On August 12, 2026, Metropolitan Konstantin of Cairo and North Africa, Patriarchal Exarch of Africa, began a visit to Kenya. He is accompanied by Priest Georges Maximov, Chairman of the Missionary Department of the Patriarchal Exarchate of Africa, and Reader V.V. Dendyuk, his personal secretary.
On that day, the hierarch visited the Parish of the Martyrs Sophia in the village of Gitima (Nyeri Deanery). Metropolitan Konstantin consecrated the foundation stone for the future church dedicated to the st. Sophia.
Prior to this, Metropolitan Konstantin baptized eight local residents. Five others were received into the Orthodox Church through the Sacrament of Chrismation.
Metropolitan Konstnatin greeted the dean of the district and rector of the parish, Priest Vasily Waicha, and addressed the faithful with a archpastoral word.
The Metropolitan presented Priest Vasily with a certificate as the winner of the Exarchate’s “Africa and Orthodoxy” literary contest in the “Publicism” category for biographical essay, “Pillar of Faith: The Life and Legacy of Elder Joseph Gakuo Teuri.” His Eminence also presented the parish with an icon of the Mother of God and incense.
After the service, Metropolitan Konstantin met with the catechists who assist the deanery’s parishes; he spoke and prayed with them.
The Exarch then inspected the construction of the Patriarchal Exarchate of Africa’s clinic. This project, implemented with the support of the Foundation for the Support of Christian Culture and Heritage, marks the beginning of the Russian Orthodox Church’s healthcare activities on the African continent.
Metropolitan Konstantin also blessed motorcycles—donated with the help of benefactors from Russia—intended for the pastoral and missionary needs of all the clergy in the deanery. Afterward, Metropolitan Konstantin presided over a general meeting of the Nyeri Deanery, where various issues concerning the Exarchate in Kenya were discussed.
A film crew from the Yekaterinodar Diocese is currently in Kenya, led by Priest Yevgeny Ignatov, head of the diocesan Missionary Department. With the blessing of Metropolitan Vasily of Yekaterinodar and Kuban and Metropolitan Konstnantin of Cairo and North Africa, he is working on a documentary about Orthodoxy. The filming is being carried out with the support of a grant from the Foundation for Supporting the International Community of Britons in Russia.
Patriarchal Exarchate of Africa
