Zera Yacob - Books of Zara Yacob (Zera Yaqob) and Walda Heywat

Chapter 1: The story of his life In the name of God, who alone is just. I will describe the life, wisdom, and examinations of Zara Yaqob, who said, All ye who fear God come and hear; I want to tell you what he has done me good.1 And so I start: God is the creator of all things, he is the beginning and the end, he has everything and he is the source of all life and all wisdom. In his name, I will write about the events that have happened to me during my long life. May my soul be blessed before the eyes of God, and may the divine rejoice. I sought God and he heard me. Now if you go up to him, and he will enlighten you, it shall be no shame to you. Glorify the Lord with me, let us glorify his name together I was born in the land of the priests of Aksum. I am the son of a poor farmer from this area and was born on the 25th of January 15923, the third year of the reign of Emperor Yaqob. My Christian name is Zara4 Yaqob, but I am called Warqy5. As I grew up, my dad sent me to school for education. After reading the Psalms of David, my teacher told my father, This boy, your son, is wise and shows perseverance in learning; if you send him to an appropriate school, he will become a master and a doctor. After he heard that, my dad sent me to Zema classes. But my throat was rough and my voice was rusty, so I was laughed at and ridiculed. I stayed there for three months until I was so sad that I switched to the classes of Qne and Swasew. God gave me the talent to learn faster than my comrades, and that made up for the previous disappointment. I stayed there for four years. At this time, God saved me from the clutches of death: When I played with my friends, I fell into an abyss, and I can not explain how I came out unscathed, except by a divine miracle. After my rescue, I measured the depth of the abyss with a long rope. He was 25 yards 6 and a span 7 deep. Thanking God for my salvation, I went to my teachers house. After that I left the school to study the interpretation of Scripture elsewhere. I spent ten years with these studies. I dealt with both interpretations, with the Frang and with our scholars. Often their interpretations contradicted my reason, but I kept my mind and hid my thoughts in my heart. When I returned to my birthplace, Aksum, I taught for four years. But this time was not peaceful: in the 19th year of King Susneyo, two years after Alfonso Mendez Abun had become a great persecution spread throughout the whole of Ethiopia. The king had accepted the faith of the Frang and persecuted all those who did not want to do that.

Chapter 2: His exile, his enemy Wald Yohanis and King Susneyos While teaching in my homeland, many of my friends started to reject me. There was no real trust in that time, and as a result, people were jealous of each other. I surpassed others in knowledge and charity and was on good terms with all, even with the Franks and the Copts. And while I was teaching and interpreting the Scriptures, I used to point out: The Frang say this and that or The Copts mean this and that. I never said This is good and that is bad, but I said, All this is good when we are only good. As a result, nobody liked me. The Copts saw me as Frang, the Frang as Copts. They accused me several times to the king, but God saved me. At this time also one of my enemies, a certain forest Yohani, a priest of Aksum and friend of the king, went to him, for the kings affection was to be won by treacherous talk. So this traitor went to the king and said about me: This man is truly misleading people. He tells them that they should rise for the sake of their faith, kill the king, and expel the frang. He said many other similar things about me. I knew all that, and it scared me. Therefore, I took the three Waqet9 gold I owned and the Psalms of David, after which I prayed, and fled in the night. I did not tell anyone where I wanted to go. I came to a place near the Tkze River10. The next day, when I was hungry, I went out anxiously to ask the farmers for bread. I ate what they gave me and ran away again. In this way I spent a few days. On the way to Shewa11 I found an uninhabited place. There was a beautiful cave on the ledge of a deep slope, and I said to myself, Here I can live inconspicuously.

I lived there for two years until the death of Susneyos. Every now and then I went away. I visited the market or the Amharen region, 12 who thought I was a recluse who had come to beg. They gave me enough to satisfy my hunger. The people did not know where I lived. When I was alone in my cave, I felt like in heaven. I was aware of the boundless malice of the people, and I did not care about contact with them. I built a stone enclosure and thorny undergrowth so no wild animals would endanger my life at night, and I built an exit that would allow me to escape if people were ever to look for me. There I lived peacefully and prayed with all my heart for the psalms of David, trusting that God would hear me.

Chapter 3: The eternity of God and the division of the faithful After praying, and when I was not busy with other work, I spent days thinking about the disputes between people and their depravity. I also thought about the wisdom of its creator, who kept quiet while people did evil in his name, persecuted their comrades, and killed their brothers. These days the Frang had won the upper hand. And not only did they behave that way, but my own people were even worse. Those who accepted the Faith Faith said, The Copts deny the legitimacy of the See of Peter, and are therefore Gods enemies, and so they persecuted them. The Copts behaved in defense of their faith as well.

I said to myself, If God is the protector of men, how can it be that their nature is so terribly corrupt? And I asked myself, God knows, or is there anyone in heaven who knows about it? And, if there is someone who knows, why does he remain silent in the face of the corruption of the people who abuse his name and outlaw her in his holy name? I thought about it a lot, but I did not understand it. I prayed, O my Lord and Creator, who has given me reason, help me understand! Reveal your hidden wisdom. Enlighten my eyes so that I do not sleep and die.13 Your hands have made me and shaped me. Give me insight so that I may learn your commandments.14 My feet almost tripped, I almost fell.15 And these troubles are now before me. As I prayed in this and similar ways, I wondered, To whom do I pray? Is there a God who hears me? At that thought a terrible sadness overcame me and I said like David: So I kept my heart free in vain.

16 Then I kept thinking of Davids words: Should not he who has planted his ear? I asked myself, Who is it who has given me an ear to hear and who has created me as a rational being? How did I get into this world? Where am I from? Had I lived before the Creator of the world, I would know the beginning of my life and consciousness. So who created me? Did I create myself through my own hands? But I did not exist before I was created. And when I say that my father and mother created me, then I must seek the creator of my parents, and that of my parents parents, until I arrive at the first, not as we do, but in ways other than (of Parents) have been conceived to have come into this world. But if these are also created, then I know nothing about their origin, except that the one who created them out of nothing has to be an entity that is not created. She is and will be for all eternity Lord and Master of all things. It is without beginning and without end, it is unchangeable and its years can not be counted.

And I said to myself: So there is a creator, otherwise there would be no creation. And this Creator, who has endowed us with insight and understanding, can not be without these qualities. For he has created us from the fullness of his mind as intelligent beings. He is omnipotent, for he understands everything and creates everything. I kept saying, My Creator will hear me when I pray to Him, and I was very happy about those thoughts. I prayed in great hope and love to my Creator and spoke with all my heart: You, Lord, know the thoughts of my heart from afar. For you really know all that is, and all that will be, and all my ways, you know in advance. This is why it is said, Whether I go or rest, it is known to you; you are familiar with all my ways. The word is not on my tongue yet, sir, you already know it. 18 And I said, O my Creator, grant me insight.