On 22 January 2023, a group of three “Archbishops” announced the ordination of 26 “bishops”. The conduct violated the cannons of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church, the oldest religious institution in Ethiopia. It also causes uproar from the faithful of the EOTC. The same day, the Patriarch and the General Manager of the Archdiocese of EOTC condemned the conduct and calls for an emergency summit of the Holy Synod on the matter.
Accordingly, the extraordinary meeting of the Holy Synod started on Wednesday 26 January, 2023 with prayers. The Holy Synod also announced a three days prayer for its faithful. The next day, the extraordinary meeting of the Holy Synod resolved to excommunicate the three “Archbishops” that ordained the 26 “new bishops” in a thoroughly detailed resolution as to why the conduct is against the Holy Bible, the Church’s cannon and calls for the Ethiopian government to protect the Church and its properties. The resolution also excommunicated the 25 “new bishops”. One of the new “appointees” by the name Abba Tsegazeab Adugna asked for the Church’s repentance for being part of the illegal conduct.
During the early days of the illegal conduct of the three “bishops”, the government abdicated its duty of protecting the Church as an institution having a legal personality under the laws of Ethiopia. After the Church has finally resolved to excommunicate these “bishops”, the government continued to directly attack the church while doing nothing (and at times by directly supporting them to continue attacking the church) to stop the illegal activities of the excommunicated. Contrary to its duty to protect the Church by sanctioning the excommunicated, the government allowed them to attack the Church on media that are affiliated to the government (officials). For instance, today, “unknown individuals” abducted one of the new “appointees”, Abba Tsegazeab Adugna, who was accepted by the Holy Synod after repentance. In addition, security officials of the Oromia Regional State took the Archbishop of Jimma Archdiocese, His Grace Abune Estifanos, from Jimma Airport to prison and latter ordered His Grace to return to Addis Ababa. The Federal Government of Ethiopia prohibited other Archbishops of the Church from travelling to Jimma, violating their constitutional freedom of movement, to inaugurate a newly built church.
The failure of the government to observe its constitutional duty of protecting the Church will have a far-reaching consequence on the country. Therefore, there is an imminent need to remind the government of its constitutional duty by bringing action against it. This is in addition to other measures as recommended by EOTC.
The FDRE Constitution provides that “believers may establish institutions of religious education and administration in order to propagate and organize their religion” (Art. 27(2)). EOTC has a very long institutional existence and hence the government has the duty to protect the “institution” as well as its believers “individually” or as a “community”. Directly speaking, by allowing the “illegals” to roam free and continue to vandalize and undermine EOTC and by restricting the rights of those respecting the cannons of the Church, government is directly acting against the institutional integrity of the Church. This violates its duty under the FDRE Constitution and international Human Rights Instruments.
The Ethiopian Civil Code expressly stipulates that “the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is regarded by law as a person” (Article 398). The same provision further provides that EOTC “can have and exercise, through its organs, all the rights which are vested in it by the administrative laws”. EOTC, through its Holy Synod, excommunicated the individuals that violated its rules. The duty to protect the Church as a person requires the government to cooperate with the Church in enforcing its decisions. The duty to protect the Church as a person consists prohibiting the illegals from using the Church’s assets, wearing, sacred religious instruments and all the assets belonging to the Church. The Civil Code is clear as water in this regard. It provides that “Dioceses, parishes and monasteries which form part of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church are likewise the subjects of rights” (Article 399). This entails that the government has the duty to cooperate with the Church in its call to protect its assets and institutions. Note that the author didn’t exhaust the legal basis upon which government can be sued. International laws and forums should also be approached if pursuing justice locally happen to be fruitless.
It is very difficult to comprehend why the Ethiopian Government willfully abdicated its duty to protect the Church and its institutions, assets and laities. It is even more difficult to understand why the Ethiopian Government actively collaborates with the illegals and undermines the Church’s person. This is alienating about half of the Ethiopian population which are followers of the Church. It is not very difficult to predict what the consequence of this level of betrayal will be. It is high time for the EOTC to sue the Ethiopian Government for its failure and it is also high time for the Church’s faithful who are trained in law to stand behind the Church in its pursuit of justice.
