ludolf: Hist. Aeth. L. iii. c. iii., and Lobo: Voyage hist. pp. 356-357.
- ↑ There seems to be no principle as to colour, and not much as to shape or material. The Abyssinian monks I saw in Jerusalem were dressed in very dirty rusty black. Curzon saw them in bright yellow clothes of leather (Monasteries of the Levant, p. 106).
- ↑ Most of those I have seen were very dirty, greasy and unpleasant.
- ↑ I have been told that there are over six thousand churches in Abyssinia.
