August 17, 2006To: Abba Sinoda,
May the peace of God be with you.
The Board of Directors of the Kidisti Sillassie Orthodox Tewahedo church of Seattle acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 08-05-2006 (ref. 01-39-03/06) pertaining to our beloved father and teacher Qomos Kesete-berhan Ghebre-michael. In a word, we are astonished. It would be the height of futility and a waste of time for us here to attempt to describe Qomos Kesete-berhan’s stellar qualifications, his immense and life-long contributions in the cause of our Church, his fortitude, tested leadership, and unwavering stand for the truth. It suffices thus to say that his record of achievements speak for themselves.
The letter you have sent us is totally devoid of substance, lacking any factual basis whatsoever. It refers to no specific violation of even a single article of the constitution of the Eritrean Orthodox Church or its canon. It, thus, pains us to see the level to which you have stooped, the wrongness of the direction you have chosen for yourself, the kind of company you are keeping these days and the ill-advised counsel you are receiving. Your letter further reveals the degree to which you hold the constitution of the church, its canons, and your superior His Holiness Abune Antonius, the 3rd Patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church, in utter contempt. Simply put, you have become a law unto yourself.
At the very core of your letter is your pretension and that of the so-called “diocese”, which you claim to lead, as having spiritual and administrative authority over our church. We want you to know that this is nothing more than a delusion and an outright lie on your part. Furthermore, the path you and your cohorts have chosen for yourselves is one of a deliberate and calculated effort in which you have been engaged in order to destroy the unity of the faithful of our beloved church, the diocese in North America and of our people at large. Thank God! With each passing day and with each destructive act of yours, the faithful are seeing through your divisive campaigns of lies and distortions.
Since it seems to us that you are having difficulty coming to terms with our principled stand, we, the Board of Directors of our church, would like to once again reiterate to you the meaninglessness of your latest letter. To underscore the point, we refer you to the letter dated August 2005 by His Holiness Abune Antonius, 3rd Patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church:
“I would like to make it be known that the one day I saw Abune Sinoda before his departure, I had instructed him to return so that I could give him directives. Sadly, he snuck out and showed up in America without my approval.”
Again, to quote the letter of our Patriarch, His Holiness Abune Antonius (09-05-05):
“Let it be known that the random and questionable excommunication of priests by the (two) bishops, who are roaming the United States without my knowledge and approval, will have no validity whatsoever in the spiritual and administrative life of our Church.”
On the basis of the above, we want to remind you once more that your actions are yet again in complete violation of the Canon of our Church and our Patriarch’s letters. Consequently, be advised that you have no spiritual or administrative authority over our church. Moreover, we want to serve you notice on another important point. Our church is a legally constituted entity, subject to the laws of the State of Washington in which it is registered and that of the United States. Should you persist in such illegal harassment of either our church or our priest, you will leave us no option but to take legal actions against you and your advisors.
Lastly, we offer you and the misguided people surrounding you our advice not to continue making the Orthodox Church of Eritrea the laughing stalk. You have already done enough damage.
May God preserve our ChurchCC:-
ካብ ውሽጢ ኤርትራ ዝተረኽበ ንቤተ ክርስቲያን ተዋህዶ ንምቁጽጻር ብመንግስቲ ኤርትራ ክካየድ ዝጸንሐን ዘሎን ሽርሒ ዘቃልዕ ቪድዮ
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