Nubia before the coming of Georgios III the Great
[anchor=C1]
Nubia before the coming of Georgios III the Great[/anchor]
*
*
From the Myriobiblion of His Holiness, Pope of Alexandria and Nubia Benjamin II (born Ra'uf ibn-Ziri) (c. AD 1125):
An Orthodox Icon of Philip Baptizing the Ethiopian
III. I read the Acts of the Apostles, where it is written:
Then the angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, "Get up and head south on the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza, the desert route." So he got up and set out. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, that is, the queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of here entire treasury, who had come to Jerusalem to worship, and was returning home. Seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. The Spirit said to Philip, "Go and join up with that chariot." Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?" He replied, "How can I, unless someone instructs me?" So he invited Philip to get in and sit with him. This was the scripture passage he was reading: Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opened not his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who will tell of his posterity? For his life is taken from the earth. Then the eunuch said to Philip in reply, "I beg you, about whom is the prophet saying this? About himself, or about someone else?" Then Philip opened his mouth and, beginning with this scripture passage, he proclaimed Jesus to him. As they traveled along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, "Look, there is water. What is to prevent my being baptized?" Then he ordered the chariot to stop, and Philip and the eunuch both went down into the water, and he baptized him. When they came out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, but continued on his way rejoicing.
From this we know that there were Christians in Nubia even before the coming of the holy Julianos and the reverend Longinos. For we know from Dio Cassius and Strabo that this Kandake was not in fact the queen of what is now styled Ethiopia but was rather ruler of the Nile within Nubia. Strabo relates that she was a manly woman, who had lost an eye and had her capital at Napata. This was sacked and razed by the Roman governor Petronius, but the Nubians surged forth afterwards. In Strabo it is written, "he ordered them to repair to Caesar: in their replying that they did not know who Caesar was, nor where they were to find him, Petronius appointed persons to conduct them to his presence. They arrived at Samos, where Caesar was at that time and the ambassadors obtained all that they desired, and Caesar even remitted the tribute which he had imposed." I may note in passing that Diocletian gave over to the Nubians all Roman Egypt above Syene (which the Arabs call Aswan) and sent them yearly tribute in exchange for not plundering the whole of Egypt, which Procopius notes in his History was still continued up until his time and which as the Baqt was yet still practiced by the Mohametans both Sunni and Shia.
Scenes from the Egyptian and Kushite Temple at Philai, by David Roberts
...
Herodotus, father of fact checking
LX. I read the books of the History of Herodotus, nine in name and nine in number identical with the nine Muses. By Photius he is reckoned to be the best representative of the Ionic, as Thucydides of the Attic dialect preceding modern Greek. He is overly fond of old wives' tales and digressions, attracted by their charming sentiments, and fails to show the proper respect and restraint due to history. He dwells largely upon the kings of Persia, beginning with the ascension Cyrus and concluding before the death of his great-grandson Xerxes. In Diodorus Siculus we read Herodotus flourished himself during these times. It is said that, when he read his work, Thucydides, then very young, who was present with his father at the reading, burst into tears. Whereupon Herodotus exclaimed, "Oh, Olorus! how eager your son is to learn!"
As the author of Acts, he improperly calls the Nubians at Meroe as Ethiopians and recounts that of old they worshipped Zeus and Dionysus alone of the gods. They possessed an oracle of Zeus, taking both the occasion and the object of their wars from its pronouncements. During these expeditions, they would paint themselves in chalk and vermilion and already used the eight-foot bow of palm. He recounts a ridiculous story of a meat-covered glen and is in error as to the succession of kings, but speaks truth when he says that Nubians are the tallest and handsomest men in the whole world. Alas that they do not still live to be a hundred and twenty years old! but succumb to malaria and ague.
A story which would be incredible if not retold by the more sober Strabo is that the ancient Nubians would dry their dead in the Egyptian custom, cover them in gypsum, and place them inside coffins of hollowed crystal, which coffin was kept in the home of the family for one year, after which it was placed near the town. It is not said whether they were buried or left to the air, but none are now found outside our towns. They already practiced the painting of the face upon the shroud as a way of honoring the dead.
