During the name day celebrations of Metropolitan Makarios of Nairobi, a special service was held in honor of the first president of Cyprus, Archbishop Makarios III, founder of the Patriarchal Seminary in Nairobi. Metropolitan Jeronymos of Kampala joined the host hierarch to concelebrate the hierarchical Divine Liturgy in Saint Makarios Chapel of the seminary on Sunday 19 January 2025.
In attendance was His Excellency Savvas Vladimirou, the High Commissioner of the Republic of Cyprus in Kenya. More guests of dignity from Paralimni in Cpyrus and Greece also graced the celebration. “We had a beautiful and blessed day together with priests, deacons, seminarians and parishioners from Thogoto Parish,” reported Orthodox Archdiocese of Nairobi. Following the Liturgy was a cake-cutting ceremony in which Metropolitan Makarios shared the festal cake with the guests.
According to the report, the guests were hosted to a celebratory dinner in the evening. “His Eminence Archbishop Makarios had dinner with His Eminence Jeronymos of Kampala, Rev. Fr. Athanasios – the Chaplain at the Seminary and the team from Paralimni, Cyprus led by Rev. Fr. Andreas.”
On 19 January, the Orthodox Church commemorates the anchorite father, Makarios the Great of Egypt. A disciple of St. Andonios the Great (17 January), Makarios is most known for his ”50 Spiritual homilies”, a reliable source of patrology.
In early 1970s, then Primate of the Church of Cyprus, His Beatitude Makarios III visited Kenya, conducting mass baptisms. With the blessings of Patriarch Nicholas of Alexandria and all Africa and using his friendship bond with Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, the president of Kenya, Archbishop Makarios laid the foundation stone for the construction of a Theological School. The education institution became operational in 1981, four years after his repose in the Lord. This was during the interim reign of now Archbishop Anastasios of Albania as the acting Metropolitan of the Holy Archbishopric of Irinoupolis.
Orthodox Patriarchal Ecclesiastical School of Makarios III Archbishop of Cyprus has over the years, been the fundamental center for clergy and catechists training in East Africa and beyond. The school follows courses of study used by the rest of the Orthodox theological schools and seminaries.
