The postponement is a definite one, not an open-ended one, according to Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church fathers. The laity is advised to maintain the momentum to defend the Church’s right and remain standby to receive message from the Holy Synod
borkena
The Holy Synod of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church on Saturday announced that it has temporarily postponed a peaceful demonstration that was planned to take place on Sunday.
The decision came after a meeting with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and his cabinet minister on Friday. The venue of the meeting was set after a discussion within the Holy Synod. According to sources close to the Church, there was a proposal for the meeting to take place at the Patriarchate.
However, due to security considerations for government officials, the meeting took place in the office of the Prime Minister. His Holiness Aune Mathias led 12 other bishops who are members of the Holy Synod to the Palace in Arat Kilo.
Elders and prominent figures, including people like Haile Gerbreselassie and Derartu Tulu, had a facilitating role in making the meeting happen. The Holy Synod did have a say in the selection of facilitators.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s cabinet attended the meeting with the Church fathers. Last week, the Ethiopian Church announced that the planned demonstration is conditional upon the government’s response to address demands of the church in connection with ending interference in the affairs of the church and protecting the rights of the church in accordance with the constitution.
The Holy Synod said that the government agreed to address the demands of the church including respecting its canons in resolving its internal affairs.
The government is to end the crackdown and harassment of church fathers in the Oromo region of Ethiopia which was happening in what appears to be a move to support the three bishops who declared an ethnic-based synod.
Priests, deacons, choirs, and the laity in the region have been harassed. At least 8 were killed in Shashemene, dozens wounded and hundreds detained. According to the Holy Synod, the government has agreed to end that and provide protection for the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in the region.
When the Church declared three days of fasting, prayer, and for the laity to dress in black, the government was engaged in harassing those who are practicing it. Public servants who dressed in black in connection with the decree from the Holy Synod were suspended from work. That too was discussed during the meeting with the government.
The Holy Synod is saying the peaceful demonstration is not canceled. It is postponed to see if the government is implementing actions in the direction of ensuring the sovereignty of the church and non-interference in the affairs of the Church.
However, emerging on social media indicate that the government is not only refusing to release those arrested illegally but also making new arrests in Oromia and Addis Ababa.
The Holy Synod underscored that it did not change its position as far as defending the right of the church is concerned. It is just giving limited time for the government to implement actions to address the demands of the church that is said to take some time.
What it means, based on the explanation from the Holy Synod, is that if the government is not taking concrete steps to address the problem, a peaceful demonstration could take place in a short time. It called on the laity to keep an eye on the church and be stand by to receive message from the Holy Synod.
Regarding the three bishops who attempted to form a patriarchate, not much information is released except that the church will resolve it based on its canon. The church has left the repentance door open for them and there are indications that they will have conversations with the Holy Synod based on church canons.
The Holy Synod also glorified the martyrdom paid for defending the church. It appears even the government response to the Holy synod seems to be a result of the sacrifices paid and the determination from members of the church and beyond to defend the church.
The Ethiopian Church, one of the oldest churches on earth, has been under extensive government supported attack in the past fours years.
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The government of Abiy Ahmed (pp) occupies 97 of the seats in parliament and is responsible for everything that happens in Ethiopia. Any failure in the security and economy of the country, and all breaches in the safety and inalienable rights of Ethiopians is 100% the responsibility of Abiy Ahmed and his cadres and members of the pp.
Abiy Ahmed can no longer hide under the pretext of tplf did this, tplf did that anymore. He cannot any longer “confuse and convince” the Ethiopian public of the internal problems created by his pp, the internal strife between various subdivisions of his pp as problems created by “olf shene” “amhara shene”, “undefined and undisclosed external actors and the West.
The West did not ask abiy ahmed to break at the minimum the following articles of the current Ethiopian constitution: article 14, article 15, article 16, article 17, article 18, article 19, article 20 and article 21, article 24, article 25, article 26, article 27, article 28, article 29, and article 30.
THE PP LED BY ABIY AHMED HAS AT THE MINIMUM VIOLATED 15 SEPARATE ARTICLES ENSHRINED IN THE CURRENT ETHIOPIAN CONSTITUTION.
The premier cannot any longer hoodwink, double talk from both sides of his mouth, and hide the glaring defects and sever human rights abuse occurring on his watch. Gone are the days where dictators can mass arrest, execute political opponents and persons accused of thought crimes with impunity. Every action of the pp and the premier under microscope before the entire world.
The premier came to the political scene with the good wishes and blessings of hundreds of millions of Ethiopians and people of Ethiopian background both in Ethiopia and abroad. The entire world also looked forward for a change to peace and stability in the region. In particular, the premier had a mandate to bring stability in Ethiopia, to build up the eroded trust in government, to lay the grounds for an independent judiciary and to wipe out corruption.
The pm was never given a mandate to engineer a massive demographics change, engage in perpetual displacements of tens of millions, to assert control and dominance of all religions, to create a new State religion, to arbitrarily arrest and execute citizens opposing his hidden agenda against Ethiopia, and advance his hidden agenda termed by some as “oromumma” ( whatever that means) forcibly on 115 plus millions of Ethiopians.
The present crisis between the government and the EOTC actually is a blessing in disguise. It has become a wake up call for the millions of innocent and defenseless Ethiopians, the marginalized, the incarcerated, those millions who have become targets of political opportunists and demagogues hidden mostly in the pp, in particular in the regional government of so-called oromia.
