Tekle Haymanot
Amhara–Tigrinya highland folk religion · mortal · Amhara–Tigrinya highland folk religion traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Tekle Haymanot, 'plant of the faith', is the great national saint of the highlands and the reputed founder of the monastery of Debre Libanos. His Acts recount extremes of asceticism: standing motionless in prayer for years until one of his legs withers and breaks away, and receiving from God six wings like the seraphim after the devil cuts the rope by which he descends a monastery cliff, so that he flies thereafter to Jerusalem over the clouds. Highland iconography fixes his image as a one-legged old man borne up on three pairs of wings, and his feast is among the most widely kept in the Christian calendar.
Domains
- asceticism
- monastic foundation
Powers
- stands in prayer until a leg withers away
- receives six angelic wings and flies
Epithets
- አቡነ ተክለ ሃይማኖት — our father Tekle HaymanotEncyclopaedia Aethiopica, s.v. 'Täklä Haymanot' (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2010). (secondary)
Sources
- Tekle Haymanot, founder of the monastery of Debre Libanos, is venerated as an ascetic who stood on one leg for seven years until the other broke off and received six angelic wings enabling flight.: Gädlä Täklä Haymanot; E. A. Wallis Budge (trans.), The Life of Takla Haymanot (London, 1906). (primary); Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, s.v. 'Täklä Haymanot' (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2010). (secondary)