In 1959, an agreement was reached between the Ethiopian Holy Synod and the Alexandrine throne to have their own patriarch-catholicos in a transitional period. The Ethiopian archbishop ordained as primate of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church back in 1950, was elevated by the Coptic Orthodox Pope of Alexandria Joseph II in Cairo and enthroned in Addis Ababa by the members of the Ethiopian Holy Synod and an Alexandrine delegation. The first prelate, Aboune Basilius I (1959–1971), patriarch-catholicos of Addis Ababa and all Ethiopia, was ordained and enthroned in 1959, by Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria.