With the birth of His Imperial Majesty, a New Era was born for the world. When He came out of the holy womb of Wayzaro Yeshimebet, the whole of Africa was under slavery and colonial domination, white man world was ruled by violent people, totalitarian doctrines were the main expression of political western thought and imperialism was considered a noble aspiration of kingdoms. But wicked men could only built short and fragile empire, and all this mis-order founded on sand and clay was destroyed by the onslaught of pouring rain, like the one that followed the earthday of the King of Kings, drenching the land of Jersa Goro in 1892. He brought a prophesied deluge of fire upon the earth, that shook the foundations of systems and the pillars of this civil-lie-zation, introducing the most upsetting and dense century of the entire human history, full of plagues and calamities, and characterized by the greatest tribulation from the beginning of time, the World War, which he personally fought for the triumph of right over tiranny. With this fire, he broke our chains, and now the gates of Zion are open wide, and the conditions of the righteous Kingdom have been set. Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, realize you are free and the maker of your destiny. Take what is yours, freedom and rights.

Magazine about Rastafari culture and faith September-October 2009

Issue 2

Editorial pg. 1

Exegesis pg. 4

Photographic Revelation pg. 8

The Christogram pg. 9

The Teachings of the Fathers

pg. 10

Hon. Marcus Mosiah Garvey

pg. 12

History of the Faith pg. 14

The Word of the King pg. 2

Contacts and Credits pg. 20

In this issue :

Why read

Negus Mesih:

• To know the millenarian culture of Ethiopia.

• To know the words and works of the King of Kings Haile Selassie I.

• To acquire a right opinion about Rastafari Faith, which is often distorted and defamed.

• To understand where the man comes from, and where he has to go in righteousness.

Ras Matyas

I am happy to have this opportunity of personally conveying to you on this day, blessed for mankind, and from this hospitable City of London, my good wishes for your happiness, prosperity and peace. Peace in the heart of every one of you, peace in your families, peace in your States and peace in your relations with the other peoples of the world. For Christians peoples no day is as glorious and as joyous as the day on which they commemorate the Nativity of our Saviour Jesus Christ. On this happy day each one of us tries to forget his worries and his anxieties, and endeavours to allievate those of their loved ones and friends, and to forgive those who have wronged him, so as only to meditate on the life of Him who is our supreme Lord of all. From our early childhood we are struck by the sentiment of unfathomable mystery, simple and yet sublime, which stirs up in us the evocation of the Birth of the Divine Child. The Mistery of Bethlehem reveals itself in our spirit, more fascinating the more we advance on the path of life, and the more we realise the magnitude of the mission each one of us has to accomplish in this world, be it humble or noble, arduous or thankless. An unheard-of event, expected for more than forty centuries, has at last been accomplished: the Son of God is born, He has only a stable for a palace and a manger for a cradle. The hearts of the wise are thrilled by this majestic humility, and the kings of the earth bend their knees before Him and worship Him. “Peace on earth, goodwill to men”, this was His first message. In the same manner, when he went to the summit of Calvary, there to expiate for our sins with the supreme sacrifice, He gave up His last breath invoking forgiveness for His very tormentors: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

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The word of JAH is infinite sound and power over creation: by His Word He created all the invisible and visible things, and with the Same He can destroy and punish evil, like a flaming sword.

The following is the message of good wishes the Emperor sent to the American people on December 25th 1937, the western Christmas, from a London radio station, during a time when Nazifascism, after the aggression of Ethiopia, was directing his violent desires against the other free peoples of the earth. Before the infraction of international rights and the incumbent menace for all human civilization, the Lord warned the United States and invited them to honour their christian duty and actively join the fight for justice. Despite this clear warning, the United States only joined the war in 1941, after the judgment of Pearl Harbor.

The official text of this speech can be found in: “Liberation Silver Jubilee”, Ethiopian Ministry of Information, 1966; another unofficial English version of the speech can be found in: Autobiography of HIM, Vol. II, edited by H.Marcus.

The Word of the King

In pondering on the life, on the goodness, humility and sacrifice of the Saviour of the world, and looking at the laws which He gave us, how much should we be ashamed to call ourselves Christian people, and yet not follow His footsteps. Had we been Christian people, had we been worthy of that name, peace would have reigned on all the face of the earth, and would have risen to the level of those immortal angels who always glorify the eternal God, and the peoples of the world would no longer have remained divided into hostile camps.

In very truth there are no interest or reasons, however legitimate they may be, that can justify war.

Was it not, inspired by these noble principles that, among their brethren of other continents, great sons of America have succeeded in laying the foundations of the new international order which best responds to the law of our Redeemer? To banish the scourge of war, to reassemble all States great and small, in a family of nations, so that any differences that may rise between them might be settled according to right and justice.

But, alas, it is also true that the shadow of the Evil One is floating over the earth, even if only to render more deserving the efforts of the wise.

It happens that ambitious men succumb to temptation and lead peoples towards crime and desolation. And owing to the violations of the laws of the international society, owing to those repeated aggressions, of which your illustrious President spoke to you recently, the treaties which guarantee to every people security and peace lose their character. The councils of peace vacillate and the noble institutions are baffled.

It is the result of twenty centuries of Christian civilisation which threaten to fall to pieces.

Then it will be the return to the law of the jungle, the return to barbarism.

In order that the work of evil may not triumph again over this redeemed humanity, all peace-loving peoples must rally together for the re-establishment of right and peace.

It is not only war that can stop war. Men of goodwill, conscious of their mission, and strengthened by the support of free peoples, can yet save this precious treasure, peace, and stop war. They can reconstruct where war destroys and desolates.

Happy Christmas, Oh American people; and please remember in your prayers those weak and oppressed peoples who have turned their confident gaze towards the star-spangled banner of the land of liberty, as if to discern the star announcing redemption and peace.

And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

Revelation of John 19, 15

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Exegesis

Prefacing his Autobiography and explaining why He was writing the history of His life, His Majesty told us that “there is nothing that is not written in the Holy Scriptures”. In this way, He is teaching I&I about the eternal mystery of His Existence, being present in the prophetical images of the ancient Biblical tradition and occupying a supreme role in the plan of JAH, which announces Him as the fullness of salvation.

When the prophet said “there is no new thing under the sun”, he wanted to explain the circular movement of history and the harmony of the historical path which, starting from Creation and Adam, culminates in Qadamawi Haile Selassie and in His New Creation. Thus, the King of Kings is the perfect image of the God of the Bible, the same we can feel studying the wonderful words and works of our fathers. If we want to fully overstand our identity and the blessing we inherited, we must begin to see the face of His Majesty not only in His pictures, but in every page of the Book, in Nature and within Ourselves, even in everything under the sun.

The following is a spiritual speech offered by the Chaplain Ras Matyas on July 23rd 2007, in Venice.

