to yield Obedience to your Holiness in that King's Name and in the Name of all his Subjects We have detained him here for some time being willing for divers Reasons that he should accompany our dear Nephew Martin de Portugal our Councellor and Ambassador whom we have ordered to present the said Francis Alvarez Ambassador of the said King of Ethiopia to your Holiness to yield Obedience to you as also to acquaint you with what the Ambassador of the said King that was sent to us has laid before us together with the Copies of that King's Letters to us wherefore your Holiness will do a thing that will be very acceptable unto God if in all this Affair you do give entire Credit to the said Martin our Ambassador for certainly great thanks ought to be returned to God for having in the time of your Pontificate done so great a favour to your Holiness that a Portion of Christians who as to the largness of their Country are nothing inferior to this of ours should consent to the Catholick Faith and to the Roman Church by yielding Obedience to it We for our parts are very thankful to God for having made use of our Ministry in the Reduction of this King There being nothing more for the praise of true Piety than to behold Ethiopia joyned with Europe in the Unity of the Christian Profession May our Lord God be pleased to encrease and preserve the Felicity of your Holiness according to your own desire Dated at Settuval the 28th of May 1532. King John having made the Habassin Emperor's Complements in his Letters to the Pope to amount to a formal submission of himself his Church and Empire to him must make his having detained an Embassage of that Moment and which he himself Magnifies so much so long at Lisbon to be the more wonderful But what it should be that after having slighted this Embassy for five long Years induced him to trump it up thus if it were not to do his Nephew Honor is a Mystery I shall leave to the Reader to unriddle having only observed that there were two Creations of Cardinals soon after it came to Rome The Portuguese and Habassin Ambassadors being arrived at Bononia The Portuguese and Habassin Ambassadors had their Audience of the Pope at Bononia where the Pope and the Emperor Charles the Fifth were together at that time they had the 29th of January given them for the Day of their publick Audience When being introduced into a publick Consistory at which the Emperor was present the Portuguese presented his Master's Letters to the Pope together with the Copies of those which had been sent to him and his Father by the King of Ethiopia When the Portuguese had done the Habassin presented his Master's Letters to the Pope and with them a Gold Cross that weighed about a Pound And having made the submission of the Emperor of Ethiopia and of his whole Church and Empire to his Holiness he was afterwards admitted to kiss his Foot and after that his Hand and at last his Mouth and having delivered the following Speech in Portuguese it was spoke aloud in Latin by the Secretary of the Portuguese Embassy MOST Holy and Blessed Father The Habassiâ— Ambassador's submission to the Pope the most Serene and Potent Lord David King of the Great and High Ethiopia who is commonly called Pretegya and who is no less glorious for the veneration he has for the True Religion than for his Empire Wealth and Kingdoms has sent this Ambassador to your Holiness with the Letters he has delivered to you commanding him to yield obedience and subjection to your Holiness in his Name and in that of his Kingdoms as Christ's Vicar and St. Peter's Successor and the Chief Pontiff of the whole Church and to present you with a Gold Cross which he hopes your Holiness not regarding the value thereof which is but small but the veneration that is due to it for Christ's having suffered thereon for our sakes will be pleased to accept of beseeching your Holiness in the name of the said Prince to accept of all that he has offered with a pious affection of a Father for your most devout Son To which Harangue the Pope's Secretary return'd the following Answer OUR most holy Lord doth receive you The Pope's Answer to the Habassin Ambassador my Lord Francis Alvarez the Ambassador of the most serene David King of Ethiopia together with his Obedience Gift and Letters with a good Will and Paternal Affection and doth return Thanks to God that such Letters and such an Ambassador should come in the time of his Pontificate from so great and remote a Christian Emperor he hath heard what you have said with Attention and great Joy and has with his Venerable Brethren the Cardinals graciously accepted of your Master's Obedience as also of his Gift both for the Honour that is due to the Holy Cross and the good Affection of the Donor And he doth furthermore highly extol in the Lord the most serene King of Portugal who besides the other great Services done by himself and Progenitors to the Common-wealth and Christian Faith has likewise deserved well of King