to be a most certain and sacred Truth being delivered to us in the History of the said King David which is a Book about the bigness of St. Paul's Epistles and very pleasant to read When David was come to the Borders of Ethiopia Azarias going one day into his Tent discovered to him what he had so industriously concealed telling him he had brought the Tables of the Covenant of the Lord along with him whereupon David went straightways with him to the place where those Tables were kept and after the example of his Grandfather David danced before them with great exultation as did also the whole Company When he returned home his Mother resigned the Empire to him immediately from which time which is now near 2600 Years to this day the Empire of Ethiopia has desecended from Male to Male in a Right Line We have also ever since retained the Law of God and Circumcision and the Ministries prescribed by Solomon to his Son for the Government of the Court all which do to this day continue in the same Families and in the same Order neither is it lawful for the Emperor to put People of another Race into any of those Offices Furthermore at the Command of the said Queen Maqueda Women are Circumcised also among us Men and Women are Circumcised on the Eighth day but Male-Children are not Baptized till the Fortieth The Eucharist is Administred to Children when they are Baptized nor Female till the Eightieth day after their Birth without it be in case of Sickness and when that happens the Children are not allowed to Suck their Mothers until after they are purified the Water wherein Children are Baptized is Consecrated by Exorcisms and on the same day they are Christned they Receive the Venerable Body of Christ under the Element of Bread We were among the first Christians that received Baptism that Sacrament having been brought among us by the Eunuch of Candace Queen of Ethiopia who is spoke of in the Acts of the Apostles his Name according to our Tradition was Indick from which time to this day both Baptism and Circumcision have been in use among us and most Religiously and Christianly observed and thorough God's Grace will be so for ever We do observe nothing but what we find in the Law and the Prophets and in the Books of the Synods of the Apostles or if any thing else is observed by us it is done only for the sake of Order and for the Peace of the Church so as not to reckon it to be a Sin not to observe it Circumcision is not observed by them as a Sacrament but as a civil Custom wherefore our Circumcision is not Uncleanness but it is the Law and Grace which was given to our Father Abraham and which he received from God as a Sign not that he or his Sons should be Saved by Circumcision but that his Posterity might be distinguished thereby from all other Nations and as for what is signified by Circumcision we do observe it exactly by having our Hearts Circumcised neither do we Glory upon the account of Circumcision or prefer our selves to other Christians thereupon or reckon our selves for it the more acceptable to God with whom there is no acceptance of Persons as Paul testifies who tells us likewise that we cannot be Saved by Circumcision but by Faith for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new creature now by this Paul did not intend to destroy the Law but to establish it for he himself was Circumcised being of the Seed of Benjamin he Circumcised Timothy likewise after he was made a Christian his Mother being a Jewess notwithstanding his Father was a Gentile knowing that God approves both of Circumcision that is in Faith and of Uncircumcision which is by Faith for as he himself tells he was made all things to all men that he might save all to the Jews he became a Jew that he might gain the Jews and to those that were under the law as if he had been under the law which he was not that he might gain those who were under the law and to those who were without the law as if he had been without the law whereas he was not without the Law of God but was in the Law of Christ that he might gain them who were without the law he also became weak that he might gain the weak which he did that he might shew that it was not by Circumcision but by Faith that we must be Saved and so when he Preached to the Hebrews he spoke to them as Hebrews saying God hath at sundry times and in divers manners spoke to our forefathers by the Prophets and from thence proved to them that Christ was of the Seed of David according to the Flesh he Preached likewise to them That Christ was with our Fathers in their Tents in the Desart and did lead them by the hand of Joshua into the Land of Promise he furthermore testified That Christ was the Prince of the Priests and had entered into the Holy of Holies which is the New Tabernacle and had by the Sacrifice of his Body and Blood abolished the blood of Goats and Bulls by which none that came could be justified and that he had spoke to the Jews in divers manners and did suffer himself to be Worshipped by his People with divers rites and an holy and uncorrupt Faith Furthermore The Children of Christian Parents before they are Baptized are called Half-Christians Those Children are looked upon by us as Half-Christians who as I am told are reckoned to be Heathens by the Roman Church upon account of their dying without Baptism whereas being the Children of the holy Blood of Parents who have been Sanctified by Baptism and the Holy Spirit and the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ upon which Three Testimonies all that are Christians are reputed to be such they ought to be esteemed Half-Christians for there are Three who bear Witness on Earth the Spirit the Water and the Blood as St. John testifieth in his first Canonical Epistle the Gospel saith likewise That a good tree bringeth forth good fruit and an evil tree evil fruit wherefore the Children of Christians are not as the Children of the Gentiles Jews and Mahometans who are dry Trees without Fruit but are chosen in the Womb of their Mothers as the Prophet Jeremy and John the Baptist were The Children of Christian Women are furthermore Chosen and Sanctified by the Communication of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ received by their Mothers from whom they derive their Nourishment during the time they are in their Wombs for as an Infant in the Womb rejoyceth or is sorrowful according as its Mother is affected so it is nourished likewise by its Mother's nutriment for as our Lord saith in his Holy Gospel Whosoever shall eat my body and drink my blood shall never tast death and again He that eateth my