“Ambassadors shall come out of Egypt, Ethiopia shall stretch her hands unto God”. The words of the Psalmist are accomplished in the joy of this day (July 23rd) when the oppression of the heart gives way to the meditation and the depths of the Spirit, in front of the infinitely expressive sight of a Child, naked and delicate, however whom the fullness of Divinity dwells. After the Ministry of Christ Iyasus and the institution of the Church of the Apostles, holy ambassadors rose out of Egypt, filled with the vigour and wisdom of the Lord. Bringing the good news in the Land of our King, they fortified in its people the testimony which had been given by the Ethiopian minister baptized by Qdus Filpos (Saint Philip) in the earliest times of the Christian era. Thanks to the heroic endeavours of our honourable father Qdus Fremnatos (Saint Frumentius), Ethiopia matured in consciousness and spiritual power, thus preserving the purity of the evangelical precepts from the corruptions of apostasy, from the rejection of the original faith which was foretold in the Scriptures and which still lacerate Christianity. By this rejection we ourselves were mislead and confused prior to our finding the right path, our God Qadamawi Haile Selassie. The sanctity of Ethiopia, custodian of true Christianity in these times of confusion and falsification, thus gave substance to the divine promises handed to Solomon, to the Queen of Sheba and to the fruit of their union, Qadamawi Menilek. According to these promises, Ethiopia would have succeeded to Israel in the “election”, after the spiritual and political fall of the first Holy Land stained with the blood of Christ. The Ark of the Covenant, brought from Jerusalem to Aksum, is the symbol of the Covenant between Amlak (God) and men, a Covenant which a Divinely-appointed people preserves among the heathen and their sins, in order that the truth, although refused and persecuted by the evil, could survive to prepare the advent of Messiah. Through Him the Father operates the renewal and redemption of the entire humankind, what we know as the “New Creation”. Accordingly with the plan of salvation decreed by Egziabher, Ethiopia on this day (July 23rd) stretched Her hands unto Her Creator, to welcome Him and keep Him in Her womb in a Motherly hug. He thus rejoins man from which He was separated in early times because of demoniac temptation. He makes Himself physically present in human life by becoming Himself, the Maker of the universe and the Beginning with no time, a product of history, a child birthborn of our fallen bodies. The marriage between the Eternal Father and His lost

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds

Hebrews 1:1-2

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By Ras Matyas

creatures is thus consummated, that holy union through which the darkness of our nature, penetrated by an unlimited light, is extinguished and changed in grace. In the Divine Child we contemplate the encompassing and embracing love which unites the Lord and the people of the earth to become one thing, one flesh. It is here that the mystery described in the image of the Virgin Maryam is revealed: the Son of God is the Son of Man, humanity is a mother to Divinity, human existence is destined to our glory. In this the accomplishment of the highest figures of sacred history is also found: we are the Holy Ark, the repository of Cosmic Law, Ras Teferi. We are not enemies of Egziabher anymore, but members of His very family, His close friends, sharing with Him the same space and time, the same house.

The abyss of richness, the unfathomable and terrible, the One who lives beyond every definition, place and time, manifests Himself in the nakedness, sweetness and minuteness of a baby: the secrets kept by the Invisible God are revealed to the creatures, that can now acquire the maximum dominion over the truth and that, with His guide, feel the Being with perfect clearness and lucidity. His face, the same we search for from the beginning of the centuries and we abundantly receive in this blessed time through the photographic icons which just today sanctify I&I sight, arouses our love, sweetens the sensibility and ushers us in a new, superior and saving dimension of righteousness and morality. The fear of Him is raised to love without distances, the respect is crowned by confidence, so that our mistakes can always find forgiveness and mercy before Him. I&I hold in our arms the unholdable, and minimal are the measures of the immeasurable.

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And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered (…) And she brought forth a Man Child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to His throne.

Revelation 12 :1-5

According to the words of His Majesty, referred to His Own First Coming, the birth of the Son of God is an unheard event: in that time, in fact, He took the flesh, the same flesh that died and rose again, living forever exalted, without any other physical conception. However, fulfilling the vision of Qdus Johannes (Revelation 12), He liked to be present in the womb of Wayzero Yeshimebet and be given birth by her, descending in this world in the same way of that time. Because of this, his birth is still an unique and mysterious event; with Isaiah (53:8) we say: “who shall declare his generation?”; with Nicodemus (John 3:4) we ask: “How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?”; with Christ (Mark 10:27)we answer: “With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.”

Again, Jahnoy told I&I that He had been announced, described in great detail by the prophetical inspirations of the fathers and by biblical allegories, Expectation of the righteous ones from the beginning of the world, hidden in the work of the saints, which it is necessary to examine with humble spirit and without pride-swelling: in this way, bowing down in simplicity, we will be able to enter the door of salvation, that is narrow and small, and to enjoy the divine eternity of our faith, whose teachings are not sons of times, but words of power, power over the days and every length. Let us meditate upon the works of our father Moses, preaching to the brethren of Israel (Deuteronomy 18:15): “The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken”. Few verses after, we read again in the Law: “And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face”, even if many had been the prophets who followed, and several their miracles. Therefore, the One who had to come could not be a simple mystic but an eternal Head, bringing, like Moses, a new covenant, that would be the source of lights higher than those of the Ancient Testament: this latter He would overcome, as the Spirit overcomes the carnality, complying with the life of the Legislator.

As Moses, who having been adopted by the Pharaoh, did not disdain to suffer in slavery with his brethren, in the same manner the Lord Christ did not consider being in the position of God a thing that could not be renounced, but annihilated Himself assuming the position of a servant, burdening Himself with our pains and responsibilities, for free, without expecting anything in return, if not the Blessing of the Father. As Moses guided and taught everything to the children of man with a Rod, in the same manner Christ sanctified I&I by his Cross and ruled by an iron Sceptre, freeing us, like the prophet, from the oppressive sin of our spirit, the inner Egypt, and from the physical chains of political slavery, the outer Egypt, which offer us the satisfaction of petty false needs, useful only to make us workers of iniquity, but useless for salvation and freedom. As Moses protected I&I from the plagues by the blood of the lamb, the Lord saved the righteous from the sufferings of the judgment through the Sacrifice of his clean life; as Moses saved I&I through the waters of the Red Sea, the Lord purified I&I with the Baptismal cleansing, that drowned the devil and every impure spirit who follows him. When he reached the bottom of Mount Sinai, Moses urged his people to wait for him patiently, establishing Aaron as his own prophet and priest, so that he could speak to the people in his name and watch over their holiness; then, he went up in front of God, upon the top of that Mountain, and entered His cloud, with the mission of bringing them the Divine Law given by JAH on tablets of stone. In the same way, when He ended His Ministry, the Lord Iyasus was taken over the clouds, in Heaven, sublime dwelling of the Almighty, choosing the Apostles and their descendants in order to keep the truth and administer the gifts of the Spirit with authority, and exhorting our fathers to obey them and preserve the faith, because in the future they would partake in His Kingdom, and would be ruled by His Perfect Law.

