Deir Sultan-the Ethiopian Monastery

Deir Sultan is an ancient Ethiopian Monastery that situated on the roof of the Holy Sepulcher church in Jerusalem. This monastery has been long in dispute between the Coptic Church and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and it symbolizes our last stronghold anywhere near the Holy Sepulcher church. As recalled, Ethiopians have lived in the Holy Land since the 4th century A.D. and this monastery has been in their possession throughout the years but more decisively it can be said in the last couple of centuries.

Hence when the status quo (in Latin "matters that were remain as they are," which became the convention by which all churches abide) was confirmed and adopted in the 1862-3. We have evidences especially that provided by western travelers that the monastery was in the hands of the Ethiopians, and later on documents that were obtained from the Turkish archive in Constantinople
and which were examined by a Russian professor of law early in the 20th century, established the Ethiopian ownership of the monastery.

In 1961 and on the basis of these documents a Jordanian court ruled in favor of the Ethiopians but the decision was overturned in 40 days due to Egyptian pressure on Jordan. In 1970, after the above-mentioned territory came under Israeli control, the Ethiopian monks it is claimed switched the locks to the two churches (St. Medhanie Alem & St. Michael) that have been locked for 80 years (1890-1970), and then the Coptic bishop took the matter to Israeli court who decided in 1971 that the keys are to be returned to the Copts. Nevertheless the government reserves the right to appoint a committee that will look into the matter and till the committee reaches conclusions the keys should remain in Ethiopian hands and no conclusion was reached since then.

I wanted to give you a clear picture of the matter and ask for any advice and cooperation from your side to see how this matter can be resolved and followed by international law experts and the Ethiopian Diaspora so as to make them understand the gravity of this matter to the Ethiopian nation and people for generations to come.

Please Let’s work together and save our Monastery.

When will end the misery of our brave monks?
…ነገር ግን፥ ወንድሞች ሆይ፥ ሁላችሁ አንድ ንግግር እንድትናገሩ በአንድ ልብና በአንድ አሳብም የተባበራችሁ እንድትሆኑ እንጂ መለያየት በመካከላችሁ እንዳይሆን በጌታችን በኢየሱስ ክርስቶስ ስም እለምናችኋለሁ።ወንድሞቼ ሆይ፥ በመካከላችሁ ክርክር እንዳለ ስለ እናንተ የቀሎዔ ቤተ ሰዎች አስታውቀውኛልና።ይህንምእላለሁ።እያንዳንዳችሁ። እኔ የጳውሎስ ነኝ፥ እኔስ የአጵሎስ ነኝ፥ እኔ ግን የኬፋ ነኝ፥ እኔስ የክርስቶስ ነኝ ትላላችሁ።ክርስቶስ ተከፍሎአልን? ጳውሎስስ ስለ እናንተ ተሰቀለን? ወይስ በጳውሎስ ስም ተጠመቃችሁን?... 1ኛ ቆሮ 1 10-13

PLEASE SAVE OUR MONASTERY!!!!!!

Christians believe the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, is to be built where Jesus Christ was crucified, buried and resurrected.
Deir Sultan Monastery lies above the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Monastery has been home to Ethiopian monks for centuries. Deir Sultan has been a site of an extended and at times violent turf war between Ethiopian and Egyptian Coptic churches. Hence, this centuries old Monastery is near collapse. And it’s future rests upon us - all Ethiopians.
Let's save our history! Lets save our treasure. See the link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4fcK2f8qEM&feature=player_embedded

Deir Sultan-Yesterday and Today

Deir Sultan-Yesterday and Today is a compelling story that tells the untold, yet a remarkable history of an extraordinary Ethiopian monks who bravely fought to keep the one and the only black owned property in the holy land. The film weaves a rare archival footage with contemporary voices to unravel the secrets of the most fascinating story of the century.

See all the link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8SDQ1pyWX0&feature=player_embedded#!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joEpBjA-DhA&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4fcK2f8qEM&feature=player_embedded#!
Sorce http://www.deirsultan.com/

Daniel Alemu
Member of the Ethiopian Community in Jerusalem

ORTHODOX FOR THE UNIFICATION OF AFRICA

 

  







IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER AND THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT ONE GOD AMEN!

