Funeral Prayer for the Soul of Haile Selassie
Funeral Prayer for the Soul of Haile Selassie
On the evening of Friday, 12/9/1975, His Holiness the Pope held a funeral prayer for the soul of Emperor Haile Selassie, attended by about 7,000 people. Participating in the prayers were also Their Graces Anba Samuel, Anba Pimen, and Anba Paulos Gregorios, one of the metropolitans of the Indian Syrian Orthodox Church.
Address of His Holiness the Pope:
We were deeply grieved by the death of this great and noble man, Emperor Haile Selassie, a 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 from the Spirit of the Lord a special strength.
In ancient times, kings were anointed with the holy oil by the prophets, and the Holy Spirit would come upon them, granting them wisdom and strength to govern their countries…
† Emperor Haile Selassie had a close relationship with the Church. Whenever he came to Cairo, he participated 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 inscribed on its commemorative marble plaque.
† We also 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, who presided over the synod. In doing so, he honored Pope Kyrillos with great honor, just as he honored all the Popes of Alexandria who visited Ethiopia, receiving them as heads of state. He allocated his own palace for the Coptic Pope to reside in throughout his stay in Ethiopia. He did the same with me as well.
† He was the one who established the first theological school in Ethiopia in the 1940s and appointed the venerable Fr. Archpriest Mark Dawood 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 also a man of prayer and worship. He had a 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 gave great attention to the restoration of many monasteries and churches in Ethiopia.
† He was a religious man. Through his piety, the state during his days had a religious character which Emperor Haile Selassie protected, strengthened, and upheld.
† This Emperor served his country greatly. In my opinion, his history should not be written in these days, but rather later.
In order to judge the man correctly, we should 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 founded 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 for Ethiopia. He also benefited from the expertise of many Coptic men. He sent many academic missions abroad, especially for the university and the Church, and prepared educated scholars for his country.
† Haile Selassie also served his country greatly in the economic field.
He established many economic projects. I personally saw some of the factories he established in Ethiopia. I also saw his concern for the blind and the factories where blind people worked in Ethiopia with remarkable competence and extraordinary skill.
† He gave his country a great position in the international sphere, so that its capital, Addis Ababa, became the headquarters of the Organization of African Unity.
The man held a distinguished position among heads of state abroad, in Europe, America, Africa, and elsewhere. He also maintained a close relationship with Egypt.
† We do not forget that he severed Ethiopia’s relationship with Israel. His stance had a great impact on many African countries, which followed his example…
† We also do not forget that he was the strong man who liberated his country from Italian colonialism in the late 1930s.
He lived in exile abroad and restored Ethiopia’s freedom, sovereignty, and independence. We also do not forget that during the Italian occupation of Ethiopia, they appointed an illegitimate patriarch for it.
† When Haile Selassie returned, he deposed the intruding patriarch and restored the leadership of the Ethiopian Church to its Coptic metropolitan, the late 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 astonishing and magnificent celebration of the Feast of the Cross held every year in Ethiopia…
† He was a man of great courage who kept a lion roaming freely in his palace, playing with it and feeding it as though it were a domestic 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 accomplished by this man. As for famines, they are something that can happen in any country and a ruler should not be condemned because of them…
† The Church shows its faithfulness toward this king, the only Orthodox king in Africa, who said on the day of the inauguration of the cathedral: “As long as the Nile River and the Coptic Church exist, Ethiopia’s relationship with Egypt will remain good and ممتازة.”
† His relationship was very good with all the patriarchs in Egypt, beginning with Pope Yoannis XIX, who anointed him king… until now.
We ask that his soul may find repose in the Paradise of Bliss. We offer our condolences to his honorable 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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