The black man, whose dreams are always of freedom, does not understand the IMPOSSIBILITY of gaining freedom and peace through machine guns. He cannot see the POSSIBILITY of gaining peace from the individual himself, through love and understanding.
The mission of the Church is to restore people to unity with God and with each other. In the course of it's work, the Church is not kept alive by the purity of it's dogma and tradition, which alone cannot be a complete task, but rather by it's active commitment to the needs of the people. It is therefore called upon to help individuals and communities face painful and disruptive changes in the circumstances of their lives.
Today, vast numbers of people suffer not only from various emotional pains, depression, boredom, anxiety, restlessness, inability to learn, inability to work, inability to make commitments, but also vast numbers of people suffer from various acts of injustice, oppression, discrimination and from lack of freedom to be human. Thus because of these stressful issues in the lives of persons in our world who might need specialized care, the Church should allow itself to offer it's services within this framework, not only to provide pastoral and psychological services, but also to speak out against injustice.
Most of the time we hear criticisms from several goverments and individuals on the involvement of the Church in community affairs.
to denounce violations of human dignity, to identify itself with the poor and oppressed. This principle does not make the Church a political party or as taking sides with political parties, but as God is the Father of all and above all, His Church is above all parties, appointed by God to see that all justices are done on the planet, The Earth, to freely speak against all injustices and wrong doing.
All persons around the world are called upon to do justice in their administrations. Furthermore, Christian Churches and other religious denominations are called upon to speak out and pray for peace and justice.
If the Church, which is to be an instrument of the word of God and the mouth of the oppressed, is to keep silent and be afraid to witness the truth, it means that she has forgotten that Christ was a revolutionary and compassionate, and that he established the Church as a revolutionary God, contradicting himself with the old system, which was contrary to the freedom and welfare of all men.
He was not silent. Instead, He suffered and died and all Apostles followed His steps. They were murdered one after the other witnessing the truth.
Yet; the Church today is not different from the "..Priest and Levite in St. Luke who mercilessly passed the victim by on the other side.", during the time the theives wounded him and departed leaving him half dead.
They were ashamed or afraid to witness the truth. Thus, shall also Christ be ashamed of them when he cometh in the Glory of His Father.
(Abba Yesehaq)
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church abroad is a blessing to its faithful believers and is the fulfillment of the promise of the Almighty Father to gather together His people under their own vine and fig tree. One can be deeply inspired by the great act taking place among the scattered sons and daughters of Africa.
We are in a period of national and cultural revival and have reached the right age for all people of African decent to investigate the past and look forward to rediscovering their cultural heritage. It is the proper time for every National group to search for identity. The Jew needs to practice the rites of Judaism; The Western nations need to belong to the life of the great Western civilization; the African descendants, too, want to identify themselves with the spirit of Africa.
Africa has made her contributions to nations. This contribution is for the most part a spiritual one. The Ethiopian Orthodox church has stretched her hands unto the east and west and has established branch churches in Jerusalem, Sudan, West Germany, Djibouti, England, North and South America, and the Caribbean countries.
Thus another contribution of spiritual power has been added to the already Christian nations of the world. The establishment of the branches of the Ethiopian Orthodox church abroad was made possible through the invitation of zealous followers of the Ancient Ethiopian faith and is the fulfillment of their dreams.
It has been a long time since African people were separated from each other against their will. Ethiopia, together with the church, has kept the cultures and heritages of Africa to this day. She has put forward and maintained the greatest effort in keeping alive this cultural history of the black people. The Ethiopian church has always considered it her privilege and duty to reach out to non-Christian peoples at home and abroad. However a Christian church, being the Kingdom of God, should not and cannot limit itself to one nation.
It must go out and preach the Gospel throughout the world regardless of race, colour, or distance following the commandment of our Lord: “Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the ages.” The church of Ethiopia has been an ancient lighthouse for freedom before and after Christ. She will not force anyone to break contact with what he or she is attached to, and she is continuously praying for the entire world that God should hasten His purpose and put in the mind of all the desire for that which is good and expedient. The Churches missionary activities outside Ethiopia did not begin until 1952. However, monasteries were established in Jerusalem since the beginning of Christianity and unofficial missionary work began in Sudan in 1940.
The late start of the Church’s missionary work is a result of Ethiopia being preoccupied for centuries with self-defense and the maintenance of the Christian faith against internal and external foes, including the Moslems, who occupied the Red Sea coasts.
Furthermore, the church was busy defending itself against proselytism and imperialism and had no time to propagate the Gospel outside of Ethiopia..
"...This is History. If you have money, go to Ethiopia and see the monument to the Queen Of Sheba there....This is proof that the Wise Men came from Ethiopia.You have heard Catholics boasting that Rome is the seat of Peter? Then we should boast that Egypt (Africa) is the seat of Christ. The Baby Christ fled and stayed in Egypt till Herod died".
The Eunuch baptized Queen Candace in the first century A.D and since then Ethiopia has been ruled and governed by Christians. Western historians and writers state that Ezana who reigned in Ethiopia about A.D. 320-356 was the first African King who became Christian and made Christianity the official religion of his empire. This is purosely done to make it seem that Rome was first and this would make Ethiopia Christendom’s second state after Constantine declared Rome a Christian state, but this is not so.
"...Presently we have student members from Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia and Somalia. It is the conviction of these students that the Orthodox Faith become Africa's religion. Who knows, some of these members might hold important public offices when they return to their countries, as a result of which their joining the church might in many ways benefit... In the short term, the presence of Africans in our church would help us gain more converts in the black community"
...in the beginning of the fourth century after Christ there came to Ethiopia a certain stranger/pilgrim to Ethiopia from Jerusalem with two young men, Frumentius and Sidrakos.
Most of the time we hear criticisms from several goverments and individuals on the involvement of the Church in community affairs. In fact; the Church is the link between God and Man and as such it is the duty of the church to identify itself with the poor and oppressed.
If the Church, which is to be an instrument of the word of God and the mouth of the oppressed, is to keep silent and be afraid to witness the truth, it means that she has forgotten that Christ was a revolutionary and compassionate, and that he established the Church as a revolutionary God, contradicting himself with the old system, which was contrary to the freedom and welfare of all men.
The Ethiopian Tewahedo* Church is an indigenous and integral church of Africa. It is one of the oldest churches in the world, if not the oldest, and is one of the founders of the World Council of Churches.
"...His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I is the defender of the faith. He attends Church services regularly and strictly observes the frequent Fast days and Holy days. He never misses Sunday morning services. He brought a strong Unity among the Eastern Orthodox Churches with their central office being organized in Addis Ababa Ethiopia and the central committee of the world council of churches had it’s meeting in January 1971 in Addis Ababa through His Majesty."