Giyorgis of Segla
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Giyorgis of Segla (c. 1365 – 1 July 1425), also known as Giyorgis of Gesecha or Abba Giyorgis, was an Ethiopian
Oriental Orthodox The Oriental Orthodox Churches are Eastern Christian churches adhering to Miaphysite Christology, with approximately 60 million members worldwide. The Oriental Orthodox Churches are part of the Nicene Christian tradition, and represent o ...
monk, saint, and author of religious books. Giyorgis' work has had great influence on Ethiopian monastic calendars, hymns and Ge'ez literature. He is considered one of the most important Ge'ez writers in fifteenth-century Ethiopia. Giyorgis was involved in a controversy concerning
Sabbath in Christianity Sabbath in Christianity is the inclusion in Christianity of a Sabbath, a day set aside for rest and worship, a practice that was mandated for the Israelites in the Ten Commandments in line with God's blessing of the seventh day (Saturday) making it ...
and consequentially fell into disfavor of emperor
Dawit I Dawit I ( gez, ዳዊት) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1382 to 6 October 1413, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He was the younger son of Newaya Krestos. Reign Taddesse Tamrat discusses a tradition that early in his reign, Dawit campaigne ...
. He managed to continue his work later in life, under the reigns of
Tewodros I Tewodros I ( gez, ቴዎድሮስ), throne name Walda Anbasa (Ge'ez: ወልደ ዐንበሳ; died 2 July 1414) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1413 to 1414, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He was the son of Dawit I by Queen Seyon Mangasha. ...
and
Yeshaq I Yeshaq I ( gez, ይሥሐቅ), throne name: Gabra Masqal II (Ge'ez: ገብረ መስቀል) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1414 to 1429/1430, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He was the second son of Emperor Dawit I. Ancestry Of Amhara lin ...
.


Disputed identity

It is possible that two or three prominent religious figures have been mixed into the same figure in
Ethiopian Church The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church ( am, የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ቤተ ክርስቲያን, ''Yäityop'ya ortodoks täwahedo bétäkrestyan'') is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Chris ...
tradition, and Giyorgis' identity remains uncertain. One theory is that Abba Giyorgis of Dabra Bahrey and Giyorgis of Segla (or Gesecha) are separate persons who lived in the mid-14th century. Abba Giyorgis of Dabra Bahrey may have
flourished ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...
during the reign of emperor
Amda Seyon I Amda Seyon I ( gez, ዐምደ ፡ ጽዮን , am, አምደ ፅዮን , "Pillar of Zion"), throne name Gebre Mesqel (ገብረ መስቀል ) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1314 to 1344 and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He is best known ...
(1314–1344). He would have been the disciple of saint
Iyasus Mo'a Iyasus Mo'a (1214 – 1294) was an Ethiopian saint of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church; his feast day is 5 December (26 Hedar in the Ethiopian calendar). In life he was an Ethiopian monk and abbot of Istifanos Monastery in Lake Hayq of Amb ...
at the monastery of Hayq. Giyorgis of Segla (died between 1424 and 1426) would have been the writer, the preacher and the musician. A single remaining copy of his ''Gadl'' is being kept in the monastery of Hayq. ''Gadl'' (Saint's Life) is a traditional form of Ge'ez
hagiography A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies migh ...
written by disciples of the saints after their demise.


Early life

Giyorgis' parents were of noble descent. Giyorgis' father was Hezba Tseyon, a court chaplain of emperor
Dawit I Dawit I ( gez, ዳዊት) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1382 to 6 October 1413, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He was the younger son of Newaya Krestos. Reign Taddesse Tamrat discusses a tradition that early in his reign, Dawit campaigne ...
. His father was known by his contemporaries as "a comprehender of the Scriptures like Salathiel" (Salathiel refers to
Ezra the Scribe Ezra (; he, עֶזְרָא, '; fl. 480–440 BCE), also called Ezra the Scribe (, ') and Ezra the Priest in the Book of Ezra, was a Jewish scribe (''sofer'') and priest (''kohen''). In Greco-Latin Ezra is called Esdras ( grc-gre, Ἔσδρας ...
). His mother was Emmena Seyon from
Bete Amhara Bete Amhara (Amharic: ቤተ አማራ, Ge'ez: ቤተ ዐምሐራ, translation: "House of Amhara") is a historical region that is located in north central Ethiopia. It covered most of Ethiopia's Wollo Province, along with significant parts of n ...
. Giyorgis is among the monks who are claimed to have been students of Ethiopian saint and monastic leader
Iyasus Mo'a Iyasus Mo'a (1214 – 1294) was an Ethiopian saint of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church; his feast day is 5 December (26 Hedar in the Ethiopian calendar). In life he was an Ethiopian monk and abbot of Istifanos Monastery in Lake Hayq of Amb ...
at
Lake Hayq Lake Hayq ( Amharic: ሐይቅ ሐይቅ, ) is a freshwater lake of Ethiopia. It is located north of Dessie, in the Debub Wollo Zone of the Amhara Region. The town of Hayq is to the west of the lake. Lake Hayq is 6.7 km long and 6 km w ...
's prominent monastery, which had become a place of pilgrimage already during Iyasus Mo'a's lifetime. 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:


