Christianity in Eritrea

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Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Rosary in Asmara

Eritrea as a country and the Eritrean community are multi-religious. Eritrea has two dominant religions, Christianity and Islam.

P'ent'ay
Evangelicalism.

History

The Kingdom of Aksum, which overlapped with what is now Eritrea, was the first African Christian country in the world having officially adopted

Protestants
are detained due to their faith.

Oriental Orthodoxy in Eritrea

Main article: Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church

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
.

Following the independence of

Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria
for Eritrean Orthodox autocephaly.

Tensions were high between the

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

The first Patriarch of Eritrea was Abune Phillipos who died in 2004 and was succeeded by Abune Yacob. The reign of Abune Yacob as Patriarch of Eritrea was very brief as he died not long after his enthronement, and he was succeeded by Abune Antonios as 3rd Patriarch of Eritrea.

Abune Antonios was elected in 5 March 2004, and enthroned as the third Patriarch of Orthodox Tewahedo Church of Eritrea on 2004-04-24. Pope Shenouda III presided at the ceremony in Asmara, 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,

Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. 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

Main article: Eritrean Catholic Church
Main article: Catholic Church in Ethiopia

The Portuguese 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 appointed as Patriarch 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

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.[citation needed
]

The Latin Church 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 Church 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 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 (in Eritrea) and Adigrat
(in Ethiopia) as suffragan eparchies.

In 1995, two new eparchies,

Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia, and on Friday, February 24, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI erected the new Eparchy of Segheneity.[8] The Ethiopic Catholic Metropolitan Church now consists of seven sees, three in Ethiopia and four in Eritrea. There are also Latin-Rite jurisdictions in the south of Ethiopia, none of them raised to the rank of diocese. Eight are apostolic vicariates, headed by a titular bishop; one is an apostolic prefecture, headed by a priest.[9]

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.

Protestantism in Eritrea

Main articles:
P'ent'ay (Ethiopian-Eritrean Evangelicalism)

Protestants in

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,

Protestant
Bible study.

Eritrea is included in the Episcopal Area of the Horn of Africa of the

Anglican Diocese of Egypt, though there are no current congregations in the country.[11]

Freedom of religion

In 2023, the country was scored 1 out of 4 for religious freedom.[12] This was seen as an improvement, as several religious prisoners had been released in the previous months.

In the same year, the country was rated as the 4th worst place in the world to be a Christian.[13]

See also

References

  1. ^ "National Profiles". www.thearda.com. Retrieved 2022-10-17.
  2. ^ "Religions in Eritrea | PEW-GRF". Globalreligiousfutures.org. Archived from the original on 7 March 2022. Retrieved 2022-03-14.
  3. ^ "Eritrea". United States Department of State. Retrieved 2022-11-05.
  4. ^ "Eritrea Population and Health Survey 2010" (PDF). UNICEF. August 2013. p. 42. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-06-06. Retrieved 2021-12-30.
  5. ^ "Religious Composition by Country, 2010-2050". Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project. 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2021-10-12.
  6. ^ Rapporto Sulla Libertà Religiosa: Eritrea [Report on Religious Freedom: Eritrea] (PDF). Aid to the Church in Need (Report) (in Italian). 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-10-22. Retrieved 2020-10-22.
  7. ^ "Eritrea" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 April 2019. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
  8. ^ "Pontifical Acts - 24 February". www.news.va. Retrieved 2017-09-18.
  9. ^ "Catholic Dioceses in Ethiopia (by Type)". www.gcatholic.org. Retrieved 2017-09-18.
  10. ^ "Eritrea says not aware of mass arrest of Christians", Reuters, Jeremy Clarke, December 10, 2009, Retrieved June 11, 2011.
  11. ^ The Episcopal Area of the Horn of Africa Archived February 6, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ "Eritrea: Freedom in the World 2022 Country Report". Freedom House. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
  13. ^ "Eritrea is number 6 on the World Watch List". www.opendoorsuk.org. Retrieved 2024-01-30.

Sources

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