Ethiopian New Year

The House of Sellassie of the Solomonic Dynasty, founded by H.I.M. Haile Sellassie, Defender of the Faith, and under the executive administration of H.I.H. Princess Esther Sellassie-Antohin herewith extends our warmest sentiments of solidarity with each and every brother and sister in Christ on the occasion of the Ethiopian New Year, September 11, 1999.

Were it only possible we would be there standing together with you now shoulder to shoulder in oneness and fraternal love. Our prayers at this propitious moment of the Ethiopian New Year are that the blessings of God Almighty strengthen you for the long road ahead toward a world of unbounding care and concern one for another. God has created our world; it is up to us to perfect it.

The House of Sellassie, the dynastic family of primogeniture, focusses its energies on humanitarian and cultural issues exclusively. We remain the Defender of the Faith and the Supreme Patron of Ethiopian Culture and, just as our holy Ethiopian Orthodox Tawahedo Church, we maintain a stringently apolitical position both as regards Ethiopian and American politics. This apolitical policy allows us to work quietly with our Ethiopian Orthodox Tawahedo Church in matters of outreach to the African Diaspora, to engage in humanitarian efforts to better the life of all Ethiopians, and to encourage the cultivation of the Ethiopian arts and music.

The House of Ethiopia shuns publicity and cultivates anonymity in its work. It is recognized by the International Chivalric Community as the dynastic family of primogeniture. The order of precedence flows through H.I.H. Zara Yaqob, and H.I.H. Samson Fikre-Sellassie. H.I.H. Princess Esther Sellassie-Antohin serves as the Chief Executive Officer.

As the dynastic family in descent through the line of primogeniture from H.I.M. Amha Sellassie, eldest son of H.I.M. Haile Sellassie, the House of Sellassie is distinct from and not to be confused: 1.) with the Imperial Family of the Solomonic Dynasty or, 2.) with the Imperial Ethiopian Crown Council.

Article 16 of the 1955 Constitution states:

“The Imperial Family shall include all direct lineal ascendants and descendants, together with their spouses, of the Emperor, with the exception of those who have not complied with the provisions of Article 15 or who are not of the Ethiopian Orthodox Faith.” (Sourcebook of Ethiopian Constitutional Law p. 2-24.)

Article 70 discusses the Imperial Ethiopian Crown Council:

“The Emperor may, in such instances as He deems appropriate, convene the Crown Council, which shall consist of the Archbishop, such Princes, Ministers, and Dignitaries as may be designated by Him, and the President of the Senate. The Crown Council shall be presided over by the Emperor or by a member designated by Him.”

Consequently, we leave all financial matters to the discretion of the individual members of the Imperial Family, and all political decisions to the discretion of the Interregnum Regent of the Crown Council, H.I.M. Bekere Fikre-Sellassie, a member of the House of Sellassie.

H.I.M. Haile Sellassie I, the Defender of the Faith, was not a God and not a demon; he was a mortal man, who tried his best to serve his people and meet his ethical obligations in life. If he is to be charged with sins in history, may it be the sin of aging, for as he grew older, more and more he began to rely on poor advisors, men who counselled wrong decisions which triggered great suffering for many people, including our beloved Oromo and Eritrean brothers and sisters. The House of Sellassie is now four generations removed from those terribly wrong decisions. Those policies are not our policies and we deplore them for their consequences. May the children's children's children be forgiven for those mistakes over which they had no control.

As the de jure Defender of the Faith of Ethiopia, and in accord with our uncompromising apolitical policy, the House of Sellassie sharply distances itself from every self-advancing interest with ambitions to replace the democratically-elected Parliament of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia under the leadership of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. Modern Ethiopia is a respected fact of international law.

