The Book of Light

መጽሐፈ፡ ብርሃን፡ (Maṣḥafa bǝrhān) · Zarʾa Yāʿqob · 15th c. (Zarʾa Yāʿqob, 1399-1468) · treatise · LIT1921Mashaf

Ethiopic · domain: theology · researched 2026-11-13

partial / older only. An English translation exists but is partial or older than the critical edition. The gap is a modern, complete translation from the original. A rendering of a daughter version does not count here: it is recorded on the dossier of the text it actually translates.

Why this is in the register

Beta Masaheft LIT1921Mashaf lists Conti Rossini's edition and Italian translation only (bm:ContiRossini1964BerhanT, bm:ContiRossini1965BerhanIIT, bm:ContiRossini1965BerhanITrad, bm:ContiRossini1965BerhanIITrad) - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/BetaMasaheft/Works/master/1001-2000/LIT1921Mashaf.xml. Harvard: 'Il libro della luce del Negus Zar'a Yā'qob (Mashafa Berhān)', CSCO 1964-1965, language ita;gez (https://hollis.harvard.edu/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Mashafa%20Berhan&tab=Everything&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&vid=01HVD_INST:HVD2&offset=0 English coverage is one homily only: Getatchew Haile, 'The homily of Zärʼa Yaʻeqob's Mäṣḥafä Berhān on the rite of Baptism and religious instruction', CSCO 653-654 / Scriptores Aethiopici 114-115, Peeters 2013, ISBN 9789042927520 and 9789042927537, eng;gez - same HOLLIS query restricted to 'Mashafa Berhan Getatchew' (https://hollis.harvard.edu/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Mashafa%20Berhan%20Getatchew&tab=Everything&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&vid=01HVD_INST:HVD2&offset=0 Ephraim Isaac's 1973 Brill book is a text-critical introduction, not a translation.

The flagship theological-canonical work of the Ethiopian reform king: homilies on baptism, Eucharist, confession and church order. Full Italian (Conti Rossini) but only a single homily in English, so a researcher depending on English has no access to the work as a whole - the classic 'partial' profile. Note a separate English corpus of Zarʾa Yāʿqob's Marian texts exists: Getatchew Haile, 'The Mariology of emperor Zärʼa Yaʿqob of Ethiopia: texts and translations', Orientalia Christiana Analecta 242, 1992 - it does not cover Maṣḥafa bǝrhān.

Existing translations recorded

Edition / series
Il libro della luce del Negus Zar'a Yā'qob (Maṣḥafa Berhān) · Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium (Scriptores Aethiopici) · Conti Rossini, Carlo · 1964
The homily of Zärʼa Yaʻeqob's Mäṣḥafä Berhān on the rite of Baptism and religious instruction · CSCO 653-654 (Scriptores Aethiopici 114-115) · Getatchew Haile · 2013

Electronic text

Source and licence
Beta Masaheft · TEI XML · CC BY-SA 4.0 LIT1921Mashaf
archive.org · PDF scan · public-domain scan (no licence URL recorded) illibrodellaluce0261zare

Scanned witnesses

Scan search: not checked. Not searched in the scan pass: this dossier was outside the 121-work scan target set.

Harvard Hollis

Hollis query: Zarʾa Yāʿqob "The Book of Light" — 1 record(s); match basis author_title.

Record	Citation
Book of light : from the Ethiopian Manuscript Micro-film Library Zar'a Yā'eqob, Emperor of Ethiopia, 1399-1468 · 2008 · gez	Zar'a Yā'eqob, Emperor of Ethiopia, 1399-1468. "Book of light : from the Ethiopian Manuscript Micro-film Library." Piscataway, NJ : Gorgias Scriptorium, 2008. https://hollis.harvard.edu/permalink/f/1s5nto6/99159488950803941

Sources checked

Cite: Tergwame, “The Book of Light” (ethiopic gap dossier), 2026. https://naxiai.com/christian/gaps/ethiopic-zara-yaqob-mashafa-berhan