The Church of Alexandria is one of the autocephalous Orthodox Churches. Its primate is the Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, the successor to the Apostle Mark the Evangelist, who founded the Church of Alexandria in the 1st century. It is one of the five ancient patriarchates of the early Church, called the Pentarchy.
Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa | |
| Founder(s) | Apostle Mark |
| Autocephaly/Autonomy declared | Traditional |
| Autocephaly/Autonomy recognized | Traditional |
| Current primate | Pope Theodoros II |
| Headquarters | Alexandria, Egypt |
| Primary territory | Egypt and Africa |
| Possessions abroad | ? |
| Liturgical language(s) | Greek, Swahili, English, local languages |
| Musical tradition | Byzantine Chant |
| Calendar | Revised Julian |
| Population estimate | 250,000 |
| Official website | Church of Alexandria |
History
When Alexander the Great conquered Egypt about 332-331 BC he established the city of Alexandria, named after him, from which his Greek-speaking successors, the Ptolemy dynasty, ruled Egypt. Alexandria also had many Greek-speaking Jewish inhabitants, and it was here that the Old Testament scriptures were translated into Greek, the Septuagint version. During the first century BC the city, and Egypt generally passed under Roman rule.
St Mark, a disciple of St Peter evangelised Egypt in the middle of the first century. He probably arrived about AD 40, and met a martyr's death around AD 63. Little is known of the early history of the Church in Alexandria and Egypt, beyond a bare list of names of bishops. By the end of the second century, however, the church had begun to spread among the indigenous population, and the Scriptures and Liturgical texts were being translated into local languages.
Since the schism occurring as a result of the political and Christological controversies at the Council of Chalcedon (451 A.D.), the portion of the Church of Alexandria loyal to Chalcedonian Christology has liturgically been Greek-speaking, the majority of its native (i.e., Coptic) population and their modern descendents becoming a part of the Coptic Orthodox Church (i.e., non-Chalcedonian).
The Church today
In recent years, a considerable missionary effort was enacted by Pope Petros VII. During his seven years as patriarch (1997-2004), he worked tirelessly to spread the Orthodox Christian faith in Arab nations and throughout Africa, raising up native clergy and encouraging the use of local languages in the liturgical life of the Church. Missions spread and thrived in Kenya, Uganda, Madagascar, Cameroon, and elsewhere across the African continent.
Particularly sensitive to the nature of Christian expansion into Muslim countries, His Beatitude worked to promote mutual understanding and respect between Orthodox Christians and Muslims. His efforts were ended as the result of a helicopter crash on September 11, 2004, in the Aegean Sea near Greece, killing him and several other clergy, including Bishop Nektarios of Madagascar, another bishop with a profound missionary vision.
Today, some 300,000 Orthodox Christians comprise the Patriarchate of Alexandria, the highest number since the Roman Empire. The current primate of the Church of Alexandria is His Beatitude Theodoros II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa.
The Episcopacy
The Holy Synod
- His Beatitude Theodoros II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa
- His Eminence Paul (Lyngris), Elder Archbishop of Memphis
- His Eminence Dionysios (Hatzivasiliou), Elder Archbishop of Leontopolis
- His Eminence Petros (Giakoumelos), Elder Archbishop of Aksum
- His Eminence Makarios (Tillyrides), Archbishop of Kenya
- His Eminence Jonah (Lwanga), Archbishop of Kampala and All Uganda
- His Eminence Damaskinos (Papandreou), Archbishop of Johannesburg and Pretoria
- His Eminence Alexander (Gianniris), Metropolitan of Nigeria
- His Eminence Theophylaktos (Tzoumerkas), Metropolitan of Tripolis
- His Eminence Sergios (Kykkotis), Archbishop of the Cape of Good Hope
- His Eminence Alexios, Metropolitan of Carthage
- His Eminence Ieronymos (Muzeeyi), Metropolitan of Mwanza
- His Eminence Kallinikos (Pippas), Archbishop of Pilousion
- His Eminence Proterios (Pavlopoulos), Metropolitan of Ptolemais
- His Eminence Seraphim (Kykkotis), Metropolitan of Zimbabwe
