Christianity in Eritrea - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Eritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea derives it's name from the Greek word Erethria, meaning 'red land'. The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast...

is a multi-religious country; Eritrea has two dominant religions, Christianity

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

and Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

, with approximately 50% of the population being Christian and 50% Muslim according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees , also known as The UN Refugee Agency is a United Nations agency mandated to protect and support refugees at the request of a government or the UN itself and assists in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to...

(UNHCR). According to the Pew Research Center

Pew Research Center

The Pew Research Center is an American think tank organization based in Washington, D.C. that provides information on issues, attitudes and trends shaping the United States and the world. The Center and its projects receive funding from The Pew Charitable Trusts. In 1990, Donald S...

, 62.5% are followers of Christianity

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

, mostly followers of Orthodox Christianity

Orthodox Christianity

The term Orthodox Christianity may refer to:* the Eastern Orthodox Church and its various geographical subdivisions...

and, to a lesser extent, Roman Catholicism.

Eritrea along with its southern neighbour Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

was one of the first Christian countries in the world having officially adopted Christianity

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

as the state religion in the 4th century. At the same time, it was also one of the first Muslim settlements in Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

, where a group of Muslims facing persecution in Mecca

Mecca

Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...

travelled to Abyssinia

Ethiopian Empire

The Ethiopian Empire also known as Abyssinia, covered a geographical area that the present-day northern half of Ethiopia and Eritrea covers, and included in its peripheries Zeila, Djibouti, Yemen and Western Saudi Arabia...

, (now Ethiopia

Ethiopia

) through modern day Eritrea. Christians in Eritrea constitute to three main groups; the Eritrean Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church

Roman Catholicism in Eritrea

The Roman Catholic Church in Eritrea is part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church. Located in the African country of Eritrea, this church is under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and curia in Rome.-Characteristics:...

and the Evangelical Church

Evangelical Church

The term Evangelical Church may refer specifically to:* Slovak Evangelical Church* Armenian Evangelical Church* Assyrian Evangelical Church* Christian Evangelical Church of Romania* Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus...

. The Catholic dioceses in Eritrea are the Eparchy of Asmara, the Eparchy of Barentu and the Eparchy of Keren. In 2002, Isaias Afewerki

Isaias Afewerki

Isaias Afewerki is the first and current President of Eritrea, attaining that status when he led the Eritrean People's Liberation Front to victory in May 1991, thus ending the 30-year old armed liberation struggle that the Eritrean people refer to as "Gedli".-Early life and rise to power:Afewerki...

, the president of Eritrea

Eritrea

, declared all independent Protestant Churches, enemies of the state. For this reason, more than 2000 independent Protestants are detained due to their faith.

Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church

Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is the predominant Oriental Orthodox Christian church in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Church was administratively part of the Coptic Orthodox Church until 1959, when it was granted its own Patriarch by Coptic Orthodox Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of All...

was granted autocephaly

Autocephaly

Autocephaly , in hierarchical Christian churches and especially Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches, is the status of a hierarchical church whose head bishop does not report to any higher-ranking bishop...

by Pope Joseph II of Alexandria

Pope Joseph II of Alexandria

Pope Joseph II of Alexandria, known in Coptic as Yusab II was the Coptic Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St...

, head of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria in 1950. At that time Eritrea was regarded as a province of Ethiopia, so the Coptic Church in Eritrea was simply a division of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church

Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church

.

Following the independence of Eritrea

Eritrea

from Ethiopia

Ethiopia

in 1993, the newly independent Eritrea

Eritrea

n government appealed to Pope Shenouda III of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria for Eritrean Orthodox autocephaly.

Tensions were high between the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church

Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church

and the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, and no representative from the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church

Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church

attended the official recognition of the newly autocephalous body. However, the Ethiopian Church has recognized the Autocephalous status of the Church of Eritrea although it objected to the method in which the Coptic Church went about granting it. Eritrea's first two Patriarchs were originally Archbishops of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, and the first Patriarch, Abune Phillipos

Abune Phillipos

Abune Phillipos was the first Patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church. He was born Tewoldeberhan and began his religious training at the Debre Bizen Monastery at the age of eleven....

did visit Addis Ababa during joint efforts by the two Churches to explore a possible resolution to a border conflict that had broken out between the two countries in 1998. The two churches, remain in full communion

Full communion

In Christian ecclesiology, full communion is a relationship between church organizations or groups that mutually recognize their sharing the essential doctrines....

with each another and with the other Churches of Oriental Orthodoxy

Oriental Orthodoxy

Oriental Orthodoxy is the faith of those Eastern Christian Churches that recognize only three ecumenical councils — the First Council of Nicaea, the First Council of Constantinople and the First Council of Ephesus. They rejected the dogmatic definitions of the Council of Chalcedon...

