may he have mercy on her soul

mother tsigé'maryam

Late in middle school into high school, my favorite book series was sci-fi great Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game. By the second book, SPOILER ALERT, the eponymous protagonist Ender becomes a Speaker for the Dead. An eulogist. I am fundamentally, and always have been, an introvert, but I have been trained to do extroverted tingz for limited periods, after which I seclude to get a breath of fresh air, pray, and recharge. After an undergrad course in public speaking, two years of university-sponsored parliamentary debate theory and practice, a few months of obituary writing for the Hon. Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich, AmeriCorps leadership opportunities as a teacher and corporate volunteer coordinator, the EOTC appointed me as an eulogist in English and Amharic; prior to my ordination to the diaconate at the hand of his Beatitude Archbishop yoséf, whose apostolic succession traces back to Mark, Peter, Paul, and Jesus.

I continue to use my talents for good. This is how the EOTC says RIP. A nigh centenarian has fallen asleep with the Lord. Have mercy, o Lord, and forgive, the breath of life of your handmaiden, our sister (in Christ), Mother tsigé'maryam!

Her full name is imahoy tsigé'maryam gebru desta. imahoy is an Amharic title for nun that literally means “O, Mother”. tsigé'maryam is ge’ez for “Flower of Mary”. This is often a baptismal name, shared actually by two of my paternal aunts, but can also be a given name. Her father’s name gebru is ge’ez for His (God’s) bondservant. And desta is Amharic for joy.

Her father was adees abeba’s inaugural mayor, and later, Speaker of the Assembly for Parliament, under the monarchy. She was a highborn aristocrat who despised the passions of this world, and thus chose a simple monastic life instead. In private, she excelled in her cell at playing piano, which is generally frowned upon in our tradition today, but the 20th century giants his Beatitude Archbishop melke’tsédq and his spiritual counselee Emperor hayle’silasé were modernists and reformers that appreciated pianos and organs. And as long as she didn’t play it during the liturgy, but only in her cell, the general public appreciated the fame she got when she was 'discovered' & marketed by the French collective behind the Éthiopiques .

I listened to her music often at home, on the go in my whip, and even to villainously intimidate my best friend when we play chess irl. May her love of God expressed through tranquility, beauty, prayer, fasting, and almsgiving be with us all.