A
SKETCH OF RASTAFARI HISTORY
by
Norman Hugh Redington, Editor
The St. Pachomius Orthodox Library INTRODUCTION:
The spread of Orthodox Christianity in the New World has occurred
mainly as a result of immigration from Eastern Europe. There
are two regions, however, where this is notthe case: Alaska
and the Caribbean. The story of the conversion of the Aleut,
Tlingit, and Yupik nations in Alaska has often been told;
by contrast, that of the yet more improbable emergence of
Ethiopian churches in Jamaica is little known. My hope is
that this little tract will inspire someone with greater knowledge
to study the subject properly; if it also leads to a deeper
respect and understanding between mainstream Christians and
the often-maligned brethren in Jamaica, may the Lord be praised.
N.Redington,
1995
ORIGINS:
THE GARVEYITE AFRICAN ORTHODOX CHURCH.
Marcus Garvey was a Jamaican-born Black nationalist leader
whose Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) was the
most prominent Black Power organization of the 1920s. Although
himself a Roman Catholic, Garvey encouraged his followers
to imagine Jesus as Black and to organize their own church.
To emphasize that the new church was neither Catholic nor
Protestant, the name "Orthodox" was adopted and
the filioque (a phrase added to the Latin version of the Nicene
creed in the early Middle Ages but rejected by the Orthodox)
was dropped.
The African
Orthodox Church entered into negotiations with the Russian
Metropolia (now the OCA) for formal recognition as an Orthodox
jurisdiction. Unfortunately, these negotiations broke down:
the Metropolia demanded an unacceptable degree of administrative
control, while the Garveyites wanted to promulgate whatever
doctrines they chose. Eventually, the African Orthodox bishop
was consecrated by the "American Catholics", a group
which had rejected the authority of the Pope but was otherwise
similar to the Roman Church.
The Garveyite
Church had thousands of members on three continents, and was
a symbol of anti-colonialism in Kenya and Uganda. The African
Orthodox in those countries quickly broke off relations with
the New York church and instead became part of the Greek Patriarchate
of Alexandria and fully Orthodox. The same process repeated
in Ghana more recently, where Fr. Kwami Labe, a graduate of
St. Vladimir's Seminary in New York, has been building a strong
Orthodox community on the foundations laid by the Garveyites.
(I am distressed, however, that many now-canonical African
Orthodox often seem almost ashamed of their "heretical"
origins, and try to distance themselves from the earlier movement.)
Today the African
Orthodox Church as such is largely defunct, although the parish
of St. John Coltrane in San Francisco remains quite active.
^
MORE
ORIGINS: THE BLACK ISRAELITES.
Black slaves always felt an obvious affinity to the enslaved
Hebrews; a few took this sympathy to its logical extreme and
claimed to be, in fact, Jews. This movement probably existed
in the U.S. during slavery times, and there was at least one
Black convert in the synagogue of antebellum Charleston. The
spread of information about the Jewish "Falasha"
minority in Ethiopia contributed to the growth of Black Judaism
during the late 19th Century, and Jewish sects emerged in
the northern ghettoes alongside Muslim ones. A number of these,
and similar groups of more recent origin, remain very active
today.
These groups
(a few of them very anti-Semitic in their claim of being "real
Jews") are in some cases "Christian", although
with an Old Testament emphasis. Frequently they claim that
whites have distorted the text of the Bible, and there are
attempts to "restore" the text.
One of these,
of importance in this story, is the "Holy Piby",
an occult bible allegedly translated from "Amharic"
and emphasizing the destruction of white "Babylonia"
and the return of the Israelites to Africa, the true Zion.
The Piby was adopted by Rastafarians as the source of their
liturgical texts. ^
GARVEY
THE PROPHET: The Marcus Garvey of history books
is a mainly political leader interested in making the black
race economically equal with the white. In oral tradition,
however, he appears as a divinely annointed prophet, the Forerunner
of Haile Selassie. In addition to many miracles and prophecies,
he is credited with having predicted that a "mighty king"
would arise in Africa and bring justice to the oppressed.
When the Prince (Ras) Tafari of Ethiopia was crowned emperor
to world-wide fanfare, many Jamaicans claimed the prophecy
of Garvey had obviously just been fulfilled: the Ras Tafari
Movement was born.
