Yerde'Anä-Krestos
fl. 13th century
Orthodox
Ethiopia

Yerde'Anä-Krestos was a native of Bugena who held the high office of abbot of the influential monastery of Däbrä Libanos of Šimäzana between 1225 and 1268 A.D., during the closing decades of the Zagwé dynasty. His name is found in several of the feudal charters granted to the monastery in this period. He bore the ascetic name of Säga-Mäta'e and held the title of 'aqabé sä'atä Mäta'e. ('aqabe sä'at signifies literally "guardian of the hours" and was one of the highest ecclesiastical offices; Mäta'e is another name for Abba Libanos, founder of the monastery). In later years Yerde'anä-Krestos was accorded the designation of bes'u, 'blessed'.

Belaynesh Michael

C. Conti Rossini, "L'evangelo d'oro di Dabra Libanos", Rendiconti della Reale Accademia dei Lincei, Vol. X (1901): 187, 190, 192, 193.
Taddesse Tamrat, Church and State in Ethiopia 1270-1527 (Oxford, 1972), 60.

This article is reproduced, with permission, from The Dictionary of Ethiopian Biography, Vol. 1 'From Early Times to the End of the Zagwé Dynasty c. 1270 A.D.,' copyright © 1975, edited by Belaynesh Michael, S. Chojnacki and Richard Pankhurst, Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. All rights reserved.