Aba
Paulos: The Rejected Patriarch
By our staff reporter
15 January 2006 (London) - The congregation of
the Debre Tsion Kidist Mariam Church in London, UK has passed
unanimous resolution today not to recognize Aba Paulos as the
Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. We will post the full
statement made by the congregation tomorrow.
We are also
receiving reports from various sources that members of the Ethiopian
Orthodox Church throughout the U.S., Canada, and other parts of
the world are going to issue similar statements and are going
to call for the dethroning of Abune Paulos on the grounds that
he is openly taking side with the ruling party rather than pursuing
a more politically neutral role and he is accused of tarnishing
the image of the church. It is a very well known fact that his
appointment was rejected as unlawful and ethnically motivated.
Who is Abune
Paulos?
Ablune Paulos
is the illegal Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church
imposed from 1992 to the present. His full title is "His
Holiness Abune Paulos, Fifth Patriarch (re-ese Liqane Papasat)
of Ethiopia, Echege of the See of St. Takla Haymanot and Archbishop
of Axum". Patriarch Abune Paulos was born from Gebre Igziabiher
Wolde Yohannes in 1935 in the town of Adowa in the Province of
Tigrai in northern Ethiopia.
Following
the fall of the Derg regime in 1991, the then Patriarch of the
Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Abune Merkorios, was dethroned by Government
pressure in circumstances that remain under dispute. Patriarch
Abune Merkorios and his supporters maintain that he was forced
from office by the new EPRDF regime and it's supporters. His attempt
to reverse his abdication was refused by the Synodical cou de
ta of the Church which authorized a new Patriarchal election.
Abune Paulos was said to have been elected to office in 1992 and
was enthroned. Abune Merkorios and some of his supporters went
into exile establishing the legal synod in exile in the United
States.
Due
to controversy over the so called resignation of his predecessor,
Abune Merkorios, who afterwards fled Ethiopia with some bishops,
Ethiopian churches in North America and Europe recognize Abune
Merkorios, and question the legitimacy of Patriarch Abune Paulos.
Abune
Paulos' vocal support for the EPRDF regime has alienated many
of the government's opponents who criticize him for taking political
sides. The fact that the Patriarch is of the same Tigrean ethnicity
as the dominant group in the EPRDF government has left him open
to accusation of ethnocentrism and xenophobia as well as nepotism
at all levels of church administration. The government is often
accused of having engineered the rise of Abune Paulos to the Patriarchate
out of the same ethnocentrism and his ong term underground membership
of the TPLF. Patriarch Abune Paulos has repeatedly made public
statements supporting the EPRDF government, alienating many of
the faithful who believed that as head of the Church he should
have pursued a more politically neutral role. Opposition politicians
have been critical of his partisanism.
Visits by the Patriarch to western countries in the early part
of his reign were met with emotional demonstrations and angry
protests against him. There have been several protests in Ethiopia
itself against the Patriarch, most notably at the Lideta Le Mariam
(Nativity of the Virgin Mary) Church in Addis Ababa. In an incident
at the St. Stephen's church in Addis Ababa in January 1997, a
hermit monk was shot and killed during the feast day of the church
in his presence. It was publicly announced that the monk had attempted
to assassinate the Patriarch with a sword, and that one of the
Patriarch's entourage had drawn a pistol and shot the man before
he could attach Abune Paulos. However, some sources state Abune
Paulos has often been blamed for firing the bullets that killed
the hermit monk. People who saw the incident with their own eyes
say that the hermit monk was not carrying a weapon, but appeared
to be holding some kind of paper. His friends say he was trying
to present a petition.
The fact that members of the Patriarch's entourage were armed
and carried guns into church caused as much shock as did the allegation
of attempted assassination. The Patriarch's image suffered even
more. His continued vocal support of the EPRDF and it’s
policies continued to alienate large sections of his flock.
In the aftermath of the controversial general elections of May
2005, Abune Paulos was heckled as a pro-government puppet during
the public MESKEL (Feast of the Finding of the True Cross) celebrations
in September. The public expression of anger against the Patriarch
and the government figures that accompanied him led to stone throwing
and considerable disorder, which reflected public anger against
the government and the Patriarch. His failure to pray for the
victims and to denounce the killings of unarmed demonstrators
by Federal security forces during the disorder following the elections
has also earned him much criticism in recent weeks. His congregation
does not want his blessing wherever he goes to a public holiday
including celebration of St. Gabriel’s day in “Kulubi”
this month.
EPRDF police tortured
dozens of detained priest and civilians