David by having entred into an Alliance with him and having procured your being sent with these Letters to the Pope What remains is his Holiness will endeavour to the utmost of his Power so far as the great distance that is betwixt their Countries will permit so to satisfie the desires of the said King as to make him sensible of his being in the Place of a most dear Son in Christ and in the Affection and Esteem of his Holiness and the Holy Apostolical See no less than other Christian Princes And his Holiness will treat with the Ambassador of Portugal and you concerning these Affairs and will by his Letters and Nuncio's Return an Answer to all that your King has desired Zaga Zaba having nothing else to do at Lisbon Zaga Zaba's the Habassin Ambassador at Lisbon Account of the Religion and Customs of his Countrey and being willing to ingratiate himself with that Court by representing the Habassin Church as agreeing with the Roman in the Chief Doctrines wherein the Reformers contradict her did put Pen to Paper and drew up the following Account of the Religion Customs and Rites of his Countrey An Account of the Habassin Religion and Customs composed by Zaga Zaba the King of Ethiopia's Ambassador and written with his own Hand at Lisbon In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ Amen WE believe in the Name of the Holy Trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost who are One Lord and Three Names One Divinity and Three Faces though but One Similitude and are an equal conjunction of Persons equal I say in Divinity One Kingdom One Throne One Word One Spirit the Word of the Father and the Son and the Word of the Holy Spirit and the Son is the same Word the Word with God the Word with the Holy 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
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
the Roman Pontiff in the Year 1524. In the name of God the Father Almghty maker of Heaven and Earth and of all things visible and invisible in the name of Jesus Christ the Son of God who was the same with him from the beginning of the World and who is Light of Light and very God of very God and in the name of God the Holy Ghost who is true God and proceedeth from the Father I The King at whose Name the Lyons do tremble who am by the Grace of God called Achami Tinghil that is the Frankincense of the Virgin the Son of King David the Son of Solomon the Son of the Hand of Mary the Son of Nau by the Flesh and by Grace the Son of St. Peter and St. Paul do send these Letters Peace be with you O Just Lord and holy powerful pure and sacred Father who art the head of all Bishops and fearest no-body because there is none that hath power to curse thee who art the most watchful Curate of all Souls and the Friend of Pilgrims and the sacred Master and Preacher of the Faith and the Enemy of every thing that offends the Conscience and the lover of all good Manners and a holy Person whom all do bless and praise O happy and holy Father I do obey you with reverence because you are the peace of all and do deserve whatsoever is good so that it is but just that according to the divine Commands of the Apostles all should yield obedience to you This belongs to you but they have likewise commanded us to reverence all Bishops Archbishops and Prelates and to love you as a Father and to reverence you as a King and to believe in you as a God For which cause I do humbly with bended knees and with a sincere heart tell you holy Father That you are my Father and I am your Son Holy and most mighty Father Why have you never sent any Nuncio's to us to be informed of our health for since you are our Pastor and we are your Sheep you ought not to have been unmindful of us nor ought you to have reckoned us to have been too remote from your Territories for your Nuncio's to have visited us seeing from the most remote Kingdom of the Earth that is Portugal your Son King Emanuel has commodiously sent his Ambassadors to us so that if God had deferred calling him to Heaven the things he and I were treating about had undoubtedly had a happy Issue before this time I should be glad to hear healthful things from you by certain Nuncio's having never had a word from your Holiness nor heard of you by any other way but by some of our vowed Pilgrims who neither carried Letters from us to you nor brought any from you to us and who therefore when we enquired of them could only tell us That going from Jerusalem after they had performed their Vows there to visit the Thresholds of the Apostles at Rome they had seen you giving us a general Account of your Affairs I took great pleasure in their Relations beholding in them the Image of your holy Countenance which appeared to me to be like that of an Angel and I must own that I do love and reverence you Nevertheless it would be much more grateful to me devoutly to contemplate your Words and Letters I must therefore beg it of you that you would send a Nuncio to me to exhilerate my heart