Background

In Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church of Canada St Mary Cathedral v Aga, 2021 SCC 22 (CanLII), the five respondents and six others, including the appellants Abune Dimetros and Messale Engeda, had been appointed in 2016 to an ad hoc committee to investigate a movement some considered to be heretical. The committee was to be “guided by the rules and regulations of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church synod in the Diaspora”, and because it was an issue of doctrine and canon law the final decision was to be made by the Archbishop [9]. However, the Archbishop did not accept or implement the committee’s findings, the committee was extremely displeased, and its members were warned that they would be expelled from the Congregation if they did not cease expressing dissatisfaction with the Archbishop’s decisions [10] – which in the event is what happened [11]. Continue reading →