to the Habassin Monks at Jerusalem to whom he sent the Collection of Canons which is now at Rome giving them likewise several Lands for uses which the Church of Rome allows to be pious this Monastery of Habassins stands on Mount Gabor Zera Jacob 's Letter to the Habassin Monks at Jerusalem In the name of the Father and Son The Emperor Zera Jacob's Letter to the Habassin Monks at Jerusalem and Holy Ghost one God whom I adore with all my heart and on whom I rely with all my strength and with all my mind to whom I am bound with the tye of sacred Worship which is not to be broken THIS Letter is written in this Book of Canons by us Zera Jacob whose Name since we took the Government upon us is Constantine in the 8th year after the God of Israel in the multitude of his mercies was pleased to place us on the Throne of the Kingdom of Ethiopia being in Seava which is called Teglet Let this come to the hands of my beloved the College of Saints who reside at Jerusalem the Holy City In the peace of the Lord. Amen I do proclaim you very happy for having in the first place obeyed the word of the Gospel which saith He that forsaketh not his father and mother wife and children c. for which reason you have left the world and have taken upon you the Yoke of Monkery the word of the Prophet hath likewise bound you which saith I will not go into the tabernacle of mine house nor climb up to my bed neither will I give sleep to mine eyes nor slumber to mine eyelids until I find the house of the Lord the habitatian of the God of Jacob. Whereupon you determined to repair to Jerusalem the City of the Great King not being discouraged from going thither either by the Incommodities of the Journey or the heat by day or the cold by night nor by the dangers of Robbers where when you arrived what was said by the Prophet was fulfilled in you Let us therefore go into his house and worship in the place where the face of our Lord stood for to you it is given to kiss the place which his Presence hath hallowed from his Nativity to his Ascension For which cause I do very much rely on your Prayers and on the Afflictions you have suffered for God's sake I do salute you from the bottom of my heart saying Health to you the Sons of Ethiopia whom the Earthly Jerusalem hath tyed to her self that she may convey you to the Heavenly Health be to your Faith which is perfect in the Trinity and to your course of life which is like to that of Angels Health be to your Feet which walk to your Hands which touch to your Lips which kiss to your Eyes which do freely behold Galilee where God was Incarnate and Bethlehem where he was born taking our Nature upon him and the Cave where he lay and Nazareth where he was educated and Jordan where he was baptized that he might cleanse us and Corontum where he fasted for our sake and Calvary where he was crucified for our Redemption and Golgotha where he was buried and rose again that he might quicken us and the Mount of Olives where he ascended to his Father and our God that he might introduce us into the Inner Vail of the highest Heavens into which he himself entred and introduced the Apostles who were before us and the Oratory of Sion where the Comforter descended on our Fathers the Apostles Health be likewise to your Eyes which behold the Light that cometh out of the Sepulchre of our Lord on the Old Sabbath to wit on the Eve of our Passover May your Peace and Love and Prayers and Benedictions be with me for ever Amen Behold I have sent you this Book of Synods that you may receive Consolation from it on the Old Sabbath and on the Lord's Day and that they may be a Memorial of me through all Ages Amen I Zera Jacob whose Name since God was pleased to place me on the Throne of the Empire is Constantine in the Eighth Year of my Reign do Bequeath unto you the Land of Zebla and Half of all the Tributes arising from it for Two Years which amounts to an Hundred Ounces of Gold toward your Food and Rayment and do give it to the Monastery of Jerusalem that it may be a Memorial of my self and of our Lady Mary and for the Celebration of Her Feasts to wit That of her Nativity on the 1st of May that of her Death on the 22d of January and that of her Translation on the 15th of August as also of the Feasts of her Son our Lord Jesus on the 29th of December when he was Born to be celebrated by you at Bethlehem together with the Festivities of his Passion and lively Resurrection from Death You shall likewise celebrate all the Festivities of our Lady Mary which in the Book of her Miracles are Thirty two in number And shall furthermore keep a Lamp burning for me in the Sepulchre of our Lord and another in the Entry thereof and on the right side one and on the left another as also at the place of his Burial three three at the Monument of our Lady Mary in Gethsemane and at the place where Mary Magdalen saw him one and in our Chappel three one also at Bethlehem where our Lord was born and another at the place in the Mount of Olives where our Lord ascended Let them he all maintained at my Charge and take care not to suffer them to go out at any time nor to give way to any Person contributing towards them And since I do rely on the Bond of your Love let your Prayers and Benedictions be with me thorough all Ages Amen My Beloved Don't you offer to say Light descendeth only upon us that your glorying in your selves be not in vain since you know that evil attends glorying and blessing humility Peace be with you the Peace of our Lord be with you Amen The Jesuit Guerrira speaking of the forementioned Ethiopick Embassy saith That the whole Story of it was either a mere Fiction not knowing its like of its having been made use of for so great a purpose by a Pope or that it had no manner of effect But it is no matter whether it was a Fiction or a Reality so long as it furnished a good pretence for a present turn and tended to the Disparagement of the Council of Basil which together with the ground it stood upon was blown up purely by Tricks of this nature the Yoke the Council of Constance had laid on the Neck of the Papacy being broke by Pretences of the Greek and all other Churches and Patriarchs having submitted themselves to it This is all that I have been able to meet with in Greek or Latin History concerning the Church of Ethiopia before the Year 1490 when it was first discovered by the Portugueses And as for Histories of
