List of Abunas of Ethiopia

Bishops of Axum

• Abune Selama I Kesatay Birhan (St. Frumentios) (c. 305-mid 300s)
• Minas or Elyas
• Abreham of Axum (late 300s-early 400s )
• Petros of Axum
• Abba Afse (late 400s-early 500s)
• Qozmos of Axum (fl. early 500s)
• Euprepius of Axum (fl. early 500s )
• vacant c.537-562

Metropolitan Archbishops of Axum and of All Ethiopia

• Qerellos of Ethiopia (620s-mid 600s)
• unknown
• Yohannes of Ethiopia (c. 820-840)
• Yaqob I of Ethiopia (fl. mid 800s)
• Salama Za-'Azeb (fl. 800s)
• Bartalomewos of Ethiopia (fl. 900s)
• Petros of Ethiopia (920s), opposed by Minas and Fiqtor
• vacant c. 940-970s
• Daniel (fl. late 900s)
• Fiqtor of Ethiopia (fl. 1000s)
• 'Abdun of Ethiopia, claimant
• Sawiros (1077-1092)
• Giyorgis I of Ethiopia (fl. 1090s)
• Mikael I of Ethiopia (fl. early-mid 1100s)
• Yaqob II of Ethiopia
• Gabra Krestos
• Atnatewos (fl. late 1100s)
• Mikael II of Fuwa (1206-1209), opposed by Hirun
• Yeshaq of Ethiopia (c. 1209-1225)
• Giyorgis II of Ethiopia(c.1225)
• Saint Tekle Haymanot (c. 1200s), according to tradition
• Yohannes (XIII?) (fl. 1300s)
• Yaqob (III ?) (c.1337-1344)
• vacant (1344-1348)
• Salama II (1348-1388)
• Bartalomewos of Ethiopia (1398/9-1436)
• Mikael of Ethiopia and Gabriel of Ethiopia (1438-1458)
• vacant (1458-1481)
• Yeshaq of Ethiopia (1481-c.1520)
• Marqos (VII ?) (1481-c.1530)
• John Bermudez (c.1536-c.1545), self-proclaimed Ethiopian Orthodox Abuna, and Catholic Patriarch of Ethiopia and Alexandria
• Endyras of Ethiopia (c.1545-?)
• Andre de Oviedo (1557-1577), Catholic bishop
• Petros (VI ?) (?-1606), killed in battle
• Simon of Ethiopia (1607-1622), died 1624
• Alfonzo Mendez (1622-1632), Catholic Patriarch, deposed by Fasilides
• vacant (1632-1633)
• Rezek of Ethiopia (c.1634)
• Marqos (VIII ?) (c.1635)
• Krestodolos II of Ethiopia (c.1640-1672), deposed
• Sinoda of Ethiopia (1672-1687)
• vacant (1687-1689)
• Marqos (IX ?) (1689-late 1600s)
• Abba Mikael (1640-1699)
• Marqos X of Ethiopia (1694-1716)
• vacant (1716-1718)
• Krestodolos III of Ethiopia (c. 1718-1745)
• vacant (1745-c. 1747)
• Yohannes XIV (c. 1747-1770)
• Yosab III (1770-1803)
• vacant (1803-c. 1808)
• Makarios (fl. c. 1808)
• vacant (c. 1808-1816)
• Kyrillos (Qerellos) III (1816-1829)
• vacant (1829-1841)
• Salama III (1841-1867)
• vacant (1867-1868)
• Atnatewos II (1868-1876)
• Petros VII (1876-1889), died 1918
• Mattheos X (1889-1926)
• Qerellos IV (1926-1936), deposed
• Abraham (1936-1939)
• Yohannes XV (1939-1945)
• Qerellos IV (1945-1950), restored
• Basilios (1951-1959)

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 Axum and of All Ethiopia to consecrate on his own bishops and metropolitans for the Ethipian 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. Then in 1959, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria granted the Autocephelacy to the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, and elevated the Archbishop to the Patriarchal dignity and was enthroned with the title of: Archbishop of Axum, Ishage (Supreme Abbot) and Patriarch and Re'ese Liqane Papasat Echege (Catholicos) of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.

Archbishops of Axum and Patriarch Catholicoi of All Ethiopia, since 1959

• His Holiness Abuna Basilios (1959-1970)
• His Holiness Abuna Theophilos (1971-1976), died 1979
• His Holiness Abuna Tekle Haymanot (1976-1988)
• His Holiness Abuna Merkorios (1988-1991), Abuna until until the EPRDF's triumph over the Derg in Addis Ababa; abdicated, he lives in the United States with his followers claiming that he was forced to leave.
• His Holiness Abuna Paulos (1991-present).

See also

• Abuna
• Coptic Christianity
• Oriental Orthodoxy
• Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church

References