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With a historic show of unity, Ethiopian churches meeting at the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey made the decision to establish a council of churches in their country.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Prof. Rev. Dr Jerry Pillay expressed deep concern about recent developments that massively affect the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and threaten its unity.

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.

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.

Each year students from all over the world arrive at Bossey near Geneva for a three-month language training course to pave their way for ecumenical studies that follow on straight after. “The title captures the goal of the course,” says Father Lawrence Iwuamadi, the Nigerian priest who studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and is academic dean of the Ecumenical Institute.

The WCC general secretary, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, and Abune Mathias, patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, affirmed their commitment in Addis Ababa to “continue working together to accomplish visions for justice and peace”.