ROC’s African Exarchate receives first state registration in Central African Republic

Bangui, Central African Republic, July 5, 2022

Fr. George Maximov with new converts in the Central African Republic. Photo: Telegram Fr. George Maximov with new converts in the Central African Republic. Photo: Telegram     

The Russian Orthodox Church’s African Exarchate continues to expand throughout the territory of the Patriarchate of Alexandria.

Photo: Telegram Photo: Telegram Yesterday, the head of the structure, Metropolitan Leonid of Klin announced an “historical moment” in the life of the Exarchate.

“We have received our first certificate of registration in Africa. From now, ‘The Russian Orthodox Church in the Central African Republic (Moscow Patriarchate. Patriarchal Exarch of Africa)’ is now active in the CAR,” the Metropolitan writes on his Telegram channel.

The Exarchate held its first services in the country on July 2, at the Russian House in the capital city of Bangui, when Fr. George Maximov, who is considered defrocked by the Patriarchate of Alexandria, blessed water and then blessed the premises of the Russian House.

Met. Leonid also reports that the Exarchate received several communities in the Central African Republic that previously made up the non-canonical “Byzantine Orthodox Church of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.”

The group was headed by a “bishop” and four “priests” who all gave up their positions and were received into the Church as simple laymen together with the other 147 members of their communities.

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7/5/2022

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Comments
Dionysius Redington7/6/2022 12:02 am
One would expect the CAR to be a stronghold of the exarchate: Russian political influence is stronger there than anywhere else on the continent, to the amazing extent that Russian is now the country's third official language. The intertwining of imperialism and religion is obviously nothing new in African history, and is not necessarily bad. One hopes, however, that Orthodoxy in CAR will establish itself as something more than a religion associated with Sergey Lavrov and the Wagner Group. --Dionysius Redington
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