with your Blessing for since we agree in Faith and Religion that is the thing of the World that I desire most and that my Friendship may be as the Ring you wear on your Finger or as the Gold Chain that is about your Neck that so I may be always in your heart and memory Friendship being much increased by greateful Words and Letters when holy Peace from which all human Joy doth flow naturally embraceth them For as one that is very thirsty is extreamly desirous of cold water as the Scripture has it so Nuncio's and Letters coming to me from remote parts either from your Holiness or any Christian King will fill my heart with extraordinary Pleasures such as theirs are filled with who after a Victory come to gather rich Spoils All this may be done with great ease now the King of Portugal has opened a way to it who some times since sent Ambassadors with other Persons of Quality to us which was a thing had never been done by any Christian King or Pope before to any of our Ancestors Only in the Archives of our Great Grandfather Zera Jacob who was King of all the Kings of Ethiopia and a most Formidable Prince the Copies of some Letters to him from Eugenius the Roman Pontiff are still preserved the purport whereof is as followeth EUgenius the Roman Pontiff to our beloved Son King Zara Jacob the King of all the Kings of Ethiopia and who is mightily dreaded He goes on and tells him That his Son John Paleologus who had been dead two years the King of the Kings of the Romans had been called by him to celebrate a holy Synod to which he came accompanied by Joseph the Patriarch of Constantinople and a great many other Archbishops Bishops and Prelates as also with the Procurators of the Patriarchs of Antioch Alexandria and Jerusalem who had all united themselves to him in the love of the holy Faith and Religion So that now the Unity of the Church was re-established and all the old Controversies thorow God's assistance were ended and whatever was erroneous and contrary to Religion dissipated and right Order restored which had filled all People with joy We do here send you that Letter of Eugenius which has been preserved entire and would likewise have sent you the whole Order and Power of the Pontifical Benediction had it not been so large a Volume it being bigger than the Book of Paul to the Gentiles the Nuncio's that brought these Papers from the Pope hither were Theodore Peter Didimus and George the Servants of Jesus Christ You would do well holy Father to command your Papers to be looked over among which it is like you will meet with some Records of these Matters You may see by this holy Father that if you should be pleased to write any thing to us the memory thereof will be preserved in our Archives thorough all Ages And happy is the Man whose Memory is preserved in the Records of the holy City of Rome the Chair of St. Peter and St. Paul who are the Lords of the Kingdom of Heaven and the Judges of the World and my believing them to be so was the cause of my writing these Letters to your Holiness that I may obtain your Favour and that of your holy Conclave and therewithal all sorts of Blessings and the increase of all good things I do furthermore supplicate your Holiness to send us the Images of some Saints namely that of the blessed Virgin Mary that by that means your Holiness may be frequent
with one that had ever heard of them before The Observances prescribed in those Books are as followeth 1. That we are to fast upon all Wednesdays in memory of its having been decreed by the Jewish Council upon that day That Christ should be put to death We are commanded likewise to fast upon all Fridays because Christ was crucify'd and died for our Sins on that day upon which two days we are commanded to eat nothing till Sun-set During the 40 days of Lent we are commanded to fast with Bread and Water and to be employed seven hours in the day in Divine Service by the same Edicts we are commanded to Administer the Sacraments in the Evenings of Wednesdays and Fridays because our Saviour expired at that time on the Cross We are furthermore commanded to assemble together unanimously on the Lord's Day in the Church three hours after Sun-rising to read and hear the Books of the Prophets and afterwards to preach the Gospel and Administer the Sacrament they have furthermore appointed Nine days to be observed as Festivities in honour of Christ to wit the Annunciation the Nativity the Circumcision the Purification or Day of Candles of Baptism of Transfiguration Palm-Sunday until the Octaves of Good-Friday which are twelve days of the Ascension and Pentecost with their Festivities according to these Books We are without exception to eat Flesh every day from Easter to Pentecost neither are we bound to fast till after the Octaves of Pentecost which is observed for the greater honour and veneration of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ they command us likewise to celebrate the Days of the Death and