• 03:50
  • Monday ,12 January 2015
العربية

Ethiopian Orthodox patriarch heads divine liturgy in Cairo church

By-Ahram

Copts and Poliltical Islam

00:01

Monday ,12 January 2015

Ethiopian Orthodox patriarch heads divine liturgy in Cairo church

Ethiopian Orthodox Patriarch Mathias I headed the divine liturgy Sunday morning at Our Lady of Zeitoun Church during his first visit to Egypt.Ethiopian Orthodox Patriarch Mathias I headed the divine liturgy Sunday morning at Our Lady of Zeitoun Church during his first visit to Egypt.

The liturgy service was attended by Coptic Egyptians as well members of the Ethiopian community in Egypt. 
 
Priests from Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church as well from Ethiopia's Orthodox Church attended the service. 
 
The Ethiopian church was formerly an archdiocese of the Church of Alexandria but became autonomous in the late 1950s. 
 
Mathias I started Saturday a six-day visit to Egypt, his first to the country. 
 
Patriarch Mathias I became the 6th pope of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in February 2013.
 
The Orthodox Egyptian and Ethiopian Churches played a crucial role in negotiations between the two countries regarding the Grand Renaissance Dam Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile.
 
Egypt is concerned that the dam would affect its share of Nile water.