www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Capuchin to Lead New Eparchy in Ethiopia

Mar Georghios, pray to God for us!

Yes, St. George is perhaps one of the most common Ethiopian iconographic subjects after the Theotokos. I would only comment on Neil's post that the Ethiopians have several Anaphoras that they use, actually one attributed to St. Basil is used as well as St. Mark's. Some are not used frequently and some liturgical texts have yet to be translated from Ge'ez to any other language.

Alex is quite "rite" in that the Ethiopian liturgy maintains many Semitic elements. Priests and those serving take their shoes off before entering the Holy of Holies where the Tabot (altar/tabernacle, literally "The Ark") is located.

Ethiopians also follow the kosher dietary rules (no pork, etc.). I also have close contact with our local Ethiopian community, as they are definitely my best and most loyal lamb customers, and have the best restaurant around.

A vibrant and very hospitable Christian people indeed, with an extremely rich historical, cultural, and liturgical heritage.

Good evening Neil, happy Thanksgiving to all.

Adigrat is not a Latin see, but an eparchy. In the Annuario Pontificio 2003 , page 1059, in the section "Riti nella Chiesa", under "Tradizione Alessandrina", Adigrat is listed as an eparchy.

A chronological history of the eparchies, vicariates, and prefectures in Ethiopia can be found at:
http://www.katolsk.no/utenriks/kronologi/ethiopia.htm

This is part of a much larger site which provides links to the dioceses and eparchies world-wide which have internet sites. The chronological section is excellent and well-documented.

In reference to Adigrat, it reads:
"1961 Adigrat [Geez-Alex.] (previously Tigrai AP, granted jurisdiction also over Latin Rite Catholics) - Ethiopia"

In the section on Eritrea,
http://www.katolsk.no/utenriks/kronologi/eritrea.htm

it is noted that in 1995 "Asmara [Latin] (AV, suppressed, Latin Rite Catholics put under the care of the Geez-Alex. jurisdictions of Asmara, of Barentu, and of Keren) - Eritrea"

Peace, Charles

So if the Latins are now merged with the Ethiopian Rite Christians. Isn't the infiltration of modern ideas, or latinization in the Ghe'ez rite people a probable danger?

Good evening Charles, hope you had a nice Thanksgiving. I vacillate between using katolsk [katolsk.no] and Catholic-Hierarchy [catholic-hierarchy.org] as quick reference sources. This time I looked at C-H, which showed Addis Abeba, which I knew to be Ge'ez, as Latin. So, I double-checked AP2003 to reassure myself that it, and Barentu and Keren in Eritrea, were Ge'ez. I made the mistake of not checking Adigrat, presuming it was the sole Latin diocese that memory (erroneously) told me still existed. Thank you for the correction. (If I was found to have erred, I couldn't ask that it be by a more knowledgeable individual.)

Mexican,

I think not. As you can see from my earlier post, and Charles' correction as to the Eparchy of Adigrat, the Metropolitan Archeparchy and all 4 Eparchies are Ge'ez and the Latins within those are subject to the Ge'ez hierarchy. I haven't been able to locate any break-out as to the numbers of faithful between Ge'ez and Latins within those jurisdictions, but obviously Latins are in the minority. (Consider the likelihood that a parish of Eastern Catholics subject to a local Latin bishop - e.g., Our Lady of Fatima Byzantine Russian - would be successful in byzantinizing the San Francisco Archdiocese.)

Alex,

The latinization to which I referred didn't involve the Portuguese. Their efforts - less than laudable in execution - were primarily directed at conversion of Orthodox Christians to Roman Catholicism. During much of their evangelical activity, there was no Oriental Catholic entity to latinize. (Were the Orthodox whom they converted effectively latinized? Likely, but that was an almost assured by-product of conversion from Orthodoxy to Catholicism - not latinization as we Eastern Catholics usually think of it, i.e., your way is wierd - ours is better.)

In 1548, an indigenous Jesuit priest drafted a Ritual for 'the Abyssinian Rite'; HH Paul II approved it for use, but it was never widely implemented by the missionaries. By the end of the 17th century, the missioners (chiefly Portuguese Jesuits) had been expelled. Ethiopian Orthodoxy regained most of what little ground it had lost and held sway for almost two hundred years before there was another serious effort made at promoting Catholicism (of any rite). In that interim, it appears that portions of the 1848 Ritual were followed by whatever remnant Ethiopian Catholic presence remained.

