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The crisis within the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is far from over. It rather seems to be getting worse but the effort to resolve them is still underway.
Ethiopian Church news sources on Monday reported that the Patriarch His Holiness Abune Mathias is in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. He is accompanied by several Bishops.
The purpose of the trip is to hand over twenty million birr in support to the Tigray region and to hold a discussion with Bishops in the region who are moving along the line of establishing an ethnic Tigray Patriarchate under the name “Menbere Selama” ( The See of Selama).
The 20 million birr support will go to those displaced due to the conflict.
Getachew Reda, leader of the transitional regional government in the Tigray region received the cheque from His Holiness Abune Mathias. He reportedly said the support came late but he sees it in a positive light.
He remarked that the “Government” ( and he is referring to the regional administration in Tigray) will not interfere in the administration of religious institutions. However, He commended the effort that the Holy Synod is making to resolve “grievances between people.” It is unclear why Getachew Reda framed, during his remark after receiving the support from the Ethiopian Church, the issue as a sort of problem between people rather than a difference between Ethiopian Church fathers in Tigray region and the Holy Synod.
Bishops in the Tigray region of Ethiopia have a layer to the crisis in the church as they have declared to form their own ethnic Tigray patriarchate on alleged grounds that the Ethiopian Church ignored the plights of the people in the Tigray region of Ethiopia during the two years war the cause of which was Tigray People’s Liberation Front attack on the Northern Command of the Ethiopian Defense Force which resulted in a horrifying massacre of as many as 3000 Ethiopian soldiers.
The Bishops in Tigray reportedly declined to meet with His Holiness and his delegation.
The war is said to have claimed the lives of over one million people in addition to damages to infrastructures and institutions that is estimated to be worth hundreds of billions of birr.
His Holiness Abune Mathias and accompanying Archbishops have visited displaced people in Mekelle. There are unconfirmed reports that the Patriarch was not given access entry to the church buildings but Ethiopian Church news sources have not confirmed the report. An image circulation on social media shows the patriarch paying outside the door of the church ( see image below)
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When religion goes ethnic – this is what happens. I have a question – what will Ethiopia lose if tpllf forms a separate synod- Eritrea did it -nothing happened..oromos may do it – nothing will happen, I assure you. The churches are separate in the Diaspora – nothing happens – you go to the church of your choice. Just leave these miserable thugs to themselves.