Ethiopic Bible History (3)

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"III.--ETHIOPIC VERSIONS OF SCRIPTURE.    A very ancient Ethiopic version of the entire Scriptures, mentioned by Chrysostom in his second homily on St. John, is still extant, but when or by whom executed is unknown.   It certainly was not produced later than the fourth century.   By some it is attributed to Frumentius, who, about the year 330, preached Christianity in Abyssinia, and was ordained Bishop of the country by Athanasius, Patriarch of Alexandria, whence perhaps the dependence, still subsisting, of the Church of Abyssinia on that of Egypt.   In this version the books of the Old Testament appear to have been mainly translated from the Septuagint; in the Gospels, the translator seems to have availed himself of various MSS., and some peculiar readings occur: considered as a whole, however, this version may be said to correspond pretty closely with the Alexandrine family of MSS., as might, indeed, have been expected from the proximity of the countries and the connection between the two churches; for the Coptic Patriarch of Egypt is the head of the Abyssinian Church, and the Abuna or resident Bishop of Abyssinia is always appointed by him.   The Epistles and Book of Revelation belonging to this version are unhap- pily very paraphrastic; in other respects the Ethiopic New Testament is of considerable use in biblical criticism, as it shows the state of the text at a very early period.   The entire Ethiopic Bible has never yet been printed.   The Psalter, through some mistake erroneously entitled a Chaldee Psalter, was published by John Potken at Rome in 1513; and again, in 1657, it appeared in the London Polyglot with various readings and notes by Dr. Edmund Castell.   In 1701 another edition of the Psalter was edited by Ludolf, the celebrated Ethiopic scholar.   In 1548 the New Testament in Ethiopic was printed for the first time at Rome, by some Abyssinian priests.   This edition, afterwards reprinted in the London Polyglot, is very inaccurate; the MSS. used on the occasion were old and mutilated, and the editors filled up the chasms that occurred in the text by translating from the Vulgate.   The subject of printing this ancient version was first brought before the Bible Society by a communication transmitted through the Edinburgh Bible Society, from the Rev. George Paxton of Edinburgh, con- cerning the spiritual state of the Abyssinians, and the scarcity of copies of Scripture among them. The British and Foreign Bible Society accordingly, in 1815, gave an edition of the Psalter, accurately printed from Ludolf's edition, to Abyssinia; and as no correct printed edition had been ever issued of the New Testament, strenuous efforts were made to obtain authentic MSS.   The only Ethiopic MS. of importance at that period, easily accessible in England, was a MS. of the Gospel of St. John, brought from India by Dr. Buchanan, and deposited at Cambridge.   This was found on collation to differ from the printed copy in almost every verse, and its readings were evidently more accurate than those of the printed edition.   With the view of inspecting other MSS., Mr. Thomas Pell Platt visited Paris in 1822, and collated the valuable MSS. belonging to the Royal Library; and in 1826, the Four Gospels were completed, under his editorial care.   They were printed from a fount of types cast at the expense of the Bible Society, from the matrices which had been presented by Ludolf, in 1700, to the Frankfort Library.   The entire New Testament was published in 1830.   In this edition, no one MS. was exclusively followed.   The plan adopted by the editor, Mr. Platt, was, as he himself informs us, first to prepare a correct copy from a MS. of undoubted value, leaving considerable space between the lines; other MSS. were then carefully collated with the copy, and every variety of reading that occurred was inserted, in the space left for the purpose, beneath the corresponding words of the copy.   Afterwards, these readings were subjected to a rigid examination; the reading which afforded the strongest marks of being genuine was retained, and the others were expunged.    We are indebted to the Abyssinian Church, not only for the ancient and valuable version of Scripture just described, but also for curious apocryphal writings, such as the Book of Enoch, the Book of Adam, the Ascension of Isaiah, etc., which have been found in no other Church; their date and origin are unknown.   The Book of Enoch is by some supposed to be the book quoted in Jude 14; and although it has no claim whatever to be placed among the books of Scripture, it has excited much interest on account of its great antiquity, for it is supposed by Dr. Laurence, who has published both the original and a translation of it, to have been written about the close of the first century."--The Bible of Every Land. (1860, Second Edition)   Samuel Bagster   [Info only] ETHIOPIC.--1860   S. Bagster   [Info only: Ethiopic Character   n.d. John 1:1-14 unknown.] "IV.--RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION.    From the peculiar character of the Abyssinians, and the strange mixture of Christianity, popery, and heathenism that prevails among them, few visible effects have as yet resulted from the publication of the Ethiopic Scriptures.   The Scriptures have indeed been received with joy, yet little can be said as to any permanent change resulting from their perusal.   "One day," said the devoted my., Mr. Gobat (now Bishop of Jerusalem), "I am all joy with the hope that in a short time the Abyssinian mission will be crowned with glorious success; the following day I am cast down to the very dust by the idea that all attempts will be useless: for the Abyssinians very generally yield to the truth, but it is only for a while; they cannot make up their minds to quit so much as one of their customs."   Thus faith is tried for a time; yet the promise is sure, that God's word shall not return to Him void, and the day perhaps is near when "Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God."   The Mission maintained for several years in Abyssinia was relinquished in 1842, but it is gratifying to learn that subsequent open- ings have occurred for the introduction of the Christian Scriptures into that benighted land.   In 1856, a supply of Ethiopic Scriptures (together with Amharic) was forwarded for distribution in Abyssinia, at the instance of Bishop Gobat."--The Bible of Every Land. (1860, Second Edition)   Samuel Bagster   [Info only]

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