Addis Abeba — Tigray Orthodox religious leaders have revealed intentions to adhere to the planned nomination of episcopates for dioceses organized under the newly established See of Selama Kessate Berhan Archdiocese of the Tigray Orthodox Tewahedo Church.

In a letter addressed to the media calling for the coverage of the nomination event to be held on 16 July, 2023, the head office of the See of Selama Kessate Berhan Archdiocese said 10 episcopates are due to be appointed in the holy city of Aksum, marking another major turn in the widening schism within the ancient Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church.

This came in the backdrop of the return of a delegation of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOTC) led by His Holiness Abune Mathias I, the patriarch, from Mekelle to Addis Abeba on Tuesday without securing a face-to-face meeting with the leaders of the See of Selama Kessate Berhan Archdiocese in Tigray.

The visit was intended to kick start reconciliation talks between the Holy Synod in Addis Abeba and the Tigray Orthodox Church, whose relations were severed in the wake of the two years devastating war in the Tigray region. The Tigray orthodox Church leaders blamed the Synod for endorsing a "war of genocide that was declared on the people of Tigray" and cut ties with the Synod which led to the establishment of the See of Selama Kessate Berhan Archdiocese.

In May, the Holy Synod of the EOTC accused the religious leaders in the Tigray region of creating "a new illegal regional structure" in a way that violates "the institutional unity and existing structural organization of our church" following the appointment of Archbishops by the Tigray Orthodox Church to serve the Tigrayan diaspora in USA, Europe, Canada, Australia and dioceses organized under the Tigray Orthodox Tewahdo Church.

AS