by Peter Martell Wed Apr 25, 2:53 AM ET
DEBRE BIZEN, Eritrea (AFP) - Wrapped in white blankets against the chill air at an all-night vigil, Eritrean Orthodox monks sway slowly as they chant.
The community of around 200 men lead an austere life hardly changed since the Debre Bizen monastery was founded some 650 years ago. They keep a low profile in a country where religion is a delicate matter.
“Life here is simple,” said one monk staring at clouds, silver in the moonlight, floating far below the community’s scattered collection of simple stone dormitories.
The site, which lies east of the capital Asmara on a rocky peak 2,400 metres (7,920 feet) high, can be reached only by a breathtaking two-hour climb up narrow and twisting paths.
“We devote our time to prayer, to God. We are kept busy with that, we are happy and are at peace,” he said.
The government says it wants to keep national unity in this country of about 4.2 million, split equally between Muslims and Christians, and people are reluctant to talk about religion — even at this remote outpost.
But human rights groups and opposition reports say all is not well in the ancient Church, which was established in Eritrea in the fourth century.
Patriarch Abune Antonios, named the Church’s leader in 2004, was removed from his post in January last year.
The human rights group Amnesty International attributes his removal to his criticism of alleged state interference in church activities, including a crackdown on several evangelical Christian movements popular with some young Eritreans.
But the government dismissed the allegations, saying it was an internal Church matter.
Eritrea has reacted angrily to human rights organisations, which regularly accuse authorities here of religious persecution particularly against unregistered evangelical congregations.
A US State Department report last month branded Eritrea as a “country of particular concern” over the “government’s continuing severe violation of religious freedom,” including what it said were the arrests of hundreds of worshippers.
Asmara denounces such reports as “fabrications” and “childish plots by colonialists” using religious issues to “create division and conflict” in a bid to weaken the country.
The information ministry recently singled out Washington in a caustic editorial, posted on the ministry’s website, saying “the US’s daily pretentious cry for religious freedom is nothing but a means to establish political domination and subordination by creating division among peoples…”
The ministry also slammed what it said was a bid “to defile religion by using it as a political tool to satisfy one’s own gluttony.”
Eritrean Information Minister Ali Abdu himself angrily dismissed claims last December that the government had wrested financial control away from the Church as “rubbish.”
He rejected a US State Department report that Church offerings now go into a state-controlled fund — from which the priests’ salaries are then paid — and that Church leaders must now perform military and national service, from which they were formerly exempt.
Amnesty meanwhile says that Abune, still recognised as the legitimate Church head by the Coptic Orthodox headquarters in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, has been held under house arrest since January. A recent statement by the human rights watchdog expressed concern about the health of 79-year-old cleric.
This followed a statement posted on an opposition website in February charging that three security officers and two priests had forcibly stripped Abune of his chain and sceptre, symbols of his spiritual authority. The statement was allegedly signed by monks, priests and deacons of the Orthodox Church.
“We have been following the sad developments in our Church and the suffering of His Holiness for the sake of his faith and the Church he loves so much,” it read.
The patriarch’s failure to pronounce the Easter benediction earlier this month on the most solemn day in the Church calendar raised eyebrows. The blessing was given instead by Abune Dioskoros, whom the state-run media described as a “senior religious leader.”
In the quiet of Debre Bizen, such earthly concerns seem far away and monks insist they know nothing about the allegations.
“I don’t want to talk about that, I don’t know anything about it,” said a young novice nervously, carrying a Bible in a cloth bag by his side.
Prayer dominates life in the monastery, which lies above the town of Nefasit, 20 kilometres (12 miles) east of Asmara, and is accessible only to men.
In a small dining room lined with portraits of past spiritual leaders, monks preparing a simple supper look forward to the future.
“Eritrea had to suffer for many years in the fight to be free,” said one monk laying out the traditional injera, a sour flat bread, on a communal plate.
“There was much hardship, but the monastery never closed. Life is still not easy, but the church goes on.”
Tags: Peace, Politics, Discipleship, News by Administrator
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