Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/206

 Dioscorus and Eutychius, differ from the Greek and Roman Catholics by recognising one nature only in Jesus Christ, and in making the Holy Ghost proceed from God the Father alone. Christ, however, although he became man, is none the less considered as God, thanks to his double or triple birth, the manner and succession of which have given rise to so many endless disputes between theologians, and have even caused sanguinary wars. Gondar and Aksum have often had recourse to arms to settle the vexed question of the "double" or "triple birth." Following the interpretations, the words, at one time taken in the proper sense, at another translated into a mystic language, completely change their value; and European Catholic or Protestant missionaries have often been able to explain, to the applause of their hearers, that there was no essential difference between the Abyssinian faith and that which they wished to introduce. For the Roman Catholics especially the process is easy enough, for have they not, like the Abyssinians, the worship of Mary, the veneration of images, the intercession of the saints, fasts, purgatory, indulgences, and begging commimities? Received like a native, Bermudez, the first Catholic missionary, who arrived in Abyssinia about 1525, caused himself to be consecrated by the Abyssinian primate, and became for a time his successor.

Meanwhile the Mohammedan Gallas, led by Ahmed Graneh, that is, "the Left-handed," who possessed firearms, invaded Abyssinia, destroying its armies, sacking and burning its villages, and the empire would probably have been destroyed, had not 400 Portuguese, led by Christopher de Gama, son of the famous navigator, hastened to restore the balance of power. These events took place in 1541. The Gallas were beaten, but the Portuguese demanded as the price of their services a fief comprising a third part of the kingdom, and the conversion of all the Abyssinians to the Catholic faith. Thus began the religious wars between the Alexandrian and Roman sectaries. One of the first Jesuit missions was compelled to leave the country before securing the recognition of the Pope's authority; but a second was more successful, and in 1624 the "king of kings" abjured the Monophysite faith and issued an order for the universal adoption of Romanism. The Inquisition was introduced, and revolts, barbarously suppressed, stained the kingdom with blood. For eight years Abyssinia was officially a province of the Catholic world; but after a terrible massacre of the peasants, the Emperor Claudius, wearied of bloodshed, issued an edict of toleration, and all the Abyssinians soon returned to the old faith. The Catholic priests were exiled or died violent deaths, excepting the Patriarch, whom the Arabs captured, and for whom they obtained a heavy ransom from the Portuguese of Goa.

During the present century the Catholic and Protestant missionaries have returned to Abyssinia, but being regarded with suspicion as strangers, have never been tolerated for any length of time. The Abyssinians are usually very indifferent to religious matters, and would readily allow churches of divers denominations to be built by the side of their own, but they fear lest conversion might be* the fore-runner of conquest. Prince Kassa, afterwards the famous King Theodore, is stated to have said, "The missionaries will be welcome in my kingdom, on the condition that my subjects do not say, ’I am a Frenchman because I am a Catholic,’ or ’I