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Fasilides: The Emperor Who Rebuilt Ethiopia’s Orthodox Church
Description
After the chaos of Susenyos’s Jesuit flirtation, Emperor Fasilides restored Ethiopia’s ancient Orthodox faith. This episode follows his reign from 1632 to 1667, exploring how he expelled the Jesuits, convened the Council of Derssanie to reaffirm Miaphysite doctrine, and built the stone city of Gondar. We trace his construction of the first palace in the Royal Enclosure, his patronage of the Debre Berhan Selassie church—known for its angelic ceiling—and his diplomatic isolation from Europe. Through Fasilides’s policies, architecture, and a pivotal letter to the Pope, we see how one emperor consciously turned away from foreign influence to preserve Ethiopia’s religious and political independence. His legacy set the tone for the Gondarine period, a golden age of stability, manuscript illumination, and Orthodox consolidation.