Assumption of the Virgin Mary with great honour But besides the Precepts of the Apostles a certain Precious John whose name was Zara Jacob ordained 33 days in every year to be kept in honour of the said Blessed Virgin and a day in every Month in honour of Christ's Nativity which is always the 25th of the Month and a day likewise in every Month to be observed in honour of St. Michael Furthermore in obedience to the said Synod of the Apostles we do celebrate the day of St. Stephen and other Martyrs and are bound by the Institution of the Apostles to observe two days to wit the Sabbath and Lord's-Day on which it is not lawful for us to do any work no not the least on the Sabbath-Day because God after he had finished the Creation of the World rested thereon Which Day as God would have it called the Holy of Holies so the not celebrating thereof with great honour and devotion seems to be plainly contrary to God's Will and Precept who will suffer Heaven and Earth to pass away sooner than his Word and that especially since Christ came not to dissolve the Law but to fulfil it It is not therefore in imitation of the Jews but in obedience to Christ and his holy Apostles that we observe that Day the favour that was shewed herein to the Jews being transferred to us Christians so that excepting Lent we eat Flesh every Saturday in the Year but in the Kingdoms of Barnagaus Tigre and Mahon the Christians according to ancient custome do eat Flesh on all Saturdays and Sundays even in Lent We do observe the Lord's-Day after the manner of all other Christians in memory of Christ's Resurrection But as we are sensible that we have the observation of the Sabbath-Day from the Books of the Law and not from those of the Gospel A Falsehood so we are not ignorant that the Gospel is the end of the Law and the Prophets On those forementioned Days we believe the Souls of the Just departed this Life not to be tormented in Purgatory which ease will be granted by God to them upon those two most holy Days until the term of their suffering for their Sins is expired and they are entirely delivered to the shortning and mitigating of which Torments we believe the Alms that are given for the relief of the Souls in Purgatory do contribute much towards the remission of which Souls the Patriarch grants no Indulgences The Abuna never grants any Indulgences which we believe belongs to God only and that he only constitutes the time of their punishment neither does the Patriarch grant Indulgences on any occasion The Gospel obligeth us to observe only the Six Precepts which Christ with his own mouth has explained as follows I was hungry and you gave me meat I was thirsty and you gave me drink I was a stranger and you entertained me naked and you covered me sick and you visited me in prison and you came unto me which are all words that will be spoke by Christ at the Day of Judgment For the Law as St. Paul says sheweth us our sins which Law without Christ The Habassins believe Original Sin none is able to keep Paul witnesseth likewise that we are all born in sin by reason of the Transgression and Curse of our Mother Eve Paul saith furthermore that we died thorough Adam and do live thorough Christ who of his infinite mercy gave us these Six Precepts that when he comes in Majesty to judge the Quick and Dead we may be saved With which Words and Precepts he will on the Tremendous Day of Judgment allot everlasting Glory to the Righteous and to the Wicked Fire and Everlasting Damnation We do reckon only five mortal Sins as they call them which are gathered out of the last Chapter of the Revelations where it is said Without are dogs and witches and unclean persons and murtherers and idolaters and every one who loveth and maketh a lye It is constituted by the holy Apostles Clerks may marry in the Book of Synods that it is lawful for Clerks to marry and that even after they have some knowledge of Divine Matters who after they are married are received into the Order of Presbyter to which none are admitted before they are 30 years of Age neither are Bastards ever admitted to it Holy Orders are conferred by none but the Patriarch and after the death of their first Wives neither Bishops nor Presbyters are permitted to marry a second time unless the Patriarch shall think fit to dispence with them which he does sometimes to eminent Persons and when it is for the Publick good Neither are they suffered to keep Concubines unless they do voluntarily give over officiating after which they must no more meddle with holy things and this is so strictly observed that the Presbyters who marry a second time must not presume so much as to take a consecrated Candle in their hands and if any Bishop or Clerk is found to have had a Bastard he is deprived of his Orders and all his Ecclesiastical Benefices and his Goods if he dies without Children lawfully begotten do all go to Precious John and not to the Patriarch That it is lawful for Presbyters to have Wives we have received from St. Paul who would rather have both Clergy and Laity
