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Prayer for Eritrea, please join us.
dear readers, please join with us in prayer for eritrea.
i know from my own discussions with refugees in the uk that the whole country of eritrea is in turmoil, people are being oppressed and Christians and Muslims are being persecuted for their faith. in fact anyone who wishes to express an opinion that seems to critisize the government soon learns to shut up.
the situation is especially bad for Christians from all denominations, and in Jan 2006 the patriarch of the orthodox church of eritrea was deposed and imprisoned. his 'job' has been given (as if it were a government post) to a supporter of the government.
maybe not all of you know that Abune Antonius, the eritrean patriarch was installed by own own patriarch, Baba Shenouda the third in a beautiful ceremony a few years ago, in accordance with the rites and canons of our church, handed down to us by the witnessess of the death and glorious resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
please pray for peace and justice and please visit this website for more news.
if anyone else has other news and links, please enlighten us.
i do not intend for this topic to become overly political, so please do not get distracted by the political issues in north east africa, but please do all you can to campaign for the goverments there to allow freedom of religious expression for all our brothers and sisters.
visit http://www.inchainsforchrist.org/
this is a spiritual battle, let our weapons be the word of God and ceaseless prayer.
i know from my own discussions with refugees in the uk that the whole country of eritrea is in turmoil, people are being oppressed and Christians and Muslims are being persecuted for their faith. in fact anyone who wishes to express an opinion that seems to critisize the government soon learns to shut up.
the situation is especially bad for Christians from all denominations, and in Jan 2006 the patriarch of the orthodox church of eritrea was deposed and imprisoned. his 'job' has been given (as if it were a government post) to a supporter of the government.
maybe not all of you know that Abune Antonius, the eritrean patriarch was installed by own own patriarch, Baba Shenouda the third in a beautiful ceremony a few years ago, in accordance with the rites and canons of our church, handed down to us by the witnessess of the death and glorious resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
please pray for peace and justice and please visit this website for more news.
if anyone else has other news and links, please enlighten us.
i do not intend for this topic to become overly political, so please do not get distracted by the political issues in north east africa, but please do all you can to campaign for the goverments there to allow freedom of religious expression for all our brothers and sisters.
visit http://www.inchainsforchrist.org/
this is a spiritual battle, let our weapons be the word of God and ceaseless prayer.
Comments
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2008/108367.htm
(april 2008)
However, in the last two years, the government has also turned its attention on the Eritrean Orthodox Church, the oldest and most established religious institution in Eritrea. Almost 45% of the Eritrean population belongs to the Eritrean Orthodox Church. Nearly four years ago, the government began a campaign against the leaders of the Orthodox Church, especially those who were attracting increasingly larger followings of young people.
The leaders of the church who have since been locked up in Eritrean jails include: Dr. Fistum Ghebrenegus, Dr. Tecleab Menghisteab, Rev. Gebremedhin Gebregiorgis, and Merigeta (“Mentor” in the Eritrean Orthodox Church) Ytbarek Berhe. Two years ago, His Holiness Patriarch Antonios, then head of the Eritrean Orthodox Church, became the best known religious figure to criticize the government’s interference in church affairs. The government responded by replacing him with a hand-picked pontiff. Patriarch Antonios has been under strict house arrest since then.
According to some observers of the Eritrean government, the forced conscription of Eritrean Orthodox clergy represents a systematic dismantling of the Eritrean Orthodox Church, one of the most important pillars of Eritrean society.
In Christ
Theophilus
but anyways, may the Lord be with them and have mercy on all
It is this church, which is a daughter church of the Egyptian Coptic Church which is now being manipulated by the Devils advocates. The Patriarch Abune Antonios the First has been under house arrest since 2006 in an undisclosed location. In his place the government has assigned a puppet Pope.
The clergy are being forced to enter into military service. This is contrary to our church cannons: “If any Bishop, or Presbyter, or Deacon is engaged in military matters, and wishes to hold both a Roman (i.e., civil) and a sacerdotal office, let him be deposed. For (render) “unto Caesar the things which are Caesars; and unto God the things that are God’s” (Matt. 22:21), (Ap. cc. VI, LXXXI; cc. Ill and VII of the 4th; c. X of the 7th; c. XI of the lst-&-2nd; c. XVIII of Carthage.).
This and many other forms of persecutions are afflicted on the Eritrean Orthodox Church. Let us pray for the Eritrean Orthodox Church, for its Patriarch Abune Antonios the First, its clergy and all the parishioners.
