The conservatism of the Abyssinian people in matters of religion is well illustrated by the fact that throughout the many and violent vicissitudes of their history since the introduction of Christianity they have always received their Patriarch from the mother-church. His position is one of great authority. “The chief man in the country after the king of kings is the Abouna, or archbishop, the head of the Church; without the Abouna no king can be crowned, and it is he that, at his own or the king’s wish, can excommunicate any of his subjects, or the king himself, if necessary, and then the king can only rule by the strength of his followers who adhere to him. These archbishops come from the Coptic Monastery at Alexandria or Cairo, and when they reach Abyssinia, they never leave it on any consideration.”[128] Moreover, “the Abyssinian Church, in common with all other Christian communities in Asia and Africa, is strictly episcopal. The Abouna, or primate, who is consecrated to his office by the Patriarch of Alexandria, the revered successor of St. Mark, can alone confer the priestly title. Every candidate, before presenting himself for ordination, must have acquired some knowledge in the reading of the sacred language of Ethiopia, and in the complicated ceremonies of the liturgical service. On the day appointed for ordination the primate, in full canonicals and seated on the episcopal throne, receives the applicants for the sacred office. All being properly ranged before the chair of St. Mark, each candidate, instead of the imposition of hands, receives the Abouna’s consecrating breath. Former archbishops, less scrupulous than the present successor of Frumentius, indiscriminately breathed on all, whether qualified or not, who could pay the requisite fee of two salts—fourpence.[129] “Deacons are selected from among boys, who are only allowed to serve in the Church till they attain the age of twelve or thirteen; after that period their purity of life is suspected, and they are no longer considered fit to approach the sacred shrine of the _tabot_.[130] The bishop and monks may not marry, while the priests may; and as, on the death of their wives, they cannot contract a second alliance, the reverend wooers invariably choose for their partners the most robust and sprightly lasses in the land.