ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the fifteenth century, particularly the activities of the Emperor Zar'a Ya'eqob. It was Zar'a Ya'eqob who, by continuing and expanding policies initiated by his father Dawit, transformed the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the lives of its members. Although it may seem strange to begin a discussion of Christianisation' with a discussion of the first' or Jewish' Sabbath. Heretofore, Christian communities in peripheral regions were simply deprived of the benefits of clergy. As with the Saturday Sabbath and the celebrations of the Cross, Zr'a Yaqob wished to attribute his Marian devotion to an act of filial piety. A complete discussion of the many layers of social-political meaning and religious symbolism represented in Msql is clearly beyond the limits of the chapter. The spread of Christians, the diffusion of Christianity and the Christianisation of Ethiopian civilisation were multi-layered processes which took place over decades.
