Tag: #ethiopia

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Haile Selassie I - Life and Works

From the Official Introduction to the Selected Speeches of H.I.M. – 1967

“The history of modern Ethiopia is being compiled by the activities and events that take place each day in the nation’s supreme and sustained drive for progress in all fields. As Head of State, the prime mover and the driving force in this drama, the public utterances of His Imperial Majesty are, in many respects, a mirror of these activities and or the events that determine the course and tempo of Ethiopia’s development.
On the 75th Anniversary of his birth, it seems proper and fitting to record some of the most important of these utterances made on the many occasions that merited public statements from His Majesty the Emperor during his lengthy, brilliant and devoted service to his country and people.
It is impossible to include all of the Emperor’s pronouncements in one volume. It is hoped, however, that through those reproduced herein, the reader will get a fair picture of His Majesty’s thoughts and ideas that have provided the centrifugal force of his thirty-seven years as Head of State and of the preceding years of, his early appearance on the scene as national leader of Ethiopia.
These speeches, some of them excerpted, in the variety of occasions for which they were intended, as well as in the many subjects on which they deal, portray the breadth of the Emperor’s vision. They detail the persistence, the determination and the unflagging drive with which he pursued the application of “modern Ethiopianism” to which history cannot fail to testify.
The Emperor’s idealism, coupled with his insistence on transforming his country, both on the domestic and international fronts, his courage in the face of adversity, his unchallenged perspicacity, his keen sense in evaluating world events, his unfailing respect for principles, and his abiding faith in humanity – aspects of all of which are found in his public utterances – should make this volume a ready-reference to certain phases of the history of modern Ethiopia.
As the central figure in the renaissance of the nation after its five years of trials in the late I930s, His Imperial Majesty’s vital and indispensable leadership has played a distinctive and decisive role. His appearance before the League of Nations and his impassioned plea for justice for Ethiopia and all small nations and for international morality still remain a classic example both of the breadth of his vision and of a profound comprehension of the foibles of international life. Subsequently, despite the failure of the League of Nations to live up to its covenant and the gruelling distress that both the Emperor and his country suffered as a result, Ethiopia, under his leadership, was among the first nations which, at San Francisco in 1945, built the United Nations on the ashes of its predecessor, the defunct League of Nations.
In these pages will be found expressions of the spirit and the faith that animated the Emperor in this lofty role in international politics.
His primary motivation – that of raising the standard of living of the Ethiopian people and restoring the ancient stature and glory of his nation – runs through the theme of the majority of his public utterances. In them can be clearly seen the inseparable impulse of his whole career. This dedication was amply exposed as he spoke to his people and the world in the speeches contained in this book.
Although an ardent reformer, Emperor Haile Selassie is no iconoclast. Thus, he has advanced the policy of ‘modern Ethiopianism’ a philosophy which he has put into practice from the earliest years of his public career. The Emperor, addressing the nation on the 24th Anniversary of Ethiopia’s victory over aggression, said: ‘Ethiopia is an ancient land and her civilization is the result of the harmonious alchemy of the past and the present and upon which we confidently build for the future. This heritage is the bed-rock of modern Ethiopia. In it the people have chosen to distil from the past that which is useful and enduring, to adapt those worth-while attributes of our present-day world and to fashion this modern Ethiopianism – the foundation of our social order that has served so admirably the purpose of the nation’s steady advance’.
An absorbing interest in youth has characterized the Emperor’s entire public career; and is infinitely more than just a formal, enlightened paternalism. It is grounded in the fact, so frequently expressed by him, that his Ethiopia is built around the future. Haile Selassie I will go down in history as a leader whose concern for posterity has been both avid and constant. He has always kept close to the people and in particular to the nation’s youth in whom, as the speeches herein illustrate, he places immeasurable faith and confidence.
His Imperial Majesty’s constructive influence has been particularly effective in Africa’s political emancipation. Recalling the days when Africa was a sea of colonialism to the emergence of the Organization of African Unity, Haile Selassie I has been both a symbol and a pillar of strength to Africa as its people fought progressively for their ultimate liberation from colonialism. Today he still stands four-square behind the cause of the complete freedom of the continent in which Ethiopia is the oldest sovereign state.
His Imperial Majesty’s faith in divine providence is a built-in factor in his personal armory. Institutionally, he is ‘Defender of the Faith’, and history will most certainly assess his era as the one in which the Ethiopian Church succeeded in, winning its independence and autonomy after centuries of tutelage under the Alexandrian Patriachate. In times, good or bad, the Emperor’s abiding faith in the Almighty seems to have been both harbinger and fortress, it being rare for him to make any public utterance without calling on divine guidance and acknowledging publicly his thanks for God’s beneficence.”
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Haile Selassie I - Testimonies

