Ifigenia wa Ethiopia

Ifigenia wa Ethiopia (kwa Kigiriki: Ἰφιγένεια, Ifigeneia^[1]) alikuwa mwanamke wa karne ya 1 ambaye maisha yake yanasimuliwa na kitabu Golden Legend ^[2].

Sanamu ya Mt. Ifigenia kutoka Minas Gerais, Brazil, karne ya 18.

Humo tunasikia kwamba alikuwa bikira aliyeongokea Ukristo na kuwekwa wakfu kwa Mungu kwa njia ya Mathayo Mtume, alipokuwa anaeneza Injili huko "Ethiopia," kwa maana ya eneo kusini kwa Bahari Kaspi,^[3] yaani Mesopotamia au Armenia (Colchis).^{[note 1][note 2]}

Tangu kale anaheshimiwa na Wakatoliki na Waorthodoksi kama mtakatifu.

Sikukuu yake huadhimishwa tarehe 21 Septemba^[10][11][12] au 16 Novemba^[13][14]

Tazama pia

• Watakatifu wa Agano la Kale
• Orodha ya Watakatifu Wakristo
• Orodha ya Watakatifu wa Afrika
• Orodha ya Watakatifu Wafransisko

Maelezo

1. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica (2009 Ultimate Reference Suite):

   • "Tradition notes his ministry in Judaea, after which he supposedly missioned to the East, suggesting Ethiopia and Persia. Legend differs as to the scene of his missions and as to whether he died a natural or a martyr's death."^[4]

2. In the past there was more than one region that was referred to by the term "Ethiopia".^[5] There was the Ethiopia of North Africa ("African Ethiopia"); and another region sometimes called "Asiatic Ethiopia",^[6] located either in one of the provinces of Mesopotamia (Assyria and Babylon), or in Ancient Armenia (Colchis). Note:

   • "Ethiopia in Roman History (1-200 AD) Later the term "Ethiopia" would become synonymous not just with the Kushites, but all Africans. Unlike the earlier Greek writers who distinguished Ethiopians from other Africans, Claudius Ptolemy (90–168 AD), a Roman citizen who lived in Alexandria, used "Ethiopia" as a racial term. In his Tetrabiblos: Or Quadripartite, he tried to explain the physical characteristics of people around the world saying, 'They are consequently black in complexion, and have thick and curled hair...and they are called by the common name of Aethiopians.'"^[5]
   • St. Jerome and the Christian monk Sophronius in the 4th century referred to the region of Colchis as a "Second Ethiopia".^[7][8] Earlier, the Classical Greek historian Herodotus also had written about a colony founded in the region of Colchis, which was inhabited by Ethiopic people, believed to have been brought there by the Egyptian Pharaoh Sesostris.^[8][9]