“…I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Matthew 16:18
“Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies.” Hebrew 13:3
In Christ
Theophilus
please spread this all over the world,
tell your church and youth group and the network of churches in your town and all your friends and neighbours.
i will leave updates here as soon as i get them, but it is up to us to organise things.
this is the info from releaseinternational.org which is a Christian organisation supporting persecuted Christians worldwide.
PRAY FOR ERITREA ON MAY 24
Release is calling on supporters in the UK and Ireland to join our Day of Prayer for Eritrea on Sunday May 24 – the country's national day.
Please also use this opportunity to encourage your church and Christian friends to sign our petition, which calls on the Eritrean Government to respect the rights of all citizens, including freedom of religion.
Since 2002 the autocratic regime of President Isaias Afewerki has detained well over 2,000 Eritrean Christians without trial, and has forced dozens of churches and Christian ministries to close. Many believers have been tortured to force them to renounce their faith.
We hope that thousands of Christians in the UK will mark May 24 as a Day of Prayer for Eritrea. By praying for those who have been unjustly imprisoned, their families, and the Eritrean Government, we believe that we can make a real difference! Please join us on this special day and see what God will do!
for more info see this site:
http://www.releaseinternational.org/pages/take-action/current-campaign.php
PLEASE JOIN US!
Please pray for Abouna Antonio’s and all the Christians in Eritrea on May 24, and every day.
“…I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Matthew 16:18
“Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies.” Hebrew 13:3
In Christ
Theophilus
Hi, please ask all your churches in all the world to pray on May 24th.
In addition to the information above, there are these resources available from release international.
http://www.releaseinternational.org/pages/take-action/current-campaign.php
http://www.releaseinternational.org/pages/country-profiles/eritrea.php
http://www.releaseinternational.org/media/Eritrea2009/Eritrea Petition 2009 Poster.pdf
this is an a4 poster
http://www.releaseinternational.org/media/Eritrea2009/EritreaPetition2009.pdf
this is the paper version of the petition
http://www.releaseinternational.org/pages/take-action/current-campaign/online-petition.php
this is the link to the online petition
it would be great if someone outside the south of uk could send information to churches, please let me know if you want an unpaid but very rewarding job and i will give you advice if you need it.
people in the uk, please let me know if you can send out information in your region
thank you!
helena
this report was released yesterday
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/04/16/eritrea-repression-creating-human-rights-crisis
basically the situation is getting worse and most of the population is suffering. lets keep praying.
He that is in us is greater than he that is in the world.
God bless
R
i have found some more information; ths time about the catholics who are suffering for their faith (this is from march 09);
http://www.churchinneed.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5761&news_iv_ctrl=1001
i would like to copy his link i posted earlier:
http://www.releaseinternational.org/media/Eritrea2009/Eritrea Petition 2009 Poster.pdf
it's a link to a poster you can freely download and print.
If you don't have time to read all the info about eritrea, please just download one of these and ask someone to print it and put several up in your church.
the campaign is now on the home page of the british orthodox church (thanks a million, father peter) and is being circulated in catholic and some protestant churches in the south-east of england, but i would be really really mabsoota if more people could spread the word all over the world.
thank you, my tasbeha friends :)
In Christ
Theophilus
I have visited the links provided and I have to admit ,though the information appears to be biased and politically charged,the news is alarming. Since, we are being invited to keep prayer vigil for persecuted Christians in Eritrea,there are some things that are not clear to me. Hence, I ask for clarifications.
My knowledge is that Eritrea like Ethiopia is a Christian country .It is the land of Orthodoxy since the apostle Philip baptised the Ethiopian enunch in Jerusalem ( Acts).As such ,the Tewahedo Orthodox church of both countries pride themsleves on being the oldest Chistian countries in the world.
I know what it means when Christians are being 'persecuted' for their faith. Under persecution, I understand,that the faithful are not allowed to build their own churchs, congregate and pray in their own churchs,carrying violent attacks on them with the collusion of the government, abduct and rape young christian girls and force them to marry Muslims, confiscate and burn bibles and other religious books etc etc,,the list is long. Orthodox christians are being persecuted in Turkey, Iraq, Egypt, Sudan, etc. and I have never heard Human rights group or religious organizations asking for prayers on their behalf.
Are these types of persecutions prevalent in Eritrea, meaning ,are Orthodox christians being subjected to religious persecution as being reported , because of their faith? I mainly wish to know the status of Orthodox christians :Who is persecuting whom?