Even at this very moment, the government of Abiy Ahmed is incarcerating, harassing and depriving citizens fundamental human rights of freedom, liberty, and the most fundamental and basic rights of all- the right to life.
It is inexcusable and unconscionable to not hold the pp government led by Abiy Ahmed everyday, every hour and every second when it veers of course and is heading towards the dark and south side of regimes that have been accused of crimes against humanity and barbarism and relegated to the dust bins of history.
The pm has one and only one option: be an impartial statesman for all Ethiopians or declare himself as a die hard oromumma fanatic and join the other side which violates the property rights of citizens, by stealing, demolishing, displacing and even more is being accused of crimes against humanity for mass displacements, wars, extra judicial killings and torture of citizens, in particular in oromia regions.
The pm loves to talk at length, for hours, he loves to lecture, to preach (often in condescending tone) and to pretend he is a man of all trades and professions under the sun. Now that his mask has been removed, now that even the doubting Thomases have gradually come to their senses of what this individual and his pp are up to, it is up to the PM to prove the world wrong and show in concrete terms that he has no hidden agenda against millions and millions of Ethiopians that do not belong to his narrowly defined ethnic group, to his newly forming State religion, to his oromumma hegemony. He is either heads or tails. He cannot be both at the same time, mathematically impossible.
This is excellent news for the mothers of the youth who can be victims of trigger happy of the security forces. The recent warning from the regional government was shocking and troubling to me. It goes to the effect of saying that its patience is running out and will show no mercy to the peaceful demonstrators. Has Mengistu somehow found a way to clone himself in these regional government officials at the top echelons? I have been uneasy about these so-called regional government especially those that had showcased us the size and capabilities of their ‘special’ forces. It looked to me that they have confidence in their muscle than in their mental capabilities. That is no different than militarism which has been typical of all African murderous dictators since the late 1950’s. The only public mass gathering they allow has been rallies they organized. Their government structures have what they call ‘cadres’ at the bottom. Those are the ones who tell you what is what and anything outside their menus is tantamount to make you disappear or rot in their filthy jail. I feel for those who live in the region of Oromia that produced me. I feel for every one of them regardless of ethnicity. In the areas where the regional government controls they have to live under the piercing eyes of these dreaded ‘cadres’ and in other areas that are proven to be free range for murderous armed groups they have to live not sure if they will live to see another day. These vagabonds have college professors as their foreign liaisons where one of them had posted their murderous ‘Manifesto’ on his social media account. Now we know who their ‘foreign’ minister is. So I feel for everyone who now live Oromia region. It is a predicament I don’t wish for anyone. I’m glad that the planned peaceful demonstration has been postponed because those regional hateful officials have their ‘special’ forces guns loaded and cocked ready to mow down groups they hate more than Hitler and Neo-Nazis hate Jews, Gypsies, Serbs and Slavic people. I commend Obbo Haile bin Gebreselassie and General Derartu bint Tulu for their blessed roles in making this a reality. Yes, you heard me right. I called General Derartu and there is nothing you can do about it. If you complain about it I will start calling Obbo Haile a general too.
Now such repugnant behavior by these regional government official once again proves me right in what I have been saying about so-called ‘liberation’ fronts this and ‘liberation’ fronts that for decades. Once they carve out a territory they will use it as their personal fiefdom. If you pull aside and talk to every regional government he won’t hide that from you. He may try to veil and sugar coat it like the territory and its resources belong to the people of his region but what he really means by people is him and his cabals only. Just ask him how much he is paying himself and when was the last time he missed a meal due to lack of resources. Then look at the citizens in the region especially those in Boranaa districts. Just look at the people who are dying from cholera, malaria and other easily avoidable diseases right in front of the noses of these bulging-at-the-waste-line officials. Just look around. Now you know why ‘liberation’ front this and that don’t sit well with me. It is nothing other than a connivers’ ply to create personal fiefdom with dynasties to follow. But, boy, they know how to talk. They know how to feed on the raw emotion of the youth. Now you know why my antennas go up whenever I hear someone telling me he/she is a ‘liberation’ front of this or that kind . Okay bigots! Go out and hang yourself because you heard me saying that.
Make that: It is nothing other than a connivers’ ploy to create personal fiefdom with dynasties to follow.
The Holy Synod and fathers knows only the truth and God. They gave Abiy the big lair a chance but Abiy knows no good went right back into himself, the evil nature. Right after promising to do what the Holy Synod demanded, to free all religion prisoners, stop attacking churches and member of the Orthodox Churches. priests, monks and decons, instead he intensified the raid and abuse against those faithful Orthodox Christians’.
Abiy Ahmed only knows Satan, lie and betray. The middled solution is all God fearing Christians and Muslims to get together rid of the enemy of God and religion!
A human being impersonator Abiy Ahmed with blood stained all over his body, the evil is sitting in Arat Kilo that must be washed out by the force of God.
Much ado about nothing — that’s what all this comes down to. “The Holy Synod also glorified the martyrdom paid …” Why would anyone choose to die for any cause? Death is coming for all of us eventually, so why hasten the process? I can’t imagine any glory in dying because once you die, you are dead for good. Period.