HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES AND SECTS. BYSSINIA, CHURCH OF.-Some uncertainty rests upon the ABYSSINIA, exact period when Abyssinia was converted to the Christian faith. It is said by the best writers to have received the Gospel about the middle of the fourth century, when Athanasius was patriarch of Alexandria. Frumentius, a Christian merchant trading in Ethiopia and on the Red Sea, was well received by the king of Abyssinia. Anxious for their conversion, he proceeded after a time to Alexandria, and having been ordained by Athanasius bishop of Ethiopia, returned immediately in a new character to the scene of his former labours. Great numbers of the Abyssinians were baptized, a regular clergy ordained, and churches built; and it is probable that about this time Christianity was generally diffused throughout the Abyssinian empire. From the first, the Abyssinians received their patriarch, whom they call Abuna or Abouna, a word equivalent to father, from Alexandria. Since the Coptic, or Egyptian, Church embraced from the earliest times the Eutychian or Monophysite doctrines, these, in consequence, have always been held by the Abyssinians, who are to be numbered among the Monophysite Churches. (See ARMENIAN CHURCH.) Continuing to receive their Abunas from Egypt, they became disciples to the Alexandrian faith. For a period of a thousand years the Abyssinian Church was forgotten, or unknown, to European Christendom. The Saracens VOL. I. B obtained the ascendency in Egypt, and the terror of their name was sufficient to shut out the distant regions of Ethiopia and Abyssinia from all communication with the Western Churches. It was towards the close of the fifteenth century that some adventurers, sent out by John II., king of Portugal, penetrated into the kingdom of Congo, and heard for the first time of the Christians of Abyssinia. The king, overjoyed on the discovery, resolved to send into Abyssinia, in order to ascertain, if possible, the real state of the people. Accordingly, Pedro Cavilham entered Abyssinia in the year 1490, and transmitted to Portugal a statement of all he had seen and heard. Portugal, at this time in the zenith of her power, was intensely moved by the strongest passions to which nations are exposed-the love of conquest, and a profound enthusiasm for the national religion. The most extravagant hopes were indulged of the wealth to be drained from these rediscovered regions, which were supposed to contain more gold than America herself; and the triumph would be great indeed if Abyssinia-that ancient Ethiopia of prophecy and history-could be reduced to the subjection of the see of Rome. A treaty was set on foot between the two countries in 1509. The Abyssinians requested that printers, artificers, and learned men might be sent from Europe, promising in return every assistance they could render to the interests of the Portuguese. In their simplicity they preferred a similar request at Rome. Conscious of their own inferiority, they were anxious to import the arts and civilization of Europe; but the step was fraught with ruin. It was determined, on the part of Portugal and Rome, to effect, by whatever means, the subjugation of Abyssinia; and a mission was established, of which it has been said with truth, "that, for the intrigue with which it was introduced, the artifice and cruelty with which it was carried on, and the miserable and disgraceful termination which it received, it admits of no parallel in the annals of the world." We proceed to give a brief outline of this affecting history. In 1527 an Abyssinian ambassador, Zaga-Zaba, arrived at Madrid, and, from some reason imperfectly explained, was induced to sign a confession of his faith, agreeing in essentials with that of Rome. For some unknown reason likewise, probably from reluctance to acknowledge the supremacy of the Romish see, he was, however, denied the sacraments, and detained as a hostage if not as a prisoner. In the mean time Bermudes, a Portuguese in Abyssinia, contrived to ingratiate himself with the young Emperor David and his people. The Mahomedans were now making vigorous war upon him; they invaded and took possession of some parts of his empire. The Abyssinian emperor, distracted and helpless, was induced to send Bermudes to the courts of Rome and Lisbon to implore assistance. Before he set out, however, his influence was such that the Abuna was ordered to consecrate him bishop, and to nominate him his successor in the patriarchate of Ethiopia. He then proceeded at once to Rome, where he was consecrated patriarch of Ethiopia by the pope, and further commended to the king of Portugal. On his arrival at Madrid, one of his first acts was to disgrace Zaga-Zaba, who was loaded with chains and thrown into prison; and thus the first step was taken towards the subjugation of the Abyssinian Church. Succours were at length sent, about 1540; and, after various turns of fortune, the Mahomedans were expelled, and the emperor replaced upon his throne. The Portuguese now began to make large demands in return for the services they had rendered. They required that he should embrace the Roman Catholic faith and cede one-third of his dominions; and a threat was added that, unless he complied, he should lose the service of the Portuguese, and, further, that he himself should be excommunicated. The threat of excommunication had, however, a very different effect from that which Bermudes expected. The emperor at once declared that the patriarch had no authority whatever in his empire, and that the pope himself was a heretic; and, to show his sincerity, he immediately sent to Alexandria for an Abuna, for the Abyssinian Church; and, on hearing that he was on his road, set out to meet and welcome him. He was received with enthusiasm by the people. Bermudes was imprisoned; but it would seem that no great severity was intended, as he soon contrived to escape from Abyssinia, to make way for missionaries of another school. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the order of Jesuits, saw in Abyssinia a wide and tempting field, and asked permission at once to rush into it. In 1555 the Jesuits first made their appearance at the court of Abyssinia. Ignatius himself was represented by thirteen missionaries of his society; and at the same time other Jesuits were sent by the king of Portugal. Of these Rodriguez was the leader. Claudius, at this time king of Abyssinia, was a man of great penetration as well as real piety. He was by no means pleased with the sudden appearance of a foreign priesthood, whose numbers rendered them suspicious, and whose arguments he could readily confute. Rodriguez urged that the pope was the vicar of Christ, and that none could be saved out of the pale of the Roman Church. The emperor replied that these were points for the consideration of a council, and by no means to be determined by the private opinion of a priest; and, on that account, he must not expect that the people of Ethiopia would easily relinquish the faith of their forefathers. Oviedo, another Jesuit, who had been consecrated bishop of Hierapolis by the pope, in order that he might succeed the patriarch, should an opportunity occur, next obtained an interview, and presented letters from the pope and the king of Portugal. He plainly asked the emperor whether he intended to submit to the pope or not; assuring him, at the same time, that out of his jurisdiction salvation was impossible. The emperor replied mildly, that the Abyssinian Church had, from the beginning, been subject to the patriarch of Alexandria, with whose rule they were well satisfied; and that, as to the errors with which the bishop had charged them, he might inform himself more correctly by reading their Confession of Faith; and he added that the matter should be laid before an ecclesiastical council, and the bishop informed of their decision. Oviedo was dissatisfied, and challenged the learned in Abyssinia to dispute with him in public. The challenge was accepted; and Claudius himself, fearing, perhaps, that his clergy might be foiled by so accomplished a disputant, took a principal part in the discussion; in which, according to the Jesuit historians themselves, he very much foiled the bishop. At length Oviedo, finding all other expedients hopeless, determined upon one which seemed to promise an easy victory. On the 5th of February, 1559, in the church of Decome, he solemnly excommunicated the whole of the Abyssinian Church. Within a few months Claudius fell in battle with a neighbouring state, his army was routed, and the empire seemed on the verge of ruin. He was succeeded by his brother Adam, a fierce and haughty barbarian. He ascribed the misery of his country entirely to the Jesuits, and vowed their extermination. The Portuguese joined with the Mahomedans of the neighbouring states in waging war against the heretical Abyssinians and Adam fell, like his brother, in the field. But the mission of the Jesuits failed, and they were formally recalled by a bull, dated from St. Peter's, A.D. 1550. Thus ended the first Abyssinian mission. After several unsuccessful attempts by Menezes, archbishop of Goa, and others, a second Jesuit mission was at length established in 1603, of which Father Peter was the head. It is impossible to give, in a short space, even a summary of that complication of events which filled the next twenty years of Abyssinian history. During the whole period a succession of intrigues, civil wars, and slaughter, occupies and fatigues the reader. Father Peter sided first with the court, then with the insurgents, then with the court again, as each party gained the ascendency; some of the Jesuits always so contriving matters as to be in the confidence of either party. At length the emperor consigned all offices of trust to those who had embraced the Romish faith. The Abuna remonstrated, and at length excommunicated. The emperor answered by an edict commanding all his subjects forthwith to embrace the Romish faith. Another insurrection followed, supported by the Abuna and led by the emperor's son-in-law. An immense army joined the latter, who marched for the royal camp, determined to establish the ancient faith or perish. Simeon the Abuna gave them his blessing, assuring them that every soldier that fell would receive a martyr's crown; but their leader died beneath a shower of arrows, and his followers, panic-struck, threw down their arms and fled. The Abuna was about a hundred years old; too feeble for flight and overwhelmed with grief, he remained upon the spot. His character secured him from the Abyssinian soldiers, but a Portuguese came up, and regardless of his gray hairs, thrust him through with a spear. For a while the victory of the Jesuits seemed to be complete, and the Courts of Rome and Madrid determined to send a patriarch into Abyssinia. Alphonso Mendez was consecrated patriarch, and James Seco and John da Rocha, bishops of Nice and Hierapolis. On the 21st of June, 1624, the patriarch, with his coadjutor, the bishop of Hierapolis, arrived at Fremona, the bishop of Nice having died on the voyage. After a short time the patriarch and his associates were summoned to Court. On the 11th of December the |