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Exegesis

The Israelites were not patient, and ceased to await the prophet, who remained in the clouds for 40 days and 40 nights, considering him dead: pandered by Aaron, they began to worship a golden cow and to practice orgies and debaucheries. Our fathers, also, were not patient, and they did not want to await Christ, Who had announced through the Revelation of John (22:7): “Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book”, and supported by a priesthood that stopped educating them, adapted to the perversions of the world, they lapsed into incredulity and preferred to the Kingdom of JAH the anti-christ illusion , having its monstrous apex in the obscure Nazi-fascism, which gloried incredibly although it was empty and without life. Like Moses, at his appearance, seeing this degeneration, broke the Tablets of the Covenant, slaughtered the unfaithfuls and burned the golden idol, leaving the sinners to drink its remnants, in the same manner, after His Coming, His Majesty realized how the pacts had been ignored and trampled, and what depravation was born: before HIM, the Law of Nations shattered and dissolved, and the Lord defeated in arms the evil axis that tried to dominate humanity. He thus administered a baptism of purifying fire to the kingdoms, the World War, to establish the conditions of eternal peace and to expiate the millenarian sin of the empires. Moses was recalled by JAH on top of the Sinai, dwelling there again 40 days and 40 nights, in order to receive, for the redeemed people, the ultimate Law, not destined to destruction, and written upon Tablets of Stone not given from high, but cut and engraved by the prophet. Similarly, the Lord Qadamawi Haile Selassie, having re-established righteousness among his children, hid again in our eyes, in order to leave us a new and everlasting order, the one kept by the United Nations, that He Himself, as perfect mediator between the Father and Us, was signatory, founder and architect: this is the order of international morality, of the basic human rights, of world citizenship, of divine liberty of the individuals, under which the world had been posed by JAH, and which in the world shall flourish, if we will put faith in the King and will fight, as He fought, so that our swords be beaten into plowshares and our spears into pruninghooks.

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Thus, my brethren, following the indications of the divine plans, do not commit the same sin of our ancestors, but let us learn from history which repeats itself: do not believe He is dead, but confess He is living and has subjugated all the principalities and powers of this creation. Obey to His laws and invite the rebels to do the same, because otherwise they will perish; when His dominion will not meet no more resistance, so the world will enter total peace, that shall be glorified by his appearance, when he will destroy His last enemy, death, commanding the resurrection of the bodies, and handing His Nation to Heaven, our final and eternal destination. In fact, like Moses He leads I&I in the desert and impervious ways, that it is necessary to face before reaching the promised land, from which milk and honey come out. Before eternal and celestial rest, the temptations of the world; before an Earthly Kingdom of justice and peace, the fight for rights. In this desert we own minimal and fleeting properties, we do not live in solid houses but in tents, that in the Earthly Kingdom that has been established will be replaced by the bodily prosperity and the richness of medicine, and in the Kingdom of Heaven by the resurrected body of everlasting glory and splendour. On this path, we are opposed by the hostile strangers and the incredulous and deviated brothers, enemies outside and inside that, today like yesterday, shall not win. It is written indeed: “upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” and “we know we shall win, as we are confident in the victory of Good over evil”. Let us hasten the coming of that day, forgetting all our character and historical differences, unified by the mystery of Jersa Goro. Let us accept the advice of the Returned Christ: let us leave our sufferings and sorrows, let us tolerate the defects of others, and they will tolerate ours; let us be transparent in everything among I&I, believing in the peaceful settlement of every dispute, let us demonstrate to be members of a new race, bringing honour to our flag and Emperor. To Him, honour and glory forever and ever more, world without end.

Ge’ez Glossary The following transcriptions of Ethiopic words into Latin letters do not follow any recognized standard since, accordingly with their purpose of divulgation, they simply aim to approach the actual sound of the same words when pronounced.

Birth = Lddet (Hebrew: see the root yalad) Light and Peace = Berhan-ena Selam Ancient Covenant (Testament) = Beluy Kidan New Covenant (Testament) = Haddis Kidan Deluge = Ayh Book of Exodus = Orit ze-tze'at Moses = Musiè (Hebrew: Moshe)

Ascension = erghet Righteousness = Tz'dd'q (Hebrew: Tzeddeq)

Fire = essat (Hebrew: ‘esh) Heaven = Semay (Hebrew: Shamayim)

Earth = Medr Baptism = T'mqet

Photographic Revelation

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In this picture, taken in the office of the King of Kings, we see Him during his daily study and work. Wearing the khaki military suit, full of international prizes and awards, He holds a large book. At his side, clearly visible in the left part of the picture, we read a wide text in english, placed upon the library: “The government shall be upon His shoulder”. Written to make I&I realize His Divinity, this is the perfect image of Isaiah’s Messianic word : For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD OF HOSTS will perform this.

Revealing Himself in these modern times, His Imperial Majesty is also the answer to all the spiritual and intellectual needs of present day mankind, that, influenced by the development of the scientific method, feel hard to believe without a direct vision and without a strong rational basis. In His Majesty we do not believe, but we know, because this is not like the Christian age, when we heard the word of JAH without seeing, imagining everything with the eyes of the spirit and believing in the words and testimony of the Apostles, indirectly. Mindful of the very words of the King: “hearing is not the same as seeing” (Selected Speeches pg. 91), we know that this is the epoch in which the Bible is “illustrated”, in which the fulfillment of the prophecy is written in the universally recognized history, in which “every eye sees”. Thus, every doubting Thomas has now the opportunity to see, because His Majesty has come to melt away the god-less modern skepticism, and every picture is a visual revelation, a teaching, a fulfillment.

Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also

which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him.

Revelation of John 1:7

By Ras Matyas

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In the western Greco-roman tradition, there is a custom to reassume the names of sacred concepts and characters with few letters called in Latin Nomina Sacra, creating a sort of religious symbol. These letters are usually taken from Greek, that was the universal tongue of the ancient world, and that also became an important means of communication for Christianity in the Early centuries. For example, the most important translation of the Ancient and New Testament was written in Greek, and it was used by Christians among the pagan peoples as the inspired book. The Greek word for Iyasus is IHSUS (the H is the letter called “eta”, that is pronounced “ha”), while its abbreviation IHS it is used to mean the Holy Name of God, as can be seen on the front of many western churches (see photo on the left), upon many sacred items and in the same emblem of the Jesuits order. A cross is usually placed over the H.

The Western Christogram

It is simple to realize that these 3 letters, composing the Divine Name, comply with the same 3 letters that compose the Name of His Majesty : Qadamawi/First (I), Haile (H), Selassie (S). The interesting thing is that we have in the western tradition also a monogram of this Holy Name, i.e. a single sign which unifies all the letters, and that you can see on the right (above). His Majesty also has a Monogram of His Name, which is quite equal to the western one and can be obtained interlacing the three Ethiopic letters of His Name (ቀ ` ሥ). Creating a wonderful design, it can be read in western and Ethiopic at the same time (at the bottom of the page, on your right, you can see the monogram of HIM engraved upon the altar of Selassie Cathedral in Addis Ababa). Using that monogram, not only His Majesty manifests the fulfillment of a prophecy, but also declared Himself as Christ. Thus the Christian tradition of the West, although decayed and falsified, still keeps elements of its first root that testify the Holiness of Ethiopia and the Supremacy of His Majesty. As the false prophet Balaam blessed the people of Israel he wanted to curse (Numbers chapters 22-23-24), as the False Priest Caiaphas prophesied about Christ (John 11:49-51), in the same way this false priesthood can also declare the truth it tries to alter. And we shall tell them “Thou sayest” (read Luke 23, 3).