to him as a thing not feisable The Pope who at that time was Pius the Vth. believing what the Cardinal had writ to him in the Name of the King of Portugal dispatched the following Letters of Revocation to the Patriarch which the Cardinal took care to forward with all possible expedition To our Venerable Brother Andrew Oviedo Patriarch of Ethiopia Venerable Brother Health and Apostolical Benenediction c. BY Letters from our Beloved Son Sebastian The Pope's Letters of Revocation the Illustrious King of Portugal his Ambassador resident at our Court and by other Persons of good Credit we are informed That you having been sent by this Apostolical See into Ethiopia to reduce the People thereof to the knowledge of the Orthodox Faith have not after having spent several years therein been able by reason of the hardness of their hearts and their obstinacy in their ancient Errors to reap that fruit which might justly have been expected of your pious Labours whereas if you were employed in the Island of Japan on the Province of China Countries inhabited by Heathens and who at this time seem well disposed to receive the Faith of Christ it is to be hoped that with God's Assistance your Labours would be profitable in those parts where the Harvest is great and the Labourers are few We having been thus informed and being moved by brotherly Charity suffering together with you since there is no likelihood of your reaping that fruit where you are which might justly be expected from your great Labours and so long a Peregrination and finding our selves placed though without our Merits in this holy See and being sensible of our being debtors to all and by our Office bound to promote the Glory and Honour of Almighty God and the Salvation of Souls saluting you with the Charity of a Brother and having received ample testimonies of your Zeal and Affection to promote the Catholick Religion we do exhort you in the Lord and in virtue of holy Obedience and the remission of all your Sins Command you by the first opportunity you shall have of Sailing after the receipt of these our Letters to depart forthwith to the Island of Japan or China there to Preach the word of God according to the Doctrine of the Holy Roman Church who is the Mother and Mistress of all the Faithful and there to administer all the Sacraments which do properly belong to the Episcopal Function so as trusting in the Divine Mercy to endeavour to gain all the Souls you can to God and in order to the enabling you thereunto we do by our Apostolical Authority give you free leave and full power to exercise all Episcopal Offices in those parts or any other that have not a proper Bishop So as to moke use of all those Faculties and Indults which were granted to you by Pope Julius the IIId of happy Memory or by any other Roman Bishop our Predecessors with relation to the Kingdom of Ethiopia And we do likewise by the same Authority dispense with you so far that you may without any scruple of Conscience live and remain in the aforesaid parts unless there should happen to be more hopes of reducing Ethiopia to the Union of the Catholick Faith than there is at present Dated at Rome in St. Peter's and Signed with the Seal of the Fisherman on the 1st of February 1560. The Patriarch though Sick of Ethiopia The Patriarch is unwilling to return to the Indies yet seems to have had no great stomach for the China or Japan Mission which to speak the Truth was a hard imposition upon one of his years And so though in his Answer which is here subjoined he assures the Pope of his readiness to submit to all his Commands yet he sufficiently intimates that he was as willing to resign his Dignity and serve him or the Jesuits in their Kitchens as to keep it and carry it to China or Japan in which affair it is to be feared that the Patriarch's being a Spaniard was of no advantage to him it being the custom of the Portugueses when they have got any Foreign Friars among them in the Indies to put them upon the forlorn of all dangerous Missions as they did Oviedo on this and Father Peter who was likewise a Spaniard on that of the Second Habassin Mission as we shall see hereafter The Patriarch's Answer to the Pope Andrew d'Oviedo to Pope Pius the Vth. Most Blessed Father IN this present year 1567 His Answer to the Pope with some Letters from the College of St. Paul at Goa a Copy of an Apostolical Brief from your Holiness to me came to my hands wherein among other pious devout and holy things are these words We do exhort you in the Lord and in virtue of holy Obedience and Remission of your Sins do command you by the first opportunity you shall have of sailing after the receit of these our Letters to depart for the Island of Japan or the Kingdom of China And a little lower there are these words We do furthermore by the same Apostolical Authority dispense with you so that in case there is no hopes of reducing Ethiopia