Selected Speeches Of His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, 1918-1967

Welcoming your oath of loyalty to the Church and the State We have the pleasure to approve your formal investiture as Bishops following your election as such, according to the ecclesiastical rules.

We earnestly hope that the Almighty may grant you strength to carry on your work of promoting religious activities and fostering Christianity in the Orthodox spirit.

September 8, 1951.

In the spiritual realm, Our sustained effort to have Ethiopia attain a station commensurate to that achieved in the field of public administration has been crowned with success. Let Us thank the Almighty for having blessed Us to overcome this difficulty.

In consonance with her new position and growing importance, for the first time in her thousand-year-old history of relations with the Church, Ethiopia is now consecrating and investing her own bishops.

.... Our preoccupations, however, have not been concerned solely with the material welfare of Our people. We have already mentioned Our activities in the field of education. The development of the resources of intelligence which education draws forth from Our people-vital as it is-without moral inspiration and guidance, can never of itself work for the good of all. Man, who is by nature selfish, must learn that only in serving others can he reach the full stature or attain the noble destinies for which God created him. We have, therefore, spared no effort to encourage and sustain the Church in its high mission of preserving and inculcating into the youth those spiritual values and ideals which, for centuries, have guided the destinies of Our beloved people. It was, in consequence, with deep gratification that, during the past year, We were able to bring about the full recognition of the Ethiopian Church as the autocephalous and national Church of the Empire. The Church which, through centuries of struggle and martyrdom, has pursued its task of evangelism and education, has Our continued support....

November 3, 1959.

Selected Speeches Of His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I

INVESTITURE OF BISHOPS