Opening Statement of the Exhibition
By Liqe Tiguhan Kes Mulugeta Seyoum
Chairman of the Parish Administration Council
23 October 2004
The Hague, The Netherlands
IN THE NAME THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, THE HOLY SPIRIT ONE GOD!
You're Excellency, Father Aba Brhane Meskel,
Dear Fathers, Dear deacons, and Distinguished guests, brothers and sisters
It is a great honour for me to see so many of you gathered here to visit the Grand Exhibition, which I believe that it is the grand day of our Church in the Netherlands.
I would like to welcome all of you and to cordially congratulate those of you who have been assisting, working and praying with us all the way to make our dreams true, which we all see and sense it now..
Above all, I thank the Almighty God who never forget what we told Him and never denied what we asked for. He gave us in love and generously all what we needed. As I mentioned earlier, without exaggeration, this day is a grand day of our mother church in The Netherlands on which we are going to introduce the immensely rich history, doctrine and spiritual traditions of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, which is founded on the blood of our saviour Jesus Christ.
Even though the Ethiopian Orthodox church has started spiritual activities in the Netherlands before 15 years, the church activities were not organized based on the regulations of the EOTC Parish Council. The Parish Council of the church in the Netherlands was established before two years and since then it carried out a lot of inspiring spiritual works in collaboration with Sunday Schools and spiritually active and dedicated members. The following were the most important activities carried out:
• Re-organized Sunday school activities and established three more in different collages and universities in the Netherlands ;
• Organized and is providing training for Bible preachers;
• Tried to raise up church building contributions from 40.000 euro to 100,000 euro;
• Established important relations with organizations such as DE Verandering, and other churches to find out solutions for the new church buildings;
• Provided membership forms and encouraged the laity to participate in any activities of the church;
• Published the identity card of the members and church invoice; and
• Registered the church in Stichting according to the rule of the Netherlands Government with name of DEBRE MEWI KIDUS GEBREL CHURCH IN NEITHER LANDS
Moreover, the parish council has been developing programs for principal church holy days and spiritual activities for each calendar year. It has been also supporting and providing services for the church in Belgium in collaboration with priest Mezgebu who is with us today.
Coming back to the main agenda of the day, the parish council of the church organized a special committee for the purpose of organizing the Grand Exhibition. The parish council had been working closely and provided all the necessary supports to the committee. I would like to thank the exhibition organizing committee for their devotion and commitment who really changed our dreams into the realties of today.
The main objective of this exhibition is to show to all church members and other interested individuals and institutions how and at what cost our church fathers managed to maintain and pass on all the biblical values and apostolic teaching to succeeding generations without any missing or mix of superimposed values or doctrine. The exhibition is believed to clearly introduce and demonstrate to all visitors the unchanged status of Christianity, spiritual values, methods of teaching, the prime position of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in the theological discourse.
Nevertheless, I would like to make emphasis that this exhibition does not contain all the immense spiritual treasure inherited from our fathers and hence, does not represent the detailed and a complete picture of our church but we still have a confidence that it will sufficiently represent the overview of the history, doctrine, and some canonical stand of the church.
I hope that after these exhibition church members and other visitors will learn and have a clear understanding of how our fathers were devoted in their Christian life and how they lived in love and prosperity. This lesson will make us more united and love each other for the success of our Christian lives forever.
King David in Holy Spirit said that “ Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.” (Pss 67:31). Based on this fact our church fathers have been stretching their hands to God and received a lot of things from Him. That is all what this exhibition will show and teach to all of us.
To mention very few examples that our fathers received from God: the Ark of Covenant, which is found in Axum Zion and part of the true Holy Cross on which Jesus Christ was Crucified , is found in Debre Kerbe Gishen.
Adhering to the foot steps and lives of our holy fathers, we have to stretch our hands to God in order to receive what we all need and important to strengthen our spiritual lives. So let us stretch our hands and depend more on God than depending too much on others who they themselves depend on God. While we stretch our hands to God, we call up on all Christians that we are one in Christ to join hands in carrying out apostolic missions.
The Exhibition clearly shows that we Ethiopians had no reason to change our religion if we strictly adhere to the teaching and lives of our fathers. It is for this reason that Prophet Jermiya stated that “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots?” (Jer 13: 23).
This word of God tells us that we should not deny our identities, beliefs, which we received from our fathers. We have to strengthen ourselves towards love, peace, and trust in God in order to get all we need from Him.
Moses said to the sons of Israel: Behold the heaven and the highest heaven belong to the Lord your God, the earth and all that is in it. The Lord preferred your fathers, to love them: and he chose their seed after them, you above all nations, as it is at this day. So circumcise the hardness of your heart and stiffen your neck no longer. For the Lord your God is God of Gods and the Lord of Lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality, who takes no bribe. He executes judgement for the stranger, the orphan and the widow; and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. You shall fear the Lord your God and serve him, and to him you shall hold fast, and take oaths in his name. He is your boast, he your God, who has done for you the great and wonderful things, which your eyes have seen.
Glory to the Almighty God who always gives us all what we need and who kept intact our church fathers in His love and faith and so do us!
At last but not least on behalf of the parish council of Debre Mewi Kidus Gebriel, I would like to extend a special gratitude for the following individuals and organizations:
1. W/ro Masho who donated 1,000 euro to purchase the materials for the exhibition from Ethiopia .
2. Mahibere Kidusan head office, Europe branch and the Netherlands sub-branch office, which arranged and facilitated the collection and dispatching of all materials from Ethiopia .
3. To the Ethiopian General Consulate in the Netherlands, which provided us with many materials that added value to the exhibition.
4. DIR Radio station, Ethio-TV Amsterdam and Rotterdam, which all assisted us in announcing and introducing the exhibition.
5. To all church members EOTC in the Netherlands who participated from the inception of the exhibition idea to date.
6. Last but not least to officials of the Buurthuis “De Loods”, which allowed us to use this whall for the exhibition
Thank you very much,
May God bless you !
Priest Mulugeta Seyoum ,
Chairman of the Parish Administrative council of EOTC in The Netherlands . |