When this group was created, it was being thought to achieve the following two aims. These were:
1. To help the African people the true way of Salivation that they never have been offered before. When you look into the rest of the world, it has been mad not to follow the true way of Salivation and intentionally left it behind and get into an other way of life which they termed Transformation in the fifteenth century (which bore the world of Protestantism) and so similar phenomena has happened in case of the fifth century (which bore the world of Catholics) i.e (451 AD). But Africans have been forced or at least they have not been offered the true way of Salivation i.e the religion of the Apostles that God Himself has handed over to them. We have also accepted the religion of our forefathers through unbroken flow of true religious exercises and tradition which is simply the true reflection of the Bible. So this pure truth should be at least offered to African people to whom no one has offered before.
2. African people are getting very huge loses of its natural and man made resources due to the mischievous actions the western world and other developed countries. The boundary lines built up by the will of the colonial powers has left Africa in conflict with each other for centuries and this irritating condition may perpetuate for the coming centuries as well as we are looking it now. No only the boundary lines but also other Economic, Political, Socio-Cultural and Psychological make ups that have been constructed by the European colonial powers has left its scar on the present deteriorated condition of Africa. I have pinpointed the only few past actions that made Africa the victims of the Western World. But not only the past action, at present days also, these developed world powers are acting as "mediators" over the African Issues and they are playing their negative roles on the developments of the good relations between Africans. They are influencing Africans to to have their own trade links and other strong relations to force Africa to be the indirect colonial empire of the developed world. If Africans could have unity, they would have got good opportunities to have an influencing power over the world about their own internal issue. They could get supplements of each other for the solution of a problem one region of Africa might be found at the other corner of the continent for example in natural resources and industrial and agricultural products. This in turn would produce an other ideal market for the products and resources of the continent. For unity to be effected the people at all should have one common identity and they should have one common ancient heritage. This ancient heritage should not be symbolic to inscribe the strongest sense of unity among the people. No other value or ancient heritage of Africa can bring life changing orders (life patterns) and heart felt senses inscription of unity better than religion. Religion is life at all. So it is preferred religion to any other Ancient Heritage for African people to have in common. Now let us come to the point how Orthodox should be the common Ancient Heritage of the African people. The following are some of the listed reasons that I have told to myself while I thought the concept of Unifying Africa:

A. Orthodox Religion was the most ancient religion of those religions having huge impact on the people of the world. It is simply practiced by the ancient Egyptians till today, Ethiopians till today, Libyans till they are affected by the Muslim world, and other North African Countries. This condition presents Orthodox Christianity the most ancient of all religions which have brought huge impacts on the lives of the population of the world.
B. Orthodox Christianity is established by the will of the African people without any power influences of the foreigners. When we look the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church establishment, it traces back to the ancient times more than 4000 years ago. Ethiopians had been knowing God as early as the man kind History and they were exercising worship of God before the Birth of Jesus Christ for about 2000 years. 1000 years without written commandments of God and 1000 years with given written laws of God. They have had the books of the Old Testament and they were waiting for the coming of Christ to Earth according their knowledge they have got from the Books of the Prophets and their Predictions. When Jesus Christ was born in the Middle East, they have gone to Him and brought Him Tributes and bowed to Him as stated in Isaiah:” And they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring forth gold and incense; and they shall show forth the praises of the Lord." They have accepted Him the True God and the true Son the Father. After 34 years later, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians has gone to Jerusalem to worship and brought the news of Gospel to his fellow citizens. This was not the only beginning to worship God, but it was actually the beginning to the Era of Christianity in Ethiopia. But the greatest expansion of Gospel in Ethiopia could have been effected the fourth century. The people have accepted Christianity happily with their full will. When we come to Egypt, Saint Mark has left the base of the Gospel in Egypt and this flowing truth could have cross centuries and it has reached at our ages without being distorted and with living tradition of the first century of the Apostles. So only Orthodox Christianity is established by the full will of the African people and largely by their own actions to expand Gospel in the lands of Africa. But other religions are introduced to Africa forcefully by war having an other mission behind.

C. In the doctrines and canons of Orthodox Christianity true values of unity and sacrifice are preached under the Commandment of Love. The commandment of Love orders one to pay great scarifies up to and including giving up ones life for the sake of the other. The is the value to effect the true unity and heart felt Love to one another. It includes all the ethical values including the hard working traditions and avoidance of wickedness. These values coming following the commandment of Love are the true values that can bring these huge numbers of tribes under the common way of Unity and Shared common senses. In none of other religions these values are preached or at least practiced. But under Orthodox Christianity we have so many figures of Love and true mirror reflections of Gospel.

So now we are expected first to aim at valuing the African people by telling and helping them to know these pure facts. After this step, we can move forward to bring the whole Africa to get unified. The first is more difficult and also has to proceed first. So we will work visualizing the second one as well. So contents of the Spiritual and Religious Matters are to be posted for the group.

The issue of communication media language, we can use English. But since the present members of the group are Ethiopians and Amharic speakers, we can use also Amharic as a media language. Later when there are a number of other African Countries as members, we can use the language of the largest members additionally.

Other matters how we are going to proceed and related issues need to be defined by the group members using some discussion topics. We should strongly motivate group members to add values from their minds. The cumulative outputs outshine the individual outputs.

We have to strongly motivate other Africans to be members and active participants in our group. We should have diversified members to get the recent information and distributed effects.

These are some of the introduction that I thought for the time being. When I have some other things, I will notify you on time. You yourself can also broaden the starting idea into more meaningful proposals. But it does not urge you instantly. You can take long time and come up with more beautiful ideas. Our starting may be put into practice at the time the next generation, but we have to at least put the framework for having that.

God Bless African People!!!!