U.S. President Harry Truman (1945-1953) – Message to His Majesty

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Haile Selassie I - Testimonies

Nelson Mandela, Conversation with Richard Stengel

Nelson Mandela, Conversation with Richard Stengel about meeting Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia
“That was an impressive fellow man, very impressive. It was my first time to watch…a head of state going through the formalities… the motions of formality. This chap came wearing a uniform and he then came and bowed. But it was a bow which was not a bow – he stood erect, you see, but just brought down his head…then…took his seat and addressed us, but he spoke in Amharic…Then, at the end of the conference, he saw every, each delegation…and Comrade Oliver Tambo asked me to speak for our delegation, to speak to Him And I explained to Him very briefly what was happening in South Africa…He was seated on his chair, listening like a log…not nodding, just immovable, you know, like a statue…The next time I saw Him was when we attended a military parade, and that was very impressive, absolutely impressive. And he was then giving awards…to the soldiers; everyone who had graduated got a certificate… A very fine ceremony – a very dignified chap – and he also gave medals. There were American military advisors and groups of military advisers from various countries…And so he gave medals to these chaps too. But to see whites going to a Black Monarch Emperor and bowing was also very interesting.”
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Ethiopia - Land, People and Customs

Biblical Musical Instruments – ቀርን Qern – The Horn

These are the trumpets that have shaken the foundation of Jericho.
The people of Ethiopia is the true Ilected Seed of Israel.
Blow the horns on the day of the new moon ::
On the marked day of our feast ::
For this is the ritual of Israel ::
And the deliberation of the God of Jacob ::
Psalm 80/81
Glorify Egziabhier in His holy ones ::
Glorify Him in the strenght of His power ::
Glorify Him in His capacity ::
Glorify Him according to His much greatness ::
Glorify Him by the voice of the horn ::
Psalm 150
Ge’ez : ቀርን Qern
Latin : Cornu
English: Horn
Archetype of the trumpets. Elephant it trumpets.
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Haile Selassie I - Prophecy

The Lion of Judah Banner

“And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people. To it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.”
Isaiah 11:10
“Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah.”
Psalm 60:4
“We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners: the LORD fulfil all thy petitions.
Psalm 20:5
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Ethiopian Orthodox Church

