Abuna Thaddaeus was born in Ethiopia in the Province of Wollo. He attended the traditional Church school where young boys between the ages of five and seven years are normally sent to pursue their studies at the request of their parents and according to their ability.
At the age of fourteen (14) years, he became a Deacon. On seeing that he was in the lineage of the clergy, he decided to attain higher education, which, at that time, was only obtained traditionally in Cathedrals and Monasteries.
After working with Monks in the Monasteries, he chose monastic life at an early age. In 1958 he became a Monk and Priest and served in Tigre Province at Keratsa Mariam Monastery for six (6) years. He then moved to Shoa Province at Managesha Amba Mariam Mariam Monastery for four (4) years.
The type of education he attained was Zema (traditional and liturgical music), Tuguame Metshaf (commentary on the Bible especially the New Testament, and Kenye (poetry). As his ambition was to obtain a more modern education and so extend his knowledge both at home and abroad, he moved to the Holy Trinity Cathedral, Addis Ababa, where he worked and studied for four (4) years.
After this, he was sent by the Church to do voluntary and charitable missionary work in Trinidad and Tobago. He arrived in Trinidad on October 22nd, 1972 and has been in the service of the people of Trinidad, and more recently, the people of the Caribbean and Latin America since that date.
In February 1993, he was summoned to Ethiopia by the Holy Synod (The Administrative body of the Church) to be consecrated as 'Bishop' on February 7th, 1993 and took the name of Thaddaeus. He was then appointed Bishop of the Caribbean and America to continue serving the nations and defending the Faith of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
In the region. On February 8th, 1995 he was elevated to the position of 'Archbishop' and is active in the service of the people of the Caribbean and Latin America.
(as told by His Grace Abuna Thaddaeus, Archbishop of the EOTC
in the Caribbean and Latin America)
In the early 1950’s Cecil Garnet Springer, at the age of twenty-six, travelled to Ethiopia to request the establishment of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Trinidad and Tobago. He was part of the Garvey movement, a black-consciousness movement that was seeking spiritual enlightenment. It was a very difficult journey to embark upon, not only because travel to Ethiopia took weeks by ship, but also because of the lack of financial resources and the fact that he knew no one in Ethiopia, nor did he know exactly where he was going. But with great determination to bring spiritual enlightenment to his people, and by the guidance of Almighty God, Garnet Springer set out on his journey.
He travelled from Trinidad to New York then on to London, Paris, then across the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea and then by train to Ethiopia. All this without knowing the language or knowing where he was going or having an appointment to see anybody. When he arrived in Ethiopia in August 1952, he managed by his wits and determination to meet the Patriarch Abuna Basilios and was able to make an appointment to see His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie. He presented his case to the Emperor, explaining that we (the people of Trinidad and Tobago, and by extension the Caribbean) were children of slaves, living under colonialism and was seeking from Ethiopia spiritual freedom. We wish to worship our God through the spectacles of Ethiopia, he said, we do not wish to continue under the spiritual slavery of our colonial masters.
His Majesty explained that as Trinidad and Tobago was a colony of Great Britain, he could not send Missionary workers without affecting the diplomatic relations between Ethiopia and Great Britain. It would be interference in the affairs of the Colony. Garnet Springer insisted that the Church of Ethiopia send Missionaries to the Caribbean, saying that he had a mandate from the people and he could not go back without fulfilling that mandate of bringing the Church to Trinidad and Tobago. The Ethiopian authorities suggested that he a should stay, study and then go back to the people. Springer refused, saying that he had promised the people who had sent him that he would be coming back with Ethiopian missionaries. He requested that they send the missionaries with the necessary financial support and that he would take care of the legal issues.
Finally, he was able to secure two Missionaries: one from the Church, Memher GebreYesus Meshesha and one a government functionary, Ato Abera Jembere. They left Ethiopia in October 1952 and arrived in Trinidad on December 16th 1952. Ato Abera Jembere stayed for six months, acting as interpreter and taking copious notes after which he returned to Ethiopia where he reported to His Imperial Majesty on the new fledgling Mission he had left in Trinidad. After six months, Memher Gebre Yesus Meshesha received permission to begin baptisms and the first members were baptized in June 1953 and services began being held.
After a few years, a young priest, Abba Gebre Egziabher Degou was sent to assist Father Meshesha. During the intervening years the Church was established in Guyana by Father Meshesha. So Abba Degou was sent to Guyana to minister to the young church there.
