On the eve of Christmas, the first community in Angola, numbering more than 200 people, joined the Russian Orthodox Church.
On January 5, 2025, in Luanda, the capital of Angola, a Russian priest of Angolan origin, a cleric of the Yekaterinodar diocese, Priest Rafael Da Conceicao, performed the sacrament of Baptism for 27 local residents.
Further, Father Raphael performed the rite of joining the Orthodox Church of more than 200 believers who had transferred from a non-canonical structure. Then the priest celebrated the Divine Liturgy, during which the newly enlightened received communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ.
These people learned about the Russian Orthodox Church from the Internet in 2022. They contacted the chairman of the Missionary Department of the Patriarchal Exarchate of Africa, Priest Georgy Maksimov, and the leader of the community, a former "priest" of a non-canonical structure, Anthony, expressed the desire of the entire community to become members of the Orthodox Church.
Anthony and his community proved ready to fulfill the necessary conditions, Anthony himself immediately agreed to leave the priesthood and join the Russian Orthodox Church as a layman. He then took online courses at the Patriarchal Exarchate of Africa in Côte d'Ivoire.
As part of the activities of the Patriarchal Exarchate of Africa, Russian missionaries visited the catechumens several more times and held educational talks. The catechesis of the community was conducted for more than a year by Priest Georgy Maksimov, A.V. Lyulka and Priest Rafael Da Conceicao.
In 2024, Metropolitan Konstantin of Zaraisk, Patriarchal Exarch of Africa, met with Anthony during his archpastoral visit to the African continent.
All this time, the community was studying Orthodoxy, people gathered for morning and evening prayers and were very much looking forward to their acceptance into the bosom of the true Church of Christ.