Mereja.Forum

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Addis Ababa (AFP) - Orthodox Christian leaders in Ethiopia on Friday denounced what they described as a surge in violence that has seen dozens of churches burned to the ground.

As they celebrated one of the year's most significant holidays -- Meskel, or "the finding of the cross" -- church officials urged Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to protect them and hold perpetrators of religious violence to account.

"The Orthodox Christians are not happy with the government," Aklil Damtew, the church's project coordinator, told AFP.

"The people expect the government to say something about the church. Why is the government remaining silent?"

Rising tensions between the Orthodox leadership and Abiy's administration risk introducing a new element of instability in a country already grappling with ethnic violence ahead of elections next year.

Meskel marks the finding by Saint Helena of the "true cross" on which Jesus was crucified. It began Friday afternoon with Demera, a ceremony that drew tens of thousands of people to central Addis Ababa, the capital, for hours of dancing, chanting, drumming and prayer.

On Thursday night, federal police issued a statement warning that "some forces" were "preparing to disrupt the Meskel celebrations."

But the Demera ceremony unfolded without incident. After an hours-long parade featuring motorised floats bearing giant crosses, the crowd lit wax candles and looked on as a giant bonfire burned in the city's most prominent square, known as Meskel Square.

- 'Unprecedented' -

The holiday is coming after two consecutive Sundays of peaceful protests in the country's Amhara region against church burnings.

At least 25 churches have burned down throughout the country over the past two years, Aklil said, adding that the figure was unprecedented. The church's tally of attacks is difficult to verify.

Orthodox Patriarch Abune Mathias used his Meskel message on Friday to condemn the burnings.

"Those who are burning our churches must stop such acts," he told the crowd at Meskel Square, drawing cheers.

"We can't accept at all those who would burn churches or attack our followers. Nothing good can come from this."
Church officials say the burnings reflect anti-Orthodox sentiment, but the motives for the attacks are likely more complex.

Some of the burnings, for example, took place in July after a bid by ethnic Sidama leaders to form a new southern regional state kicked off days of unrest.

Terje Ostebo, an expert on religion in Ethiopia at the University of Florida, said conflicts that appear to be rooted in religion are often also shaped by disputes over land use, ethnicity and other issues.

"These things are always entangled and I've had so many cases where I'm trying to figure out a local conflict that was presented as ethnic or religious, but it turns out they were both," he said.

Nevertheless, Endale Gosaye, a 35-year-old marketing professional who attended the Demera ceremony, said he agreed with church leaders who believe Orthodox Christians are under threat in Ethiopia.

"It's disgusting people who are doing that," he said of the burnings. "We want them to have a good heart because people are starting to follow them."

He said he was dissatisfied with the government's response to far.

Daniel Bekele, chief of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, said the attacks should be investigated.

"The government has a responsibility to investigate whoever might be behind an attack on any religious institution," he said.

Along with the burnings, Orthodox leaders are angry about an attempt by some members of the Oromo ethnic group, Ethiopia's largest, to break away and form a new church faction.

Orthodox Christians make up roughly 40 percent of Ethiopia's 110 million people.

https://news.yahoo.com/orthodox-ethiopi ... RF0xB9rMlr

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borkena
September 28, 2019

Authorities in Debre Zeit (Bihsoftu), a town just 44 kilometers southeast of the capital Addis Ababa, which is in Oromia region of Ethiopia reportedly detained Archbishop Abune Gorgorios III for several hours.

Bishotu (Debrezeit) Horaarsidi lake is where the tradition Oromo religion,Wakefena, yearly ritual takes place. Believers of Waqefena call the the ritual “thanks giving” or Irreecha.

Abune Gorgorios is in charge of East Shewa diocese of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

What is known about his detention so far is that he went to the Mayor’s Office of Bishoftu around 1 p.m. local time to appeal that Church choir who were waving the Ethiopian flag, which is also widely used in the Ethiopian church, were stopped by a group of the mob as they were making procession to the city’s Meskel Square.

Part of Meskel celebration in the tradition of the Ethiopian church is a Bonfire. In Debrezeit (Bishoftu), the pyre like structure prepared for the Bonfire was ablaze weigh before the celebration by a group believed to be radical Oromo ethnic nationalist youth, also known as Qeerroo.

And the Meskel celebration in the city was canceled.