Spirit and with Himself without any defect or division the Son of the Father the Son of the very Father without any beginning and at first the Son of the Father without a Mother the Secret and Mystery of whose Nativity is known to none but the Father Son and Holy Spirit This Son in the beginning was the Word and the Word was the Word with God and God was the Word The Spirit of the Father the Holy Spirit the Spirit of the Son the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit it s own Spirit without any diminution or augmentation That Holy Spirit is the Comforter of the living God who proceedeth from the Father and the Son and who spake by the mouth of the Prophets and descended in a flame of fire on the Apostles in the gate of Sion and who preached the word of the Father which Word the very Son was all over the World wherefore as the Father is not first notwithstanding he is the Father nor the Son last notwithstanding he is the Son so likewise the Holy Spirit is neither first nor last but they are Three Persons in One God who seeth and is seen by no-body and who by his only Council created all things The Son did of his own accord the Father being willing and the Holy Ghost consenting descend from his highest Habitation and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit in the Womb of the Virgin Mary who was adorned with a double Virginity the one Spiritual the other Carnal he was born without any Corruption his Mother Mary remaining a Virgin after her delivery and by a Miracle and a secret Flame of the Divinity brought forth her Son Jesus without blood and without pain who was perfectly Innocent and without Sin being perfect God and perfect Man and having only one Aspect he grew by degrees as an Infant sucking the Milk of the Virgin Mary his Mother and coming to Thirty Years of Age he was baptiz'd in Jordan and did walk and was weary and did hunger and thirst as other men do all these things he suffered voluntarily and of his own accord and wrought many Miracles restoring by the power of his Divinity sight to the Blind curing the Lame cleansing the Lepers raising the Dead after all which he himself was apprehended and whipt and scourged and crucified He languished and died for our Sins and by his Death overcame Death and the Devil and by his lively Agony dissolved our Sins and bore our Infirmities By the Baptism of his Blood that is his Death he baptized the Patriarchs and Prophets and descended into Hell where the Souls of Adam and his Sons were as also his own Soul which was from Adam which Soul Christ received from the Virgin Mary who by the power and splendor of his Divinity and the strength of his Cross broke the brazen fiery Gates of Hell binding Satan with Iron Chains and rescuing Adam and his Sons All these things Christ did because he was full of the Divinity and the Divinity it self was with his Soul as it was also with his most holy Body which Divinity gave virtue to the Cross and was what he always had and will have for ever in Trinity and Unity in common with the Father Neither did Christ during the time he was in the Flesh ever want the Divinity and Dignity thereof for one moment He was buried and on the third day Jesus Christ himself the Prince of the Resurrection the most sweet Jesus Christ Jesus Christ the Prince of the Priests Jesus Christ the King of Israel did with great power and strength rise and after having finished all things which were foretold by the holy Prophets he ascended with glory into Heaven and sitteth at the right hand of the Father and will come with glory carrying a Cross before him and in his hand a Sword of Justice to judge the quick and the dead of whose Kingdom there shall be no end I believe one Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church I believe one Baptism which is the Remission of Sins and I do hope for the Resurrection of the Dead and the Life of the Age to come Amen I believe the holy Lady Mary to be a Virgin both in Spirit and Flesh and do reverence her as the Mother of God the Charity of all Nations the Holy of Holies and the Virgin of Virgins I believe in the holy Wood of the Cross the Bed of the Agony of our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God who is our Salvation for thorough him we are saved which notwithstanding it is an offence to the Jews and to the Gentiles foolishness we do preach believing it to be the power of the Cross of our Lord Christ as our Doctor St. Paul hath commanded I do believe St. Peter to be the Rock of the Law which Law is built upon the holy Prophets and the Foundation and Head of the Catholick and Apostolick Church of the East and West where the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Power of which Church is in St. Peter as is also the Kingdom of Heaven with which he can open and shut bind and loose and who shall sit with the other Apostles his Companions upon Twelve Seats with honour and praise together with our Lord Jesus Christ who upon the Day of Judgment is to pass Sentence upon us which will be a day of joy to the Saints and of sorrow and gnashing of teeth to Sinners when they shall be thrown into the flames of Hell with their Father the Devil I do believe the holy Prophets Apostles and Martyrs and Confessors to have been true Imitators of Christ whom together with the most holy Angels of God I do venerate and honour and do in the same manner embrace and reverence all their Followers I believe there ought to be an Oral Confession of all Sins made to a Priest by whose Prayers thorough Our Lord Jesus Christ I do hope to obtain the salvation of my Soul I do furthermore acknowledge the Roman Pontiff to be the first Bishop and Pastor of all the Sheep of Christ I do likewise observe and obey all Patriarchs Cardinals Archbishops and Bishops of whom he is the Head of the Ministers of Christ This is my Faith and Law and the Faith and Law of the People of Ethiopia who are under the Empire of Precious John which Faith and Love of Christ are so established among us that neither Death nor Fire nor Sword relying on Christ's assistance shall ever be able to oblige me to deny it this being the Faith we are all to carry on the Day of Judgment before the Face of Our Lord Jesus Christ I come now to explain the Discipline Doctrine and Law which the Apostles assembled together at Jerusalem did lay down in the holy Books of Synods and Canons called by us Manda Abethlis those Books of the Law of holy Church are Eight in number concerning which having had some discourse with several Learned Men here in Portugal I never met