Ethiopian Epiphany – Timqet ጥምቀት

Melkam Timqet LeKwelkemu
Today 11th day of the Ethiopian month of Ter ጥር, January 19 for the western calendar, the Ethiopian tradition celebrates its Christian Epiphany, which however has nothing to do with the Latin interpretation of the holiday, theologically incorrect and commercialized with pagan distortion.
In fact, we do not celebrate the visit of the Magi or Three Wise Men, which instead took place on the occasion of the birthday of the Lord, two years after his birth, and which is therefore celebrated on the same day as the Orthodox Christmas (7th January).
Epiphany means “manifestation” in Greek, and is translated into Ge’ez with the term “Asteryo” አስተርዮ, which also reveals the unmistakable Semitic construction of the latin/english words “Star” and “Astral”, literally what it shows itself, appears and makes itself seen, from the geez verb Reeye ርእየ “To See”. It is the public manifestation of Christ’s messianic authority, which took place with His baptism by the hand of John the Baptist, in the Jordan River, and it also marks the beginning of Christ’s public ministry as the Father’s High Priest. The feast is therefore also called “Timqet” ጥምቀት, Baptism.
The Lord was baptized at the age of 30 and began preaching, teaching disciples and apostles and administering the sacraments ever since, for 3 years until His crucifixion. In fact, Adam was created in the beginning as a thirty-year-old man, therefore in the age of full male biological maturity, to which Christ reconnects to present himself as New Adam and New Father of Humanity, and to qualify his work as a New Creation of cosmic purification and renewal.
“Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbad him, saying, ‘I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?’ And Jesus answering said unto him, ‘Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness’. Then he suffered him.” (Matthew 3:13-15)
Christ gets baptized in the same manner of sinful men, by hands of a sinful man, despite He had no sins to be washed away. It is thus manifested the mystery of the Perfect Humanity of the Lord, by which he must fulfill all human righteousness, Perfect God and Perfect Man together and in the same time. As a Perfect Man, he is a creature like us, subject to the Law of God, and as such he must accomplish all the things of man in an exemplary way. It is quite curious that certain orthodox people attack Rastafari vision because of the sacraments Haile Selassie I has received as an ordinary faithful, thus they show to ignore the same orthodox christology they pretend to defend.
“And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’.” (Matthew 3:16-17)
Here, on the other hand, the mystery of His Divinity and of His Triune Nature is revealed: The Father is pleased in the Son, and crowns him through the Holy Spirit in shape of a dove, which descends and overshadows the head of Christ.
The Lord thus received Baptism through complete immersion in the river, and the Ethiopian Church still baptizes only by completely covering of water of the body of the faithful, unlike the Catholic Church, which bathes only only a small point of the faithful’s forehead, thus administering a ineffective rite which is contrary to any doctrinal logic.
Baptism as a sacramental christian practice is allegorically prefigured by the ablutions of water prescribed by Moses, for the purification of human bodies and things:
“And whosoever toucheth any thing that was under him shall be unclean until the even: and he that beareth any of those things shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.” (Leviticus 15:10)
The Lord had also promised through prophet Ezekiel (36:25):
“Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.”
And prophet Micah too (7:19), he spoke about this mystery:
“He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.”
The Baptism of the Lord was also prophesied by David in the Psalm 76/77:
The waters have seen you O Lord ::
The waters have seen you and feared ::
The abysses of waters quivered; and their waters resounded ::
And again, in Psalm 113/114:
At the time when Israel came out of Egypt ::
And the house of Jacob from the enemy people ::
And Judah became His sanctuary ::
And also Israel His jurisdiction ::
And the sea also saw and fled ::
And also the Jordan turned back ::
The mountains jumped like rams ::
And also the hills like lambs ::
What’s up, sea, that you fled ? ::
And you also Jordan, that turned back ? ::
Mountains, that you jumped like rams ? ::
And you also hills, like lambs ?::
The earth was shaken before the face of Egziabhier ::
Before the face of the God of Jacob ::
Who has made the rock as springs of waters ::
And the flint like cisterns of waters ::
Immediately after baptism, the Lord received the anointing of the Holy Spirit, what is called in the West “Confirmation” or “Chrism” (in Ethiopian language “Mieron” ሜሮን) and which was biblically administered with olive oil to elect Kings or High Priests in Israel. Through this, the charisma of the Holy Spirit is communicated to the Anointed One in seven forms, which allows the faithful to preserve the grace acquired through baptism, just as the ointment after bathing allows the body to keep its cleaness and health. It was in fact written:
“A scepter will come out of the root of Jesse, and cause the fruit to rise from his trunk. And he will make the Spirit of Egziabhier rest upon him, spirit of wisdom and knowledge, spirit of power and counsel, spirit of understanding and justice. The spirit of the fear of Egziabhier will fill him”
(Isaiah 11, 1-3)
The Ethiopian Church administers this sacrament immediately after baptism in a single inseparable rite, according to that Christological model, and the Roman custom shows itself to be profoundly corrupt and senseless in this too, administrating the unction much later from the baptism and separating what God has united.
Here, then, the first two verses of Genesis and of the Bible itself come to mind:
“In the beginning God made the heavens and the earth. But the earth was naked and was not defined, the darkness was above the abyss, and the spirit of Egziabhier overshadows the waters.” (Genesis 1:1-2)
And again, after the flood of water in Noah’s time:
“And the dove returned to him towards evening; and behold, it had a fresh olive leaf in its beak. So Noah understood that the waters had diminished upon the earth.” (Genesis 8:11)
Hence we have the same symbolic physiognomy of the creation with Adam, and of the renewal of creation with Noah, indicating that Christ was beginning on that day to make all things new, a new life.
According to traditional ethiopian books, the dove corresponds to the lamb among the birds, both symbols of purity and innocence, and to the olive tree among the vegetable plants, which blooms as white as the sheep’s coat. It is the symbolism of the tribe of Levi (O-Live), the Lamb, to which the Old Covenant reserves the priestly power, and to which Christ belongs through the mother of the virgin Maryam, Hanna, of the tribe of Levi, and related to Elizabeth, mother of John Baptist: he was priest of the tribe of Levi and officiant of this Divine Rite. The Lord is thus elected High Priest of the Father according to the Law of Moses, fully authorized to administer the sacrifice of Himself, the Lamb who would wash away the sins of the world.
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Babylon

