Abuna Atnatewos II

Abuna Atnatewos II was the Abuna or head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (1869 - 1876). He was brought to Ethiopia by Emperor Yohannes IV, who raised the $20,000 to pay the Patriarch of Alexandria Cyril V. [Paul B. Henze, "Layers of Time: A History of Ethiopia" (New York: Palgrave, 2000), p. 146]

Abuna Atnatewos actively worked against the influence of Catholic missionaries; Asseggahen wrote to Antoine d'Abbadie that Atnatewos anathematized the Catholic bishop Massaia, and threatened to excommunicate the inhabitants of Shewa were they to associate with him. [Letter dated March 1873, "Internal Rivalries and Foreign Threats: 1869-1879", edited by Sven Rubenson (Addis Ababa: University Press, 2000), pp. 144ff]

The Abuna supported Emperor Yohannes' campaign against the Egyptian attempt to annex Hamasien. [Sven Rubenson, "The Survival of Ethiopian Independence" (Hollywood: Tsehai, 2003), p. 321] It is reported that Abuna Atnatewos was wounded at the Battle of Gura, later dying on 29 June. ["Internal Rivalries", p. 253]

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