ስለ ዘፍቀረ አንድዩ

ስለ ዘፍቀረ አንድዩ፥ ንስቓይና ብስቃዩ፤ 
መርገምና ከጽውር፤ ሞት ኣዳም ከጥዕም ሓርዩ፤
 ካብ ቃሉ እንሰምዓ አታ አተሕየሎ ፍቅሪ፤  
ዘይጽውር አጽዊራቶ ከረይና ብግብር ፤ 

በጥፍአቲ ነብሶም ዘጎሃየት ልቡ
ኣይሃድጎምን ክብል ብእሳት ከለብለቡ
ካብ ሰማይ መስ ወረደ በፈቅሪ ተሳሂቡ
 በውንገል ከሰሰዎ ወንጌሉ ከይስዕቡ

ቅዱስ ከነሱ ነጹህ ዝባሕሪኡ
ምራቅ አና ተተፉኦ  ዘይትጸየፈ ኮርዩ
ትሕት አንተበለ ከድሕነና ፈትዩ
ነገር ፍቅሪ ኮይኑዎ አምበር ኣምላክናስ ሓያልዩ

ስለ ዘፍቀረን ድዩ፥ ንስቓይና ብስቃዩ፤ 
መርገምና ከጽውር፤ ሞት ኣዳም ከጥዕም ሓርዩ፤
 ካብ ቃሉ እንሰምዓ አታ አተሕየሎ ፍቅሪ፤  
ዘይጽውር አጽዊራቶ ከረይና ብግብር ፤ 

ኣምላክ ልግሲ አንከሎ ዘዝንብ ካብ ሰማይ
ነዛ ጎረአሩ  ፍጽም ከሊኦሞ ማይ
በደሞኡ አንዳጥለሎም መጺጽ አንተ አስተዩዎ
ቃል ሀድገት ሃቲኣት አምበር አንታይ ሕማክ ወጺዎ
ኣብ ማአከል በርባሮስ ብምርኮ ኣዳም ኣንክድብል
ደያብሎስ ከችድር መን ከማይ አንከበ
አቲ ዘይሞውት ጎይታ ሃይሊ ጸልመት ቀቲሉ
በሞቱ ሰንሰለት ሓቲያትና በቲኩልና ኣብ መስቀሉ

ስለ ዘፍቀረን ድዩ፥ ንስቓይና ብስቃዩ፤ 
መርገምና ከጽውር፤ ሞት ኣዳም ከጥዕም ሓርዩ፤
 ካብ ቃሉ እንሰምዓ አታ አተሕየሎ ፍቅሪ፤  
ዘይጽውር አጽዊራቶ ከረይና ብግብር ፤ 

ቃንዛ ሰቅያቱ ከም ሴፍ ኮይኑ አንዳወገኣ
ማዕረ አቲ ትሓዝኖ ልባ ብሓጎስ ከትመልኣ
ውዑይ ንብዐት ማርያም ዝውረረ አንዳ አንደዳ
ሰለ ፊቅሪዩ ኔሩ ከም ደም ፍቁር ወዳ

The Holy Thursday of the passion week

First Jesus washed the feet of his apostles to show them that they work for the people and should work in humility and show humbleness for he says the servant is no greater than his master and a student than his teacher.

"When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them." John 13: 12-17

Then Jesus ordered the holy mystery if the Communion/ Eucharist in this order.

"And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.

And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;

For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." Mathew 26:26-29

Judas' kiss

And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people.

Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast.

And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him.

And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus and took him.

And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest's, and smote off his ear.

Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?

But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?

In that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes, Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me.

But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled." Matthew 26:47-56

the parable of the wedding feast : Matthew 22:1-14

 "And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,

 The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,

And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.

 Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.

 But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:

And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.  But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.

Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.

 So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.

 And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:

 And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.

 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

 For many are called, but few are chosen." 

Money, Materialism and the World

"19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." John 15:19

If the bible clearly tells us we DO NOT belong to this world why do we try harder to be part of the world than be part of the eternal City that is Heavenly Jerusalem. Today I saw a video that blew me away; an English man who in his previous life worked as a DJ(a musician type) now serves as a Deacon in Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church, he is studying and working on some translation such as; Tselot Zewtre, Melkea Maryam and Melkea Eyesus all prayer books essential in the Orthodox Church. In his interview he states that he came to Ethiopia as a Rastafarian as he followed the movement for some times and even had dreadlocks which is an integral part of Rastafarianism (who believe King Haile Selassie is the savior). He cut his hair also shaved it bold and burnt the remains and says he did it according to the book of numbers.

one thing that struck me in the video is how far we have become detached from our culture and religion. when the presenter asked the Deacon what his baptismal given name was, he replied "yes, i have one it is Tesfa Mikael". As we all know that our Baptismal Ge'ez names of both Ethiopian and Eritrean are not used everyday nor are they encouraged simply because it is not popular. In fact, the name Tesfa Mikeal mean the hope of Saint Mikeal , like many different name we are not encouraged to use in society such as female Baptismal name starting Welete meaning 'the daughter of' and followed by name of the given celebrated day; for example a girl baptized on Trinity would be 'welete Silassie ' meaning daughter of the Trinity or similarly Welde Silassie means Son of the Trinity.

It is mainly our ignorant to the meaning of our religion and the mystery behind it which makes us become shy or embarrassed by our very own culture and religion. If we knew exactly why things are done from cultural to religious perspective we would be proud and could even teach our non- religious friends about the beauty of our culture instead of conforming to their culture and believes. Nowadays, we see more and more Ethiopian or Eritrean people taking the cultural forms of the west it is even taking over our countries. My recent visit to Eritrea showed me that the is a rise in crime and I felt unsafe walking late at home as I've heard too many news about murder of young men and women. I felt the country had changed and it dawned on me that it is really near to the end when  once a fearing country can change it's ways. I have also recently heard that there is a Homosexual community in Ethiopia which is very shocking to hear as Ethiopia is a very religious country but as the population increase and the country becomes more westernized the some people are actually being pushed into something they do not want to do simply because of poverty.(of the people involved not the whole country)

i leave you with this quotes for the day

"In the same way, people who are last will be first, and those who are first will be last.'" Mathew 20:16

"But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.

Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’

But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’

Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour." Mathew 25 :10-13