The missionary group of the Patriarchal Exarchate of Africa of the Russian Orthodox Church headed by Archpriest Andrey Novikov visited Madagascar.

On May 7, Father Andrey met with the dean of the parishes of the Madagascar district, Priest Nikolai Ramaruson, and the assistant dean, Priest Vasily Randianaiv. The directions of the mission of the Russian Orthodox Church in Madagascar and work plans were determined.

On May 8, the missionary group attended a solemn concert dedicated to the Victory Day in the Great Patriotic War. The celebration was prepared by the staff of the diplomatic mission and took place on the territory of the embassy.

At the end of the concert, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Madagascar and concurrently in the Union of the Comoros, A.V. Andreev, met with Archpriest Andrey Novikov. The meeting was attended by Deputy Head of the mission A.S.Buryak. Russian Russian Orthodox Church's ecclesiastical, humanitarian and educational activities in the Republic of Madagascar, church-state cooperation, spiritual care of the Russian community by the clergy of the Exarchate were discussed.

Then Father Andrey had a conversation with the embassy staff. He told his compatriots about the mission of the Russian Orthodox Church in Africa, the reasons for the establishment of the Exarchate, the deviation into schism of the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Alexandria, about the numerous appeals of African clerics to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, about their acceptance under his primatial omophorion, the prospects for the development of church life in Africa, in general, and in Madagascar, in particular, he answered the questions of the audience.