By Ras Matyas

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Chapter 98: Concerning the rod of Moses and the rod of Aaron

Moreover, when Egziabher took Israel out of Egypt, the Israelites felt thirsty of water nearby Qades. They murmured and lamented in front of Moses. And Moses went to Egziabher and made this known to Egziabher. And Egziabher said to him: “Seize your rod and smite this rock”. And Moses stroke it lenghtwise and breadthwise, according to the sign of the Cross, and twelve streams poured out from it. They drank from it, they were satisfied with drink, their men and their beasts. And having drunk, that rock followed them. The rock is therefore to be interpreted as Krestos, the streams as the Apostles. What they drunk is the teaching of the Apostles. The rod is the wood of the Cross, and the rock, according to what the Gospel says: “Who builds up on the rock will not be shaken by evil spirits”. Furthermore He says: “I am the door”. And also He says: “I am the Entry”. And see how when speaking HE distributed among His disciples, as among those who succeeded unto them, the bishops, and the Christian assembly which is the rock. He said to Petros: “Upon you I will establish the Christian people”. And He also says: “I am the Sheperd of the sheep”. And He said to him three times: “You will watch over my sheeps”. Again He says: “I am the stalk of the reap and the vine”. And unto them He said: “Ye are the clusters and the branches of it”. And the rod of Moses, through which he performed the miracle, is to be interpreted (as) the wood of the Cross through which (Krestos) liberated Adam and his seed from the vexation of the evil spirits. And as Moses beat with it (the rod) the water of the river and converted it in blood and killed its fishes, in the same way also Krestos by His Cross killed death and took them (men) out of Sheol.

The Teachings of the Fathers

We do not want our legacies and traditions to be lost. Our wish and desire is that education

develop, enrich and modify them.

Emperor Qadamawi Haile Selassie Selected Speeches pag.35

The conscience of modern times cannot exist without a sound knowledge of the culture and tradition of the past, as far as a tree cannot live and bear fruit without deep roots. An adequate study of Ethiopian Christianity is absolutely essential for an overstanding of the present time, faith and revelation: firstly because that is the historical and theological foundation of Rastafari essence; and secondly because in accordance with Ethiopian tradition, the Priestly Ministry of Iyasus Krestos is an eternal covenant, established to destroy sin and still enforced. In order to realize this fundamental part of JAH history, we cannot ignore the importance of the Holy Cross, which the Emperor contemplates in the picture at your right. Symbol of Divine sacrifice, but also of glory and triumph over death, it is glorified in Ethiopia with a special liturgical event, be’ale Mesqel, during which is also remembered the finding of the Cross of Christ by the Holy Empress Helen and the arrival in Ethiopia of its fragment. Also indicated in the Ethiopian World Federation Constitution as an important holiday, the feast of Mesqel is celebrated on September 27th (Maskaram 17).

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Holy Virgin Mary / Q'ddist Denghel Maryam Prayer of Intercession for the Virgin

(from the Daily Prayer of the Ethiopian Tewahedo Tradition)

Transliteration and Translation from Ghe'ez

(Ancient Ethiopic)

be-selam-e Qdus Ghebriel Mel’ak

In the peace of Saint Gabriel, the Angel

In (be) the peace-salutation (selam) of (e) Saint (Qdus) Ghebriel the Angel (Mel’ak)

‘o Igzi’t-ye Maryam selam le-ki

Oh my Lady Mary peace unto Thee

oh (‘o) Lady (Igzi’t) my (ye) Maryam, peace (selam) unto (le) You (ki)

denghel be halina-ki wo denghel be s’ga-ki

Virgin in your conscience and virgin in your flesh

virgin (denghel) in (be) Your (ki) conscience (halina) and (wo) virgin (denghel) in (be) Your (ki) flesh (s’ga)

em-e Egziabher Tseba’ot selam le-ki

Mother of the Lord of Hosts, peace unto Thee Mother (‘em) of (e) Lord of Hosts (Egziabher Tseba’ot)

peace (selam) unto (le) Thee (ki)

burkitt anti ‘em anset wo buruk feri-è kersa-ki

Blessed are Thou among the women and Blessed is the Fruit of thy Womb

blessed (burkitt) Thee (anti) among (’em) the women (anset) and (wo)

blessed (b’ruk) the fruit (ferì) of (e) womb (kersa) Thy (ki)

tfessahi fsshat ‘o mlet-e tzegà Egziabher mesle-ki

Rejoice with joy, oh full of grace, The Lord is with Thee

rejoice (tfessahi) joy (fsshat), oh (‘o) full (mlet) of (e)

grace (tzegà), the Lord (Egziabher) with (mesle) Thee (ki)

sealì wo tzel’yi ‘abe fqur wolde-ki Iyasus Krstos keme yserrei le-ne attawu-i-ne

Intercede and pray unto Thy Beloved Son

Iyasus Krstos, so that He shall clean our sins unto us

intercede (sealì) and pray (tzel’yi) near to (‘abe) the Beloved (fqur) Son (wold) Thy (ki) Iyasus Krstos

so that (keme) He shall clean (yserrei) unto (le) us (ne) sins (attawu) our (ne)

When Iyasus Chrestos was born from Virgin Maryam,

from that time on He lived an exemplary life.

HIM Haile Selassie, Hoffman Interview, 1968 Emperor Haile Selassie I

Another basic element of Ethiopian Christian culture is the Holiness of the Virgin Maryam, from Whom Christ took the flesh being One with her. She is the female type of “priestly” human perfection, mother of God and partner of the Lord in his redemptive work. Without any sin, she was assumed in heaven in her body and soul, sitting at the right hand of Christ upon the Celestial Throne of the Divinity. This event is celebrated according to Ethiopian tradition on August 22nd (Nahasse 16).

Hon. Marcus Mosiah Garvey

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The Lord is risen! A little over nineteen hundred years ago a man came to this world called JESUS. He was sent here for the propagation of a cause – that of saving fallen humanity. When He came the world refused to hear Him; the world rejected Him; the world persecuted Him; men crucified Him. A couple days ago He was nailed to the cross of Calvary; He died; He was buried. Today He is risen: risen the spiritual leader of creation; risen as the first fruit of them that slept. Today that crucified Lord, that crucified Christ sees the affairs of man from His own spiritual throne on high. After hundreds of years have rolled by, the doctrine He taught has become the accepted religion of hundrends of millions of human beings. He in His resurrection triumphed over the death and the grave; He by His resurrection convinced humanity that His cause was spiritual. The world felt the truth about Jesus too late to have accepted His doctrine in His lifetime. But what was done to Jesus in His Lifetime is just what is done to all reformers and reform movements. He came to change the spiritual attitude of man toward his brother. That was regarded in His day as an irregularity, even as it is regarded today. The one who attempts to bring about changes in the order of human society becomes a dangerous imposter upon society, and to those who control the systems of the day. It has been an historic attitude of man to keep his brother in slavery – in subjection for the purpose of exploitation. When Jesus came the privileged few were taking advantage of the unfortunate masses. Because the teaching of Jesus sought to equalize the spiritual and even the temporal rights of man, those who held authority, sway and dominion sought His liberty by prosecution, sought His life by death. He was called to yield up that life for the cause He loved – because He was indeed a true reformer. The example set by our Lord and Master nineteen hundred years ago is but the example that every reformer must make up his mind to follow if we are indeed to serve those to whom we minister. Service to humanity means sacrifice. That has been demonstrated by our blessed Lord and Redeemer whose resurrection we commemorate this day. As Christ triumphed nearly two thousand years ago over death and the grave, as He was risen from the dead, so do I hope that 400,000,000 Negroes of today will triumph over the slavishness of the past, intellectually, phisically, morally and even religiously; that on this anniversary of our risen Lord, we ourselves will be risen from the slumber of the ages; risen in thought to higher ideals, to a loftier purpose, to a truer conception of life. It is the hope of the Universal Negro Improvement Association that 400,000,000 Negroes of the world will ge to realize that we are about to live a new life – a rise life – a life of knowing ourselves. (…) Today as we think of our risen Lord may we not also think of the life He gave to us – the life that made us His instruments, His children- the life that He gave to us to make us possessors of the land that He himself created through His Father? How many of us can reach out to that higher life; that higher purpose; that creative world that says to you you are man, a sovereign, a lord – lord of the creation? On this beautiful spring day, may we not realize that God made Nature for us; God has given it to us as our province, our dominion? May we not realize that God has created no superior being to us in this world, but Himself? May we not know that we are the true lords and creators of our own fate and of our own physical destiny? (…)

