The clergyman of the Russian Orthodox Church Georgy Maksimov commented on the incident in the Nyeri diocese, and said that Bishop Neophytos of Nyeri deleted his comment on his publication about their meeting. Here is his answer in full.

“Thank you for the respect you expressed to the ROC during our meeting this morning. I’m sorry that your words here are different from what you said to me personally, but I’m not surprised. I just responded to an invitation from African priests, if any of them misunderstood, then you did not teach well enough, for they were your priests. But don’t worry, we’ll help them find out more.

You know very well that we have no desire to seize any church that is the property of the Greek metropolis. To be honest, these churches don’t look like anyone would want to take them over. Any dog ​​kennel in Greece looks better than most of the Orthodox churches built in Kenya during the Greek mission. We will provide our priests with the best places to serve, as I have informed you today.

You know perfectly well that the “schismatic gospel” is not preached by the ROC. All this stems from the one-sided sinful decision of Patriarch Theodore, who did not ask you or any other Orthodox African when he decided to enter into unity with the Ukrainian schism. Whose interests did he serve? Definitely not the interests of Orthodox Africans. One must have the courage to admit that the responsibility for everything that is happening in Africa now lies with Patriarch Theodore. You know this, but you are forced to defend a position in which you yourself do not believe. Why? Only God knows. Everything depends on you. But your priests chose a different path, and today they boldly told you this to your face. It was a very good moment of sincerity and I thank you for providing it with your visit.

An attempt to portray an innocent victim, as the Bishops of Alexandria are doing now – “Suddenly the Russian Church invaded and we don’t know why” – can only convince people who are completely unaware of the situation. And in Kenya there are fewer and fewer of them every day. Even you have little faith in this position,” wrote Fr. George.