From left: His Holiness Abune Pertos, Head of the Holy Synod Secretariat, His Holiness Abune Mathias I, Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, President Sahle-Work, and His Holiness Abune Abraha, General Manager of the Holy Synod. Photo: President’s officeAddis Abeba – Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde, in a statement she released on social media after meeting with leaders of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOTC), including the Patriarch Abune Mathias I, said that “using race and religion for political gain is crossing the red line”. “If no boundaries are set in life, work, and social aspects, it become a source of danger for human kind,” she remarked in connection to the ongoing schism within the EOTC. Expressing her grief for the lives lost during confrontations between faithfuls and security forces, she said that, “religions are the last strongholds for us, believers. They give hope, strength and endurance”.

Source: Ethiopian News February 14, 2023 22:20 UTC