The Church plans to protest in Washington DC on 8th November. The North America Archdiocese of the EOC, which has organised the demonstration has asked “Eritreans and other people of good will who love justice” to join in a call for freedom for Patriarch Antonios and “other Eritreans who are suffering in prison.”
The Church already held a demonstration outside the United Nations (UN) headquarters on 24th October on the same issue.
According human rights organisation Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), 92-year-old Patriarch Abune Antonios has been under house arrest since January 2007.
He was removed from office in 2006 in violation of canon law for repeatedly objecting to “government interference in ecclesiastical affairs” and refusing to expel 3000 members of the Orthodox renewal movement.
Patriarch Antonios’ removal solidified the government’s control of the EOC, and created a schism in the Church.
CSW said the Church split was made worse by the release of a statement dated 17th July, allegedly from six bishops but signed only by five of them, which accused Antonios of having committed heresy and stripped him of all official authority.
The letter effectively excommunicated the patriarch, stating that “his name should never be mentioned and remembered, and those who do will be punished severely.”
However, in a video recorded on 19th April, 2019 which was used as a…
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