Paulos (Patriarch)
Abune Paulos ( Amharic አቡነ ጳውሎስ ; born November 3, 1935 in Adwa , Tigray (Northern Ethiopia ) as Gebre Igziabiher Wolde Yohannes ; † August 16, 2012 in Addis Abeba , Ethiopia) was Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox from 1992 until his death Tewahedo Church . His full title is His Holiness Abune Paulos, Fifth Patriarch and Catholicos of Ethiopia, Echege of the See of St. Takla Haymanot and Archbishop of Axum .
Life
His family was close to the Abune Gerima Monastery , which is in the neighborhood of Adowa. As a boy he entered the monastery as a deacon student to be accepted into the order and ordained a priest in 1957 . He continued his education in the Theological School of the Holy Trinity in Addis Ababa under the direction of Patriarch Abune Tewophilos. For further studies he was sent to the St. Vladimir Orthodox Seminary in the USA, after which he pursued the graduate program at the Theological Seminary in Princeton with the aim of obtaining a doctorate.
Yohannes' studies were interrupted when the Patriarch asked him to come back after the Ethiopian Revolution. After the fall of Emperor Haile Selassie , he was appointed bishop with four other priests in 1973, taking the episcopal name Abune. Abune Paulos was entrusted with the task of ecumenism. Since the patriarch appointed the new bishops without the permission of the new Derg regime, all five bishops were arrested in 1976 and the patriarch was executed. The young bishops were held until 1983. After his release, Abune continued his studies at Princeton, where he was awarded a Dr. theol. received his doctorate, and from then on lived in exile. In 1986 he was named Archbishop of Patriarch Abune Takla Haymanot .
Appointment as patriarch
In July 1992 Paulos was elected Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. According to the canon of the Church, the appointment was illegal because his predecessor, Abune Merqorios, installed under the supervision of the military junta, was still alive. The disempowerment of the old patriarch, who then fled to the USA, has split the church. The patriarch was often criticized for his loyalty to the EPRDF regime, which brought him to his position. For this reason, his travels abroad were mostly accompanied by protests by believers in the diaspora.
Further commitment
Paulos was elected to the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches at the Nairobi General Assembly in 1975 , but was unable to occupy the seat for a long time because of his imprisonment. He later became a member of the Faith and Order Commission . In 2006 he was elected one of the seven presidents of the WCC.
Paulos was the patron of the state HIV / AIDS program and was also involved as a member of the World Economic Forum and the world summit of religious and spiritual figures at the United Nations for the AIDS problem and the situation of young people and women. For his services to the protection and welfare of refugees, he was awarded the Nansen Refugee Prize in 2000 by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees .
Ark of the Covenant
On June 19, 2009, Paulos claimed in an interview that the ark of the Jews is in a safe place in Axum, Ethiopia. The ark is not subject to any aging process and corresponds exactly to the descriptions from the Bible .
Main work
literature
- Walter Fleischmann-Bisten: An African Reconciler: In memory of Patriarch Abune Paulos . In: MD. Material service of the denominational institute Bensheim 63, 2012, p. 100.
Web links
- World Council of Churches
- "We must serve our calling". Interview with the Patriarch Abune Paulos of Ethiopia
Individual evidence
- ↑ Abune Paulos dies at the age of 76. (No longer available online.) August 16, 2012, archived from the original on August 20, 2012 ; accessed on August 16, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Vatican Magazine : Yes, she is with us ; Year 3, Issue 8–9; 2009
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Paulos |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Gebre Igziabiher Wolde Yohannes (birth name); Abune Paulos |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Ethiopian Patriarch of the Tewahedo Orthodox Church |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 3, 1935 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Adowa , Ethiopia |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 16, 2012 |
| Place of death | Addis Ababa , Ethiopia |