Enoch (also: 1 Enoch) is canonical scripture for the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church. The only complete copy of an early version of Enoch is available in Ge’ez (Classical Ethiopic), here used with permission by the Bible Society of Ethiopia.
The following is a stained glass window depicting Methuselah, ca. 12th century in the Canterbury Cathedral in Kent, England:
Photo by Robert Scarth, hosted by Wikimedia Commons under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license
Stained glass is not just highly decorative, it’s a medium which has been used to express important religious messages for centuries. Literacy was not widespread in the medieval and Renaissance periods and the Church used stained glass and other artworks to teach the central beliefs of Christianity. In Gothic churches, the windows were filled with extensive narrative scenes in stained glass — like huge and colorful picture storybooks — in which worshipers could ‘read’ the stories of Christ and the saints and learn what was required for their religious salvation. (Source: Victoria and Albert Museum )
The name that is transliterated as “Enoch” in English means “initiated,” “initiating,” “teacher,” “dedicated,” “consecrated.” (Source: Cornwall / Smith 1997 )
In Finnish Sign Language it is translated with the sign signifying “taken away” (referring to Genesis 5:24). (Source: Tarja Sandholm)
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.