After Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office, Orthodox Christians celebrated. But the mood didn’t last long.

When two men were shot dead by police on the night of 5 February in downtown Addis Ababa amidst confrontations triggered by the construction of a church that the authorities claimed was without proper permits, many Orthodox Christians in Ethiopia saw the incident as a continuation of a growing number of attacks against their religion over the past two years.

The episode saw government officials trying to demolish the foundations of a church in the middle of the night. They were met with resistance from the faithful; tear gas and live bullets were fired in clashes that continued for hours. In addition to two deaths, numerous others sustained injuries.

Over subsequent days, people took to social media in an outpouring of anger that at first seemed temporary.  But reports indicating that the plot of land in question had been given to an influential evangelical preacher with close ties to the Prime Minister contributed to continued  frustration.  During services in churches across Ethiopia’s bustling capital, a sentiment of being ‘under siege’ continued to be demonstrated by clerics and worshippers alike. A series of sermons titled “Wake Up Call” in which the attacks are often remembered have become increasingly popular.

These sentiments, of concern and frustration, were visible earlier. In September 2019 tens of thousands of followers of the church took to the streets in more than a dozen towns and cities denouncing attacks against the faithful as well as against churches in a number of places across the country. It took only a few weeks for violence to resurface. In late October, church leaders said more than sixty individuals belonging to the Orthodox religion were killed during a bout of clashes prompted when authorities allegedly tried to remove bodyguards of a prominent activist turned politician, Jawar Mohammed.

Since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power in early 2018, Ethiopia has seen growing ethnic and religious conflicts with different religious institutions including mosques and Pentecostal places of worship attacked. But many belonging to the country’s largest faith group, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, believe they are particularly embattled.

Dwindling dominance

For hundreds of years, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church held sway over a succession of imperial regimes that reigned over the East African country—an influence that inevitably translated into liturgical and cultural hegemony.

In the mid-1970s, a Marxist junta overthrew Ethiopia’s last emperor, Haile Selassie I, effectively putting an end to the symbiotic marriage between the church and the state. And with that, no longer were leaders required to carve their legitimacy from the church’s blessing, meaning the church could no longer rely on the state’s preferential treatment for expansion and consolidation.

Governments that ruled the country in the following decades habitually equated the church with an unjust bygone era, but ordinary congregants nonetheless continued practicing their faith with no particular hindrance even during 17 years of a Marxist regime that was by definition anti-religion.

Followers of the Orthodox Church account for nearly half of Ethiopia’s population estimated currently to be above 110 million, making it the largest of the six Oriental Orthodox churches. This higher percentage of the population meant a higher degree of representation in government bureaucracies, which might have helped the average adherents to practice their faith in relative ease.

But there were complaints and concerns. A key one was that the authorities, especially since the late Meles Zenawi took power in the early 1990s, co-opted the church’s top leadership and facilitated the appointment of figures who were subservient to the political elite. The church’s synod split in two in the early years of Meles’ premiership with one patriarch at home and an opponent in exile.

Complicated relationship

When Abiy consolidated a new period of political and economic reforms, Orthodox Christians, like a large portion of the population, had a lot to celebrate and to hope for. The premier personally arbitrated a reconciliation between the divided synod and during his first visit to the U.S. he met and returned with a former head of the church who had been expelled from the country in 1991.

The result was that Abiy’s image adorned Orthodox celebrations; it did not seem to matter for the faithful that he had been outspoken about his Pentecostalism, a rival faith group that’s been rapidly growing in Ethiopia, largely at the expense of the Orthodox Church.

But that love affair hasn’t lasted; many Orthodox Christians now seem to have a different view of the Prime Minister. During his two years in office, attacks against the church have increased to an unprecedented degree. In areas where Orthodox Christians are a minority, followers have been killed and churches burned down with no or little protection offered from the government.

