Abiy Ahmed led government of Ethiopia paints an image of “respect” for Ethiopian Orthodox Church after imposing entry ban on three Archbishops for over a year
Borkena
Toronto – “The government announces that conditions have been arranged for three Ethiopian Orthodox Church fathers who were unable to attend the Holy Synod [meeting],” said a statement from Government Communication Services which was released on Friday.
In February 2024, government security forces deported his eminence Archbishop Abune Petros, who is head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, to New York upon arrival at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport. He travelled to the country for the Holy Synod meeting from his dioceses in New York.
Abune Theoflos and Abune Yaqob, both serving in the Ethiopian Church in the the United States were also denied entry to the country.
In a statement the government released yesterday it claimed the decision was “due to problems that some entities created” but failed to clarify it.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Holy Synod has been demanding the Ethiopian government to allow its members to attend the Holy Synod meeting for more than a yea now.
However, the statement from the Ministry gives the impression that the government made the arrangement as an expression of respect to the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.
“Government has been providing the necessary support to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in recognition of its role in nation building in the past and the role it will have in the future,” it said claiming credit for the resolution of differences between what was once the Holy Synod in the country and the Holy Synod in the United States.
Under Abiy Ahmed’s government, followers of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church have been constantly facing massacres and killings – especially in the Oromo region of Ethiopia – including members of monostatic communities. In February 2024, four monks of Ziquala Abo monastery – about sixty kilometers from the capital Addis Ababa – were hacked to death which the government linked with a militant Oromo nationalist group operating in the Oromia region.
Not long after that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed openly accused the Ethiopian church of training rebels in the Ziquala monastery.
As well, there was an attempt to divide the Holy Synod along ethnic lines. Some link it to Abiy Ahmed’s government clandestine work.
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