Thanks.
Following the independence of Eritrea from Ethiopia in 1993 the Eritrean Orthodox church pursues autocephalous from Ethiopia. As of now both Eritrea and Ethiopia have their on patriarchate and their apostolic succession is through that of Egypt and is considered the See of St. Mark. For more on the autocephalous of and short history of the Eritrean patriarchate visit the following link: http://www.tewahdo.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=143:eritrea-and-christianity&catid=67:eritrea-a-christianity-&Itemid=120
Currently, the Eritrean Orthodox Church is going under severe persecution. The persecution on Christians is inflicted by a Godless government (as in China) instead of a Muslim one. In fact many religious organizations are persecuted in Eritrea which is the reason for the universal outcry. Protestants, Catholics, Orthodoxs, Bahias, Muslims and others are persecuted in Eritrea.
However out of all religious groups Christians and especially Evangelical Christians are singled and have suffered the most. Actually, until 2005 the Orthodox Church was in a relative state of peace. However, since 2005 the government has geared its focus towards the Orthodox Church which has around two million followers in a country of 4 million.
The government has systematically moved to disintegrate the structure of the Orthodox Church by targeting the leadership of the church. The patriarch has been arrested in 2006 and no one knows his where about. Clergy are forced to going the military service leaving the flocks they were to look after to foxes. It is illegal to own a Bible if one is serving in the military. It is not uncommon for believers to be found with a Bible in military campus and suffer severe tortures and even death. The torturing methods are so horrific that I won’t discuss it here. Bibles have also been burned.
So far Orthodox, Catholic and Lutheran Christians still bare the right to build churches and attend church services as state acknowledged denominations. However Evangelical Christians and other Christians are stripped of these rights and it might be a matter of time before Orthodox, Catholic and Lutheran Christians share the fate of the other denominations.
Abduction and forceful marriage have not been reported so far.
Not only Orthodox Christians in Eritrea are prey to the systematic persecution but even those who are abroad. In many European and North American countries where there is large numbers of Eritreans the Eritrean government initiates cells by recruiting members using financial and other initiatives. These cells are responsible to bully and subdue the Eritrean Diaspora into compliance using their family members who are still in Eritrea as hostages.
Eritrea is one of the four countries labeled as ‘Country of Particular concern” by the US Secretary of State. The list includes Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Eritrea is also a candidate for the title state sponsor or terrorism due to its role in Somalia’s conflict. In addition to the Eritrean governments internal religious persecution and lack of democracy such dangerous international polices has played a role in the global protest against the Eritrean government.
May God grant peace to His Church that He found with His blood.
“Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies.” Hebrews 13:3
In Christ
Theophilus
please tell everyone you can before may 24th about this day of prayer.
as theophilus said, this has affected protestants more than the orthodox and catholics,
however we are all brothers in Christ and it is very important we support each other.
also, if the other denominations are affected first, the orthodox will surely not escape.
hey and if that's not enough they still have one of our patriarchs (the patriarch of the eritrean orthodox church).
latest info:
http://www.releaseinternational.org/pages/downloads/video.php
this is an 8 min video and does not have too many awful details so is suitable for showing in church, community centres, etc etc, it features intervies with eritrean refugees living in a refugee camp in ethiopia.
please watch the video!
please pray!
thanks so much
mabsoota
x
The influence of Judaism was present long before the introduction Christianity to Ethiopia in 333 A.D. by St. Frumentius. More historical background can be found in the following link: http://www.ethiopianorthodox.org/english/history.html
Following the independence of Eritrea from Ethiopia in 1993 the Eritrean Orthodox church pursues autocephalous from Ethiopia. As of now both Eritrea and Ethiopia have their on patriarchate and their apostolic succession is through that of Egypt and is considered the See of St. Mark. For more on the autocephalous of and short history of the Eritrean patriarchate visit the following link: http://www.tewahdo.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=143:eritrea-and-christianity&catid=67:eritrea-a-christianity-&Itemid=120
Currently, the Eritrean Orthodox Church is going under severe persecution. The persecution on Christians is inflicted by a Godless government (as in China) instead of a Muslim one. In fact many religious organizations are persecuted in Eritrea which is the reason for the universal outcry. Protestants, Catholics, Orthodoxs, Bahias, Muslims and others are persecuted in Eritrea.
