Priest Faces Deportation and Imprisonment

The Eritrean embassy in Kenya is hunting an Eritrean Orthodox Church priest in Nairobi with the help of some Kenyan officers. The priest is among the clergy that opposes the regime’s involvement in the church affairs; the embassy’s aim is to deport the priest to Eritrea.
Reached by telephone, an Eritrean residing in Nairobi, said that, “If the Eritrean embassy succeeds in deporting the priest to Eritrea, he will face certain imprisonment and harsh treatment.”

The regime has full control over religious institutions inside Eritrea but its attempts to control the spiritual affairs of Eritrean in other parts of the world has proven to be difficult.
In many cities in Europe and North America, followers of the Orthodox church are defending their communities from the transgressions of the government and denying its embassies control of their churches.

The Eritrean government’s meddling in the churches affairs has created a serious crisis within the Orthodox community inside Eritrea and in other parts of the world.

The ongoing crisis was sparked when the regime dismissed Abune Antonios, the patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox church in 2005. In 2007, the regime appointed Bishop Dioscoros as Patriarch of the Orthodox church. Abuna Antonios is still under house arrest.

Since then, the clergy and the community has been split.

In the USA, the Eritrean government’s embassy has been actively campaigning to exclude the priests who opposed the government’s moves. It has aired threatening radio statements and held meetings in which it agitated the congregations to rise against the priest who are “working against the government of Eritrea.”

Worshippers have been threatened with excommunications and denial of funeral rites if they do not follow the government’s decisions.

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