Abune Phillipos

Abune Phillipos was the first Patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church.

He was born Tewolde Berhan 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. He was elevated to the rank of Patriarch of Eritrea in May 1999 at the hands of Coptic Pope Shenouda III, and was enthroned in Asmara. He joined Ethiopian Patriarch Abune Paulos in an unsuccessful effort to mediate the war between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Patriarch Abune Phillipos died after a long illness on September 18, 2002 at Asmara and was buried at the Debre Bizen Monastery. He was succeeded by Abune Yacob.