EAP340/1

Four manuscripts out of a total of approximately 90 were digitized in Däbrä Särabi monastery, Däbrä Berhan, Tsera', Tigray, (Ethiopia). They include: 1) The Miracles of Mary, 2) The Miracles of Jesus, 3) Homilies on The Saviour of the World and 4) Homilies on the Archangel Michael. When old manuscripts wore out, they tended to be replaced by copies, while new acquisitions were being made throughout the history of the institution. These four date from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. All manuscripts are in one way or another ecclesiastic. Historical events and transactions are commonly recorded in their margins and empty parts of folios. All are hand-written copies of older versions of the texts (see individual files).

4 manuscripts of between 70 and 115 folios written in Classical Ethiopic (Ge'ez)

Manuscripts in the collection date back to the origins of the monastery in the 14th century. There is sometimes an indication on the last folio of a given manuscript as to whom it was offered and by whom. Only the most recent custodial history is known, and that is of the church of Dabra Sarabi, where it presently resides.

For a description of the physical characteristics of the manuscripts, special codicological studies should be carried out. Generally speaking, they are all written on parchment and bound on tooled leather-covered boards. Without having access to the storage room at the monastery, the team had no means of determining the order of the manuscripts. There is probably none, although the monks usually know where to find what they're looking for. The four manuscripts received were copied in the order that they were provided by the monk in charge. No changes were made to that order.

Reference codes provided in 'Former external reference' are found on the manuscripts themselves, if at all. A number of cataloguing efforts have been made by different groups over the years; this series may have been applied by the Office of Culture and Tourism of the Tigray