Cardinal Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel of Ethiopia has expressed regret at the escalating tensions in the Orthodox Church, as a major split threatens the country’s largest religious group.
Souraphiel said Catholic bishops, clergy, religious men and women, and the faithful were saddened by the latest developments in the Orthodox Tewahedo Church and were praying for the group’s unity.
“In these days of fasting and prayer, we are accompanying the one, Holy, Apostolic Ethiopian Orthodox Church through our prayers.
“Please be assured of our closeness…and we pray to the Queen of Peace so that unity and peace prevail,” said the cardinal in a short statement.
The tensions started earlier this year when three Orthodox bishops announced the formation of a breakaway group known as the Holy Synod of Oromia and Nations and Nationalities.
The bishops moved to appoint 20 new bishops, replacing those working in the Oromia region and some parts of Southern Ethiopia.
Ethiopian Patriarch Abune Mathias has termed the split illegal and warned the government that the development threatened the country's peace.
The Church's synod has accused the government of siding with the leaders of the splinter group, whom its has since moved to excommunicate.
President Abiy Ahmed Ali has urged the Church leaders to resolve their differences, saying that the government will not get involved.
The Orthodox Church is considered the state Church in Ethiopia, a country of over 110 million people where the majority are Orthodox Christians.
The bishops of the splinter group accuse the church leadership of lacking diversity and failing to understand the native language. This has caused the Church to lose millions of followers in the two regions, according to Abune Sawiros, the patriarch of the breakaway group.
The government last weekend suspended social media platforms including Tik Tok, Facebook, and Telegram, after the Church’s bishops had threatened worldwide protests with backing from other Orthodox provinces in Africa.
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