to the Church you may go into those parts and there remain without any s … ple of Conscience To which Apostolical L … no less than if I had received their original I prepared my self to yield obedience as it is fit just and healthful that we should at all times and in whole and in part obey your Holiness for in obeying you Most Holy Father we obey Christ the only begotten Son of God in whose place you are upon earth our Head and Father and the Master of all faithful Christians all the Indulgence Order and Power of the Church of Christ being derived from you to all others The holy Mother-Church of Rome whose Faith never did nor never will fail and who is the Mother and Mistress of all the Churches in the world and of all faithful Christians being continued in your Pontificate As to your having commanded me to go to the Island of Japan by the first convenience I have had no opportunity since I received your Commands and so am excused for not being gone neither in truth can I embark here with any safety there being a thousand Turkish Ships and not one Christian in the Port of Matzua at this time As to what is said of having any hopes of the reducing of Ethiopia I should quickly have such hopes could we but have Five or Six hundred Portugueses sent hither from the Indies according to what was agreed before I left Goa upon the advice they had received there of the obstinacy of the King of Ethiopia and which we have been now long expecting Were this once done I should not only hope to see Ethiopia quickly reduced but should be infallibly certain of it With which Troops we should not only be able to convert all this Empire but innumerable multitudes of Heathens also into whose
before us but so soon as our back is turned are making inroads upon us again For the destruction of this Enemy it is that we desire to have some troops from you with Artificers of all Trades and Fathers to instruct us that we may be of one heart and one body and that the faith of Christ which is destroyed by the hands of Infidels may be established and that there may be peace and love among us This was formerly desired by our Ancestors but it did not please God it should be accomplished in their times but the Turks who then hindered it may now with ease be driven out of the Island of Matzua for which reason we intreat your Holiness to recommend this our request to our Brother desiring him to comply therewith and to execute it speedily We do not trouble your Holiness with many words being well assured of your readiness to grant what we shall desire See that the Fathers you send hither be learned and holy that so they may be able to instruct us in whatsoever is necessary to our Souls I shall add no more a few words being enough to the wise The Emperor of Ethiopia's Letter to the King of Spain THE Letter writ by the Emperor Asnaf Segued cometh to our Brother Don Philip King of the Kings of Spain Peace be with your Majesty The Peace and Love of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Sign of the Holy Cross be always with your Majesty How is it with you As I returned from the War to the place where I was to reside all the Winter a certain Father whose Name is Peter Pays of whose Learning and Piety I had heard before came to visit me I was very glad to hear the account he gave of the state of your Majesty's Health and the welfare of your Kingdoms and did return Thanks to God for having given you such Prosperity that none of your Enemies are able to disturb it May our Lord increase the number of your Majesty's years and bring what he hath begun to an happy issue Hear Sir your Majesty is not ignorant that in the days of the Emperor Asnaf Segued when a certain Mahometan called Granhe invaded Ethiopia and destroyed all our Churches a Confederacy was concluded and confirmed by an Oath betwixt our two Crowns and that when my Ancestors sent to John King of Portugal for some Succors he sent us some which were Commanded by Don Christopher de Gama and which in conjunction with our Army Conquered that Mahometan The High and Mighty God who exalteth the humble and throws down the proud being our helper After which there was Peace and Quietness the force of the Mahometan who had not the fear of God before his Eyes being broken in pieces The Portugueses remained among us in great Honour wanting for nothing till the day of their Death as their Posterity do not to this day Wherefore we being Christians no less than our Ancestors and under the obligation of the same Oath we ought to have the same Enemies that is the Galls who destroy our Lands and who when we go against them with our Armies do run away from us but so soon as our back is turned do as Banditti make inroads into our Empire for which reason we do desire your Majesty to send us some Soldiers and with them your Daughter to be Married to our Son by which means our Alliance will be firmer and we shall be one Body and of one Heart Our Son is Seven years Old and