Waldiba’s
Crisis & a glimpse at MK’s Report
Mahibere
Kidusan is regarded by many as the last frontier that stands against the
swelling tide of indifference and complacency that has overtaken the EOTC
synod. When MK set out to investigate the Waldiba crisis many indeed expected
it to represent the voice of the voiceless – those who still stood for the
unwavering orthodox faith, those unpolluted by the impotency of tolerance that
characterizes our age. In times where most church authorities prefer silence
for fear of losing their positions, we are desperately in need of someone to
fearlessly proclaim the truth and point out the error without any regard to the
dire consequences.
Unfortunately
MK’s investigative report did not sound as though it was prepared by a body
that felt compassion for the perceived misery of the church. From the report it
is clear that Mk authorities know full well the extent of damage the sugar industry
would cause to the Waldiba Monasteries in particular and the essence of Ethiopian
orthodoxy in general. We are not talking about the physical consequences of
taking few acres of land from Waldiba.
Waldiba
represents the spiritual core of orthodoxy and monastic life in Ethiopia. It is
among the ancient monasteries that remain unpolluted by the ‘ modern’ world and
its corrupt ways. It is the last bastion of true monastic life whose presence
is enough to remind us of the tradition of our fathers that seems inaccessible
to our age and towards which we must strive. Let us not forget that in times
when Egyptian bishops were not there to guide the flock and ecclesiastical
authorities were absent for extended periods, it was monastic spirituality that
carried the beacon and delivered the truth ‘that was once delivered to the
saints’ to our generation.
The
corruptive influence such a massive project and settlement has to the monastic
life of Waldiba that represents the spiritual reservoir of our church can never
be compensated. I am sure the MK are not ignorant of this. So why do they
repeatedly talk of the significance of undertaking negotiations with the
government and about the acceptability of compensations for the perceived
damages?
From
the start it seemed as though the report writers were trying to depict the
situation in such a way that the deeds of the government would be excused by
the reader. Or else why would they need to write a couple of pages that detail
the scope and intent of the sugar industry?
‘ፋብሪካው በቀን 25000 አገዳ መፍጨት የሚችል አቅም አለው። ከዚህ ውስጥ 10 ፐርሰንት ማለትም 2500 ቶን ስኳር በቀን ያመርታል። ከዚህም በተጨማሪ ከተረፈ ምርቱ አታኖል ያመርታል።’…
It
seems by saying something about the perceived significance of the sugar project
ahead of addressing the religious accusation, they intended to arouse favorable
attitude towards the project. The
developmental significance of the industry is not the issue. What concerns us
is to know in no uncertain terms whether the government has in any way
damaged/compromised/ the dignity and integrity of the monasteries. Period!!
On
the other hand concerning the pertinent questions of the damages done by the
government the report is filled with impotent and diplomatic words. Granted -
it does not hide such preposterous acts as removing holy relics of saints, the
destruction of vital farmlands, etc. However, the misdeeds are presented as if
the crisis is exclusively the concern of the monastic fathers፡
- ‘’የግድቡ ግማሽ ክፍል ወደ ዋልድባ መንደር መግባቱ’ መነኮሳቱ የሚያቀርቡት ተቃውሞ ነው።…
- ‘’አጽመ ቅዱሳን ተነስቷል’ ይህ ሁለተኛው የገዳሙ መነኮሳት አቤቱታ ነው።’…
- ወደ አባ ነባ ገዳም መንገድ ተቀዷል’ የሚለው ሶስተኛው የመነኮሳቱ አቤቱታ ነው።’…
- ‘ገዳማታችን፣ አድባራቶቻችን ሊፈርሱብን፣ የእርሻ መሬቶቻችን በውሃ ሊጠፋብን ነው’ የሚለው ደግሞ አራተኛው የገዳማውያኑ አቤቱታ ነው።…
- የግድቡ ውሃ ሞፈር ቤታችን የሆነውንና በቅዱሱ ክልል ውስጥ የሚገኘውን አባ ነባ ገዳም ያጥለቀልቀዋል’ ይህ …. መነኮሳቱ የሚያነሱት ስጋት ነው።…
Is
that just it? - Monk’s ‘አቤቱታ’ and ‘ስጋት’ ? Are
we to assume that such spiritually monumental issues are just the concerns of
some dissatisfied monks? By presenting the problems as such the report
diminishes its true significance. It is by no means only the problem of monks
residing is some remote monastery. I can’t
stress enough when I say seemingly minute problems that threaten the well being
of these monasteries pose a potent danger to our spiritual existence. Plus this
is not some neutral and foreign body that is presenting the report. They are not
there to settle the dispute between the government and some ‘rebellious’ monks.
