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Ethiopian Antiquities

Speaking of rarities … we turn to the ancient Fathers of the Ethiopian Church — and their paper trail. At SBL Forum, Steve Delamarter writes about his work with Previously Unknown and Uncatalogued Ethiopian Manuscripts. (Hat tip: Apocryphicity.) Here’s a sample:

We are now also in a position to see the scope of the contents of the collection. Of the biblical books, there are fully forty-seven Ethiopian Psalters in the SGD collection. This gives something of an idea of how significant the Psalter has been in the life of the Ethiopian Orthodox community. Each Ethiopian Psalter contains five works: the 151 Psalms of David, the fifteen Biblical Canticles, the Song of Songs, the Praises of Mary, and the Gate of Light. There are also seven copies of the Gospel of John and a copy of the General Epistles to Revelation.

Of service books, there are a dozen manuscripts that are listed as Antiphonaries (2), Anaphoras (5), or Missals (5). There are five works that contain either services for a funeral and/or the work called the Bandlet of Righteousness. There are also calendars and timetables. There are Hymns and Greetings and Prayers of all sorts and several works devoted to Mary. One of the most common is the Prayer of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Golgotha, which is witnessed in six copies.

Of theological works, there are six copies of the Mystagogia, four of the Sword of the Trinity. Miracle stories are very popular. Three codices contain Miracles of Mary and another three contain Miracles of Jesus. But there are also miracles of Mercurius, Täklä Haymanot, and Saint George. When it comes to a genre known as the Image, the codices contain a bewildering array of images to Mary (10), Jesus (6), the Trinity (3), the Savior of the World (2), the angel Michael (5), the angel Gabriel (3), the angel Raguel (1), Saint George (3), and John the Baptist (1), as well as to various Ethiopian figures, for example, Gäbrä Mänfäs Qeddus (3), Fasilides (1), Täklä Haymanot (2), Kiros (2), Mercurius (1), Mäzra’tä Krestos (1), Arägawi Zä-Mika’el (1), and others.

All coming soon, we may hope, in translation!