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As in most religious contexts, Ethiopian Orthodox Täwahәdo clergy in rural communities display various limitations and are faced by numerous restrictions that influence the level of their theological understanding and their ability to provide pastoral support effectively. The clergy typically act as spiritual fathers to married couples and tend to be approached first in cases of marital problems, including conjugal abuse of various kinds. In most cases, they will oppose pernicious folklore norms and beliefs that contribute to the problem and will try to mediate conjugal abuse situations and support victimised women to exit dangerous situations. However, many of them ignore the true extent of the problem and the influence of their own discourses on the laity and how deeply embedded these discourses can be in folklore culture and understandings, which can unwittingly reinforce socio-cultural gendered norms contributing to the continuation of some forms of conjugal abuse.
The resources in this section aim to help Ethiopian Orthodox Täwahәdo clergy to become more aware of these complexities and their role in the continuation and alleviation of the problem, by equipping them with better knowledge of theology on gender relations, marriage and conjugal cohabitation and an understanding of safeguarding risks and psychological parameters that must be considered when providing pastoral support to domestic violence victims, survivors and perpetrators.
Resources include working papers summarising research in Ethiopia and materials used in the delivery of sensitisation participatory workshops with clergy. While the findings discussed are specific to communities in Ethiopia, an effort has been made to adapt these materials to a broader community of Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Täwahәdo clergy and clergy, theologians and seminarians in the international diaspora, including in the UK.
በድልድል ፕሮጀክት
ሰኔ 2013
ይሄ የሥልጠና መጽሔት በኢትዮጵያ አማራ ክልል ለሚገኙ ቀሳውስት የተሰጡ ሥልጠናዎችን ዋነኛ ይዘት ጠቅልሎ የሚያቀርብ ነው፡፡ ዋነኛ ትኩረቶቹም የኦንላይን ድረገጹን የመጠቀም ዕድሉ ያላቸው በሀገሪቷ የሚገኙ ካህናት ናቸው፡፡ የሥልጠና መጽሔቱ የተዘጋጀው በወርክሾፑ ላይ በሚገኙ ርእሶች እና ጭብጦች መሠረት ቢሆንም አጭርና ግልጽ ለማድረግ ሲባል የመወያያ ጥያቄዎችና የቡድን እንቅስቃሴዎች ተዘለዋል፤ በርከት ያሉ ርእሶችም ቀለል ያለ አቀራረብ እንዲይዙ ወይም እንዲያጥሩ ተደርጓል፡፡ ይሄንን የሥልጠና መጽሔት የሚጠቀሙ ካህናት በማኅበረሰባቸው ውስጥ መንፈሳዊ ድጋፍ በሚያደርጉበት ወይም በሚያስተምሩበት ጊዜ የመረጡት ይዘት ላይ የራሳቸውን አረዳድ እንዲጨምሩበት እና ወደ ማኅበረሰቡ ነባራዊ ሁኔታ እንዲያመጡት ይመከራሉ፡፡
Project dldl/ድልድል
June 2021
The current booklet summarises the main content of workshops delivered with Ethiopian Orthodox Täwahәdo clergy in Amhara region, Ethiopia. The booklet is targeted at clergy around the country who have access to the online platform. The booklet is structured according to the topics and themes covered during the workshop, however, for the sake of brevity, discussion questions and group activities are omitted, while many topics are simplified or abbreviated. Clergy using this booklet are advised to use their discretion and to contextualise appropriately the content they choose to use when providing spiritual support or teaching in their communities.
