Eritrean Orthodox Christians Remain Divided Amid Rising Difficulties   

From (L) Isaias Afwerki – President of Eritrea, His Holiness Abune Antonios – the Canonical Patriarch of Eritrea, and Archbishop Peter (Petros)- Locum Tenens of the government-backed Synod of the Eritrean Church.

OCP News Service – 15/5/2020

Global: Eritrea, known as North Korea of Africa is notorious for religious persecution and human rights violations. Several Christian preachers are prosecuted and imprisoned. The Isaias Afwerki (President of Eritrea) regime has dismissed the international plea for their release.

The Eritrean Orthodox Community in the country continues struggling in several ways. The Eritrean faithful is sadly divided into groups, those supporting Abune Antonios and those who are in favor of the government-backed Synod (presided by Locum Tenes Archbishop Peter).

The Canonical Patriarch Abune Antonios is under house arrest since 2007. Moreover, he was accused of heresy and was deposed by the government-controlled Synod of the Eritrean Church in July 2019. In the diaspora, those who support Patriarch Abune Antonios is under the spiritual and canonical care of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria.

Patriarch Abune Antonios Falsely Expelled From the Eritrean Church

In August 2018, Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia mentioned the willingness of the Eritrean authorities and the two fractions of the Eritrean Church to resolve the schism to unify the Orthodox Church. The two Patriarchs and the Synod of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church also expressed their support and cooperation for the Ethiopian Prime Minister. However, it seems that no effort was made to resolve the crisis.  Abiy and Afwerki signed a peace deal between Ethiopia and Eritrea restoring full diplomatic relations.

The unification of the Ethiopian Church and the Synod in exile nurtured many hopes for the Eritrean Orthodox faithful as well, especially with the declaration made by Dr. Abyie. However, the declaration nor the peace deal culminated in anything pleasant for Eritreans or the Eriretian Church and Christians in general. The situation in Eritrea remains the same without any change. President Afwarki is in total control of the country and his regime is in full charge of the religious affairs.

At least few authors have written that (at present) there are two heads (Abune Patriarch Antonios and Archbishop Abune Peter) for the Eritrean Church. The government-backed Synod has been propagating the idea that ‘His Holiness’ Archbishop Peter is the ‘de facto head’ of the Eritrean Church. It shall be noted that Archbishop Peter is not a canonically appointed Locum Tenes of the Eritrean Church.

None of the Oriental Orthodox Churches recognize the appointment of Archbishop Peter. Moreover, a government-backed Synod is authorized to manage Church affairs. There is only one head for the Eritrean Church and that is none other than the canonically appointed Patriarch Abune Antonios. Few reports also state that the government-backed synod has been planning (for a while) to elect the next Patriarch as well.

Donn George Varghese (Editor – International Affairs @ OCP Editorial Board) contributed to this article.

Source:
OCP News Service