Archbishop of Canterbury to attend inaugural ceremony of new Alexandria Province of Anglican Communion

CAIRO - 30 September 2021: Archbishop of Canterbury,  the spiritual head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, Justin Welby will attend the inaugural ceremony of a new province for the Anglican Church in Alexandria next week, announced Archbishop of Alexandria Province of the Episcopal Church Sami Fawzy in a statement on Wednesday.

 

“The visit of the Archbishop of Canterbury is a historic event,” he said, adding that the Alexandria province is the 41st member of the global Anglican Communion of Churches. The province bears the name of Alexandria because of its importance in the ancient Christian world. 

 

Alexandria province serves 10 countries namely Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritania, Chad, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, he said, adding that Egypt’s presidency of the province comes in light of the Anglican Church’s role in serving refugees and presenting remarkable programs of Islamic-Christian dialogue.

 

It was reported by the Anglican Communion News Service (ACNS) on June 29, 2020, that the Diocese of Egypt, which was formally affiliated to North Africa and the Horn of Africa, has completely turned to be an autonomous province, upon its request to secede from its province. 

 

When the General Synod of the Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East approved the request, the Diocese of Egypt now comes under the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The statement also added that Archbishop has signed a Deed of Relinquishment and of the inauguration of the new Episcopal Province of Alexandria.

 

“It has been part of the Episcopal Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East but now with growth and development and the planting of churches in the Horn of Africa and elsewhere; with its service to its community regardless of ethnicity or of religion, it has grown to the point where it is now becoming an independent Province,” the Archbishop of Canterbury was quoted as saying by the statement.