[elias]

It is reported today that the Ethiopian Orthodox Church elected a new patriarch named Abune Mathias. Such election is illegal because the Church has a legitimate patriarch, the 4th Patriarch of Ethiopia, Abune Merkorios. According to the Church's long-standing rule, a new patriarch cannot be elected while the incumbent patriarch is still alive. The election of Abune Mathias was engineered by the ruling TPLF junta and it is as invalid as the election of late Aba Gebremedhin, the gun-totting Woyanne cadre who died right after his boss Meles Zenawi died in July. The real Ethiopian Orthodox Christians do not accept Abune Mathias as their patriarch. He is an agent of the TPLF junta, not a religious leader.

(AFP) -- The Ethiopian Orthodox Church has elected a new patriarch to replace the previous head who died in August, officials said Thursday.

"Abune Matthias... arch-bishop of Jerusalem (for the Ethiopian church) was elected with a majority," said Daniel Sefermikael, a church official.

He said Matthias got about 500 out of 806 votes cast by members of the church living in Ethiopia and elsewhere.

Matthias, 71, has lived abroad for over 30 years, initially fleeing Ethiopia following a military coup by Hailemariam Mengistu in 1974.

He has since travelled throughout Europe and North America, and will now settle in Ethiopia to serve as patriarch.

About 63 percent of Ethiopia's 83 million people are Christian, with the majority following the Orthodox faith, according to official figures.

Matthias will be sworn in at an official ceremony in Addis Ababa on Sunday, which tens of thousands of people are expected to attend.

The office of the patriarch has been vacant since August after Abune Paulos died of an undisclosed illness. He had served as head of the Orthodox Church in Ethiopia since 1992.

Ethiopian patriarchs are referred to as Abune, which means "our father" in Ethiopia's local language.

Ethiopia is home to some of Africa's oldest Orthodox churches, including a cluster of 11 ancient rock-hewn churches in Lalibela which are designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

ብፁዕ አቡነ ማትያስ በኢትየጽያ አርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ቤተ ክርስቲያን በኢየሩሳሌም የኢትዮጵያ ገዳማት ሊቀ ጳጳስ ስድስተኛው ፓትርያርክ ሆነው ተመረጡ፡፡ ከ806 ድምጽ 500 ውን በማግኘት ፓትርያርክ ሆነው ተመርጠዋል፡፡

የብፁዕ አቡነ ማትያስ በዓለ ሲመት የፊታችን እሑድ የካቲት 24 ቀን 2005 ዓ.ም.
በመንበረ ፀባኦት ቅድስት ሥላሴ ካቴድራል የሚፈጸም ሲሆን፣ ሥነ ሥርዓቱም ከተለያዩ አገሮች የሚመጡ ሊቃነ ጳጳሳት በሚገኙበት ይካሄዳል፡፡ በዓለ ሲመቱ በኮፕቲክ ቴሌቪዥን በቀጥታ ሥርጭት እንደሚተላለፍ ለማወቅ ተችሏል፡፡

አቡነ ማትያስ ማን ናቸው ?

በትግራይ ክልል በቀድሞው [deleted] አውራጃ በሰቡሀ ወረዳ በ1934 ዓመተ ምህረት የተወለዱ ሲሆን ፥ አድሜያቸው ለትምህርት እንደደረሰም ቀሲስ ወልደገሪማ ከሚባሉ አባት ፊደልና ንባብን ተምረዋል ።

የኤርትራ ሊቀ ጳጳስ ከነበሩት ብፁዕ አቡነ ማርቆስ ማእረገ ድቁና እንደተቀበሉ በቀድሞው ትግራይ ክፍለ ሀገር ተንቤን አውራጃ ጮኸ በሚባል ገዳም በ1949 ዓመተ ምህረት በመግባት ለ10 ዓመት ገዳሙን በማገልገል በ1955 ዓመተ ምህረት ከገዳሙ አበምኔት ማዕረገ ምንኩስናን ተቀብለዋል ።

አቡነ ማትያስ 13 ዓመታት በሊቀ ረዳኢነትና ለአንድ ዓመት የገዳሙ ቄስ ጎበዝ በመሆን አገልግሎታቸውን አበርክተዋል ።

ወደ አዲስ አበባ በመምጣትም በመንበረ ፀባኦት ቅድስት ስላሴና በልዩ ልዩ መንፈሳዊ አገልግሎቶች ተመድበውም አገልግለዋል ።

በአሁኑ ወቅት በእየሩሳሌም የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋህዶ ቤተ ክርስቲያን ገዳማት ሊቀ ጳጳስ ናቸው ።