Marcus Garvey was an extraordinary man in this epoch, the first great teacher of political justice, racial equality and Black liberation. His Christian African theology was the basis of Martin Luther King’s struggle for civil rights, and the father of Malcom X, Earl Little, was one of his disciples. Although few inspired people remember today his great works, his heritage of freedom is visibile and tangible in the world political scene, when the election of President Obama has revealed that a Rightful Black Man now rules the World, after centuries of oppression. Many mis-conceptions about his figure could be wiped away by the reading of his speeches, poetry and books, through which he prophetically prepared the way for the manifestation of the Emperor, as John the Baptist did for Iyasus Krestos, acting as a bridge between the Ancient and the New Era. We propose here his speech “The Resurrection of the Negro”, pronounced on April 16th, 1922, on the occasion of Easter Sunday, (Philosophy and Opinions, Vol. I, pg. 87)

Men and women of Liberty Hall, men and women of my race, do you know that the God we love, the God we adore, the God who sent His Son to this world nearly two thousand years ago never created an inferior man? That God we love, that God we worship and adore has created man in His own image, equal in every respect, wheresoever he may be; let him be white; let him be yellow; let him be red; let him be black; God has created him the equal of his brother. He is such a loving God. He is such a merciful God. He is such a God that He is no respecter of persons, that He would not in His great love create a superior race and an inferior one. That God that you worship is a God that expects you to be the equal of other men. The God that I adore is such a God and He could be no other. Some of us seem to accept the fatalist position, the fatalist attitude, that God accorded to us a certain position and condition, and therefore there is no need trying to be otherwise. The moment you accept such an attitude, the moment you accept such an opinion, the moment you harbor such an idea, you hurl an insult at the great God who created you, because you question Him for His love, you question Him for His mercy. God has created man, and has placed him on this world as the lord of the creation, as the sovereign of everything that you see, let it be land, let it be sea, let it be the lakes, rivers and everything therein. All that you see in creation, all that you see in the world, was created by God for the use of man, and you four hundred million black souls have as much right to your possession in this world as any other race. Created in the image of the same God we have the same common rights, and today I trust that there will be a spiritual and material resurrection among Negroes everywhere; that you will lift yourselves from the doubts of the past; that you will lift yourselves from the slumbers of the past, that you will lift yourselves from the lethargy of the past, and strike out in this new life – in this resurrected life – to see things as they are. The Universal Negro Improvement Association desires that the four hundread million members of our race see life as the other races see it. The great white race sees life in an attitude of sovereignty; the great yellow race sees life in a similar way, that is to say that man, let him be white or yellow, sees that he is master and owner and possessor of everything that God has created in this world, and given to us in Nature: and that is why by knowing himself, by understanding himself, and by understanding his God, man has gone, throughout the length and breadth of this world, conquering the very elements, harnessing Nature and making a servant of everything that God placed within his reach.(…) The highest compliment we can pay to our Creator; the highest respect we can pay to our risen Lord and Savior, is that of feeling that He has created us as His masterpiece; His perfect instruments of His own existence, because in us is reflected the very being of God. When it is said that we are created in His own image, we ourselves reflect His greatness, we ourselves reflect the part of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, and when we allow ourselves to be subjected and create others as our superior, we hurl an insult at our Creator who made us in the fullness of ourselves. (…) For hundreds of years we have been the footstool of other races and nations of the earth simply because we have failed to realize to recognize and know ourselves as other men have known themselves and felt that there is nothing in the world that is above them except the influence of God. The understanding that others have gotten our of life is the same understanding that 400,000,000 Negroes must get out of this existence of ours. I pray that a new inspiration will come to us as a race, that we will think of nature as our servant; that we will think of man as our partner through life, and go through the length and breadth of this world achieving and doing as other men, as other nations and other races.

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“...and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years….This is the first resurrection.”

Revelation of John 20:4

In the Beginning, JAH created The first book in the Holy Bible, the book of Genesis -in Hebrew: Be-reshit (“in the Beginning”); in Ethiopic: Orit ze-fitret (“Torah of creation”)- starts as following: “In the Beginning (Hebrew: reshit; Ethiopic: qadami), the Lord (Hebrew: ELOHIM; Ethiopic: EGZIABHER) created heaven and earth”. Both Ethiopian sources the “Kebre Neghest” and the “Book of Mysteries of Heaven and Earth” interpret this starting verse of the whole Bible as a reference to the Holy Trinity (Q'ddst Sellassie). In particular, the word “Beginning” is interpreted as a reference to the Person of Messiah, so that in the sentence: “In the Beginning EGZIABHER (the Lord) created heaven and earth”, <Beginning> is no longer simply a chronological reference to antiquity, but an ontological reference to the One through which all that exists came into existence, namely Messiah. So interpreted, “in the Beginning” means that “through the instrumentality of Him Who is the Beginning” the world was created. The whole chapter 102 of the Kebre Neghest is dedicated to this “Beginning”; the text saying: “For MOSES saith in the beginning of the Book, In the Beginning EGZIABHER made the heavens and the earth. Understand then <In the Beginning> meaneth <in CHRIST>; the interpretation of <Beginning> is CHRIST” (Messiah). Similarly, the Ethiopian Book of Mystery of Heaven and Earth affirms that the sentence “In the Beginning” has to be interpreted as concerning the Son, for the Scriptures call the Son “Qadāmāwi” (First). It is Messiah, thus, Who is the Beginning mentioned in the first line of the Torah. We know in fact that the Father created all that exists through His Word and Son the Messiah / Christ: Yohannis / John 1, 1-3: “In the Beginning was the Word (…) All things came into being through Him, and without Him not one thing came into being”. Qolaseys / Colossians 1, 15-16: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers-- all things have been created through him and for him”. Ebrawyan / Hebrews 1, 2-3: “… Son, Whom He (the Father) appointed Heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being, and he sustains all things by His powerful Word”.

History of the Faith

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Did QADAMAWI have to be MESSIAH’s Name? Apart from the explicit references to Messiah and His coming, the Holy Book (Bible) is intrinsically woven together with innumerable expressions of the same realities through allusions, symbols, numbers and mysteries, which together compose its whole substance and most profound nature. While the explicit meanings are for the immediate reckoning of a plain evidence in these texts, those of a more subtle and concealed nature have and continue to be the objects of a work of exegesis unfinished throughout the ages: fundamentally because the Bible is a Living Book and its sense can never be exhausted, always leading human hearts and minds along new avenues to the path to salvation. Since the Bible is a manifestation of the Un-created Divine Word Who is Messiah, every line could reveal Him. This brief article does not aim to penetrate such a complex theme, but only to focus in a simple and humble way to few limited and specific prophetical usages of the Hebrew / Ethiopic language-root Q-D-M which is at the base of King Messiah’s Name QADAMAWI, as occurring in the original Biblical texts.

