Metropolis of Nairobi

The Holy Archdiocese of Nairobi and All Kenya is a diocese in eastern Africa under the jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa. It was founded in November 28, 1958, the feast day of Saint Stephen the New, and the future Patriarch Nicholas VI was elected as its founding bishop the following year.

Until 1971, its seat was in Dar es-Salaam, Tanzania, when it moved to Nairobi, Kenya. The bishopric was originally named Archdiocese of Irinoupolis and East Africa, and comprised churches and missions in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. In 1992, Western Tanzania received its own bishopric, the Diocese of Bukoba, under the Archdiocese of Irinoupolis. After a long period of vacancy, it received the name Archdiocese of Kenya and Irinoupolis with the election of Abp Irenaeus in 1994, when it lost its territory in Uganda to establish the Archdiocese of Kampala. In 1999, it lost its territory in Eastern Tanzania to establish a new Archdiocese of Irinoupolis in Dar es-Salaam and was renamed Archdiocese of Kenya and East Africa. It received its current denomination under Abp Makarios in 2015 with the founding of the dioceses of Nyeri and Kisumu.

Today, the Orthodox community of Kenya is the most numerous on the African continent, and consists of about a million parishioners out of an overall population of 35 million in the country. The Kenyan Archdiocese of the Alexandrian Patriarchate has about 200 churches, dozens of church parochial schools and a seminary in Riruta.

Ruling Bishops

• Nicholas (Varelopoulos) 1959–1968
• Nicodemus (Galiatsatos) 1968–1972
• Frumentios (Nasios) 1972–1981

(lost territory to establish the Diocese of Bukoba and the Archdiocese of Kampala)

• Irenaeus (Talambekos) 1994–1997
• Seraphim (Kykkotis) 1997–2001

(lost territory to establish the Archdiocese of Irinoupolis)

• Makarios (Tillyrides) 2001–Present

(lost territory to establish the Diocese of Nyeri, the Diocese of Kisumu and the Diocese of Eldoret)

See also

• Orthodox Patriarchal Ecclesiastical School of Makarios III
• Chrysostomos Papasarantopoulos

Sources

• Archdiocese website

External Links

• Makarios (Tillyrides) of Nairobi. The Origin of Orthodoxy in East Africa. Orthodox Research Institute.
• Amos Masaba Akunda. Orthodox Christian dialogue with Banyore culture. Th.D.Thesis. University of South Africa, June 2010. 334 pages.

"Orthodox Christianity came to the Banyore people of western Kenya in 1942...I shall examine the relation between Orthodox Christianity and Banyore culture, and show how Orthodox Christianity, in dialogue with the Banyore people, became indigenised in Bunyore culture. Thus Orthodox Christians in Bunyore do not see Orthodoxy as something foreign, but as something that has become part of their own culture."

• Peter Lemieux. Kenya’s Orthodox Miracle. CNEWA. Vol 34:5 (September), 2008.
• From The Heart Of Africa: An interview with Fr. Phillip Gatari, an Orthodox priest from Kenya. December 8, 2012.
• Journey to Orthodoxy. Orthodox Church in Kenya Destroyed. Orthodox Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA. January 17, 2008.