Categories
Ethiopian Orthodox Church Visional Artworks

The Prophets of Old That Did Not Die – Enoch Elijah and Ezra

According to Ethiopian Tradition, only three prophets of old never tasted death: Enoch (top right), Elijah (top left) and Ezra (bottom right). As it was written:
“And now abideth Faith, Hope, Love, these three; but the greatest of these is Love.” (I Corinthians 13:13)
Enoch is also interpreted as Faith, Elyas is interpreted as Love, Ezra is interpreted as Hope. Elyas is thus considered the greatest of all them, and therefore he has been summoned to witness the Transfiguration of Christ on Mount Tabor, representing the Prophets together with Moses.
It is said about them in the traditional book of “Zienà Elyas”:
“Halie Luya to the Father, the scales (ladders) of Enoch (the science of language) that He has concealed from the face of death; Halie Luya to the Son, the chariot of Elyas that made him ascend to the heavens. Halie Luya to the Holy Spirit, the bridge of Ezra that made him quit from death unto life.”
On the bottom left we have Elisha, one of the three disciples of Elyas (together with Jonah and Obadiah), that asked for the double of Elyas’s spirit and received accordingly, through his cape, that Elyas threw at him while ascending to heaven, as it is depicted here.
Categories
Ethiopia in the Bible

The Book of Henok

According to Ethiopian Tradition, in the beginning of humanity there was no written word, and the first prophet and father, Adam the Ethiopian, gave his prophetical teaching orally only, without writing any book.
The first to receive the gift of Scripture and the knowledge of the Letters, and therefore to be the first scribe ever, was Henok the Ethiopian, heir of Adam the Ethiopian as sovereign of the earth, that came through the 7th generation of men.
The Book of Enoch is the first form of literature that has been manifested among human beings, and chrologically it is the first Book of The Ethiopian Bible. In fact, before the books of Moses, two scriptures were given to Mankind: the Book of Enok and the Book of Yob, son of Esaw.
In Jubilees 4:16-18 it is written about Enok:
“he called his name Enoch. And he was the first among men that are born on earth who learnt writing and knowledge and wisdom (…) And he was the first to write a testimony.”
Therefore, according to the Ethiopian Tradition, the Bible, i.e. the Word of the God, constitutes the first Book of Humanity, pre-dating any other human book, Egyptian or whatever. That’s why Emperor Haile Selassie I stated:
“We regard the Bible above all other books”
The Book of Enoch has been excluded by the biblical canon of all the Christian Churches of the earth, except the Ethiopian Orthodox. The integral text of the book is kept in Ethiopic Ge’ez only. We know that he was considered as canonical by many important apostolic fathers of Church, even latin ones (like Tertullian, that wrote a specific apologia about it), and it is explicitly mentioned and quoted by the Apostle Jude (1,14-15) – brother of the Lord as son of Joseph from his previous marriage – like a part of the Bible he knew and recognized at that time:
“And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.'”
This passage was literally taken from Enoch 1:9. Indeed, the book of Enok is quoted several other times in the Gospels and in the words of the Apostles, and it is the main and oldest apocalictic reference of the Revelation of John about the “millennium” of the royal kingdom of the Messiah upon earth, described in Revelation chapter 20. With the romanization of faith and the politically motivated refusal of the doctrine of millenarism (that was considered dangerous for the stability of Roman kingdoms), the book of Henok suddenly disappeared, like the prophet himself, about whom it is written: “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found” (Hebrews 11, 5).
The presence of this Book within the Ethiopian Canon declares the Ethiopian Bible as the only complete version of the Bible, and also the oldest. On the contrary, the absence of the first book of the Bible in any other biblical tradition proclaims it guilty, as it is written:
“And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” (Revelation 22,19)
Enoch was taken by God and translated into heaven, to see the ark-typical ark-anes by which Egziabhier created everything, i.e. the Letters. He therefore learned the Science of the Ladders ( ሰዋስው Sewas(e)w ), as we call the vocabulary Book of the Ladders. It is the same concept of the scales for musical theory, like a tool to go up and down in expression and declension of semantics.
Henok was the son of the patriarch Yared, whose name means “comes down”, from the ge’ez verb “Werede” ወረደ. As it is written in Jubilees 4,14:
“and he called his name Jared; for in his days the angels of the Lord descended on the earth, those who are named the Watchers”.
The Book of Enoch explains the backstory of the deluge, when the Vigilant Angels came down upon the earth and taught secret magic knowledges to the people, that went crazy and corrupted their customs. The Vigilants also took human women and had sex with them, procreating the monstrous forbidden hybrid of the Giants, therefore forcing Egziabhier to exterminate everyone except 8 souls, the family of Noah, grandson of Henok.
In a time when the rebellious angels were to teach magical and hidden arts to the immature mankind, because of His Holiness Henok has received the secrets of the Supreme Art of Word, that he knew in the fullness of its states: Thought, Spoken, Written. Through this Original Creative Art, Egziabhier created the world; through this Ultimate Martial Art, Egziabhier will destroy the world.
The existence of the Book of Enoch, that was Ethiopian in race like the first man, only among the Ethiopians, only in Ethiopian language, confirms that the original language of Adam, spoken until the Tower of Babylon, was ethiopian, and only through Ethiopian Tradition we can acquire that original knowledge, as it written:
“For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring mine offering.” (Zephenya 3,9)
Henok is also known by the Egyptian culture as “Tut” the first scribe, having the shape of an Ibis, because of his long peak like a pen. The muslim people recognize him as Hanuk or Idrissa. Idrissa recalls the name by which He is known among the Greek, “Hermes TRISmegistus” (Thrice Great).
Categories
Spiritual Poetry

He Lives in the Shadow

Ancient of Days
covered under
the wings of age
like prophet Enoch,
the first scribe
ethiopian to write
de-scribe pre-scribe
kept in a secret
pavillion,
where no eyes
discretion
earthly garden
of delight
keeper of an art
which is fine
and major,
indeed He rules
still now
the high
and the low
the fast
and the slow
even the abyss
He santified
below
in session,
Jah RastafarI
disapparition
again beyond
the veil
of holy shadow
as it was
in the beginning
He’s hidden
eva since
right now,
who shall dwell
a concealed
Zion manor ?
A scriptural
question
can’t answer wise
who knows
Jah Maryon ?
Who may go
behind
to search
His mind ?
Finding none
in the church
of Estifànos,
really
the King liveth
in the most occult
place or everywhere
unknown
to come
when camera is blind
quiet the soprano,
Melchisedek
brings diamonds
you get
the outcome
of your virtues
and vice
as He knock
the door
Judah Lion.