However out of all religious groups Christians and especially Evangelical Christians are singled and have suffered the most. Actually, until 2005 the Orthodox Church was in a relative state of peace. However, since 2005 the government has geared its focus towards the Orthodox Church which has around two million followers in a country of 4 million.
The government has systematically moved to disintegrate the structure of the Orthodox Church by targeting the leadership of the church. The patriarch has been arrested in 2006 and no one knows his where about. Clergy are forced to going the military service leaving the flocks they were to look after to foxes. It is illegal to own a Bible if one is serving in the military. It is not uncommon for believers to be found with a Bible in military campus and suffer severe tortures and even death. The torturing methods are so horrific that I won’t discuss it here. Bibles have also been burned.
So far Orthodox, Catholic and Lutheran Christians still bare the right to build churches and attend church services as state acknowledged denominations. However Evangelical Christians and other Christians are stripped of these rights and it might be a matter of time before Orthodox, Catholic and Lutheran Christians share the fate of the other denominations.
Abduction and forceful marriage have not been reported so far.
Not only Orthodox Christians in Eritrea are prey to the systematic persecution but even those who are abroad. In many European and North American countries where there is large numbers of Eritreans the Eritrean government initiates cells by recruiting members using financial and other initiatives. These cells are responsible to bully and subdue the Eritrean Diaspora into compliance using their family members who are still in Eritrea as hostages.
Eritrea is one of the four countries labeled as ‘Country of Particular concern” by the US Secretary of State. The list includes Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Eritrea is also a candidate for the title state sponsor or terrorism due to its role in Somalia’s conflict. In addition to the Eritrean governments internal religious persecution and lack of democracy such dangerous international polices has played a role in the global protest against the Eritrean government.
May God grant peace to His Church that He found with His blood.
“Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies.” Hebrews 13:3
In Christ
Theophilus
Hi,
Thanks, but you could have saved the whole article. I have not asked for history nor am I interested to kown what the US secretary of state or various western backed Human rights groups and NGO's have to say. I have asked a specifc question and not the view of politicians. Please read once again. In other words, what is the nature of persecution that is occuring to Orthodox christians in Eritrea? Please do care to list some of them, so that I have a clear understanding of the issue.
hi all,
please tell everyone you can before may 24th about this day of prayer.
as theophilus said, this has affected protestants more than the orthodox and catholics,
Eritrea is the land of the true Orthodoxy, the inheritors and sons of St Athanasius the great and not the backyard of Protestanism or Charismatic cults. In the links provided, I read that the new cults, the disciples of Pat Robertsons , the fake health healers are legally banned in Eritrea, because they have began inflitrating the true faith in an attempt to proselytize and mislead the gullible youth. They invaded the church, so to say. The Russian Orthodox church has taken similar measures in order to protect their own Tradtional churchs as well.Moreover, the link provided furtherinformation,that there are only 4 ancient churchs that are allowed to operate:1) Orthodox tewahdo 2) Roman Catholic 3) Luthern Protestant 4) Islam...All others new foreign based fanatic cults are banned, because of the havoc they cause.
The Catholics and the Lutherns comprise only 2% .The rest of christianity is Orthodox. So who is persecuting whom? I would like to know.
my last post was continuing my thread; not specifically answering yours, but i will comment on yours here. there are 2 points in reply:
1. i am no expert on protestant theology in eritrea, but have spent many years discussing theology with protestants (of many different sorts) in the uk and have read many english-language theology books (protestant, catholic etc).
in my opinion, as a coptic orthodox Christian, the majority of protestants do not go to hyped-up faith healing services and support dodgy tv evangelists who 'peddle the word of God for profit' (2 corinthians 2:17). these are the fringe extremists who get bad press from the established churches (episcopalians, lutherans, evangelicals, baptists etc).
the majority hold fairly orthodox views, they just miss out on the importance of the holy communion and misunderstand the priesthood. they are generally ignorant about orthodoxy (like i used to be a few years ago) but they are usually people who actively seek God and wish to serve Him.
i believe that if these people are suffering for doing good in the name of Jesus and for reading their Bibles and wanting to take a copy of the Holy Bible with them on military service (a practice forbidden by the dictatorship) then we should be among the first to speak out and say this is wrong.
