Moscow, August 4, 2020
Photo: Facebook
Bruno Ben Moubamba, the former Deputy Prime Minister of the African nation of Gabon converted to the Holy Orthodox Faith on the feast of the Baptism of Rus’, receiving the baptismal name of Vladimir.
Mr. Ben Moubamba was received into Orthodoxy by the well-known Ukrainian Archpriest Andrei Novikov, the rector of the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity on Sparrow Hills, located at the foot of the monumental Moscow State University. Archpriest Andrei notes that this makes him the first Gabonese Orthodox Christian politician to hold such a high office, and that Mr. Ben Moubamba is highly educated on the differences between the Orthodox and Roman Catholic faiths.
Photo: Facebook
The Union of Orthodox Journalists quotes Fr. Andrei as saying:
“It brings joy to my heart that a person so far from home has found the Truth, and made an absolutely conscious choice [to convert to Orthodoxy]. He understands the problem with the Alexandrian Patriarchate. [The Alexandrian Patriarchate decided to recognize the Ukrainian schismatics—O.C.] He will now return to major politics back home. He is the first Gabonese Orthodox politician in general, especially of this level.”
Archpriest Andrei originally hails from Odessa; the ruling hierarch of Odessa, Metropolitan Agafangel has written a well-known heartfelt and sorrowful letter from the position of Ukrainian Orthodox Christians, to the Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa, on their decision to recognize the Ukrainian schismatics, which has divided the Orthodox world and brought pain to the Ukrainian church.