your Daughter as we are informed is but Three so they shall be bred together with the milk of Wisdom and shall be taught the Holy Scriptures I do also wish that your Majesty would with your Troops send me Artificers of all Professions and that you would do it speedily that so being united in the Faith of Christ there may be Peace and Love betwixt us and that this Empire which is the Land of our Lady and of Christ our Redeemer may not be lost The Mahometans are extreamly Zealous for their Sect and do whenever there is occasion help one another and ought not your Majesty to do the same for your Faith which is above all As to what we write to you concerning your sending your Daughter hither you are not to think that we desire her for any other end than to establish an Alliance between us and that she may be a pledge of Peace for the future May God who can do all things fulfil our wishes Hear farther Brother in order to the establishment of our Affairs Do you send a Viceroy to the Island of Matzua and my General shall be at the same time at Arkiko on the Continent by which means we shall bridle the Power of the Turks and being Masters of those parts we will send our Merchants with all sorts of Goods and Provisions into yoar Conquests and will divide the Customs between us our Countrey is very Rich and wants for nothing and the reason why we have not hitherto sent any Merchants to these parts with Provisions of Honey Gold and Slaves is because we have a mind to pinch the Turks for whom we have no kindness but when your Viceroy is once come with his Portugueses we shall quickly send Merchants to them with all sorts of Commodities May our Lord God bring what we desire and what is grateful to your Majesty to a happy issue that so the Power of the Turk which is a great Stone of Scandal may be utterly broke It does not appear by these Letters that the Emperor was in such a violent fit of Zeal when he wrote them for a Roman Patriarch and for submitting his Church to the Pope immediately as he is reported to have been in when he delivered them to Father Peter for though in both of them he writes very earnestly to have the Infanta and some Troops sent with all possible expedition he does not say one word of his Church's submission or of a Roman Patriarch And in case Father Peter when he acquainted the Emperor with the Infanta's Age did to make his Court the better feed him with hopes of obtaining her for his black Prince it was no more than what his Countreyman Gundamore did here in England either with the same Infanta or her Sister and the restitution of the Palatinate It might have been expected that Father Peter now he had brought the Emperor to be a Bigot for Popery beyond what he desired should have stuck close to him till he had done the work and that no small matter should have made him to have left the Court where his presence was so necessary but whatever was the true cause of it the Father all of a sudden desires leave of the Emperor to go to Nanina a place two days journey from the Court pretending to be called thither by extraordinary business and when the Emperor Father Peter withdraws from Court upon a slight pretence who was very unwilling to part with
dead before his nomination arrived the Patriarch was nominated by the King of Portugal to the Archbishoprick of Goa which Dignity he did not live to take possession of having departed this life on the Twenty ninth of June before the arrival of the Fleet by which the nomination was sent He died in the Seventy Seventh Year of his Age having been Sixty Three Years a Friar of the Society of whom though his Brethren the Jesuits have wrote great things the poor Ethiopick Church might justly apply to him what Moses's Ethiopick Wife said to him in a passion Thou hast been an Husband of blood to me Basilides having by a total extirpation of Popery out of his Empire Basilides having extirpated Popery recovers most of his lost Provinces quieted the minds of his Subjects set about recovering the Provinces his Infidel Neighbours had during the Habassin broils about Religion tore from his Predecessors and was so prosperous in his Wars as to regain most of them having if Morad the Habassin Ambassador at Batavia did not stretch extended his Empire Northward to the confines of Nubia and Southward to Hadea the people of which Kingdom were converted by him to the Christian Faith Basilides having Reign'd Two and Thirty Years After a happy Reign of Thirty Two years is succeeded by his Son Aelaf Saged was after his Death succeeded by his Son Aelaf Saged in the Year 1665. Aelaf swayed the Ethiopick Scepter Fifteen Years without doing any thing that was Memorable only having heard of the greatness of the Dutch power in the Indies he sent one Morad an Armenian his Ambassador in the Year 1672 to the Governor of Batavia Aelaf dying in the Year 1681 Aelaf is succeeded by his Son Adjam Saged the present Emperor of Ethiopia was succeeded by his Son Jaso Adian