Biography
Antonios was born in 1927 in the town of Hembrti, north of Asmara in the province of Hamisien. His father was a priest and at the age of five, he entered the monastery of Debre Tsege Abuna Andrewes. He became a monk and later was ordained priest in 1942. He was elected abbot in 1955.
When the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church sought autocephaly, he was one of five abbots of monasteries that went to Egypt to be ordained as bishop so that the church would have its own Holy Synod. He was ordained as Bishop Antonios of Hamasien-Asmara on 19 June 1994 in Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral, Cairo at the hands of His Holiness Shenouda III, Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. Following the death of Abune Yacob in 2003, he was elected Patriarch in popular elections which were unanimously endorsed by the Holy Synod of the church. His ordination and enthronement as Patriarch took place on 23 April 2004 in Asmara, at the hands of Pope Shenouda III, assisted by Eritrean and Coptic Orthodox Metropolitans and Bishops. He was the first Patriarch of Eritrea to have been enthroned who had not previously been a Bishop in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.
Read more about this topic: Abune Antonios
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