2. about who is persecuting whom (i have spent the last few days scouring the internet for reliable sources of information, this is a short summary).
the military dicatorship incarcerates and beats Christians simply for reading the Bible on military service or for having prayer meetings. these are not dangerous 'fringe' activities! families of people in prison have to pay big fines and people often have their food and money confiscated, causing malnutriton or starvation. there are currently food shortages in eritrea. there are thousands of missing people, some of whom are orthodox, most of whom are Christian.
we don't have a lot of up to date figures and information because THE JOURNALISTS WHO GO INTO ERITREA TEND NOT TO GET OUT AGAIN! there is currently a swedish journalist who has been missing in eritrea for a few years and many missing eritrean journalists.
the most recent info i can find is in the video link in my previous post. i will re-post it here for anyone who did not see it:
http://www.releaseinternational.org/pages/downloads/video.php
i have personally met orthodox and protestant eritreans who have suffered for their faith recently there in eritrea, and there are many more too traumatised to tell their stories.
there are also some stories i don't want to share directly here, they are too awful. for the uncensored version, i will repeat a link i have previously posted (v long document) and will add a radio report link which has a lot of detail. please do not follow this link if you are feeling low. i was feeling v strong and i cried for about half an hour.
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/04/16/eritrea-repression-creating-human-rights-crisis
(pdf report)
http://www.inchainsforchrist.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=38&Itemid=57
(this is 23 mins, for adults only)
don't forget, NO-ONE outside eritrea has heard from the patriarch, aboune antonius for nearly 2 years! last they heard, he was in poor health (he is over 80). may God give him strength.
i understand the reaction of several people who say, 'hang on, if things are so bad, how come we didn't hear about this before?'
i don't know why there is not more media discussion of this, but i know all the eritreans in the diaspora who speak out risk terrible things happening to their relatives back home.
so we need to speak for them.
this campaign is something supported by the british orthodox church and i believe the other churches will add their voices once they are well informed (i am working on this! please help spread the news!)
see: http://www.britishorthodox.org/
the day of prayer is still front page news!
i hope this answers your questions. i will not be on tasbeha much in the next week due to my busy job, but i will try to answer any other qu's when i come back (or maybe theophilus can step in for me :) he knows some things i don't.)
may God give us wisdom and our brothers and sisters grace and endurance xx
The reason why so many of our Fathers and brethren suffered and died in past centuries is because of the persecution by state power of those who thought differently. The great deficiency of the Byzantine Empire was that it believed that the Church was simply a department of state and that unity could and should be enforced by military and legal means. It is never Christian, as far as I can see, to restrict the freedom of people to believe, and those Christian communities who support such repression often find that it is eventually directed at them. The actions of the Russian state in denying freedom of religion, and similar such conditions exist in Greece, are not something to be satisfied with. Indeed if we think that it is right that an Orthodox country repress Protestant communities then we cannot complain when a Protestant country wishes to eliminate Orthodoxy, or a Muslim country wishes to eliminate Christianity.
I was brought up an Evangelical and I personally rarely came into contact with people who were members of 'fanatic cults'. Almost all Evangelicals are solid, committed Christians, who certainly have a deficient Christian tradition, but are not fanatical. They love Christ and wish others to learn about him and come into a relationship with him.
It has been well known among those who are in touch with Eritreans that the situation in Eritrea has been going downhill for quite a while. In my own Church we remember the deposed and imprisoned patriarch at our liturgies, and my own bishop has helped to organise an ecumenical prayer service for Eritrea in the past. The persecution is organised by the atheist government and encompasses all Christians, as has been described. Even though Ethiopia and Eritrea have large Orthodox populations they still suffered for decades under the atheist regime of Mengistu. Perhaps half a million people, especially intellectuals and church leaders, were killed under his 'Red Terror'.
Eritrea has inherited the same sort of government even after independence from Ethiopia. Etritrea is a one party state, with no independent media. Though persecution of Christians began with the evangelicals, it also encompassed any Eritrean Orthodox who challenged the state, and the Patriarch was taken by the state and has not been seen alive for a long time. As has been described, Orthodox priests are now being required to leave their parishes and congregations and join the army.
If nothing is said by Orthodox when the state persecutes evangelicals, then who will be there to speak out when it persecutes Orthodox?
Father Peter
i will be posting an update later on this week, please watch this space
:)
actually publihed 10 days ago but i just found it..
from 'church in chains' an irish charity (mentioned in the british orthodox website), discussing the human rights watch report that came out last month:
http://www.ccfc.ie/node/268
"The 95-page report, "Service for Life: State Repression and Indefinite Conscription in Eritrea," documents serious human rights violations by the Eritrean government, including arbitrary arrest, torture, appalling detention conditions, forced labour, and severe restrictions on freedom of movement, expression, and worship.