A long Justification of their abstaining from Meats that are made unclean by the Law while they conversed with Christ make use of unclean Meats or so much as taste any thing that was prohibited by the Law which was what none of them offered to transgress no not after the time of our Lord's Passion when they began to preach the Gospel there being nothing in their Writings from whence it can be gathered that they did ever kill or eat any thing that is unclean It is true Paul saith Eat all that is sold in the shambles asking nothing for conscience sake and again If any that are infidels invite you to a feast and you are disposed to go eat whatsoever is set before you asking no questions for conscience sake And again If any one shall say This is offered to idols do not eat for his sake that told you so and for conscience sake c. All which Paul spoke in compliance with those who are weak in the Faith betwixt whom and the Jews there were frequent Debates and in order to the putting a stop to those Disputes the Apostle complied much with the weaker Christians which he did not do that he would have the Law broke but that by gratifying such People in the relaxation of Rites he might allure them to the Faith The same Apostle saith likewise Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not for he that eateth eateth unto the Lord and he that eareth not eateth not unto the Lord. It is therefore an unworthy thing to reprove Christians who are Strangers with so much bitterness as I have been reproved here concerning this very matter and other little things which do no ways belong to Faith It would certainly be much wiser for Christians whether Greeks Armenians Ethiopians or of any of the Seven Christian Churches to bear with one another in Charity and in the Bowels of Christ in all such matters and to suffer one another to live and converse with their Christian Brethren being all Sons of Baptism and unanimous in the true Faith neither is there any cause why they should debate so sharply about Ceremonies or why every one should not be suffered to observe his own and that without hating and persecuting others for theirs neither ought any one in a strange Countrey to be debarred the Communion of the Church for observing his own Church-Ceremonies As to that we meet with in the Acts of Peter's seeing a Cloth let down from Heaven by the corners wherein were all Four-footed Beasts and all creeping Creatures and Birds of the Air and of his having heard a Voice that commanded him to rise and kill and eat to which Peter replied Far be it from me Lord for I have never eat any thing that is common and unclean to whom the Voice answered What God has purified that do not thou call unclean which having been done three several times the Vessel was then immediately taken up into Heaven whereupon the Spirit sent him straightways to Cesarea to Cornelius a holy Man fearing God to whom when Peter spake the Holy Spirit descended on all who heard the Word of God After which Peter baptized Cornelius and his whole Family Now when the Apostles and Brethren who were in Judea came to hear of what Peter had done they were angry and asked him How he came to go to men who were uncircumcised and to eat with them but after Peter had declared to them the whole Vision they were satisfied and returned thanks to God saying He hath given repentance unto life to the Gentiles and they remembred the word of the Lord which he spoke when he ascended into Heaven Go over all nations and preach the Gospel to all creatures in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost and he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be condemned Then the Apostles begun to preach the Gospel over the whole World to every Creature in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost insomuch that their sound went thorough the whole Earth Now this Vision wherein things clean and unclean appeared we of Ethiopia interpret thus The clean living Creatures were the People of Israel the unclean were the Gentiles who were therefore said to be unclean because they worshipped Idols and did the Works of the Devil which are unclean So that the Voice saying Peter kill was the same as if it had said Teach and preach the Faith and the Law of Christ both to the People of Israel and the Gentiles besides it is most certain that we read no where in the Scriptures of Peter or of any other of the Apostles killing or eating any thing that was unclean after this Vision We are to observe likewise That when the Scriptures speak of Bread it is not to be understood of a Corporal Food but of the Doctrine of the Gospel It is therefore adviseable for all Doctors and Preachers to teach high and sublime things of this Linen Cloth which was shewed to Peter and not low things which do no way appertain to Salvation and least of all to draw Arguments from thence to prove it to be lawful for us to eat things that are unclean seeing no such matter can be gathered from the Scripture but that is not all for the Apostles themselves in their Book of Synods have forbid us to eat any thing that is strangled or tore or half eaten by Beast or Blood hecause the Lord loveth cleanness and sobriety and hateth gluttony and pollution and loveth those much who abstain from Flesh and those more who fast with Bread and Water and Herbs as John the Baptist did who eat nothing else As also Paul the Hermite who lived in the Desert and fasted 80 years as St. Anthony and St. Macarius and a great number of their Spiritual Sons who never so much as tasted Flesh Wherefore Brethren we ought not to contemn and persecute our Neighbours for St. James saith He that speaketh evil of his brother or judgeth his brother speaketh evil of the law Paul teacheth likewise That it is much better for people to rest satisfied with their own traditions than to contend with their Christian brethren about the law and that in such matters they ought not to be wiser than is necessary but to be wise to sobriety according as God hath dealt to every man a measure of faith Wherefore it is a very undecent thing to contend with our brethren about the law and distinction of meats since meat cannot commend us to God A charitable Admonition and especially since St. Paul hath said Whether ye eat plentifully or do not eat ye are never the worse Let us therefore look after higher things and the food that is heavenly and forbear such low and empty disputations What I have writ concerning Traditions I have not writ out of a spirit of contention but to defend my Countreymen against the violent reproofs of those who paid so
