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Ge'ez ግእዝ Mysteries Haile Selassie I - Testimonies

Ethiopian Wise Kidane Welde Keflie Ge’ez-Amharic Dictionary – 1955

From a very important Ge’ez-Amharic dictionary, printed under the imperial government in Ethiopia, in 1955, and written by Aleqa Kidane Weld Keflie. At the beginning of the book we find the picture of the King with a short Ge’ez composition:
ቀዳማዊ፡ሐፄ፡ኀይለ፡ሥላሴ፡
ንጉሠ፡ነገሥት፡ዘኢትዮጵያ፡
ኢይፈቅድ፡ይንግርዎ፡
ግእዞ፡ለሰብእ፡ግእዝ፡
እስመ፡ለሊሁ፡የአምሮ።
Qedamawi Hadziè Hayle Selassie
N(e)guse Negest ZeItyoppya
Iyfeq(e)d Yn(e)g(e)rwo
G(e)(e)zo LeSeb(e) G(e)(e)z
(E)sme Lelihu Yeamro ::
His Majesty Qedamawi Hayle Selassie
King of Kings of Ethiopia
Doesn’t want that one would tell Him
the Coscience of Men Ge’ez
For He Himself knows it ::
It is a literal adaptation from the Ge’ez Bible, from the Gospel of John 2:25 speaking about Christ:
ኢይፈቅድ፡ይንግርዎ፡ግዕዞ፡ለሰብእ፡እስመ፡ለሊሁ፡ያአምሮ፡ለሰብእ።
Iyfeqd Yngrwo G(e)(e)’zo LeSeb(e) (E)sme Lelihu Yaamro LeSeb(e) ::
which King James Version translates in this way:
“And He needed not that any should testify of man: for He knew what was in man.”
He knows the conscience of man (that is another meaning of Ge’ez, like the word used for the language) and no one shall educate HIM in this respect. By this statement, the ethiopian scholar is attributing to His Majesty the same supreme wisdom of Christ.
Categories
Ethiopian Orthodox Church

Triune Fasting

Trinity of Fasting
ይጹም፡ዓይን። Ytzum Ayn / The Eye shall fast
ይጹም፡ልሳን። Ytzum L(e)san / The Tongue shall fast
እዝንኒ፡ይጹም፡እምሰሚዓ፡ሕሡም። (E)zn(e)ni Ytzum EmSemi’a H(e)sum / The Ear too shall fast from hearing vile things.
Categories
Spiritual Poetry

Learn and Teach

“It is not enough for the children of Ethiopia to be recipients of education. They should never forget that the responsibility for passing on this knowledge to others and of handing it over to the next generation rests on them.”
(Selected Speeches p.8 )
“Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”
(Deuteronomy 11, 18-19)
Don#’t be wise
with yourself only
share the light
if you have something
to do it right
for your brethren
how much might
received in schooling
now should write
return the service
teach your eye
reciprocate it
with another guy
kingdom in shaping
especially the child
youths need aiding
heritage to refine
a quality of races.
Categories
I&I Rasta

Ganjah Tree of Life, Healing of the Nations

“Herb is the healing of the nation. In Revelation, it shows you that the leaves are for healing of the nation. It’s found in the midst of the vineyard, in the midst of Zion. It’s called the Tree of Life. And Rastafarians analyze this Tree of Life as herb, as the ganja, because it has so many qualities. It’s the king of plants. It has all the qualities that every other plant has, and it has qualities that no other plant has.”
Ancient Ras Bunny Wailer, Interview with Roger Steffens, 1994
Categories
Visional Artworks

Ras Daniel Heartman Artwork

Prepared for the visit of His Majesty in Jamaica, on April 1966.

