On Tuesday the 17th of December, an
open letter of 27 African Orthodox priests from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda
and Zambia was published. In this letter, the signatories express their
disagreement with the decision of the Patriarch to recognize the
schismatic ‘Orthodox Church of Ukraine’ and to commemorate its
archbishop Epiphanios Dumenco.
An open letter Of African Orthodox Priests
To our astonishment and awkwardness, we, the Orthodox African priests, were informed about the decision of the Patriarch of Alexandria Theodore B’ to recognize the so called ‘Orthodox Church Of Ukraine’.
To our astonishment and awkwardness, we, the Orthodox African priests, were informed about the decision of the Patriarch of Alexandria Theodore B’ to recognize the so called ‘Orthodox Church Of Ukraine’.
This sudden decision is contrary to the
previous position which our Patriarch had held , and puts in danger the
appropriate good relationships which have been developed during the last
decades between our Church and the Russian Orthodox Church.
Furthermore, the recognition of the Ukrainian schismatics is being
criticized by many Local Churches and that means the split from the
canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, in which most of the Orthodox
Ukrainian belong. As far as we know, the decision was taken without the
opinion of the African Clergy to be asked, despite the fact that the
Africans consist the majority of the Alexandria Patriarchate clergymen
and parishioners. We would like to express our view and state that we
don’t agree with the above decision. We respect our Patriarch and we
obey our bishops, but as many priests, even more and bishops, in the
Church of Greece expressed their disagreement with an alike decision of
the recognition of the Ukrainian schismatics, we believe that we have
the same right to do so and express our view. We are sad for the
unexpected decision of the Patriarch of Alexandria and we desire to see
this decision reconsidered.
A day after the publication of the
letter, the OrthoCristian was informed by f. George Maximov, a
missionary priest, who is in touch with many African priests, that they
had already been threatened with sanctions by their archpriests, such as
cutbacks in their salaries, suspension from their hieratic duties and
excommunication.Few days later, we were informed by one of the
signatories that they had already been suspended. Though, this and other
priests stated in social media that despite the threats or the
punishments, they will continue to stand by the side of the canonical
Church of Ukraine. There is a video which saw the lights of publicity
,on Tuesday the 24th of December, in which father George points out that
the Greek archpriests, the Metropolitan bishop of Kenya, Makarious, the
Metropolitan bishop of Eirinoupolis ,Dimitrios (Tanzania) and the
Metropolitan bishop of Arousa and Central Tanzania, Agathonikos, began
immediately to move against their priests who signed the open letter,
demanding to sign a statement of support to the ‘Orthodox Church of
Ukraine’. ‘As soon as they refused, they were suspended and threatened
with defrocking’ , f.George mentions. Furthermore, f.George notes that,
only just the previous summer, the Metropolitan bishop Dimitrios
travelled to Kiev for the 1030th anniversary of the babtism of the Ros,
where he expressed his support to the canonical Ukrainian Church and to
the archbishop and his Grace Metropolitan of Kiev and Ukraine Onoufrio.
The Patriarch of Alexandria, Theodoros, the previous year expressed his
strong support to the canonical Church of Ukraine. Also, f.George
mentions that as far as he knows, there have not been any sanctions or
threats by the Very Reverend Metropolitan of Kampala, Iona (Uganda) –
one of the few African Prelates of the Patriarch of Alexandria- against
the priests who signed the open letter. In a publication of “Telegram”
on the 19th of December, f.George pointed out that many priests of the
Church of Greece phrased a stronger contradiction and criticism about
the recognition of Ukrainian schismatic, but they have never faced any
sanctions. He points out : And the fact that the African priests are
being chucked out
of the Church for a mild and kind letter, indicates without doubt the double standards of the Greek bishops, who face the African clergymen as second – class human beings. Naturally, these defrockings are not canonical, because the fathers had done nothing to deserve them. They did not stop to commemorate Patriarch Theodore, they did not refuse to obey their bishops; they have just expressed their opinion. But according to the Greek bishops, the Africans have no right to do so. Even this right.
of the Church for a mild and kind letter, indicates without doubt the double standards of the Greek bishops, who face the African clergymen as second – class human beings. Naturally, these defrockings are not canonical, because the fathers had done nothing to deserve them. They did not stop to commemorate Patriarch Theodore, they did not refuse to obey their bishops; they have just expressed their opinion. But according to the Greek bishops, the Africans have no right to do so. Even this right.
Ps. ‘O.T’ : He ‘cossets’ Brasavil m.
Arathimon, while he overwhelms the suffering priests ! That proves the
real face of the Patriarch of Alexandria.
