Location

The church lies east of the road from Addis to Debre Birhan between the town of Sendafa and Aleltu. The church is carved midway up an east facing slope. A considerable amount of rock has been excavated to form a generous churchyard immediately in front of the church. The nearby built church Etysa Tekla Haymanot is said to be the birth place of Abuna Tekla Haymanot and the burial place of his mother and father.

 

Background/Overview

Etysa is an important site for the study of new rock churches. The church was conceived and carved by a hermit monk, Malaka Selam Abba Lysana Warq Girma, some thirty years ago c. 1985, making it the oldest known new rock church in the Shoa region. The church is important architecturally for its distinct layout and arrangement of the religious spaces (Qene Mellet, Qeddest, Maqdas). Unlike older rock-hewn churches which take their form from the ‘basilica’, Etysa draws inspiration from the more recent rectangular built churches, which as with circular built churches, place the sanctuary (maqdas) centrally rather than at the far east of the church. Thus, Etysa exemplifies the continued Ethiopian tradition of immortalising contemporary architecture in stone. In addition to the large, impressive church, the site includes carved prayer spaces, priest dwellings and a long upward-winding tunnel referred to as ‘Hell’.

The carved prayer spaces or ‘Sabaye’ are cells where people come to pray/live for seven days or more, often to remedy serious illness. The cells are located south of the church and further up the slope. The ‘Sabaye’ includes twelve cells off a long passage. An entrance to the left (north) leads to a large circular space also said to be used for prayer. To the left (south) of the church is a ‘Wassa’ prayer space which is rectangular in plan. It includes integrated stepped seating to the south and west wall and a throne-type chair, also on the west. This space, as the church itself, opens on to a large, excavated churchyard which overlooks the valley.
‘Holy Water’ and the Betlehem are found north of the church, further down the slope. Directly below the Betlehem is a carved entrance with an exposed throne-type carved chair to the left. The entrance leads to a long-carved passage through darkness, an experience likened to ‘Hell’. On entering, the door is shut - forcing one to continue on in utter darkness, keeping one’s hand on the left wall in order not to get lost. Steps rise and then gradually turn left, descending a single step before rising again steeply. The passage carves deep within the mountain, curving left as it rises. Eventually, after eight minutes, distant light guides one to an opening, descending several steps to emerge just right (north) of the church.

To the left of this entrance and above the church itself is another carved entrance with a small window on either side. It is here that the craftsman emerged by accident while carving the narrow tunnel. To the far right of the church (and entrance from ’Hell’) are another three entrances, one at ground level and two above reached by carved steps. The purpose of these spaces is unclear although on arrival to the church the priest was summoned from one, and it is likely that they serve as priest dwellings. In addition to several entrances and carved steps, the façade includes large protruding crosses carved from the mother rock. Most of these have been painted white and are similar to those found at Sariya Mika’el near Debre Berhan.

The church is carved into the east rock face and includes an entrance to the left and right. There are no external windows to the church. It is worth reiterating that the area in front of the church which forms the church yard is entirely manmade. Aside from creating an impressive church, priest dwellings, prayer rooms, and an extensive tunnel, the craftsman went through the effort to remove a truly remarkable amount of rock before beginning work. The large pieces of stone that were quarried (using a pick axe) to form the churchyard are visible on the slope below. The reason given for this undertaking is that the inner rock is far softer and therefore more malleable than the oxidised stone. Thus, the craftsman chose to quarry up to five meters of rock, before beginning work on the church itself.

The church is entirely turned within the rock. The centrally placed sanctuary forms a passage to the east, north and south. The north and south passages continue to the west wall of the outer sanctuary. West of the Maqdas is the body of the church, a generous open space interrupted by two large square columns. These two columns align north-south and a small step runs in front of the columns rising to the west.

An interesting feature is an upper level, something seldom found in Ethiopian rock-hewn churches. The raised level surrounds and overlooks the west part of the church. This level is reached by steps which rise to the north and south from the centre of the church (just west of the Maqdas). The upper level includes three columns, one on each side. That to the north and south include two protruding carved crosses. The column to the west is placed centrally to align with the sanctuary entrance and the altar table (manbara tabot). This column includes a single protruding carved cross on its east face. The raised level has given rise to an unusual ceiling which curves from west to east as if it were a draped cloth (inverted arch).

The ceiling of the passage south and east of the sanctuary is slightly pitched. The sanctuary is itself surrounded by a second ‘outer’ sanctuary. The outer is raised three steps from the west. An additional step rises to the inner sanctuary which houses a rock-hewn manbara tabot connected to the mother rock at the top and base. Integrated carved seating is found along the lower north and south ‘passage’ as well as the raised level. The east wall of the Maqdas includes a central entrance and carved internal windows on either side, again in the form of a cross.

Date(s) Visited: 09 July 2016
Co-ordinates: 9° 7’ 51’’ N, 39° 10’ 48’’ E

A Conversation with Ǝmahoy Fəqərtä Maryam

Cave Church of St. Michael
Ǝtissa, Sandaffa, Šäwa, Ethiopia
March 5 2015

A Conversation with Mäl'akäsälam Abba Lessanäwärq Girma

Däbrä Ṣəllaləš Abunä Täklähaymanot Monastery
Ǝtissa, Šäwa, Ethiopia
July 5 2016

A conversation with Abba Gebremaryam

Washa Mika'el
Aleltu, North Šäwa, Ethiopia
September 7 2016

 

Images
(Please click to enlarge)