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Dies war die Frage, mit der sich die Vertreterinnen und Vertreter Afrikas des Zentralausschusses des Ökumenischen Rates der Kirchen (ÖRK) beschäftigten. Über 30 Kirchenvertretende und Angestellte des ÖRK aus Afrika trafen sich im Rahmen der Zentralausschusstagung, die vom 23. bis 28. Juni 2021 online stattfindet.

This was the question African representatives to the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee asked themselves. More than 30 representatives of churches and WCC staff members from Africa met as part of the WCC central committee meeting held online from 23 – 28 June 2021.

World Council of Churches acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca led a prayer for love, peace and kindness for the nation of Ethiopia during a service at the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York on 19 June.

As Ethiopia faces increasing inter-communal tensions and violence, and rising cases of COVID-19, the nation’s religious communities have been jointly observing a special week of prayer for peace, an interreligious initiative that is bringing people together from all over the country.

World Council of Churches (WCC) interim general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca sent letters to Ethiopian prime minister Dr Abiy Ahmed Ali as well as to WCC member churches in Ethiopia expressing serious concern over alarming reports of conflict, massacres and other human rights abuses, particularly in the Tigray and Beninshangul-Gumuz regions, over the last months.

A senior African church humanitarian official is calling for joint efforts to meet the growing humanitarian challenge in Tigray, the region in northern Ethiopia.

In a pastoral letter to “sisters and brothers in Ethiopia,” eight faith-based organizations expressed Christian love and care, as well as a commitment to accompany churches and people of Ethiopia as they face the challenges confronting their country.

Der ÖRK-Exekutivausschuss hat eine Erklärung veröffentlicht und bittet im Gebet für die Menschen und Kirchen in Äthiopien.

The WCC executive committee released a statement lifting up in prayer the people and churches of Ethiopia.

“The unbearable toll of lives lost, and the impact on the affected communities and nations, must engage the concern, solidarity and action of the international community and all people of goodwill, to stem the bloodshed and to confront the brutal ideologies behind such atrocities,” wrote Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, interim general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), on 3 November, as he commented on the violent extremist attacks in western Ethiopia, Kabul and Vienna.

In Meskel celebrations held under World Health Organization COVID-19 safety protocols, Abune Mathias, patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, called for dialogue, peace and reconciliation in the country, where ethnic tensions recently flared up.

Religious leaders and faith-based organizations have released a call to prayer as people in Africa continue to face the COVID-19 pandemic.

Der Ökumenische Rat der Kirchen (ÖRK) gratuliert dem äthiopischen Ministerpräsidenten Abiy Ahmed zur Verleihung des Friedensnobelpreises 2019. Seit seiner Wahl zum Ministerpräsidenten im April 2018 hat Ahmed ein beeindruckendes Programm positiver und inspirierender Reforminitiativen durchgeführt, eine entscheidende Rolle in der Versöhnung der beiden Synoden übernommen und sich für die Einheit der Äthiopischen Orthodoxen Kirche Tewahedo eingesetzt. Die Leistung, die der Friedensnobelpreis in besonderer Weise würdigt, ist jedoch die unter seiner Federführung entstandene Initiative, die den seit zwanzig Jahren bestehenden brudermörderischen Konflikt zwischen Äthiopien und Eritrea beendet hat.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) offers its congratulations to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed as Nobel Peace Prize laureate 2019. Since his election as Prime Minister in April 2018, Mr Ahmed has championed an impressive programme of positive and inspiring reform initiatives, and played a decisive role in the reconciliation of the two synods and fostered unity of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. The achievement which this award particularly recognizes is his leadership in bringing an formal end to the twenty-year long fratricidal conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Ethiopians have celebrated the annual festival of the Meskel (which means “cross” in Amharic), marking the finding of the “true cross” on which Jesus Christ was supposedly crucified. The festival is one of the major religious celebrations of the Orthodox Church in the Horn of Africa country. The main national feast - which occurs on 27 or 28 September - is held at Meskel Square in the capital Addis Abba.

Dr. Nigussu Legesse shared in the joy a year ago when the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church declared an end to a 27-year-old schism that had torn it apart. That rapprochement set in motion a series of events that are taking him back to his homeland.
Legesse was then World Council of Churches (WCC) programme executive and convener for Africa.
After more than 10 years at the council, he is moving back to Addis Ababa as executive director of the Consortium of Christian Relief and Development Associations.

Der ÖRK-Exekutivausschuss hat die Versöhnung zwischen Äthiopien und Eritrea begrüßt. In einer Erklärung auf der Tagung vom 2.–8. November in Uppsala, Schweden hat der Ausschuss von den Mitgliedskirchen weitere Unterstützung für die Initiativen der beiden Länder gefordert.