it off and whereas he had been pleased to charge the Ethiopick Church with holding divers Errors in Faith if he would be at the pains to read over a Confession of Faith which he had Published lately he would see how unjust that Charge of Heresy was there being nothing in that Confession that was not taught by Christ and his Apostles The Emperor Claudius's Confession of Faith In the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost One God THIS is my Faith The Emperor's Confession of Faith and the Faith of my Fathers the Kings of Israel and the Faith of my Flock which is within the bounds of my Empire We Believe in One God and in his only Son Jesus Christ who is his Word Power Council Wisdom and who was with him before the World was Created and who in the last days visited us and without leaving the Throne of his Divinity was made Man by the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary and who when he was Thirty years of Age was Baptized in Jordan and being a perfect Man was in the days of Pontius Pilate Crucified and was Dead and Buried and Rose again the Third Day and on the Fortieth day after his Resurrection did Ascend with Glory into the Heavens where he sitteth at the right hand of the Father and shall come again in Glory to Judge both the Quick and the Dead whose Kingdom shall have no End We Believe also in the Holy Ghost the Lord and Giver of Life who proceedeth from the Father We Believe one Baptism for the Remission of Sins and do hope for the Resurrection of the Dead to the Life to come Which is Everlasting Amen We do walk in the plain and true way declining neither to the right nor to the left from the Doctrine of our Fathers the Twelve Apostles and of Paul the fountain of Wisdom and of the Seventy two Disciples and of the Three hundred and eighteen Orthodox Assembled at Nice and of the Hundred and fifty at Constantinople and of the Hundred at Ephesus Thus I Profess and thus I Teach I Claudius Emperor of Ethiopia my Royal Name being Atznaf Saghed the Son of Uuanag Saghed the Son of Naod As to our observing the day of the old Sabbath we do not keep it after the manner of the Jews who Crucified Christ saying His Blood be upon us and our Children For whereas the Jews do neither draw water nor light a fire nor boyl meat nor bake bread nor go from one house to another on that day We do administer the holy Supper thereon and according to the Command of the Apostles in their Book of Doctrines do keep the Love-Feasts Neither do we observe it after the same manner as we do the Sabbath of the First day which is a new day and of which David said This is the day that the Lord hath made let us rejoyce and be glad therein For on this day our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the Dead the Holy Ghost likewise descended on this day upon the Apostles in the Parlour of Sion on this day Christ was also conceived in the womb of the Holy and perpetual Virgin Mary and will come thereon to Reward the Righteous and to Punish Sinners Neither do we Circumcise after the manner of the Jews Paul the fountain of Wisdom having told us That to be circumcised profiteth nothing nor to be uncircumcised but a new creation which is Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ And who told the Corinthians That he that had received circumcision was not to be uncircumcised all the Books of St. Paul 's Doctrine concerning Circumcision and Uncircumcision being in our hands So that Circumcision is no otherwise in use among us than as the Custom of a Countrey as Incision in the Face is in some parts of Ethiopia and Nubia and the Boring of the Ears in India what we do therein being in compliance with a human Custom and not in Obedience to the Mosaical Law And as to Swines Flesh we do not abstain from that neither after the manner of the Jews nor in Obedience to the Law of Moses neither do we abominate those or reckon them to be unclean that do eat it as we do not force those to eat it that have a mind to abstain from it which is according to what our Father Paul writ to the Romans saying He that eateth let him not despise him that eateth not for the Lord accepts both for the kingdom of God consists not in meat and drink and in another place he saith Every thing is clean to the clean but it is evil for a man to eat with offence It is said likewise in Matthew 's Gospel That nothing defileth a man but what comes out of his Mouth all that goes into the Belly being thrown into the draught This teacheth us That all Flesh is clean and destroyeth the whole Fabrick of the Jewish Errors Wherefore my Religion and the Religion of my Priests and Doctors who teach by my Command within the bounds of my Empire is such as declineth neither to the right nor to the left from the paths of the Gospel and the Doctrine of Paul In the Book called Tarick it is written That the Emperor Constantine commanded all the Jews to eat Swines flesh on the day of our Lord's Resurrection whereas with us people are at their liberty to abstain from it or any other sort of flesh there being some that love the flesh of Fish others of Hens and some abstain from Mutton every one as to such things following his own appetite there being no Law nor Canon of the New Testament concerning eating the flesh of Terrestrial Creatures all things according to St. Paul being clean to the clean and he that believeth may if he please eat all things This is what I have writ that you might know the Truth of my Religion Written at Damot on the 23d of in the Year 1555. The Emperor finding that no declarations he could make of his Resolution never to forsake the Religion of his Countrey The Emperor offers to lay the Debates about Religion before his Council were able to make the Coadjutor give over teizing him for quietness sake told him one day That notwithstanding he was fully satisfied with the Religion of his Ancestors in every point nevertheless since a Person of his Character and Authority had come so far to persuade him to submit himself to the Pope he was willing to lay that whole matter before his Council that he might have their Opinion about it The Coadjutor being sensible that this was only to put him off with delays and at last to lay the blame of his not turning Roman-Catholick on his Councellors whom and especially the Queen-Mother and the Officers of her Court he knew to be mortal Enemies to Popery he endeavoured to divert him from a course from which he expected no good by the following Letter The Coadjutor endeavours to divert him from that course by
