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250px ethiopian orthodox church saint abuna aregawi
 abuna aregawi
abuna aregawi

abuna aregawi -lrb- also called za-mika ` el ` aragawi -rrb- was a sixth-century syrian monk , whom tradition holds founded the monastery debre damo , said to have been commissioned by emperor gebre mesqel .
he is one of the nine saints of the ethiopian orthodox church who claims he came from various parts of the roman empire to escape persecution after the council of chalcedon -lrb- 451 -rrb- .
the nine saints , abba ` afsé , abba ` aléf , abba gärima , abba guba , abba liqanos , abba pantelewon , abba sähma , abba yäm ` ata and abba zä-mika ' él ` arägawi were learned monks who revitalized christianity in ethiopia , and to whom the ge'ez version of the new testament is attributed .
after spending twelve years at the court of king ella amida of axum , he set out with his companion the nun edna to found debre damo .
later in his life , king kaleb is said to have sought his advice before setting out to south arabia against the jewish king dhu nuwas .
according to another legend , god provided a large snake to aid him in climbing the `` amba '' , or steep-sided mountain , so he could build debre damo .
as david buxton recounts the story , `` when abba aragawi , the founder of the monastery , came to the foot of the cliff a great serpent appeared .
as st michael stood by to give directions , the serpent folded abba arawi in his coils and drew him to the top of the mountain . ''
