List of abunas of Ethiopia

Template:Short description Template:Expand list Template:Infobox diocese Template:Oriental Orthodox sidebar This is a list of the abunas of Ethiopia, the spiritual heads of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. The Abuna of Ethiopia is known officially as His Holiness Patriarch and Catholicos of Ethiopia, Archbishop of Axum and Ichege of the See of St. Tekle Haymanot. The current Abuna, Mathias, acceded to this position on 28 February 2013.<ref name="Ethioabay">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is part of the Oriental Orthodox communion, and it was granted autocephaly by Cyril VI, Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church, in 1959.

Bishops of Axum

Portrait	Abuna Template:Small	Reign	Notes
	Abune Selama I Kesatay Birhan (St. Frumentius) Template:Small	Template:Circa 350–383	Brought Christianity to the Kingdom of Aksum.<ref name="isbn0-313-32273-2">Template:Cite book</ref>
	Minas or Elyas<ref>Minas according to the Gadla Afse, while Elyas according to the source of Carlo Conti Rossini in Acta Yared et Pantalewon. Sergew Hable Selassie, Ancient and Medieval Ethiopian History to 1270. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: United Printers, p. 116</ref>
	Abreham	Late 4th century – early 5th century
	Petros
	Abba Aftse	Late 5th century – early 6th century
	Qozmos	Template:Floruit early 6th century
	Euprepius	Template:Floruit early 6th century
Seat vacant Template:Circa 537–562<ref>Due to the exiling of Patriarch Theodosius I and his replacement with the Chalcedonian Patriarch Paul, according to an Arabic source. Sergew, Ancient and Medieval Ethiopian History, p. 142.</ref>

Metropolitan archbishops of Axum and of All Ethiopia

Portrait	Abuna Template:Small	Reign	Notes
	Qerellos	620s – mid 7th century
	unknown
	Yohannes	Template:Circa 820–840
	Yaqob I	Template:Floruit mid 9th century
	Salama Za-'Azeb	Template:Floruit 9th century
	Bartalomewos	Template:Floruit 10th century
	Peter	920s	Opposed by Minas and Fiqtor.
Seat vacant Template:Circa 940–970s
	Daniel	Template:Floruit late 10th century
	Fiqtor	Template:Floruit 11th century
	'Abdun		Claimant.
	Sawiros	1077–1092
	Giyorgis I	Template:Floruit 1090s
	Mikael I	Template:Floruit early–mid 12th century
	Yaqob II
	Gabra Krestos
	Atnatewos	Template:Floruit late 12th century
	Mikael II	1206–1209	Opposed by Hirun.
	Yeshaq	Template:Circa 1209–1225	An inference from the Kebra Nagast colophon.
	Giyorgis II	Template:Circa 1225
	St. Tekle Haymanot	Template:Circa 13th century	According to tradition.
	Yohannes (XIII?)	Template:Floruit 14th century
	Yaqob (III?)	Template:Circa 1337–1344
Seat vacant 1344–1348
	Salama II	1348–1388
Seat vacant 1388–1398/9
	Bartalomewos	1398/9–1436
	Mikael and Gabriel	1438–1458
Seat vacant 1458–1481
	Yeshaq	1481–Template:Circa 1520
	Marqos (VI?)	1481–Template:Circa 1530
	Template:Ill	Template:Circa 1536–Template:Circa 1545	Self-proclaimed Ethiopian Orthodox Abuna, and Catholic Patriarch of Ethiopia and Alexandria.
	Endyras	Template:Circa 1545–?
	Andrés de Oviedo Template:Small	1557–1577	Catholic bishop.
	Marqos (VII?)	Template:Circa 1565
	Krestodolos I	Template:Circa 1590
	Petros (VI?)	1599?–1607	Killed in battle.
	Simon Template:Small	1608–1617
	Afonso Mendes Template:Small	1622–1632	Catholic Patriarch, supported by Susenyos I and deposed by Fasilides.
Seat vacant 1632–1633
	Rezek	Template:Circa 1634
	Marqos (VIII?)	Template:Circa 1635–1672	Deposed with Krestodolos.
	Krestodolos II	Template:Circa 1640–1672	Deposed with Marqos.
	Sinoda	1672–1687
Seat vacant 1687–1689
	Marqos (IX ?)	1689–late 17th century
	Abba Mikael	1640–1699
	Marqos X	1694–1716
Seat vacant 1716–1718
	Krestodolos III	Template:Circa 1718–1745
Seat vacant 1745–Template:Circa 1747
	Yohannes XIV	Template:Circa 1747–1770
	Yosab III	1770–1803
Seat vacant 1803–Template:Circa 1808
	Makarios	Template:Floruit Template:Circa 1808
Seat vacant Template:Circa 1808–1816
	Qerellos III	1816–1829
Seat vacant 1829–1841
	Salama III Template:Small	1841–1867
Seat vacant 1867–1868
	Atnatewos II Template:Small	1868–1876	Died of wounds received at the Battle of Gura in the Egyptian–Ethiopian War.
	Petros VII Template:Small	1876–1889
	Mattheos X Template:Small	1889–1926
	Qerellos IV Template:Small	1926–1936	First tenure; deposed following the Second Italo-Ethiopian War.
	Abraham	1937–1939	Installed during the Italian occupation.
	Yohannes XV	1939–1945
	Qerellos IV Template:Small	1945–1950	Second tenure; restored.
	Basilios Template:Small	1951–1959	Elevated to Patriarch and Catholicos of All Ethiopia.

