His Holiness Abuna Basilios (April 23, 1891 – October 13, 1970) was the first Ethiopian born Archbishop or Abuna, and later the first Patriarch, of the Ethiopian Church.[1]
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He was born Gebre Giyorgis Wolde Tsadik in Mada Mikael, a village in the district of Marra Biete in Shewa. Memhir Wolde Tsadik Solomon, his father, was a respected ecclesiastical official. In his home town Gebre Giyorgis received an elementary education at the local church then entered the Monastery of Debre Libanos where he received advanced religious education. He took the Holy Orders and became a monk at the age of 21. For the next 12 years he served in the same monastery. He went on to be appointed administrator of various churches in Ethiopia, most notably the Church of St. Mary at Menagesha. In early 1923 he was nominated Head of the Ethiopian Churches and Monasteries in Jerusalem.
Memhir Abba Gebre Giyorgis remained in Jerusalem for two years, where he gained the theological knowledge to become Ichege of the Ethiopian Church in 1933. (At the time this was the highest rank open to an Ethiopian within the church, for the office of Abuna, or archbishop, was always a cleric of the Coptic Church). During the Italian invasion, Ichege Gebre Giyorgis accompanied Emperor Haile Selassie and the Ethiopian troops to the Battle of Maychew; following the defeat in that battle the Ichege accompanied the Emperor back to Addis Ababa and participated in the decision of the Emperor to go into exile and present Ethiopia's case to the League of Nations.
During the Italian occupation, Ichege Gebre Giyorgis lived in exile in Jerusalem, where he remained in touch with the Arbegnoch, or resistance fighters inside Ethiopia. At the eve of Emperor Haile Selassie's return to Ethiopia, the Coptic ecclesiastical authorities suggested that the current Abuna, Qerellos accompany the Emperor on his entrance into Ethiopia; the offer was declined and the Ichege selected instead. As Margary Perham notes, "The photographs of that dramatic moment when the Emperor stepped across the frontier in the wild region of the Upper Dinder and unfurled his flag, show the Ichegé, a fine figure of a man in his flowing black cerremonial robes, standing beside him."[2]
Ichege Gebre Giyorgis was consecrated by the Coptic Pope Yussab II as Archbishop of Ethiopia with the name and style of Abuna Basilios July 1948 during a ceremony held at the Patriarchate of Saint Mark in Egypt. In 1950, on the death in Cairo of Abuna Qerellos, he became the head of the Church of Ethiopia, with the authority to nominate bishops and archbishops. During a solemn ceremony in 1959 at which His Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie was present, he was consecrated the first Patriarch Catholicos of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church by the Coptic Pope Kirillos VI at St. Mark's Cathedral in Cairo.
Abune Basilios was regarded as a conservative and traditionalist figure within the church, in contrast to his eventual successor Abuna Tewofilos who was then Archbishop of Harar and regarded as a modernist and a reformer. He regarded all innovation with deep suspicion. Abune Basilios was a deeply pious man, greatly focused on prayer and fasting, and as such left more and more of his duties to Abuna Tewophilos who acted as his deputy, and later as acting Patriarch when Abune Basilios' health began to deteriorate after 1963.
Abuna Basilios was one of the few people who although very respectful of the Emperor, was not so in awe of him as to keep his true views or feelings from the Emperor. Known to always be forthright and open with the monarch, he never hesitated from telling the Emperor the truth or his views even if he knew they might not please the Emperor. When the Patriarch believed that actions of the government or the Emperor himself were contrary to what he thought to be right, he would threaten to seclude himself at the monastery of Debre Libanos, a threat that the Emperor took seriously and which often changed the Emperor's mind. The Patriarch served on the Crown Council, and was considered among the most influential of the Emperor's advisors.
In 1960, the Imperial Bodyguard launched a coup attempt against the Emperor while he was on a state visit to Brazil. The Imperial Bodyguard announced that the Emperor and his government were deposed, that Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen would serve as a constitutional monarch, and that reforms would be implemented. Abuna Basilios refused to recognize this act and proclaimed that the unit had no authority to depose the Emperor, who had been anointed by the Church, and pronounced an anathema against those who took part or supported the coup. His statement was printed and scattered over Addis Ababa by Army helicopters, who had remained loyal. The Army and Air Force used this proclamation to rally support for the Emperor and the coup was crushed.
In order to make sure that no Army units deserted to the other side, the Patriarch had toured the barracks of the 4th Division in Addis Ababa and promised that the soldiers, who had long complained of poor pay, would receive a significant raise when the Emperor returned. Upon his return, Emperor Haile Selassie was told of the Patriarch's promise, but stated such a raise could not be honored at the time because there simply wasn't enough money in government coffers to do so. Angry at this, Abuna Basilios made good on previous threats and secluded himself at Debre Libanos Monastery in protest. The Emperor went personally to Debre Libanos and persuaded the Patriarch to return to Addis Ababa, and granted a smaller raise to the soldiers.
Abuna Basilios began to spend an increasing amount of time at the Debre Libanos monastery after his health began to fail in the early 1960s. He left more and more of his duties to Abuna Tewofilos, and spent more time resting and praying at the monastery, rarely making an appearance at the Patriarchate in Addis Ababa or at the Imperial Court. He was too frail to participate in the Council of the Oriental Orthodox Churches held in Addis Ababa in 1968, and deputized Abuna Tewofilos to represent him in most of its sessions.
Following a state funeral at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Addis Ababa, attended by the Emperor and the entire Imperial family, Abuna Basilios was buried at Debre Libanos. He was succeeded by Abuna Tewofilos as Patriarch of Ethiopia.