Zena Marqos (Zer'a Yohanis)

Note: This article or section represents an Oriental Orthodox (Non-Chalcedonian) perspective, which may differ from an Eastern Orthodox (Chalcedonian) understanding.

Abba Zena Marqos of Morat was a cousin of the great St. Takla Haymanot of Ethiopia, his father Zer'a Yohanis being Abune Tekle Haimanot's uncle. Abba Zena Marqos is commemorated in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church on 3 Tahsas (December 12).

Life

St. Zena Marqos was born in the late 13th century in Shewa and was a disciple of St. Tekle Haimanot, who tonsured him a monk. During his life he is said to have worked many miracles and to have preached in Gojam (in what is now northwestern Ethiopia) and the sultanate of Adal (covering parts of modern day Somaliland, Djibouti, and eastern Ethiopia). He is also said to have been the founder of the Monastery of Debre Zena Marqos and to have been the Apostle of the Gurage, a people living in the southern reaches of the Ethiopian Highlands.

External link

• Zena-Marqos (Dictionary of African Christian Biography)