The Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa, currently meeting at the Patriarchal Headquarters in Alexandria, has today, October 7, 2025, elevated His Grace Bishop Neofitos Kong’ai of Eldoret to the rank of Metropolitan.
After over 10 years of service as a hierarch of the Holy See of Saint Mark since November 26, 2014, when he was elected a Bishop, His Grace’s determination and efforts of service in the vineyard of our lord have been recognized through elevation to a Metropolitan of the Patriarchate under the spiritual leadership of His Beatitude Pope and Patriarch Theodoros II.
Biography of His Eminence Neofitos Kong’ai, newly elevated Metropolitan
His Grace Neofitos Kong’ai was born in 1970 in the village of Kesengei in the Nandi district in Kenya. He is a graduate of the Patriarchal Seminary of Archbishop Makarios III in Nairobi. He was ordained as a Deacon on September 13, 1998, and as Presbyter on the 27th of the same month by the then Metropolitan of Kenya, now of Zimbabwe and Angola, His Eminence Seraphim. He served in Parishes in Nairobi and at the Patriarchal Academy there as Deputy Head. On February 27, 2005, he was consecrated as Archimandrite by His Eminence Makarios, Metropolitan of Kenya.
In the same year he was awarded a Master of Theological Studies by Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Boston. In 2007, he was tonsured a Monk at the Holy Monastery of the Transfiguration in Verroea. He is a doctoral candidate in Pastoral Theology, studying at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
On November 26, 2014, he was elected by the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Alexandria as Auxiliary Bishop of Nitria, and ordained by His Beatitude Theodoros II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria, on December 21, 2014, at the Patriarchal Church of St Savvas the Sanctified.
On November 24, 2015, he was elected by the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Alexandria as Bishop of the newly-established Diocese of Nyeri and Mount Kenya. On November 24, 2023, he was elected by the Holy Synod as Bishop of Eldoret and Northern Kenya.
Today, October 7, 2025, His Grace has been elevated to the rank of a Metropolitan, earning him the title of His Eminence Metropolitan Neofitos Kong’ai.
