The Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church is based in Asmara, Eritrea. In 2005 the Church appointed Abune Sinoda Tafla as Bishop of the United States and Canada.
The Church formed a corporation in 2006 and purchased residential property in Hyattsville, Maryland in 2011, to be used as a parsonage. Bishop Tafla lived there without a lease or contract.
In 2016 the Church removed Tafla as Bishop and requested that he vacate the property. He declined to do so. Eventually the Church filed an eviction lawsuit against him, seeking possession of the property and damages.
At trial Tafla disputed the legitimacy of the Church’s edict and contended that he remains the Church’s rightful Bishop. As such, Tafla claimed that he retained a possessory right to the property.
Determining that it was required to decide if the Church had the right to remove Tafla as Bishop was correct as a matter of Church law and policy, the District Court dismissed the Church’s eviction complaint. The District Court held that the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine did not permit the Court to intervene in the affairs of a religious organization.
The First Amendment to the US Constitution prohibits government from establishing any preferred religion and protects the fundamental right to the free exercise of religion. To ensure that courts do not become entangled in religious disputes, the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine prevents courts from resolving legal claims that turn on matters of religious doctrine, faith, or governance.
The Church appealed. The Circuit Court affirmed the District Court’s dismissal, based on the same doctrine.
The Church appealed to the Supreme Court of Maryland.
The high court started by reviewing the ByLaws of the Church. In the Eritrean system, bishops are appointed by the “Patriarch” of Eritrea. The Patriarch is the Chairman of the Church, which is composed of the Patriarch, Archbishops, Bishops, and members.
After a bishop is elected – in secret by a committee – and the Church approves the election, the Patriarch anoints and consecrates the bishop to lead and administer a diocese. The ByLaws authorize the Church to remove the Patriarch or any bishop if they are found to be involved in “distorted teaching of the faith of the religion.”
Prior to dismissal the accused has the right to defend. But the Church’s decisions are final and non-appealable.
The Church accused Tafla of disobedience in 2016. Although demand was made that Tafla vacate the residence owned by the Church after Tafla was removed as Bishop, Tafla refused to do so. The eviction complaint was filed in 2022.
The Supreme Court reviewed the demand notices and Resolutions of the Church, as well as Board testimony regarding property ownership and removal of Tafla. Although both the District Court and Circuit Court concluded that interpretation of religious laws were required and refused to enter a “theological thicket,” the Supreme Court was not so restricted.
The Supremes determined that if resolution of ecclesiastical questions are not required and if courts can apply neutral principles of law and render a decision, then that the decision is lawful. Not only is the Judgment lawful, but there is a compelling interest of courts to “adjudicate those rights, not only to solve the particular case and the rights of the litigants before them, but also to preserve definiteness and order in the holding of property by religious corporations.”
The lower courts erred in involving the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine. The Church properly revoked Tafla’s right to reside at the Property. The Judgments of the lower courts are reversed; Tafla is evicted. See Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Diocese of USA and Canada v. Sinoda; Supreme Court of Maryland Case No. C-16-CV-25-000957; July 23, 2026: https://www.mdcourts.gov/data/opinions/coa/2026/49a25.pdf.
Stuart A. Lautin, Esq.*
* Board Certified, Commercial and Residential Real Estate Law, Texas Board of Legal Specialization
Licensed in the States of Texas and New York