Career

Giyorgis was among the most important (theological) authors in Ge'ez language during the fifteenth century in medieval Ethiopia. His stature can be compared to those of emperor
Zara Yaqob Zara Yaqob ( Ge'ez: ዘርዐ ያዕቆብ; 1399 – 26 August 1468) was Emperor of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty who ruled under the regnal name Kwestantinos I (Ge'ez: ቈስታንቲኖስ, "Constantine"). He is known for t ...
and a pseudonymous author known only by the name Ritu'a Haymanot ("The One with the Orthodox Faith"). Out of his writing, Giyorgis is mostly remembered for his
book of hours The book of hours is a Christian devotional book used to pray the canonical hours. The use of a book of hours was especially popular in the Middle Ages and as a result, they are the most common type of surviving medieval illuminated manuscrip ...
, known simply as ''Hours'' (''Sa'atat''), and ''The Book of Mystery'' (''Masehafa mestir''). Before his work on calendars, the Ge'ez version of the
Coptic Book of Hours The ''Agpeya'' (Coptic: Ϯⲁⲅⲡⲓⲁ, ar, أجبية) is the Coptic Christian "Prayer Book of the Hours" or breviary, and is equivalent to the Shehimo in the Indian Orthodox Church (another Oriental Orthodox Christian denomination), as wel ...
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. His book was gradually expanded to include additional material, such as hymns, during the century following from its inception. A late 17th-century Ethiopian book from
Gondar Gondar, also spelled Gonder (Amharic: ጎንደር, ''Gonder'' or ''Gondär''; formerly , ''Gʷandar'' or ''Gʷender''), is a city and woreda in Ethiopia. Located in the North Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, Gondar is north of Lake Tana on t ...
, the ''Miracles of Mary'' (''Te'amire Maryam''), includes a story how
Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...
favored Giyorgis' book of hours. Giyorgis had risen into a position of court chaplain during emperor Dawit I's reign like his father had before him. Royal princes were tutored by him in the court. Notably Giyorgis' student and future emperor Zara Yaqob held very similar theological views throughout his life. Giyorgis' thoughts concerning the
Sabbath In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, commanded by God to be kept as a holy day of rest, as G ...
, however, got him into trouble with other churchmen and Dawit I, who imprisoned him. Disputes about the Sabbath were politically destabilizing, and the realm was troubled with monastic infighting during the 15th century. Ethiopia of that time had much contact with the outside world, which brought many missionaries of competing traditions and other travelers into the country. The
Miaphysite Miaphysitism is the Christology, Christological doctrine that holds Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, the "Incarnation (Christianity), Incarnate Logos (Christianity), Word, is fully divine and fully human, in one 'nature' (''physis'')." It is a posi ...
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 the ''Book of Mystery'' where Giyorgis devotes a chapter to refute Bitu's views on the
Image of God The image of God (; ) is a concept and theological doctrine in Christianity, as well as in Judaism. This concept is a foundational aspect of Christian and Jewish understandings of human nature. It stems from the primary text in Genesis 1:27, which ...
. He was finally released when one of his former royal students,
Tewodros I Tewodros I ( gez, ቴዎድሮስ), throne name Walda Anbasa (Ge'ez: ወልደ ዐንበሳ; died 2 July 1414) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1413 to 1414, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He was the son of Dawit I by Queen Seyon Mangasha. ...
, rose to the throne. Despite his dissidence, he continued to hold influence until his death during the reign of emperor
Yeshaq I Yeshaq I ( gez, ይሥሐቅ), throne name: Gabra Masqal II (Ge'ez: ገብረ መስቀል) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1414 to 1429/1430, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. He was the second son of Emperor Dawit I. Ancestry Of Amhara lin ...
. While Giyorgis had wished to join a monastery of Dabra Libanos, disputes about the Sabbath led him to join Dabra Gol in historical Wollo region instead. There, late in his life, he became the head of the community of Abba Batsalota-Mikael. Many of his former royal students, who were the eight sons of emperor Dawit I, one by one became rulers of the
Ethiopian Empire The Ethiopian Empire (), also formerly known by the exonym Abyssinia, or just simply known as Ethiopia (; Amharic and Tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ , , Oromo: Itoophiyaa, Somali: Itoobiya, Afar: ''Itiyoophiyaa''), was an empire that historical ...
. Giyorgis writes in his ''Book of Mystery'' that man is a creature of
God In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...
with an immortal
soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...
. 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. 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 important
feast A banquet (; ) is a formal large meal where a number of people consume food together. Banquets are traditionally held to enhance the prestige of a host, or reinforce social bonds among joint contributors. Modern examples of these purposes i ...
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. The book is still used in liturgy. At one point, Giyorgis held the position of
abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...
(''Nebura'ed'') of the important monastery of
Debre Damo Debre Damo (), also spelled Debre Dammo, Dabra Dāmmo or Däbrä Dammo), is the name of a flat-topped mountain, or amba, and a 6th-century monastery in Tigray Region of Ethiopia. The mountain is a steeply rising plateau of trapezoidal shape, abou ...
. He also founded the monastery of
Debre Bahriy Debar ( mk, Дебaр ; Albanian language, Albanian: ''Dibër''/''Dibra'' or ''Dibra e Madhe;'' ) is a city in the western part of North Macedonia, near the border with Albania, off the road from Struga to Gostivar. It is the seat of Debar Municip ...
in Gesecha. At the monastery named after him, there is a crosscut in
warka Warka ( yi, ווארקע) is a town in east-central Poland, located on the left bank of the Pilica river ( south of Warsaw), with 11,035 inhabitants (2004). It has been situated in Grójec County, in the Masovian Voivodeship, since 1999; pre ...
tree's bark claimed to have been left behind by Giyorgis himself.


