Saint Elesbaan.
Psautier éthiopien d'Abbadie. Vers 1450.
Saint Elesbaan d'Ethiopie
Roi
d'Ethiopie (✝ v. 535)
Caleb ou Cabeb.
Il était roi de la région qui bordait la Mer Rouge. Chrétien, il dut s'opposer
à un autre prince éthiopien, Dunaan, qui persécutait les chrétiens dans son
royaume, en particulier un évêque arabe, saint Grégence, et
plusieurs autres du Yémen. Poussé par l'empereur byzantin Justin Ier, Elesbaan
rétablit le christianisme et mit un prince chrétien, Ariat, à la place de
Dunaan. Vers la fin de sa vie, Elesbaan abdiqua en faveur de son fils pour se
consacrer uniquement au service de Dieu.
Il est fêté le 24 octobre par les Églises orthodoxes.
En Éthiopie, vers 535, saint Cabeb ou Elesbaan, roi. Il combattit
les ennemis du Christ, qui avaient causé le martyre des chrétiens de Négranèse
et, au temps de l’empereur Justin, il envoya, dit-on, à Jérusalem son diadème
royal et, menant la vie monastique, comme il en avait fait le vœu, il
s’endormit dans le Seigneur.
Martyrologe romain
27 octobre. Saint Elesbaan, roi d'Ethiopie. 523.
Papes : Saint Homisdas (523 +) ; Jean Ier.
Empereur romain
d'Orient : Justin Ier.
" Un Chrétien doit comprendre qu'il doit accomplir son titre par les bonnes oeuvres plutôt que par le nom."
Saint Augustin.
Les Ethiopiens Axumites, dont les possessions s'étendaient depuis la
côte occidentale de la mer Rouge jusque fort avant dans le Continent, étaient
un peuple très florissant au 6ème siècle. Le roi, qui les gouvernait sous
l'empereur Justin l'Ancien, se nommait Elesbaan. Ce prince, dans toutes ses
actions et dans toutes ses entreprises, ne se proposait d'autre but que le
bonheur de ses sujets et la gloire de Dieu. Quelques auteurs prétendent qu'il
avait été converti de l'idolâtrie au Christianisme. Quoi qu'il en soit, ses
vertus montrèrent combien une nation est fortunée lorsqu'elle a des maîtres qui
ont su s'affranchir de l'esclavage des passions. Si Elesbaan prit les armes, ce
ne fut que pour défendre la cause de la justice, et il fit servir la victoire
au triomphe de l'une et de l'autre.
Les Homérites, parmi lesquels il y avait un grand nombre de Juifs, habitaient sur la côte orientale de la mer Rouge, au Yemen. Ils étaient gouvernés, dans le temps dont nous parlons, par Dunaan ou Danaan, que les Syriens et Arabes appelent Dsunowa. C'était un Juif qui s'était emparé du pouvoir. La haine qu'il portait au Christianisme le rendit persécuteur des amis du Christ. Il bannit en 526 saint Grégence, Arabe de naissance, et archevêque de Taphar, métropole du pays.
Les Homérites, parmi lesquels il y avait un grand nombre de Juifs, habitaient sur la côte orientale de la mer Rouge, au Yemen. Ils étaient gouvernés, dans le temps dont nous parlons, par Dunaan ou Danaan, que les Syriens et Arabes appelent Dsunowa. C'était un Juif qui s'était emparé du pouvoir. La haine qu'il portait au Christianisme le rendit persécuteur des amis du Christ. Il bannit en 526 saint Grégence, Arabe de naissance, et archevêque de Taphar, métropole du pays.
Il fit
décapiter saint Aréthas avec 4 autres Chrétiens (nommé au 27 juillet) qui
avaient confessé généreusement la Foi. Saint Aréthas, nommé aussi Harith ou
Haritz, était gouverneur de la ville de Nagran, l'ancienne capitale du Yémen.
Non seulement il refusa de sauver sa vie en apostasiant, mais il exhorta tous
les autres Chrétiens à rester fidèlement attachés à Dieu. On l'enleva de la
ville, et on le conduisit sur le bord d'un ruisseau, où il fut exécuté en 523.
