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Ethiopian Jesus
It's Christmas, when the Christian world celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. The Muslim world celebrates too because in Islam Jesus is considered a prophet.
Christianity has spread all over the world. One of the best things about travel is the different world views it exposes you to, and one of these insights is that religious artists have created Jesus in their own image. Europe has a white Jesus, Africa has a black Jesus, and Latin America has a Latino Jesus.
So what did Jesus really look like? The Bible is a bit sketchy about his personal appearance, but being a Levantine Jew he wouldn't have looked like the Nordic hippie we're familiar with in the West. He probably looked a bit more like this picture above, which is in the 16th century church of Ura Kidane Mihret on Lake Tana, Ethiopia. Brown skin, dark eyes and hair. . .this is what most people in ancient Judea looked like.
Ethiopia became Christian in the 4th century, and is the second oldest Christian nation after Armenia. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church has built incredible houses of worship all over the country, including the famous rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, stone buildings dug out of the bedrock.
For more on the fascinating culture that produced this image, check out my series on travel in Ethiopia.
Filed under: Arts and Culture, History, Learning, Festivals and Events, Africa, Ethiopia
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ALI EDR Dec 25th 2010 1:03PM
i want to make correction regarding christmas celebration in islam. you present it as muslims around the world celebrate xmass,it is totally false .it is un Islamic. muslims belief that christ is a messenger of allah. NOT GOD ,NOT SON OF GOD.
Sean McLachlan Dec 25th 2010 1:06PM
You need to read more carefully. I said Muslims believe Jesus is a prophet, meaning a messenger from God. Calm down and work on your reading skills.
mucharas Dec 25th 2010 3:21PM
Jesus most probably looked like what we see in the pic above I agree. Mary too looked like what is shown in the pic. I agree. Certainly Jesus never looked like what we see in the pictures of the western world.
kahsay Dec 25th 2010 5:14PM
As it written in Ethiopian orthodox ,Jesus has the image of every one , meaning looks every human being.
please don't go deep.
Eyob Dec 26th 2010 1:13PM
The point the author wants to make is based on history about the people who inhabited Judea during the years of the 1st century-they had brown skin, black eyes and hair. The western world tries to make a point that Jesus is white when the truth is to the contrary. The Ethiopian picture of the Blessed Mother and our Lord Jesus Christ shown above has more resemblance to Him than the one you see here in America or Europe. I agree with you that he created as equal and in his own image, as the Bible says.
We have to thank the author for his courageous article.
God Bless all.
Ethiopan Dec 26th 2010 1:14PM
It is the first Christian nation in the world. Armentia adopted Christianity from Ethiopia in the 4th century. You can google about this. I have Armenian with me who know thier history.
They did not only adopt Christianity from Ethiopia, but they also adopted Geez the Ethiopian alphabet. Now their alphabet is based on Geez. You can compar their alphabet.
Do not be ashamed to write the truth of history.
Ethiopian Dec 26th 2010 1:14PM
The other thing, Ethiopian did not become or get christianity in the 4th century, it was in the first century. It is in the bible. It is people who never read the bible who never writethe right things.
Hulle Dec 30th 2010 1:33AM
yes, their was a man mentioned in the new testament, did he go back to Ethiopia and baptize people and make them Christian? No. it took many years for priest to add the new testament story to the old one, yes it is b/n 300 and 400.
Ethiopiawi Dec 26th 2010 5:27PM
There is no one who actually tell exactly when Christianity arrived in Ethiopia with 100% sure because there is even evidence Ethiopian presence in Jerusalem before even Jesus was born. There is a long history what goes far beyond that.
What we read what has been written, but Ethiopians were in Israel when Jesus rose and they have visited the site and even found the cross. The person called Hilna was an Ethiopian who got the cross.
My point, it is not Ethioipians who are the second of oldest Christian heritage, It is the Armenian who got Christianity and the Geez langauge into Armenia. I certain trader from Armenia was in Ethiopia and he adopted Christianity and Geez on his return from Ethiopia. I learned this from Armenias themselves. I did not know myself. Armenian would show you all and prove to you they got everything from Ethiopia.
Ethiopiawi Dec 26th 2010 4:44PM
I cannot exactly tell you when priesthood started in Ethiopia. But what I am aware from my reading is that Christianity did not come to Ethiopia becaus of Romans or Greek or anyone else. Ethiopians themselves were there long before.
There are many stories which confirm this in the old testament. For instance, Zipora the wife of Moses was Ethiopians. Moses who lived in the desert for 40 years eating Mana circa 1450 BC . This is long before the story of the visit of Queen Sheeba to Solomon in the 10000 BC. Much has not be studied about Ethiopia yet, but there is fascinating stories about Ethiopia. They used to do business with Asia, middle east long before Arabs, Europeans. They used to build ships, and used to be feared for their swift sailing across the sea. You will read how the Greeks dreaded and worshipped Ethiopians.
According to recent scientific findings, Ethiopia remains the only nation where all sort of dating indicate it is the oldest country. But European, Arab , writers try to put their own records.
For instance, there is no record Arabs existed before Ethiopia, but still some write Ethiopians came from Arab. The Arabs came to the scene after Mohammed. There is no smell of Arab history before that. Indeed, the Iraqis have long history together with Persia.
Others write Ethiopians are descent of Jews which is not true at all. The Jewish nation came to exist about 18 000 BC. Ethiopians history goes upto 40 000 back.
Do you know the rulers of Egypt were Ethiopians by the way? The ones who are in Egypt are Arabs who occupied today's Egypt. The indigeneous people were black Africans.
Unlike today, Ethiopia has ruled the whole middle east upto India. There are still cultures and norms which overlap with some Indian tribes. Where did that come from? There are Indians who claim they are Ethiopians? And you can sometimes they look Ethiopians in their appearance , they way of living.
We are the oldest nation in the world with our own Technology. In Ethiopia still there is indigenous Technology. People do produce traditional weapons, ammunitions, do metal works without going to any school. We have indigeneous architectures which is unique to Ethiopia but Europeans love to call everything came from Europe because of thier arrogance.
We have indigeneous medicine and phyiotherapy and even external biological surgery and many other very healthy Technology which does not involve any operation. But we are now busying destroying everything trying to look like Europeans.
Anthony Dec 27th 2010 2:28PM
There is no such thing as a "Latino Jesus" in Latin America, all the images of Jesus that are used in Latin America for worship, are of a European looking Jesus, images indoctrinated by the Spanish or Portuguese.
Sean McLachlan Dec 27th 2010 2:31PM
Not true. I've seen numerous Latino Jesuses (Jesi?) in Mexico, Peru, and Bolivia. Although there are many European-style representations as well.
Filix-mas Mar 7th 2011 1:46AM
Please, is it possible that Jesus Christ hailed from Ethiopia? please e-mail me
Seth Mar 18th 2013 10:20AM
Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox Church is the oldest church in the world. Older than the Armenian church. Your info is false about dat. See. Yes. True. Jah Bless.