ጸሐፊ፡ ዶ/ር ሮሚና ኢስትራቲ (Dr Romina Istratii)
ተርጓሚዎች፡ ኤልያስ ገብረሥላሴ (Elias Gebrselassie) እና ፍሬሰንበት ገ/ዮሐንስ
June 2021 (ሰኔ 2013)
የትግበራ ጽሑፉ ከዚህ ቀደም በሰሜን ኢትዮጵያ በትግራይ በሚገኙ የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ማኅበረሰብ ዘንድ በጋብቻ ውስጥ ያለ ጥቃትን በተመለከተ በተሠራ የጥናት ምርምር ላይ የተመረኮዘ ነው፡፡ ጥናቱ የምእመናንን ሕይወት፣ በጾታዊ መመዘኛዎች እና ልማዶች መካከል ያለውን ግንኙነት እና በዚህ ሃይማኖተኛ ማኅበረሰብ ውስጥ በጋብቻ ውስጥ የሚኖር ጥቃት በመቀጠሉ እና በመገታቱ መካከል ያለውን ውስብስብ ግንኙነት ከመረዳት አንጻር የእምነትን እና የሃይማኖት ልምምድ ያላቸውን ወሳኝነት አሳይቷል፡፡ እምነት የጥቃት ፈጻሚነትን ጠባይ እና በጋብቻ ውስጥ ከሚኖር ጥቃት ጋር በተያያዘ ያሉ ልማዶችን ለመከላከል ወይም ለማስቆም ውስብስብ በሆነ መንገድ ለንጽጽር በቀረበበት ሁኔታ ጥናቱ በነገረ መለኮት እና ባሕላዊ አረዳድ መካከል ያለውን ወሳኝ የሆነ ውጥረት ገልጧል፡፡ የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ቤተክርስቲያን ቀሳውስትና የነገረ መለኮት ሊቃውንት፣ የመንግሥት አካላት እና መንግሥታዊ ያልሆኑ የቤት ውስጥ ጥቃት መከላከል አገልግሎት ሰጪዎች እምነትና የሃይማኖት ልምምድ በምእመናን የጋብቻ ሕይወት ውስጥ ያላቸውን ውስብስብ ሚና፣ በጋብቻ ውስጥ የሚኖር ጥልን ለማስታረቅ ቀሳውስት የሚከተሉት መንገድን በተመለከተ እና ችግሩን ለመቅረፍ ነገረ መለኮትና የኖላዊነት አገልግሎት እንዴት በአግባቡ ጥቅም ላይ መዋል እንደሚችሉ ለማስገንዘብ በሚደረግ ጥረት ይሄ የጽሑፍ ሥራ የዚህን የተጠናቀቀ የጥናት ውጤት ዋና ዋና ግኝቶች ለብዙሀኑ ለማድረስ ያልማል፡፡
Dr Romina Istratii
June 2021
The current working paper is informed by previous ethnographic investigations of conjugal abuse in the Ethiopian Orthodox community in Tigray region in northern Ethiopia. The research evidenced the importance of religious beliefs and experience in understanding the life of the laity, intersections with gender parameters and norms, and complex associations with the continuation and deterrence of conjugal abuse in this religious society. The study revealed important tensions between theological and folklore understandings, with ‘faith’ being juxtaposed in complex ways to ‘culture’ to preserve or discontinue pernicious behaviour and norms associated with conjugal abuse. The current working paper aims to improve understanding among Ethiopian Orthodox Täwahәdo Church clergy and theologians, state agents, and non-governmental domestic violence stakeholders about the complex role of religious beliefs and experience in the married lives of the laity, about the clergy’s approaches to mediation in marital conflict, and to suggest how theology and pastoral interventions may be appropriately engaged in alleviating the problem.
ጸሐፊ፡ ዶ/ር ሮሚና ኢስትራቲ (Dr Romina Istratii)
ተርጓሚዎች፡ ኤልያስ ገብረሥላሴ (Elias Gebrselassie) እና ፍሬሰንበት ገ/ዮሐንስ አድሃኖም (Fresenbet Gebreyohanns Adhanom)
March 2021 (ጥር 2013)
ይህ ጥናታዊ ጽሑፍ ከቅዱስ ዮሐንስ አፈወርቅ ሰባት ስብከቶች የተውጣጣ ሲሆን፤ በወንድ እና ሴት የጋብቻ ሕይወት ላይ ያጠነጥናል፡፡ ስብከቶቹንም በምልከታ እና ልምድ በዳበረ ኦርቶዶክሳዊ አስተሳሰብ (ፍሮኒማ) ለመመልከት ሙከራ ተደርጓል፡፡ ዓላማውም የቤተክርስቲያን አባቶች አስተምህሮን ለምዕመናን ነባራዊ ሁኔታዎች የበለጠ በማቅረብ ስለ ኦርቶዶክሳዊ እምነት ያላቸውን አረዳድ ከፍ ማድረግ ነው፡፡ የቅዱስ ዮሐንስ አፈወርቅ ትምህርቶች ጠንካራ የሆነ ባህላዊ መሠረት ባላቸው የኦርቶዶክስ ማኅበረሰቦች ውስጥ ከሴቶች እና ትዳር ጋር ተያይዞ ያለውን መጥፎ ልማድ ለመቅረፍ ወሳኝ መሆኑን፡፡
Dr Romina Istratii
March 2021
This paper is dedicated to St John Chrysostom’s commentaries regarding man-woman relations in marriage and the conjugal relationship as they emerge from seven homilies. An attempt is made to provide a reading of these homilies through the Orthodox phronema understood here as the experience-based historical conscience of the Church. The aim is to bring the works of the Church Fathers closer to the current conditions of the Orthodox faithful and improve their awareness of the Orthodox faith. It is our belief that Chrysostom’s commentaries in particular can become an important resource for the alleviation of pernicious attitudes regarding women and marriage associated with tradition-oriented Orthodox communities.