Garvey himself
was still alive, although his movement had largely collapsed
and he himself had been jailed on (subsequently disproved)
allegations of business fraud. Garvey was no admirer of Haile
Selassie, observing that slavery still existed in Ethiopia,
and he attacked the Rastafarians as crazy fanatics. They,
however continued to revere Garvey nonetheless, remarking
that even John the Baptist had had doubts about Christ! ^
THE
CLASSICAL PERIOD: From 1930 until the mid '60s,
Rastafari was a local Jamaican religious movement with few
outside influences. Several Garveyite leaders had independently
declared that Haile Selassie fulfilled Garvey's prophecy,
and the movement remained dominated by independent "Elders"
with widely varying views. Not only did no Jamaica-wide "Rastafarian
Church" develop, but there was not even agreement on
basic doctrine or a canon of Scripture--both the Holy Piby
and the King James Bible were used by various Elders, but
were freely emended and "corrected". ^
OVERSTANDING:
This "anarchy" was considered a virtue by classical
Rastas. Rastafari was not a religion, a human organization,
or a philosophy, but an active attempt to discern the will
of JAH (God) and keep it. Classical Rastas were mainly uneducated
Third World peasants, but they approached Rastafari in an
almost Talmudic spirit, holding "reasonings" --part
theological debate, part prayer meeting-- at which they attempted
to find the Truth.
Their attitude
differed, however, from that of Protestants interpreting the
Bible. They were certain that they would arrive, by divine
guidance, at an "overstanding" (rather than understanding)
of the Truth. The Truth cannot be known by human effort alone,
but "Jah-Jah come over &I", one can participate
in the One who is Truth. ^
MYSTICISM:
Early Rasta mystical experience emphasized the immediate presence
of JAH within the "dread" (God-fearer). The doctrine
of theosis was expressed with great subtlety (although not
all Elders correctly distinguished essence from energy). Through
union with JAH, the dread becomes who he truly is but never
was, a process of self-discovery possible only through repentance.
(For this reason, Rastas did not proselytize, but relied on
compunction sent by JAH.) The mystical union was expressed
by the use of the pronoun "I&I" (which can mean
I, we, or even you, with JAH present) or simply "I"
in contrast to the undeclined Jamaican dialect "me".
^
COMMUNITY:
Many Rastas lived (and live today) in the bush in campsruled
by an Elder. Some of these camps are segregated by sex and
resemble monasteries (down to the gong at the gate); ore often,
they are reconstituted West African villages. The dreads observe
the rules of "ital", a dietary code based on the
Pentateuch with various additions, and otherwise observe a
spiritual rule. Males are usually bearded (uncommon in Jamaica
during the classical period, and a cause of social and religious
discrimination, so that Rastas who held jobs often were "baldfaces"
who kept their affiliation secret.)
The famous "dreadlocks"
were worn during the classical period only by a minority of
dreads, mostly those who had taken the oath of Nazirite. Very
recent historical research suggests that the dreadlocks were
popularized by a monastic movement which opposed the unrestrained
and potentially corrupting power of the Elders. These celibate
and almost puritanical "nyabinghi warriors" objected
particularly to "pagan holdovers" in Rastafari,
the continued use by dreads ofritual practices associated
with the voudoun-like folk religion of the Jamaican peasantry.
^
HINDUISM:
Another source of "pagan" thought in Rastafari was
the religionpracticed by the thousands of East Indian labourers
imported to Jamaicaafter the abolition of slavery. Classical
Hinduism is a major religious force throughout the West Indies,
especially on Trinidad, but its influence on Rastafari has
been little remarked. The dreadlocked, ganja-smoking saddhu
or wandering ascetic is a well-known figure in India, and
bands of saddhus often live in Rasta-style camps and smoke
marijuana from a formally-blessed communal chalice-pipe. The
Hindu doctrine of reincarnation is also advocated by many
dreads, although often with a subtle twist: to say that (for
example) today's Jamaicans are reincarnated Israelites, and
even "I myself have felt the slave-master's whip",
means to some dreads not that they personally have lived before,
but that their solidarity with their ancestors is so great
that there is a "oneness through time". ^
REPATRIATION:
Among the few things all Elders agreed on were that Haile
Selassie was "divine" (although what that meant
was much debated) and that he intended to restore New World
Blacks to Africa. Although a mystical interpretation of "repatriation"
was advanced, there is no doubt that all early Elders (and
most modern ones) expected outward literal return as well.
This gave Rastafari an overt political dimension: the Rastafarians
all, without exception, wanted to immediately emigrate to
Ethiopia. This was a situation with no analogue except Zionism,
and was beyond the ability of the Jamaican authorities to
deal with. Revolutionaries are one thing, but the Rasta slogan
was not "power to the people", but "let my
people go". As time passed, Rastafarian frustration at
this unmet demand became explosive.
The situation
grew especially tense after 1954, when the government overran
a Rastafarian mini-state called the Pinnacle, ruled by Elder
Leonard Howell in exactly the style of a traditional West
African chief. Howell's followers migrated to the slums of
Kingston, and the movement went from a rural peasant separatist
movement to one associated with the ghettoes of the capital.
In the late '50s and early '60s, a few Rastas in desparation
rejected the non-violent teaching of all authentic Elders
and mounted a series of increasingly violent uprisings, culminating
in several deadly shoot-outs between Rastas and British troops.
With this violence,
the existence of Rastafari came to (negative) worldwide notice;
more positive publicity was brought by the popularity of Rasta-performed
reggae dance music a few years later. The classical period
of isolation was at an end. ^
THE
ETHIOPIAN WORLD FEDERATION (EWF): As an African
country mentioned in the Bible and the only African nation
to successfully resist colonialism, Ethiopia was always prominent
in New World Black consciousness, but actual contact was minimal
until the Second World War. In 1937, Haile Selassie's government
in exile founded EWF to raise money and political support
from Black nationalist groups in the West. After the war,
the EWF continued to exist in various forms, some completely
under local control but all providing at least some contact
with Abyssinia. ^
TRINIDAD
& TOBAGO:
In the 1940s, a Garveyite bishop named Edwin Collins set up
what he said was a legitimate Coptic church under the Patriarch
of Alexandria. However the Garveyite Coptics were tied more
closely to the African Orthodox Church than to Egypt, and
their canonicity was widely doubted. In 1952 the Garveyite
Coptic diocese of Trinidad and Tobago broke away and placed
itself under Addis Ababa. Clergy were imported from Africa
and a fully canonical church was organised in the islands.
Trinidad is an Ethiopian Orthodox success story: native-born
clergy (including old-time Garveyite leaders) were rapidly
ordained and parishes were founded all over the country and
in Guyana. ^
ABBA
LAIKE MANDEFRO: In 1959 the central Garveyite Coptic
organisation in New York tried to improve its canonical status.
The archbishop went to Ethiopia, where he was supposedly ordained
chorepiscopos, and returned with a group of young Ethiopian
priests and deacons who were to study in American universities.
These clergy almost immediately broke with the Garveyites,
however, and set up parishes more oriented to the needs of
Ethiopian immigrants; the Garveyite Coptic church which had
sponsored them went into an evidently irreversible decline.
One of the young priests who came over at this time soon became
Ethiopian Orthodoxy's main representative abroad. He is Laike
M. Mandefro, now Archbishop Yesehaq, exarch of the Western
Hemisphere and many would add Apostle to the Caribbean. ^
THE
EWF IN JAMAICA: All of the above developments took
place independently of the Ras Tafari Movement, which was
still confined to Jamaica. An EWF chapter had opened there
in 1938 and been almost immediately taken over by Rastafarians,
in particular by the prominent Elders Joseph Hibbert and Archibald
Dunkley. Both men were noted mystics and initiates of an all-Black
"Coptic" Masonic lodge in Costa Rica; some might
therefore find it ironic that they more than anyone else would
prove responsible for the arrival of Orthodoxy in Jamaica!
^
"GROUNATION
DAY": Presumably because of the spread of
the Ethiopian Church in Trinidad, Haile Selassie was invited
to visit that country in 1966. Jamaica was then in the throws
of an ongoing national social crisis in which Rastas were
perceived by the establishment as a revoutionary threat which
had to defused; a team of social scientists had advised the
government that one way to do this was to foster close ties
with the real Ethiopia. Accordingly, the Emperor was invited
to make a stop in Jamaica.