By Ras Iyared

This is also consonant with the role already accorded in Hebrew thought to Wisdom, which is Herself identified with the Torah and thus with the Messiah: M’salie / Proverbs 3, 19: “The LORD by Wisdom (in Hebrew: Chokmà) founded the earth”. Proverbs 8, 29-30: “When He assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when He marked out the foundations of the earth, then I (Wisdom) was beside Him, like a master worker…” Tebib-e Selomon / Wisdom 9, 9: “With you is Wisdom, Who knows Your works and was present when You made the world”. Because we know Ethiopia to be the original ‘Imnet (Living Faith) of the Apostles and the early Hebrew- Nazarenes-Christians, we also agree that all knowledge that Ethiopia preserves is a direct continuation and heritage of that uninterrupted archetypal Biblical revelation “once and for all delivered unto the Saints (Hebrew: qedoshim; Ethiopic: qedusan)” (Yhuda / Letter of Jude v. 3). So while self-evident to us, it is important to search ancient sources which demonstrate that this specific interpretation was not arbitrarily invented, being in fact attested as pertaining to the Early Church, and through this, in Her original Israelite setting, going back to Hebrew Tradition. In this respect, QDM as a Messianic Name is from the origins of Revelation and of Messianic hope. Early Hebrew-Christianity1 Looking at certain quotations made by ancient authors we know that this interpretation was originally found at the very dawn of Christian history in a (now lost) text of Aristo, a Hebrew-Christian author from the Syrian city of Pella who wrote around 140 CE. According to Jerome, who had access in his time to Aristo’s work, he read the first verse of Genesis as “In the Son, God created heaven and earth”2. A similar interpretation of the same verse is also attested to in a work of the great 2nd century Father Irenaeus of Lyons, a disciple in the school of the Apostle John. Though unknown, it’s not impossible that Ireneus also took his information from the same Aristo3. It should be noted that Ireneus quotes the passage literally from the Hebrew language, and thus he found it in an original Hebrew-Christian source. It is noteworthy that Aristo flourished in the 1st century and was a Hebrew-Christian, maybe also by birth, but more definitely because of his faith and experience. Most importantly it must be observed that his village, Pella, is the exact place where the original Jerusalem’s Church members migrated before the Roman invasion of Israel, of which they were advised through prophecy4. This general evidence makes his link with the original sources very strong and reliable, implying that the origins of the interpretation preserved in Ethiopia go back to the early Hebrew-rooted Christian environment. It cannot be by chance in fact if its first literary proof is found not in any given Christian author, but specifically in the 1st century Hebrew-related Aristo. Further evidence of this can be shown. In fact Jerome, the Latin author which reports the passage of Aristo, rejects Aristo’s interpretation. This seems at first strange because the meaning of that interpretation, i.e. that the Father created the world through His Son, was of course a belief of Jerome too. One could then ask why this author may refute an ancient interpretation if no “heretical” point was found in it. In a recent important study, a fundamental reference in the construction of this article, scholar Oscar Skarsaune very convincingly shows, among other things, that the reason for this refusal was Jerome’s (and others Western authors’) scarce acquaintance with Jewish exegesis. He writes: “This means, quite simply, that these Latin Fathers were no longer familiar with the Jewish gezera shawa 5 exegesis which (by juxtaposing Gen 1:1 and Prov 8:22) could read reshit in Gen 1:1 as referring to the person of Wisdom (…) We see Gentile Christian theologians rejecting a piece of Jewish Christian exegesis which is entirely Jewish in method”. But what this in turn means for our research is that Ethiopia, which did not reject but preserved the interpretation, did so because of Her fundamental continuity with the original Hebrew Biblical Faith. Thus, Ethiopian sources retain and testify here an interpretation which can be traced back to Original Christianity prior to the loss of its Hebrew roots seen in the West. But how did early Christians, of which Aristo and Ethiopian sources bear witness, reach this interpretation? The fact is, the interpretation is even anterior in its antiquity and legitimacy because already enshrined in pre-Christian Biblical Messianic expectation, and because of this it was naturally adopted by early Christians.

1 My conclusions in this regard are strongly indebted to O. Skarsaune’s overwhelmingly excellent paper “Jewish Christian Sources Used by Justin Martyr and Other Greek and Latin Fathers”, in: O. Skarsaune – R. Hvalvik (ed.), Jewish Believers in Jesus: the Early Centuries, Peabody, Massachusetts, 20072, pagg. 379-416, especially pages 402-408, references unto which will be extensively made. 2 Jerome, Qu. Hebr. Gen. (Hebrew Questions on Genesis) 1, 1, where he so reports, in Latin, Aristo’s interpretation: “In Filio fecit Deus caelum et terram”, meaning “In the Son God made heaven and earth”. The lost work of Aristo was titled Dialogue between Jason and Papiscus. 3 The quote is found in Epideixis chap. 43. The proposed reading, which approximates most to the interpretation of Aristo, is based on the arguments advanced in the same article of O. Skarsaune, especially pages 405-408. 4 For this see Eusebius of Cesarea’s Ecclesiastical History, III, 5. 5 By gezera shawa reference is made to an Hebrew-minded method of exegesis based on the principle of deducing from verbal analogy: if an expression is not absolutely clear in one passage, its meaning can be reached by calling in question its use as shown elsewhere, provided that conditions are fitting for the comparison.

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Hebrew foundations of the interpretation Later Jewish exegesis also identifies the “Beginning” (Hebrew: reshit) of Genesis 1, 1 with Wisdom and with Torah. Let us quote in this respect the Great commentary on Genesis (Bereshit Rabbah 1, 1): “The Law says: <I was the instrument of the Highest (Proverbs 8, 30)> (…) Even so the Holy One (…) looked in the Torah and created the world. And the Torah declares: <With reshit (Beginning) God created (Genesis 1, 1)>, and reshit means none other than Torah, as it is said: <The Lord begat Me as reshit of His way (Proverbs 8, 22)>. Because this source is subsequent to the parting of ways between Judaism and Christianity, of course the interpretation cannot reach the point of identification with Messiah. Notwithstanding, it evidently implied the equation found above between the Beginning of Genesis 1, 1 and the Wisdom of Proverbs 8, 22 as both being epithets for the Architect and Mediator of creation. The Targumim also offer further evidence. The Targumim are Aramaic translations and interpretations of the Biblical books, which were produced to explain (initially orally) the Hebrew texts to Jewish audience in synagogues after Hebrew ceased to be their spoken language and was substituted by Aramaic. In Ethiopia we have the same process with Amharic as a substitute for Ge’ez (Ethiopic) and thus we have the Amharic trgwamie to a Ge’ez text. In the Jerusalem Targum we find the same identification between the reshit and Wisdom in that it reads: be-hukema the Lord created. Hukema is the Aramaic equivalent for the Hebrew chokmà and thus the verse is seen as meaning that JAH created through Wisdom. There can be found a similar affirmation in the Targum Neofiti, although there a double translation is given: “In the Beginning, by Wisdom, the Word of the LORD created”; also the Fragmentary Targum behaves almost identically. Summary At this point in our enquiry, before reaching a final crucial conclusion we have to take a breathe and sum up our assertions:

Ethiopian sources attest that the first verse of Genesis “in the Beginning EGZIABHER created” must be interpreted as meaning that “through the Beginning Who is Messiah, EGZIABHER created”. This is in tune with the fact that already in other Biblical books it was said that the Father created the world through His Wisdom, which also is His Word and Torah (See also Sirach 24, 22-23). All this means that Messiah the Son is the Beginning-Wisdom-Torah through which everything was made.

