Profile of our late Abba Teclezghi Ucbaghiorghis the founder of Mahber Menfes Kedus

Abba (Father) Teclezghi Ucbaghiorghis for thirty years has been an ordained Catholic priest in the Cistercian Congregation of Casamari, Italy. He was born in a small rural village called Haddish  Addi , in  Anseba province,  in Eritrea, East Africa. As a young man he entered the Cistercian Monastery in Mendida Northern Shewa  in Ethiopia. And Eventually in Asmara, Eritrea, where he studied and prepared for the priesthood.
After his ordination he studied at the Gregorian University in Rome, Italy, where he specialized in Biblical Theology. Wherever Abba has been assigned to work and minister, he conducts Bible Study classes for adults as well as for the youth. His zeal, knowledge and love for Scripture is evident in the weekly Bible study classes that he conducts in his last assignment in St. John Neumann Parish in Mt Laurel, in the Diocese of Trenton, Mondays for adults, and on Thursdays for the young adults and interested members of the parish. His students are motivated to love and hunger for the Word of God, and you see them grow and blossom into the person God has destined them to be. The Thursday Bible Study has evolved and become a Prayer Meeting of a community by the name “The Lamb and the Cross”. Here people come to be filled with the Holy Spirit, to be anointed and fired up with zeal for God and His Church, and for the salvation of all men. People come for healing, deliverance etc..  Once a month he conducted a Bible Study class in his native language for immigrants from Eritrea, who live in the Greater Philadelphia Area. At the end of 2006 this venue has been changed. Wherever Abba has been assigned to work and minister, he conducted Bible Study classes for adults as well as for the youth.

While in Eritrea, Abba was assigned by his bishop and Community to work with two gentlemen, who represented the Orthodox Coptic Church and the Evangelical Protestant Churches, to translate the entire Bible, Old and New Testament into their native language. This translation of the Bible was published and continues to be in circulation.
Abba has authored five books in his native language and for several years  he was an editor for two major magazines that are published in Eritrea namely TEHADSO AND BERHAN.

During his thirty years in the priesthood, Abba has served as a retreat master for priests, nuns and lay people; he conducted conferences, seminars and healing services in Africa, Europe and North America,  He spent  many hours in spiritual counseling and administering the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
For ten years in Eritrea and Ethiopia he was the country representative for “Evangelization 2000,” which was an opportunity that provided him with a valuable multicultural experience, in Africa as well as in the world.

For more than thirty years he has been very much involved in the Holy Spirit Movement and Renewal Ministries in the Catholic Church, especially in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Italy, Germany and Great Britain. He was instrumental in bringing and spreading these same ministries in Eritrea and Ethiopia.

As mentioned above, the Monthly meeting for Bible Study in Philadelphia has evolved and become a vibrant Prayer Community under the title of “MEHBER MENFES KEDUS”. And now have its venue in Laurel MD. It meets once a Month, the 2^nd Sunday of every Month.

Abba resided  at a Cistercian Monastery New Jersey where he did parish work and teachings, besides being a contemplative monk. In his community, he was the Acting Novice Master, and The Vocation Director.