Behind the firman. Administrative Procedures and Political Negotiations Over the Construction of an Ethiopian Church in Jerusalem (Late Nineteenth Century)

In 1885, the Ottoman Sultan granted a firman giving the Ethiopians of Jerusalem the right to construct a new church (Kidane Mehret Church/Covenant of Mercy, consecrated in 1893). This article explores the period preceding the firman issuance through a series of documents of the Ottoman archives in Istanbul (BOA), dated 1881–85. It examines the expectations of the Ottoman local and central authorities in issuing a building permit for a non-Muslim religious edifice and investigates what occurred between the moment a community resolved to construct a place of worship and the moment when imperial authorization was formally granted. The aim is to provide a detailed study of procedures and actors involved in such requests and a nuanced understanding of the multiple dimensions associated with the construction of a church in late-nineteenth-century Jerusalem. Above all, this article seeks to illuminate procedures often rendered invisible, inviting closer attention to processes behind a firman issuance