If you like the North African magic that appeared in the “Book of Mary’s Repose” and the “Lefāfa Ṣedeḳ“, you’re going to love this. I recently obtained an English translation of the text known as “The Prayer of Mary At Bartos.” The booklet I received is just the text with no commentary or history, thus …
Category Archives: ethiopian
The Virgin Mary and the Woman who was about to bring forth
Sorry for the month long departure. I try to post at least twice a month however Lent / Pascha season had my attention, but now I am back with another Theotokos Ethiopian short story. This story is another incession story, this time involving a pregnant woman. The English translation is provided by E. A. Wallis …
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The Virgin Mary and the Egyptian Priest John
I am digging back into the Ethiopian tradition with this short tale about the Theotokos and her encounter with an Egyptian Priest named John Bakansi (at least that is how it’s translated). It has an odd turn of events, and I’m always up for quirky tales. What I really like about this short story is …
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The History of the Death of Saint John the Evangelist
Returning back to the translations of E. A. Budget with another Ethiopic tale, this time in regards to Saint John the Evangelist/Theologian. This translation appeared in 1898 in “The Contendings of the Apostles Vol 2” and I’ve slightly modified some of it for the modern reader. I am currently unsure where and when this story …
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The Virgin Mary and the Cannibal of Qemer
Now here is something a bit different! Cannibals have made their way into the apocrypha throughout the years (believe it or not!). This particular tale I am sharing with you comes from the Ethiopic tradition and features Our Lady interacting with a cannibal. This story is a well known tale in the Ethiopic apocrypha but …
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The Preaching and Martyrdom of James the Just
With the feast day of James the Just coming up on October 23, I wanted to post some lesser known stories of James. This post presents two stories from the Ethiopian tradition. Usually I do summaries of texts but in this case I am presenting the two stories in complete form. These come from the …
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The Apocalypse of Peter
The Apocalypse (Revelation) of Peter is quite the interesting text. Not to be confused with the “Coptic” Apocalypse of Peter that was found in Nag Hammadi (gotta love similar titled texts), this apocalyptic work almost made it into the canon and was used in some early churches. If you are unfamiliar with it, the text …
Lefāfa Ṣedeḳ: Book of Life (3 of 3)
If you haven’t read the previous two posts regarding the Lefāfa Ṣedeḳ, check them out. Now to the final post! The fifth section starts with a prayer for the journey of the soul from the earth to heaven. Here’s part of the prayer: Protect thou me, O Christ, so that the angels of darkness may …
Lefāfa Ṣedeḳ: Book of Life (2 of 3)
Now we continue with the Lefāfa Ṣedeḳ! Please refer to post 1 if haven’t already. Section three starts “In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, One God” and follows with a prayer concerning the carry of the deceased. It is as follows: DEKÂS BATRÔN KÛGÛYÂ, GÂNÔN, KÂWES KÎREL This …
Lefāfa Ṣedeḳ: Book of Life (1 of 3)
This post (part 1 of 3) is about the “Lefāfa Ṣedeḳ: Book of Life”, also known as the “Bandlet of Righteousness” with the subtitle “An Ethiopic Book of the Dead.” The book of the dead subtitle is definitely a play on the Egyptian Book of the Dead, but is this a similar style text? Actually, …
Culmination of Wisdom 