Archbishop Gabriel

Archbishop Gabriel was born from a family of priests in Ethiopia in 1945. At an early age he learned the alphabet and began to read the Psalms and other spiritual books for the young. Shortly he completed his education to be a deacon in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Immediately he moved on and studied to be a priest in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.

Next he studied Saint Yared's zema with emphasis on Tsome Deegua and Meeraf. He moved from district to district in search of knowledgeable orthodox teachers of the kenae (special type of church poetry). He studied it successfully and graduated as a teacher.

Archbishop Gabriel moved to Addis Ababa in 1961 and enrolled in the Sewasewu Berhan Kolfe Kefetegna Menfesawee School. At Kolfe he studied the New Testament and its interpretation. In addition to his education in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, he also completed his formal modern education at Sewasewu Berhan Kidus Paulos School and Holy Trinity College. Early he was ordained as a deacon in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church as a youth. He was ordained a monk at Debre Libanos Monastery. He was ordained as a priest in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church by His Grace Patriarch Baseliyos.

Archbishop Gabriel was sent by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church for advanced theological study to Russia in 1970. He enrolled in Russian Orthodox seminary and graduated with a Master of Divinity degree. In 1978 he enrolled in the Princeton Theological Seminary and completed his Master of Divinity degree with a specialty in ecumenism, which deals with Christian unity and cooperation. He continued with his advanced theological study in Russia, wrote his doctoral dissertation, defended the thesis and earned a Doctor of Theology degree in 1979. Archbishop Gabriel specialized in Christology, a study of our Lord Jesus Christ. Upon completion of his doctoral study he was offered a teaching faculty position in the Russian seminary to teach Oriental Church History. He was invited back to Ethiopia by His Grace Patriarch Tekele Haimanot who was visiting the Russian Orthodox Church in 1979. Archbishop Gabriel honored the Patriarch's request and went back to Ethiopia to serve.

He was elevated to be Episcopos Gabriel in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church by his Grace Patriarch Tekele Haimanot in 1980. He served as Archbishop first in Dire Dawa. He also served as Archbishop in Eritrea, Southern Shewa, and Western Shewa, Jerusalem, and then as Dean of an Ethiopian orthodox seminary in Addis Ababa.

Archbishop Gabriel is currently the Archbishop for Sidama, Amarro and Burjee in south central Ethiopia. He is the spiritual leader and overseer of the Mahdere Sebehat Ledeta LeMariam Ethiopian Orthodox Church.