Abune melketsedek biography for kids

OAKLAND — Abune Melketsedek, a former archbishop in Ethiopia who came to Oakland almost three decades ago and became a minister at the Mekane Selam Medhanealem Cathedral, has died. He was 97.

Melketsedek once served in Emperor Haile Selassie’s cabinet and was imprisoned for eight years when Ethiopia was racked with political turmoil.

In 1959, Melketsedek joined the cabinet of Selassie, emperor of Ethiopia between 1930 and 1974, as the director of religious affairs, overseeing the ministry of churches and reviewing candidates for bishop and church administrator roles.

He was among those rounded up and imprisoned when communist forces known as the Derg overthrew Selassie in September 1974.

Melketsedek spent his time incarcerated praying, reflecting and writing.

It was “seemingly prison, but God was shielding me,” he later recounted. His fellow inmates would remember him as “our father of consolation,” according to a church account.