Petros I of Ethiopia
Petros I was metropolitan of Ethiopia in the first half of the tenth century, remembered for his role in a royal succession and later accounts of his mistreatment.[^1][^3]
Also known as: Abuna Petros I · Butrus
Appointment and royal succession
Petros I flourished in the first half of the tenth century as metropolitan of Ethiopia. According to the History of the Patriarchs, he was chosen and consecrated by the Coptic patriarch Quzma, or Cosmas III (920–932), during the reign of an Ethiopian sovereign whose name is not given in the Arabic account. His name appears in Arabic as Butrus.1
Before his death, this sovereign entrusted his two sons to Petros and asked him to select whichever would make the better ruler. Petros chose the younger brother and placed him on the throne.2
Later remembrance and succession
The History of the Patriarchs, as summarized in the account of Petros’s successor Dan’el, relates that a later Ethiopian ruler attributed his kingdom’s calamities to divine wrath over an earlier king’s mistreatment of Petros I. The account states that the Ethiopian church had remained without a metropolitan since that mistreatment.3
The later ruler asked King George II of Nubia to intercede with the Coptic patriarch for pardon and the appointment of a new metropolitan. George wrote to Patriarch Philotheus (979–1003), who appointed Dan’el, a monk of Dayr Abu Maqar. Dan’el is considered Petros I’s direct successor despite the decades separating their episcopates.4
References
Sources
- 1.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 829)
PETROS I (fl. first half tenth century) According to the History of the Patriarchs, Petros (Butrus in Arabic) was chosen and consecrated by Patriarch Quzma, or Cosmas III (920-932), during the reign of an Ethiopian sovereign whose name is not mentioned in the Arabic text. As metropolitan, Petros stood at the very center of an episode important in the history of ancient Ethiopia.
- 2.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 829)
Before his death, the king confided his two sons to Petros, asking the abun to choose whichever one would be the better ruler. Petros selected the younger brother and placed him on the throne.
- 3.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 831)
The Ethiopian sovereign attributed all these calamities to divine wrath incurred by the ill treatment of Abuna Petros I by one of the kings who preceded him. Since then the church in Ethiopia had remained without a metropolitan.
- 4.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 831)
Dan’el is considered to be the direct successor to Petros I, despite the decades that separate their episcopates. [...] The king pleaded with George II to intercede with the Coptic patriarch, requesting his pardon and the appointment of a new abun for Ethiopia. George II did indeed write to Patriarch PHILOTHEUS (979-1003), whereupon the latter consented to name a bishop for Ethiopia, a monk from DAYR ABU MAQAR by the name of Dan’el (Danyal in Arabic).
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