By Negassi Ameha
Jesus said to peter “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
Since then the keys to the kingdom of heaven which is the authority of priesthood has been handed down from generation to generation seamlessly until the Great Schism of the church.
The Great Schism refers to the division between the Eastern (Orthodox) and Western (Roman) churches, and the period (1378 - 1417) during which the Western church had first two, and later three, lines of popes. It was also the beginning of many contenstious religious debates and controversies. Among which the the dispute on "who should be the legitimate heir of Saint Peter's Key (authority)?" was one of them.
As the split continues and many churches pop up, it become very difficult to keep track the "Key". No body seems to find an answer for the question "Who has the Key to heaven?". The only thing known about the key is that it can not be shared by all because most of them have almost opposite beliefs and practices.
Some of them [like Protestants] get frustrated by the never ending disputes and settle the issue by rejecting the premises and saying “The Keys are still on Jesus hand, and we all can have it as long as we believe in him [Jesus]".
The rest of us, Catholics & Orthodox Christians, decided to keep fighting the “good fight” until one of us "win". As years goes by, catholics seems to get the majority vote and get the international recognition. But we excommunicate them, disregard their claim and keep on fighting with the sister churches of the Eastern Orthodox Churchs.
In that period we, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, were living under the stewardship of Egypt Coptic Church. Then we begin questioning “Why are we living under the blessing of Egypt? Who gave saint Peter’s Key to Egypt? Why cann’t we have it? Are we different or less righteous than them? etc.... then we checked our history and we got many supportive evidences to claim our independence. We also find enough verses from Holy Bible supporting our claim of The Key. Finally, after long historic and theological fight with Egypt Coptic Church, we “won” and declare our independence on 13 of July 1948.
Like any other church, the next logical step is to claim that we have the Key for the gate of heaven i.e our priests have the same authority as saint Peter had in the first century.
Yes, why can't we claim the Key. We didn't do any special sin. Like any other churches, we have corrupt administration; Like other churches our leaders are more of worldly than spiritual. We all are the same. Even the sex scandals and money laundry shouldn't disqualify us from claiming the Saint Peter’s Key, as it didn't disqualify the Catholic Church from the claim.
We completed our independence by electing our own Patriarch Abune Tewoflos on May 9, 1971.The we officially joins the group of churches who claim to have Saint Pter's Key. The fight for identity and legitimacy stopped.
In 1992, new fight for legitimacy resumes in the church when Patriarch Abune Paulos become Ethiopian Patriarch by over throwing the seating Patriarch Abune Merkorios in a " spiritual coups d'état". The Quesion of Who has the the Key to heaven?" takes different form and becomes "Who is the legitimate patriarch?".
When Eritrea gets its independence from Ethiopia in 1992, and appoint another patriarch (Abune Dimertos) the question of legitimacy become complicated. Because, politics seems to decide who should have the Key and who shouldn't.
The fight for the Key is now with in ourselves. Abune Paulos keep pushing its claim by erecting a statue for himself. Abune Merkorios keeps defending his seat by strengthening his hold on North American Orthodox Believers.
Irrespective of the leaders political and tactical move, the church members keep digging deep to know who really has the Key. They want to know whose blessing really opens the gate of heaven, and whose curse really binds souls in Hades forever. They also want to know if the Key has extra copies that can be shared by patriarchs of the same belief or not?
The believers need evidence.But the evidence should not be only biblical but also ethical. These evidences however can hardly found in all groups.
It is no wonder if saint Peter's Key is lost or broken down to pieces as the then one church split to 30,000 churches, sects and denominations.