This Ethiopian interpretation of Genesis 1, 1’s “Beginning” as referring to the Son / Messiah is not at all arbitrary nor isolated but, according to the primeval character of the Ethiopian faith and Her adjacency to the original faith of the early Hebrew-Christians, it can be traced back to these latter. In fact the same interpretation is firstly found within early sources related to that environment (Aristo of Pella and the Hebrew commentary quoted by St. Irenaeus).

Actually, if the conception was found among early Christians, it is because it was already part of pre-Christian Hebrew Messianic expectation. This is still evident in certain later Jewish texts as the Midrash and the Targumim, where, notwhithstanding the polemical fracture with Christianity, remains still implied that the Wisdom of Proverbs 8 is the One really meant by the word reshit / “Beginning” of Genesis 1, 1.

All this understood, we have to proceed a step further and reach our true point: the relation of all this with the root QDM and thus the word QADAMAWI. In QDM, JAH created Both of the above mentioned Ethiopic sources use, to indicate the “Beginning”, the same root which is found in Genesis 1, 1 of the Ethiopic Bible, i.e. QDM. While we have demonstrated that the general proposal of identification advanced by these texts between the Beginning and Messiah is ancient and Biblical, and thus not at all arbitrary, it could however be objected as erroneous that the Beginning of Hebrew Genesis 1, 1 should be intended through the root QDM. This is because, just as the Ethiopic, also the Hebrew language possesses the root QDM, but while so, it does not use it in Genesis 1, 1, where instead the word reshit appears. But while this remains true in itself, what would really be profoundly erroneous is to suppose a dichotomy between the two terms as they could not fit together, and of this we possess different kind of evidences. First, it is the Bible itself which affirms this truth: in Proverbs 8, 22, in fact, in relation to Wisdom/Messiah the two definitions of reshit and qedem are perfectly equated appearing in the same verse.

Second, let us look at another Targum, which is in our respect far more important than the previous ones. This Targum Onqelos, which is also the more authoritative in Jewish circles to this day, reads the text of Genesis 1, 1 in this way: be-qadmyn God created the heavens and earth. So the Aramaic word used here to render the Hebrew reshit is from the same root QDM. Before we saw that the Jerusalem Targum intended Genesis 1, 1 as meaning that by Wisdom JAH created. On the other hand, when translating this Targum Onqelos modern authors simply render qadmyn as “in antiquity”. This would imply that while the Jerusalem Targum intends reshit in a theological setting, indicating Wisdom as the instrument of creation, on the contrary the Targum Onqelos, by using the word qadmyn, would simply confine the meaning of reshit to a chronological sense of “antiquity” with no theological nuance. But is this really true? Is here the Targum simply stating so by the word qadmyn? Of course we believe it is not, and the reason for this is that QDM is a root with deep Messianic impact in the Bible itself. If so, also this Targum is saying that the Beginning through Whom the world was created is Messiah and that His Name is related to the root QDM, and that this latter is a rightful Christological equivalent of the Hebrew reshit. QDM as a Messianic title Limited by the space that we have available here, we can only offer general guidelines on this theme. Let us note first what we mean by QDM.

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In Genesis 2, 18 we read that the Garden of Eden, the archetypal and uncorrupted creation before Man introduced sin and death in the world, was planted by the Almighty mi-qedem. Usually this is translated “in the east”, which is partially correct. It depends in fact on what is meant by the word “east”. Hebrew has a second word to indicate the east, misrach, which is strictly geographical in character. Qedem, though, while retaining also a geographical sense is not confined in such terms. “Parallel to its spatial meaning, qedem also refers to a time prior to that of the observer, either relatively in the sense of <earlier> or absolutely in the sense of <prehistoric times, primeval time>”6. In this latter sense the word is thus theological in nature: it refers to the archetypal condition of Being; accordingly, in Deuteronomy 33, 27, the Almighty Himself is appealed ELOHE QEDEM, i.e. God Who is before/eternally. For this very reason, by the opposite principle those who planned the evil purpose to built up the tower of Babel are previously described “by their pulling up mi-qedem (from qedem)”. The use of qedem in reference to the Garden still refers therefore to the East, but only in as far as the East is the symbolic direction of the dawning sun and thus of the “Beginning”; it can be noted that also “East” itself is another proven Messianic title. Since this primeval qedem in the Garden of Eden is Ethiopia, then mi-qedem / from this qedem rightly came the Messiah Qadamawi, called so both because He is the Being which precedes every being, the Beginning through which everything was created, and because He comes from the land manifesting the Original qedem.

This advent of Messiah also fulfills sacred history in the ultimate convergence of the Beginning and the End. In fact the final Messianic Kingdom, which has been inaugurated by Qadamawi Haile Sellassie on the Davidic Throne of Ethiopia, is also the starting time for the restoration of the original Edenic state of qedem. Therefore, while the Genesis calls qedem the original Eden, not by chance the Prophet Hzq’el (Ezekiel) 36, 8-12 applies the same root to the last days of Messianic restoration, when the Messiah would smite the nations and then implement His rule: But you, O mountains of Israel, shall shoot out your branches, and yield your fruit to my people Israel; for they shall soon come home. See now, I am for you; I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown; and I will multiply your population, the whole House of Israel, all of it; the towns shall be inhabited and the waste places rebuilt; and I will multiply human beings and animals upon you. They shall increase and be fruitful; and I will cause you to be inhabited as in your QADMOT (Beginnings), and will do more good to you than ever before. Then you shall know that I am the LORD.

6 Kronholm, in: G. J. Botterweck – H. Ringgren – H. J. Fabry, Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, vol. 12, Grand Rapids 2003, pg. 508.

