In 1895, Menelik II sent an embassy to Russia, which was warmly received by Nicholas II. The Russian Tsar awarded the Ethiopian Emperor the "Order of Solomon" and provided Ethiopia with weapons and military advisors. This support was crucial in Ethiopia's victory against Italy at the Battle of Adwa in 1896, a significant event in African resistance to colonialism.
No, I believe not. It's more political policy than anything ELSE.
I never had heard about this incident, nor the battle
I am glad that the help was extended, since the Italians were actually DREADFUL occupiers of, for example, Libya. They were far from kindly.
Do you have any idea who that Russian cleric is ?
I'm not sure who the priest is.
I think that many World Orthodox today would argue that when their patriarchs meet with the Copts or Monophysite Patriarchs, this is a "political policy" rather than a concelebration or full-scale endorsement of their theology.
What I mean is, is it all that different from this:
haralampopoulosjc wrote: ↑Fri 27 June 2025 5:41 pmIn 1895, Menelik II sent an embassy to Russia, which was warmly received by Nicholas II. The Russian Tsar awarded the Ethiopian Emperor the "Order of Solomon" and provided Ethiopia with weapons and military advisors. This support was crucial in Ethiopia's victory against Italy at the Battle of Adwa in 1896, a significant event in African resistance to colonialism.
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It doesn't sound they prayed together (and arguably you could find worse examples of "Ecumenism" in pre-revolutionary Russia than this). The Tsars of Russia often awarded many foreign dignitaries of all sorts of faiths (from British Anglicans, French Catholics, German Lutherans etc.) with military awards and this wasn't uncommon even among the Greek Monarchy that briefly existed until WW1 or the Serbian Monarchs even prior to the assassination of Kralja Aleksandr and Kraljica Draga.
St. Tikhon, Confessor Patriarch, was awarded all sorts of doctorates and degrees by Anglicans, and St. John of Kronstadt was friends with several Anglican priests. In some cases with them there was even "joint prayer" but at that time it was not understood well by Orthodox Christians -- especially prior to the internet -- how these people deviated from the Orthodox Faith, and many times the Anglicans lied about wanting to join the Orthodox Church.
In Russia in the 1870s there was a push (mostly by the state) to "reconcile" the Armenian Monophysites with the Orthodox Church, and there were similar calls in Constantinople around this time. Perhaps there were bad actors -- in the case of Constantinople we know many Bishops were Freemasons even long before Meletios Metaxakis -- but this doesn't sound like that.
Like our dearest sister Barbara pointed out, the Italians were brutal and did horrific crimes against the Ethiopians, including some of the first usage of chemical warfare during that war, and the Tsar probably felt sympathy for the Ethiopian people.
I am not of the opinion of trying to justify every single wrong a Saint might've done, but I don't like using this methodology to try to claim "St. Tikhon was friendly with Anglicans therefore he can't be a Saint" or so on.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."
Thank you, that all makes sense.
Do we have any idea the names of the EP bishops who were Freemasons ? If any were clearcut as being such members ?
Really ? The 1st use of chemical weapons was in that war ? REALLY TERRIBLE !
The Italians were probably the worst of the European colonists.
The French were not TOO bad until more recently in Algerie, when they got way out of control trying to hang onto the North African jewel of a colony.