Hymnody

In addition to being a renowned author of religious books, Giyorgis also composed hymns, such as ones in honor of
Saint Peter Saint Peter; he, שמעון בר יונה, Šimʿōn bar Yōnāh; ar, سِمعَان بُطرُس, translit=Simʿa̅n Buṭrus; grc-gre, Πέτρος, Petros; cop, Ⲡⲉⲧⲣⲟⲥ, Petros; lat, Petrus; ar, شمعون الصفـا, Sham'un ...
and
Saint Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
. 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 the
Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
at a remarkably early date. Emperor
Zara Yaqob Zara Yaqob ( Ge'ez: ዘርዐ ያዕቆብ; 1399 – 26 August 1468) was Emperor of Ethiopia, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty who ruled under the regnal name Kwestantinos I (Ge'ez: ቈስታንቲኖስ, "Constantine"). He is known for t ...
's hymnal, however, was the most successful one. 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 of
Saint Yared Saint Yared ( Ge'ez: ቅዱስ ያሬድ; 25 April 505 – 20 May 571) was an Aksumite composer in the 6th century. Often credited with the forerunner of traditional music of Ethiopia and Eritrea, he developed the music of the Ethiopian Orth ...
's 6th century hymnals (''degua'') which featured only three divisions. The full extent of Giyorgis' compositions is unknown, and various local anaphoras of the
Divine Liturgy Divine Liturgy ( grc-gre, Θεία Λειτουργία, Theia Leitourgia) or Holy Liturgy is the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine Rite, developed from the Antiochene Rite of Christian liturgy which is that of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of C ...
may have been originally composed by him.