the 10th of St. Matthew Flesh and blood saith he hath not revealed this unto thee And the Prophet Micah in the 9th Chapter saith A man's enemies are those of his own house And in the 10th of St. Matthew Christ saith Think not that I came to bring peace on the earth I tell you nay but a sword for I came to set a man at variance with his Father and the Daughter with the Mother and the Daughter-in-law with the Mother-in-law and a man's enemies shall be those of his own house for he that loveth Father or Mother more than me is not worthy of me And in the 12th of St. Luke he saith again Think you that I came to bring peace upon the earth And in the 14th Chapter of the same Gospel he saith If any man come to me and hate not Father and Mother c. From all which we may learn That Parents and Relations are commonly Spiritual Enemies Christ himself having said A man's enemies are those of his own house and that he came to divide the one from the other and that whosoever hateth not Father and Mother in such cases cannot be his Disciple And what he taught others as to this matter he confirmed by his own Example when without asking his Holy Mothers advice who undoubtedly would never have counselled him to have done any thing that was amiss he remained disputing in the Temple and understanding his Mother had been in great Pain for him and had been seeking after him he made her answer when she told him of it Wist you not that I must be about my Father's business intimating to us by this Carriage That in Matters appertaining to God we are not bound to advise with our Friends and Parents and especially when they endeavour to hinder us from doing what is good for in such cases he commands us to hate them May our Lord give your Highness good and true Counsel in all things and Grace always do his Will and hereafter to enjoy his Holy Glory Amen The 22d of June in the Year 1557. Now were ever a poor Empress and Council of State libelled so out of Scripture or pelted out of a Concordance before Or was the folly of a Peoples being obliged to be of a Religion because it was the Religion of their Ancestors for several Ages ever more severely exposed Besides there is one thing remarkable in this Letter which is the Bishop's affirming positively That Bermudes was and did act for some years as Patriarch of Ethiopia and as such had the Lands belonging to that Dignity setled upon him by the Emperor After this Letter Several Conferences about Religion the Emperor and the Bishop had divers Conferences about Religion but without any effect the Emperor growing daily more zealous for his Ancient Faith and averse to that of Rome The Bishop being piqued with this ill success challenged all the Learning of Ethiopia to a publick Disputation which being accepted the Emperor himself bore a great part in it defending the Habassin Faith with that Dexterity and Learning that the Jesuits themselves confess he did sometimes put the Bishop hard to it to answer him The Habassins were so encouraged by having such a Champion on their side that the Bishop was never denied a publick Disputation when he desired it and tho he is said by his Brethren to have still come off victorious the Habassins did always triumph the Bishop being laughed at by them as the most baffled Man that ever pretended to weild an Argument The Bishop growing weary of disputing betook himself to his Pen again and having Composed a Treatise against all the Habassin Errors he Presented it to the Emperor conjuring him to read it without Prejudice The Emperor promised to do so but was so far from being converted by it that if it were possible he was setled in his Ancient Faith thereby more than he was before The Emperor answers the Coadjutor's Book and writes one in defence of his own Faith Writing a Book not only in Answer to that of the Bishop's but one also in Defence of his own Church declaring in them both that he had seen nor heard nothing to convince him that as a Christian he was bound to submit himself and his Empire to the Pope The Bishop finding his Writings were as Unsuccessful as his Conferences and Disputations left the Court in Wrath retiring to a place called Decome where he had not been long before he thundred out the following Excommunication Andrew d' Oriedo by the Grace of God and the Apostolical See Bishop of Hieropolis and Coadjutor to the most Reverend Father in Christ and Lord John Nunes Baretto Patriarch of Ethiopia AS it is profitable to Publish and Praise such things as are Good The Coadjutor thunders out an Excommunication on purpose to ingage People to follow them so it is likewise necessary to Declare and Censure publick Evils that People may avoid them Wherefore since the People of Ethiopia notwithstanding their having had all the Articles of the Roman Faith preached to them in such a manner that all that were disposed to learn it cannot but be thorowly acquainted therewith do with great Obstinacy continue to deny Obedience thereunto and not only so but did on the Ogge of the last Year cause a Proclamation to be made at the Market-Cross prohibiting all Persons upon pain of Death to go into any of our Churches adhering still to the Customs of their Fore-fathers and that as appears to us not out of Ignorance for that cannot be considering how many things they hold that are notoriously Evil and contrary to the Service of our Lord. We do therefore define and by Sentence declare That all the People of Ethiopia Great and Small Learned and Unlearned do deny to yield that Obedience to the Holy Roman Church which they and all other Churches are in Duty bound to yield the Roman Church being the Head of all Churches and the Pope of Rome the Father Pastor and Superior of all Christians They do likewise on divers Occasions repeat Baptism which is contrary to the Faith And do also publickly observe Saturday which they did not formerly in Ethiopia And do Circumcise themselves and their Slaves as also all the Converts they do make at any time to Christanity forcing many of them to submit to it They also hold it to be a Sin to eat Hare or Swines Flesh or any of the Meats prohibited by the Mosaical Law which Law was abolished by the Death of Christ and is contrary to what he has commanded in his Gospel Several among them holding it likewise to be a Sin to go into a Church on the day on which they have known their Wives which is no where prohibited by Christ or his Church Their Learned Men do also with great Zeal maintain That there is but one Nature and one Operation in Christ and that Christ's Humamanity is equal with his Divinity which is contrary to the