Borkena news writer reached out to a credible source with insider information. The sources confirmed that the incident happened, and Meskel celebration, which was celebrated across the country, did not happen in Debre Zeit.

The source also confirmed that Abune Gorgorios III went to the mayor’s office and “was not let out of the office for several hours” after he spoke with the mayor.

However, his apparent detention was not ordered by the Mayor sources told borkena. Groups, perhaps in government offices, who overpowered the mayor might have ordered the detention.

Related reports on social media say that Abune Gorgorios personally asked to leave and to meet “with his children [spiritual children] but the groups were not willing to do so.

At this writing, the Abune Gorgorios is not under detention.

What seems to be Bishoftu city administration supported detention of the archbishop and cancellation of Meskel holiday celebration in the city came at a time when Ethiopian government is claiming that it is working to address the demands of Ethiopian orthodox church.

Followers of the Ethiopian church took to the street repeatedly demanding an end to orchestrated attacks on the Ethiopian church. They accused the government of not protecting the right to freedom of religion and worship which is a constitutional right.

The Ethiopian church has become targets of radical ethnic nationalists, especially in the Oromia region of Ethiopia, among other regions.

[fasil1235]

No the Ethiopian Government should all be killed... they are animals and are tribalistic animals all enemies of Orthodox Church which has nothing to do with Tribalism unlike the Ireecha devils who are greedy Jawarists... what’s their religion voodooo?

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(BRANA PRESS) Police in Oromia region has banned the annual Orthodox Church’s Meskel Demera celebration in one of the oldest town of Debre Zeit, 48 km from the capital city, Addis Ababa.

The Demera festival which was celebrated by Ethiopian Orthodox church in all parts of the country on last Friday, September 27 did not take place in Debre –Zeit , after police stopped the people in their way to the designated area.

According to the eye witnesses, police along with an informal youth group called “Qeerro” stopped the celebrants and told them to remove any flags they are holding, claiming it is not permitted.

The celebrants willingly surrendered the flags they have been holding and scarfs they wore.

However, the Sunday Schools Students who are the choir of the event could not remove their clothes which is pained with the old national flag.

Earlier that day the Federal Police announced that holding the former Ethiopian national flag is not permitted during the Demera festival.

“Police were not willing the celebrants to go ahead to the place where they pray and lit the fire on the Demera unless the Sunday school students remove their clothes,” eye witnesses told Brana Press.

This created a disagreement then the people went back to their church leaving the expected celebration of Demera behind.

However, the Qerros went to the place and put the fire on the Demera (a collection of wood that exemplifies the finding of the true cross following the smoke after it is put on fire).

This informal group of youths named “Qerroo” mostly works with the Oromia region’s police and other government administrative institutions.

[Revelations]

በአማራ ክልል ከተሞች በቤተክርስቲያንና ምዕመናን ላይ የሚደርሰውን ግፍ የሚቃወም ስላማዊ ሰልፍ እየተካሄደ ነው፡፡ የደምበጫ ከተማም አንዷ ናት።

አማራ ሚዲያ ማዕከል/አሚማ
መስከረም 18 ቀን 2012 ዓ.ም አዲስ አበባ ሸዋ

በኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ አብያተ ክርስትያናትና ምዕመናን ላይ እየደረሰ ያለውን ግፍ በመቃወም በምዕራብ ጎጃም ዞን ደምበጫ ከተማ ሰልፍ እየተካሄደ ነው፡፡

በሰልፉ ላይ የእስልምና ሃይማኖት ተከታዮችም ተገኝተው አጋርነታቸውን እየገለጹ ነው፡፡

‹‹መንግሥት ክርስቲያኖችን በንግግር ማታለሉን ያቁም፤ ክርስቲያኖችንና ቤተ ክርስቲያንን ያቃጠሉ አካላት ለሕግ ይቅረቡ፣ ሰለቤተክርስቲያን ዝም አንልም፤ በሊቃውንቶቻችን ላይ የሚፈጸመው ግፍና በደል ይቁም›› ሲሉ ድምጻቸውን አሰምተዋል።

ደንበጫ፣ ወንበርማ ወረዳ ሸንዲ ከተማ፣ በዋግኽምራ ብሔረሰብ አስተዳደር በጋዝጊብላ ወረዳ፣ ሰቆጣ እና በአመዛኙ የዞኑ ወረዳዎች እንዲሁም በቋሪት እና በአማራ ስምንት ሰልፉ እየተካሄደ ነው።