The Habesha: Latest Ethiopian News, Analysis and Articles

English French German Hebrew Swedish Spanish Italian Arabic Dutch

The Holy Synod of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church declared to protest by wearing black for three days

The Holy Synod of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOTC) in Addis Abeba has declared the faithful to observe the upcoming three days of Fast of Nineveh which will be observed from Monday 06 to Wednesday 08 February, by wearing black to protest against a government supported coup attempt to overthrow the Holy Synod by the “illegal group.”

“On the occasion of the Fast of Nineveh, Christians all over the world wear only black clothes, take vows in fasting and prayer by being present in the premises of the Church. We wear black clothes to express perseverance in suffering,” the statement said.

In declaring the three days’ prayers by wearing black, the Synod said that despite its decisions to excommunicate the breakaway archbishops and their nominee episcopate ,who now refer to themselves as Holy Synod of Oromia and Nations and Nationalities, they “are unable to refrain from their actions and with the help of government forces, they are doing great damage by forcibly invading and breaking the pontificates and offices administered by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.”

The Synod also accused the government that “instead of enforcing the law, the government failed to uphold the law and rights of the church by giving support to illegal groups, so the Holy Synod understood that it is important to pray and make vows to our all-powerful God.”

On 01 February, the Synod issued ultimatum to the government “to carry out the responsibilities assigned by the constitution by upholding the institutional supremacy of the Church, the rights and interests given to it by law, and by giving appropriate correction to the illegal actions” by the breakaway Archbishops, and alternatively, threatened to call for a worldwide protest if corrective measures were not to be taken.

Regardless of the continued protest by the Holy Synod in Addis Abeba, however, the breakaway archbishops have continued dispatching their 25 nominee episcopate to different dioceses in Oromia regional state. Reports indicate that Abune Paulus, the newly nominated episcopate by the breakaway Archbishops for the West Arsi diocese, will be traveling to the city of Shashemene over the weekend.

In a new statement it issued yesterday, the Holy Synod of Oromia and Nations and Nationalities said that starting this weekend, its ongoing apostolic journey will continue in the remaining areas of Oromia and other dioceses located in the southern regional state.

Last weekend, two nominee episcopate assigned to West Wollega and Kellem Wollega dioceses were dispatched and have received “overwhelming” public welcome from the faithful both in their respective destinations and on their routes, according to the spokesperson.

AS

A message from the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church

4 thoughts on “The Holy Synod of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church declared to protest by wearing black for three days”

  1. Time for the world to recognize that Abiy Ahmed cannot be trusted
    Abiy Ahmed has consistently openly lied about what his real intentions are regards Ethiopia.
    In the Biblical book of Genesis the Devil in the form of snake makes a false promise to mankind that act in defiance of God’s will and is forever damned. Many cultures have used the forked tongue of the snake to recognize evil being misrepresented by false presentation of good intentions. By this time the world should clearly recognize that Abiy Ahmed speaks with a forked tongue without any honor. He cannot be trusted and needs to be brought to justice for the evil he has sprung on the world.

  2. ሕዝብ – እንደ ዳኛ ነው! ዳኛ – የሚፈርደው ደግሞ – ከሳሽን እና ተከሳሽን ካዳመጠ በኋላ – ሁለቱም ወገኖች ያቀረቧቸውን መረጃዎች አመዛዝኖ ነው! ይኼ ፍርደ-ገምድል ያልሆነ ፍትሐዊ ዳኝነት ነው!

    በአብዛኛዎቹ ኢትዮጵያውያን ዘንድ የሚታየው ዳኝነት ግን – በወገንተኝነት፣ በዘረኝነት እና በመንጋ አስተሳሰብ [mob mentality] የተመረዘ እንጂ – ኢትዮጵያን የሚጠቅም ፍትሐዊ ፍርድ አይደለም!

    ለዚህ ነው – ባቋራጭ ሥልጣን ለመያዝ የሚፈልጉት እና የኢትዮጵያ ጠላቶች ጉዳይ አስፈፃሚዎች – እንደ ከበሯቸው እየደለቁን – እና – እንደ መንጋ እያንጓጉን – ኢትዮጵያን እንድናጠፋት የሚያፋጁን!

    ለመሆኑ – ወያኔ የሰሜን ዕዝን በተኙበት አርዶ – ከ600 በላይ አማራዎችን በማይካድራ ጨፍጭፎ – ኢትዮጵያ ላይ ጦርነት ባወጀ ጊዜ – አባ ማትያስ በተለያዩ ሚድያዎች እየቀረቡ አረመኔውን ወያኔ ደግፈው ኢትዮጵያን ሲወነጅሉ ዝም ያለው ሲኖዶስ – ምነው ሰሞኑን -አለሁ አለሁ- ማለት አበዛ?

    ሲኖዶሱን ሰምታችኋል! እነ አባ ሳዊሮስ ያሉትን ስሙ እና ፍረዱ:- youtu.be/ilmx-0fmR_I?t=193

  3. I just read news that this crisis has led to violence where young lives were lost.
    Somebody better intervene and stop this. I don’t like it at all when young people lose their Allah Created and Blessed lives in such cruel way when the whole world is waiting them. O that blessed country! O that blessed country that had the wisdom. tolerance, audacity and courage to save both major religions of that country and the world when others were after the early followers of both Islam and Christianity. It does not need a religious strife after going all the bloodshed and destruction it has gone through since that very wise leader was deposed in 1974. Somebody step in and mediate this. I am calling on all elders from Afar, Somali, Amhara, Tigray, Oromia, Sidama, Gambela, Benishangul and Southern regions to come together and rein in. Dear President Shimelis Abdisa! There is an alternative to heavy handedness. It is called persuasion. Also remember as the official at the top you are responsible for safety of all residence in Oromia. There should not be pick and choose in such responsibility. If this disagreement goes out hand and leads to massacres of innocent citizens I will be holding you, every official under your leadership and all officials at the federal level from top to bottom accountable for the crime against humanity. The rule of law does not apply to the common citizens and residents only. It also applies to every government official from top to bottom. The mentality of ‘I will do anything to others just because I can’ did not work those before you. It did not work in your country and every other nation in the entire continent of Africa, for that matter. Mengistu had more than a million men under arms. Mubarak even had the latest F16’s on his lap and it was not enough to save him spend days and nights in prison dying a disgraceful death. That very tall and burly Idi Amin even had some cranky M21’s bold enough threatening to bomb the living daylight of Dar es Salaam and Pretoria. It took less than 25,000 Tanzania’s army to chase his fluffy behind in less than a week. Think about it!!!

  4. The world has come along way in every aspect of life, economically, socialy and politically. We are still down there on the ladder of human development. I use to be proud of my ethiopian heritage thanks the amzing achievment of my ancestors. The ancient Ethiopians have achieved a lot and were world leaders in science, space studies, mathematics, religon and articture I can say in all aspects of human development. Even recent developments such as the war in Adwa have proved how brave our forefathers were . How come we todays Ethipians have degenerated and lowerd our selves into wild beasts. I am ashemed to be a modern Ethiopian and talk about Ethiopia. A few years ago we forget our selves as human beings and were fighting on tribal affilations. Worse now we are digging our trenches on religious grounds. Is it not a shame to talk and fight on tribalism, religious affilation when our people are starving and we are out on the world begging for crumbs as if the world has an obligation to give it to us. Those in the learedship position how do they dare to look straight in the eyes of world leaders and talk about developmentr aid, huma rights and other important world issues when they are instigating war and distruction in their own country. I am reall ashemed!

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top