On April 21
-- "Grounation Day" to Rastas ever since -- Haile
Selassie arrived in Kingston. Contrary to the widely repeated
claim that the Emperor was "amazed" or "bemused"
upon "discovering" the existence of the Rastafarians
(the greater number of whom by 1966 believed him to be God
in essence), there is much evidence that Haile Selassie's
whole purpose in visiting Jamaica was to meet the Rasta leadership.
Greeted at the airport by thousands of dreads in white robes
chanting "Hosanna to the Son of David", Haile Selassie
granted an audience to a delegation of famous Elders, including
Mortimo Planno and probably Joseph Hibbert. The precise details
of this historic meeting cannot be reconstructed, and there
exist countless variants in Jamaican oral tradition. Almost
certainly, he urged them to become Orthodox and held out the
possibility that Jamaican settlers could receive land-grants
in South Ethiopia. Most traditional versions of the meeting
specify that he also gave the Elders a secret message, very
much in keeping with the Emperor's known policies on Third
World development: "Build Jamaica first." ^
THE
JAMAICA MISSIONS: In 1970, at Hibbert's invitation,
Abba Laike Mandefro began to evangelize the Rastafarians in
person. In the course of a year he baptized some 1200 dreads
and laid the foundation for the church's subsequent growth.
He also encountered fierce opposition from those Elders who
taught that Haile Selassie was Jah in essence and demanded
"baptism in Ras Tafari's name". In Montego Bay,
only one dread accepted Orthodox baptism; Laike Mandefro baptized
him Ahadu -- "One Man". ^
THE
ECUMENIST CRISIS: A major crisis struck the young
church in 1971, when a public service marking the ninth anniversary
of Jamaican independence was held in Kingston. Anglican, Roman
Catholic, and Orthodox (Greek and Ethiopian) clergy all participated
in the service. The Rastas were scandalized that Orthodox
would pray with representatives of "false religions";
hundreds of baptized members defected, and an entire parish
was lost. Many of these persons no doubt joined the organized
Rastafarian churches which were beginning to replace the traditional
Elder system, and which soon incorporated widely varying degrees
of Ethiopian Orthodox liturgical and theological influence.
^
EWF
RASTAFARI: Besides the heretical syncretist groups,
however, a legitimate Orthodox Rastafari Movement continued
to flourish as the backbone of the Jamaican church. The EWF
under the leadership of Dunkley and Hibbert had enormous prestige,
being tied both to the roots of the movement in Garveyism
and directly to Jamaica. The EWF retained the political and
social aspects and the distinctive cultural features of classical
Rastafari while advocating a rigorously correct and canonical
Orthodoxy, venerating the Emperor as a holy living ikon of
JAH but not worshiping him. The first steps toward Orthodox
Jamaica were being taken -- albeit by people whose main secular
goal was to leave the country as soon as possible!
{COMMENT FOR
NON-ORTHODOX READERS: Orthodox theology distinguishes several
levels of divinity. Only the Uncreated is "God-in-essence";
humans can become "divine by participation"; ikons
are visible channels through which divine energy enters
the world. The question which divides the "canonical"
brethren from non-Orthodox groups is which of these levels
of divinity applies to Emperor Haile Selassie. The Orthodox
say he is divine by participation and ikonicity, and thus
merits "douleia" ("veneration"); the
Tribes say he is divine in essence and merits "latreia"
or absolute worship.} ^
REGGAE:
This was also the time when reggae music was at the height
of its popularity, and when explicitly religious lyrics ere
the norm within reggae. Many popular bands were Orthodox,
notably The Abyssinians, a group with priestly and monastic
connections. The family of reggae's "superstar",
Bob Marley, were mostly Orthodox, although Marley himself
was for most of his career a member of the Twelve Tribes sect.
In his last years, dying young of cancer, Marley underwent
a remarkable spiritual transformation (evident in his music
also) culminating in his baptism; his Orthodox funeral in
1981 was attended by tens of thousands of mourners. ^
THE
SHEARING OF LOCKS: Haile Selassie was reported
dead in 1975 (to the disbelief of many Rastas even today).
