The Communal Monastery of Dabre Zemeda
May 11, 2015
The communal monastery of Dabre – Zemeda is found in North Wollo Zone of the Amhara Region in Kobbo district (kebelle 031). The church is found in the valley of a natural cave which is located between the two chains of rugged mountains that extend from the North-East to a South Eastern direction (in the Western part of Rayya1).
It is bordered by Wessan Maryam (in the North-West), Wakkat Michaʾel (in the East), and Giyorgisoch (in the North). The monastery is about 612 km distance from Addis Ababa and the condition of the road that covers 585Km (from Addis Ababa to Wajja.) is an asphalted high way and the remaining 27kms is graveled road which is around 6 hours walk in the westerly direction from Wajja2.
According to the hagiography of Abune Bertelomewos who founded the monastery, the monastery has a very long historical background related to the flight of St. Mary with St. Joseph to Egypt and their coming to Ethiopia. As we read in the Gospel, St. Joseph fled to Egypt with St. Mary and her Son after a visit by the wise men from the East because they heard that king Herod intends to kill the infant of that area. In the Gospel according to Matthew read as:-
“Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the LORD appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His Mother, flee to Egypt and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy HIM” when He arose He took the young Child and HIS Mother by night and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod.” (Matthew 2:13-15).
Along with this Biblical event, the hagiography of Abune Bertelomewos associated and narrated the coming of St. Mary to Ethiopia specifically to the monastery of Dabre – Zemeda.
“ …ወይእቲኒ መካነ እግዝአትነ ማርያም
ዘወሃባ ወልዳ አመ ተሰደት በምድረ ግብፅ
ወአመ ዖደት ብሔረ ኢትዮጵያ
እንዘ ይብል ትኩንኪ አስራተኪ ዛቲ ዓፀድ…
…and that is the place of our Lady Mary which her Son gave her during her flight to the land of Egypt and while encircling the country of Ethiopia saying “that yard will be for your tenth…” From this line of tradition, therefore the place was holy ground before it became a monastery.
Who is Zemeda?
According to the tradition of the monastery, there was a man whose name was Yonas who lived together with his wife (Zemeda) and his relatives by breeding the horned cattle in his home and lived in Wollo in the jungle area of Lasta in which different kinds of plants were grown, and is found bordering the two provinces of Rayana kobbo and Wag under the province of Lasta.
…….. ወስማ ለይእቲ ብእሲት ዘመደ ማርያም፡፡
ወትነብር ውስተ ጽላሎተ እብን፡፡ወሞተ ምታ
ወትነብር ዕቤርተ ምስለ ውሉዳ ወብዙኅ ንዋያ…..”
…..and the name of that lady is Zemede Maryam. And she lived under the shadow of the cave. But her husband died and thus she lived as a widow with her children and (with her) much property.
As indicated above, GOD predicted and promised Zemeda to be the promise land of St. Mary. In due course, when the prophesied time reached, the patriarch of the time, Ya ‘aqob sent Abune Bertelomewos with the Ark3 of St. Mary to the place; and when Abune Bertelomewos reached there through the guidance of the HOLY SPIRIT, he found Zemeda under the shadow of the cave with her children and went into retreat to the yard to ask GOD where he should put the ark. At that moment the angels, Michael and Gabriel in the image of elders asked Zemeda to leave the cave, but she refused them saying:
“…አይቴ እበዕሕ ወኃበ መኑ አሰምክ… ወሐኒፀ ቤትኒ ኢይትከሀለኒ
ብእሴየኒ ሞተ ወደቂቅየኒ ንዑሳን ወንዋይየ ብዙኅ….”
….Where will I go (reached to)? And to whom shall I dwell? …. and I have no ability to construct a house. My husband had died and my children are little and my property is too much.
After this dialogue, the lady decided to spend the night there. Then, in the mid night Zemeda with all her property was found miraculously out of the cave with her cattle and settled in to another place, the so called “Siol meda”.
… ወአንበረታ ላዕለ መርኅበ ሲዖል ወሶበ ነቅሐት እምንዋማ
ደንገጸት ወትቤ መኑ አምጽአኒ ላዕለ መርኅበ ሲዖል
ወበእንተዝ ተሰመይ መርኅበ ሲዖል ውእቱ መካን እሰከ ዮም…..
…And she put her on the plain of Si’ol (Hell), when she woke up from her sleep, she was frightened and said “who brought me unto this plain of Si’ol?” Hence, this plain is named the “plain of Si’ol” until today.