Thus the Bible applies QDM both to the primeval condition of creation in its perfect state, and to the final time of Messianic restoration of that condition. In both cases the relation to Messiah is foundational, for it is HIM Who patterned that Origin and it was HIM Who had to restore it. Later Jewish tradition preserves a righteously Hebrew concept when indicating Messiah by the definition of “Adam Qadmon”. The original core of this concept refers to the state of Messiah as incorporating the Original Man precedent to the fallen man corrupted by Adam’s sin. And as Messiah is the Original archetype of Man, He is the only One able to restore man to that Original Divine Image. But if we wish to translate the expression Adam Qadmon in Ethiopic, we should say nothing else than Qadamawi Adam. The Apostles in the Haddis Kidan (New Testament) clearly elaborated on this same Hebrew concept by referring to Christ as the First. This is especially seen in Qdus Yohannis (St. John)’s Book of Revelation (1, 17; 2, 8; 22, 13), where Christ says of Himself “I am the First and the Last”. In this regard one should not be confused concerning Qdus Pawlos (St. Paul) words in 1 Qorontos / Corinthians ch. 15. Here the Apostle uses the expression “first Adam” to refer to the first man who transgressed the commandment; thus Christ is instead referred to as the “last Adam” (v. 45), “for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ” (v. 22). This could lead one to think that the concept of the Adam Qadmon is applied by him to the sinful man rather than to the saving Messiah. But that this is not the case, however, is very clear in a Biblical mindset: in fact there are in Hebrew two distinctive concepts related to the name of Adam, i. e. the Adam Qadmon (Original Man) and the Adam Rishon (first created man). In a word, it is not possible to miss that by “first Adam” St. Paul here is referring not to the Original Archetype of Man (Adam Qadmon), in which case he would have applied the definition to Messiah, but to the first created man (Adam Rishon), who is created in that Image Who is Adam Qadmon, but eventually fell into temptation. If we now give a final look to the Book of the Prophet Mikyas (Micah), we will find a great mystery. In the Hebrew text the prophet says that the Messiah of Yehuda, here called Moshel be Yisrael (the Ruler in Israel), “His comings are from qedem”, where average Bibles generally translate as “from old” or “from ancient times”. Here again, the pre-existence of Messiah as qedem is emphasized. Reading now the passage according to the King of Kings Qadamawi Haile Sellassie Bible, we will find even clearer the reference to the One we saw in His Glorious Advent. Here, in perfect accordance with the Hebrew, Messiah is titled as “He Who Is starting from QEDMO (before), from Eternity (zelalem)”. This latter word zelalem doubles the translation to define what the meaning of QEDMO actually is, i.e. eternity. If we step further to v. 4, then the text says: be-EGZIABHER-m Hayl, be AMLAK-u be-EGZIABHER Sem, Gherma mengawun ytebqal which means: in the Power (Hayl) of EGZIABHER, in the Glory (Gherma) of the Name of EGZIABHER His AMLAK (God), He will care for His flock Here we find a technical rhetorical construction occurring when two terms are put in logical parallelism to sanction their equation of substance and meaning. In this case the two words are Power and Glory of the Name. This means thus that Power and Glory of the Name are the same in their essence, i.e. that “Power” is His Glorious Name, the Name proper to His Glorious Second Advent. And as we know Power is said through the word Hayl, which is the first part of Messiah’s Name Haile Selassie, Christ in His Kingly and Glorious Advent. Moreover, the Name here is completely spelled as Hayl-e EGZIABHER AMLAK-u, the Power of EGZIABHER His God. And this is a synonym in substance for Trinity (Sellassie), as we know that the Ab-Wold-Menfis Qdus (Father-Son-Holy Spirit) is One and Unique God (Ahadu Amlak), EGZIABHER. If this would not suffice, the same word for Glory, Gherma, is the word whence Messiah’s title Ghermawi also stems. So in this brief passage of Micah great mysteries are shown, for the Whole Most Holy Name of Messiah, Ghermawi Qadamawi Haile Sellassie is revealed in its entirety. To conclude let us go back to the Ethiopic sources from where all our meditation started. While both refer to the “Beginning” of Genesis 1, 1, Messiah, through the root QDM, there is a difference in the exact word used. The Kebre Neghest uses the word Qadami, while the Book of Mysteries of Heaven and Earth specify this Name as Qadamawi. This latter reading is quite astonishing since, as it was said, it is the word qadami found in the Ge’ez Bible: if the author of that Book did not quote literally the Bible version, there had to be a reason. But because the Biblical text is normative and is not changed arbitrarily, this reason cannot be other than prophetical inspiration. That Book contains in fact the revelations of the Angel Gabriel Berhanawi (full of light) to the Ethiopian mystic Be-Hayle Mikael; this latter was revealed the true Name of Messiah in His second coming, and he punctualized the normative text of the Ethiopic Bible to make that Name known to those who would see His coming. In any case, while quoting the Name as Qedami the Kebre Neghest too does not distance from the spelling Qadamawi, which is mentioned in fact immediately after as a synonym of the former, and derived by Psalm 110, 3, where the Ethiopic says: mesle-ke Qadamawi be-‘let-e-HAYL with Thee Qadamawi / Beginning in the day of HAYL / Power

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where again, therefore, the Name Qadamawi is related to the Messianic Name HAYL as converging titles of the one and same Messiah. It is likewise very interesting to note that here while both the ancient Hebrew and Greek versions both retain the reference to the day of Power, both add a personal pronoun to it (Thy Power); as a consequence there is a specific prophetic purpose in the Ethiopic text to preserve the word HAYL without this pronoun, in the very shape of a Personal proper Name: not just in the day of Thy Power, but in the day of HAYL, namely the King Messiah Haile Selassie. In any case, the Hebrew version remarkably uses, albeit followed by the pronoun, the equivalent Hebrew word CHAYIL. The exordium of the B’luy Kidan (Old Testament) is on the other hand fully and naturally paralleled in the Haddis Kidan (New Testament) by the Gospel of Yohannis / John. This latter in fact also starts with a reference to the same Beginning with the very intention to recall and to elaborate on the first sentence of the Torah: “In the Beginning was the Word and the Word was with EGZIABHER and the Word is EGZIABHER”. In the light of all that has been said in this article, it is now well understandable the behaviour of the Amharic trgwamie (paraphrasis) to the Ge’ez text of the Gospel of John as published in a recent edition in Ethiopia (Haddis Kidan be-ge’ez-na be-amargna, Asatami tensa’e masatemiya drjt, Addis Abeba 1994 E. C.). Here in fact the text is explained by the following, literal words: “That Word is QADAMAWI; that Word was with EGZIABHER AB (the Father); that Word is EGZIABHER”. Yet astonishingly, it seems that those who wrote such a revelatory translation are not able to perceive its obvious fulfilment.

Conclusion We have focused on the legitimacy of Qadamawi as a Messianic Name from the starting point of Hebrew Biblical thought right unto the Earliest Church, whose Spirit was fully preserved only in the Ethiopian Tewahedo faith which the King of Kings married and sanctioned. We did not pretend to exhaust the many occurrences of the root QDM in its capacity to reveal different aspects of Messiah’s Name and Mission, and in this regard many verses could be examined and infinite meditations arise. But from the few nuances which we have been able to unravel, it stands more than evident that the long-awaited Messiah had to be called QADAMAWI (corresponding to the Hebrew QADMON), and in fact He was and is. Yechi ha-Melekh ha-Mashiach ! Sibhat le Negus Mesih Qadamawi Haile Sellassie wo sibhat le Amlak-e Abewine !

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The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The LORD shall send the rod of power for Thee out of Zion: rule Thou in the midst of thine enemies. With thee is Qadamawi in the day of Hayl, in the light of the saints: I have begotten thee from the womb before the morning.

Psalm 110, 1-3

E-mail address of the editorial office :

negusmesih@yahoo.it E-mail address of the Community in Italy :

assemblearastafariana@yahoo.it

Published by

the Federation of Rastafari Assemblies in Italy (F.A.R.I.)

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Contacts and Addresses The brethren who worked on this issue are:

The Editor: Iyared Mihirete Selassie.

The Co-editor: Matyas Tekle Selassie.

Graphics: Ras Julio (Heading) and Bro.Gabriel (Cover).

Review: Sis.Hanna, A.R. Jackson.

Thanks and Praises to our Guide, Neguse Neghest Qadamawi Haile Selassie. All the goodness of this work is the fruit of His Inspiration, and all the mistakes come from our inattention.

This work has been supported by