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Answer of the missionary of the Russian Orthodox Church in Africa to Patriarch Theodore of Alexandria

For more than two weeks I have been in Africa, with the blessing of the Hierarchy, visiting the local communities of the Russian Orthodox Church. Approximately the same number of people is here and Archpriest Andrei Novikov with the same mission. As it turned out, our modest efforts attracted the attention of many people.

The other day, I learned from the media that Patriarch Theodore of Alexandria addressed me and Fr. Andrey Novikov with a call to “return to the church system, observing the canon law of the Church, and immediately stop services with parishioners” in Africa. And even threatens us with church punishments if we do not obey.

Of course, I am touched by such attention, but at the same time I am surprised. Because, according to the canon law of the Church, Patriarch Theodore cannot officially address us with Fr. Andrew, bypassing our Hierarchy. And even more so, he cannot threaten us with anything and take no measures against us, as clerics of another Church. If Patriarch Theodore has any questions about me and Fr. Andrew’s activities, he can turn to Metropolitan Leonid of Klin, with whose blessing we came to Africa, or to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, whose exarch is Metropolitan Leonid. This is all the more easy to do, given that Patriarch Theodore has personally known both of them for many years.

However, he avoids contacting them, and it is not difficult to guess why. It is always a shame to look into the eyes of the one you betrayed. It is much easier in the circle of your clerics to act out the idea that these Russian priests came to Africa on their own.

It was even more surprising for me to see that Patriarch Theodore accuses Fr. Andrew in violation of Canon 2 of the Council of Antioch. Let me remind you of the text of the canon: “Let it not be allowed to have communion with those who are excommunicated… But if any of the bishops or presbyters… turns out to be in communion with the excommunicated, let him himself be outside the communion of the Church.”

But in Africa I do not communicate with those who have been excommunicated. The priests with whom I meet and serve here were in communion with the bishops of the Church of Alexandria yesterday, and no one excommunicated them from communion. But you, your blessedness, are just a violator of this rule. On November 8, 2019, you began to commemorate the head of the schismatic organization, Pseudo-Bishop Epiphanius, at the Liturgy, and on August 13, 2021, you served with him and took communion from the same bowl. I find it rather cynical that you are trying to accuse others of your own canonical crime.

Everything that is happening now in Africa is your personal responsibility. The consequences of your decision that you made without asking the opinion of the African believers, the clergy and even the bishops. One of your bishops, sending to the priests of the Russian Church meaningless “letters of prohibition from serving,” writes: “Remember that you are not a victim of anyone or anything other than your own choice.” It is a pity that this bishop did not dare to address these words to you, since they suit you much better.

Both me and o. Andrey and other Russian priests who will soon come to Africa, in fraternal cooperation with African priests, are precisely what we are doing to correct the church system that you have violated. Orthodox Africans who do not want to bear the spiritual consequences of your sin have every right to do so. By remaining in church communion with you and the bishops who supported you, they would become accomplices in your violation of Canon 2 of the Council of Antioch. We would become together with you a single church body with a schismatic organization. The only way for them to avoid this is to join a Church that is not in fellowship with the disfellowshipped. Most Local Orthodox Churches do not recognize Ukrainian schismatics, but the Russian Church could not ask any of the other Churches to accept Orthodox Africans. She took upon herself this holy mission as the Church that suffered the most from the schism supported by you.

Father George Maximov

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