14 Facts About Tekle Haymanot

Abune Tekle Haymanot was an Ethiopian saint and monk mostly venerated as a hermit.

Tekle Haymanot was the Abuna of Ethiopia who founded a major monastery in his native province of Shewa.

Tekle Haymanot is significant for being the only Ethiopian saint popular both amongst Ethiopians and outside that country.

Tekle Haymanot was born in Zorare, a district in Selale which lies on the eastern edge of Shewa.

Tekle Haymanot was the son of the priest Tsega Zeab and his wife Egzi'e Haraya, who is known as Sarah; Tekle Haymanot was born after his parents, who had failed to have children, pledged their firstborn to God.

Tekle Haymanot was ethnically Amhara, and his 13th-14th century hagiography traces Bete Amhara as far back as the mid 9th century AD as a location.

Tekle Haymanot's father gave Tekle Haymanot their earliest religious instruction; later he was ordained a priest by the Egyptian Bishop Cyril.

Tekle Haymanot's journey took him from Selale to Grarya, then Katata, Damot, Amhara, to end at the monastery of Iyasus Mo'a, who had only a few years before founded a monastery on an island in the middle of Lake Hayq in the district of Amba Sel.

Tekle Haymanot settled in the central area between Selale and Grarya, where he founded in 1284 the monastery of Debre Atsbo.

Tekle Haymanot lived for 29 years after the foundation of this monastery, dying in the year before Emperor Wedem Arad did; this would date Tekle Haymanot's death to 1313.

Tekle Haymanot was first buried in the cave where he had originally lived as a hermit; almost 60 years later he was reinterred at Debre Libanos.

Tekle Haymanot is frequently represented as an old man with wings on his back and only one leg visible.

Many traditions hold that Tekle Haymanot played a significant role in Yekuno Amlak's ascension as the restored monarchy of the Solomonic dynasty, following two centuries of rule by the Zagwe dynasty, although historians like Taddesse Tamrat believe these are later inventions.

Wallis Budge has translated a third one, entitled The Life of Takla Tekle Haymanot, which is attributed to one Takla Sion.