Third Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church. He was enthroned following the forcible removal from the Patriarchal throne of the previous Patriarch, Abune Tewophilos by the Marxist Derg regime in 1977. Following the Patriarch's arrest, the Derg ordered that an assembly of clergy and laity of the church along with the Holy Synod elect a new Patriarch to replace the arrested Abune Tewophilos. All Archbishops were disqualified from being elected for having been too close to the recently deposed Ethiopian monarchy. The church assembly of the Church was made to elect a hermit bahitawi by the name of Melaku as the new Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The new Patriarch-elect of the Orthodox Church was elevated from the rank of unordained monk to deacon, to priest, to bishop in one day and then enthroned as Patriarch the following day. With little formal education, and little exposure to temporal affairs, Abba Melaku had spent the bulk of his life as a hermit praying in a cave, and preaching to the people of Wollaita district. It is believed that the Derg hoped that such a man would be easy to control. Indeed Abune Tekle Haimanot's reaction to the news that he was to be enthroned as Patriarch of the Church was extreme distress, and he was reduced to bitter weeping. He was enthroned, and within a year, he was made to appoint 14 new bishops to replace the old ones who were deemed to have been close to the government of Emperor Haile Selassie. A government appointed administrator was put in place to place the church under the tutelage of the Derg.
The Coptic church refused to recognize the removal of Patriarch Abune Tewophilos, and declared that as far as the church of Egypt was concerned, he remained the canonical Patriarch of Ethiopia. Even after the execution of Patriarch Abune Tewophilos became widely known, the lack of an official announcement of his death kept the Coptic Church from recognizing any other person as head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Although the two churches continued in communion with each other, formal ties were severed and the Coptic Patriarchate refused to recognize Abune Tekle Haimanot as legitimate.
Abune Tekle Haimanot presided over the church during a tumult filled period of Ethiopian history. The Derg launched a vicious and bloody campaign against its opponents known as the Ethiopian Red Terror. Countless of people from every political, social, economic and religious grouping, were imprisoned, tortured, or killed, and thousands fled the country as a hard line Communist and officially atheist regime imposed itself on the ancient empire. Later during his tenure, Ethiopia would fall victim to the worst famine in its recorded history when millions are believed to have been affected directly. During these hard times, church attendance exploded to all time highs, and unlike the other Communist countries of the world, actually grew during this period. Although his legitimacy had been called into question, Abune Tekle Haimanot through his personal devoutness and dignity, would become the most popular of all the men to have sat on the Patriarchal throne in Ethiopia. Upon his enthronement, he had refused to don the black robes traditional to high-ranking heirarchs of the Orthodox churches. Instead he adopted robes that were bright yellow, the color of the bahitawi hermits, and a color which in Ethiopian tradition symbolized penance and suffering. Indeed the Patriarch spent the entire 11 years of his reign in almost constant penance. He prayed constantly, refused to eat anything but the simplest boiled and roasted grains and beans, slept on the bare floor and wore the thinnest of sandals, in an act of constant self mortification. Every penny of his personal allowance was spent on educating a group of famine orphans that he was personally raising in the Patriarchate itself. Although never directly confronting the communist government for fear of increasing the persecution of his flock, Patriarch Abune Tekle Haimanot preached to his people to be strong and to pray, joining them in this endeavor with all his heart. Eventually, the Derg realized that instead of having a pliant, easily manipulated country bumpkin, they were dealing with a formidable, deeply conservative, rigid and uncompromising man at the head of the church. He increasingly refused to accept incursions on his office by the government appointed administrator, and eventually had the man removed from office.
There are unsubstantiated reports, that there was a final rupture between President Mengistu Haile Mariam and the Patriarch following the napalm and cluster bombing of rebel held areas of Eritrea and the Tigray Region in the north in 1988. It is said that the Patriarch had protested against such measures being carried out on innocent civilian populations, and that Col. Mengistu had angrily demanded that he stop interfering in state affairs. The Patriarch, already in poor health and a weakened state thanks to his constant fasting and penance, then began an even more rigorous fast (basically a hunger strike in protest) and refused to make any more public appearances other than to attend the Divine Liturgy at the church within the Patriarchate. He made one final public appearance at the inauguration of a new church in Wollaita, and visited the cave where he had once lived. He returned to Addis Ababa and was almost immediately admitted to the hospital, where he died.
The Ethiopian government ordered a full state funeral for Patriarch Abune Tekle Haimanot, complete with military escort, gun salutes and flags at half staff throughout Ethiopia. The open casket was carried from St. Mary's church in the Patriarchate, to Holy Trinity Cathedral, on the same carriage that was once used by the fallen Imperial regime for royal funerals. The Patriarch lay in his coffin wearing a Patriarchal crown and in his robes of office, draped with the Ethiopian flag. All of this was in great contrast to the late Patriarchs personal austere simplicity and devoutness. His death struck a deep cord with members of the church, and tens of thousands of weeping faithful packed the streets to see the body pass on the way to the Cathedral. He was buried at the Cathedral after lying in state for three days. His burial was attended by the entire diplomatic corps in Addis Ababa as well as most of the high ranking members of the government and the ruling Workers Party of Ethiopia.
