Almost nobody, here in Ethiopia, I can say, knows about this church. I think this is an old, self standing, church with no Ethiopian membership and is in no way a threat to the EOTC.
Hiywot
True, but Americans need to stop doing this kind of stuff. People wonder why there are so many different denominations and religions in the world.....well a good chunk of the reason is because America doesn't regulate who can and can't start a group. America doesn't stop people from
hijacking the faith of other people.
Someone today can start a new Mormon group with no connection to the Mormons whatsoever and claim to be the real Mormons of later day Saints. It's wrong, but America allows this sort of nonsense.
Believe me, the last thing you want is the government regulating religion.
As to the so-called 'independent' Orthodox and Catholic Churches - the
vagante ecclesia, the US has no particular monopoly on the genre. The same can be found on every continent except Antarctica.
And, while I can appreciate the concern that the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahado Church seems particularly beset by such, I assure you that it is nowhere near the saturation level that afflicts the Ukrainian Churches. Ignoring the disputed jurisdictional claims by the jurisdictions that have allegiance to the EP, MP, or KP, there are significant numbers of other Ukrainian ecclesia claiming to be Orthodox.
Edited comments that I once made elsewhere on the Ukrainian phenomenon:
Is it that time again? The annual census of Ukrainian Orthodox ecclesia
For those unfamiliar with this ritual, it's one performed pretty much annually here. Usually some variant on this query is posed and answered, after which we lament the situation and others chime in with expressions of amazement at the way ecclesia multiply among our Ukrainian brothers.
[Someone] has, however, introduced a new element into it this year - the question of who actually has faithful. In years past, we have not always bothered with that consideration, as it takes some of the fun out of it. ...
With all due respect to my Ukrainian Orthodox brethren, my apologies for seeming to have fun at your expense, but you have to admit that there aren't many other instances in which so many different religious bodies all claim the use of a common styling - Old Catholics being the only ones who come immediately to my mind.
In a later response by me to my remarks, I enumerated 8 that year.
Many years,
Neil
