The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Holy Synod appointed Abune Nathaniel as an Acting Patriarch today.

The Synod had said on last Friday that the appointment will be made after the funeral of the late Patriarch Abune Paulos which is scheduled for Thursday.

However, today a representative of the Synod told journalists that appointing an Acting Patriarch was found necessary to facilitate the functions of the Church.

Abune Nathaniel is currently Diocese Archbishop of Arssi.

According to Church rules, the Acting Patriarch is elected among the most senior members of the Synod. The mandate of the Acting Patriarch is limited to running the day to day affairs of the Church, in consultation with the four-member Standing Synod, including the election of a new Patriarch which has to be held within 80 days.

The Synod today assigned seven of its members to work along with  the Acting Patriarch and the Standing Synod. Those are: Abune Timotiyos, Abune Gabriel, Abune Estifanos, Abune Lukas, Abune Samuel, Abune Matewos and Abune Abrham.

Election of a new patriarch consists two-rounds of voting. Number of candidates will be narrowed down to 3-5 based the votes they receive from representatives of Church members across the country. Then, the vote in the Holy Synod will determine the new Patriarch.

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