The Patriarch of Alexandria is outraged by the silence of the Primates on the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church in Africa

The head of the Orthodox Church of Alexandria, Patriarch Theodore, sent a letter to the Patriarch of Constantinople and the hierarchs of the Greek Local Churches. The document indicates serious concern over the missionary activities of the Russian Orthodox Church on the African continent. Patriarch Theodore regards such actions of the Russian Orthodox Church as “absolutely unjust, anti-brotherly, anti-church and anti-canonical.” This was reported by the Orthodox Times.

It is reported that the head of the Patriarchate of Alexandria stressed that the “invasion” of the Russian Orthodox Church violates church canons, and expressed alarm at the “deafening silence” of other Primates of the Orthodox Churches who show indifference to this “violation”. He condemned the lack of reaction from both the ancient Patriarchal Thrones and the new autocephalous Churches, suggesting that their silence actually supports the continuation of the Russian Orthodox Church’s missionary activities in Africa. At the end of his letter, he called on the hierarchs of the Patriarchate of Constantinople to draw attention to the “violations” allegedly suffered by the Patriarchate of Alexandria from the Russian Church.

We recall that some time after the “Tomos of Autocephaly” was granted to the OCU, Patriarch Theodore of Alexandria first expressed support for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, arriving in Ukraine specifically for this purpose. However, later, he unilaterally reconsidered his attitude to the Ukrainian issue and gave preference to the OCU. After such actions of Patriarch Theodore, more than a hundred clerics of the Patriarchate of Alexandria wished to leave the omophorion of Patriarch Theodore and join the Russian Orthodox Church, for which the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church created a special Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in Africa. According to the latest data, today the African Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church includes more than two hundred parishes across the African continent.