Russian Orthodox Church builds on links with Egyptian Copts
Egypt's Giza governorate now hosts an administrative and spiritual center for the Russian Orthodox Church.
CAIRO — Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church recently donated Saint Menas Church in Giza governorate to the Russian Orthodox Church in Africa to serve as its new headquarters.
In a June 24 meeting between Patriarchal Exarch of the Russian Orthodox Church for North Africa Leonid Gorbachev and religious officials in Cairo, the Russian Orthodox Church had asked Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to dedicate a site in New Cairo for the church to build its own administrative and spiritual center in Africa.
The Russian Orthodox Church, also referred to as the Moscow Patriarchate, accepted the new headquarters in a June 25 ceremony. Gorbachev celebrated the first mass there.
In a statement published on the website of the Russian Patriarchal Exarchate of Africa, Gorbachev stressed the importance of the Coptic Church and its role in the history of Egypt and highlighted the close relations between the Russian and Egyptian churches over the course of history.
