Debre Libanos of Ham (or Däbrä Libanos of Šəmäzana, or Debre Libanos of Eritrea) (in

Tigrigna (; also spelled Tigrigna) is an Ethio-Semitic language commonly spoken Eritrea and in northern Ethiopia's Tigray Region by the Tigrinya and Tigrayan peoples. It is also spoken by the global diaspora of these regions. History and literature ...

: ደብረ ሊባኖስ ካልኣይ ቁዱስ ቦታ ብድሕሪ ደብረ ሲና) is the second-oldest

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whi ...

in Eritrea after Debre Sinia.Bausi, Alessandro. "Däbrä Libanos." Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: D-Ha: Vol. 2, edited by Siegbert Uhlig, vol. 2, Harrassowitz, 2005, pp. 28–29. It is part of the

Eritrean Orthodox Church The Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church ( ti, ቤተ ክርስትያን ተዋህዶ ኤርትራ) is one of the Oriental Orthodox Churches with its headquarters in Asmara, Eritrea. Its autocephaly was recognised by Pope Shenouda III of Alexandri ...

. It is a strict monastery, where the monks are expected to plow the fields. This monastery should not be confused with the Däbrä Libanos monastery of Ethiopia.

Location

It is located about 150 km southeast from Asmara, in the historical district of Anbäsät Gäläba, in the present-day

Debub Debub Region, also known as the South Region (Tigrinya: ዞባ ደቡብ, it, Regione del Sud), is an administrative region of Eritrea. The region was formed on 15 April 1996, from the historical provinces of Serae and Akele Guzai. It lies alo ...

region, in a part formerly known as the province of Akkälä Guzay, close to the border with and near the village of Ham (or Aham). Ham is the oldest settlement in the region.Curtis, Matthew C. and Alessandro Bausi. "Ham." Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: D-Ha: Vol. 2, edited by Siegbert Uhlig, vol. 2, Harrassowitz, 2005, pp. 980–981. The monastery is also sometimes called Däbrä Wärq. Originally located in the village of Ham, the monastery was later moved to its present location perched on the edge of a cliff below the Ham plateau.

Founder and Age

This very ancient monastery is said to have been founded by the missionary Abbunä Libanos (or Mäṭṭaˁ or Meta or Matewos or Yəsrin) in the late fifth or early sixth century, within a hundred years of the conversion of the Horn of Africa

Aksum Empire The Kingdom of Aksum ( gez, መንግሥተ አክሱም, ), also known as the Kingdom of Axum or the Aksumite Empire, was a kingdom centered in Northeast Africa and South Arabia from Classical antiquity to the Ethiopia in the Middle Ages, Middle ...

to Christianity.Bausi, Alessandro. "Libanos." Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: He-N: Vol. 3, edited by Siegbert Uhlig, vol. 3, Harrassowitz, 2007, pp. 558–560. This founder is "one of the most important saints of the Aksumite period and renowned as one of the early founders of the monasticism and asceticism in Ethiopia." He is now a saint in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the

. This monastery includes a very rare copy of his hagiography, ''Gädlä Libanos''. While many monasteries in the Horn of Africa claim to be ancient, this is one of the few which has actually been established to be ancient. The record of a land grant (or ''gʷəlt)'' from

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

Lalibela Lalibela ( am, ላሊበላ) is a town in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Located in the Lasta district and North Wollo Zone, it is a tourist site for its famous rock-cut monolithic churches. The whole of Lalibela is a large and important si ...

, regnal name Gabra Masqal (r. 1181 to 1221), giving land for the monastery, has survived. It is the very earliest extant land grant documents in the Horn of Africa.

Library

The Monastery of Däbrä Libanos has an important archive, with about 84 manuscripts. It contains one of the earliest manuscripts in the Horn of Africa: "The Golden Gospel" (or ''Wängelä Wärq''). It is a metal-covered book of the Four

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

s of the Christian

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

, dating to the thirteenth century as evidenced by marginalia land charters that date back to then.

Mentions

A story in '' Täˀammərä Maryam'' (Miracles of Mary) says that miraculous water dripped from the ceiling of this monastery's churches.Curtis, Matthew C. and Denis Nosnitsin. "Gulo Mäḵäda." Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: D-Ha: Vol. 2, edited by Siegbert Uhlig, vol. 2, Harrassowitz, 2005, pp. 911–912.

Abbots

Its earliest abbots are: * Täsfa Ḥəywät or Zena Yoḥannəs, around 1209 * Yərdəˀannä Krəstos or Ṣägga Mäṭaˁ , already in 1225 and up to 1268 * Täkäśtä Bərhan or Śännay Mänfäs, in 1270 * Asfəḥa or Efrem, 1200s to 1319 * Ǝqbä Ǝgziˀ or Krəstos Abuhu; Gäbrä Krəstos or Yərdəˀannä Ǝgziˀ, from 1322 to Säyfä Arˁad’s reign

Burial

It also holds around 60 mummified bodies which are still in the process of being dated. The mummified bodies are wrapped in cloth, then tightly wrapped with animal skins of the same yellow cloth and animal skin that are worn by monks today. The few specimens of complete mummified remains have only the feet and hands exposed; the rest of the body was completely wrapped in skin. On the hands and feet, the skin and nail were very well preserved. The origin of mummification in Eritrea is likely Egypt, as Abba Libanos (whose body is believed among the mummies at the place) travelled through from Egypt, where the practice is common. According to oral tradition, the mummified skeleton remains found in the monasteries of Eritrea are bodies of religious individuals that inhabited them. The reason for mummification and the exact time when the practice was introduced are not known. But according to the oral tradition, the practice might have been introduced by about between the fifth and eight centuries CE together with the monks who were coming to Eritrea from the Middle East via Alexandria to expand Christianity.