Moscow Claims to Have Recruited More than Half of Alexandrian Patriarchate’s Priests in Africa

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Aug. 31 – Both to punish the Alexandrian Patriarchate for its support of autocephaly for the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and to support the Kremlin’s economic, military and political efforts in Africa, the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate has sought to recruit priests hitherto part of the Alexandrian church.

            The Russian church has used lavish bribes and other inducements to get priests there to change allegiance and now claims that 236 have, more than half of the priests that the Alexandrian church had in its ranks across that continent (tass.ru/obschestvo/21716789 and rusk.ru/newsdata.php?idar=118770).

            This latest Moscow claim should be treated with at least as much skepticism as have earlier Russian claims concerning its inroads into what historically has been the canonical territory of the Alexandrian church, one of the four ancient Orthodox churches (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2023/09/moscows-claims-about-russian-orthodox.html).

            It is entirely possible that some of Moscow’s claimed priests in Africa are either newly minted by the ROC MP itself rather than from the Alexandrian patriarchate or that they aren’t really fully trained as priests but rather Russian agents who have donned priestly garb to be in a position to help other Russian government agencies.

            For background on this complicated business, see jamestown.org/program/moscow-patriarchate-moves-into-africa-helping-kremlin-but-roiling-orthodox-world/, jamestown.org/program/moscow-patriarchate-in-retreat-everywhere-except-africa/, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2022/12/moscow-patriarchate-says-it-has.html and windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2022/03/moscow-patriarchate-has-moved-into.html.