From the Ecclesiastical History of John of Ephesus, Book IV (c. AD 580):
The blessed Julianus, therefore, being full of anxiety for this people, went and spoke about them to the late queen Theodora, in the hope of awakening in her a similar desire for their conversion ; and as the queen was fervent in zeal for God, she received the proposal with joy, and promised to do every thing in her power for the conversion of these tribes from the errors of idolatry. In her joy, therefore, she informed the victorious king Justinian of the purposed undertaking, and promised and anxiously desired to send the blessed Julian thither. But when the king heard that the person she intended to send was opposed to the council of Chalcedon, he was not pleased, and determined to write to the bishops of his own side in the Thebais, with orders for them to proceed thither and instruct them, and plant among them the name of the synod. And as he entered upon the matter with great zeal, he sent thither, without a moment's delay, ambassadors with gold and baptismal robes, and gifts of honour for the king of that people, and letters for the duke of the Thebais, enjoining him to take every care of the embassy, and escort them to the territories of the Nobadae. When, however, the queen learnt these things, she quickly, with much cunning, wrote letters to the duke of the Thebais, and sent a mandatory of her court to carry them to him; and which were as follows : 'Inasmuch as both his majesty and myself have purposed to send an embassy to the people of the Nobadae, and I am now despatching a blessed man named Julian; and further my will is, that my ambassador should arrive at the aforesaid people before his majesty's; be warned, that if you permit his ambassador to arrive there before mine, and do not hinder him by various pretexts until mine shall have reached you, and have passed through your province, and arrived at his destination, your life shall answer for it; for I will immediately send and take off your head.' Soon after the receipt of this letter the king's ambassador also came, and the duke said to him, 'You must wait a little, while we look out and procure beasts of burden, and men who know the deserts; and then you will be able to proceed.' And thus he delayed him until the arrival of the merciful queen's embassy, who found horses and guides in waiting, and the same day, without loss of time, under a show of doing it by violence, they laid hands upon them, and were the first to proceed. As for the duke, he made his excuses to the king's ambassador, saying, 'Lo! when I had made my preparations, and was desirous of sending you onward, ambassadors from the queen arrived, and fell upon me with violence, and took away the beasts of burden I had got ready, and have passed onward. And I am too well acquainted with the fear in which the queen is held, to venture to oppose them. But abide still with me, until I can make fresh preparations for you, and then you also shall go in peace.' And when he heard these things, he rent his garments, and threatened him terribly, and reviled him; and after some time he also was able to proceed, and followed the other's track, without being aware of the fraud which had been practised upon him.
...
As for the blessed Julian, he remained with them for two years, though suffering greatly from the extreme heat. For he used to say that from nine o'clock until four in the afternoon he was obliged to take refuge in caverns, full of water, where he sat undressed and girt with a linen garment, such as the people of the country wear. And if he left the water his skin, he said, was blistered by the heat. Nevertheless, he endured it patiently, and taught them, and baptized both the king and his nobles, and much people also.
From the History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria by Severos the Dwarf's son (c. AD 1000):
And in those days Heraclius saw a dream in which it was said to him: "Verily there shall come against you a circumcised nation, and they shall vanquish you and take possession of the land." So Heraclius thought that they would be the Jews, and accordingly gave orders that all the Jews and Samaritans should be baptized in all the provinces which were under his dominion. But after a few days there appeared a man of the Arabs, from the southern districts, that is to say, from Mecca or its neighbourhood, whose name was Muhammad; and he brought back the worshippers of idols to the knowledge of the One God, and bade them declare that Muhammad was his apostle; and his nation were circumcised in the Hesh, not by the law, and prayed towards the South, turning towards a place which they called the Kaabah. And he took possession of Damascus and Syria, and crossed the Jordan, and dammed it up. And the Lord abandoned the army of the Romans before him, as a punishment for their corrupt faith, and because of the anathemas uttered against them, on account of the council of Chalcedon, by the ancient fathers.
...
[Then] the prince of the Muslims sent an army to Egypt, under one of his trusty companions, named Amr ibn al-Asi, in the year 357 of Diocletian, the slayer of the martyrs. And this army of Islam came down into Egypt in great force, on the twelfth day of Baunah, which is the sixth of June, according to the months of the Romans. And in the year 360 of Diocletian, in the month of December, three years after Amr had taken possession of Memphis, the Muslims captured the city of Alexandria, and destroyed its walls, and burnt many churches with fire. And they burnt the church of Saint Mark, which was built by the sea, where his body was laid; and this was the place to which the father and patriarch, Peter the Martyr, went before his martyrdom, and blessed Saint Mark, and committed to him his reasonable flock, as he had received it. So they burnt this place and the monasteries around it....
...
Then Amr, son of al-Asi, wrote to the provinces of Egypt a letter, in which he said: "There is protection and security for the place where Benjamin, the patriarch of the Coptic Christians is, and peace from God; therefore let him come forth secure and tranquil, and administer the affairs of his Church, and the government of his nation." Therefore when the holy Benjamin heard this, he returned to Alexandria with great joy, clothed with the crown of patience and sore conflict which had befallen the orthodox people through their persecution by the heretics, after having been absent during thirteen years, ten of which were years of Heraclius, the misbelieving Roman, with the three years before the Muslims conquered Alexandria. When Benjamin appeared, the people and the whole city rejoiced, and made his arrival known to Sanutius, the dux who believed in Christ, who had settled with the commander Amr that the patriarch should return, and had received a safe-conduct from Amr for him. Thereupon Sanutius went to the commander and announced that the patriarch had arrived, and Amr gave orders that Benjamin should be brought before him with honour and veneration and love. And Amr, when he saw the patriarch, received him with respect, and said to his companions and private friends: "Verily in all the lands of which we have taken possession hitherto I have never seen a man of God like this man." For the Father Benjamin was beautiful of countenance, excellent in speech, discoursing with calmness and dignity.
