This article deals with research of so-called “ma: hebars”, congregations of believers, devoted to Saint Takla Haimanot — one of the most venerated saints of Ethiopia, whose cult is factually national in the country. The collective veneration of saints in communes or congregations (characteristic also for many other Christian traditions) is spread so widely that “ma: hebars” can be said to unite the overwhelming majority of the country's Christian population. The ritual as such, centred about a joint supper in a day of the saint_s commemoration, has a lot of variants. The author basing on the manuscript of “Life of St. Takla Haimanot” (Eth. 18 from the manuscript collection of St. Petersburg affiliation of the Institute for Oriental Studies of Russian Academy of Sciences) outlines the ways of investigation of the practice constituents and history prerequisites of such congregations. An attempt is made not only to describe the outer side, but also to analyse the meaning and the religious significance of the ritual 

This article deals with research of so-called “ma: hebars”, congregations of believers, devoted to Saint Takla Haimanot — one of the most venerated saints of Ethiopia, whose cult is factually national in the country. The collective veneration of saints in communes or congregations (characteristic also for many other Christian traditions) is spread so widely that “ma: hebars” can be said to unite the overwhelming majority of the country's Christian population. The ritual as such, centred about a joint supper in a day of the saint_s commemoration, has a lot of variants. The author basing on the manuscript of “Life of St. Takla Haimanot” (Eth. 18 from the manuscript collection of St. Petersburg affiliation of the Institute for Oriental Studies of Russian Academy of Sciences) outlines the ways of investigation of the practice constituents and history prerequisites of such congregations. An attempt is made not only to describe the outer side, but also to analyse the meaning and the religious significance of the ritual