Attacks Reported on Asebot Orthodox Monastery in Eastern Ethiopia

Solomon Kibriye (Chief Editor – Ethiopian Affairs) – OCP News Service – 25/10/18
Special Courtesy – Archdeacon Tesfa Mikael Williams (News Editor – Ethiopian Affairs)

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Addis Ababa- Ethiopia: Debre Wogag Asebot, an ancient Ethiopian monastery, has issued a distress call to the Ethiopian government and to the Patriarchate of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. The monastery located in the Eastern Hararge Archdiocese contains a men’s monastery as well as a women’s convent and has two churches, those of the Holy Trinity and Abba Samuel (the founding Saint).

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It was founded in the 12th Century by Saint Abba Samuel but was destroyed by Ahmed ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi (known popularly as Gragn Mohammed in Ethiopia) in his attempt to conquer Ethiopia for Islam in the 1500s. It was re-established at the turn of the last century by a monk called Memher Gebre Medhin. It is located on a heavily evergreen forested mountain escarpment.

The Monastery has experienced almost nightly attacks by unseen armed men who open fire on the monastery and its surroundings and issue orders for the monks and nuns to leave. When the monks asked the regional authorities to intervene, they were reportedly advised by the regional administrator to leave the monastery which they have refused to do. The monks and nuns are continuing to plead for attention to their plight. Just weeks ago, several churches in Jijiga, capital of the nearby Somali Region, were set on fire, and several clergymen and faithful killed during disturbances there.

Source:
OCP News Service