Views on the Sabbath

Giyorgis sought to justify Christian observation of the Sabbath on
Sunday Sunday is the day of the week between Saturday and Monday. In most Western countries, Sunday is a day of rest and a part of the weekend. It is often considered the first day of the week. For most observant adherents of Christianity, Sunday ...
based on
Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...
scripture. As is customary in Christianity, Giyorgis held that
Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
had established Sunday as the
Lord's Day The Lord's Day in Christianity is generally Sunday, the principal day of communal worship. It is observed by most Christians as the weekly memorial of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is said in the canonical Gospels to have been witnessed al ...
. But Giyorgis went further than that. He reasoned that if Jesus had come to fulfill the
Mosaic Law The Law of Moses ( he, תֹּורַת מֹשֶׁה ), also called the Mosaic Law, primarily refers to the Torah or the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. The law revealed to Moses by God. Terminology The Law of Moses or Torah of Moses (Hebrew ...
, then one would expect to find hints of the Sunday Sabbath in the
Pentateuch The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the sa ...
. He sought to do this by presenting mathematical proof based on the calendar found in the
Book of Jubilees The Book of Jubilees, sometimes called Lesser Genesis (Leptogenesis), is an ancient Jewish religious work of 50 chapters (1,341 verses), considered canonical by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church as well as Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jews), where it is ...
and the similar Enoch calendar in the Book of Enoch. The features of these calendars are a 364-day-year, a seven-year cycle culminating in the
Jubilee A jubilee is a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term is often now used to denote the celebrations associated with the reign of a monarch after a milestone number of y ...
(year of the release), and a particular arrangement of biblical
Jewish holidays Jewish holidays, also known as Jewish festivals or ''Yamim Tovim'' ( he, ימים טובים, , Good Days, or singular , in transliterated Hebrew []), are holidays observed in Judaism and by JewsThis article focuses on practices of mainstre ...
. Giyorgis sought to demonstrate that Sunday corresponds to the Jubilee year, the "Sabbath's Sabbath". Relying on the authority of the Jubilee and Enoch calendars was possible because both the Book of Jubilees and Enoch are part of the Ethiopian
Orthodox Tewahedo {{Short description, Collective term for Oriental Orthodox Churches in Eritrea and Ethiopia Orthodox Tewahedo refers to two Oriental Orthodox Christian denominations with shared beliefs, liturgy, and history. The Orthodox Tewahedo biblical canon i ...
Church's
Biblical canon A biblical canon is a set of texts (also called "books") which a particular Jewish or Christian religious community regards as part of the Bible. The English word ''canon'' comes from the Greek , meaning " rule" or "measuring stick". The use ...
. The Church, however, had already long before switched to the 365-day
Ethiopian calendar The Ethiopian calendar ( am, የኢትዮጲያ ዘመን ኣቆጣጠር; Oromo: Akka Lakkofsa Itoophiyaatti; Ge'ez: ዓዉደ ወርሕ; Tigrinya: ዓዉደ ኣዋርሕ), or Ge'ez calendar ( Ge'ez: ዓዉደ ወርሕ; Tigrinya: ዓዉ ...
(based on the
Julian calendar The Julian calendar, proposed by Roman consul Julius Caesar in 46 BC, was a reform of the Roman calendar. It took effect on , by edict. It was designed with the aid of Greek mathematicians and astronomers such as Sosigenes of Alexandr ...
). In effect, this meant that Giyorgis' calculation would have no practical impact on the
liturgical year The liturgical year, also called the church year, Christian year or kalendar, consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in Christian churches that determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be observed, and whi ...
of the Church. Giyorgis lays out his idea in the following passage of his ''Sermon on the First Sabbath'': This can be summarized as:


Works

* ''Book of Hours'' or the Daytime(''Sa'atat'') * ''Book of Hymns'' * ''Book of Mystery'' (''Masehafa Mestir'', completed on 21 June 1424) * ''Book of Thanks'' (also known as ''Book of Light'') * ''Horologium of the Night Hours'' * ''Hymns of Praise'' *
Praises of the Cross
' * ''Arganonä Maryam (The Organ of mary)'' * ''Saqoqāwa dǝngǝl (Lament of the Virgin)'' * ''Fékkare haymanot (Synopsis of the Faith)'' * ''Hohétä Bérhan (The Splendor of the Sun)''


See also

*
Beta Israel The Beta Israel ( he, בֵּיתֶא יִשְׂרָאֵל, ''Bēteʾ Yīsrāʾēl''; gez, ቤተ እስራኤል, , modern ''Bēte 'Isrā'ēl'', EAE: "Betä Ǝsraʾel", "House of Israel" or "Community of Israel"), also known as Ethiopian Jews ...
*
Lalibela Lalibela ( am, ላሊበላ) is a town in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Located in the Lasta district and North Wollo Zone, it is a tourist site for its famous rock-cut monolithic churches. The whole of Lalibela is a large and important site ...
*
Solomonic dynasty The Solomonic dynasty, also known as the House of Solomon, was the ruling dynasty of the Ethiopian Empire formed in the thirteenth century. Its members claim lineal descent from the biblical King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Tradition asserts ...


Notelist


References


Works cited

* *


Further reading

* * * *


External links


A collection of Ethiopic manuscripts, various dates

Saint of the week
{{Authority control Ethiopian male writers Ethiopian saints 15th-century Christian saints 1360s births 1420s deaths