Oriental and Eastern Orthodox Fathers Gather in Solidarity at Memorial for the 30 New Ethiopian & Eritrean Martyrs of Libya


Oriental and Eastern Orthodox Fathers Gather in Solidarity at Memorial for the 30 New Ethiopian & Eritrean Martyrs of Libya

Bronx, NY – Last Sunday, April 26, 2015, the clergy and faithful of the Oriental and Eastern Orthodox churches of the Greater New York Area gathered together with H.E. Abune Zekarias, Archbishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Archdiocese of New York, the Northeast, Southeast, and Central United States and his priests to commemorate the 30 Ethiopian and Eritrean Martyrs of Libya executed at the hands of the terrorist group Daesh.

The Standing Conference of Oriental Orthodox Churches condemns these brutal killings and declares that although the specific details of this repugnant atrocity are still emerging, and the names of most of these new martyrs for Christ remain unknown to the authorities of this world, we are sure that they are known to our merciful God for whom they willingly shed their blood and with whom they now rest in the Paradise of Joy.

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Participating clergy included:

  • H.E. Abune Zekarias, Archbishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Archdiocese of New York, the Northeast, Southeast, & Central United States,
  • H.G. Bishop David, Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of New York & New England
  • H.E. Metropolitan Mor Silvanos Ayub, Archbishop of the Malankara-Syriac Knanaya Churches in America, Canada, and Europe
  • H.E. Kyriakos Mor Theophilos, Resident Metropolitan of the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Theological Seminary
  • V. Rev. Fr. Simeon Odabashian, Diocesan Vicar, representing H.E. Archbishop Khajag Barsamian Primate of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church
  • V. Rev. Archimandrite Dr. Nathanael Symeonides, Director of the Office of Inter-Orthodox, Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, representing H.E. Archbishop Demetrios, the Exarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate