BY MULUGETA GUDETA
Jonathan Pageau is an art writer who specializes in ancient Ethiopian church arts. In an article entitled “The Mystery of Ethiopian Iconography” which he published in a magazine called “Orthodox Arts Journal” back in 2012, he says that, “Ethiopian Christianity presents many mysteries to us, their unique use of Old Testament typology, their concentric churches, their claim of having the Ark of the Covenant and its use in liturgy-these all create an obscure but fascinating question.”
Ancient Ethiopian art creates more questions than answers because they are so varied, complex, and little-studied. These arts date Back to hundred years but contemporary research into them only dates to a few decades. Ethiopian church arts are fascinating even to the uninitiated.
They have the magic of taking you spiritually back in time and force you to examine your own identity and your destiny as a man and as a Christian.
Wikipedia encyclopedia says that, “Ethiopian art from the 4th century until the 20th can be divided into two broad groupings. First came a distinct tradition of Christian art, mostly for churches, in forms including painting, crosses, illuminated manuscripts and other metalwork such as crowns.”
As far as ancient church art is concerned, the recent construction of the Entoto Park has a lot to contribute to the attraction of visitors and art lovers, researchers to the area. The historic church of Entoto Saint Mary church that proudly stands on top of the hill is obviously a longstanding tourist hot spot.
Its museum contains rare icons as well as the remains of former Ethiopian monarchs Emperor Menelik and his consort alongside their clothing, jewelry and domestic utensils, books and church icons. The museum now houses some of the rarest cultural items that Ethiopia boasts of.
Many writers and travelers, starting from ancient times, have repeatedly confirmed that Ethiopians are a very spiritual people whose strong faiths are expressed in their amazing church architectures and other places of worships. This uniquely Ethiopian phenomenon is still going strong after many centuries.
New churches and mosques are being erected in many parts of Ethiopia. The peaceful coexistence of religions in Ethiopian history has long become a defining cultural trait of this proud nation of diverse ethnicities and traditions.
Paintings in churches or mosques arts have played central roles in the development of arts and culture in almost all countries of the world. Christianity came to Ethiopia in the 4th century while Islam dates back to the 7th, making Ethiopia one of the ancient lands where religious arts flourished earlier than in many countries that are now predominantly Islamic or Christian.
However, Christian and Islamic arts in Ethiopia did not develop at the same pace. Christian art of painting was more favored than its Islamic counterpart because Christianity was the religion of the state that encouraged and supported church artists to paint as many pictures of the holy personality of the Bible as possible.
At that time, churches were built at breakneck speed and monasteries were springing up in every corner of the vast country, particularly in the north. This was particularly true after Islam was introduced to the country and the process triggered what we may call a kind of competition between the two major faiths.
In fact, one of the characteristics of governance in ancient times was the passion or fervor the monarchs displayed to help the church expand in all directions.
Most of them, even those who were not in good terms with the conservative orthodox church clergy like Emperor Tewodros, claimed their legitimacy from God and not from any other institution and less from ordinary mortals. The aristocratic order worshipped the church and denigrated the common people who were as much faithful as they were.
Islam arrived later in the 7th century and it was soon marginalized and discouraged by the state, and sometimes disfavored by the monarchs and their followers for many reasons. For this and other reasons, Islamic art largely remained unknown by the majority of the people who are daily exposed to Christian church art in the form of portraits of saints and the holy spirits.
However, recent trends indicate that Islamic art has started to enjoy or share equal status with that of its Christian counterpart. Recent political developments in the country are practically confirming the freedom of worship enshrined in the Ethiopian constitution and the opportunities for all religions to equally share the spiritual space.
The two faiths are nowadays in the best possible terms working together for peace and the prevalence of mutual understanding among their followers.
Like their peers in the realm of literature, many of Ethiopia’s modern painters have graduated from the traditional church painting styles that are realistic and done in accordance with stories from the holy scriptures on which the church artists base their ideas.
Most of the modern writers in Ethiopia, from Haddis Alemayehu to Berhanu Zerihum and many others have church education or had been students of traditional church schools in their younger years.
The Ethiopian orthodox church in its glorious times had been the fountainhead from which Ethiopian painters, writers and administrators emerged and served their countries with great commitment and patriotism.
Even the advent of modern education had not managed to alter the situation. Many of the educated Ethiopians who filled the state bureaucracy first studied church scriptures and then joined the modern schools that flourished for much of the 20th century.
Ancient Ethiopian church painters on the other hand, stayed and worked within the church and lived off donations from the faithful. Painting was considered an occupation in the service of God for much of the history of the Ethiopian church.
Modernization of this particular occupation only came relatively later as the first school of modern painting was established earlier in the 20th century.
In Ethiopian church paintings, saints and Jesus Christ and the holy personalities are colorfully depicted. They are often portrayed as white men and women like in the paintings of these same personalities in Catholic church art. This is in conformity with the history of Biblical events that occurred in Israel, Egypt and the other Arab countries.
However, the following question may be lurking in the subconscious of many Christian faithful: Are God and the saints white or black? This has also been the subject of many debates in the learned circles of a number of Christian denominations.
However, the general consensus among Christians is that God and the saints have no physical identity and God’s spirit rules the universe.
The Ethiopian orthodox church may be the only Christian denomination that has depicted Jesus and the saints and the holy people as black or as typically Ethiopian with their charming faces and long hairs and beards, among other things.
Maybe in the remote past or before the advent of other Christian denominations, Ethiopian Christians might have been thinking that God is Ethiopian.
The often-repeated cliché that “Ethiopia stretches her hands towards God” or that Ethiopia is a holy country “chosen by God”, like the Jewish concept of ‘holy land’ or ‘the chosen people’ may also be behind the belief that God may have separate identities depending on the peoples and the countries that worship and believe in Him.
This is however not the case, as many people maintain. The holy pictures on church paintings are only the products of the artists’ imagination and not truisms based on some church dogma.
The new church of Saint Michael in the outskirts of the small town of Dukem in the southern periphery of Addis Ababa, has for a façade a new depiction of the revered saint and his disciples.
The pictures are painted in multiple colors while the faces of the other holy characters are black. Many pictures, the printed ones in particular, portray Saint Michael as a white man sitting on a galloping horse, his spear piercing the fallen Satan on the ground at the feet of the formidable horse.
My recent visit to the new church of Saint Michael was an occasion to observe a new painting of the saint in which Saint Michael is not represented as tradition would recommend.
Instead of sitting on a horse, the painting on top of the façade shows the saint in colorful garbs standing or sitting-it was difficult for me to properly distinguish from that long distance- but not on a horse.
What attracted my attention most is the fact that the saint is depicted with Ethiopian facial features. He is a black saint with typical Ethiopian facial shape and prominent eyes and nose.
The shortcoming with that piece of art is that there is no proportion between the towering building and the small-sized portrait that nestles on top of the church façade. Is this a new artistic addition to the paintings of saints or a departure from the traditional approach? Is it a portrait done by a younger artist who tried to express a new imagination in painting the portraits saints and holy characters?
I had no one to turn to find an answer to this question. The person who painted that picture might be an obscure personality like his predecessors who never claimed authorship of their paintings.
Like the priests, church artists too are claiming that they are serving God and the church and there is nothing to boast about the quality of their works. Anyone interested is free to give their own interpretations of the meanings of the portraits.
However, if there is one point of agreement it is the fact that ancient Ethiopian art has always been and continues to be fascinating, thought-provoking and spiritually elevating.
The Ethiopian herald December 26/2020
