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August in Africa- Blog III  (no comments)

Posted by: Michael Leavitt
Wednesday, August 20th, 2008

Written August 11, 2008

Today, I had interaction with two fascinating personalities, who likely provide the most important influences on Ethiopia right now. The first was His Holiness Abune Paulos, Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. The second was the Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

Over the course of my visit, and as I prepared for it, a picture of the influence of religion on the Ethiopian culture has begun to emerge. Since there hasn’t been a census done for many years, I don’t think anybody knows for sure the statistical breakdown, but my sense is the population is nearly evenly divided between Muslim and Christian. The religious breakdown clearly varies from region to region. In Addis Ababa (the capital), for example, one can see evidence of both religions constantly. Life in the city is conducted with a constant back drop of Muslim call to pray and, at the same time, one sees Christian churches everywhere.

What would not be disputed is that the most prominent Christian church is the Ethiopian Orthodox church, and it has roots in Judaism. Apparently, in the 4th century A.D., it was a tradition for Jews to travel to Jerusalem to worship. A certain Jewish eunuch, while there, was converted to Christianity, and upon his return began to convert others. The result was a blend of the two religions. The Ethiopian Orthodox church remains heavily influenced, in its practices and doctrines, from this background. Today, the Ethiopian Orthodox church claims to have a membership in excess of 40 million. It has 30,000 churches and nearly 500,000 clergy.

The Patriarch, His Holiness Abune Paulos, is a man in his early seventies who has studied as an undergraduate at Yale and got his PhD at Princeton. He speaks fluent English and has a sophisticated view of the world. During a period of political turmoil in Ethiopia, he was imprisoned. When I asked him about the impact that period had on him, he acknowledged it was “a hard time,”