Abune Paulos, known by his birth name Gebre Medhin Welde Yohanes, was the fifth Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. After starting as a deacon trainee at Aba Garima Monastery in his young ages, he continued his religious study at the Holy Trinity Theology College in Addis Ababa and went to United States to start PhD program at Princeton Theology school.
He was called back from US by the then patriarch of the church and was given a bishop position in the church. Because the Ethiopian government didn't approve the ordain of Abune Paulos and four other Church fathers by the Patriarch at the time, he was arrested with all the other Church fathers forcing him to suspend his PhD. After his release he finished his study and came back to Ethiopia to be chosen as the fifth Patriarch of Ethiopia when the former patriarch Abune Merkorios fled the country due to government pressure. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church tradition precludes the assigning of a new patriarch unless the former one passed away and many point to this dogma to claim that he is not a legitimate patriarch of the Church.
Despite these allegations, Abune Paulos started serving as the head of the Church with out any disapproval from the believers in the first few years. But then came a series of events which pictured him as a pro-regime leader who cares deeply about the survival of the regime. He had three major tests to prove that he has no involvement in politics but he failed. Let me describe the three events that resulted in people feeling disgruntled about his leadership.
His first test came during the 1999 GC (1992 EC) Addis Ababa University student protest. Due to the continuous heckling by the campus police and secretive activity of government security agents, the university students started demanding the removal of the police from their campus and be replaced by transparent professional security. Discussions with the government failed and resulted in a city wide protest that pitted the students of the capital city against the government security forces. After the government deployed huge forces and started to gain the upper hand many students fled to the near by Kidiste Mariam Church for protection knowing that the church compound is off limit for security agents. But unexpectedly, by the orders of the Patriarch, whose resident is next to the church, the church closed its door to the young students who were arrested by government agents. Adding insult to the injury, the Patriarch claimed that the church will not give shelter to criminals and allowed police to enter the compound and forcefully remove students who already made their way into the Church. Forget the Church way of viewing the situation but labeling the youth who are even 'innocent until proven guilty' in human law as criminals pointed to his strong affiliation to the regime.
Then came the argument with Lideta Church in Addis Ababa which resulted in many labeling him as 'money greedy'. The Orthodox church in general and specific churches were part of the relief and development activities of the country by assisting HIV patients, building schools and feeding the poor under funds collected from believers and other sources. The leaders of the Lideta church planned to construct a 3 story building near the church to serve as a free kindergarden and clinic for the people in the area. So they started saving money in a separate account for the construction and announced a bid for construction of the building. The patriarch and his office were furious with the move and asked the church to suspend the activity, give the money to his office, submit project proposal and wait for a decision if the project is allowed or not. The community forced the church to reject the decision and they continued with the construction. The patriarch and his co replaced the leaders of Lideta church but the community refused to allow the new leaders in so the patriarch took the case to the court. The Lideta church and the community refused to argue in the court stating the fact that the court has no jurisdiction in religious affairs. But the court ruled that police force the previous leader and support as the new leader moves into the church. The community stand against the treat of police force which flood in masses to the area. Violence erupted after police battled on the streets with the people of the area with as many as 700 people arrested and more than 30 people injured including 2 police officers. The new leader eventually moved into the church and the clinic and kindergarden project was scrapped and the building became a shopping mall bringing more money to the cash hungry patriarch.
After things became violent during the 2005 GC Ethiopian election, everyone was expecting the patriarch to intervene and call for calm and peace. But the patriarch was no where to be seen even when a collection of elder Ethiopians negotiated with the government and the opposition to bring some calm to a tense situation. many saw this silence as a sign that he doesnt want to see the fall of the regime and whenever he had problems inside the church he was always calling for the government for help. In an indication of this close fondness Abune Paulos passed away five days before the prime minister born in the same city as him was announced dead.
