Exarch of Africa: The transition of 102 priests to ROC is just the start

Patriarch Kirill and Metropolitan Leonid. Photo: mospat.ru

The head of the Patriarchal Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in Africa, Metropolitan Leonid (Gorbachev), said that the transfer of 102 priests of the Alexandrian Church under the omophorion of the Moscow Patriarch is only the beginning, RIA Novosti reports.

According to Vladyka Leonid, he is planning an archpastoral visit to Africa, but now visiting a number of countries is impossible due to epidemiological restrictions. “Nevertheless, as the structure of the Exarchate is unfolding, human resources will be required, so the personnel issue is one of the top priorities today,” he stressed.

The exarchate in Africa is “an absolutely new powerful structure of a continental magnitude, which calls for scrupulous, detailed study and elaboration,” Vladyka said.

He also said that 102 priests of the Alexandrian Church had transferred to the Russian Church along with their parishes. “According to our forecasts, this is just the beginning,” the bishop added.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that the Exarchate of Africa does not exclude the transfer of the hierarchs of the Alexandrian Church to the ROC.

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