, although the Ethiopian Church, along with the Coptic Orthodox Church have not recognized the depostion of the third Patriarch of Eritrea, and the enthronement of the fourth Patriarch.

The first Patriarch of Eritrea was Abune Phillipos

Abune Phillipos

Abune Phillipos was the first Patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church. He was born Tewoldeberhan and began his religious training at the Debre Bizen Monastery at the age of eleven....

who died in 2004 and was succeeded by Abune Yacob

Abune Yacob

Abune Yacob was the second Patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church....

. The reign of Abune Yacob

Abune Yacob

Abune Yacob was the second Patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church....

as Patriarch of Eritrea was very brief as he died not long after his enthronement, and he was succeeded by Abune Antonios

Abune Antonios

Abune Antonios was the third Patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church. He was forcefully deposed by the Eritrean government, and is currently under house arrest.He was replaced as Patriarch by Abune Dioskoros in May 2007....

as 3rd Patriarch of Eritrea.

Abune Antonios

Abune Antonios

was elected in 2004-03-05, and enthroned as the third Patriarch of Orthodox Tewahedo Church of Eritrea on 2004-04-24. Pope Shenouda III

Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria

Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria is the 117th Pope of Alexandria and the Patriarch of All Africa on the Holy Apostolic See of Saint Mark the Evangelist of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria...

presided at the ceremony in Asmara

Asmara

Asmara is the capital city and largest settlement in Eritrea, home to a population of around 579,000 people...

, together with the Holy Synod of the Eritrean Orthodox Church and a Coptic Orthodox Church delegation.

In August 2005, the Patriarch of Orthodox Tewahedo Church of Eritrea, Abune Antonios

Abune Antonios

, was confined to a strictly ceremonial role. In a letter dated 2006-01-13 Patriarch Abune Antonios

Abune Antonios

was informed that following several sessions of the church's Holy Synod, he had been formally deposed. In a written response that was widely published the Patriarch rejected the grounds of his dismissal, questioned the legitimacy of the synod, and excommunicated two signatories to the 13 January letter, including Yoftahe Dimetros, whom the Patriarch identified as being responsible for the church's recent upheavals. Patriarch Antonios

Abune Antonios

also appealed his case to the Council of the Monasteries of the Eritrean Orthodox Church and to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. Abune Antonios

Abune Antonios

was deposed by the Eritrean Holy Synod. Many believe that Abune Antonios was wrongly deposed and still consider him Patriarch. Many Eritrean Orthodox followers disagree with the Eritrean government making decisions in religious matters.

Catholicism in Eritrea and Ethiopia

The Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

voyages of discovery at the end of the fifteenth century opened the way for direct contacts between the Catholic Church and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Due largely to the behaviour of the Portuguese Afonso Mendes whom Pope Urban VIII

Pope Urban VIII

Pope Urban VIII , born Maffeo Barberini, was pope from 1623 to 1644. He was the last pope to expand the papal territory by force of arms, and was a prominent patron of the arts and reformer of Church missions...

appointed as Patriarch

Patriarch

Originally a patriarch was a man who exercised autocratic authority as a pater familias over an extended family. The system of such rule of families by senior males is called patriarchy. This is a Greek word, a compound of πατριά , "lineage, descent", esp...

of Ethiopia in 1622 and who was expelled from the country in 1636, these contacts, which had seemed destined for success, led instead to the complete closure of Ethiopia to further contact with Rome.

