Changes

Only after the Marxist [[w:Derg|Derg]] Revolution that toppled Haile Selassie (on September 12, 1974) <ref group="note">"With the fall of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974, the [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church]] was disestablished as the state church. The new Marxist government began nationalising property (including land) owned by the church. Patriarch Abune Tewophilos was arrested in 1976 by the Marxist Derg military junta, and secretly executed in 1979. The government ordered the church to elect a new Patriarch, and [[Tekle Haimanot II|Abune Takla Haymanot]] was enthroned. The [[Church of Alexandria (Coptic)|Coptic Orthodox Church]] refused to recognize the election and enthronement of Abune Tekle Haymanot on the grounds that the Synod of the Ethiopian Church had not removed Abune Tewophilos and that the government had not publicly acknowledged his death, and he was thus still legitimate Patriarch of Ethiopia. Formal relations between the two churches were halted, although they remained in communion with each other. Formal relations between the two churches resumed on July 13, 2007."<br>:* ''[http://kidanemeheretchurch.org/history.html Ethiopian Tewahedo Kidane Meheret Church].'' Denver, Colorado. Retrieved: 2012-04-14.</ref> and appointed their own Patriarch over the Church, did the requirement become enforced for prospective baptisees in Jamaica to renounce his divinity and cut their dreadlocks.

When Patriarch [[w:Abune Paulos|Abune Paulos]] was elected in 1992 under the new government of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front ([[w:EPRDF|EPRDF]]), the incumbent Patriarch Catholicos of All Ethiopia [[w:Abuna Merkorios|Abune Merkorios]] and his supporters went into exile, establishing a rival synod in the United States, thus creating a [[schism]] in the [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church]].<ref group="note">"Following the fall of the Derg regime in 1991, and the coming to power of the EPRDF government, Patriarch [[w:Abuna Merkorios|Abune Merkorios]] abdicated under public and governmental pressure. The church then elected a new Patriarch, [[w:Abune Paulos|Abune Paulos]], who was recognized by the [[List of Coptic Popes|Coptic Orthodox Pope of Alexandria]]. The former Patriarch Abune Merkorios then fled abroad, and announced from exile that his abdication had been made under duress and thus he was still the legitimate Patriarch of Ethiopia. Several bishops also went into exile and formed a break-away alternate synod. This exiled synod is recognized by some Ethiopian Churches in North America and Europe who recognize Patriarch Abune Merkorios, while the synod inside Ethiopia continues to uphold the legitimacy of Patriarch Abune Paulos."<br>:* ''[http://kidanemeheretchurch.org/history.html Ethiopian Tewahedo Kidane Meheret Church].'' Denver, Colorado. Retrieved: 2012-04-14.</ref>

Abuna Yesehaq refused to recognise this political change, pointing out that according to the ancient Church [[canon]]s, the Church leaders are to remain in office until they pass away, and cannot be dismissed or reappointed by any secular government; also and that Ethiopian Orthodox [[canon]] law does not allow for the dethronement of a patriarch except on the grounds of [[heresy]]. Thus he declared the Western Hemisphere branch independent of Addis Ababa rather than accept the pre-eminence of the new patriarch, Abuna Paulos.<ref name="NY TIMES"/> In the ensuing dispute over the authority of the two prelates, adherents of Archbishop Abuna Yesehaq clung to their own interpretation of canon law and continued to follow him, instead of the patriarch in Addis Ababa.<ref name="NY TIMES"/>