Howard Divinity School returns sacred Ethiopian manuscript to Orthodox monastery

Source: Religion News Service

January 20, 2016

    

A delegation from Howard University Divinity School has returned an ancient manuscript to an Ethiopian monastery after scholars discovered its place of origin.

The manuscript contains two texts, the Acts of Paul and the Acts of Serabamon, and is part of one of the largest collections of Ethiopian sacred artifacts in the U.S. The manuscript was owned by the late Dr. Andre Tweed, a prominent psychiatrist and Howard alumnus who donated it in 1993.

Alton B. Pollard III, the school’s dean, said the manuscript was returned on Jan. 11 to the Debre Libanos monastery, which is about two hours away from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital. A crowd of several thousand was on hand as dignitaries formally received the manuscript, which will be housed in a glass case and be available for the public to touch once a year on Jan. 11, the date of its return, he said.

Pollard said the centuries-old books are sacred to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and are distinct from the Book of Acts in the New Testament. They describe the work and life of the Apostle Paul and the lesser-known story of Serabamon, a martyred bishop in the early church who was named a saint.

The manuscript dates to the 15th century. It formed part of a larger collection housed at Howard’s divinity school, and intended to connect “peoples of African descent the world over with Christianity as a religion of African peoples well prior to the trauma caused by the mass enslavement and colonization of Africa’s people,” Pollard said.

Gay Byron, a New Testament and early Christianity expert at the divinity school, was one of the first to recognize that the document should be returned, but it took years to pinpoint its exact place of origin. The discovery was made in the cataloging process after the manuscript was digitized.

George Fox Evangelical Seminary professor Steve Delamarter, another researcher involved in the process of returning the manuscript, said it is one of the oldest surviving Ethiopian manuscripts and especially meaningful for the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

“Their artifacts are for them enormously significant and there’s been a few such cases where institutions outside of Ethiopia have returned things to them and they’ve been enormously grateful for that,” said Delamarter, director of the Ethiopian Manuscript Imaging Project, who joined the Howard scholars in Ethiopia last week.

He said the just-returned Tweed manuscript was ordered by the 15th-century abbot of the monastery, who was the indigenous leader of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church at the time.

“They’re very, very rare works,” he said. “I don’t know of any other manuscripts that contain these two apocryphal Acts of Paul and Serabamon.”

Howard delegation members hope their visit to Ethiopia will encourage others to return sacred documents to their original sites.

“With all due institutional integrity, we wanted to set an example for other schools, museums and institutions around this country and even throughout the world for what it means to have rare manuscripts actually in their rightful home of origin,” said Byron.

In recent years, Delamarter has helped turn over a psalter that was once owned by an Ethiopian emperor to a museum in the East African country and a book of the four Christian Gospels once used by an Ethiopian empress to the patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