Duma, ou plutôt Reuma ou Remi, sa femme, et ses filles souffrirent également la mort pour la même cause. On les honore comme martyrs, avec 340 autres Chrétiens que Dunaan condamna aussi à mort. Ils sont nommés au 24 octobre dans les calendriers d'Occident et d'Orient ainsi que dans celui des Moscovites.
L'empereur Justin, dont les Chrétiens persécutés avaient imploré la protection, engagea saint Elesbaan à porter ses armes dans l'Arabie et à chasser l'usurpateur. Ce prince zélé déféra aux justes désirs de l'empereur ; il attaqua et défit le tyran. Mais il usa de la victoire avec beaucoup de modération. Il rétablit le Christianisme, rappela saint Grégence, et fit rebâtir l'église de Taphar. Il mit sur le trône Abraamius ou Ariat, Chrétien fort zélé, qui se conduisit par les conseils de saint Grégence. Ce saint évêque eut une conférence publique avec les Juifs, où la vraie Foi triompha. Il écrivit aussi contre les vices un livre que nous avons encore en grec, et qui est dans la bibliothèque impériale de Vienne. Il mourut le 19 décembre 552.
Duma, ou plutôt Reuma ou Remi, sa femme, et ses filles souffrirent également la mort pour la même cause. On les honore comme martyrs, avec 340 autres Chrétiens que Dunaan condamna aussi à mort. Ils sont nommés au 24 octobre dans les calendriers d'Occident et d'Orient ainsi que dans celui des Moscovites.
L'empereur Justin, dont les Chrétiens persécutés avaient imploré la protection, engagea saint Elesbaan à porter ses armes dans l'Arabie et à chasser l'usurpateur. Ce prince zélé déféra aux justes désirs de l'empereur ; il attaqua et défit le tyran. Mais il usa de la victoire avec beaucoup de modération. Il rétablit le Christianisme, rappela saint Grégence, et fit rebâtir l'église de Taphar. Il mit sur le trône Abraamius ou Ariat, Chrétien fort zélé, qui se conduisit par les conseils de saint Grégence. Ce saint évêque eut une conférence publique avec les Juifs, où la vraie Foi triompha. Il écrivit aussi contre les vices un livre que nous avons encore en grec, et qui est dans la bibliothèque impériale de Vienne. Il mourut le 19 décembre 552.
Saint
Elesbaan, suivant Baillet, ne fut pas plus tôt de retour dans ses Etats, qu'il
abdiqua la couronne. Mais on lit dans la légation de Nonnus, qu'il régnait à
Axuma, capitale de l'Ethiopie, plusieurs années après la guerre dont nous
venons de parler. Ce bon prince, dégoûté enfin du monde, laissa le gouvernement
à son fils, qui fut héritier de son zèle et de sa piété.
Il envoya son diadème à Jérusalem ; puis, s'étant déguisé, il sortit de
la ville pendant la nuit, et alla se renfermer dans un monastère situé sur une
montagne déserte. Il n'emporta avec lui qu'une coupe pour boire et une natte
pour se coucher. Il ne vécut plus désormais que de pain, auquel il joignait de
temps en temps quelques herbes crues. L'eau devint son unique boisson. Il
voulut être traité comme les autres frères, et il était toujours le premier aux
différents exercices. Il n'eut plus de communication avec les personnes du
monde, afin de se livrer tout entier à la prière et la contemplation. Il est
nommé en ce jour dans le martyrologe romain.
On le représente quelquefois comme solitaire, agenouillé devant une croix, et la couronne à terre près de lui.
On le représente quelquefois comme solitaire, agenouillé devant une croix, et la couronne à terre près de lui.
St. Elesbaan, King of Ethiopia, Confessor
The Axumite Ethiopians, whose
dominions were extended from the western coast of the Red Sea, very far on the
continent, were in the sixth century a powerful and flourishing nation. St.
Elesbaan their king, during the reign of Justin the Elder, in all his actions
and designs had no other desire than to procure in all things the happiness of
his people, and the divine glory. The mildness and prudence of his government
was a sensible proof how great a blessing a people enjoy in a king who is free
from inordinate passions and selfish views, to gratify which princes so often
become tyrants. This good king, however, was obliged to engage in a war. But
his motives were justice and religion; and the exaltation of both was the fruit
of his victory.
