Author ORCID Identifier
ORCID 0000-0002-2745-4198
Abstract
When the Ecumenical Patriarch granted the Orthodox Church of Ukraine autocephalous status in 2019, in what was hitherto recognized as the the canonical territory the Moscow patriarchate (MP), the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) retaliated two years later by establishing an Exarchate in the territory of the Patriarchate of Alexandria, one of the churches which sided with the Ecumenical Patriarch. In a few years’ time ROC had recruited more than 200 clerics in Africa who formerly served in the Patriarchate of Alexandria.
By moving from verbal protests to confrontational action, Moscow has drastically reduced the possibility of finding a compromise solution. Spokespersons of the MP have declared that schismatics are no better than heretics and can no longer can be regarded as truly Orthodox. Rather than searching for compromise and reconciliation, the ROC seems to be steering towards a permanent schism, the most serious in the Orthodox world in modern times, since it involves the two most important churches in Orthodoxy, the Ecumenical patriarch vs the largest national church, the ROC. In a divided Orthodox world community, Moscow will be the undisputedly most powerful church, the “first among equals,” among those who distance themselves from the Ecumenical patriarch’s action in Ukraine.
Recommended Citation
Kolstø, Pål
(2025)
"Steering Towards a Permanent Schism? The Establishment of the Russian Orthodox Exarchate in Africa,"
Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe: Vol. 45
:
Iss.
4
, Article 2.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.55221/2693-2229.2623
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/ree/vol45/iss4/2