Debre Damo

Monastery of Debre Damo in the Tigray region. The video is from a documentary on french television (France 3). José-Marie Bel shows us the wonderful monastery of Debre Damo.

The monastery of Debre Damo was built during the VI century, it is located on a mountain (almost 2300 meters above sea level) and 600 monks live there. It is accessible only by rope and women are not allowed in.
At 2:56, the cross carved in the rock is venerated by the monks. (You can notice a similarity with the Cross of the Knights Templar, learn more about it in the video "Axumite origins of the Knights Templar cross". Ethiopian traditions claims that Abuna Aregawi, one the Nine Saints, founded the monastery.
At 4:35, you can see two doors leading to a room called Holy of Holies, the monks are the only ones allowed in it and it is used for ceremonies. At 4:48, a typical Ethiopian painting representing the Trinity. At 5:35, José-Marie Bel explains that Ethiopia is the only African country predominately Christian, that was not Christianized by European colonisers, Ethiopia actually built its own Christianity.

José-Marie Bel organizes exhibitions about Ethiopia, more specifically about its heritage and its religious iconography. He founded "l'Espace de la Reine de Saba" and you can visit his website (only in french): http://www.espacereinedesaba.org/

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Debre
• Damo
• Christian
• orthodox
• church
• Ethiopia
• Tigray

[dazebhen1]

thank for posting