The Eritrean Ambassador to the UK and Ireland, Mr. Tesfamichael Gerahtu, has not commented on the content of the report but did state publicly that his government had no intentions of heeding the recommendations of the report.
The number of Christian prisoners in Eritrea is currently estimated at 3,000. Someare held in prisons but many others are kept in police stations and makeshift prisons such as shipping containers or open air facilities in military camps. Prisoners are routinely tortured and most are held arbitrarily – without any charges being brought against them. Many have come under severe pressure to sign documents renouncing their faith.
A number of persecuted Church support organisations are encouraging special prayer for Eritrea during May and especially on Eritrea's national day (Sunday 24 May).
The annual protest vigil to highlight the continuing persecution of Christians in Eritrea will be held outside the Eritrean Embassy in London on Thursday 28 May. As the Eritrean Embassy in London is officially the Embassy for Britain and Ireland, Church in Chains invites supporters to travel to London to participate in this vigil which is being jointly organised with Christian Solidarity Worldwide and Release Eritrea!
Protest Vigil at Eritrean Embassy, London (Thursday 28 May)
Thursday 28 May
The annual protest vigil to highlight the continuing persecution of Christians in Eritrea will be held outside the Eritrean Embassy in London on Thursday 28 May.
As the Eritrean Embassy in London is officially the Embassy for Britain and Ireland, Church in Chains invites supporters to travel to London to participate in this vigil which is being jointly organised with Christian Solidarity Worldwide and Release Eritrea!
for vigil at Embassy – 96 White Lion Street (near Angel Tube Station) (3.00 pm - 4.00pm)."
if anyone will be anywhere near london on 28thmay, pls send me a personal message.
may God bless you all
3 Christian women were freed recently who had been unjustly detained for spreading Christianity in their village. Praise God.
please continue to pray for the other prisoners, estimates range between 2000-3000 brothers and sisters suffering for our faith.
will anyone be in london on 28th, next thursday?
pls let me know :)
this is an old one, i just didn't know about it before. it is from abba seraphim of the british othodox church (therefore also one of the coptic orhodox metropolitans)
http://www.abuneantonios.com/
it is all about abune antonius, with some nice pictures as well
may God bless eritrea
Am I alone who is getting amazed everytime I read mabsoota's post? I am not certain,if mabsoota knows exactly what she is asking of us. As far as I am concerend, the problemes of fanatic Protestant and other denominations is not our Problem. We have our own.
Having siad this,Here are some of the lines mabsoota wrote: This sentence is in the first post. Any casual reader who has no idea about Eritrea would assume and believe Christians,including the Orthodox in eritrea are being subject to persecution similar to the suffering of their spritual brethen in the muslim world.Mabsoota is implying that she definately knows!
Then mabsoota writes: We do not know who these observers are, because mabsoota is not telling us, but mabsoota is once more confirming that the Eritrean Orthodox church is being destroyed without the us being aware.
After reading this bold claim, I asked a specific question, because Eritrea like ethiopian is Orthodox dominated country since the 3rd centuries. Forget the lies that 'release international' wrote about the compostion of the Orthodox in Eritrea. They have it as 40% Christians Vs to 60% muslims. This is a deliberate lie to mislead readers and gullible individuals into thinking that musilms are overtaking and that evangelization(the charismatic type,of course) of the people is necessary. However,I wanted to know who is persecuting whom. I asked for examples , the form of persecution orthodox christians are suffering there.
Mabsoota's reply: My question was not answered, but the case shifted to protestants.The idea that ' we are brothers in Christ" does not certainly answer my question.
then this line There is no more mention of the persecution of Orthodox christians as was evident in mabsoota's first posts.Moreover, mabsoota claims that the protestants who were beaten are not "are not dangerous 'fringe' activities .The question is,how does mabsoota know??
Also, Eritrea is not Saudi Arabia where people would be jailed for reading or walking with the bible. Are we expected to believe whatever nonsense comes our way???
Some of us wondered why we have not heard or read about Orthodox persecution in this part of the word and mabsoota said: It is any body's guess,what is this supposed to mean?