In August 2018, a senior church official told the BBC that in the city of Jigjiga, in the eastern part of the country, seven priests were killed. Six months later two other churches were attacked in the same area during violence that left twelve dead.  A number of other attacks happened in Oromia. Other religions’ buildings were also attacked in outbreaks of violence. For example, one most prominent case was the burning of four mosques in Mota town in Amhara region.

But despite such incidents, many Orthodox Christians feel they are particularly under threat, and they are also concerned that they lack political representation to highlight their plight. When Abiy rebranded and restructured the coalition that ruled Ethiopia for nearly three decades as the Prosperity Party, some people noted that none of the seven founding signatory parties had a leader from the country’s biggest religion.

Another point of frustration is a budding movement within the church itself in which some ethnic Oromo clerics are demanding a higher degree of autonomy. Some see the movement as politically motivated, aimed at weakening the church. The movement’s leaders have sometimes joined political rallies and are often seen with non-Orthodox politicians, making some of the faithful even more suspicious.

Ethiopia is a religious country where, according to a survey by Pew Research Center, 98 per cent of the Orthodox Christian population say their faith is very important in their life. As it’s heading to an election that is supposed to be the first democratic one in decades this August, Prime Minister Abiy’s party might need to work harder to win the votes of the country’s Orthodox Christians.

Follow us on Twitter @EthiopiaInsight and join our Telegram channel here

This is the author’s viewpoint. However, Ethiopia Insight will correct clear factual errors.

Editor: William Davison, Patrick Gilkes

Main photo: Orthodox Christians protest in Bahir Dar, 22 September 2019; EBC

Query or correction? Email us

Published under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. Cite Ethiopia Insight and link to this page if republished. 

16 Nov 2019 Prize-winning double standards

4 Jul 2019 Old habits die hard

19 Jun 2019 The bastardization of Ethiopia’s modernity

April 23, 2019 Revealing Barara—the long-lost African medieval city

Feb. 25, 2019 Easing Ethiopia’s ancestral burden

We need your support to deliver news from across Ethiopia

Please help fund an Ethiopia Insight reporter

Become a patron at Patreon!

About the author

Tarrik Abatt

Tarrik is a writer and researcher based in Addis Ababa who is interested in religion, culture, and politics.

9 Comments

  • I am Declaring to all churches headed by this congregation take down all False images all no images of i king of king lord of lords Rastafari is not a white man Proclaim by any of you as (Chris that is a lie or i will come in two ways by fire to you )
    now i am talking to in the form as Human ) this tabernacle meet me in Person in 1995 Easter in Princess St Lodge Georgetown Guyana South America , at the Second Orthodox church ever built in the Universe History, Ethiopia n Guyana 1n2 none else … clean up my Place of Spiritual warship ,,, . i am coming it before i Present myself in Person i know you what i am communicating about Spiritual you know 1554 years ago … bible Hebrew books in my Right Hand seal Guarded with sword in my hand I Mikael (Y A) my other Hand Master + Emmanuel Grabel seal (Y E +) beside me no other of Any other Race in any Human not even my own Race none from this none any of Hebrew children shall not bow Down before any White Images or any other Black Images beside what i Declare none follow them fire n brim stone to all weather you old or young fire ,,, I am here in the City of London Ontario Canada it as to those of you may chose to blind your eyes or deaf your ears to pick up his majesty in my titles king of king from be neat his office in Dec, 1997 to where he was hidden from 1974 don’t debate i already convict all in spirit year 2000 lay to rest .. or i will come with hot hot fire i told you in spirit no phone no email no letter but you hear me on dec, 1997 n yeah you comply now you for sure where his remains are before none of you knew (key Lion of Judah Revelation the Angel with book in his Right Hand ok i am here come walking son man coming to his Throne Power Strength Glory Righteousness HOLY TRUE FAITHFULL NOT HERE TO TAKE ORDERS FROM ANY NONE OR IMA COME FIRE OBIDA BIBLE Malki. no debate none lets see who true or who false or if you all trying be smart or which of any of you is praying to dog in the church this time the spirit of judas will rest for sure clean up my tabernacle don’t address me as you address the white man n don’t pray to that fake false image stop misleading my young generation move them charity out tabernacle save up all of my collection on Sunday i have use for monitory that benefit stop taking donation from other country in Europ i dont like freeness i hate donation strive to develop true industrialization from the holy true Messiah they were sold but i will Redeem for nothing its my work not any one else none or i will come with fire just as you remove the recent king his majesty i the first same i will burn it down every thing every God Judgement stop praying to that white man image behind it a dog that is what all of you as praying to from them to now a dog …

