OCU delegation visits Kenya, condemns Russian Church's activities in Africa

Yevstratiy Zoria and Archbishop Makarios of Nairobi. Photo: OCU press service

A delegation of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), led by Yevstratiy Zoria, has visited Nairobi with the support of Ukrainian diplomats, according to the OCU's press service.

From July 24 to 26, 2026, Yevstratiy Zoria and OCU "priest" Vitaliy Danchak were in Kenya, where they met with Archbishop Makarios of Nairobi of the Alexandria Patriarchate. The visit, officially approved by the Exarch of East Africa, was presented as a gesture of solidarity in the face of the Russian Orthodox Church's activities.

A substantial portion of the OCU's report on the visit focused on condemning the Russian Orthodox Church's actions in Africa against the Patriarchate of Alexandria, describing the Church as "innocently suffering from Russia's schismatic activities."

"We fully share the pain of our brothers in Christ as our own pain, because we in Ukraine are suffering from the same uncanonical actions of the Church of Russia," the OCU said, recalling a decision adopted by its Synod in 2025.

At the conclusion of the visit, Zoria presided over a "service" at the Cathedral of Saints Cosmas and Damian in Nairobi.

The visit follows the OCU Synod's position adopted in November 2025, when it officially expressed support for the Patriarchate of Alexandria following the establishment of the Russian Orthodox Church's exarchate on the African continent. OCU representatives also stressed the importance of praying for a just peace in Ukraine and thanked the African clergy for their hospitality.

As previously reported by the UOJ, hierarchs of the Phanar condemned the establishment of the Russian Orthodox Church's African exarchate and expressed support for the OCU.

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