Debre Bizen is the best-known monastery of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church

Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church

The Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church is an Oriental Orthodox church. Its autocephaly was recognised by Pope Shenouda III after Eritrea gained its independence in 1993.-Origins:...

. Located at the top of Debre Bizen the mountain (825 meters) near the town of Nefasit

Nefasit

Nefasit is a small town in the Northern Red Sea Region of Eritrea. Historically it was an important slave trading port....

 in Eritrea

Eritrea

Eritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea derives it's name from the Greek word Erethria, meaning 'red land'. The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast...

. Its library contains many important Ge'ez manuscripts.

History

Debre Bizen was founded in the 1350s by Abba Filipos, who was a student of Abba Absadi. By 1400, the Monastery followed the rule of the House of Ewostatewos

Ewostatewos

Ewosṭatewos was an important religious leader of the Ethiopian Church. He was a forceful advocate for the Ethiopian form of observing the Sabbath...

, and a gadl of Ewostatewos was later composed there. According to Tom Killion, it remained independent of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, while Richard Pankhurst

Richard Pankhurst (academic)

Richard Keir Pethick Pankhurst OBE is a British academic with expertise in the study of Ethiopia.-Early life and education:...

 states that it continued to be dependent on the Ethiopian Orthodox Church centered in Axum

Axum

Axum or Aksum is a city in northern Ethiopia which was the original capital of the eponymous kingdom of Axum. Population 56,500 . Axum was a naval and trading power that ruled the region from ca. 400 BC into the 10th century...

. In either case, a charter survives of the Emperor Zara Yaqob

Zara Yaqob

Zar'a Ya`qob or Zera Yacob was of Ethiopia , and a member of the Solomonic dynasty...

 in which he granted lands to Debre Bizen.

The monastery was one of several habitations damaged by the Ottomans

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 in their campaigns to establish their province of Habesh

Habesh

Habesh Eyalet was an Ottoman eyalet that bordered the Red Sea. It comprised Massawa, Hergigo, Suakin and their hinterlands. Later it would also incorporate Zeila and western Somaliland...

 in the 16th century.

When Abuna

Abuna

Also see Leaders of ChristianityAbun is the honorific title used for any bishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church as well as of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church...

 Yohannes, who came from Cairo

Cairo

Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...

 to Ethiopia to serve as head of the Ethiopian Church, was held for ransom at Arqiqo by the local Naib

Naib

Naib is an Arabic term for a local leader in some parts of the Ottoman Empire and eastern Caucasus.Naib or NAIB may also refer to:*National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball or National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics...

, the abbot of Debre Bizen helped him to escape.