Saint Mary's Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Denver Colorado
He was the second Patriarch of the church, reflecting the fact that the church became autocephalous in 1948, at which time it was accorded that status by the Coptic Church. He became the acting Patriarch in 1970 at the time of his predecessor's death.
He was imprisoned by the Marxist government of Ethiopia in 1974 which attempted to depose him while he was in prison, an act that the Coptic Church refused to recognize. He was treated cruelly while a prisoner and executed by strangulation on August 14, 1979. The Church in general was heavily persecuted during it's Communist era, which ran from 1974 until 1991, and the largest political party in the country today remains a reformed Communist party.
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