LIBERATION

Today we mark the 76t^h anniversary of the liberation  of  Auschwitz (which I visited in 1998), yet more dreadful news tells us that terror goes on in our world today.

Last week I did a Blog on an Ethiopian woman who was killed in Italy.  This week news of a massacre in a Church in Ethiopia.  It pains me, especially as I have come to know these people as gentle and very caring of others and with a great sense of humor.  Also we have a- now young man- on Shaw, who was adopted from Ethiopia 14 years ago.

The situation in northern Ethiopia is most alarming!  Communication is very precarious and for almost three weeks the Tigray region has been totally isolated from the rest of the world.

Then over the weekend came the news that around 1,000 people - including priests and other church leaders - have been killed in a series of attacks in Ethiopia culminating in a massacre at a church where the Ark of the Covenant is believed to be held.

Following reports that 750 people were killed in a raid on the Orthodox Maryam Tsiyon Church in Aksum, thought to contain the Ark of the Covenant, an anonymous source from inside the country spoke to Aid to the Church in Need

The attack was the latest in a long line of fatal assaults against innocent people, as part of the ongoing conflict in the Tigray region of the country.    Christianity has a long and venerable history in Ethiopia. The first community of Christians had just been established in Jerusalem, when, according to Acts 8:26-40, the Apostle Philip was sent to witness to “a eunuch of Great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians.” 

In the 4th Century, Christianity was proclaimed the official faith of the Ethiopian Aksumite Kingdom and it became the first nation in the world to use the image of the cross on its coinage.  

We can only pray that there be a cessation of killing and peace in so many parts of the world.