Ethiopian Christian Heritage has almost 24 Gospel manuscripts, like full-page illuminations. The orthodox church started in the 4th century when King Ezana was a ruler.
He was the first King to adopt Christianity as the main religion of the Aksum people. As the Aksumites expand their territory, they also spread Christianity all over their neighboring kingdoms. The Aksum had power, and they were very respected as they knew how to trade with the Europeans and Asians. They were very influential.
The full-page manuscript was created at a monastic center in the fifteenth century. It’s still alive until now. It has 178 leaves bound by wood covers. The manuscript has all the scenes ranging from early Christian life and their portraits. The Coptic church is behind the production of this manuscript. Nowadays, the prototypes are in various local expressions.
Some images found symbolized their ability to paint models. Also, some texts have been transformed, and they are not in their original Greek formats. The linguistic language of Ethiopians Ge’ez is the dominant transcription in this manuscript. It was the national language of Ethiopians in the ancient days.
Christ’s appearance as he descended into heaven is clearly shown by the red circle on the frames. Four beasts surround the frame. The Apostle and holy Mary images are below other people. It’s a single artist who managed to represent the whole pictorial on the manuscript. The body articulation and facial features can tell that it’s only a single artist who worked on this project. Mary, the mother of Christ is placed at the center which showed she had much power over the rest of the people in the world. The Aksumites were praying through her to take their problems and descend them upon the Lord. Some apostles have pointed upwards symbolizing where their help was coming from. Almost 12 apostles can be seen clearly.
The Amhara people were very creative in designing all the related images on the same page. Acacia was among the hardest trees. They believed it could support the manuscript for many centuries. Tempera and ink were modern-day pens, used to draw and write text.
The dominant colors preferred were red, green, blue, and yellow. These colors have been respected, and even modern manuscripts are written using similar colors. During the lurtigical procession, the pictorial was viewed by every Christian in the Kingdom.
The orthodox church respected the Gospel too much because it carried the holy text of Christian life. It’s only the wealthy patrons who can afford it. They use it to gift the church during special days. The importance of benefactors is represented by elaborate ornamentation. The text showed the erudition of some monastic creators in Ethiopia.
It was until the sixteenth century when the Islamic religion started finding its way to Ethiopia. They went ahead to destroy most works of Christian art. Even though some manuscripts could not survive the wrath of Islam today, researchers go through hard moments trying to collect a variety of remains to make a full manuscript.
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