Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Motherland, Diaspora Resume Dialogue

At its recent session this past weekend the Holy Synod of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church blessed the resumption of dialogue between the Addis Abeba Patriarchate and the Synod in Exile of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in the Ethiopian and Eritrean Diasporas. More here.

The Synod in Exile is led by Patriarch Abune Merqoriyos, the former Archbishop of Gonder who was elected to the patriarchate under the Ethiopian Communist regime. When the latter was overthrown by a Tigrayan Marxist movement in the 1990s, Abune Merqoriyos was forced into retirement and replaced by an ethnic Tigrayan. Abune Merqoriyos now leads a large contingent of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church outside Ethiopia, with a hierarchy and parishes scattered across the globe.