The charity Ethiopian Heritage Fund that was set up to help preserve the treasures in the country has made the stunning discovery. So the first volume could be in his hand – even if he didn’t complete the task in a day as the oral tradition states. Though the texts had been mentioned by the occasional traveller since the 1950s, it had been thought they dated from the 11th century at the earliest.Ĭarbon dating, however, gives a date between 330 and 650 – which tantalisingly overlaps the date Abba Garima arrived in the country. Both contain illustrations and the four Gospels. There are two volumes which date from the same time, but the second is written in a different hand from the first. They were written on goat skin in the early Ethiopian language of Ge’ez. The survival of the Gospels is incredible considering the country has been under Muslim invasion, Italian invasion and a fire in the 1930s destroyed the monastery’s church. The incredible relic has been kept ever since in the Garima Monastery near Adwa in the north of the country, which is in the Tigray region at 7,000 feet.Įxperts believe it is also the earliest example of book binding still attached to the original pages. A page from the Garima Gospels – the world’s oldest Christian book found in a remote monastery in Ethiopia
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