48 ABYSSINIAN CHURCH not to be taken prisoner, placed the muzzle of his pistol in his mouth, fired, and fell in- stantly dead. The complete success of the un- dertaking led the government to raise Gen. Napier to the peerage, with the title of Lord Napier of Magdala. The departure of the ex- pedition left the country hi a state of anarchy. At the latest accounts a chief of Tigr6 named Kasa had succeeded in establishing his suprem- acy over a considerable region. He is said to be a weak man. A tolerably complete bibli- ography of works relating to Abyssinia is given in Hotten's " Abyssinia and its People " (Lon- don, 1868). The more accessible English books on the subject comprise " Bruce's Travels," of which many editions have been published since the first in 1790 ; " The Highlands of Ethiopia," by Major W. C. Harris (London, 1844); "Life in Abyssinia," by Mansfield Parkyns (London, 1853); Hozier's " British Expedition to Abys- sinia" andMarkham's "Abyssinian Expedition" (London, 1869) ; and W. T. Blanford's " Geolo- gy and Zoology of Abyssinia" (London, 1870). ABYSSINIAN CHURCH. According to the Chronicles of Axum, a work probably written . by a Christian Abyssinian in the 4th century, the first apostle of Christianity hi Abyssinia was the chamberlain of the Queen Candace of Ethiopia whose baptism is recorded in Acts vii. 27. But the actual origin of the Abys- sinian church dates from about 316, when there landed on the coast of Abyssinia an ex- ploring expedition sent out by Meropius of Tyre. Its members were all murdered except the two nephews of Meropius, Frumentius and ^Edesius, who were presented to the king as slaves. After the death of the king, Frumen- tius became the instructor of the hereditary prince and actually regent of the country. When the prince became of age, ^Edesius re- turned to Tyre ; but Frumentius, who had previously organized the Roman and Greek merchants residing in Abyssinia into a Chris- tian church, went to Alexandria and was con- secrated by Athanasius bishop of Abyssinia. As the king himself with a large portion of the people was baptized, Axum soon became the see of a metropolitan (abund), with seven suf- fragans. The emperor Constantino vainly en- deavored to prevail upon Frumentius and the Abyssinian prince to adopt Arianism. When in the 5th and 6th centuries the Monophysites obtained control of the patriarchal see of Alex- andria, the whole Abyssinian church joined this sect. In the 6th century the Mono- physite priest Juliana- spread Christianity in Nubia, which for several centuries was a wholly Christian country, until in the 16th century Mohammedanism became predomi- nant. Others of the sect gradually Chris- tianized large tracts of the country. When the Portuguese in the 16th century opened a passage into the country, an attempt was made to bring about a union of the Abyssin- ian church with Rome. A Roman Catholic patriarch of Ethiopia was appointed, but his efforts were unsuccessful. The Jesuit mission- aries, who first established themselves in the country hi 1555, succeeded in 1624 in inducing the heads of the church to submit to the pope ; but the union lasted only a few years, and the subsequent labors of the Jesuits and the prop- aganda in this direction were equally fruit- less. Since 1841 Roman Catholic missionaries of the order of Lazarists have renewed the effort to establish a union between the Abys- sinian and the Roman churches, and in 1859 King Uby6 of Tigr6 sent an embassy to make his submission to the pope ; but the hopes raised by this event were disappointed, though several villages have been gained for the Cath- olic church, and placed under a vicar apos- tolic. In 1830 the first Protestant' missiona- ries, Gobat (subsequently Anglican bishop of Jerusalem) and Kugler, arrived in Abyssinia ; they were soon followed by others, among whom Isenberg and Krapf have become best known. They obtained political influence, and in 1841 a pupil of the English Protestant mission school in Cairo, Andraos, was conse- crated, under the name of Abba Salama, abu- na of Abyssinia by the Coptic patriarch of Alexandria. Through him they hoped to gain the Abyssinian church for an evangelical refor- mation, and the hope was strengthened when a prince apparently devoted to them became, under the name of Theodore, ruler over all Abyssinia. But Theodore, when his power was fully established, banished or imprisoned the missionaries ; and the abuna, who remained friendly to the Protestants, though he did not like to hear of conversions, died a prisoner in 1867. Having always been Monophysitic, dis- putes about the nature of Christ have not torn the Abyssinian church into factions ; but it is agitated by discussions on what are termed the several nativities of Christ, of which the lead- ing party at present reckons three. Recently controversies have arisen as to whether Christ possessed consciousness and a knowledge of good and evil while yet in the womb of the Virgin, and whether Christ is now equal or inferior to the Father in authority and power. But the most virulent dispute is whether the Virgin Mary is the mother of God, or only the mother of Jesus, and therefore whether she is entitled to equal honors with her Son. Cir- cumcision is used, in the Abyssinian church for both sexes, and precedes baptism. The Jew- ish sabbath is still observed as well as the Chris- tian Sunday, and dancing still forms part of the ritual, as it did in the Jewish temple. Children are baptized by immersion and adults by copious affusion. The Nicene creed is used, the Apostles' being unknown. Communion is administered daily to the laity in both kinds. Confession is rigidly practised. Candidates for the priesthood must be able to read, to sing, and grow a beard, and they pay two pieces of rock salt as the price of being breathed upon by the abuna, and having the sign of the cross made over them. The orders