  • I am not sure, what the author expected from Orthodox Christian, when we have a prime minister who is a Protestant that did not care about our mother church.

    He allowed and wide open the door to lawless idiots in order to attack the church, if he can see but I am sure, he is blind with his spiritual sight he could see the value of this church and he should protect the church but he is not, I will be surprised some good orthodox believers vote for this guy

  • Tarrik,
    You really did not answer the question in your title. And, your description of events is short-sighted since you preferred only the last couple of years and also one-sided since you ignored what happened to the followers and properties of other religions. So, what is your point?
    Perhaps Awale’s observations explain your question better: re-write your article, man!

  • Obviously , nothing but the Orthodox Churche’s alleged injustice is self-induced for couple of reasons. These include, among other things. 1. as the writer mentioned, it had an exclusive status and privilege, if not called the shots when it comes to the State policies and function, before the Derg tegime ; 2. it was the owner of one third of land and resources along with the imperial family and feudal landlords in that era; 3. it faces serious competition against other sects and is losing ground to churches like crafty Pentecostal which armed with more resources, knowledge and new approach that freaks them out and Abiye being one of them isn’t reassuring thing; 4. there are internal rebellion and conflict within such as Oromo vs Amhara, Tigrai vs Amhara, etc. 5. It doesn’t feel comfortable seenig that it’s traditional nemesis of islamic faith, which by the way suffered as much in terms of burning and wanton attacks, and its followers are getting breathing space or having peace with its self and with others.

    • You don’t seem to understand the difference between an attack by wanton gangs and an attack by government agents. None of the other religions other than EOTC has experienced an attack by government agents. Whatever you stated is the result of your misunderstanding the difference.

    • Wow , you calling the penticostals crafty is just beyond crazy funny the pentecostal that Robb the poor people of Ethiopia in broad day light and humiliate themselves and the congregation and has absolutely nothing to give the people in ways of wisdom aside the money pouring in from their puppet masters in the west has nothing on Ethiopian orthodox Tewahido Christian bet christian and that’s why the elite is actually freaking out and trying to kill off if possible the institution the people don’t feel under attach they are for a fact under attack.

  • I think the prime minister deserves respect. He single handedly united the divided church, generously offered mayor’s palace to the patriarch, convinced the UAE leader to provide space for the church and his close advisor is an ardent Orthodox deacon. We have also seen the premier attending Synod’s meeting in person, we have heard him speaking favourable things about the glory and history of Orthodox church. Ethiopian Orthodox church has never seen a leader like Abiy Ahmed in the past 5 decades.

    You have to remember that there are 23 million Evangelicals and 33 million Muslims in Ethiopia. If you include the catholics and animists, the number of Orthodox believers has declined from 50 million to around 35 million. This demography change has nothing to do with Abiy as it happened before his ascent to power.

    The current problem in Ethiopia has affected all religions equally. Singling out one religion as victim is not correct and doesn’t reflect the real situation.

    • Why are you making up numbers is that so the development aid will not stop coming, Ethiopian Orthodox Christians are more than 70 million.

    • Abiy contributed nothing to unite the Orthodox church; we merely came at the end and took the credit. As a matter fact he sees the church as Amhara power that deserves to be cracked and pulverized.

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.