Fr
THE KENYA TIMES,
WJ0M4Q JaWS
dox c
wrangle explai ed
By FRANCIS MUROKI The clergyman was reactALL Orthodox congregations ing to a report from another
and clergy of the Orthodox group of the Orthodox
churches in East Africa Church of Kenya, which last
remain under the jurisdiction
week dissociated itself with
of the Holy Archbishopric the HoFy Archbishopric of
of Irinoupolis of the Orthodox
Irinoupolis and the
Patriarchate of Alexandria. Patriarchate of Alexandria.
In this connection, the
Muiruri, who said he is the
African Orthodox Church of secretary of the registered
Kenyi is under the jurisdic- group since the inception of
tion of the Orthodox Patriar- the African Orthodox Church
chate of Alexandria and in in Kenya in 1946, claimed
communion with all the that the splinter group is led
Orthodox churches in the by George Gathuna who
world, the secretary of the wa defrocked in 1979 and
church in Kenya Eieftherios whose case is pending in the
Muiruri Ndwaru, has said. High Court.
Giving a brief history ol
the church in Kenya, Ndwaru
said Gathuna was elected
auxiliary bishop in 1973 by
th Holy Synod of the same
Ortliodox Patriarchatè and,
ordained by the late
Archbishop of Orthodox
Patriarchate of Irinoupolis
Frumentios in Nairobi the
same year.
"But in 1979 he was
defrocked by the same ecciesiastical body that elected
him, and since that time he
started to assert that the
African Orthodox Church
has nothing to do with the
Patriarch of Alexandria". he
said.
Ndwaru said that fron
1960 to date, many churches
have been built through
strong financial assistance
from the Orthodox churches
in Greece.
He said that the Kertyan
chapter of the church recognises the canonical acting
archbishop of the Orthodox
Archbishop of East Africa,
now Professor Anastasios
Yannoulatos, "a personality
well known, beloved and
highly respected not only in
our church and in all the
Orthodox churches, but also
in the whole Christian
world".