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Ethiopian Coptic Research Evidence Team Final Report 2007 - 2009

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Ethiopian Coptic Research Evidence Team Final Report 2007 - 2009 Ethiopian Coptic Research Team: Archbishop Peter Paul Brennan Order of Corporate Reunion Ecumenical Catholic Diocese of America Married Priests Now! Catholic Prelature Archbishop Philippe Laurent De Coster Latin Old Roman Catholic Church of Flanders Archbishop Metropolitan Primate Mark Pultorak (Samuel) The American Orthodox-Catholic Church Archbishop Primate Francis Cajetan Spataro The Apostolic Episcopal Church The Vilatte Guild Extension Academy Ethiopian Orthodox Coptic Church of North and South America From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia • Ten things you didn't know about Wikipedia • Jump to: navigation , search In a climate of confusion, a number of branches of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church now exist in the West, reflecting the divisions in Africa . The last Emperor of Ethiopia , official head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Emperor Haile Selassie I , commissioned Abuna Mikael Gabre Kristos, to establish a diocese of the Ethiopian Church in the Americas. In the capital city of Addis Ababa , Abuna Mikael was ordained Episcopacy, by His Holiness Abuna Basilios , Abuna Markos Patriarch of Gojjam, and His Grace Petros, Metropolitan of Gondar, on July 12, 1959. Two days later, in the royal hall,he was invested in office by Emperor Halle Selassie I, and sent with Ukase to establish the church in the west, especially towards Africans of the Diaspora. He was bestowed and installed in the order of Nebur-id. Knowing that unfavorable political change which would affect the church was soon forthcoming, and that there might come a necessity to create a legally separate organization in the west, His Majesty gave Abuna Mikael the freedom to do so. In 1959, Abuna Mikael served as sponsor for a group of five priests and five deacons sent by Abuna Basilios for advanced study. However, some of the priests, including Fr. Laike Mandefro broke relations with Abuna Mikael. Fr. Laike Mandefro sought authority from Abuna Theophilos (after the death of Abuna Basilios) to begin to gather Ethiopian-Americans into a congregation in Brooklyn , which was later relocated to the Bronx . As the work of Fr. Laike Mandefro grew, he was raised to the rank of Archimandrite and placed in charge of the Ethiopian Church in the West, Archimandrite Mandefro was consecrated a bishop. Mandfredo was invested in 1979 as Abuna Yeshaq , Archbishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in the Western Hemisphere. Abuna Mikael recognized a similar need, and established the Ethiopian Orthodox Coptic Church of North and South America, reinserting the name “ Coptic ” into the name of the church, (1962) because he wanted strongly to identify with and maintain connection to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria as well as the royal and ecclesiastical line of Ethiopia. His Beatitude imparted to each of his sons the coveted Apostolic Succession of the Oriental Stream. Pope Cyril VI approved the initiation of the Patriarchate of Ethiopia, long hoped for by the Ethiopian church, by ordaining the first Ethiopian patriarch, His Holiness Abuna Basilios. This Established for the first time a separate Ethiopian Orthodox Church (1959), which until then had existed as a branch under the mother Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria of Egypt. The Ethiopian Orthodox Coptic Church of NSA, being an Autocephalous body, recognize H.H Pope Shenouda III , Abuna Merkorios, in exile, as the lawful Patriarch, and Abuna Apollo as Metropolitan Primate. Being an autocephalous body, this group is not under the control or directly governed by the See of Alexandria. The Holy See of the Ethiopian Orthodox Coptic Archdiocese of North and South Amercia is located in Manhattan, New York. 2 Resaerch and Justifying Emails 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Ethiopian Coptic Apostolic Succession of Saint Mark 1. Anba Yusak II (Egyptian Coptic Pope) (Enthronement 1946) (+ 14.11.1956), Archbishop of Girga, Patriarch of Alexandria, consecrated January 13, 1951, as Patriarchal Vicar (Itchege): Gebre Giyorgis (Anba Basilios), Archbishop of the Orthodox Coptic Church, Archdiocese of Ethiopia in 1951. He was the Patriarch- Catholicos of the Orthodox Coptic Church in 1959. (+ 1970). 2. Anba Kirillus/Kirollos VI (Azer Joseph Atta) (Coptic Pope) (See photograph ) (October 3, 1902 – March 9, 1971), Patriarch of Alexandria of the Orthodox Coptic Church in 1959. Anba Kirollos VI elected and enthroned as first Patriarch-Catholicos, June 28, 1959 of the Orthodox Ethiopian Coptic Church, Anba Basilios (Abuna Basilios) (+ October 12, 1970). 