Abune Phillipos

Abune Phillipos (Endadeko) (29 September 1901 – 17 September 2002) was the first Patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church.

Life

He was born in Endadeko, Ighelehames, Akeleguzay, Eritrea and began his religious training at the Debre Bizen Monastery at the age of eleven, and took monastic and priestly vows there. He was raised to the rank of Bishop and then Archbishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church at Addis Ababa, but then left that church to join the Eritrean Synod when the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church broke away from the Ethiopian church upon the independence of Eritrea in 1993. He was then elevated to the rank of Patriarch of Eritrea in April 1999, when he reached the ripe old age of 98 years at the hands of Coptic Pope Shenouda III, and was enthroned in Asmara. He joined Ethiopian Patriarch Abuna Paulos in an unsuccessful effort to mediate the war between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Phillipos died after a long illness on September 17, 2002 at Asmara during his 101st year of age. He was buried at the Debre Bizen Monastery. He was succeeded by Yacob.