Resurrection of Orthodoxy in The Islamic Republic of Mauritania (April 2017)

Serbian Orthodox Church

With The Grace of God and the blessings of His Beatitude Theodoros II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria, His Eminence Meletios Metropolitan of Carthage, paid his first pastoral visit from 29th March to 3rd April 2017, to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, the fourth country of his Province and for the first time after almost a decade he conducted the Divine Liturgy as well as other services and holy sacraments for the small Orthodox flock in that country.
On this important trip, he was accompanied by Fr. Maxim Massaltin from the Russian community of Morocco and by the Very Reverend Archimandrite Konstantinos Koutloumousianos; he was met at the airport of the capital Nouakchott by His Excellency the Ambassador of Russia to Mauritania Mr. Vladimir Chamov together with his Consul Mr. Pavel as well as the Chargé d’ Affaires f the Embassy of the European Union in the country, Mr. Serge Maraite who, together with the Ambassadress of France Mrs. Zoe Stefanou and the Lebanese Doctor Hanna Melhem organized the entire visit.
As part of his five-day stay in Mauritania, His Eminence the Metropolitan had the opportunity of gathering the Orthodox Greeks, Cypriots, Russians, Lebanese, Romanian, Belgians and the faithful from various other countries who work and live in the country, to conduct the Service of the Akathist Hymn, the Holy Unction and with the contribution of the above-named priests to hear the confession of the faithful who attended. 

The culmination of the Worship gatherings was the Sunday Divine Liturgy on the 2nd April 2017, at a suitably transformed area within the Russian Embassy, in the presence of the Russian Ambassador Mr. Vladimir Chamov and his Philhellene French counterpart, Mr. Joel Meyer together with his Orthodox family and fifty faithful, who with great emotion attended the Holy Eucharist, partook of Holy Communion after many years and before the end of the Dismissal, everyone with one voice sang the Resurrection Paean “Christ is Risen”. Together with the Antidoron, they received pectoral crosses and Icons and attended a festive lunch hosted by the Russian Ambassador.
In conclusion His Eminence the Metropolitan and his entourage of Priests had a meeting with the Catholic Bishop of Nouakchott Mr. Martin, as well as with diplomats who work in Mauritania, and also discussed the possibility of erecting and Orthodox Chapel with contributions from the Russian Embassy, if circumstances allow.

Holy Communion

Click:

4 July 2010, first Orthodox Priest in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania (& about Religion in Mauritania)
Free Biram, end slavery in Mauritania
Forty years a slave: women start new lives in Mauritania
"Pour les maîtres, violer les esclaves est un droit"
Islam (tag)
The Ancient Christianity (Orthodox Church) in Tunisia
The Last Christians of North-West Africa
Ancient Christian faith (Orthodox Church) in Africa

The Scillitan Martyrs of Numidia, the Protomartyrs of Africa
The Saints Forty Africans Martyrs of the Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church of Alexandria & the Patriarchate of Alexandria
Orthodox Mission in Tropical Africa (& the Decolonization of Africa)
"THE WAY" - An Introduction to the Orthodox Faith
Theosis (deification): The True Purpose of Human Life
 

4 July 2010, first Orthodox Priest in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania (& about Religion in Mauritania)

Pious Fabrications

 

On 4 July 2010, with the blessing of his Holiness Patriarch Theodore II of Alexandria and all Africa, Metropolitan Alexis of Carthage ordained Deacon Labro Kefallino to the priesthood, four days after he had been ordained deacon. Fr Labro, who is 32 years old, is married and will serve in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. Most of Mauritania’s territory is in the Sahara, but it has over a population of some three million people. The official religion is Islam and it was until recently the last North African country where the Orthodox Church had neither a church nor a parish. Fr Labro is the first Orthodox priest to serve there.

After the ordination, Metropolitan Alexis mentioned that the North African State is in a difficult situation because of religious fundamentalism, Islamic extremism, political instability, severe weather conditions and extreme poverty. He asked all to pray for Fr Labro, who since 2004 has prepared the ground for a permanent presence and witness to Orthodoxy in Mauritania.


Fr. Lambros with Metropolitan Alexios of Carthage (from here)

(source)

Note of Pious Fabrications: Please keep Father Labro, his family, and his mission in your prayers. I'll see if I can track down some pictures of him or anything else related to his mission and Orthodoxy in Mauritania; if anyone else is able to do so, please pass them my way! Until then, a few snaps of life in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania:



The Holy Archdiocese of Carthage is a diocese under the jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa. Its territory, in northwestern Africa, includes the parishes and missions located in nations of Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritania, and Morocco (from here).