3. Abuna Basilios is the consecrator of La Von Miguel Haithman (Abba Gabre Mikael Kristos) (+ 1985). He was ordained priest in 1959 for the Orthodox Ethiopian Church. In the capital city of Addis Ababa, Abuna Mikael was ordained to the Episcopacy, by His Holiness Abuna Basilios, Abuna Markos Metropolitan ( Patriarch, quotation Wikipedia ) of Gojjam, and His Grace Petros, Metropolitan of Gondar, on July 12, 1959. Archbishop metropolitan Gabre Mikael Kristos, assisted by the bishops Gabre Kristos Jeremiah (David William Worley) and Marcos Kristos (Lennard Lares), consecrated February 16, 1982, Philip Lewis . He was ordained priest in the Orthodox Episcopal Church, April 4, 1972. He was elected Archbishop Metropolitan and Primate of the Orthodox Ethiopian Coptic Church of the Americas North and South, and of Europe in 1990. 4. Archbishop Philip Lewis consecrated under condition (sub conditione) October 13, 1990, Archbishop Nils Bertil Persson, Primate of the Apostolic Episcopal Universal Church (the Apostolic Episcopal Church Worldwide). 5. Archbishop Nils Bertil Alexander Persson, who consecrated on June 25, 1995 in London (UK), with co-consecrators, Bishops Hans Dieter Sauerlandt, and George Boyer: Archbishop Philippe Laurent De Coster , of the Latin Old Roman Catholic Church of Flanders 27 A Few Biographies of Popes and Prelates of the former Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the newly founded Ethiopian Orthodox Coptic Church (1962) Anba Kirillus/Kirollos VI (Azer Joseph Atta) (Coptic Pope) Pope Cyril VI was born in Damanhour, Egypt, into a Coptic Orthodox family. He resigned a civil service position to become a monk in July 1927. He passed his probationary period and, on February 24, 1928, took his monastic vows at the Paromeos (Roman) Monastery and assumed the name of Father Mina el- Baramosy (Mina of the Roman Monastery). In 1947, Father Mina built the Church of Saint Mina in Cairo and used to pray in the Church of the Holy Virgin (Babylon El- Darag) before assuming papacy. He became Pope of Alexandria on May 10, 1959 (2 Pashons, 1675 A.M.) On June 28, 1959, In accordance with the old Coptic church tradition Pope Cyril VI was the only Monk in the 20th century to be chosen to be the Coptic Pope without being a Bishop /Metropolitan before becoming the Pope as before him there was three Bishops / Metropolitans who became Popes; John XIX (1928-1942) , Macarius III (1942-1944) and Pope Yousab II and after him Pope Shenouda III was a Bishop before becoming a Pope. Pope Cyril VI elevated the Archbishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church to the title of Patriarch-Catholicos. Abuna Baslios, who was the first Ethiopian to be appointed Archbishop of Ethiopia by the previous Pope, Pope Joseph II, became Ethiopia's first Patriarch. Pope Cyril VI was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Star of Solomon by Emperor Haile Selassie in gratitude. In November 1959 he laid the foundation stone of the new Monastery of Saint Mina in the Mariout Desert. In January 1965, Pope Cyril VI presided over the Committee of Oriental Orthodox Churches in Addis Ababa, the first ecumenical and non- Chalcedonian synod of these churches held in modern times. In June 1968, Pope Cyril received the relics of Saint Mark the Evangelist and Apostle, which had been taken from Alexandria to Venice over eleven centuries earlier. The Saint's relics were interred beneath the newly built Cathedral of Saint Mark in Cairo, which was built by Pope Cyril and was inaugurated in a ceremony attended by President Nasser, Emperor Haile 28 Selassie, and delegates from most of the world's churches. The papacy of HH Pope Cyril VI was also marked by the unprecedented Apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Zeitoun, Egypt (starting on 2 April 1968). It is said that Pope Cyril VI was gifted with prescience, and that he knew who was coming to see him, their needs (before they revealed them), and God's answers to them. For instance, he knew the time of his departure. He is also said to have had the gift of bilocation. It is believed by many that countless miracles occurred and continue to occur to this day through the intercession of Pope Cyril VI. At his death bed, Pope Cyril VI said this to the clergy: "I am leaving to the Lord... With vigilance defend the Church... may the Lord shepherd you." He died on March 9, 1971, after a short illness. Attesting to the sanctity of his predecessor, HH Pope Shenouda III stated "There is no man in all the history of the church like Pope Cyril VI, who was able to pray this many liturgies. He prayed more than 12,000 liturgies. This matter never happened before in the history of any pope of the popes of Alexandria or the world, or even among the monks. He was wondrous in his prayers." The seat of the Pope during his papacy in Cairo remained in the Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Azbakeya in Cairo but he built the Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Abbasseya Cairo which is currently the Seat of the Coptic Orthodox Pope. Abuna Basilios Some reform was also effected within the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. In July 1948, Haile Selassie initiated steps, completed in 1956, by which he, rather than the patriarch of Alexandria, would appoint the abuna, or Patriarch, of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
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