Word: abuna
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Emperor Haile Selassie rocked the Coptic Christian Church to its 1800-year-old foundations. To Cairo and the Coptic pope, Patriarch Markarius III, the gentle Negus sent a rough message: the next Abuna, or archbishop, of Ethiopia must be an Ethiopian, not an Egyptian...
Ever since St. Athanasius consecrated Frumentius as the first Bishop of Ethiopia (340 A.D.), Egyptians have held top place in Ethiopia's hierarchy. The present Abuna is bearded, scholarly Cyril, who came from Cairo's St. Anthony Monastery. He crowned Haile Selassie in 1928, has spiritual rule over 4,000,000 Ethiopian Copts. At royal worship in Addis Ababa's octagonal Cathedral of St. George, the Emperor kisses the Egyptian's silk-draped silver cross. But the Abuna continually vexes the King of Kings and the proud Ethiopian court: he offends the country's growing...