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==History==
The school traces its beginnings to a visit by Abp. Makarios to Kenya in 1970 during which he saw a future for the Orthodox church in Kenya. In March 1971, Abp. Makarios returned to Kenya to conduct mass [[baptism]]s of the Kenyans in Nairobi and Nyeri. At this time he saw the need for a [[seminary]] to meet the theological education needs of East Africa. On [[March 22]], 1971, he laid the cornerstone of the Orthodox Patriarchal Seminary in Riruta with the blessing of [[Patriarch]] [[Nicholas VI of Alexandria|Nicholas of Alexandria]]. However, the political crisis of the 1970s in Cyprus delayed the opening of the seminary until 1981 when training of [[priest]]s and [[catechist]]s for the [[Archdiocese of Kenya]] and, now, [[Archdiocese of Irinoupolis]] began.
While the seminary originally opened to serve the theological eduction needs of East Africa, in 1995, the school began taking students from other African countries. The aim was to make the seminary a pan-African institution with a sense of unity within the Patriarchate of Alexandria.