Categories
Haile Selassie I - Testimonies

A.Morrison, “Ebony” Magazine, Chicago USA – 1963

Ebony, U.S. Magazine
Chicago, December 1963
“Emperor Haile, standing in New York hotel suit where he granted exclusive interview, is also called King of Kings, Conquering Lion of Judah, Elect of God and Defender of the Faith. A newsman who met the Emperor in Africa once observed: ‘When he turns those eyes on you, you get a funny feeling like you were going to melt’.”
(…)
“If there is such a thing as a ‘kingly air’, the Emperor has it”, observed an important U.S. State Department official who accompanied the five-foot-four monarch on his eight-day U.S. visit”
(…)
“On a cool October morning, Emperor Haile Selassie fulfilled in part the biblical prophecy that Ethiopia shall one day ‘stretch forth its hand…’. On that occasion, the little man who for one dramatic hour in 1936 became the conscience of the world, extended the hand of brotherhood to 20 million Americans of African descent, urging them to have faith in their future as free men and to press on with their current struggle for freedom until it is won. He also urged American Negroes to recognize their stake in Africa’s fight against colonialism.
The Emperor’s eight-day state visit (his second) to the United States stirred images that still lingered after 27 years, images of a bewhiskered monarch astride a white stallion leading barefooted Ethiopians against the invading Italian army. Ethiopian spears dueling Italian machine guns. Rocks challenging aerial bombs. Flaming patriotism versus poison gas. And Emperor Haile Selassie pleading to the League of Nations for aid and accurately predicting that Ethiopia’s fall would be a bell tolling the death of the League.
The events of 1935-36 haunted Emperor Selassie during his visit to Philadelphia, Washington and New York, flitting in and out of his talks with President Kennedy and other Americans. (…)
This was my second meeting with the legendary King of Kings. The first confrontation had taken place in 1961 in the richly-ornamented study of his gilded palace in Addis Ababa. (…)
My second meeting was more brief. Emperor Selassie displayed a remarkable composure under rapid-fire questioning and was prepared to continue the interview indefinitely if his schedule had permitted. He apologized for closing the interview, explaining that New York City had arranged a ticker tape welcoming for him and he ought to be there for it. (…)
“Emperor Selassie is the 225th head of the world’s oldest independent state, a 3000-year-old nation that, as one observer put it, ’emerged when England and France were unconceived and the United States inconceivable’. But while contemplating his nation’s extended past, the 72-year-old monarch does not lost sight of the present.”
Categories
Haile Selassie I - Teachings

His Majesty’s Message to the American “Negro”

“We can never forget the help Ethiopia received from Negro Americans during the terrible crisis of 1935.
American Negroes showed great sympathy for our cause and extended the hand of brotherhood to us. This was our great hour of need. It moved me to know that Americans of African descent did not abandon their embattled brothers, but stood by us. The ties that bind Ethiopians to Negro Americans are historic and strong. I hope that these ties will persist and will be strengthened to our mutual advantage.
We follow with the greatest interest the struggle of the colored people of the United States to achieve equal rights and human dignity and we continue to follow the progress of that struggle with intense pain and pleasure.
Pain because colored people in America experience inequality and persecution, pleasure because of the efforts now being made in the United States by Negroes themselves and by the government to restore the freedom, rights and privileges to the colored people which have so long been denied them. We hope for and will continue to work for the speedy and satisfactory solution of the racial problem in the United States. We want our colored brothers in America to know that we are with them in their great struggle for justice.
We in Africa desire success in this struggle. I personally reaffirm our basic unity of purpose. What we Africans and colored Americans seek is identical. We both desire dignity and freedom and an end to oppression and discrimination based on color.
Discrimination violates fundamental human rights, it violates the laws of God and also the laws of man. I cannot emphasize too strongly the importance this problem of racial discrimination has in my mind. I believe both the Eastern countries and the Western countries will have to collaborate to remove this problem which is the scourge of mankind.
I am pleased to note that President Kennedy and his government are making great efforts to solve the racial problem.
We would like to see more colored Americans come to Ethiopia to work and help our people develop our country and improve the standards of living of our population. They can render valuable assistance. Our doors are open. Unfortunately, few Negroes have come so far, but they will be warmly welcomed.” #QHS
Categories
Ge'ez ግእዝ Mysteries

Study Orthodox Faith through the Holy Language

“From those times to this, various books both of spiritual and material profit have periodically been compiled and written in Ge’ez. We remember with deep gratitude those fathers of old who, as time and opportunity allowed, worked with much care and labour and have left us books for the preservation of the Faith and for the increase of learning and knowledge.” #QHS
Ge’ez Books are to preserve the Faith. You nurtured yourself with enough english theology, now it’s time for all those seriously engaged in such studies to get the Original Source.
Categories
I&I Rasta