On the contrary, the House of Sellassie has been favorably impressed with the remarkable progress in authentic participatory government by all of our linguistically and culturally diverse Ethiopian people. Those politically minded detractors in the Ethiopian Diaspora who decry the Parliament’s progressive program of decentralization as divisive of our people are those same myopic elements who fail to analyse and understand the tremendous potential inherent in an inevitably successful African Economic Community. The success of the African Economic Community will be predicated upon the development of Regional Economic Communities, perhaps the only workable paradigm offering a pragmatic solution to our overwhelming social and infrastructural problems.

It will be the international language, English, that will both unite our people and facilitate their full integration into the Third Millennium, not the overlordship of any one of our more than 70 different languages. The implications of Ethiopia’s election to membership within the International Labor Organization Governing Body in Geneva this past June stands as her endorsement by a world-stage organization dedicated to human rights and the well-being of the common man. It is now an internationally recognized fact that those responsible for the modern Constitution of Ethiopia have successfully carried to completion the careful planning and development of H.I.M. Haile Sellassie I, and of his eldest son, H.I.H. Prince Asfa-Wossen Haile-Sellassie, both, men of far-reaching democratic vision.

True, there remains immense work to be done. The House of Sellassie, however, would call upon all Ethiopians to emphasize collectively the Parliament’s positive attainments and resolutely and steadfastly to consecrate themselves to a renewed spirit of loving cooperation in the mutually satisfactory solutions of the many social, economic and educational challenges still facing Ethiopia as she moves forward into the Third Millennium: a population of almost 60 million, but an annual per capita income of only $120 US; one-fifth of all children will die before age five; 400,000 diagnosed cases of AIDS and more than three million known cases of HIV; only some 12 percent of the population have clean water. And there remains the tragedy of the Ethio-Eritrean Conflict to bring to successful conclusion, in accord with the Organization of African Unity Framework Agreement for Peace.

We have so very much real work to do for all of our Ethiopian people, how can anyone presume to waste our time with self-serving political bickering within, or even less excusably, outside of Ethiopia?

Under the able and beneficent administration of H.I.H. Princess Esther Sellassie-Antohin, the Solomonic Dynasty is dedicated to a divine destiny as a voice of moral encouragement and spiritual guidance for the entire African Diaspora, a truly Godly work that must be done: “For then will I return to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Eternal, to serve Him with one consent. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia My suppliants – even the daughter of My dispersed – shall bring Mine offering” (Zeph 3: 9-10.) We have fully endorsed the international, transdenominational Restoration Movement as the best educational plan for bringing about an effective outreach of our Tawahedo Church into the African Diaspora. (Cf. www.RestorationFoundation.org) We would ask that each one of you befriend our New World African brothers and sisters and invite them to share in our worship within our Tawahedo Church services. If Ethiopia is to reach her hand unto God, we must begin by reaching our hand to our fellow man.

In conclusion, we would pray with you in this New Year to replace the Spirit of Divisiveness with Tawahedo oneness in the Body of the Christ, to replace arch-competition with loving cooperation. We will not resolve our problems politically, trusting in men rather than God. There is no magic political formula for national unity, but there is indeed oneness in the Christ. Let us turn back to the Faith of our Fathers and the guidance of our holy Church. “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we are Jews or Gentiles, whether we are bond or free, and have been all made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, ‘Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body,’ is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, ‘Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body,’ is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God hath set the members, every one of them, in the body as it hath pleased Him. And if they were all one member, where would be the body? But now there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, ‘I have no need of you.’ Nay, much more those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no need, but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whenever one member suffer, all the members suffer with it, or when one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.” ( I Cor 12: 12-26.)

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present yourselves a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world [do not assimilate], but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. For I say to every man that is among you, through the grace given unto me, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office, so we, being many are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” (Rom 12: 1-6.)

Dear brothers and sisters in the Sellassie Community, there is no magic political formula for Ethiopian Tawahedo, "oneness." But if we return to our roots as a holy people under the kingship of our heavenly Father, we will find His divine blessings of peace, health, prosperity, and loving cooperation one with another in this New Year and forward into the New Millennium.