On 13 July 1948, the Coptic Orthodox and Ethiopian churches reached an agreement that led to the elevation of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church to the rank of an Autonomous Church; allowing the Archbishop of All Ethiopia to consecrate on his own bishops and metropolitans for the Ethiopian Church and to form a local Holy Synod. The Archbishop, however, is consecrated by the Pope of Alexandria along with the members of the Holy Synod of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.

Patriarchs and catholicoi of All Ethiopia

No.	Portrait	Abuna Template:Small	Reign	Notes
1		Basilios Template:Small	1959–1970	Reigned during the 1960 Ethiopian coup attempt and the 1965 Conference of Addis Ababa. Template:Small
2		Theophilos Template:Small	1971–1976	Confirmed by the Emperor after his election.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> Deposed and arrested by the Derg;<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> executed by strangling in 1979.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Template:Small
3		Takla Haymanot Template:Small	1976–1988	Met Pope John Paul II in 1981, in the first such meeting in modern times.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> Template:Small
4		Merkorios Template:Small	1988–2022	Deposed by the EPRDF, which claimed that he willingly abdicated. Headed the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Exile from 1991 to 2018.<ref name="BBC">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> Entered into dual patriarch arrangement alongside Abune Mathias from 2018 to 2022. Template:Small
5		Paulos Template:Small	1992–2012	Reign disputed by followers of Abune Merkorios. Template:Small
6		Mathias Template:Small <ref name="Sheba">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	2013–present	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="DickinsonSchismMended">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="BBC" /> Entered into dual patriarch arrangement alongside Abune Merkorios from 2018 to 2022. Template:Small

In 1959, the Coptic Orthodox Church granted autocephaly to the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, and elevated the Archbishop to the Patriarchal dignity and was enthroned with the title of: Patriarch and Re'ese Liqane Papasat Echege (Catholicos) of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. The title of Ichege (Supreme Abbot) of the See of St. Tekle Haymanot of Debre Libanos was subsumed into the Patriarchate. The title of Ichege was revived and the title of Archbishop of Axum was added to the Patriarchal titles in 2005, as Axum was the seat of Ethiopia's first Bishop, St. Frumentius, and thus the oldest see in the church.

Timeline

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Define $now = {{#time:Y}}

DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:1959 till:{{#expr:{{#time:Y}}+1}} TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:1960 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:5 start:1960

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 from: 1959 till: 1970 color:PT text:"Basilios (1959–1970)"
 from: 1971 till: 1976 color:PT text:"Theophilos (1971–1976)"
 from: 1976 till: 1988 color:PT text:"Takla Haymanot (1976–1988)"
 from: 1988 till: 2022 color:PT text:"Merkorios (1988–2022)"
 from: 1992 till: 2012 color:PT text:"Paulos (1992–2012)"
 from: 2013 till: $now color:PT text:"Mathias (2013–present)"

 barset:skip

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See also

• Coptic Christianity
• Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church
  • List of abunas of Eritrea
• Ethiopian ecclesiastical titles
• Tigrayan Orthodox Tewahedo Church
• Latin Patriarchate of Ethiopia

Sources

• Modern Primates of Ethiopia (1694–present)