The Ethiopian church, like many Orthodox churches under communist
rule, endured terrible persecution which it survived partly
by compromise with the persecutors. The Marxist regime in
Addis Ababa was very unenthused that an emperor-venerating
and/or worshiping cult was flourishing in a part of the world
otherwise ripe for revolution.
In addition,
I have the impression that some of the increasingly numerous
and often middle-class Ethiopian emigres in the West looked
down on Rastafarians. The pious suspected their Orthodoxy
(no doubt often rightly; that many "Orthodox" Rastas
continued to secretly harbor heretical views is quite likely);
the staid resented association with an impoverished and reputedly
criminal Black underclass. The latter consideration was especially
strong in Britain, where all forms of Rastafari spread rapidly
among the West Indian minority in the '70s. (It is important
to add, however, that England's Ethiopian community also<
provided legal and other support for Rastas subjected to racist
and police harassment during this period, especially in the
Handsworth section of Birmingham.)
For whatever
reason, in 1976 all Orthodox Rastas were required to cut their
locks and to make an elaborate formal repudiation of heretical
emperor worship (latreia). Whatever its long-term wisdom,
this decree forced people who were "growing into an overstanding"
by the slow traditional process to make a sudden decision;
the cutting of locks, a purely external issue, seemed to many
a repudiation of the movement's history. ^
SYNCRETISM:
In spite of these not-inconsiderable conflicts, the Ethiopian
Orthodox Church has spread through the Caribbean thanks to
the Ras Tafari movement. While only a minority of Rastas have
actually become Orthodox, nearly all have been influenced
by Orthodoxy. The makwamya (the prayer stick used by Ethiopian
clergy) is ubiquitous among dreads; items of clerical garb
are also frequently adopted. Rastafarian painters have been
heavily influenced by ikonography. Syncretism is particularly
evident in the organized sects which have partly supplanted
the charismatic Elder system. ^
THE
TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL (unrelated to the various
Black Hebrew churches of the same name) are probably the largest
and most famous of the sects. Founded in 1968 by Vernon Carrington
(the Prophet Gad), the Tribes hold that Haile Selassie is
Jesus Christ returned in majesty as King: the Second Coming
has already happened. Their coherent theology and tight organization
have won them many converts, including most of the famous
reggae singers of the '70s. Something of the syncretistic
feel of later Rastafari is conveyed by the cover art on the
album "Zion Train" by Ras Michael (a brilliant hymnographer
and one of the Ras Tafari Movement's more impressive living
spokesmen). The painting shows two clerically-turbaned dreads
before the open Royal Doors of an ikonostasis -- beyond which,
however, is only a view of mountains against a red sky. ^
"PRINCE"
EDWARD EMMANUEL, founder of another prominent sect,
was a famous Elder of the classical era, responsible for convening
the first "Nyabinghi" or Rastafarian general synod
in 1958. The Prince was already a controversial figure who
claimed to be one of the Holy Trinity along with Haile Selassie
and Marcus Garvey; presumably, he hoped the Nyabinghi would
recognize this claim (which it did not). Thereafter the Prince
began transforming his large band of worshipers into an organized
church, complete with dogma, liturgy, hierarchy, and a kind
of monasticism. The group's priests, some of whom have actually
been to Ethiopia, wear Orthodox vestments. ^
THE
ZION COPTIC CHURCH, a semi-moribund Garveyite Orthodox
denomination, was revitalized by white hippie converts in
the '60s; despite its partly foreign leadership, it enjoyed
explosive growth among Black Jamaicans disillusioned with
the canonical church's approach. Although the "Coptics",
as they are called, insist that they are a legitimate Orthodox
jurisdiction and even publish tracts on such theological issues
as the _mia physis_ and the Council of Chalcedon, they also
engage in some very questionable speculations verging on Gnosticism.
To their credit, they have gone much further than the canonical
church in incorporating the best of classical Rastafrian culture
into church life, and their retention of dreadlocks, nyabinghi
drumming, etc. has helped them gain many converts. This success
is reflected in their great material wealth, for which they
have been criticized (they are supposedly among the largest
landholders in Jamaica). One aspect of their "reverse
syncretism" has caused much controversy, as well as a
landmark church-state case which landed the Coptics' leadership
in prison: their gnosticizing theories are used to justify
ritual consumption of marijuana. ^
GANJA:
Contrary to popular belief, pious Rastas do not smoke marijuana
recreationally, and some (the canonical Ethiopian Orthodox
and also the followers of certain classical Elders) do not
use it at all. Most Rastafarian teachers, however, have advocated
the controlled ritual smoking of "wisdomweed" both
privately as an aid to meditation and communally from "chalice"
pipes as an "incense pleasing to the Lord". The
argument is that ganja is the "green herb" of the
King James Bible and that its use is a kind of shortcut version
of traditional ascetical practice. The Ethiopian Church, of
course, strongly discourages this: Orthodox monks have learned
over centuries of experience that such shortcuts are at best
dangerous and at worst soul-destroying. The issue, however,
has been much sensationalized by the press, in keeping with
the racist stereotyping of Rastas as stoned criminals. ^
CONCLUSION:
I believe that the Rastafarians have been greatly underestimated
by the outside world, including, to some extent, many elements
in the< Orthodox community. The classical Rastas were sophisticated
theological and philosophical thinkers, not cargo-cultists
worshiping newspaper photos of an African despot. They had
discovered many sophisticated theological concepts for themselves,
and had retraced many of the Christological and other debates
of the early Church. They brought a truly rich cultural and
artistic legacy, including some of the twentieth century's
most moving hymnography. ^
While Abuna
Yesehaq, at least, certainly seems to recognize this, in practise
Rastas often seem to be told by the church that they must
become Ethiopians in order to become Orthodox. Many are willing
to do this, so great is their thirst for Truth and so acute
their sense of having lost their true African culture. More,
however, are not--and in a way rightly so. The Church is the
poorer to the extent it does not incorporate what is good
about the Rasta experience and instead tiresomely emphasizes
the "heresy of emperor-worship" and "herbal
sorcery". What is forgotten is that the existence of
the Rastafari movement is a miracle: a forgotten people and
a lost culture bringing itself by "reasonings" to
the very edge of Orthodoxy. Surely this is a supernatural
event, and so the Orthodox Rastas see it. An anonymous nyabingi
chant goes:
Michael
going to bring them, bring them to the Orthodox Church.
No matter what they do, no matter what they say.
Gabriel going to bring them, bring them to the Orthodox
Church.
Raphael
going to bring them, Uriel going to bring them,
Sorial going to bring them, Raguel going to bring them,
Fanuel going to bring them, bring them to the Orthodox Church.
I will conclude
with a song by Berhane Selassie (Bob Marley), written around
the time he was converting to Orthodoxy from the Twelve Tribes
and summing up the whole Orthodox Rasta "seen":
Old
pirates, yes, they rob I
Sold I to the merchant ships,
Minutes after they took I
From the bottomless pit.
But my hand was made strong
By the hand of the Almighty.
We followed in this generation, triumphantly.
Won't you help to sing these songs of freedom?
Cause all I ever have: redemption songs,
These songs of freedom.
This was the
last song on the last album Marley released before his death.
^
FURTHER
READING:
R. Auger et al., *The Rastafarian Movement in Kingston*, Univ.
of the
West Indies, 1960 (A long excerpt is in Lincoln, infra.)
L. Barrett,
*The Rastafarians* Boston: Beacon, 1977
H. Campbell,
*Rasta and Resistance* Trenton NJ: Africa World, 1987
E. Cashmore,
*Rastaman* London: Allen & Unwin, 1979
B. Chevannes,
*Rastafari: Roots and Ideology* Syracuse University, 1994
C. E. Lincoln,ed.,
*The Black Experience in Religion* New York: Anchor/
Doubleday, 1974
W. J. Moses,
*Black Messiahs and Uncle Toms* Pennsylvania State
University, 1993
R. Mulvaney
and C. Nelson, *Rastafari and Reggae: A Dictionary* New
York: Greenwood, 1990
W. J. Payne,
ed., *Directory of African-American Religious Bodies*
Washington: Howard Univ., 1991
Archbishop Yesehaq,
*The Ethiopian Tewahedo Church* (available from
Holy Trinity Cathedral,140-142 W. 176th St, Bronx NY 10451)
^
|
