ADDIS ABABA – Religious leaders have urged citizens to further strengthen unity and peaceful coexistence in this Ethiopian New Year.
The spiritual leaders have conveyed New Year messages and expressed best wishes while urging the faithful to share meals and support the needy, and promote peace while celebrating the holiday.
“In the name of almighty God, we convey our message to the believers to resolve conflict via reconciliation and build social values to renew our stand in the New Year,” said his holiness Abune Mathias, Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church Patriarch.
kindness is in the human mind, thus, the faithful ought to use the New Year as new opportunity to renew thinking, hope to transfer the country into the right path to peace and development, he stated.
“If we move against this, the problem, the trouble we are facing will continue further way. So stop all things here and reconcile together,” he told the faithful.
Ethiopian Islamic Affairs Supreme Council, Fatwa and Research Sector Head Sheikh Endris Ali on his part stressed the need to promote peace in the New Year.
In the New Year, everyone’s plans and actions should be linked with peace of the country so as to move towards development, he said.
Catholic Church Archbishop Cardinal Berhaneyesus Demerew said celebrating New Year requires renewing commitment to stand for the justice, truth, love, compassion and dignity of human beings.
“New Year is like a spring board to do good things to our mutual benefit and support the needy including through sharing our meals,” he remarked.
The beginning of the New Year brings new blessing and rejuvenates the life of the faithful so that it should be spend wisely, Ethiopian Evangelical Churches Fellowship, President Pastor Tsadiku Abdo said while addressing citizens who celebrate the 2017 Ethiopian New Year.
He stressed that peace starts inside individuals, then develops at community level, so the public should develop respect, forgiveness, and maintain nation’s peace in the New Year.
Likewise, Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus President, Rev. Yonas Yigezu (PhD) called on the warring groups in some parts of the country to lay down their guns fore peaceful negotiation ready to end war in this Ethiopian New Year.
“Many of our fellow Ethiopians have suffered from natural and man-made disasters so we need to support our people who are in trouble to achieve our goals in the New Year,” he said. Ethiopian New Year, known as Enkutatash in Amharic, falls on September 11th (or September 12th in leap years) according to the Gregorian calendar.
BY MISGANAW ASNAKE
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD WEDNESDAY 11 SEPTEMBER 2024