The Homerite Arabians dwelt upon
the eastern coast at the bottom of the Red Sea, in Arabia Felix, and were
either a part of the Sabæans, or their neighbours. This nation was full of
Jews; and Dunaan or Danaan, a Jew who had usurped the sovereignty, persecuted
the Christians. St. Gregentius, who was an Arabian by birth, and archbishop of
Taphar, the metropolis of this country, was banished by him in 520. St. Aretas,
the governor of the city Neogran, was beheaded, with four companions, for his
constancy in the faith. His wife Duma, and daughters, also suffered death for
the same glorious cause, and are honoured as martyrs on the 24th of October, in
the Roman, and in other Western, as well as in the Eastern and Muscovite
calendars. (1)
The Emperor Justin the Elder,
whose protection the persecuted Christians had implored, engaged St. Elesbaan
to transport his forces into Arabia, and drive away the usurper. The zealous
prince complied with this just desire, and having by the divine blessing
defeated the tyrant, made use of his victory with great clemency and
moderation, re-established religion, recalled St. Gregentius, and repaired the
vineyard, which a furious wild beast had laid waste. He rebuilt the church at
Taphar; and, by laying the first stone, would be himself the first architect.
He placed on the throne Abraamius, a pious Christian, who governed by the
counsels of St. Gregentius. That holy prelate had a famous conference with the
Jews,(2) and wrote a book against vices,(3) extant in Greek in the Imperial
library at Vienna. St. Gregentius died on the 19th of December, in 552.
Baillet tells us, that St.
Elesbaan resigned his crown soon after his return into his own dominions: but
Nonnus, in his Legation(4) testifies in 527, several years
after this war, that Elesbaan then resided at Axuma, a very great city, capital
of Ethiopia.
At length, this good king,
leaving his dominions to a son who was heir of his zeal and piety no less than
of his kingdom, sent his royal diadem to Jerusalem, put on sackcloth, and
retired secretly in the night out of the palace and city to a holy monastery
situated on a solitary mountain, where he took the monastic habit, and shut
himself up in a cell for the remaining part of his life. He carried nothing
with him out of the palace but a mat to lie on, and a cup to drink out of. His
food was only bread, with which he sometimes took a few dry herbs; he never
drank any thing but water. He would not allow himself the least distinction
above the last among his brethren, and was the first in every duty of his new
state. No seculars ever had access to him, and his whole employment consisted
in the exercises of penance, the contemplation of heavenly things, and
conversing with God, by whom he was at length called, by a happy death, to
reign eternally with Christ. His name occurs in the Roman Martyrology.
Note 1. Their Acts are published
in Greek by Lambecius, (Biblioth. Vindob. t. 5, p. 130, 132, et t. 8. p. 254,
260, 262,) and in Latin by Baronius Lipoman and Surius. Baillet suspects them
because taken from Metaphrastes. But Falconius rightly judges that Metaphrastes
gave them genuine, p. 23, which is shown by Jos. Assemani, Bibl. Orient. t. 1.
p. 358, 364 et seq.) who gives us the original Syriac history of the Homerite
martyrs, written by Simeon, bishop of Arsamopolis, in Persia, in a letter to
Simeon, abbot of Gabula.
The Syriac historians, produced by Jos. Assemani, as Simeon, bishop of
Beth-Arsamen, etc. agree in this history perfectly with the Greeks, viz. Sim.
Metaphrastes, in Surius, (t. 5, p. 943.) Theophanes, Cedrenus, Procopius,
Evagrius, etc. Likewise the modern historians of Abyssinia, who were Portuguese
missionaries in that country, viz. Francisco Alvares, chaplain to the
Portuguese ambassador in 1540, who printed that year the first and most
faithful history of Abyssinia, and of his embassy; F. Bermudes, patriarch,
wrote the second in 1565, but mixing many fables deserves credit only in things
to which he was eye-witness; F. Peter Nais gave a third in 1627; F. Alphonso
Mendez, patriarch of Ethiopia, wrote also a Latin history of that country. F.
