Protecting the Christian population of the African continent is a top priority for the Russian Church. This was stated by the Patriarchal Exarch of Africa, Metropolitan Leonid of Klin, speaking on February 4, 2022 at a press conference at the Rossiya Segodnya news agency.

“If we don’t do this, we simply won’t have anyone to communicate with there: Christians will be killed, evicted, and this will end all Christianity in Africa. And the African continent is no less than 1.3 billion people,” the hierarch said.

Vladyka noted that during this time “we have already managed to send two missionary groups to the African continent, which are carefully studying many countries for violations of the rights and freedoms of Christian minorities.”

“Today, we are forced to protect both priests and the children of priests, who are also being persecuted now for various reasons, including far-fetched ones,” the archpastor mentioned, speaking of the communities that decided to join the Patriarchal Exarchate of Africa. – So far, thank God, there is no physical violence against them. Nevertheless, their rights are violated everywhere: people are driven out of their homes, from temples belonging to African communities. We also pay attention to this, we regularly record all these cases, and we will report to His Holiness the Patriarch and the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, because all this should not go unnoticed.”