This is MK!!! They are supposed to take the problem as their problem and stand
by the stand of the defenseless monks.
What
is more tragic is the way the report shamelessly attempts to further downplay
these vital concerns:
‘አንዳንድ ገዳማውያንም ይህንኑ አረጋግጠውልናል። ነገር ግን በሃያው አጽሞች በክብር ማረፍ ቢስማሙም ከቦታው እንዲፈልሱ የተደረጉት አጽሞች ቁጥር ላይ ግን አይስማሙም።…’ (As
if moving only few relics of saints diminishes the insult and obvious
disrespect the government is displaying through such actions. As representatives
of the church they should be feeling the agony of realizing that it is the
dignity of the saints that is being trampled with and consequently condemn such
actions.)
‘እኛም ይሄው መንገድ መቀደዱን ያየን ቢሆንም በአሁኑ ወቅት ምንም አይነት አገልግሎት እንደማይሰጥ ተመልክተናል…” (again
we see complacency. Instead of trying to find some form of consolation by
asserting that the road is not put into use a more ortho-centric report would
have emphasized the future consequence of having the unused road around on the
spiritual purity of the monasteries.)
‘እንደፕሮጀክት ሓላፊዎቹ ማብራሪያ እነዚህ ገዳማት የሚነሱት ከግድቡ ወደ ሸንኮራ ልማቱ የሚሔደው ውሃ ስለሚያጥለቀልቃቸው ነው።’…
(Again an irrelevant statement! What is it to us to know the reason they are
removed? Does it make it any more consoling or less painful? The truth is that
Churches are being removed and the Waldiba monasteries are being deprived of
their irreplaceable farmlands making their future sustained existence doubtful!
And orthodox Christians who have any shred of concern for the well being of their
church have to do something about it! This was what the MK report should have
said!)
‘…
እንዳይፈስም በግድቡ ምዕራባዊ ክፍል …የግድብ ሙላት መከላከያ ተሰርቶለታል። ከዚህ አንጻር ውሃው ወደ ቅዱሱ ክልል ወደ አባ ነፃ ገዳም የመፍሰስ ዕድል የለውም።’
(More complacency! Am I reading the report of a body that has gone to
investigate ON BEHALF of the Church?) Of course that is what government
authorities who desperately want to get the project going would say. They would
definitely say there is no chance of flooding! Would they care if the
monasteries get flooded? Again I would assume any institution who stands for
the best interests of the church would not take their word for granted and
would instead voice its concerns /no matter how narrow the possibility of the
danger is/
Now
let’s go to MK’s official position. It says ‘የማህበሩ አስተያየቶች’. Again where it is supposed to clarify its position, the
report has instead preferred to disgracefully call it ‘opinions’. Why do they
not clearly take a stand instead of toying around with words?
‘ነገር ግን በዋልድባ ድንበር ላይ የሚሰራው ፕሮጀክት በገዳሙ ላይ የሚያመጣው አሉታዊ ተጽእኖ አለው በሚል የገዳሙ ማሕበርና ምዕመናን የተለያዩ ሐሳቦችን እየሰነዘሩ ነው።’ Now the team has been to the monasteries and have seen
with their eyes what happened. So why the reluctance to say … we believe this
is WRONG??? Why make it as if the claims are mere opinions of some individuals?
Disappointing!
Finally
the report identifies two perceived problems with the project implementation:
- አስቀድሞ በቂ የሆነ ውይይት ከሚመለከታቸው አካላት ጋር በተለይም ከገዳማውያኑ ጋር አለማድረጉ፤
- ችግሩን ለመፍታት የተሄደበት መንገድ አግባብነት ጥያቄ የሚያስነሳ መሆኑ ይጠቀሳሉ።
These
statements imply that the only thing the government did wrong was not to have
consulted the authorities and its lack of willingness to undertake
negotiations. So if the government had properly negotiated (bribed??) the
monastic authorities would it have been ok for it to transgress the Monastries’
rights, remove holy relics, take down their farmlands and start constructions
where it was explicitly forbidden
to do so?? We do not read anything about condemning the sugar project itself. It
is not as if Waldiba is the only place conducive for Sugar industry or the
government is facing shortage of territories for investment. So I don’t think
it is too much to ask if we say – ‘get away from Waldiba and do it somewhere
else!’
