Mazgaba Maṣāḥəft

Title

• Dabra Zamaddo's three monks who thought of leaving the monastery but survive for months on the spring of honey milk

Description

At Dabra Zamaddo there were three monks who piously devoted themselves to prayer. When not tending to monastic duties, these monks labored together to farm their own field. The monks faced many difficulties with their farming, and one year, after sowing the last of their seeds, they decided to move to another country where the farming would be better. But Mary wanted them to remain at her monastery, so she planted the idea in the monks’ minds to spend the night fasting and leave the following day. That night the monks fetched water from the spring that Mary had made bubble up under the feet of Abbuna Bartalomewos. The monks divided the water into gourds, and when they drank it they found that the water had turned into honey. Thus well fed, the monks decided to stay at Dabra Zamaddo for another day. The next day the water turned to honey again, and the monks decided to stay yet longer. This pattern continued for months, keeping the monks at the monastery from Sane to Maskaram. By Maskaram the monks’ field, which they had sown with the last of their seed, had produced perfect ears of corn ready for harvest.