The latinization to which I made reference became an issue during the latter nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is unlikely that it had any effect on the Orthodox. Rev. Monsignor Giustino De Jacobis, C.M., of blessed memory, who ultimately (1849) became the first bishop of the Apostolic Prefecture of Abyssinia, settled there in the late 1830's. By 1844, he had 100 faithful and 24 seminarians (would that such ratios could be achieved these days!).

Having reflected on the history of the country and observed the practice of the Ethiopian Orthodox, De Jacobis concluded that Ethiopian Catholics ought to constitute an Oriental Rite. Accordingly, he sought ordination for them from the Coptic Catholic hierarchy in Egypt; his first effort wasn't successful and the initial group were ordained as Latin priests, although they apparently functioned as of the "Ethiopian Rite", such as it was. (At that point, DeJacobis apparently had access to only portions of the 16th century documentation of liturgical practices.) Shortly afterwards, though, De Jacobis received strong support from Pius IX for full application of the Rite in all liturgical functions. The Pope also granted full faculties in the Rite to De Jacobis and his fellow missioners, but allowed for ordinations to the Latin Rite as needed, until the Abyssinian Rite could be fully implemented.

De Jacobis and his successors over the next two decades worked tirelessly and very successfully to avoiding latinizing tendencies in all aspects of the Church's development. He, especially, was an example of a righteous Latin Catholic who respected and nutured the Oriental Rites when they were even less well-known than now and the Ethiopian Church owes him a debt of gratitude in that regard.

About 1870, a newly-appointed Vicar Apostolic of Abyssinia, together with others, none of whom had any prior experience with the Eastern Churches, took an opposite view to that which DeJacobis had espoused. One, Cardinal Massaia, wrote that "... the variety (of rites) is not an adornment .... but an impediment to the church." The end result was an 1895 proclamation by the Propaganda that Ethiopian priests should serve the Liturgy according to the Latin Rite, translated into Ge'ez and Amharic.

The situation finally came to a head in 1913 when an Ethiopian priest, Tecle-Mariam Semharay, of blessed memory, wrote to Rome, pointing out the existence of the earlier Ritual and decrying the harm that would occur if the existing policies continued. He was strongly opposed on this by a Capuchin (who I believe was then the Vicar Apostolic), but was ultimately vindicated when the Ethiopian College was established in 1919 and assurance was given that the Rite should be preserved and promoted.

BTW, the recent separation of the Eritrean Orthodox from the Ethiopian Orthodox could be a precursor to a similar request on the part of the Eritrean Catholics, given the history of bad blood between the two peoples.

Many years,

Neil

Good morning Neil,

Thank you for your kind words. I am not immune from correction and the older I get ...!

I agree with your thoughts that Latinization is not a danger in Eritrea and Ethiopia. In fact, the two local born vicars apostolic - Harar and Meki - are from the Alexandrian-Geez Church. The Vicar Apostolic of Meki is Abuna Abraham Desta. He received episcopal ordination on May 10th of this year from Metropolitan Berhaneyesus of Addis Abeba, assisted by Abuna Kidane-Mariam, emeritus of Adigrat, and Abuna Woldetensae, Vicar Apostolic of Harar. As I recall, the episcopal ordination was conferred using the Alexandrian-Geez ritual.

Have a grace-filled day!

Peace, Charles

Dear Neil,

Yes, the entire story of De Jacobis is both fascinating and inspiring!

You raise the fascinating issue of "types of Latinization" and I think Byzantine Christians in Easter Europe especially often assume there is only one type - enforced and imposed on the East by a foreign power etc.

Fr Taft in his book on the Liturgy of the Hours in East and West discusses the evolution of the Ethiopian Catholic office.

Latinization, if it can be called such, can sometimes be used to describe the process by which a wide and unstructured horological system becomes somewhat reduced in the effort to "rationalize" it and make it more "doable" - as seems to have happened in Ethiopia and elsewhere under Catholic influence.

Your point on the "we do it better" form of Latinization is dead on - it is a point that is not often made in today's discussions on Latinization, and it needs to be made.

As a matter of fact, I see your point as probably one of the best possible historical frameworks of interpretation of the development of the Union of Brest-Litovsk and the "pull towards the West" that ensued before the union took place - and that led to the union. Your point is also very useful to understanding a new interpretation about the Latinization of the Orthodox Church at that time as well. We often assume the idea that "Union with Rome = Latinization." And since we don't have an interpretive framework to assume otherwise, we generally come to what is the follow-up equation: "No union with Rome = no Latinization."

In fact, that is false and your point indicates a way out of the "straight-jacket" of historical interpretation that fails to adequately explain the deep onset of Latinization of the Orthodox Church in Eastern Europe.

