Cornerstone Laid for First Romanian Orthodox Church in Africa

In what seems to be an increasingly rare act of inter-Orthodox cooperation on its part, a bishop of the Bucharest Patriarchate has laid the cornerstone for a church to serve Romanian immigrants in metropolitan Johannesburg, South Africa, with the blessing of Pope Theodore II (Horeftakis) of Alexandria and All Africa. The cornerstone was laid this past Saturday in Midrand, a suburn of Joburg, by Metropolitan Damascene (Papandreou) of Johannesburg, the local ruling hierarch, and Bishop Petronius (Florea) of Zalau, a suffragan bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Metropolitanate of Cluj in Transylvania. A full account of the day with pictures of the service can be found here.

It is unclear whether the church will function as a representation of the Bucharest Patriarchate to the Church of Alexandria or as a Romanian-speaking parish of the Metropolis of Johannesburg.