abuna

plural abunas · alternative abun

1. ChristianityThe Patriarch, or head of the Abyssinian Church.

   Around these leaders are still numerous hereditary dynasties of non-monastic clergy who, over the centuries, might swarm in their thousands to seek ordination on the abun’s rare visits to their area.

   2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 242

1. uncountableA river in northeastern Bolivia that forms part of its border with Brazil.

plural Abunas

1. The title of the leader, or patriarch, of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.First known use First attested in the early 17ᵗʰ century.

   Two weeks later, before Abunas Pēṭros and Mātēwos, Menilek publicly swore not to deceive Mangashā nor cause him any harm.

   1982, Ḥagai Erlikh, Ethiopia and Eritrea During the Scramble for Africa: A Political Biography of Rās Alulā, 1875-1897, African Studies Center, page 180

   1 more example

   Thus, four Ethiopian monks were consecrated in Cairo in June 1929 (Abunas Abreham, Petros, Mikael, Yeshaq), and the fifth (Abuna Sawiros) was consecrated in Addis Ababa in January 1930.

   2012, Wudu Tafete Kassu, “Religion and Cold War Politics in Ethiopia”, in Philip Emil Muehlenbeck, editor, Religion and the Cold War: A Global Perspective, Nashville, Tenn.: Vanderbilt University Press, →ISBN, page 143