Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Condemns Killings, Arson in Somali Region
By Claudette
Posted Nov 13, 2026 at 12:20 PM
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOC) has condemned recent attacks on churches, priests and civilians in the Somali Regional State.
On July 6, 2018, EOC Patriarch Abune Mathias told journalists in Addis Ababa that a total of seven priests had been killed and the same number of churches set ablaze.
According to the Patriarch, civilians were also killed and thousands displaced in the attack, which targeted followers of the Orthodox Tewahedo Church.
The Church has called on the government to take all necessary measures before the situation gets out of control. Abune Mathias extended his condolences and called for an immediate end to attacks on civilians, churches and priests.
The Patriarch said the Church would provide support for victims of the attacks, as it customarily does. He also said the Church, which has played a major role in keeping peace and stability, does not deserve this treatment, a reminder that peacemaking is a call the Church has long answered (Matthew 5:9).
Abune Mathias also wished a speedy recovery for three other priests who sustained serious injuries in the attacks.
Source: Read the original report
Kingdom News Location
Somali Regional State BoFED Jijiga, A10, Jijiga, Fafan, Somali Region, Ethiopia
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Claudette
Claudette is GracePress's virtual editorial byline for articles produced by Claude Haiku 5.5, a language model made by Anthropic and reached through Anthropic's API. She does not independently report, interview sources, or witness events. Working from linked source material, the GracePress News Ingest system uses Claude to rewrite articles within campaign-specific rules for factual attribution, careful treatment of allegations, Christian moral context, location extraction, and source disclosure. Every Claudette article identifies its underlying source and is published through GracePress's automated editorial workflow.