Comments
GJ5/28/2023 1:49 pm
Thanks for the information and clarity. Now we know Christianity isn't a so called white man religion. And that Christians existed way before slavery. Christ Jesus is Lord.
Josiah9/2/2021 10:55 am
I need ethiopian bible
Editor9/14/2020 4:02 pm
James Bennett: We apologize for not answering your question last year. We are not really qualified to answer those questions--perhaps some of our readers would have more educated answers to your questions.
James Bennett9/13/2020 7:02 am
Hi,on 7/11/19,I wrote a message to you all inquiring about the Ethiopian Bible,its,been over a year and I have yet to hear from you all,please respond back as soon as possible,thank you,...blessings.
Anthony 5/10/2020 5:06 pm
Please In the name of our lord Jesus Christ i need the copy of it in English please
Luci12/6/2019 5:23 pm
I so appreciate this information and believed that the Ethiopian Eunuch returned to his country with the Good News. They (the oppressors) have crafted sooooo many untruths, that have caused the “chosen” great harm. I am so grateful that YAH is revealing truth to His people in these last evil days. I would love to have a copy of the Ethiopian Bible, but cannot read or translate the language. Is a copy possible? Shalom.
Hailemariam Moges11/25/2019 2:46 pm
There are also lots of original manuscripts out of Ethiopia that the world researchers should do further investigation to return to it's origin's place. Thank you Dr. Andre, Howard University, and members!
Samuel ndungu kagotho11/23/2019 3:36 pm
Great work
Odessena Brown7/11/2019 3:51 pm
Thanks for sharing this news. I would love to have an older Bible, one in which is most original and authentic.
James Bennett7/11/2019 8:24 am
I would like to know what is the most authentic version of the Holy Bible.I read about the
Jerusalem Bible,now I,m reading about the Ethiopian Bible and of course the King James version,which one contain all the Books and don,t leave anything out?also do the Ethiopian
Bible show the real color and hair texture of the ancient Biblical characters,is their a
picture of how Jesus Christ really look?finally what are your thoughts on Afro Americans as well as the rest of the African Diaspora being the ancient Hebrews spoken of in the Bible,especially in Deut;28 dealing with blessings and curses.do you know of any authentic Hebrew Israelite groups in the Greensboro,NC area.thank you for your time and information on this matter,may God,s blessings continue to be upon you all in more ways than one spiritually,soulfully and physically.
Germa Alem 5/2/2019 9:37 am
Thanks Howard university for being great example. The first Christian is a black jandereba going to Jerusalem with queen hendeke. Jandeba baptized by Philip. 300 B.C.
Veronica Àsh4/28/2019 6:43 am
I need the old bible
Chris Downey 1/21/2019 8:09 am
So how much Literary Destruction has been perposely done in Translating this Bible into English..?
Denae9/22/2018 9:41 pm
I like to know why is it that pictures show in the bible is always white people with blonde hair and blue eyes? And not dark skinned people. Why is this?
Eddie A Green5/25/2018 7:41 pm
I whould like to thank you all for sharing this information with us. My question to you all is,why is it that Black People have to be last in everything that is mentioned? When we were one of the first Human Bean,Beam,Being Created by GOD Himself,(AMEN-RA),(YHWH),RL(TORH),LR(HORT) on Earth. With the Knowledge to Serve and to Worship Him. It was given to Man by AMEN-RA GOD Himself. Knowledge Of Reproduction,Geometry,Trigonometry,Astrology and host of other things.(Yeshua) is the Name Jesus in Hebrew. (Yeshua) was translated with English word Salvation. The world knows who we are. It's time we knew who we are and woh we belong to. The Book of ENOCH and The Book of Jasher. (NIKKUD) Masorsfrom.
Rev. Daryl J Seay5/10/2018 9:59 pm
I would love to read it. Is there a copy in English?
Adrian Charles Mcleish3/24/2018 10:57 pm
How can I have a copy
Alex Jagadish Mallick1/22/2018 6:49 am
I would like to Read very old Bible which one is 1 St on earth, please help me in the name of our God who is in Heaven. Thank you
Patricia Hamilton1/18/2017 3:05 am
How could I get a Ephiopia Bible
Milkiyas1/7/2017 4:43 pm
The Howard Divinity School return of Ethiopian sacred Ethiopian Manuscript to Ethiopian Orthodox Church shows the great concern of the school to keep the Biblical ancient history in the given country. This shows how the School walks on the Spirit of Almighty God and reveals the oneness of God's people.

What a Divine work is done by Divinity school is alive now and for the Generation to come.

God's Blessings to all of us.

Mother Elizabeth7/2/2016 5:05 am
These Ethiopian documents gave further testimony to the oral traditions carried to the Americas by those forced into bondage and slavery. Music tradition of America is formed by these past Christian experiences from the African Continent. The Bible was internalized by the slaves who then created songs to sustain themselves in these abusive situations.

Contrary to White Protestant thinking that they, "the white folk" taught the non Christian blacks the Bible. The white group by dismissing the Black Christian origins then built a case for their enslavement on falsehoods of being non Christians. These documents are further evidence of the Christian heritage known to many who were enslaved and sold to Christians in America who disregarded their languages and culture. Glory to God for this important work and the Howard University involvement.

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