Selam lekulekemu
One of the darkest hours of Ethiopian history has been the reign of the communist regime, the Orthodox church and everything she stood for was seen as the enemy and a process of slowly destroying her was begun. the patriarch along with many clergy was executed, many more imprisoned, the reign of terror seemed unstopable thus some abandoned their faith and become servants of the regime. the leaders of the regime thought if they put to the patriaricate someone as manageable as some they have already recruited then they can slowly transform the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church into a museum of history and nothing more in few years. thus they asked for the nomination of a such a patriarch immediately and were satisfied when they saw that the top candidate was a hermit from the contry side who looked weak . little did they know the providence of God in all of this. far from making the church into a museum the presence of this patriarch would serve as sign of the presence of Christ within the church. a living wittiness of the Faith. a message of faith, hope , love, humility ,Patience , perseverance and yes even in those sad times a messanger of joy. here is his story very briefly told, in these web sites all of them are telling the same story , may be with some additional information. I trust we all will learn something from such a Spirit -bearing life.
http://www.dacb.org/stories/ethiopia/tekle_haimanot.htmlhttp://orthodoxwiki.org/Tekle_Haimanot_IIhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abuna_Takla_HaymanotMay His prayers be with us all amen.