Last but not least, mabsoota said at the beginning iof her post. Thus is funny.Everything what mabossta posted is political. Not only that, mabsoota is not only asking us to join shady organizations who do not have the wellbeing of people at heart,but only their own selfish interests to join them in prayers , bout also wants us to speak for "them" whoever they are or even join to protest in front of the eritrean embassy? If this is not politics, I do not know what it is.
BTW,this is not the first time that this organizations are asking people for prayers for Eritrea . Remember ,they never organized such a thing for our Orthodox brethern all over the musilm world,not just egypt, because there is no money to be made by advocating for the rights of the Orthodox faithful.
I am not done yet.I will set the record straight.Until then, I ask everyone here not to trust ,join and support dubios political organizations about whom we do not know what they are really all about either in prayers or in other functions.
I do not believe that mabsoota has any concern for the political situation in Eritrea but is wholly concerned for the suffering of Christians there. If you do not believe her, and will not believe me, then you should at least believe my bishop, and other bishops of the Coptic Orthodox Church, including our own Pope, who do believe that the Orthodox Church in Eritrea, as well as other Christian communities, are being oppressed.
Father Peter
I am not prepared to support or offer prayers for fanatic branches of the protestant church such as Pentecostal Charismatic Cults who had found fertile grounds to mushroom and are hell bent on destroying the social fabric of the Orthodox faithful in Eritrea and Ethiopia and the African Continent as a whole.
There is a programme known as 10/40 window a term that is invented by evangelical missionaries. The programme refers to:
"an area of the world that contains the largest population of non-Christians in the world... a geographical location measured on a map by 10 and 40 degrees North latitude, stretching through North Africa, the Middle East, India, and China, all the way to the Indonesian islands. With a total population of 3.2 billion, including 80% of the worlds poorest of the poor, the 10/40 Window includes 64 countries and many hundreds of separate people groups within those countries. Every major non-Christian world religion was born out of this location, including Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Shintoism and Taoism…the primary spiritual battleground in the world today…the Church's final evangelistic frontier…"
In other terms,the 10/40 window is an area targeted by Fanatic Evangelical Christians for proselytizing a latitude zone which includes a number of countries .Such programmes are supported and funded by Fanatic Tele Evangelists like Pat Robertson and others in his league .
Check their area map here:www.time.com/time/covers/1101030630/map/
A number of organizations such us RELEASE INTRENATIONAL , WORLD REACH, INCHAINS , JOSHUA PROJECT and several shady NGO'S are involved in "the 10-40 Window" campaign.
Eritrea and Ethiopia falls within the area of their map. Eritrea's population is evenly divided between Christians and Moslems but has been purposely labeled “Islamic” by these groups.These cults do not approach muslims or non-christians to fulfil their agenda. They target the Orthodox and had been doing that in Eritrea since the early 1990's until they were finally banned and booted out of the country.
HH Pope Shenouda has asked us to pray ONLY for his spritual brother,His Holiness Patriarch Antonious of Eritrea.That is all. HH Pope Shenouda did not request of us to join political orgs to offer our Prayers for those who have left the Orthodox church and as a consequence banned from further activities.
There certainly are problems in the Eritrean Holy Synod,and Pope Shenoda knows it and has compared the problems with his own suffering during the 1980's. That is written in El kereza.That is why HH asked us to rememeber HH patriarch Antonous in the Diptych.
It is natural for a young Chuch such as the Eritrean Orthodox church to go through crises as the devil is always there to create havoc, but that does not amount to perscution of Orthodox Christians as some want us to believe. I know,apart from the Orthodox church,the Catholic, the Luthern Protestant Church and islam, all other new foreign religions that have been labled as being dangerous to the society and do not conform to local customs are LEGALLY BANNED.The followers of the 3 established churchs and Islam are NOT PERSECUTED for their faith. If there is anyone that holds views to the contary,then it is a BOLD LIE.
I have visted the Eritrean Orthodox church in my city for enquiry and the Eritrean society firmly rejects the establishment and proliferation of Cults and Fake evangelism. Moreover, the society knows our Lord Jesus Christ since the first centuries. It has no need for the Pat Robertson of this world to be 'born again'.
As man of God, I expect His Grace Anba Seraphim to condemn any form of persecution.But also ,as an Orthodox bishop I want to be certain that he does not wish to see the destruction and replacement of the Orthodox christians in Eritrea or elsewhere in the world by other denominations..
I see no reason why I should support and pray for the benefit of religious sects of other denominations, while my own spritual brethens in Egypt, Iraq, Turkey,Syria, Sudan, and other parts of the world are dying out,being abused and persecuted for who they are on a daily basis?? I am not aware that these organizations had ever appointed a day of prayer for the sake of these people. Why are they selective?
