👉🏾👉🏾👉🏾 the Meaning of #Zemen (#Time)
(part 1)
Beloved in Christ, children of the Holy Church, peace and grace be with you. Today, we set our hearts upon the mystery of zemen—a word rich with meaning both in Scripture and in the created order.
In the Greek language of the New Testament, the word zemen is translated as kairos, which means a specific time appointed for an action or an opportunity given to us to do something. It is not simply the turning of the clock, but the moment when God calls us to act, to repent, to harvest, to rejoice.
In the Ethiopian tradition, one zemen (year) consists of 13 months and 365¼ days, arranged into four great seasons, each reflecting God’s providence:
1. Metsew (መፀው)
The season of ripening, when the sown seed matures, the stars fill the sky, and the earth is clothed with flowers. As Saint Yared sang, “The heavens are adorned and the earth blossoms with delight.”
2. Hagay / Bega (በጋ)
The time of burning heat, when the earth is parched, the green leaves wither, and dust covers the fields. Rain is withheld.
3. Tsedey (ጸደይ)
The gentle season of showers, when the earth drinks small rains, and tender green shoots once again appear.
4. Keremt (ክረምት)
The season of heavy rains, which itself contains seven holy divisions, :
1,Bea’te Keremt / Yezer Wekit (በዓተ ክረምት) ( የዘር ወቅት ) (Sene 26 – Hamle 19): The earth receives its first rains, softening the soil for plowing and sowing. As the Psalmist declares, “He who covers the heavens with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth” (Ps. 146:8).
2, Mil’a’te Bahir( ምልአተ ባህር) – Filling of the Sea (Hamle 20 – Nehase 10): The rains gather in rivers and seas, the clouds thunder, and creation trembles with God’s majesty. Saint Yared proclaimed, “The sea saw Him and fled; the earth bowed before Him.”
3,Egule Qa’at (Nehase. 11 – 27) (እጉለ ቋአት ): The time of the crow’s chick, born featherless and abandoned by its mother. Yet God feeds it with small creatures carried by the rains, until it grows to fullness. Here we remember the Lord’s care, who “gives food to the young ravens that cry” (Ps. 146:9).
4,Goha Tsbah (ጎሐ ጽባሕ ) – Light of the Dawn (Nehase. 29 – pagume 5): The clouds disperse, the rains subside, and the earth is clothed in brightness. Saint Yared declared of God, “You are He who brings forth the morning light.”
5,The Days of Saint John (Meskerem. 1 – 8): it's beginning of Ethiopian year . This season is dedicated with St. John the Baptist, for he stands as the end of the prophets and the dawn of the Gospel. He was beheaded on Meskerem 2, and thus the beginning of the year is sanctified in his name.
6,Fre (Meskerem. 9 – 15): The time of fruit-bearing, when the seeds sown by toil begin to yield thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold. It is the hour of thanksgiving, when the farmer reaps with joy what was sown with tears, echoing the Psalmist: “Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy” (Ps. 125:5–6).
7,The Feast of the Cross
“The nine days from Meskerem 17 to Meskerem 27 are called Meskel because the church commemorate the time when the Cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, which had been buried out of Jewish envy, was later searched for and uncovered by Queen Helena. After the Cross was found and brought forth, the Church celebrated the Divine Liturgy house , and for this reason the feast is called" Meskel.”
Continues👇🏾