Greetings in that Divine and Most Precious Name of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
So Ge'ez is the faith and tradition of Ethiopia? And the Ethiopians say they are a Church?
I would like to clarify what is "sacred" about the Ge'ez tradition because much like with the tabot confusions, the Ethiopian nomenclature doesn't readily translate into English. Ge'ez refers to both the language itself and also the three modes of Ethiopian indigenous liturgical chanting, attributed to the illustrious Saint Yared.
It is the chant which is sacred, and the chant is preserved in the original Ge'ez language because of the musical notations. So when we in Ethiopian tradition speak of a sacred liturgical language, we are speaking the same context as the Gregorian or Byzantine chants.
I have read plausible theories about the Knights Templar assisting in the construction of the Lalibela Churches. However, I take exception to the notion that this discounts the presence and assistance of Holy Angels in the process. Secular historians would have us believe that such wondrous architectural feats were only possible with the help of ET's and white people rather than the faithful endeavors of righteous African Christians who were assisted by the help of holy angels. Let us not cast our holy pearls before Babylon's swine.
True, we shouldn't discount any miraculous intervention, however we should also not disregards some of the observed facts of history, which several streams of evidence are beginning to strongly suggest. Yes, some Eurocentric authors perhaps misinterpret this history as demonstrative of some kind of Ethiopian inferiority but that is silly and from their bias. If anything, it would suggest the opposite, the Ethiopians must truly have held some kind of sway in order to convince the Templars, who were themselves even in the 12th century wealthy and powerful, to come all the way to remote Ethiopia and to invest years of time, resources, and labor for an Ethiopian public works project. I myself would speculate three European motives (and you can find these three motives across all the European interaction with Ethiopia from the Crusades through the searches for Prester John and the Portuguese episode and even the later British excursions; I also believe that European exploration itself was part of this romantic affair with Ethiopia the European oligarchs had with Ethiopia): (a) to court favor with the Muslims because the Ethiopians, either through diplomacy or coercion had always seemed to have favorable relationships with the Muslims, (b) to establish economic ties with East Africa as an anchor into the Orient and (c) a thousand year love affair with the romantic fable of Prester John, the great Ethiopian King who could help unite with Europe and retake the world in a new Pax Romana. Be it the Crusaders, the Explorers, and even the later Russians, all seemed to think there was almost some kind of mystical power associated with the Emperors, even when there wasn't the kind of material evidence to support it. For example, during the 19th century, when Europeans were in the height of the Scramble for Africa, the British, French, Italians, and Russians all played Cold War games in Ethiopia around Emperors Yohannes IV and Menelik II including arms races, coups, assassinations, and pitch battles pinning the Egyptians, Sudanese, Somalis, and internal Ethiopian rivals all against each other. I digress to point out that the European relationship with Ethiopia has always been much more complicated then simply a beligerant European trying to abuse Ethiopians, it is often been both mutual and back and forth like a Chess match. Perhaps Ethiopia's success in the game stems from the even more complex internal politics of Ethiopian civilization, which has made leadership a true skill, and Ethiopian Emperors play their chess with the utmost wit and grace, duping internal and external foes alike, African, Arab, or European.
stay blessed,
habte selassie
