Abuja, October 9, 2026
Photo: exarchate-africa.ru
Dozens of people were baptized into Christ in Nigeria recently.
On October 1, Fr. George Maximov, head of the Missionary Department of the Russian Orthodox Church’s Patriarchal Exarchate of Africa, and Fr. Daniel Agbaza, dean of the Nigerian parishes, baptized 58 people from one parish of a non-canonical group in Benue State.
The group had asked to be received into the Russian Orthodox Church, and catechism of its two parishes began several months ago under Fr. Daniel. The other parish, dedicated to the Great Martyr George the Victory-Bearer in Ugbaikyo, had already been received earlier through the Baptism of its members, the Exarchate reports.
The two priests then served the Liturgy in Ugbaikyo for the faithful of both parishes.
Fr. George arrived in Benue State on the evening of September 30 as part of a trip to Nigeria that began September 25 in Abuja. He met with leaders of another uncanonical Orthodox group in Anambra State that wants to join the Russian Church, visited parishes in four states, and preached to more than 1,000 people, as OrthoChristian reported yesterday.
He also led the Liturgy at the Parish of the Blessed Matrona of Moscow in Ukpor, met with the clergy of the Nigerian deanery, and presented his book Fundamentals of the Spiritual Life, newly published in English.
In Benue State, he also visited the Church of the Apostle James in Adikpo, where believers gathered from surrounding parishes, and met with two communities of the Orthodox Church of Alexandria who signed letters to Metropolitan Constantine asking to be received into the Russian Church. He left for Ghana on October 3, and the king of the Igbo people gave him the title of high chief during the visit.
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