After seven years, in 1959, Acting Patriarch His Holiness Abuna Theophilos came to visit the young church in the West. On his way to Trinidad and Tobago, he passed through New York and there established the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in America. On arriving in Trinidad and Tobago, Abuna Theophilos ordained the first local clergymen, two (2) priests and nine (9) deacons, to serve the young and growing church. Kes Gebre Yesus Turner, a native of Jamaica, was ordained priest for Trinidad and Kes Henry Blake for Tobago. Cecil Garnet Springer was ordained at this time as a deacon.
While serving the Church in Guyana, Abba Degou got into a car accident, broke his hand and requested to go to New York to obtain medical attention. So, Father Meshesha remained as the only Ethiopian serving the Church in Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana. In the early sixties, Father Gebre Hiwot Welde Selassie and Deacon Alem Seged (together with his wife) were sent to serve the church. While serving the Church in Guyana, Father Gebre Hiwot died and Deacon Alem Seged returned to Ethiopia. Again, Father Meshesha was left alone. Around the time of the visit of His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie to the Caribbean in 1966, Abba Haddis Gidey was sent to Guyana and Abba Fekre Mariam Workneh for Tobago. For the first time an Ethiopian priest was assigned specifically for Tobago. After serving for a while both left for the United States. Father Meshesha was left alone once again. Another Ethiopian priest, Abba Mengistu Abebe was sent to Guyana after Abba Haddis Gidey left.
In 1971, Father Meshesha was recalled to Ethiopia where he stayed for more than a year. In the meanwhile, Abba Mengistu went to Trinidad and was thus serving Trinidad, Tobago and Guyana as the only Ethiopian priest. In October 1971, Father Michael was sent to serve the Faithful of Trinidad but he served for a short period of eight months. Soon after, Father Mengistu returned to Ethiopia. At this point there was no Ethiopian priest serving in the Caribbean.
In 1972, two priests were selected to be sent to Trinidad and Tobago, Abba Wolde Gabriel Wolde Selassie for Trinidad and Abba Haddis Gissesse for Tobago. While in Ethiopia, Father Meshesha was consecrated as a Bishop, Abuna Athanasius, the first bishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in the Aester Hemisphere. Abba Haddis Gidey was asked whether he wanted to return to Guyana or someone else should be appointed in his place. He agreed to return to his posting in Guyana where he served until around 1980, then he returned to the United States. Abba Haddis Gessesse served in Tobago for nineteen years. In 1992, he passed away and was buried in Tobago, having given his life to the service of the people of Trinidad and Tobago.
In June 1973, His Holiness Abuna Theophilos returned a second time to visit the Church in Trinidad and Tobago, now as Patriarch. In 1979, Abuna Yesehaq, formerly Abba Mandefro succeeded Abuna Athanasius as Archbishop of the Western Hemisphere. In 1992, Abuna Yesehaq declared himself independent and was suspended by the Holy Synod. Thereafter, for a short period in 1992, Abuna Gabriel was sent to serve as Archbishop of the Caribbean and Latin America.
Abba Wolde Gabriel Wolde Selassie continued serving in Trinidad and was recalled to Ethiopia in 1993 where he was consecrated as Bishop, Abuna Thaddaeus, after twenty years of service to Trinidad and Tobago. He returned from Ethiopia with two priests, Abba Tsege Degefou (now Archbishop Theophilus) for Guyana and Abba Zenawi for Tobago. Abba Zenawi served in Tobago for ten years then requested to return to Ethiopia because of his age and illness.
In 1995 His Holiness Abuna Paulos, Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, , together with a delegation of Archbishops, visited the Church in the Caribbean and Latin America.
In 1996 Liqe Maemiran Kes Zecharias, as Secretary General of the Archdiocese, negotiated with his Holiness, Abuna Paulos, Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, to bring six (6) priests to serve throughout the Caribbean. After they arrived, Kes Zacharias reneged on the agreement, saying that the priests could not speak English and therefore were not suitable. He did not accept responsibility for them and put the burden on the Archbishop. In 1996, through the casting of lots these priests were assigned as follows: Abba Ze Dingil for Georgetown and Abba Haile Georges for Berbice (Guyana). They did not stay long; not having a salary from Ethiopia, nor were the people of Guyana able to provide a salary for them. Guyana was thus left without Ethiopian priests. Abba Tesfa Mariam was sent to Jamaica and after a short time he aligned himself with Abuna Yesehaq, who at that time had separated himself from the administration of the Church. Abba Ze Dingil in Guyana also aligned himself with Abuna Yesehaq and both he and Abba Haile Georges left for the United States because of the hardships of living without a salary. Of the other three priests, Abba Wolde Yesus served in Trinidad until 2000, Abba Tsege Genet served in Barbados and Abba Gebre Hiwot served in Bermuda. By now the Archdiocese consisted of Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Jamaica and Barbados. All left the jurisdiction after a short stay and Abuna Thaddaeus was left as the only serving Ethiopian clergyman in the Caribbean.
