On May 10, 2026, the 5th Sunday after Easter, the Sunday of the Samaritan woman, at the Theophany Cathedral in Tomsk, Metropolitan Rostislav of Tomsk and Asino ordained Neophyte Kipkemboi, a 3rd-year student at Tomsk Theological Seminary from Kenya, as a deacon.
The young man followed in his father’s footsteps. Neophyte’s father is Priest Titus Kipngeni, dean of the Nandi church district of the Patriarchal Exarchate of Africa. Neophyte’s sister is Nun Matrona (Jepchirchir) — the first Kenyan woman to take monastic vows in the Patriarchal Exarchate of Africa.
Deacon Neophyte will continue his studies at Tomsk Theological Seminary, after which he will return home to Kenya, where he will serve in a parish of the Patriarchal Exarchate of Africa.
Currently, sixty seminarians from sixteen African countries are studying at nine theological schools in Russia.
Photos: Tomsk Theological Seminary
Patriarchal Exarchate of Africa