Lopo wrote another more at length, which Le Grand translated into French,
adding several curious dissertations and notes, Paris, 1738. F. Balthasar
Tellez compiled from these a new and more complete history of Ethiopia, in
which he sets off the zeal of the Jesuits. From these and other helps Ludolph
has compiled his history of Ethiopia, with a dictionary and grammar of that
language.
Note 2. The Acts which we have of this conference have been interpolated.
Note 3. Lambec. in Bibl. Vindob. Cod. Theolog. 306. n. 33. p. 171.
Note 4. Ap. Phot. Cod. 3
(from The Lives of
the Saints, by Rev. Alban Butler, 1866, Volume X: October.)
Saint Elesbaan of Ethiopia
23 November
2012, 4:58 am
Also known as
- Elesbaan of Axum
- Calam-Negus…
- Calam…
- Caleb…
- Elesbaas…
- Elesbas…
- Elesboas…
- Eleuzoe…
- Ella Atsbeha…
- Ella Asbeha…
- Hellestheaeus…
- Kaleb…
- 27
October (Roman calendar)
- 15 May
(Eastern calendar)
Profile
Christian King in
Ethiopia in the early 6th century. With the support of Byzantine emperors
Justin I and Justinian, he invaded the southern Arabian peninsula where
Christian was under attack. Late in life he abdicated his throne to live as a
prayerful, penitent hermit and then a monk in Jerusalem.
- c.555
Elesbaan, king,
hermit, and saint of Ethiopia
Elesbaan, a king, hermit, and saint of Ethiopia during the
6th cent. (Rome, Oct. 27; Ethiopia, Ginbot, xx. May 15; cf. Ludolphus, p. 415),
whose exact story is difficult to trace. (Cf. Ludolphus, History of Ethiopia,
ed. 1684, p. 167; Lebeau, Histoire du Bas Empire, ed. 1827 viii. 47,
note 4; Walch, in Novi Commentarii Soc. Reg. Göttingen. t. iv.; Historia
Rerum in Homeritide Saec. vi. Gestarum, p. 4.) The importance of the
crusades on which his fame rests is attested by Gibbon, who asserts that, had
their purpose been attained, "Mahomet must have been crushed in his
cradle, and Abyssinia would have prevented a revolution which has changed the
civil and religious state of the world" (Decline and Fall, c. xlii.
sub fin.). The details of the saint's wars and character are drawn from
the Acta S. Arethae, extant in two forms: the earlier and more
authentic, found by Lequien in the Colbert Library (Oriens Christianus,
ii. 428), is referred by the Jesuit author of the Acta Sanctorum to the
7th cent. at latest; the later is, at best, but the recension of Simeon
Metaphrastes, in the 10th cent.
It
was probably during the later years of Anastasius's reign that Elesbaan
succeeded his father Tazena on the throne of Ethiopia. His kingdom was greatly
dependent for its 288welfare upon the goodwill and good order of the
people of Yemen, the Homeritae, from whom it was separated by the narrow strait
of Bab-el-Mandeb: for through the territory of the Homeritae the merchants of
Syria and of Rome came to the great port of Adulis (cf. Assemani Bibl.
Orientalis, i. p. 360), near whose ruins in Annesley Bay the Arabian
traders still unlade their ships (cf. Henry Salt, A Voyage to Abyssinia,
c. ix. p. 451). When Elesbaan succeeded, the Homeritae had greatly obscured the
Christianity which they had received in the reign of Constantius, but the
language of Cosmas Indicopleustes (Migne, Patr. Gk. vol. lxxxviii. p.
