We are at the Office for Communications in the Curia General of the Congregation of the Mission. His Excellency Monsignor Souraphiel Berhane Yesus Demwrew, Archbishop of Addis Ababa came to us. He has been participating at the Synod of Bishops here in Rome. Julio Suescun, C.M. Director of the Office asked him:
How was the Synod in general? What do you think about it?
Thank you very much, I am happy to be interviewed here for CM Global and all the work which this office is doing. Yes, it is true. I participated in the Synod, the 12th Synod of the Bishops on the Word of God in the life and mission of the Church. Many Synod Fathers participated. We were altogether 253 Synod Fathers; many cardinals, patriarchs, archbishops, bishops and fathers and lay people and experts. One of them was our Superior General of the Daughters of Charity, Sr. Evelyn, She was a participant. So it was a very good Synod, because after the former Synod which was the Eucharist, now the Synod Fathers want to concentrate on the Word of God. As the psalmist says in Ps 119, “The Word of God is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path.” Also the Word of God for each Catholic and each parish, each country and for the universal church should be the basis for all its life and its mission as the universal church
We have seen some reports of your personal communication to the Synod dealing with interreligious collaboration in translation of the Bible. Can you tell us the principal ideas of your intervention?
Yes. In my intervention I told them that Ethiopia is not new in the Bible. Ethiopia is mentioned 78 times in the Bible. In the old Testament, Ethiopia was mentioned because of the story of the Queen of Sheba and Solomon and because the Jews came to Ethiopia during the Solomonic time. Ethiopia had the Ark of the Covenant in Ethiopia. So we have the black Jews in Ethiopia. There is a lot of Judaic influence in Ethiopia. It is only recently that the Jews went back to Israel.
Then in the new Testament, it was the Apostle Philip who baptized the Ethiopian eunuch. Said to him, because every time the Ethiopians used to go to Jerusalem for the Hebrew Pasch. So he went there for pilgrimage, and coming back Philip met him in Gaza and he was reading. Philip asked him, “Do you understand what you are reading?” He said, “How can I understand if somebody does not explain it.” And Philip explained to him. The Ethiopian accepted it and was baptized. Apparently, in apostolic times, Ethiopia had received the Word already.
So I said to them that Ethiopia is known in the Bible and it is a very ancient Christian country Many translations have been done. The Bible had been translated in Ethiopia already in the 6th century in this language . And from then on, Ethiopia and the Bible have been more united. Many books of Middle Eastern literature have been translated into the Ethiopian language and also into Amaric. And I said for the Bible, we have to translate the Bible into various languages. And in Ethiopia there is a very good collaboration between the Orthodox Church, between the Protestants and the Catholics. There is group of 8 people from each church in the Bible Society and they work together to translate the Bible into the different vernaculars. We have to translate because each people are happy to read the Bible in their own language. And it is a pride for the people to see their language written with the Word of God. So that was my intervention.
Now the Word of God, we have it, the Catholic Church, and translated into various languages; but we have to give it more honor, more respect. The Word of God has to be proclaimed, to be shown to the people. In the Ethiopian rite, in the Ethiopian liturgy, the Bible is shown to the people and after reading it, it is kissed. Then it is well put on a nice podium. It is kept in the Church where people can see it is the Word of God. Because the Word of God, after all, is Our Lord Jesus Christ who became flesh, who came to save us, and to open the door of heaven so we can be children of God.
And this is the work we must do in Ethiopia and everywhere in the world? Then we must announce Jesus Christ to the people, to make them saved?
To make them saved; this is the work we must do, in Ethiopia and all over the world. That is the big responsibility of the Synod Fathers who have given this message of the Word of God which is the voice of the Word of God, which is Our Lord Jesus Christ. That is the person whom each one of us has to accept and believe in. This Jesus Christ Our Lord, has founded the Church so the Word of God will be in the church and that should be the mission.
That is fine. We are going to place in Nuntia an image of Saint Vincent that is not so much known, but it seems to me very significant. Saint Vincent appears with a very big book, the book of the Word of God, and it seems to be so heavy. When I showed her this image this morning, one of the women in the secretariat said to me: Father, the gospel is not so heavy. And I answered her: But the responsibility of making it a practice in life is heavy.
The responsibility is heavy, very, very heavy.
And how are we Vincentians fulfilling the responsibility in Ethiopia?
Well, in Ethiopia, the Vincentian Fathers, we call them the Lazarist Fathers, have done very well both in Ethiopia and in Eritrea. We know that Ethiopia has received the Word of God before, so they learned the language, and with the Ethiopian language they established the Catholic Church. One of them, for whom we have great respect, is St. Justin de Jacobis. Because he studied the language, he studied the culture, he studied the rite, he adopted it and made it his own. For that is to the people’s liking; for if you speak the language of the people, if you appreciate the culture of the people, the people will accept also your faith. When you go there, you don’t impose what you have, but you try to learn from the people so that you present the Word of God. That is what is called inculturation nowadays. So, I think that the Vincentian Fathers and also the Lazarists, wherever they go, before they proclaim the Word of God, they should somehow know the language, know the culture of the people and through the language and the culture of the people, present the Word of God so that the people make the Word of God their own.
Well, Monsignor, you came here to the Curia to see your confreres. I am sure they want to see you and to talk with you. I don’t like to keep you only for myself. So we are going to finish our interview and go to see the confreres.
I came to see the confreres here but most of the confreres are out: the Superior General out, the Assistants out. I come here and I meet only the simple Vincentian Fathers who are the faithful ones.
Thank you very much. And we, with pleasure, nominate you for today as our Superior General.
The interview continued informally with the participation of the other Fathers and Sisters at their own offices and finally at the table where Msgr. Souraphiel shared lunch with us in a joyful atmosphere of fraternity, simplicity and humor which characterize the personality of Msgr. Souraphiel.
