When I Got to Know Two Extraordinarily Great Ethiopians: The Church Connection
By Fikre Mariam Workneh
When I set foot in the unknown, to a life in the Church, at first
It was like a child from parents of a great wealth, expected much to inherit.
My life in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church was of many promises, a high potential
As a deacon from Gojjam, and as an ordained priest at the monastery of Debre Libanos, who
could sing hymns so beautiful
Even Emperor Haile Selassie, who attended my services in Harer and Trinidad and
Tobago, had admired my skill.
The Church’s primary core mission was to offer a sacrament and hear a private confession
To give people strength in their earthly life, as well as to save the souls of the faithful.
The Church’s leaders are now building a vibrant congregation
Even engaging more young women, not solely relying on the usual men.
I am truly impressed by the Church’s decision to move forward
To bring women into the fold after they had been long ignored and left behind.
Church services are also no longer an exclusive domain of the clergy.
They have become wide open and accessible to the many.
I must admit though, there was one issue that has made me sad and has let me down
By some Ethiopian Orthodox Fathers’ un-Godly plot and conspiracy-driven mind
The Great Patriarch who had done so much for Ethiopia, my birthland
His Holiness Abune Tewophlos was humiliated and killed.
His Holiness was a Great Reformer of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church
He opened new theological schools and modernized existing ones, and sent clergymen
abroad to make their minds broader and shine like a torch
His legacy will live on for generations, we should all thank him very much.
I was shaken to the core by the manner His Holiness was killed, and by the fact that his body is
left to this day at an unrecognizable graveyard
Unlike his two successors who are buried at the Holy Trinity Church, which he had helped build
with his own hand.
His Holiness was my Mentor, my spiritual Father
When he asked me to serve in Trinidad and Tobago, it was truly an honor
He will remain in my mind, heart, and soul, shining like an eternal flame forever.
The same is true with my sadness about the Emperor
The Great Ethiopian Monarch who was brutally killed, and it was certainly a horror.
His Majesty fostered the modernization of Ethiopia, building schools, hospitals, and roads
He was only human who could do so much, if we are talking about fairness.
As for me, who was at the center of the Church once upon a time
Fifty years have passed since I have become a celibate priest no more.
I met a former nun in the United States and formed a family
My wife and I have got three daughters who are very lovely.
I just hope His Holiness, Abune Tewophlos, was understanding when he heard the news
about my decision
For he was a forgiving Father and a fair-minded Person!