Abuna
Yesehaq died at the Beth Israel Hospital in New Jersey on Thursday
at the age of 72. We celebrate the exemplary life of Abuna Yesehaq,
a life of service and compassion, of one of the great Fathers of our
Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Let us all remember the life he lived and
be lifted from our daily grind in the glory of God�s infinite
grace for favoring us with the service of one of his most dedicated
and humblest servants, Abuna Yesehaq. Let us not be discouraged in
his passing, but be uplifted by his Christian life�s work. For he
had dutifully followed in the footsteps of the Christ in the service
of his fellow man, he continues to live in the heart of all of us.
According
to his interviewer Carol Amaruso,* Abuna Yesehaq �walks quietly,
almost glides; his flowing robes, tufted rain cloud beard and gold
cross clutched in his fist dramatically portray his eminence, but he
keeps a low profile, his life has been full of contention, but he
speaks softly. Archbishop Abuna Yesehaq is the head of the Ethiopian
Orthodox Church in the Western Hemisphere, emissary and shuttle
diplomatist of Emperor Haile Selassie to the new world, godfather
and spiritual advisor of Bob and Rita Marley and their children. His
accomplishments are impressive, yet mysteriously unheralded.�
Carol
Amaruso continued to state that �[t]he archbishop is a
comfortable, affable, generous man, and fatherly in the way priests
are painted in the movies. I have seen him in three of his guises:
as a prelate serving mass, as a mover and shaker amongst peoples of
the Diaspora in New York City, and at home with his church
�family�. In each aspect one senses a quiet awe and obeisance of
those around him, paternal concern, and familiarity on his part and
the underlying thrill of history drawing you to him.�
�Laike
Mandefro [Abuna Yesehaq] was born in Addis Ababa in 1933. He
attended first lay then liturgical schools in Ethiopia and was
ordained a deacon and priest there. The young prelate was among
several taken under Emperor's Haile Selassie's wing. As the
Archbishop relates it, �His Majesty was tutoring us as his own
children.� Laike Mandfredo was invested as Abuna Yesehaq (the Old
Testament's �Isaac�), Archbishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox
Church in the Western Hemisphere, in 1979.�
It
is to be recalled that Emperor Haile Selassie I made a momentous
trip to Jamaica in 1966, where for the first time he saw people
(Rastafarians) worshipping him as God. �The Emperor was reportedly
deeply dismayed. At a Kingston news conference he attempted to
dispel the belief in his divinity with his response to a pointed
question from Jamaican Minister of Education, Edward Allen. �I am
a man, and man cannot worship man� are perhaps the most oft-quoted
word the Emperor has ever said. Despite the famous disavowal, the
Archbishop relates that many continued to maintain, �He is our
God, and even if he doesn't say he's God.� In 1970, still
distressed, the Emperor announced to the priest: �There is a
problem in Jamaica.... Please, help these people. They are
misunderstanding; they do not understand our culture.... They need a
church to be established and you are chosen to go.� He arrived in
Jamaica shortly thereafter and began building the first Ethiopian
Orthodox Church in Kingston. Later, �Rasta churches� would dot
the island, in fact, the whole English-speaking Caribbean, and
various locations in North America, including New York and
Toronto.� Abuna Yesehaq
established more than 100 branches of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church
in the western hemisphere. Requiem Eternum, our good and kind
Father, Abuna Yesehaq. END
Tecola Hagos
January 1, 2006
*The
interview written by Carol Amaruso is retrieved from the Website
dedicated to Jamaican artistry and music. https://www.dubroom.org/articles/0002.htm
as retrieved on Dec 18, 2005. I find the interview most telling and
truthful and have quoted it freely.
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