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Photography by Elias Wondimu
Priests of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church translated old
manuscripts, allowing the UCLA Library staff to start cataloging. |
Manuscripts in 2,000-year-old Language
Priests identify UCLA Library's sacred treasures
BY Wendy Belcher
UCLA Today
It was a rare sight to behold — five elderly men dressed
in black cloaks entering the Young Research Library last month raising
crosses and murmuring prayers. For these men, the building where
students check their e-mail or catnap in the stacks is a holy place,
a repository for texts sacred to the 1,600-year-old Ethiopian Orthodox
Church — illuminated manuscripts written in calligraphy on
parchment.
But library officials didn’t realize quite the extent of
the treasures they had until University Librarian Gary E. Strong
and Africana librarian Ruby Bell-Gam invited the five Ethiopian
Orthodox priests to view the many Ethiopian manuscripts in the library’s
collection. Most of the items were acquired with the help of Professor
Emeritus Wolf Leslau, a well-known linguist and scholar of Semitic
languages.
 Elias
Wondimu, an Ethiopian journalist and publisher, organized the visit
by contacting the most important Ethiopian Orthodox priests in Los
Angeles: Abba Mengistu, Abba Gebre-Selasie, Melake-Selam Desalegn,
Abba Lake-Mariam and Kesis Melaku. Surprised to hear that UCLA had
any Ethiopian manuscripts, the priests were impressed by what they
found.
Because the librarians couldn’t read them, almost none of
the Ethiopian manuscripts at the library had been catalogued. In
fact, only a few Ethiopians — those men who went through many
years of Ethiopian religious education — can read the 2,000-year-old
scholarly and liturgical African language of Ge’ez.
But the priests were immediately able to identify materials that
had gone unidentified for many decades. In religious texts, they
found magical spells. They translated the dedication to a manuscript
written by Emperor Haile Selassie, who gave it to UCLA during his
visit in 1967. They marveled at reproductions of texts so sacred
they had never seen them before.
As they left, the priests thanked UCLA librarians for preserving
the manuscripts for future generations. “Today was like Columbus’
so-called discovery of America,” Elias said. “The Los
Angeles Ethiopian community discovered their own manuscripts right
in their own backyard.”
Strong added: “We are pleased to connect these treasures
with such distinguished scholars who appreciate and understand their
importance. The UCLA Library is enhanced by their visit and new
friendship.”
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