170) shews that it was not wholly extinct. The name of their king is variously
written Dunaan and Dhu Nowas; by John of Asia as Dimion; by Theophanes as
Damian. He had been made king c. 490, by the people whom he had freed
from their gross tyrant Laknia Dhu Sjenatir; and having shortly after his
accession forsworn idolatry and embraced Judaism, determined to enforce his new
creed with the sword (cf. Acta Sanctorum, Oct. vol. x, p. 693). In
retaliation for the sufferings of the Jews throughout the Christian empire, he
exacted heavy tolls from all Christian merchants who came through his territory
to the port of Aden and the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, and, according to John of
Asia (cf. Assemani, Bibl. Orientalis, i. 360), put many Christians to
death. Such action was injurious to the commerce of all the neighbouring
peoples, but especially of Ethiopia; and Elesbaan soon after his accession sent
a useless remonstrance, and then prepared for war. About a.d. 519 he crossed the straits, utterly
defeated the Arabian forces, and driving the Jew to refuge in the hills, left a
viceroy to bear Christian rule over the Homeritae and returned to Ethiopia (ib.
p. 362). The time of this expedition is incidentally and approximately marked
by Cosmas Indicopleustes, who tells us that he was at Adulis "ἐν τῇ ἀρχῇ τῆς βασιλείας Ἰουστίνου τοῦ Ῥωμαίων
βασίλεως" (a.d. 518-527), when the king of the
people of Axum, being about to war against the Homeritae, sent to ask the
governor of Adulis for a copy of a certain inscription; which copy Cosmas and
another monk were charged to make (Migne, Patr. Gk. vol. lxxxviii. p.
102).
The
death of the viceroy, probably in a.d.
522 or 523, whom Elesbaan had left in Yemen, encouraged Dhu Nowas to come down
from his hiding-place in the hills ("tanquam daemon carne indutus," Acta Sanctorum, Oct. xii. 316), and
reassert himself as king of the Homeritae and champion of Judaism. Choosing a
season when the Arabian Gulf would be an impassable barrier to the intervention
of Elesbaan, he gathered a force which presently numbered 120,000 men and,
having put to death all Christians whom he could find and turned their church
into a synagogue, pressed on to Negran, the head-quarters of the Ethiopian
vice-royalty, then held by Arethas the phylarch. He found the garrison
forewarned and the gates closed; nor were they opened at his threats, when
coming to the wall and holding up a wooden cross he swore that all who would
not blaspheme the Crucified and insult the sign of His suffering should die. At
last by treachery Dhu Nowas won an entrance, promising to hurt none of the
citizens and only demanding an exorbitant tribute; but having entered, he began
at once the reckless massacre which has left its mark even in the Koran (cf.
Walch's paper in the Göttingen Commentarii, p. 25). Arethas and Ruma his
wife died with a defiant confession on their lips; more than 4,000 Christian
men, women, and children were killed (commemorated in the Roman calendar on
Oct. 24) ; and from the fiery dyke into which the victims were thrown, Dhu
Nowas received the name Saheb-el-Okhdud ("Lord of the Trench"). At
this time, probably in Jan. 524, Simeon, bp. of Beth-Arsam, had been sent by
the emperor Justin, together with Abraham, a priest of Constantinople, to gain
the alliance of Mundhir III., king of the Arabians of Hira, a friend valuable
alike for reasons of commerce and in regard to the war with Persia. As the
ambassadors drew near the king (the story is told by Simeon in a letter to the
abbat of Gabula), they were met by a crowd of Arabs crying that Christ was
driven out of Rome and Persia and Homeritis; and they learnt that messengers were
present from Dhu Nowas with letters to king Mundhir, in which they heard the
long recital of the treachery by which Negran had been taken, of the insult to
the bishop's tomb, of the slaughter of the Christians and the triumph of
Judaism, the confession of the martyr Arethas, and the speech of Ruma urging
the women of Negran to follow her to the abiding city of the divine Bridegroom,
praying that the blood of the martyrs might be the wall of Negran while it
continued in the faith, and that she might be forgiven for that Arethas had
died first. They heard of her brutal murder, and the appeal of Dhu Nowas that
Mundhir should at once enact a like massacre throughout his kingdom. Their own
end must have seemed very near; but the courage of a soldier who stood forth as
spokesman of the many Christians in Mundhir's army decided the hesitation of
the king, and the ambassadors went away unhurt (but apparently unanswered) to
Naaman, a port in the Arabian Gulf. There they heard more fully the story of
the massacre, and especially of the constancy of a boy, who was afterwards
known to the bp. of Asia at Justinian's court. Simeon of Beth-Arsam thus closes
his letter, praying that the news may be spread throughout the church and the
martyrs receive the honour of commemoration, and that the king of Ethiopia may
be urged to help the Homeritae against the oppression of the Jew (cf. Assemani,
Bibl. Or. i. 364-379). When this message reached Elesbaan, it was
reinforced by a letter from Justin, elicited by the entreaties of Dous Ibn Dzi
Thaleban, one of the few Christians who had escaped Dhu Nowas (cf. Wright, Early
Christianity in Arabia, p. 56). This letter is given in the Acta S.