therein that they hazarded their lives to help them to the Relicks of their Martyr'd Brethren I have not been able to learn whether the abovenamed Congregation did ever give it self the trouble of enquiring into the truth of these reliques but most certain it is that if it did that their want of natural Evidences was abundantly supply'd by such as were Miraculous for they having been as all new-found reliques are undoubtedly much prayed to if Ten out of a Thousand that pray'd to them when they were sick did but happen to recover there were just so many substantial Witnesses of their having a Miraculous Virtue in them to demonstrate them to be true and for the faithless Nine hundred and ninety that died their unsuccessful Prayers were never heard of to confront the Testimony of Ten living Witnesses and being thus attested the Congregation could not have deni'd them its Approbation such Testimonies as these being all the Evidence the Church of Rome has for the greatest part of her Sacred Reliques Neither would its having been afterwards discovered as it was that the Heads of those Three Friars were sent by the Bashaw who cut them off as a Present to the Emperor of Ethiopia have been any argument at all against the truth of those which were lodged at Goa there being nothing more common in the Church of Rome than to have the same individual Reliques and especially Heads at the same time in several Countries and all of them working Miracles in Confirmation of their being genuin The Patriarch that he might not lie at Goa doing nothing for his Title of Illustrissimo in the Year 1650 sent a Banean and an Habassin The Patriarch sends an Habassin and a Banean into Ethiopia with a Commission to a Priest to be his Vicar-General who were both Romanists with a Commission to one Bernard Nogueiro an Habassin Priest but of Portuguese Extraction to be his Vicar-General in Ethiopia during the time of his absence from it The Banean and Habassin having got to Moqha were detained there a whole Year by the War that was broke out betwixt a King in Arabia and the Bashaw of Suaqhem but the Envoys that they might do something for their Money sent the Patriarch some News which notwithstanding it did not agree very well with that Father Torquato had picked up at the same place not long before they knew would be pleasing to him The News was That his Successor Mark had been Deposed for having been guilty of all the Crimes that they could think of namely for having Danced frequently with his Gatar in his hand thorough the Streets with publick Strumpets and that a Monk whose name was Michael was made Abuna in his place In October 1651 the two Envoys having got to Matzua The Priest accepts of it and writes for Portuguese Troops stole by night from thence to a place in Ethiopia called Engana from whence having sent an Express to Father Bernard he was with them in a few days and having gladly accepted of the Commission they brought to him he wrote by them to the Patriarch complaining that the Portugueses seemed to have forgot that there was any such Countrey as Ethiopia where they had been expecting succors from them till they were weary telling a lamentable Story of what Raz Cella Christos had suffered because he would not turn Alexandrian and how his Gout though extreamly violent did not torment him half so much as the disappointment of the Portuguese Troops he had been so long promised But we have that Prince telling his own Story in the following Letter which came to Goa about this time Most Illustrious Bishops and Governors of the Indies The Letter of Raz Cella Christos cometh with Peace and Health in our Lord Jesus Christ To all most Christian Catholicks and to all the faithful of the true Church of our Lord. TO tell you the Truth Raz Cella writes passionately for Troops I do not know with what Tongue or Words to begin to relate to you the Persecutions of our Mother which I am at this time lamenting O Holy and most Merciful Christ Jesus nailed to the Cross do Thou reckon them up and make them to be known to all the Friars Rectors Prelates Bishops Archbishops Viceroys Kings Princes and Governors that Rule on the other side of the Sea I never in the least doubted but that you would so far have concerned your self for the Catholicks that are here as to have delivered them from the Tyranny of this Perverse and Barbarous Nation and that the doing thereof would not have been so long delayed but for my Sins which are Infinite You seem to have been all dissemblers formerly when there was not so much as the name of a Church or of a Catholick in Ethiopia the Portuguese came to our Assistance and delivered us out of the hands of the Mahometans but now notwithstanding there is an Infinite number of faithful people in it there is no body seems to remember us all our Brethren and all those whom the Zeal of the House of the Lord did eat up seeming to be dead What is the Pope our true Pastor and most beloved Father removed from the immoveable Foundation of the Roman Church if he is not Why does he not stretch forth his Rod and Staff of Consolation to these his Sheep before we depart this Miserable Life or before we are eat up by the Alexandrian Hereticks Is it possible that there is not one Prince left in Portugal that has the Zeal of Don Christopher Da Gama for Christianity no nor so much as one Prelate left to procure some remedy for us either from Heaven or Earth I can say no more but though my Mouth is stopt my Tears are not but being covered with Sackcloth and Ashes I do most humbly beg succor from all the Faithful and that with all Expedition before all be lost I am at this time in Chains in a Prison and am daily tempted with promises of liberty if I will but return to the Alexandrian Faith the Hereticks seeking in me to destroy all the Catholicks in Ethiopia and to Extirpate the Roman Faith out of it Wherefore if there be any Christians left beyond Sea or any that have a Zeal for God let them know and understand that we are their Brethren in Christ Jesus and that we shall then and not before believe that they have us in their hearts when they shall deliver us out of the hands of Hereticks and out of this our Egyptian Bondage This Unfortunate Prince is said to have suffered Death not long after this Raz Cella is put to death for his Religion or rather for holding a Correspondence with the Portugueses for whom the Emperor was possessed with so strong an Aversion that he made it Death for any of that Nation or for any of the Roman Faith to come into Ethiopia In the Year 1656 The Patriarch is named to the Archbishoprick of Goa but was
