Peter Heyling (1607/1608 – c. 1652) was a German

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

missionary to

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

.Werner Raupp
"Heyling, Peter"
in Gerald H. Anderson, ed., ''Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions'' (W. B. Eerdmans, 1998). He was the first Protestant missionary to Ethiopia.Otto F. A. Meinardus, ''Christians in Egypt : Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant Communities Past and Present'' (American University of Cairo Press, 2005), pp. 100ff. The son of a goldsmith, Heyling was a native of the Hanseatic city of

Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...

. His early education was under Johann Kirchmann in Lübeck. Between 1628 and 1632 he studied theology and law at the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

with four other Lübeckers. There he came under the influence of the Dutch Protestant

Hugo Grotius Hugo Grotius ( ; 10 April 1583 – 28 August 1645), also known as Hugo de Groot () or Huig de Groot (), was a Dutch humanist, diplomat, lawyer, theologian, jurist, statesman, poet and playwright. A teenage prodigy, he was born in Delft an ...

, at that time living in Paris.. Heyling set out on his mission in 1632. Ernst Hammerschmidt, "A Brief History of German Contributions to the Study of Ethiopia", ''Journal of Ethiopian Studies'' 1, 2 (1963): 30–48. His goal and that of six other student missionaries was to "reawaken the derelict churches of the Orient", that is, the Coptic and

Ethiopian Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighboring Eritrea and other parts of ...

churches, "to genuine evangelical life". In the event, only Heyling and Hieronymus von Dorne ever set out. At the beginning of 1633 he arrived in Egypt, where he studied

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

in Coptic monasteries and also in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. In 1634, he accompanied the new Abuna, Marqos, as the latter travelled to Ethiopia to assume his new posting. He became an influential preacher and physician at the court of the Emperor Fasilides (1632–1667), but his efforts to reform the church resulted in major disputes over

Christology In Christianity, Christology is a branch of Christian theology, theology that concerns Jesus. Different denominations have different opinions on questions such as whether Jesus was human, divine, or both, and as a messiah what his role would b ...

. He translated the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

into

Amharic Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...

. There are various accounts of the manner in which Heyling met his death. One account is that he was expelled from Ethiopia around 1650, and died during his travel. Another version is that of the priest Abba Gorgoryos stating that the emperor allowed Heyling to travel to Cairo in 1652, where he died a

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...

after refusing to renounce his faith to the Turkish pasha in Suakin. Gorgoryos adds to this account, dating from 1656, with the following words: "I have also heard this from the monks in Cairo, and I know of no other version. It is now four years since he died."

James Bruce James Bruce of Kinnaird (14 December 1730 – 27 April 1794) was a Scottish traveller and travel writer who physically confirmed the source of the Blue Nile. He spent more than a dozen years in North and East Africa and in 1770 became the fir ...

on his travels through Ethiopia in 1770 claimed to see lingering signs of Heyling's influence. Samuel Gobat likewise, in 1830, found Heyling's translation of the New Testament still in circulation. In some respects, the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus carries on his legacy.

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