Haile Selassie

“ The Apostle Paul says: "The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God" and "The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise and they are vain." The reason for this is because generally speaking man makes himself and his wisdom the beginning and the end of his aim in life, and we are convinced that the end of this is destruction and death.
Our Lord Jesus Christ says: "What has a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" Why did the effort of those who tried to build the Tower of Babel come to nothing? ”

“ When the countries of the Middle East, North East Africa and Asia Minor, where the Gospel was preached by the Apostles, were over run by and succumbed under a power opposed to the Christian Faith, the sovereigns and people of Ethiopia, firm in their deep love for the Faith of Christ and supplemented by the nature of their native land, put up great struggles to preserve Ethiopia as an island of Christianity. ”

“ It is Our firm belief that only what the Lord wills will be done. We should be careful that the results thus achieved by mankind should not meet with the fate of the Tower of Babel, the handwork of those people of old which came to pieces in their hands. ”

“ Our Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which was cut off for centuries from her fellow Christian Churches, has joined the World Council of Churches and co-operates in the task of strengthening the Faith and bringing about Church unity. We have helped and will continue to help the missionaries who are sent from other lands to preach Gospel to those of Our people who have not come to the knowledge of God's saving grace. ”

“ The love shown in Christ by our God to mankind should constrain all of us who are followers and disciples of Christ to do all in our power to see to it that the Message of Salvation is carried to those of our fellows for whom Christ Our Saviour was sacrificed but who have not had the benefit of hearing the good news. ”

“ Christians, let us arise and, with the spiritual zeal and earnestness which characterized the Apostles and early Christians, let us labour to lead our brothers and sisters to Our Saviour Jesus, Who only can give life in its fullest sense. ”

“ Ethiopian history testifies that our ancestors, who rose after the first Christian Emperors, were men and women who had great zeal and keenness for the Faith of Christ and who did all in their power for its propagation among our people. ”

“ Since nobody can interfere in the realm of God we should tolerate and live side by side with those of other faiths. However, if the threat is posed we shall not fail to resist with courage any such incursions. ”

“ When, after all these worthy predecessors, We assumed the leadership of Our people half a century ago, We became acutely aware of the magnitude of the sacred trust and responsibility vouchsafed to Us to work for the glory of God and the continued and lasting welfare of Our people. ”

“ Deep is Our thankfulness to our God for this grace. Numerous are our ancestors, who throughout the centuries consecrated and sacrificed their lives on the battlefield that Ethiopia might survive strong in her Christian Faith. ”

“ During the past 50 years not only did We labour that Our people may lead a better life while on this earth but We also did not spare Our energy and treasure to develop their spiritual heritage, the value of which no human mind can assess. ”

“ We have laboured that the Holy Scriptures and the books left to Us by the Church Fathers be multiplied by means of modern printing techniques and be distributed to all not only in our modern language, but also in Geez, our ancient language. ”

“ From then on Christianity spread steadily among the Ethiopian people and became the religion of the Ethiopians in the Fourth Century. It is a matter of pride for Us, a special cause for thankfulness to Almighty God, when We recall that the Christian Faith was introduced to Our people by the Imperial Court and through the instrumentality of the then reigning Monarch. ”