Eritrea (MNN) — Three pastors in Eritrea are ending 2024 in prison, marking the 20th anniversary of their arrest and imprisonment. They are among hundreds of other Christians imprisoned in this country to the extent the government allows it make arrests without a warrant and refuse to go to court to the prisoners.

Todd Nettleton with Voice of the Martyrs USA According to reports, between 300 and 350 Christians are currently imprisoned in Eritrea, a small country in the Horn of Africa.

“None of them – not a single one of them – had a trial. Not a single one of them had a lawyer. In fact, none of them have ever been accused of a crime,” he says.

All three pastors belonged to the Eritrean Orthodox Church.

“And that’s very significant,” says Nettleton, “because when the Eritrean government closed the Protestant churches in 2002, one of the churches that they left open that was still legal was the Orthodox Church.”

Flag of Eritrea, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Problems arose when pastors abandoned their denomination’s use of an ancient language that only priests understood. They wanted to preach and teach the Word of God in the language of the general population.

“That seems to be the reason they turned away from the government,” Nettleton said.

Nettleton recently interviewed the daughter of one of the pastors. Her name is Hana and she was six years old when her father was arrested. That same year, she was arrested by police for attending a Sunday school event.

“She not only understands the persecution because her father went to prison. She has her own story,” Nettleton says.

When asked how she manages to love her enemies, Nettleton replied:

“No one ever asked me about my enemies until I came to America. In Eritrea we do not consider the government to be our enemy. We just believe that if you follow Jesus you will experience persecution.”

What’s notable is that these believers don’t focus on who is persecuting them, Nettleton says. Instead, they hold fast to the call of Christ. Hana has diary entries from her father in which he expresses his willingness to pay any price to follow Jesus. Hear more of her story Here.

Please pray for the release of the pastors and other believers imprisoned in Eritrea. Pray that their families will be strengthened in the meantime and that the Church will grow despite persecution. Also pray that members of the Eritrean government will come to Christ.

Featured photo courtesy of pKral via Pixabay