body and drinketh my blood shall be with me Paul likewise speaketh to the same purpose when he saith the unbelieving husband is justified by the believing wife and the unbelieving wife by the believing husband otherwise your children would be unclean whereas now they are holy Now if the Children of an Unbelieving Mother are notwithstanding that Sanctified by the Faith of their Father how much more holy must they be whose Father and Mother are both Believers For which reason it is much more pious to call such Infants before they are Baptized Half-Christians than Pagans The Apostles in their Book of Synods do likewise affirm That all who had Faith though they were not Baptized may be called Half-Christians in which Books it is said that if a Jew or Gentile or Mahometan do embrace the Faith he shall not be received presently but must first come to the door of the Church there to hear Sermons and the words of our Saviour Christ and that being disposed to Believe he may understand what Christ's yoke is after which he may be called an Half-Christian even before he is admitted to Baptism which is also according to the Gospel which saith He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be condemned It is also the custom among us for Women when they are with Child to Confess their Sins and receive the Lord's Body before they are Delivered and they who neglect to do this are looked upon as Wicked and Impious Christians as are also their Husbands for not having obliged them to it Confirmation and Extream Unction are not reckoned Sacraments among us Confirmation and Extream Unction no Sacraments neither are they in use in our Church as I see they are in the Roman We do surthermore reckon it contrary to the Law of Moses and the Institutions of the Apostles to eat unclean Meats from all which we do abstain merely in Obedience to the Law and the Scriptures which with us consists of Eighty one Books that is to say the Old Testament consists of Forty one Books The Scripture the perfect Rule of Faith and the New of Thirty five which Canon or Number of Books we have expresly delivered to us by the Apostles themselves and to which it is not lawful for us to Add or Diminish any thing no not though an Angel from Heaven should persuade us to it and we do look upon him as Accursed that shall offer to do any such thing so that neither our Patriarch nor our Bishop do reckon that they can either by themselves or in a Council make any Laws That People are under an Obligation of a Mortal Sin to observe In the Books of our Synods it is ordained by the Holy Apostles That we must confess our selves before we can receive Penance from a Confessor according to the greatness of our Sin They teach us likewise how we ought to Pray and Fast and how to exercise Charity Confession is much in use among us for we have no sooner committed a Sin than we run and throw our selves at the feet of a Confessor this is the constant practice of all Men and Women of whatsoever Quality or Condition and whenever we Confess we do receive the Body of our Lord under both Species They all receive the Sacrament in both Elements It is not kept in their Churches and in Wheaten and Unleavened Bread so that if we Confess our selves daily we do daily receive the Sacrament as well Layicks as Ecclesiasticks The Sacrament of the Eucharist is not kept in our Churches as it is here in Europe neither is it at any time Administred to the Sick until after they are recovered All among us Layicks as well as Clerks do receive the Sacrament at least Three times a Week which is never received any where but in the Church It is never received but in the Church no not by the Patriarch or Precious John himself We do always make use of the same Confessor and do never go to any other but when our own is absent to whom when he returns we are bound to repair The Confessors do in the Name of the Church absolve from all Sins there being no cases no not the most heinous reserved to the Bishop or Patriarch Presbyters are not allowed to Confess themselves to those that they Confess and among us all Presbyters and Monks and all Officers of the Church do live by their own Labour for the Church hath no Tythes it has Lands which are Cultivated by the Priests and Monks either in Person or by their servants and as for Alms they receive none but those that are offered in the Church for the Burial of the dead and other Holy Offices it not being lawful for any of them to beg about the streets or to extort Alms from the common people Furthermore The Sacrament is never administred above once a day in a Church It is not shewed to the People No Masses are said for the Dead in our Churches there is never but one Mass a day which we do reckon to be a Sacrifice neither is it lawful for us according to ancient Custom to Celebrate more for which Mass we never receive any Money the Sacrament of the Eucharist is not shewed to the People among us as I observe it is here and all Priests Deacons and Subdeacons and all People whatsoever that are present at the Celebration are obliged to Communicate We say no Masses for the remission of Souls but our Dead are Buried in a Consecrated Place with Prayers and Crosses over whom among other things we recite the beginning of St. John's Gospel and do offer Alms for them the day after they are Buried and at certain other times when we have Funeral Feasts This is what I have to say of our Faith and Religion But whereas since my coming to Portugal I have had several Debates with some Doctors namely with Didacus Ortis Bishop of the Island of St. Thomas and Dean of the King's Chappel and Pedro Magalho concerning the distinction of Meats it will not be improper for me to say something of it in this place It is to be observed that it is in obedience to the Old Testament that we observe a distinction of meats which distinction is ordained by the Word of God who was afterwards born of the Virgin Mary and walked and conversed with his Apostles which Living Word of God had always an entire and irrevocable Speech or Word and who did no where in his Gospel say that such things might be eat as were before prohibited as unclean For as to those words in the Gospel That whatsoever entreth into the mouth doth not defile the man but that which cometh forth of the mouth Christ's intent therein was not to dissolve the Law he had formerly enacted but only to confute the Superstition of the Jews who blamed the Apostles for having eat Bread with unwashen hands neither did the Apostles