Nigeria, February 22, 2022
Fr. George with Nigerian priests. Photo: Telegram
Fr. George Maximov of the Russian Orthodox Church continues his travels throughout Africa, visiting priests and communities who have joined the African Exarchate and recruiting new clerics.
Meanwhile, the Synodal Court of Alexandria has brought canonical charges against Fr. George and Fr. Andrei Novikov, who was also active in Africa for several weeks.
Following his visit to Uganda, Fr. George next visited Rwanda on February 17, holding a number of meetings with priests and laity, “who told him about the difficult conditions of the existence of the Orthodox community in Rwanda, which became even more spiritually unbearable after Church of Alexandria entered into communion with the Ukrainian schism,” Metropolitan Leonid, the Russian Church’s Exarch for Africa, reports.
As a result of the meetings, two priests and a number of laypeople decided to join the Russian Exarchate. Additionally, a priest of a schismatic group and one Protestant pastor petitioned to join the Russian Church.
Fr. George then moved on to Nigeria, where he celebrated the Divine Liturgy together with local clergy who have joined the Exarchate on February 19 and 20.
Three priests joined the Exarchate, including Archimandrite Ambrose, the first Nigerian priest who was ordained 35 years ago, Met. Leonid reports.
On the Sunday of the Prodigal Son, the coordinator of the Exarchate’s Nigerian Deanery, Archimandrite Nifont preached:
As the Prodigal Son came to the father with repentance, so we come to the Russian Orthodox Church, and through His Holiness Patriarch Kirill we ask God: “Forgive us, Lord, that because of our ignorance we found ourselves in unity with schism, which we are now moving away from, and accept us into Your holy Church, which has no unity with the schism!” During these years, Orthodoxy in Nigeria was dying and we believe that through the Russian Orthodox Church, God will revive it on our land.
Following the service, Fr. George held a pastoral meeting to discuss the development of Orthodox life in Nigeria, including the future of priests who expect to be evicted from their parishes and possibly even their homes, Met. Leonid writes.
The next day, Fr. George moved onto Delta State in Nigeria, where he visited four churches and met with the people. As a result, all eight parishes in Delta State joined the Exarchate together with the priest who pastored them all.
A panikhida was served for the repose of the soul of Fr. Matthew Emamesi, who was one of the first Nigerian priests to petition to join the Russian Church, but who reposed before the establishment of the Exarchate.
At the general meeting with the priest and faithful, they explained that they had previously been in schism, but joined the canonical Patriarchate of Alexandria in 2005. Thus, they were dissatisfied when they learned that the Patriarch of Alexandria entered into communion with the Ukrainian schismatics in 2019. Thus, they explained their decision to join the Exarchate as a continuation of the movement they started in 2005.
According to Met. Leonid’s reports, 8 of the 16 priests in Nigeria have joined the Russian Exarchate.
The Exarch earlier reported that 95 priests in Kenya, 16 in Tanzania, and 10 in Uganda have joined the Russian Exarchate. In an interview with Interfax-Religion on Sunday, he said that about 160-170 priests have joined the Exarchate overall in Africa.
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