አቡነ ማትያስ ከሀገር ውስጥ የተለያዩ ቋንቋዎች በተጨማሪ ኢንግሊዘኛ ፣ ዕብራይስጥኛ ፣ ግሪክኛና አረብኛን ይናገራሉ ።

It is reported today that the Ethiopian Orthodox Church elected a new patriarch named Abune Mathias. Such election is illegal because the Church has a legitimate patriarch, the 4th Patriarch of Ethiopia, Abune Merkorios. According to the Church's long-standing rule, a new patriarch cannot be elected while the incumbent patriarch is still alive. The election of Abune Mathias was engineered by the ruling TPLF junta and it is as invalid as the election of late Aba Gebremedhin, the gun-totting Woyanne cadre who died right after his boss Meles Zenawi died in July. The real Ethiopian Orthodox Christians do not accept Abune Mathias as their patriarch. He is an agent of the TPLF junta, not a religious leader.

(AFP) -- The Ethiopian Orthodox Church has elected a new patriarch to replace the previous head who died in August, officials said Thursday.

"Abune Matthias... arch-bishop of Jerusalem (for the Ethiopian church) was elected with a majority," said Daniel Sefermikael, a church official.

He said Matthias got about 500 out of 806 votes cast by members of the church living in Ethiopia and elsewhere.

Matthias, 71, has lived abroad for over 30 years, initially fleeing Ethiopia following a military coup by Hailemariam Mengistu in 1974.

He has since travelled throughout Europe and North America, and will now settle in Ethiopia to serve as patriarch.

About 63 percent of Ethiopia's 83 million people are Christian, with the majority following the Orthodox faith, according to official figures.

Matthias will be sworn in at an official ceremony in Addis Ababa on Sunday, which tens of thousands of people are expected to attend.

The office of the patriarch has been vacant since August after Abune Paulos died of an undisclosed illness. He had served as head of the Orthodox Church in Ethiopia since 1992.

Ethiopian patriarchs are referred to as Abune, which means "our father" in Ethiopia's local language.

Ethiopia is home to some of Africa's oldest Orthodox churches, including a cluster of 11 ancient rock-hewn churches in Lalibela which are designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

It is interesting that Abune Mathias have run away from Mengistu's over excited rage, saving himself from sure death. Since then he has been travelling all over the USA and Europe but finally being rewarded the important position of being a Patriach again while Meistu is still a refugee farmer in Zimbabwe. And then again, Abune Mathias have got too old with graying beard and aging spirits. And now again if Elias is excommunicating him so early even before he climbs to the throne to enjoy life, comparing him to the mystiriouslly dead ex-patriarch of Ethiopia Abune Paulos I think the new patriarch's duty may not be as easy as dancing on flower beds.

By the way, the head of the Roman Catholic church have just walked from the sweet power for the first time in church history. So why shouldn't our Orthodox patriraches and politicians follow such democratic power transfer examples for heaven's sake? I wonder as to what people like bwendimu, conformist, Halafi Mengedi think!

Since you did not walk out from power for others and fought it until the last bullet, why should the current regime give the power to the same people who held power for many years and did not want give up until the country destroyed???

By Elias logic the Amhara Patriarch was illegal all those years appointing their own without consent of any other Ethiopian ethnics. You are the last person to be awarded another shumet many many years to come.

Another Tigrean patriarch!!

Where was Elias Elu when Abune Teflos was brutally murdered by the Dergue? Where was Elias Elu when the Dergue handpicked and appointed Abune TekleHaimanot? Where was Elias Elu when Abune Teklehaimanot was starved to death by the Dergue and when he was replaced by the gone-totting Merkarios ( A card holding Esepa officialand a renoun collaborator of Melaku the butcher of Gonder ), a fake aba who was illegally appointed Abune while the former abune was still alive?

Is it legal to take the picture of the new patriarch from the right side of his face while the official picture is from the left side?

Another Tigrean patriarch!!

One major thing Elias should have learned long ago was secularism.

dup]

One major thing Elias should have learned long ago was secularism.

Funny YE ADIGRAT SHERMUTAZZ.