Mauricio Lapchik

El pasaje de la santidad entre la Jerusalén en Palestina a la Nueva Jerusalén en Etiopia va a ser el tema central de este estudio. Mi objetivo es analizar los hechos y acontecimientos históricos que dieron paso a las reproducciones arquitectónicas de Jerusalén en Etiopía, más específicamente en Aksum (siglo VI) y en Lalibela (siglo XII).

Asimismo, intentaremos explicar como la inestable situación política, tanto en tierras etíopes como en Tierra Santa – enfocándonos principalmente en el período que va desde el siglo XI al XIII – dieron paso a la construcción de uno de los complejos arquitectónicos más sorprendentes del continente africano, como lo es Lalibela.

It is my objective to reconsider – and hopefully, to redefine – the centrality of the identity of this strange and foreign figure that stood in Philip’s way from Jerusalem to Gaza. I will rely on the commentary provided by the Jewish Annotated New Testament and compare it with other analyses [mainly written by modern scholars] concerning this episode. It is my intention to prove the close connection between the significance of this character and Isaiah 56:1-7. In this opportunity, I will not focus solely on his condition as a eunuch, but rather in his affiliation to the sons of the stranger (בְנֵ֣י הַנֵּכָ֗ר).

There are two main questions which are essential to understanding the role of this story within the context of the Book of Acts. The first is related to the identity of the Ethiopian eunuch: why this picturesque legend regarding the conversion of this foreign character was considered and analyzed as an apologetic story but not in its ethnical-racial context?

Secondly, the question of whether the description of the eunuch as an Ethiopian was relevant – or at least meaningful – for the Greco-Roman world or, rather, it was another act of conversion and that the Ethiopian eunuch’s ethnic background is irrelevant.  Or in other words, what has it meant the integration of an Ethiopian as a convert in the eyes of Luke’s readers? According to Saint Augustine’s Exposition of Psalm 67, “Ethiopia believes in God”  (“Aethopia credet Deo”). Now, however, it is our turn to leave aside the generic term Ethiopia, and to the extent possible, we shall reconsider the identity of the Ethiopian as a particular term.

Moses the Black was, undoubtedly, the most prominent ‘Black Monk’ in Late Antiquity, whose fame spread far from the desert of Scetis,  and was regarded as a model of Christian virtue. Also known as the Ethiopian Moses, this figure was one of the most prominent desert fathers. His life and sayings were preserved in four ancient sources, where he is characterized as an ideal monk: Palladius’ Lausiac History (c. 420); Sozomen’s Ecclesiastical History (c. 443-448); the Apophthegmata patrum (early 6th century); and in the Acta Sanctorum (10th century).

The story of Moses is a story about a Black man, who possessed a high degree of devotion and repentance. His skin and his negative past symbolized a kind of imperfect existence, which is polarized to the ideal ascetic religious life. Moses the Black, who used to be a robber and – probably – a murderer, symbolically, ceased to be black. He was able to abandon his blackness, and as it was demonstrated, to reject his nationality, by escaping from his ethiopianess and ‘washing himself white.’ If ascetic life is the wisest choice for an Ethiopian, why it would not be for a non-Ethiopian?

Plotinus was one of the more respected but less understood figures of his times. Throughout this paper, we will analyze two aspects of this highly influential philosopher.

On the one hand, we shall focus on Porphyry’s portrait of Plotinus as an ideal sage and a paradigm of philosophical perfection. Porphyry’s Life of Plotinus, for example, should be seen rather as a hagiographical work than a biography. According to Porphyry’s Vita Plotini, his master lived a divine life by attaining and possessing every possible virtue.

The second aspect which will be discussed in this paper was Plotinus’ mystical doctrine. The purpose of Plotinian philosophy is to unite oneself with the One, which is above all intellection. By reviewing the Three Hypostases [namely the One, the Intellect and the Soul], we were prepared to explore one of the most popular aspects of the legacy of Plotinus: the Mysticism and the Mystical Union with the One.