And
the report goes on to praise the willingness shown on the part of the government
to negotiate and pay the necessary compensation. Moreover it suggests that the
government undertake exhaustive discussions with Church authorities to resolve
the conflict:
በውይይቱም መንግስት ሙሉ የፕሮጀክት ሰነዱን ይዞ በመቅረብ ማስረዳትና የውይይቶቹ ውጤት መልካም እንዲሆን ማድረግ እንዳለበት እናምናለን። (Again
the report is wrongly asserting that absence of discussion is the only problem.
Lengthy discussions are not going to take away the fact that our spiritual
fortress is compromised by the sugar industry and that these blatant actions
could only be redeemed if the project is closed.)
‘ምእመናንም እንደ ቤተክርስቲያን ልጅነታቸው ለገዳሙ መቆርቆራቸው ተገቢና አስፈላጊም ነው።፡ምናልባት የመረጃ ማጣት፣ የቦታው ርቀት፣ ከተለያዩ ሚዲያዎች በየጊዜው የተለያዩ መረጃዎች መውጣታቸው ብዙዎችን ረብሿል፣ ጽንፍም እስከማስያዝ ድርሷል። ይህ ሁኔታ ደግሞ ወደ ስሜታዊነት እንዳያደርሰን መጠንቀቅ ያሻል።’ Here
the report attempts to basically say : ‘Look your concern is good and should be
encouraged. But you are misinformed. You should not take sides and do ‘emotional
things’ such as taking up fire arms, traveling to Waldiba and offering to
sacrifice your lives is a bit too far.’ But are we Christians misinformed? Of
course not. The report has itself indicated that all the rumors are true. So
where is the misinformation and a gap in understanding? And what does it mean
when it says ‘going too far?’ and being emotional?’ when our very spiritual existence
is at stake and when we are being robbed of the very essence of our
spirituality by a government who neither acknowledges God nor honor religion –
is choosing to die for your religion going too far? Or being emotional?
By
writing such a cold and complacent report MK have done more to damage the
movement concerned Christians are attempting to undertake against the project
than the silence of the EOTC synod could possibly have affected! Now that such
a respected institution as MK who has the hearts of the orthodox faithful has
effectively poured cold water over any attempt to stop the despicable action of
the government, there is no longer any need to try to protest against it. It is
ok as long as the government provides compensations and discusses the matter
with church authorities. The local farmers, who are fighting to put a stop to
the project, have shown more courage than most of us would ever attempt and
what have we done to support them? We are telling them that there is no problem
and that they are being emotional! I don’t think I am exaggerating when I say
that by this report the MK has not been brave enough to stand for the cause of
the church. If it continues to avoid speaking the truth over crucial church
issues such as this, I am afraid it won’t be too long before its credibility
gets tragically compromised.
This
comment is not meant to attack MK or portray it in a negative manner. Far from
it, it is my profound belief that MK, with all its imperfections and
inadequacies, represents the hope and future of our church. Nor have I
underestimated the extensive pressure it is in. It is only recently that Holy
fathers who are members of the synod were physically assaulted which shows the
viciousness of the enemy who is not afraid to utilize any means to achieve its
goals.
I
assume MK authorities, by avoiding confrontations, hope to prolong the existence
of the institution. Indeed Mahibere Kidusan has and continues to provide
invaluable services and support to innumerable churches throughout the country.
Reigniting the spiritual welfare of the youth has also been the task that has
been largely carried out by this influential institution. So I empathize with
their intention to take seemingly necessary steps to ensure that the
institution keeps going.
Yet
how far does one go in compromising one’s ideals? if Mk , in its attempts to
guarantee its survival, lost the ideals and values it stood for - then what is
the point of preserving its existence? Wasn’t Isaiah punished with leprosy for
failing to fearlessly condemn the king’s deeds? On the other hand wasn’t St.
Dioscoros’ resolve in condemning the interference of Roman emperors on church
affairs the pivot that defined orthodox zealousness? I suppose there comes a
point where MK as an institution and the rest of us as responsible Christians have
to choose which side we are on and take a stand against the enemy no matter how
mighty it is.
May
the Lord’s grace help MK to overcome the imminent threat they are confronted
with and continue to shine as the candle that flickers on a mountain.