We EC's have often tended to be brow-beaten with the notion of Latinization as the reason NOT to be in union with Rome etc. That framework should be put to rest once and for all. Your point is a major step in demonstrating how and why.

Alex

Dear Neil,

Ah yes, Ethiopia - is that what we're talking about?

The history of the Ethiopian Catholic Church and the way its traditions were handled by Rome directly seem to be totally at variance with the way the Byzantine-Slavic Churches were handled.

In other words, in Ethiopia's case, there seems to be a decided lack of full Roman compliance of the principle "nec plus, nec minus, nec aliter."

With respect to the churches of Kyiv and later of Russia, Rome had a "hands-off" approach to the life of those churches that came to be in communion with Rome.

Latinizations of the former came only via Poland or Austria-Hungary. Rome historically insisted on the full purity of the Byzantine Rite etc.

But in Ethiopia's case, the Roman attitude is a bit different and this is perhaps explained by the fact that Ethiopian culture appeared so foreign and less understandable in European eyes.

For example, the Ethiopian veneration of Pontius Pilate on the basis of their deuterocanonical books was expunged from the life of the Ethiopian Catholic Church.

The only rule regarding the expunging of saints of newly formed Eastern Catholic Churches was that only those saints who demonstrated strong anti-Roman sentiments in their lives were to be expunged.

But here, the very notion that Pilate could be honoured a saint was horrific in the eyes of Rome - especially given that the later Western tradition associated with Pilate portrayed him as a despairing suicide with the purported place of his death a haven of demonic activity afterwards . . .

The traditions of Ethiopia were markedly different and unique - this might explain for a type of Roman "heavy-handedness" in reorganizing the liturgical life of the Ethiopian Catholics that is markedly absent from Rome's relations with the Byzantine Churches in communion with it.

I bring the matter of the Portuguese to the fore only insofar as they reflected a similar kind of incredulity and lack of respect (due to a lack of understanding) of Ethiopian practices surrounding their Saints and other issues.

Portuguese clergy were also "offended" at the extensive Judaic practices of the Ethiopian church, the very wide biblical canon employed by it and the like that seems to have been interpreted by Rome in the sense that "they need our guidance to bring order to their ecclesial and liturgical wilderness."

Anyway, a fascinating subject.

Alex

Dear Mexican,

I think the matter of exposure to modernism that you raise is also a concern of the ROCOR in shying away from being connected with the OCA under the MP!

However, you raise a good point.

Latins and Easterners have sometimes found themselves under the same Eastern hierarchy in that region. There was a time when Latins in Egypt adopted the Orthodox Easter - but I don't know if that still obtains.

Rather than constituting a pull toward Latinization, both RC's and Eastern Orthodox in Ethiopia have tended toward adapting as much as possible to the indigenous spiritual and material culture of Ethiopia.

I once met an African Greek-Orthodox priest from Ethiopia who wore an Ethiopian Cross and was, in every respect, fully Ethiopian in terms of Rite and traditions - something confirmed to me by an Ethiopian Orthodox priest at the conference we were attending.

Again, I personally don't see Latinization as a particular concern of Ethiopians today - not nearly as much as it is among the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholics of the Byzantine-Slav orbit.

The Ethiopians truly do appreciate humanitarian work among them conducted by RC's and Orthodox.

There is an RC nun in Ethiopia that works with starving children.

She is honoured very highly by the Ethiopian Orthodox as the "Reverend Nun."

The children she helps simply call her "mother."

Alex

Dear Charles,

Well, I don't believe there is any danger of liturgical Latinization there, but certainly all this detailed talk about eparchies etc. does make one's Eastern head spin!

Latins are known for their organizational skills and bureaucratic acumen.

And one aspect of Latinization that we don't often address here, but which is very real, has to do with the layers of bureaucracy that the Vatican places on Eastern Churches.

We can very well do without most of it. And the Vatican Congregation for the Eastern Churches should have been dropped into the Tiber long ago. It is an annoying Vatican bureaucratic department that abundantly and consistently proclaims that the Eastern Catholic Churches are unable to manage their own affairs without a Vatican Big Brother watching over them - even though that Big Brother has drafted Eastern hierarchs into that process.

Another example is the role that the papal nuncio played in choosing our bishop for Eastern Canada.

We had two versions as to how the UGCC is run that were made apparent during the consecration of Bishop Stephen in July of this year.

Our Patriarch was there speaking as if he and his Synod appointed the bishop - I believe he did two years ago but the appointment was only ratified by the Vatican now.

The papal nuncio was there speaking as if he and only he had the right and responsibility of appointing a new bishop for our eparchy.

There was much shaking of heads among the faithful all around that day.