Arethae; where also it is told how the patriarch of Alexandria, at the
request of Justin, urged Elesbaan to invade Yemen, offering up a litany and
appointing a vigil on his behalf, and sending to him the Eucharist in a silver
vessel. Without delay Elesbaan collected a great army, which he divided into
two parts; 15,000 men he sent southwards 289to cross at Bab-el-Mandeb and, marching through
Yemen, divert the strength of Dhu Nowas's forces from the main body of the
Ethiopians, which Elesbaan intended to send by sea to some place on the S.
coast of Arabia. For the transport of these latter he appropriated 60 merchant
vessels then anchored in his ports, adding ten more, built after the native
fashion, the planks being held together by ropes. On the eve of the enterprise
he went in procession to the great church of Axum, and there, laying aside his
royalty, sued in formâ
pauperis for the favour
of Him Whose war he dared to wage; praying that his sins might be visited on
himself, and not on his people. Then he sought the blessing, counsel, and
prayers of St. Pantaleon; and received from within the doorless and windowless
tower, where the hermit had lived for 45 years, the answer: "Ἔστω σὺν σοι ὁ συμβασιλεύων σοι." Thus the army was sent on its twofold
route.
For
the 15,000 Bab-el-Mandeb was indeed a gate of tears: they died of hunger,
wandering in the desert. The main body was safely embarked, and sailed S. down
the Gulf of Arabia towards the straits; which Dhu Nowas had barred by a huge
chain, stretched across the space of two furlongs from side to side. Over this,
however, first ten ships and then seven more, including that of the Ethiopian
admiral, were lifted by the waves; the rest were driven back by stress of
weather, but presently, the chain being, according to one account, broken,
forced the passage, and passing the other seventeen, cast anchor farther along
the coast. Meanwhile Dhu Nowas, having first encamped on the W. shore, where he
thought his chain would force the Ethiopians to land, hurried from his
position, and leaving but a few men to resist the smaller fleet, watched with
his main army the movements of the rest. Those on the 17 ships under the
Ethiopian admiral easily effected a landing near Aden, and defeating the troops
opposed to them, pressed on to the chief city, Taphar, or Taphran, which
surrendered immediately (cf. Wright, op. cit. 58-60). Discouraged by
this disaster, the main body of the Arabians offered a feeble resistance; and
Dhu Nowas saw that his downfall was very near. According to the Arabian
historians, he threw himself from the cliff and died in the waves; according to
the Acta S. Arethae, he bound his seven kinsmen in chains, and fastened
them to his throne, lest they should fail to share his fate; and so awaited
death at Elesbaan's own hand. The Arabic writers are unsupported in their story
of the useless resistance of a successor Dhu Giadan; it was probably at the
death of Dhu Nowas that the kingdom of the Homeritae ended, and Yemen became a
province of Ethiopia. At Taphar Elesbaan is said to have built a church,
digging the foundations for seven days with his own hands; and from Taphar he
wrote of his victory to the patriarch of Alexandria. A bishop was sent from
Alexandria and appointed to the see of Negran, but there are doubts as to both
the orthodoxy and identity of this bishop. The king restored Negran, entrusting
it to Arethas's son, rebuilding and endowing the great church, and granting
perpetual right of asylum to the place where the bodies of the martyrs had
lain, and then returned to Ethiopia (Boll. Acta SS. Oct. xii. 322),
leaving a Christian Arab named Esimiphaeus or Ariathus, to be his viceroy over
the conquered people. A part of Elesbaan's army, however, refused to leave the
luxury of Arabia Felix, and not long after set up as rival to Esimiphaeus one
Abrahah or Abraham, the Christian slave of a Roman merchant, who was strong
enough to shut up the viceroy in a fort and seize the throne of Yemen. A force
of 3,000 men was sent by Elesbaan, under a prince of his house, whom some call
Aryates or Arethas, to depose the usurper; and it seems that Abrahah, like Dhu
Nowas, sought safety among the mountains. But he soon (c. 540) came down
and confronted the representative of Elesbaan; and at the critical moment the
Ethiopian troops deserted and murdered their general. To maintain his supremacy
and avenge his kinsman, Elesbaan sent a second army; but this, loyally fighting
with Abrahah, was utterly defeated, and only a handful of men returned to Ethiopia.