Jah No Dead

INTERVIEWER: “What do you think happened to Selassie and his family?”
TOSH: “Nothin’ ado Emperor Haile Selassie I Man, Igziabeher, Amassagana, nothin’ can do him. He’s the Allmighty. What you hear is what you hear.”
INTERVIEWER: “But somebody came into his country and took over and cut off the heads of his family members and destroyed his regime.”
TOSH: “Well them cut off the heads of some of them and them kills plenty and them kill many people too. But then again that is what the people asked for, seen. The people was tired of the monarchy of his Imperial Majesty and wanted to be or was influenced by Westerns what they call civilization, or western way of life, seen. And many of them wanted that so Jah gave them what they wanted and now that they are suffering the consequences of influences then they are beginning to call back His Imperial Majesty and remembering the good old days when those things never use to happen. Seen, administers of propaganda spread many dangerous public mischief on Emperor Haile Selassie, seen, and we know them all but they cannot hide because they cannot tell themselves no lie, neither can they invent destructive weapons to destroy those who speak the truth because we attack them from the heart. (strums guitar) this time (laughs) seen. So when a guy thinks a well him safe, it’s right into your heart (strums).”
Ancient Ras Peter Tosh,
Interview with Doug Wendt, San Francisco 1983
Categories
Haile Selassie I - Testimonies

Chicago Defender, December 15 1923

“ABYSSINIA KING TOILS ON ROADS WITH SUBJECTS

American Missionary Saw Ras Tafari Lugging Stones for Mending of Roads.
His royal highness, Ras Tafari, king of Abyssinia, is not above going to a rock pile and carrying stones to mend a road, and doing so with the humblest of his subjects, according to Dr. Thomas Lambie, an Amerian medical missionary at Addis Ababa, Abyssinia. (…)
The king of Abyssinia has just given the site to erect the first modern hospital in his kingdom. (…) The medical missionary wrote that in his mind the stone carrying incident revealed ‘an unusual spirit on the part of an eastern king’. He said he thought this was a good illustration of the Bible command, ‘bear ye one another’s burden and so fulfill the law of Christ’. (..)
‘When we got to the race track I noticed a big crowd of people coming along (…) Some very great man is riding out today, I thought to myself. (…) Yes, it most centrainly was his highness Ras Tafari himself, the ruler of Abyssinia. He saw me at the same time I saw him. We both raised our hats and I attempted to dismount from my horse that I might do him honor before his men. Over the heads of the crowd he smilinglu motioned me not to do so and passed on.
His Majesty Bears His Burden
(…) Everyone was carrying a stone on his shoulder. They had gone to Kugbana river and each had picked up a great stone and was carrying it back to mend the road in preparation for the rainy season which will soon be upon us. Yes, the ruler was with them: but surely he would not have to carry a stone. No, he would not have to, but nevertheless he was doing so. And as I saw him going out to do some menial work, as an example and to encourage his people, the words quoted above came to my mind. <<Bear ye one another’s burden and so fulfill the law of Christ>>.
Dare anyone criticize and say, <<better to hire some one to do this work than to give his valuable time to such service>>. Abyssinia is not America or England. Our Lord in coming to earth might also have used different methods. He might have come as a ruler on an ivory throne, a place He was lifted to occupy as David’s greater son: instead, however, He washed His disciples feet. The servant should not be greater than his Lord.
And so I saw the ruler of Abyssinia, going to the rock pile and carrying stones to encourage his men, I felt he was doing a very great and kind service to them and to the country. He was teaching them not to be ashamed to work. I personally believe he is the hardest worked man in all this country. From morning until night he is engaged in seeing people, in giving judgment between disputants, and in a thousand and one duties that daily press upon him as the ruler of this great land, so that his friends tell me that he often has a tired and worried expression. In one sense he is the ruler of all, in another sense a servant of all.
An officer said that he did not ask anyone to do a work that he was not willing to do himself. (…) He has some who hinder and prevent him in his own country, and some of his greatest difficulties arise from the type of Europeans who come to this country, but I feel that a ruler who shows this spirit of willingness to help and willingness to serve will overcome all difficulties and will with patient effort place Abyssinia alongside of the great countries of the world.
Here is a lesson for each one of us. Do not set another to do something you think yourself too great to perform. Share their burden with them and thus you bear the burden for them.”