My own view is that this discussion of how this or that is organized under which is, in and of itself, a grand manifestation of underlying ecclesial Latinization that, while it may not manifest itself liturgically, is already a (continuing) problem that needs to be overcome somehow.

And papal nuncios have no business telling Particular Churches (in this case with a Rome-approved Major Archbishop with rights equal to a Patriarchate) about episcopal candidates.

Alex

Alex,

Unfortunately, and like it or not (and I don't), the ultimate authority as to the acceptance or rejection of an appointment to the episcopacy of a Church sui iuris in the diaspora rests with Rome.

The concept of sui iuris goes only so far and, at present, at least in theory, it stops our primary hierarchs, be they Patriarch or Major-Archbishop, from exercising authority over exempt jurisdictions, except as to matters liturgical. I say in theory because we all know that most hierarchs in the diaspora manage in many subtle ways to be in line with their primary hierarch
and his synod, and Rome be darned. Rome - which has to be aware of it - generally either ignores it or can't be bothered. But, that requires that a hierarch be in place - and we can't get past them there.

(There have been a few isolated instances where hierarchs in the diaspora, who were at odds with their Church's presiding hierarchs, have used their exempt status to their own advantage.)

Many years,

Neil

Good morning Charles,

I don't have AP2003 at hand, so, a quick question. Is it your contention then that Harrar and Meki are, in effect, Ge'ez jurisdictions, or only that the incumbents received their sacerdotal, and possibly episcopal, orders in that Tradition? My impression is that, regardless of the Church in which the hierarchs received orders, that Vicariate Apostolics are, ipso facto, Latin.

Many years,

Neil

Shlomo Lkhoolkhoon,
I do not know how many of you remember Fr. Steven Armstrong, a Russian Catholic Jesuit, but when I came back from Rome, he and I worked together to bring Ethiopian Priests from the college to the States. They did a ten city tour paid for by the Roman Archdiocese of San Francisco, and all of the liturgies were packed with Ethiopian Catholics.

What always made me happy about the experience was that three different Traditions came together to help a fourth. One of the things that I have longed for is for more Roman Priests or those of our Traditions would become bi-ritual in the Ethiopian Tradition so that their community could florish.

One the great weaknesses of the Eastern Catholic Churches is that we wait for the Vatican to take us by the hand and lead us to where we need to go. Further, we complain about it, but offer no solutions. If we are to be seen as sui iuris Churches then we (Heirarchs, Clergy, and Laity) need to start acting like ones.

Lastly, we need to help those Eastern Catholic Churches that don't have great resources to find them and use them for the betterment of the entire Church.

Poosh BaShlomo Lkhoolkhoon,
Yuhannon

Yuhannon,

I agree that bi-ritualism (or bi-ecclesialism would be the more proper term now) is a laudable goal with such an underserved population as the Ethiopian Catholics, but it is probably especially difficult to realize with them, because their Liturgy is so significantly distinct from those with which we are familiar that I think educating clergy - Latin or Eastern Catholic - to serve it in a meaningful way would pose a major burden.

This I think is probably a more achievable goal and entities such as CNEWA serve a meaningful role in this regard. I believe that they have recently provided some not insignificant grant money to a diocesan seminary in Ethiopia. (If memory serves correctly, there is only 1 such seminary and it serves all of the Ethiopian and Eritrean eparchies.)

Many years,

Neil

Shlomo Irish Melkite,
The CNEWA can not help Ethiopian Catholics that are in North America, therefore it befalls to those of us in North America to do something. You are correct that there is only one diocesan seminary in Ethiopia, but the Ethiopian College in the Vatican (The only college within the Vatican itself) also trains clergy. It was those priests that I became friends with, since I had lunch with them almost every day while in Rome.

Poosh BaShlomo,
Yuhannon

Dear Alex,

I am not in disagreement with you comments yesterday. I believe that patriarchal and major archepiscopal synods should be able to elect their bishops without pre or post Roman approval. Certainly such was not the practice during the first millenium and if there is any chance of reunion, synodal election of bishops should be a non-issue.

Dear Neil,

I wasn`t stating that Harar and Meki are Alexandrian Ge`ez, only that their bishops came from the Alexandrian Ge`ez clergy. I believe that as the ecclesiastical structures evolve, we shall get to a point where there are no Latin rite jurisdictions in either Ethiopia or Eritrea.

Sorry to be so late in replying to both of you. My mother is in rehab following 2 heart attacks and bypass surgery and she takes up a lot of my time these days. She`s 82 years old and it`s not easy keeping up with her wants (rehab takes care of her physical needs).

Peace,

Charles