19 July (Pt.2) -- Lake Tana

At the car, we drove back into Bahar Dar and went into a hotel on the shore of Lake Tana to get some coffee and a couple of sandwiches for the next leg of the trip. I needed the coffee since I still hadn’t eaten. We’d arranged for a boat to take us from the hotel out to an island in Lake Tana to visit a monastery there. Lake Tana is the source of the Blue Nile. (If you need some geography, the Blue Nile arises here, and the White Nile starts in Uganda. The two meet in Khartoum, where the Nile Nile starts.) Lake Tana is a crater lake, and it’s dotted with islands, many of which have monasteries on them that date from the 16th century and earlier.

Enjoyed my sandwich on the way out to Kebran Gabriel, a monastery only open to men. It’s on a small island, and when we landed I was thrilled to see my first priest! … or monk. He had on a bright, tan-ish robe with kind of a pillbox hat, and his beard was braided. I wanted to do a photo, but the guide said he’d be there when we got back, so I relented, and we headed off.

As we were going up the hill to the monastery on the top, I got a lesson in Ethiopian Orthodox monasticism. There are different types of monasteries, depending on whether they are all-male, all-female, or co-ed. And they have different functions, whether for meditation or for community service. Kebran Gabriel is a male, communal, spiritual monastery. Think Thomas Merton at Gestheme.

We passed the lodgings and gardens and went toward the church. Just below the church, we stopped at a small building which was the library for the monastery. This really was something out of Indiana Jones. There was a little old monk with glasses in the library, and there were shelves filled with ancient, leather-bound books. He took one out and opened it to show me. I forget the date, but it was hand-lettered and –illustrated, and the pages were goatskin. He told me I could look through it, but I was hesitant to touch the pages. Then he showed me a collection of antique crowns from the series of Gondor (Ethiopian) Emperors who had sponsored the monastery in some way. These were lying on the shelves, too, along with the books and old ecclesiastical regalia like processional crosses, incense burners, and chalices. The priest knew which emperor had donated what, where each book came from, and what each book said. It was amazing to see this stuff, 400 years old or more, just sitting around on shelves.

I wanted to talk with the priest longer, but my guide said we should hurry, so went up to the church. Again, an ancient church with a thatched roof and mud and brick walls. There was quite a bit of old paint work on the walls here, all done in big, brown-eyed, Ethiopian style. While the guide wanted to tell me all about St. George and the Dragon, I was real interested in the Second Coming panel with its Bosch-like creatures in Hell waiting for the leftovers.

When we got back to the boat, my priest wasn’t there waiting for me to take his photo, so we got in the boat and headed back to Bahar Dar. I asked if the monasteries had been founded on islands for security purposes. Partly, my guide told me, but mostly to get away from the distractions of towns and villages. Also, monks and nuns end up in these monasteries based on a calling from God as well as confirmation by the Church. The monastic vocation at a certain monastery isn’t necessarily a lifetime calling, though. If God moves you, you may just move to another monastery.

On the way back to the hotel dock, we made a detour to see the very spot where Lake Tana becomes the Nile. At that spot, there were kids fishing in thatched boats, the design of which is apparently very ancient since it’s depicted in some of the earliest art work. One kid, wearing a Florida sweatshirt, had two catfish, which he held up to show me.