ROC Exarch: Ethiopian Church is ready to cooperate with the Exarchate

On February 23, 2022, Metropolitan Leonid, the head of the Patriarchal Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in Africa, said that the Ethiopian Church is ready for cooperation.

In his telegram channel, Vladyka wrote that "while someone was talking about 'bears and jackals of the Russian north', the DECR heavy artillery started working in the African North."

Hieromonk Stefan (Igumnov), Secretary for Inter-Christian Relations, is visiting Ethiopia and Djibouti, one of the key countries for organizing systematic work on the African continent, where he met with the head of the DECR of the Ethiopian Church, Bishop Abuna Aregawi.

“A wide range of bilateral cooperation was discussed,” Vladyka said. The Ethiopian Church expressed readiness to cooperate with the Patriarchal Exarchate of Africa, the creation of which opened up new opportunities for interaction with the traditional Churches of the continent. The Ethiopian Church, which embraces about 60 million believers, is the largest among them.

“The issue of providing humanitarian support to the population of Ethiopia affected by the civil conflict in the country is relevant. We will help African brothers and sisters, including those who belong to other faiths. We come to Africa as peacekeepers and friends of the African peoples,” the ROC bishop stressed.

In addition, at a meeting with the Secretary General of the Interreligious Council of Ethiopia, LG Tagay Tadele, they discussed cooperation in the field of exchange of Russian and Ethiopian experience in interaction between different religions, as well as peacekeeping projects.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that Patriarch Theodore called the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church "jackals and bears from the North."

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