Saged who sent Morad a Second time to the Governor of Batavia in the Year 1689. The account Morad gave of his Master was That he was exceeding tall of Stature had a fierce Countenance and was very brave and wise and of indefatigable application to business and as to his affairs both at home and abroad he affirmed them to be in a most flourishing condition The Letters of those Embassies together with the Dutch Governors answers to them are published by the great Mr. Ludolphus at the end of his Commentaries as are also the Answers which were given by the said Ambassador to the Questions which that Learned Person had sent some Years before to the Indies for which I refer the curious Reader to that Learned Book A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE Dominican History of Ethiopia Composed by Father Lewis De Uuretta a Dominican and Printed at Valentia in the Year 1610. IN the Year 1316 Eight Dominican Friars with a Holy Sister Santer'd from Rome to Jerusalem where having Visited the Holy Sepulcher taking Bethlehem in their way they went down into Egypt and from thence to Ethiopia and having there Learned the Language of the Countrey perfectly in a few days they begun to preach to the Astonishment of that whole Empire confirming the truth of all they taught by Miracles Prester John the Emperor hearing of those wonderful Preachers sent to bid them welcome into his Empire and to let them know they had free liberty to build Convents enough therein to hold all Europe and to exercise their power of Inquisitors upon all his Subjects and that he would allow them all the same Privileges and Immunities that they enjoy in the Latin Church The Fathers overjoy'd at this news begun presently to make use of the liberty that was granted them and having penetrated Six Hundred Leagues into Ethiopia they came at last to the Lake of Cafates on the other side of the Equinoctial where the head of the River Nile riseth where upon the Mountains of the Moon and in the Kingdom of Gojam and among the Caffres and in the Provinces bordering on the Cape of Goodhope they built several Convents filling them all presently with Friars of their own Order most of which came afterwards to be as famous for their Learning and Piety as they were for their Miracles but the topping man of all those Novices was one Tecla Haymonot the only Child of King Sacasab and Queen Sarah who having wrought divers Miracles in his Infancy when he came to be a Man preferred the Dominican habit to a Crown and came afterwards to be the Chief Glory of his Order having had the Honour done him whenever he said Mass to have the Wafer and the Wine brought down from Heaven to him by an Angel and whenever he went to any City to Preach he was constantly attended by all the Lyons Tygers Wolves Snakes and Serpents in the Neighbourhood who never left him till he dismissed them with the blessing for which they all expressed themselves very thankful and who having founded a Monastery for Nine thousand Dominican Friars obliged the Devil to do all the servile work thereof for Seven Years which he did alone so exactly that the Convent has never been so well served since which made an Emperor when he was told of it say That Tecla Hamonot was to blame for not having made the Devil serve the Convent as long as it stood While the Friars were thus employed the Holy Sister was not idle who as if she had intended to have taken the Emperor at his word built a Monastery wherein she placed Five Hundred Dominican Benta's of the third Rule This great Nunnery was at first called Bado Nagh but at this time Santa Clara the History of all which Convents is to this day curiously Painted in the Cloisters of the Plurimanos whither any who are so unreasonable as to doubt of the truth of them may go and be satisfied The Monastery of Plurimanos in which there are Nine thousand Dominican Friars was founded by Tecla Haymonot It is four Leagues in Compass and hath Eighty Dormitories which have all the great Church at one end and the Refectory at the other Some of these Dormitories have One hundred and twenty some One hundred and fifty and some Two hundred Cells Every Dormitory has a particular Chappel and Library belonging to it The great Church is Six hundred paces long and so it had need since all the Friars repair to it together on Sundays and Holidays The Second great Dominican Convent in Ethiopia is that of the Allelujah which was built by Bartholomew de Tiroli a Dominican Friar who was Consecrated Bishop of the City of Dangola at Rome it has but Seven thousand Friars who on high Days Dine all together in the Refectory From these two Convents there are vast numbers of Missionaries sent once a year to Arabia Bengala Siam Pegu and China as also to Congo Monopatata and the Cape of Goodhope by some of which Missionaries the King of Congo and Angola was Baptized in the Year 1580. These Missionaries do all return home at Whitsuntide and our Historian being sensible that