ROC hierarch: Russian Church has to create parishes in Africa
By creating the Exarchate in Africa, the ROC did not invade the canonical territory of the Alexandrian Patriarchate but responded to the requests of the African clergy.
The head of the DECR ROC, Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk, said that the Russian Church is forced to create its parishes in Africa, reports the DECR ROC website.
“The Christians of Africa need the protection of Russia, and the Russian Orthodox Church, not of its own will but due to circumstances, created the Patriarchal Exarchate in Africa to give canonical asylum to African clergy who did not want to follow the Patriarch of Alexandria in recognizing and legitimizing the Ukrainian schism,” said the ROC hierarch.
According to the metropolitan, the formation of the Patriarchal Exarchate of Africa was a necessary measure, and “there was no intrusion [into the canonical boundaries of the Orthodox Church of Alexandria] on our part, we simply responded to the requests of the African clergy.”
“In the Orthodox Church, the choice before the clergy and believers is very simple: are you with the canonical Church or with schismatics? African priests are now faced with this forced choice,” said the bishop.
He also recalled that earlier, when there was Eucharistic communion between the two Churches, the Russian Church advised Russian-speaking believers living in Africa to go to churches of the Patriarchate of Alexandria.
However, according to the hierarch, “now, unfortunately, we cannot tell them this, because the Patriarchate of Alexandria associated itself with the schism. Accordingly, now we must create our own parishes for our Russian-speaking believers – parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church,” stated the head of the DECR ROC.
As reported, in Nairobi, the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church refused to serve with the hierarch of the Church of Alexandria.
