💭 On Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022 / Pagumen 3, 2014, according to the Ethiopian calendar) Orthodox and Catholic Ethiopian Christians celebrated Feast of the Archangel Raphael.
❖ Sunday, 11 September is New Year’s Day which marks Meskerem or September 1st, 2015 — the first day within the Ethiopian calendar.
💭 Ethiopian Christians call the Rainbow as “The Belt of Mary”
The three distinguished colors Green yellow and red are vested with Religious interpretation in the Ethiopian Church. These three colors represent the Covenant given to Noah by the Almighty God. They are extracted from the Rainbow sign given to our forefather Noah. It is not deniable that these three colors are the dominant colors that one can easily catches by naked eye when we look at the Rainbow on the clouds. Hence as the matter of representing the Noah’s Covenant, Ethiopia keeps these three together as prominent sign, since the time before the Old Testament. With these colors we remember the Covenant our father Noah received from God. That is why one meticulously finds these three colors in most of the frames (Hareg – ሐረግ) of the parchments.
That Rainbow is the similitude of our Lady Holy Virgin Mary. When we see the Rainbow on the sky, we remember the Covenant that God promised not destroy the world in water. Now in the New Testament we have received the actual Covenant that we are sure the promise of redemption has been fulfilled by Her Son. Less destruction we are saved from everlasting death. The New Testament as the new Covenant come to us by the New Rainbow, Holy Virgin Mary. When we see her in the middest of us we know God is with us. Looking at the Green-Yellow-Red flag is looking to Holy Virgin Mary.
Besides, these colors were the ones revealed to the Ethiopian Scholar Saint Yared in Axum, when he received the three special melodies, Geez, Ezil, Araray from God. He was communicated with three birds each colored different, The first in Green, the second in Yellow and the third in Red. These colors represent Holy Trinity. The Three Person of the One God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit were revealed to St Yared, one of the biggest holy scholars of the Ethiopian Church. The mystery of Holy Trinity is the primary Dogma of The Ethiopian Church. For an Ethiopian Orthodox these colors manifest Holy Trinity. This is an affirmative act by God’s hand that these colors are given to the Church. Both in the times before Christianity and after Christianity Ethiopian Church is vested with these special Colors.
Dictating the Church and it’s followers not to hold, to put the sign on their clothing, and to tie on hands and heads is equivalent to denying the freedom to worship. That is why we do not accept any intervening force that hails against us not to hold the Flag. We hold the flag not from political motives, but because it is a religious deed. The flag was in the Church in its fullest dignity before the birth of the political parties.
💭 Stealing The Rainbow
😲 Some mind-blowing coincidences related to the death of the Queen (R.I.P) who had Ethiopian ancestry:
Just 2 days before Queen Elizabeth II died she accepted the resignation of Boris (Real first name Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson)) and accepted Liz Truss (First names Mary Elizabeth) as former/new PM.
👉 Queen Elizabeth II full name is: Elizabeth Alexandra Mary.
😇 The Feast of the Archangel Raphael
One of the most important miracles of Saint Raphael is commemorated on the third day of Pagumen (Ethiopians follow a 13-month calendar – and the 13th month is called Pagumen).
One of the most important miracles of Saint Raphael is commemorated on the third day of Pagumen. The miracle is related to a Church dedicated to the archangel and is said to have been constructed on an island outside the city of Alexandria in Egypt. It is said that the church was threatened to be demolished by a whale and started shaking whilst the believers were praying inside the church. It was later saved miraculously by the Archangel Raphael.
The story described in the Book of Tobit, an Old Testament scripture, states that Saint Raphael was revealed to a man named Tobia who had a blind father called Tobit. The archangel instructed Tobia to fish in the River of Tigris and the heart and liver of a fish is said to have been served to Tobit, and that cured his eyes. According to the same story, a woman named Sarah (not the wife of Abraham) was married to seven husbands one after another, but all died on the first night of the marriage.
Saint Raphael intervened and told Tobia to marry Sarah. He miraculously exorcised the evil spirit and Tobia was spared the fate of Sarah’s previous husbands. St. Raphael is also believed to have been empowered by God to intervene for fruitful marriage, fertility and to reduce the labor during childbirth. He is also said to have performed a number of miracles on this day (Pagumen). That’s why the day is celebrated with special vivacity in the churches dedicated to the Archangel.
Pagumen is also called Rehiwe Semay literally meaning ‘The opening of heaven’. It is believed that on this day the prayers of believers reach before God in a special manner, and hence the term Rehiwe Semay. The rain that falls on this day is also considered Holy; it is believed that it blesses Christians and protects them from infirmity and bad fortune. On this day, we see children rinsing in the rain to receive blessing. Women add drops of the sacred rainwater to their dough to have their Injera and bread blessed.
😇 May Archangel Raphael’s Intercession be with us, Amen!
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