Born, raised and ordained in Eritrea, initially he had been made an archbishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and had even served briefly as locemt enens (acting patriarch) of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church following the abdication of Patriarch Abuna Merkorios in 1991. However, following the split of the Eritrean Orthodox Church from the Ethiopian Church, he moved to the Eritrean synod as a native Eritrean. He succeeded Abune Phillipos, the first patriarch of the church, after the autocephaly of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church was recognised in 1994.