If BOC website alters the intention of the prayer on behalf of HH Patriarch Antonous of Eritrea and our Bothers in the whole of the middle east, I and my vast network friends throughout the world will join and I would also be happy to invite all OO churchs(20+ of them) in my city to remember and pray for the intentions.Then I would know what I am exactly asking of our Lord in my prayers.
Needless to mention, maboosta's posts are contradictory and overwhelmingly political.
I will follow up later.
I am aware of a great many non-Orthodox groups who are aware of the persecution suffered by Orthodox in many places, and who remember those Orthodox Christians in prayer. I am also aware of a great many groups that do not distinguish which suffering Christians need to be remembered in prayer and remember all.
I do not need to pray for the success of any non-Orthodox group acting in any country but it seems a Christian duty to pray for those who suffer, without distinction. If Christ commanded us to pray for our enemies then we should do that.
Do not forget that I was an evangelical and I spent time in Africa with evangelical missionaries. Most are not 'fanatic' at all. They are ordinary people who love the Lord Jesus and wish others to know him, even at great cost to themselves. It is inconceivable that someone would become a missionary of any Christian group and go to Eritrea simply to make money. I know evangelicals very well, most are not fanatics at all.
You asked a local Eritrean Church if they wanted to see cults and fake evangelism established in Eritrea. That was hardly an unbiased question. The reports seem entirely clear and trustworthy from a great many sources that people who love Christ are suffering, both Orthodox and non-Orthodox. If you choose not to believe those reports then that is fine, but if you consider the members of non-Orthodox groups to be enemies then Christ commands you to pray for them, and if they are not enemies then how can we fail to pray for them.
At this very moment there are people who love Christ, but who do not know the fulness of the Orthodox Faith, who are locked in metal crates in the burning Sun because they love Christ. How can we not pray for them. This does not involve praying for the establishment of any other Christian group at all.
It seems to me that it would be wrong to pray only for HH Antonios, as we do in the BOC every Sunday in any case, and that I must pray for all those who love Christ, however deficiently, not least because I know that I myself love Christ deficiently, and even more, I know that he loved me when I was an Evangelical. Indeed I remember the verse..
(Luk 6:27-32) But I say to you that hear: Love your enemies. Do good to them that hate you. Bless them that curse you and pray for them that calumniate you. And to him that striketh thee on the one cheek, offer also the other. And him that taketh away from thee thy cloak, forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every one that asketh thee: and of him that taketh away thy goods, ask them not again. And as you would that men should do to you, do you also to them in like manner. And if you love them that love you, what thanks are to you? For sinners also love those that love them.
I will not be praying for the success of any other Christian group, but I will be praying for the individuals whose names are known who are suffering, both Orthodox and non-Orthodox, who love the name of Christ and seek to serve him, however deficiently.
Father Peter
Because some in today's world would like to see all religions worship together, they want Christians to tolerate falsehood and condone those who contradict God’s Word. However, that would not be the loving thing to do, for the Bible makes it perfectly clear that there is no salvation apart from faith in Christ. If we deny that fact (by our tolerance of false religion) souls could be lost (Acts 4:12). In fact, we could not even be true to our God if we refused to condemn false gods, for God is not about to tolerate false gods. He never has, and He never will! As far as He is concerned, those who regard Him as one God among many are idolaters, no matter how tolerant they appear to be (2Kings 17:6-35). The Holy Bible tells us that God not only condemned Sodom and Gomorra for tolerating evil, but also condemned Babylon, Gibeah, Egypt, and other nations for the same reason (Judges 19:15-30, Genesis 19).
Tolerating evil is not a virtue, it simply is a crime, tolerance of evil is Satan's delight!
You are saying that it is a crime to pray for those who suffer for the name of Christ who do not belong to an Orthodox Church?
Which false Gods are being worshipped by those who worship the name of Christ and are willing to suffer torture and death for his sake?
Who is tolerating evil? I am not at all sure what your post means. How does it relate to the real people, men, women and children, who are being tortured and killed and who need our prayers? Are you saying it is evil to pray for them? If you are saying that then I believe it is contrary to our Christian faith. The parable of the Good Samaritan springs to mind. He was not a Jew. He was not part of God's chosen people, yet he was used to show that we should care for all people, not just our friends.
Father Peter