Meseret Sebhat Leab (Aläqa) - Ethiopian Gospel Music

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Life and Ministry

Key points from the
DACB article by Dirshaye Menberu
(see below “For further reading”)

1926: Meseret was born in Axum. His father, memhir (“teacher; “professor”) Sebhat Leab Gebre Meskel, worked at the famous Church of Our Lady, Mary of Zion.

early 1940s: Meseret studied church music under merigeta (teacher; choir leader in EOTC) Sebuh

around 1944-45: He continued to study liturgy in Axum.

Meseret was very skilled in digua [dəggwa] (Ethiopian music book). He served as merigeta at Wegera monastery (Gondar) for some months.

1954: Joined Bethel Mekane Yesus Church after meeting Rev. Gidada Solon in 1954 (some years before he had met David Stokes). Taught Amharic at the Church’s school.

Taught Amharic and Ge’ez at Mekane Yesus Seminary from 1968 [NB: 1960] until 1976 and from 1978 until his retirement in 1983 [NB: Seems to have taught until the late 1990s].

Meseret Sebhat Leab passed away in 1996. [NB: probl. 1998]

Excerpts from Magaarsaa Guutaa‘s (2011)
History of Mekane Yesus Seminary

NB: 1968 is not the year Meseret Sebhat Leab started to teach at MYS; the correct date is October 1960 [Magaarsaa Guutaa 2011, p. 52 n. 92]. He was one of the three instructors who were employed at the beginning of Mekane Yesus Seminary:

“The first national teaching staff member to be employed by the IC [Interim Committee of the Lutheran Missions Committee] was Ato Meseret Sebhat Leab. He was employed on full-time basis […] to teach Geez and Amharic. Thus, the first faculty members were three: two expatriates and a national. Their call depended on the initiatives taken by the pioneer personalities, such as Rev. Dr. Herbert George Schaefer who had reported earlier to the first EECMY Executive Committee about teachers that would make the launching of the Seminary a reality.” [Magaarsaa Guutaa (2011), p. 40]

Aläqa Meseret Sebhat Leab was not with the Mekane Yesus Seminary in August 1971. He left the Seminary for a while but returned later. (p. 82, n. 54)

Between 1977 and 1980, Meseret Sebhat Le-Ab collected 54 Ge’ez manuscripts for Mekane Yesus Seminary.

Ethiopian Orthodox Church History, Ethiopian Orthodox liturgy [“Ethiopian Orthodox Church Practices” according to Curriculum on p. 271] and Ge’ez have been part of the curriculum since the early 1960s. These subjects were being offered to MYS students till the late 1990s (MG, p. 126).

Ibid, n. 33: “The renowned person to teach these courses was Ato Meseret Sebhat Leab who passed away in 1998.”

Meseret Sebhat Le-Ab (and later Rev. Gudina Tumsa) played a mediating role between the Charismatic group at Mekane Yesus Seminary and the “traditional” students who had complained about their style of worship etc. in 1973. (p. 156)