FINAL JOURNEY: Scores of mourners turned up at the National Arena on Thursday to say farewell to the late Archbishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Abuna Yesehaq. The thanksgiving service was characterised by lengthy ritual of liturgical drumming and chanting in the ancient language of Geez and Amharic, in keeping with the tradition of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC). (Photos: Garfield Robinson)

ABUNA Yesehaq, the late Archbishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC) in the Western Hemisphere and South Africa, got his final wish and more.

His remains were buried in Jamaica on Thursday - in keeping with his last request - and scores of mourners, including politicians and members of the Rastafarian community, turned out to pay their respects.

Among those who paid glowing tributes to the late archbishop's life and work during the service of thanksgiving at the National Arena, Kingston, were Dr Peter Phillips, the national security minister, Bruce Golding, the opposition leader, Portia Simpson Miller, the local government minister, and Rev Ashley Smith from the United Theological College of the West Indies.

The Attorney General, AJ Nicholson, represented the prime minister.

Kebedesh Hagos, sister of the late Archbishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in the Western Hemisphere and South Africa, Abuna Yesehaq, is overcome with grief at the thanksgiving service held in his honour on Thursday at the National Arena.

Phillips, a former Rastafarian whom Abuna Yesehaq baptised, told the gathering that he had passed on a request to Kingston Mayor Desmond McKenzie for a road in the Maxfield Park area to be renamed in the late archbishop's honour.

"I've received a request from the church that a road in Maxfield Park be renamed Bete Salem...I've communicated verbally with the Mayor, and I know it will have his support and I have every confidence that when it is named Bete Salem it will be done in memory of Abuna Yesehaq," said Phillips.

Phillips, who is also the member of parliament for East Central St Andrew in which the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is located, went on to reveal to the congregation of mainly members of the EOC and the Rastafarian community, that he, like the late archbishop, has a baptismal name. "I myself, received the baptismal name of Mathemus," Phillips remarked.

The 73-year-old archbishop, who was born on July 27, 1933 in the province of Adwa, Ethiopia, died on December 29, 2005. He was sent to Jamaica by His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I to establish the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

"The most important reason he is being buried in Jamaica, is because he came here on a mission specifically directed by His Majesty, Emperor Haile Selassie I, to establish the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. This was because of the love the Jamaican people have for Ethiopia and His Majesty," a spokesperson of the church explained in a previous interview with the Observer.

On Thursday, Phillips echoed similar sentiments.

"It is a tribute to his love for us...his love for the people of Jamaica and the people of the western hemisphere, but it is a special tribute that he does for us when he wished that out of all the countries in the western hemisphere which he served, he wished for his remains to be here in Jamaica," Phillips explained.

The priest, who in 1970 established the EOC here with branches islandwide, also established chapters in England, Canada, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, the US Virgin Islands, Guyana, St Kitts and Bermuda.

"Jamaica was not his birthplace, but he made it his workplace. He was a righteous man, emissary of His Imperial Majesty who sent him to us 36 years ago to establish and provide leadership to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Jamaica," Golding told the gathering.

"He faced many difficulties, he had to contend with religious prejudice and bigotry from other faiths which believed that they had exclusive claim to authenticity and prophetic authority. He confronted these difficulties with humility but with forceful dignity and steadfast faith," the opposition leader added.

And in her tribute, Simpson Miller remembered Abuna as one with a special commitment to developing the potential of the younger generation.

Meanwhile, Rev Smith said that the people of this region, especially the sons and daughters of Africa, have been blessed to be the beneficiaries of the Abuna's ministry.

The tributes came after the lengthy ritual of liturgical drumming and chanting in the ancient language of Geez and Amharic, and the burning of incense in keeping with the tradition of the EOC.

There was no sermon. However, the eulogy was given by Father Haile Malekot Dobson, administrator of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

There were musical items from the I-Three (Rita Marley, Judy Mowatt and Marcia Griffiths), the EOC choir, St Gabriel Church Choir, New Jeresy, USA, Holy Trinity Basic School, and a female trio calling themselves DAY- Daughters of Abuna Yesehaq.

Being a monk from the age of three, Abuna Yesehaq never had any children. However, in attendance were his sister Kebredesh Hagos, three cousins and two nieces.

There were 16 visiting clergy members of the EOC from overseas. Eight from New York, three from England, two from Canada, one from Ethiopia, North Carolina and Atlanta.

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