No Vex Sin

The last masterpiece of Ras Ed Jones.

Trust in the Most High King and you will protected from this biting Dragon.

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Ethiopia in the Bible

The Paradise of Adam

Ethiopia is the first country – still recognizable by its biblical name on our atlases – mentioned in the Bible, and this quotation occurs in its very first pages, those that describe the creation of the world and man, the origin of everything, the GENESIS.
In Genesis (chapter 2, 10-13), describing Paradise (“Gennete Edom” ገነተ ኤዶም, “Garden of Eden”, in Ge’ez), the prophet states: “And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.. “
According to Genesis itself, chapter 10, Avila is nothing more than a daughter of Ethiopia, and therefore a region contiguous to Her and under Her.
It is also written in Genesis 2,8: “And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.” Scripture is therefore describing the Oriental Africa, the Nile Valley in its two main ramifications (White Nile and Blue Nile) as the original heart of the First Earthly Kingdom, where God has placed the progenitors of the entire human race, Adam and Hewan, and the primeval home of mankind.
About this mystery, His Imperial Majesty said to Oriana Fallaci: “Ethiopia has existed for 3,000 years. In fact, it exists ever since man first appeared on earth.”
This is scientifically confirmed by all the archaeological and paleontological studies, which lead back to Ethiopia both the first hominid (Lucy, the Australopitecus Afarensis, called in this way as it was found in Afar, an Ethiopian region) and the oldest homo sapiens (from, coincidentally, the OMO Valley, in Ethiopia). Recent studies have also shown that Ethiopia contains all the genetic heritage of humanity and is therefore its natural historical origin. Both evolutionists and creationists must acknowledge Ethiopia as its GENESIS. Check the following pictures, with a scientific article about this, from an italian major newspaper, “La Repubblica”.
“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground” (Genesis 2: 7). This passage indicates how the very essence of man, of every man who originated from Adam, is drawn from the land of Edom which is his same name, that is Ethiopia. We thus speak of the “Ethiopianess” of human nature, as a universal and basic racial concept for the knowledge of ourselves as one human race. This is why the prophet Jeremiah states:
“Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?” (Jeremiah 13:23)
Thus admitting that the Ethiopian skin is natural for the human species, as well as the spots for the leopard, and that it is an essential and eternal trait of man, way higher than the absolutely changing and relative concept of pigmentation and complexion.
“In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: (Genesis 3, 19). From which soil was man taken, to which one he will necessarily have to return? Repatriation to Ethiopia sounds as inescapable and inevitable as death itself, in which we will be brought back to the black womb of the earth, since we come to light from the black womb of our mother. It is the much celebrated “Return to Earth” of these last times, as well as the necessary return to the black root that we visualize every day into our black sleep.
From the Christological point of view, this implies that Christ Himself, in his character as the Universal Father, Perfect Man and substitute of Adam for the purification of humanity from the sin committed, must be Ethiopian, in all respects equivalent to Adam:
“For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. (…) The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. (…) And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
(I Corinthians 15)
In fact, in the beginning Adam was created in the same image of God. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him” (Genesis 1, 27). Differently from western theology, Ethiopian theology teaches that even invisible spirits can have an image (Araya አርአያ), and Egziabhier got an Image, and on that Image Adam was created. In the first chapter of the Ethiopian Book of Mystery of Ghiorghis of Gasecha, this holy doctor shows how God biblically has hands, ears, feet, face, arms, and Adam was created in this likeness, both in his spirit and his body.
If Christ is “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature” (Colossians 1,15) therefore He must have the same exact image of Adam the Ethiopian, created in the likeness of an Ethiopian God.
Therefore, in view of the incarnation of the only Person of the Son in Christ, Jah said: “Behold, man has become like One of Us”. (Genesis 3, 22)
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Ethiopia in Western Culture

