Religion and the Cold War: A Global Perspective

7. Religion and Cold War Politics in Ethiopia

139 Chapter 7 Religion and Cold War Politics in Ethiopia Wudu Tafete Kassu For more than 1,500 years (AD 430 to 1959), the Ethiopian Orthodox Church was governed by the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, Egypt, which consecrated and appointed Coptic bishops to preside over the Ethiopians. The Coptic Church did not allow Ethiopians to be bishops of their own church. There were several attempts to get an Ethiopian national appointed as bishop, but none of them succeeded. In the 1920s, a nationalist religious movement demanded the appointment of an Ethiopian bishop and the independence of the Ethiopian Church. This chapter briefly investigates the emergence of this nationalist consciousness, which argued against Coptic suzerainty in terms of race, slavery, serfdom, economic exploitation, and colonial domination. It then summarizes the prolonged negotiations between the Ethiopian Church and the Coptic Church. It emphasizes that local and regional as well as religious and political determinants had a great impact on the negotiations between the two churches. Local ethnonationalist rebellions from the 1940s, supported by Arab and Islamic governments, threatened to destabilize the Ethiopian government. During the Cold War, Egypt opposed that government because it was the region’s major supporter of the West. Egypt also disliked Ethiopia’s leaning in favor of Israel, which was based on scriptural as well as ancient and medieval Ethiopian traditions . Moreover, Egypt was nervous about Ethiopian attempts to construct a dam on the Nile River. Finally, the establishment of a US military base in Asmara (present-day Eritrea) was threatening to Egypt and the other Middle Eastern countries that had developed strong political and military ties with the Soviet Union. 140 | Religion and the Cold War: A Global Perspective Thus, the Egyptian government under Gamal Abdel Nasser backed the­ ethnonationalist struggle in Ethiopia, training and arming local dissident groups. Moreover, Nasser’s pan-Islamist image was strong among Ethiopian Muslims, who saw him as an ally. Cairo became a hub of radical nationalism, attracting young educated people from Ethiopia who espoused socialism and viewed Nasser as a radical and a supporter of their cause. Nasser’s regime was revolutionary and socialist but used Islam to further its own political objectives. The government of Ethiopia was threatened by the involvement of neighboring Muslim countries in its internal political affairs. It received intelligence reports from the United States and Great Britain about what these countries were doing against Ethiopia. Cold War politics and regional rivalry clouded the religious negotiations between Ethiopia and Egypt. As a minority in a predominantly Muslim Egypt, the Coptic Church was subject to strong political pressure from the Egyptian government and therefore could not bargain freely with the Ethiopian Church. As we will see, the negotiations between the two churches stalled, prolonged by the intervention of the Islamic Egyptian government. At one point in its attempt to control the Coptic Church, the Nasser government removed the Coptic patriarch, who had given autonomy to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and changed the patriarchal election rule. Its aim was to frustrate the bold Ethiopian demand for greater representation in the Coptic Synod, in patriarchal elections, on the patriarchal electoral committee, and in terms of candidates for the throne of St. Mark. The Ethiopian Synod threatened to sever its relations with the Coptic Church and refused to participate in the election of the next patriarch. To maintain the relationship between the Coptic Church and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, the Coptic patriarch raised the Ethiopian archbishop to the status of patriarch. Until that time, the independence of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the discussions leading to its autocephalous status had been marred by Cold War politics between the two governments and by the pan-Islamist and pan-Arab policies of Nasser. Religious Nationalism in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church The Ethiopian Orthodox Church is the bastion of Ethiopian tradition and culture . It is also a way of life. It contributed to the development of the country in the fields of education, literature, bookbinding, architecture, building, painting , and music. Beginning with its establishment in the fourth century, it was the largest single diocese under the Coptic Church of Alexandria. The head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church was an Egyptian national, consecrated and appointed as bishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church by the Coptic patri- Religion and Cold War Politics in Ethiopia | 141 arch. The main job of the resident Coptic bishop in Ethiopia was to anoint kings, to consecrate...