- His Eminence Nicholas, Archbishop of Ermoupolis
- His Eminence Dimitrios (Zaharengas), Metropolitan of Irinopolis
- His Eminence Nikiforos (Mikragiannanitis), Archbishop of Central Africa
- His Eminence Emmanuel (Kiagias), Metropolitan of Khartoum and Sudan, Exarch of All Sudan
- His Eminence Gregory (Stergiou), Metropolitan of Cameroon, Exarch of Central Africa
- His Eminence George (Vladimirou), Archbishop of Accra
- His Eminence Ioakeim (Kontobas), Archbishop of Zambia
Diocesan Bishops
- His Grace Savvas (Heimonettos), Bishop of Burundi
- His Grace Ignatios (Sennis), Bishop of Madagascar
- His Grace Meletios (Kamiloudes), Bishop of Katanga
- His Grace Theodoros (Dimitriou), Bishop of Mozambique
- His Grace Gennadios of Botswana, Bishop of Botswana
Auxiliary Bishops
- His Grace Athanasios of Cyrene
- His Grace Gabriel of Mareotis
- His Grace Spyridon of Kanopou
- His Grace Nikodemos of Nitria
- His Grace Niphon of Babylon
Titular Archbishops
- His Excellency Theoklitos of Helioupolis
- His Excellency Philemon of Karvasos
- His Excellency Ioakeim of Tamiathus
- His Excellency Porfyrios of Thivais
- His Excellency Kyrillos of Nafkratis
Retired Bishops
- His Eminence Panteleimon of Antinoe
Holy Archdioceses and Bishoprics
| Archdiocese | Established | See | Jurisdiction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Archdiocese of Memphis | ?? | Heliopolis, Cairo - Egypt | |
| Archdiocese of Leontopolis | ?? | Ismailia - Egypt | Ismailia, Suez, Zagzik |
| Archdiocese of Pilousion | ?? | Port Said - Egypt | Port Said, Mansoura, Damiette, Kantara |
| Archdiocese of Ptolemais | ?? | Minia - Egypt | Upper Egypt, Luxor, Aswan, Minia, Fayum, Asiut, Beni Suef |
| Archdiocese of Ermoupolis | ?? | Tanta – Egypt | |
| Archdiocese of Tripolis | 1866, 1959, 2004 |
Tripoli - Libya | 'Libya' |
| Archdiocese of Carthage | 1931 | Tunis - Tunisia | Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco |
| Archdiocese of Cyrene | 2009 | Marsa Matrouh in Egypt | |
| Archdiocese of Khartoum | ?? | Khartoum - Sudan | Sudan |
| Archdiocese of Aksum | ?? | Addis-Abeba - Ethiopia | Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia |
| Archdiocese of Kenya | ?? | Nairobi - Kenya | Kenya |
| Archdiocese of Kampala and All Uganda | 1959 | Kampala - Uganda | Uganda |
| Archdiocese of Accra | 1997, 2009 |
Accra - Ghana | Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Gambia |
| Archdiocese of Nigeria | 1997, 2004 |
Lagos - Nigeria | Nigeria, Niger, Benin, Togo |
| Archdiocese of Cameroon | ?? | Yaounde - Cameroon | Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Islands of St Thomas and Principe |
| Archdiocese of Central Africa | ?? | Kinshasa - Democratic Republic of Congo | Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo-Brazaville (Republic of the Congo) |
| Diocese of Katanga | 2006, 2009 |
Lubumbasi - Congo | Katanga Province in the Congo |
| Diocese of Burundi and Rwanda | 2009 | Bujumbura in Burundi | Burundi, Rwanda, a great area of the Eastern Congo |
| Archdiocese of Mwanza | ?? | Bukoba - Tanzania | Tanzania |
| Archdiocese of Irinoupolis | 1959 | Dar-es-Salaam - Tanzania | Tanzania, Seychelle Islands |
| Archdiocese of Zambia | 2001, 2009 |
Lusaka - Zambia | Zambia, Malawi |
| Archdiocese of Zimbabwe | ?? | Harare - Zimbabwe | Zimbabwe, Angola, Malawi, Botswana |
| Archdiocese of Johannesburg and Pretoria | 1927 | Johannesburg - South Africa | (The areas from East Africa, the Equator down to the Cape of Good Hope) |
| Archdiocese of the Cape of Good Hope | 1968 | Cape Town - South Africa | Namibia, Swaziland, Lesotho, and the following areas of the Cape (West and East): Port Elizabeth, East London, Bloemfontein, Welkom, George, Knysna, Kimberley, Pietermaritzburg, all Natal |
| Diocese of Mozambique | 2006 | Maputo - Mozambique | Mozambique |
| Diocese of Madagascar | 1997 | Antananarivo - Madagascar | Madagascar, Islands of Mauritius, Reunion, Comores, Maillot |
| Diocese of Brazzaville and Gabon | 2010 | Brazzaville | Congo, Brazzaville, Gabon |
See also
External links
Sources
- Patriarchate of Alexandria website - Archdioceses
- Patriarchate of Alexandria website - Dioceses
- Eastern Christian Churches: Patriarchate of Alexandria by Ronald Roberson, a Roman Catholic priest and scholar
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