Homer – The Iliad – 1

The divine glory of Ethiopia is clearly expressed in the “Iliad” of the greatest greek poet, Homer.
In Iliad Book 1 verses 423-425 Tethis speaks with Achilles her son, and suggests him to not join the war, and to wait few days the return of Zeus, that was not available at that time and could not help him:
Ζεὺς γὰρ ἐς Ὠκεανὸν μετ᾽ἀμύμονας Αἰθιοπῆας
χθιζὸς ἔβη κατὰ δαῖτα, θεοὶ δ᾽ἅμα πάντες ἕποντο
δωδεκάτῃ δέ τοι αὖτις ἐλεύσεται Οὔλυμπον δέ
“Zeus went yesterday to Oceanus, to the blameless Ethiopians for a feast, and all the gods followed with him; but on the twelfth day he will come back again to Olympus”.
Zeus, the head of all the greek gods, had the habit to spend his holydays in Ethiopia, to join Ethiopian banquets and feasts and cut off the rest of the world business for 12 days.
The coming down of Zeus in Ethiopia is an image of incarnation and coming of Christ.
Oceanus was also a Greek Divinity, he was traditionally represented with dark complexion and recognized as an Ethiopian (attached picture), and in the same Iliad (XIV, 201), Homer said about him:
Ὠκεανόν τε θεῶν γένεσιν / Okeanòn te Teòn Gènesin
“Oceanus the Genesis of the Gods”. Therefore, Ethiopia was declared as the original motherland of life.
The Ethiopians were “blameless”, and the Gods especially loved their sacrifices, their celebrations, their company. Therefore, they were declared by Homer as Chosen People of holiness.
That’s why the goddess Iris, again in the Iliad (XXIII, 205-207), is invited to join a greek feast, but she prefers the Ethiopians:
ἣ δ᾽αὖθ᾽ ἕζεσθαι μὲν ἀνήνατο, εἶπε δὲ μῦθον:
οὐχ ἕδος: εἶμι γὰρ αὖτις ἐπ᾽ Ὠκεανοῖο ῥέεθρα
Αἰθιόπων ἐς γαῖαν, ὅθι ῥέζουσ᾽ ἑκατόμβας
ἀθανάτοις, ἵνα δὴ καὶ ἐγὼ μεταδαίσομαι ἱρῶν.
“But she refused to sit, and spake saying: ‘I may not sit, for I must go back unto the streams of Oceanus, unto the land of the Ethiopians, where they are sacrificing hecatombs to the immortals, that I too may share in the sacred feast.’ “
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Haile Selassie I - Testimonies

Uk Evening Express, 17th of January 1941

“HAILE SELASSIE – PROPHET

It was a lovely night, the skies were blue and the moon shone with rare brilliance. I had the unique honour of listening to the Emperor Haile Selassie in his modestly furnished reception room in the ancient city of Bath.

How prophetic of the Black Emperor that he should choose Bath for his residence in Britain – a city made famous by the Romans for their baths.

It was in June of the last year, before Benito Mussolini, the destroyer of Abyssinia’s freedom, declared war on Britain.

The world knew nothing about the plans and intentions of the Emperor when he told me that:

‘The hour of my country’s liberation is coming and you will see me soon leaving this country.

Don’t think that I was wasting my time here pushing my bicycle on the streets of Bath all these days. My faithful rasses all over the country were carefully knitting a net of revolutionary activity, keeping the people informed about my doings here and their duty to their motherland.

I have received definitive news from Ras Kassa that my people are awaiting my arrival in the country with expectancy.

I will not rest until the last Italian is driven away from my country. I live and I die for the liberation of Ethiopia. I am confident that in less than a year I will ride on my snow-white charger at the head of my people and enter Addis Ababa.’ “