In the years following, Abuna Thaddaeus began requesting priests from the Patriarchate. He was reminded that they had sent six priests and were therefore not sending any more clergymen. Privately, that is not directly through the Patriarchate, Abba Gebremariam who was serving in Uganda, was able through an acquaintance to arrive in Dominica. Because there was no church in Dominica, he contacted Abuna Thaddeaus. Abuna Thaddeus contacted a Brother Gebre Egziabher in Martinique, where there was a newly established church, asking whether they were willing to accept an Ethiopian priest. The young church in Martinique replied that they did not have the resources to support a priest at that time. At about the same time Br Paulos, a national of St Kitts, was in Antigua trying to establish the church there. Antigua gladly accepted the priest and started baptizing and increasing the membership there. After a few years, Abba Gebremariam requested to come to Trinidad and after some time there, Abba Gebremariam left for the United States.
Another priest serving in Uganda, Abba Haile Yesus, requested to come to Trinidad and Tobago. He stayed in Trinidad and Tobago for four years and four months and again, because of not being paid a salary, he left for the United States. During his stay, he became the first Head Administrator of the Archdiocese of the Caribbean and Latin America. Not long after, Abba Gebreyesus, a priest serving in Holy Trinity Cathedral, asked Abuna Thaddaeus to come to the Caribbean. Abuna Thaddaeus explained to him the circumstances, the lack of a salary and the hardship involved. He still agreed to come and was assigned to serve both Antigua and Guyana. He now serves as Head Administrator of the Archdiocese, serving in Antigua and possessing a Missionary Permit to work in Trinidad and Tobago. Guyana also, by private means, received a priest, Abba Gebremariam, who is now serving in Guyana for the past two years.
Up to now the Church in the Caribbean and Latin America is still struggling, but without giving up hope, we continue to press forward. For most of the existence of the Archdiocese, we have been without an Archdiocesan Council, working with just a Secretary General and the Archbishop. This is because of the great cost of travelling between the islands and the limited financial resources. Within the past two years we have established an Archdiocesan Council. We are still crying for help. In 2002, Abuna Thaddaeus requested retirement. It was not accepted. He is still requesting help, before he dies. He is requesting not for himself but for the Church. After all the sacrifice over the years and two clergymen giving their lives as Missionaries, he does not wish the church to die. We have many bishops in America, they can come to assist. We do not have any monks in the Caribbean that can be consecrated as Bishop.
Abuna Thaddaeus because of ill health is not able to attend the Meeting of the Holy Synod. He is therefore requesting his brother Archbishops to present his case to the Holy Synod for him. He does not wish the church to collapse after his passing, after seventy (70) years of struggle and sacrifice.
May God bless our Father, Kes Cecil Garnet Abraham Springer who passed away in 2016 and who was instrumental in bringing the Church to the Caribbean.
Presently, we have twenty-one (21) parishes in the Caribbean and Latin America: nine (9) parishes in Trinidad and Tobago; four (4) functioning parishes in Guyana; three (3) parishes in Jamaica, one (1) in Barbados, one (1) in Bermuda, one (1) in Antigua, one (1) in Martinique and one (1) in Guadeloupe. Each parish in Trinidad and Tobago as well as Guyana owns the land on which the churches are built. Bermuda has leased the property which serves as the church, and Antigua is building their church on leased land. In Martinique, Barbados and Guadeloupe services are held in rented premises.
Part of the difficulty lies in the fact that the Archdiocese consists of sovereign territories separated by water. It means therefore that to travel to his archdiocese, the Archbishop must travel by air, and as a result must obtain the required visa which is tedious and takes some time to acquire. Sometimes, priests from Trinidad are asked to represent the Archbishop because of the ease with which they can travel.
With regard to membership, our condition is like running water. In Trinidad every three months we baptize twenty, thirty or forty members. In many cases they do not continue. We estimate about thirty thousand (30 000) registered members in Trinidad and Tobago, most of whom are not active members of the Church.
At the present time, the Headquarters of the Archdiocese in Trinidad and Tobago is served by nine (9) local priests and twelve (12) deacons. Two Ethiopian priests together with the Archbishop serve in the archdiocese. These clergymen, Ethiopian as well as local, are serving without salary. They are surviving just by the contributions of the people in the local jurisdictions which is not enough to provide a salary. They are serving the church freely and voluntarily.
NOTE:
Timeline for the establishment of the Church in the Caribbean
1952: Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana
1970: Jamaica
1975: Bermuda
1995: Barbnados
2004: Martinique
2005: Guadeloupe
2009: Antigua