The Arabic historians record that Elesbaan swore to yet lay hold of the land of
the Homeritae, both mountain and plain, pluck the forelock from the rebel's
head, and take his blood as the price of Aryates's death; and they tell of the
mixed cunning and cowardice by which Abrahah satisfied the Ethiopian's oath,
and evaded his anger, winning at last a recognition of his dignity. Procopius
adds that Abrahah paid tribute to Elesbaan's successor; and the Homeritae
remained in free subjection to Ethiopia almost to the end of the century.
Records
are extant, almost in the very words of the ambassadors, of two embassies from
Justinian to Elesbaan. Joannes Malala, in writing of the first, had the
autograph of the envoy whom Procopius (de Bello Persico, i. 20) calls
Julian; Photius has preserved, in the third codex of his Bibliotheca,
Nonnosus's story of his experience in the second mission. Julian must have been
sent before 531, for Cabades was still living, and, according to Procopius,
Esimiphaeus was viceroy of Homeritis. He was received by Elesbaan, according to
his own account, with the silence of an intense joy; for the alliance of Rome
had long been the great desire of the Ethiopians. The king was seated on a high
chariot, drawn by four elephants caparisoned with gold; he wore a loose robe
studded with pearls, and round his loins a covering of linen embroidered with
gold. He received Justinian's letter with every sign of respect, and began to
prepare his forces to take part in the Persian war even before Julian was
dismissed from his court with the kiss of peace (Johannis Malalae, Chronographia,
xviii. Bonn. ed. pp. 457, 458). Malala records no sequel of these preparations;
Procopius complains that none occurred.
The
second embassy was sent primarily to Kaisus or Imrulcays, the prince of the
Chindini and Maaddeni, and only secondarily to the Homeritae and Ethiopians,
probably in the last years of Elesbaan's reign. Nonnosus the envoy belonged to
a family of diplomatists. But Photius does not state the purpose or result of
this journey; only telling of the great herd 290of 5,000 elephants which Nonnosus saw between
Adulis and Axum, and the pigmy negroes who met him on an island as he sailed
away from Pharsan (Photii, Bibliotheca, Bekker's ed. pp. 2, 3).
The
story of Elesbaan's abdication and seclusion is told in the Acta S. Arethae.
Having accepted the fealty and recognized the royalty of Abrahah, and having
confirmed the faith of Christ in Homeritis, he laid aside his crown and assumed
the garb of a solitary. His cell is still shewn to the traveller; it was
visited in 1805 by Henry Salt, and has been elaborately described by Mendez and
Lefevre. There the king remained in solitude and great asceticism; and the year
of his death is unknown. His crown he sent to Jerusalem, praying that it might
be hung "in conspectu
januae vivifici sepulchri."
[F.P.]
Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature
to the End of the Sixth Century A.D., with an Account of the Principal Sects
and Heresies.
by Henry Wace
SOURCE :
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/wace/biodict.html?term=Elesbaan,+king,+hermit,+and+saint+of+Ethiopia
Blessed Elesbaan the King of Ethiopia
Commemorated
on October 24
Saint Elesbaan, King of Ethiopia
lived when Arabia was ruled by Dunaan, the oppressor of Christians. The pious
Elesbaan was unable to look on indifferently as believers in Christ were being
massacred. He declared war on Dunaan, but his military campaign was
unsuccessful.
