TAKLA HAYMANOT, SAINT

Saint Takla Haymanot (circa 1215-circa 1313), a semi-legendary figure, established the first monastery in Shawa, thus opening a new period of evangelisation in Ethiopia.

PHOTO CAPTION: Takla Haymanot, Saint. SOURCE: EA Library

He was born at Zorare in Tsilalish, a district on the western edge of the Shawa plateau, a place now called Etisa. He was descended from a family of Christian immigrants who had settled in the region more than ten generations earlier. His family is said to have had a long clerical tradition, and his father, Saga Za-‘Ab, is said to have been a priest. His mother was Egzi Haraya.

Takla Haymanot was first educated in Shawa where he is said to have been made a deacon. He then went north to join the island monastery recently established by lyasus-Moa in Lake Hayq. He was made a monk by lyasus-Moa, and spent about ten years studying under the learned abbot of Dabra Hayq. He then left for Tegré, apparently to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, but he could not, and settled at Dabra Damo, the original school of Iyasus-Moa. Here he increased his knowledge of the Scriptures and of church traditions, and acquired great monastic prestige. A small group of followers seem to have gathered around him. After 12 years in Tegré, he returned to Shawa, via Hayq.

Despite the existence of small isolated Christian communities in the central plateau, Shawa was still predominantly unconverted at that time. On his return to Shawa, Takla Haymanot began to preach in the unconverted area. Many disciples joined him, and in about 1284 he finally settled at Dabra Asebo (to be known as Dabra Libanos from the 15th century on-wards).

Takla Haymanot’s community soon developed into an important center of Christian teaching which was carried on by his disciples further afield in the regions to the south and west of Shawa. Most of the monastic communities in Ethiopia derive their origin from him, and are collectively known as the House of Takla Haymanot.

Because of his remarkable contributions as the “New Apostle” of Ethiopia, and particularly since the post-15th-century emergence of Dabra Libanos as a major politico-religious center, there are many apocryphal stories about Takla Haymanot. Of these the most significant concern his alleged role in the dynastic change of 1270, when the Zagwé dynasty was deposed, and Yekuno Amlak ascended the throne.

TADESSE TAMRAT