When she woke up suddenly from her nap she recognized later on as she was exposed to a severe cold and mighty wind and said “who brought me to this “Siol meda” (plain of Hade). After her word unto now is the place known by the name “Siol meda”. This may be due to its harsh climatic conditions. Later when she regained her consciousness, she went to her former place to Abune Bertelomewos and asked him forgiveness, telling of how she made a fault unknowingly and asked him to name the place by her name and the saint forgiving her named the place Dabre Zemeda after her name to remember Zemeda.
Heritages of the Monastery
The monastery of Dabre Zemeda also contains numerous heritages. Among those tangible heritages are the following:-
• More than two hundred a sixty parchments which were written in Ge’ez and some of them are the rarest MSS which are scarcely to be found in other churches of the country.
• A number of Tabots (arks) of different saints, JESUS CHRIST and St. Mary.
• The staff and hand cross of Abune Bertelomewos
• The staff of Abune Yohennes and St. Selome
• The icon of St. Luke
• The holy water that gushed out under the sepulcher of Abune Bartelomewos which healed different patients
• The stone that suspended in the air without trap by the anathema of Abba Bä’ama though now it touched the land due to the growth of the soil.
• The Corpse of Atse Na’od and some early Abbots of the monastery
• Miraculous tree which is one in its upper part and three in its root (that is done to rebuke Abba Endryas to his refusal of nomination to be the successor of Abunä Bärtälomewos).
The Icon of St. Luke
The Icon of St. Luke: – it is the sacred representation of the Virgin Mary holding her child JESUS CHRIST which many churches all over the Christian world latter on copied. It is part of church tradition that the Evangelist Luke painted the first Icon of the Mother of GOD during her life time. According to the tradition of the monastery, the icon entered to Ethiopia with the original right hand wing of the True Cross of JESUS CHRIST during the time of Dawit (1382-1413) and then transmitted from king to king up to Atse Naʾod4; and Atse Naʾod had given the icon to the monastery due to his close contact with the Abbot of the time, Abba Yohannes.
It is also believed that the icon made numerous miracles in different times, as written in her Book of Miracle (Te’ammere -Mariam), and she spoke like a man and her face shone to indicate the bright future or dimmed to forecast the dark future. According to the tradition, the Evangelist St. Luke was a talented painter as well as physician. There is a composition of Ethiopian church music that described St.Luke:-
"ሰላም:ለሥዕልኪ:እንተ:ሠዓላ:በእዱ
ሉቃስ:ጠቢብ:ዘእምወንጌላውያን:አሐዱ”
Salutation to thy Icon, which wise Luke,
one amongst the Evangelists, painted by his hand.
Foot Note:
1 The term Rayya refers to the elderly (Hangafa) Oromo group which spear headed the early movement and settlement in the whole area of Rayya – Rayyuma. Since Rayya was a successful vanguard group, the name came to be used as a reference to soldiers or warriors of the Oromo in the Oromo language. Gradually it became a place name after the early historical activities of Rayya clan in the process of Oromo expansion in the northern direction (Agezew Hidaru (2000:12).
2 A small town located half way between Kobbo and Alamața and that serves as a boundary using the big river Gobbu between the two current regional administration of Amhara (northern wollo) and Təgray (southern tip).
3 The ark known by the name Etsube-kullenta (roughly means which looks very beautiful) interview with Abune Bertelomewos of Dabre Zemeda, the former bishop of Awasa diocese.
4 He is the king of Ethiopia who ruled from 1494-1508. Traditionally, he is believed to be the composer of Melke’a Maryam. He prayed to die before the entrance of the eight thousand years of the world (i.e. 5500 B.C+ 1500 A.D= 7000, which is the beginning of the 8th millennium) in the believe of Biblical thoughts; (Matt. 24:10-11) that in this period; many will be offended, and will hate one another; because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold which is the sign of the end of the world (Ezra Sutuʾel 2:36; 6:5, Deuteronomy 4:2; Psalm 76:5) (Afäwärq Täkle 1997 pp.427). And he died in Nehasie 7(August 13), in the eve of the eight thousands in the day of Tsensäta and Sellasie (the 8th millennium began in the year 1500 AD).
Source:
- Kassa Nigus, 2004 E.C. Historical and Philological Analysis of Gadle Bertelomewos. (Unpublished MA Thesis, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.).