Wishing to learn the
reason for his defeat, Elesbaan, with prompting from above, turned to a certain
hermit. He revealed to the emperor that he had proceeded unrighteously in
deciding to take revenge against Dunaan, since the Lord had said, “Vengeance is
Mine, I will repay!” (Heb 10:30).
The hermit counseled
Saint Elesbaan make a vow to devote his final days of life to God, to escape
the wrath of God for his self-willed revenge, and then to defeat Dunaan. Saint
Elesbaan made a vow to the Lord, and marching off with his army against the
enemy, he defeated, captured and executed him. After the victory the saint
resigned as emperor, secluded himself within a monastery and for fifteen years
he dwelt in strict fasting and asceticism.
San Caleb (o Elesbaan, Elsebaan) Re d’Etiopia
† Gerusalemme, 555 circa
Martirologio Romano: In Etiopia, san Caleb o Elésbaan, re, che per
vendicare l’uccisione dei martiri di Nağrān affrontò vittoriosamente in
battaglia i nemici di Cristo; dopo avere inviato, al tempo dell’imperatore
Giustino, il suo diadema regale a Gerusalemme, si ritiene che, come era stato
nei suoi desideri, si sia riturato a vita monastica, prima di fare ritorno al
Signore.
Numerosi sono stati in ormai due millenni di cristianesimo i casi di
sovrani e talvolta intere famiglie reali ascese alle più alte vette della
santità, ma in tale settore i meno famosi sono indubbiamente i molti monarchi
etiopi dai nomi spesso impronunciabili venerati come santi dalla locale Chiesa
copta. Uno di essi, Sant’Elsebaan, vissuto nel VI secolo, è però commemorato
anche dal Martyrologium Romanum che pone la sua festa al 15 maggio.
La sua
vicenda è strettamente legata alla vicenda dell’eccidio dei martiri di Nagran,
città posta nella penisola arabica nel territorio dell’odierno Yemen. Tale zona
era stata conquistata dagli etiopi all’inizio del VI secolo, che ne avevano
curato anche la diffusione del cristianesimo, ma un giorno il giudeo Dunaan innescò
una rivolta che portò all’uccisione del principe Areta, di sua moglie e delle
quattro figlie, nonché di altre centinaia di cristiani.
Il patriarca di Alessandria d’Egitto scrisse allora ai vescovi orientali
raccomandando loro di venerare come santi martiri le vittime, che anche dai
cattolici sono oggi festeggiate al 24 ottobre, e con l’aiuto dell’allora
imperatore Giustino spinse il re axumita Elsebaan a vendicare l’eccidio. Questi
non si tirò assolutamente indietro, riconquistò lo Yemen, uccise Dunaan e si
impossessò anche della sua principale roccaforte. Lo storico Alban Butler
sostenette che il re “dopo aver sconfitto il tiranno grazie alla benedizione
divina, gestì la sua vittoria con mirabile clemenza e moderazione”, ma come
invece fu poi messo in luce tale ricostruzione dei fatti non corrispondeva
affatto alla realtà, poiché sia in battaglia che nei successivi rapporti avuti
con gli ebrei Elsebaan dimostrò sempre grande ferocia e crudeltà.
La tradizione vuole comunque che al termine della sua vita il monarca abbia
preferito abdicare in favore del figlio, donando la sua corona alla chiesa del
Santo Sepolcro in Gerusalemme e trascorrendo gli ultimi tempi della sua vita
quale eremita esemplare presso la città santa. Qui morì santamente verso l’anno
555.
La singolare vicenda di Areta e dei suoi compagni nel XVI secolo a giudizio del
cardinale Baronio meritò di essere citata anche nel Martirologio Romano,
soprassedendo al fatto che tutti costoro fossero assai probabilmente seguaci
dell’eresia monofisita, forse poiché la sua conoscenza alquanto sommaria delle
Chiese d’Oriente non gli fece neppure sfiorare il dubbio dell’ortodossia
dottrinale della Chiesa etiope. L’inserimento nel calendario cattolico toccò
così anche al re Elsebaan, che divenne l’unico tra i numerosi santi sovrani
etiopi ad essere venerato dalla Chiesa universale.
Autore: Fabio
Arduino