In 1839, Saint Justin de Jacobis

Justin de Jacobis

Saint Justin de Jacobis was an Italian Lazarist missionary who became Vicar Apostolic of Abyssinia and titular Bishop of Nilopolis.-Biography:He was born at San Fele, Province of Potenza in southern Italy...

arrived in the country as Prefect Apostolic of Ethiopia, in charge therefore of a Latin-rite jurisdiction. He preferred instead to use the Ethiopic liturgical rite. Many Ethiopian priests were attracted to his sanctity and his teaching, thus giving rise to what became in 1930 the Ethiopic Catholic Church, when, in view of its continual growth, an ordinariate for the Ethiopic Rite faithful of Eritrea, entrusted to an Eritrean bishop, was established. Eritrea, an Italian possession since 1894, already had a separate ecclesiastical jurisdiction, headed by an Italian titular bishop, for Latin-rite Catholics, mainly Italians.

The Latin Rite had become established in the south of Ethiopia in areas that had not been Christian and that were incorporated into the modern country only at the end of the nineteenth century. The Italian occupation of Ethiopia in 1936 gave rise to an increase in the number of Latin Rite jurisdictions, but the expulsion of foreign missionaries at the end of the Second World War meant that the Ethiopic Rite clergy had to take responsibility for larger areas than before. Accordingly, in 1951, the Ethiopic Rite Apostolic Exarchate of Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...

was established, and the ordinariate for Eritrea was elevated to the rank of exarchate. Ten years later, on 9 April 1961, an Ethiopic metropolia (ecclesiastical province) was established, with Addis Ababa as the metropolitan see and Asmara

Asmara

Asmara is the capital city and largest settlement in Eritrea, home to a population of around 579,000 people...

(in Eritrea) and Adigrat

Adigrat

Adigrat is a city in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. Located in the Misraqawi Zone at longitude and latitude with an elevation of 2457 meters above sea level, below a high ridge to the west, Adigrat is the last important Ethiopian city south of the border with Eritrea, and is considered to be a...

(in Ethiopia) as suffragan eparchies.

In 1995, two new eparchies, Barentu

Barentu, Eritrea

Barentu is a town in south-western Eritrea, lying south of Agordat. It is mainly inhabited by the Nilotic Kunama people and Nara people. The Nara people leader Shekaray Agaba was the first to build the town umba arenku which it means the white water. It is located in the Gash-Barka Zone of...

and Keren

Keren, Eritrea

Keren is the second largest city in Eritrea. It is situated about 91 kilometers northwest of Asmara. The town serves as the capital of the Anseba region, and is home to the Bilen ethnic group.-History:...

, were established in Eritrea, and the Latin Rite apostolic vicariate was abolished. Eritrea thus became the only country where all Catholics, whatever their personal liturgical rite, belong to an Eastern Catholic jurisdiction. In 2003, one more eparchy was created in Endibir

Endibir

Emdibir is a town in southwestern Ethiopia. Located in the Gurage Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation between 2130 and 2164 meters above sea level...

in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia, with the result that the Ethiopic Catholic Metropolitan Church now consists of six sees, three in Ethiopia and three in Eritrea.

Ge'ez, a Semitic language fallen out of daily use several centuries ago, is the liturgical language of the Ethiopic Church, whose liturgy is based on the Coptic.

There are also Latin-Rite jurisdictions in the south of Ethiopia, none of them raised to the rank of diocese. Five are apostolic vicariates, headed by a titular bishop; two are apostolic prefectures, headed by a priest.

Protestantism in Eritrea

Protestants in Eritrea

Eritrea

number about 91,232, which represents 2% of the population. The Evangelical Lutheran Church

Evangelical Lutheran Church

Evangelical Lutheran Church can refer to many different Lutheran churches in the world. Among them are the following:*Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church in Andhra Pradesh*Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kisač*Evangelical Lutheran Church in America...

is the only recognized Protestant Church. Torture is used against independent Protestants in Eritrea causing more than 2000 Christians being subject to arrest in 2006. The U.S. State Department names it a Country of Particular Concern due to its violation of religious liberty. It has been reported that entire families are thrown into jail.

In 2009, International Christian Concern

International Christian Concern

International Christian Concern is a non-denominational, non-governmental, Christian watchdog group, located in Washington, DC, whose concern is the human rights of Christians...

said that over 3,000 Christians were being held prisoner in Eritrea, at times in underground dungeons or old metal shipping containers, and alleged a December 2009 mass arrest of 30 mostly elderly women who were praying together at an Evangelical church with a Methodist background. According to the Barnabas Fund, in April 2010 a 28-year-old student died after she was held in a metal shipping container for 2 years, after being arrested for attending a Protestant Bible study.

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