Funeral Prayer for the Soul of Haile Selassie
Funeral Prayer for the Soul of Haile Selassie
His Holiness the Pope held a funeral prayer for the soul of Emperor Haile Selassie on the evening of Friday, 12/9/1975, attended by about 7,000 people. Participating in the prayers were also Their Graces Anba Samuel, Anba Pimen, and Anba Paulus Gregorios, one of the metropolitans of the Indian Syrian Orthodox Church.
The Address of His Holiness the Pope:
We were deeply saddened by the death of this great and distinguished man, Emperor Haile Selassie, son of the Coptic Church, and one of those who worked for it and who hold a great place in its heart.
† He was not an ordinary member of the Church, for he was anointed with the holy oil in the rite of kings, and thus received a special strength from the Spirit of the Lord.
In former times, kings were anointed with holy oil by the prophets, and the Holy Spirit would come upon them and grant them wisdom and strength to govern their countries…
† Emperor Haile Selassie had a great relationship with the Church. Whenever he came to Cairo, he would participate in the Church’s prayers and liturgies.
† He participated in the inauguration ceremony of this cathedral and donated a large sum toward its construction. His name is written on its commemorative marble plaque.
† We do not forget that he called for the first Holy Ecumenical Synod of the Oriental Orthodox Churches, which was held in his country.
He insisted on the attendance of Pope Kyrillos, Pope of Alexandria, and the presidency of the synod was entrusted to him. In this way, he greatly honored Pope Kyrillos, just as he honored all the Popes of Alexandria who visited Ethiopia, receiving them as heads of state. He designated his own palace for the Coptic Pope to reside in throughout his stay in Ethiopia, and he did the same with me as well.
† He was the one who founded the first theological school in Ethiopia in the 1940s and appointed the venerable Fr. Archpriest Marcus Dawoud as its head… Among the professors who taught there was His Grace Anba Samuel. The Emperor made this school one of the colleges of the university.
† Haile Selassie was a man of prayer and worship, and he had his own private church.
Whenever he traveled outside Ethiopia, he would pray in the church before going to the airport, and upon his return he would pray in the church before entering his palace. He was concerned with the restoration of many monasteries and churches in Ethiopia.
† He was a religious man. Through his religiosity, the state during his days had a religious character which Emperor Haile Selassie protected, strengthened, and established.
† This Emperor served his country greatly. In my opinion, his history should not be written in these days, but rather later on.
In order to judge the man correctly, we must know the great works he accomplished for his country, the condition of Ethiopia before him, and its condition at the end of his reign, for he received the country in a very weak state.
† He established hundreds of primary and secondary schools, if not thousands of schools. He established the first university in Ethiopia and donated one of his palaces as its headquarters.
He brought the late Professor Dr. Murad Kamel and appointed him Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education to develop an educational plan in Ethiopia. He made use of many experts from among the Copts. He sent many educational missions abroad, especially for the university and the Church, and produced educated scholars for his country.
† Haile Selassie also served his country greatly from the economic standpoint:
He established many economic projects. I personally saw some of the factories he established in Ethiopia. I saw his concern for the blind and the factories in which blind people worked in Ethiopia with remarkable competence and skill.
† He gave his country a great position in the international sphere, so that its capital, Addis Ababa, became the center of the Organization of African Unity.
The man had a great standing among heads of state abroad, in Europe, America, Africa, and elsewhere. He also had close relations with Egypt.
† We do not forget that he severed Ethiopia’s relations with Israel. This position had a great effect on many African countries, which followed his example…
† We do not forget that he was the strong man who liberated his country from Italian colonialism in the late 1930s.
He lived abroad in exile and restored Ethiopia’s freedom, sovereignty, and independence. We also do not forget that during the Italian occupation of Ethiopia, they appointed for it an illegitimate patriarch.
† When Haile Selassie returned, he removed the intruding patriarch and restored to the leadership of the Ethiopian Church its departed Coptic Metropolitan, Anba Kyrillos. He also granted the Church in Ethiopia many privileges and gave it lands and properties. Nor do we forget, in his religious concern, the marvelous and astonishing splendor with which the Feast of the Cross was celebrated every year in Ethiopia…
† He was a strong-hearted man who kept a lion roaming freely in his palace, playing with it and feeding it as though it were a domesticated animal. His official title was “The Lion of the Tribe of Judah.” Ethiopian religious traditions say that he descended from Solomon the Wise through Menelik, whom the Queen of Sheba bore to Solomon…
† We cannot enumerate the great works this man accomplished. As for famines, they are something that can occur in any country without its ruler being condemned for them…
† The Church shows its loyalty toward this king, the only Orthodox king in Africa, who said on the day of the cathedral’s inauguration: “As long as the Nile River and the Coptic Church exist, Ethiopia’s relationship with Egypt will remain good and excellent.”
† His relationship was very good with all the patriarchs in Egypt, beginning with Pope Yoannis XIX, who anointed him king… up to the present.
We ask for repose for his soul in the Paradise of Bliss. We offer our condolences to his noble family in Ethiopia and abroad. We offer our condolences to the entire Ethiopian people. We offer our condolences to the Ethiopian Church, and to all of you…
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