The Holy Metropolis of Accra has issued a public statement warning the Orthodox faithful in Ghana about the unlawful actions of a defrocked former priest, who was deposed in 2021 by the Ecclesiastical Synodal Court of the Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa for multiple canonical offenses.
“We draw the attention of the members of the Orthodox Church in Ghana to the fact that, as we have been informed, a former priest—now a layman—who was canonically and definitively doomed and deposed in 2021… has unlawfully put on the Orthodox clerical vestments and has ‘celebrated’ what he called a ‘Divine Liturgy’ in a hall,” the Metropolis stated.
According to the announcement, the former cleric had been deposed for “defrocking, abandonment of his parish assignment, disobedience to his Bishop, affiliation with a Protestant sect, and scandalizing of the faithful.”
The Metropolis further emphasized that “the sacraments ‘performed’ by this deposed former priest are invalid,” warning that “such a gathering constitutes an act of schism and unauthorized assembly, contrary to the unity of our Local Church.”
In a firm reminder to the faithful, the statement concluded: “Whoever participates in such gatherings is cut off from the Body of the Orthodox Church.”
