The rise of the monastic holy man in the early Solomonic period

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Book chapter

Title:	The rise of the monastic holy man in the early Solomonic period
Author:	Kaplan, S.
Book title:	Ethiopian studies: proceedings of the sixth international conference, Tel-Aviv
Year:	1986
Pages:	343-357
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Ethiopia
Subjects:	saints Ethiopian Church Church history
Abstract:	The early Solomonic period witnessed the rise of monastic holy men. The questions of the influences behind their emergence, their growing impact on the Ethiopian Church, and their relations with the Solomonic kings are crucial to the study of the spread of Christianity in the Ethiopian kingdom. In this paper, the author examines the social, political, and religious background of the emergence of monasticism and suggests that the rise of the monastic holy man was closely related to the 'restoration' and expansion of the Solomonic kingdom. The monastic movements emerged in reaction to the establishment of Solomonic control in different regions: Shewa, Amhara, Tigre, and among the Beta Israel (Falasha). With the consolidation of Solomonic rule there arose in the religious sphere a pattern of Lord-mediator-client relations which paralleled those of the political system. The monastic saint emerged as a mediatory figure capable of making a remote God approachable. In this respect he played a religious role which closely paralleled the political role of his noble brethren and for which his own noble origins had left him well-equipped. Notes, ref.