In the course of this work, I will introduce and compare some notions regarding Nietzsche‟s attitude towards the Old and New Testament, by relying mostly on excerpts from his works.
Subsequently, I will carefully analyze Nietzsche‟s approach to the New Testament by focusing on three salient points: Firstly, Nietzsche‟s interpretation of Jesus and the confrontation between Dionysus and the Crucified. Secondly, I will focus on Paul‟s role in the development of Christianity according to Nietzsche, and the importance of his idea concerning eternal damnation and immortality for the successful spread of the Christian faith. Lastly, particular focus will be devoted to Nietzsche‟s approach towards the Gospel according to John, which explicitly differs from his position concerning the synoptic gospels and the rest of the writings that are part of the New Testament.

The particular passage of the sanctity from Jerusalem to the "country of Ethiopia", it is extensively depicted in the Kebra Nagast, the Ethiopian national epos. I will focus on the relationship and tensions between the Ethiopian Empire regarding the Ethiopian presence in the Old Jerusalem, and the continued efforts in order to build and establish a New Jerusalem – or a second Jerusalem – but this time on the African continent. In this context, the objective of the present paper is to study and analyze the historical facts that have contributed to the Abyssinian reproduction of Jerusalem, first in Axum and later in Lalibela. In addition, I will try to describe why and how the reproduction of a New Jerusalem, especially in Lalibela, changed the status of the Old Jerusalem under the perspective of the Ethiopian Christianity. Lastly, I will deeply analyze the political circumstances that led to the construction of this huge enterprise, namely the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela.

One of the most important turning points of the research on the Ethiopian national epic, namely the Kebra Nagast, was the discovery regarding the connection between this central work and the Syriac Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius, written at the end of the seventh century. The Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius was an early Christian response to Islam and to the Arab conquest, which reflects the significant impact of the Arab invasion. The Apocalypse, which partly relies on Psalm 68:31, affirms that the Byzantine King, rather than the Ethiopian King, will assume the role of the eschatological savior of the Christendom. The Pseudo-Methodius was promptly translated into Greek, and from Greek into Latin, soon after its circulation in the Syriac Christian world at the end of the seventh century.

In this paper, I will analyze and describe the link between the Ethiopian national epic and this Syriac Apocalypse, following Shahid‟s approach which dates the Kebra Nagast as a sixth century work, originally composed in Coptic. In addition, I will discuss the influence and status of the image of the “Ethiopian Negus”  for the Syriac Christianity of the seventh century, and his significance in the Miaphysite context, by analyzing the cumbersome intentions of the Pseudo-Methodius’ author.

In the course of this work, we will discuss a number of cases and examples related to the monk-king ideal, within the history of Ethiopia in the Middle Ages. Firstly, we will start by introducing the development of the monastic movement, outlining the tight linkage between the monastic institution and the kingship. Subsequently, we will carefully analyze the role of the Gadl – Ethiopian hagiography – within the context of this period of time, pointing out the relevance these hagiographies for the reconstruction of the history of Medieval Ethiopia. By considering these factors, I will present the most relevant “monk-kings” that assisted us to discuss and analyze this ideal.

Ethiopian Christianity constitutes an exceptional case for the analysis of beliefs related to the resurrection of the dead among Christians. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church is closely linked to Second Temple Judaism, as well as to early Christianity. This Church has roots in the early Church of Jerusalem and has played a vital role in the preservation of fundamental Judeo-Christian literature of the Second Temple Period. Central books, such as The Book of Enoch and The Book of Jubilees, were found for the first time in their entirety in Ethiopia, written in the Ge’ez language. In terms of faith and practices, the Jewish effect on Ethiopian Christianity, among other influences, has been and remains a very interesting case of comparative religious studies. We are assuming here that the idea of the resurrection of the dead is included within these faith and practices. However, as mentioned previously, Ethiopian Christianity is influenced not only by Judaism, but also by other cultural and religious sources.
This work seeks to explore the characteristics and development of the concepts related to the belief in the resurrection of the dead in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, especially during the Middle Ages. We will focus essentially on four different Ethiopian texts, dating from the period between the 14th and 16th century: The Kebra Negast or the “Glory of the Kings”, compiled and translated to the Ge´ez language in its complete form in the fourteenth century;  The Lefafa Sedek or the “Bandlet of Righteousness” written probably in the sixteenth century;  the “Christian Romance of Alexander the Great” from the fourteenth century;  and  “De Resurrectione Mortuorum” written in the fourteenth century.  All these texts were translated into English by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge, with the exception of “De resurrectione Mortuorum”, which was translated into Italian by Enrico Cerruli.