Religion in Mauritania

Wikipedia

The people of Mauritania are nearly all adherents of Sunni Islam of Maliki school of jurisprudence, influenced with Sufism. Mauritania is a country in the Africa, bordering Algeria, Mali, Senegal, and the Western Sahara (currently controlled by Morocco).^[1] Officially, 100% of the country's citizens are Muslim,^[2] although there is a small community of Christians, mainly of foreign nationality.^[3] The two largest Sufi Muslim tariqas in Mauritania are Tijaniyyah and Qadiriyya.^[4] Because of the ethnic and tribal divisions in the country, religion is seen by the government as essential for national unity.^[5]
There are around 4,500 Roman Catholics in the country of foreign origin.^[3] There are also a few adherents of Judaism working in the country.^[5]
  
History

It was trade with Muslim merchants that brought Islam into the region, in the 8th century.^[4]
The Almoravid dynasty rose to power in the western Maghreb during the 11th century, and prosletyzed Islam throughout the region.^[1] Members of the Gadala Berbers brought back the theologian Abdallah ibn Yasin from Mecca in 1035, where they traveled for the hajj, to expunge the paganism still prevalent in Mauritania.^[6] Although Islam had existed in the region prior to the Almoravids, Almoravid rule accelerated the spread of Islam and removed animist influences on local Islamic practices.^[7] Ibn Yasin's strict interpretation of Islam alienated many of the Berbers, and the theologian was expelled. Undaunted, he accumulated a devoted following of loyal believers and an army, the foundation of the Almoravid dynasty. ibn Yasin's military expansion converted tribe members of the Gadala, Lemtuma, and Messufa Berbers of the region to Islam. The capture of Sijilmasa and Aoudaghost, important cities in the Trans-Saharan trade, allowed them to dominate the trade routes of the Sahara. The Almoravids converted the Berbers inhabiting modern-day Mauritania to the Maliki school of Sunni Islam, which remains dominant in Mauritania to this day.^[6]
ibn Yasin was succeeded by Abu Bakr ibn Umar, a chieftain of the Lamtuna Berbers. Fighting between the Lemtuma and Messufa led ibn Umar to declare a holy war against the Ghana Empire to unify the tribes against a common enemy. The war, which lasted for fourteen years, spread Islam to the members of the Soninke people, founders of Ghana.^[6] The political influence of the Almoravids waned as the dynasty declined, but Islamic adherence was firmly cemented in the country.^[7]

Photo from here

The political influence of the Kunta tribe between the 16th and 18th centuries bolstered the popularity of Qadiri Sufism in the region.^[8] Between the 16th and 18th centuries, declaration of jihads by Muslim theologians pushed for the establishment of Islamic governance in West Africa. In the 17th century, Nasir al-Din led a jihad in Mauritania, drawing support from Berbers frustrated with the corruption of the region's Arab rulers.^[7]
The French colonial empire expanded into Mauritania by the 19th century.^[7] The West African jihads were brought to an end, following crackdowns by British and French colonists.^[8] In an effort to thwart militarism and threats of rebellion, French colonial administrators encouraged the influence of zaqiya, the religious tribes of Mauritania, over hassan, Mauritania's warrior tribes.^[9]

Post-independence

The country declared its independence in 1960 and established itself as an Islamic Republic.^[6] Independence brought Moktar Ould Daddah into power, who promoted Islam during his rule. A military coup d'état ousted Daddah in 1978.^[10] Colonel Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla, one of the participants of the coup, became head of the government in 1980, and implemented Sharia law. Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya, successor of Ould Haidalla, reversed some of these changes, but was ousted in a military coup in 2005.^[10]
Political Islam, or Islamism, was introduced in the region during the 1970s. The instability that followed the coup that deposed Daddah invited elements of the Muslim Brotherhood, Wahabbism, and Tablighi Jamaat. The Islamists united as a political party in the 1980s, but were politically repressed starting in 1994.^[11] Government pressure on Islamist organizations continued throughout the 2000s. Funding by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf monarchies supported the establishment of Islamic schools, centers, and charities around the country, but were largely shut down by the government in 2003. In 2005, Islamists were arrested and accused of terrorism. Of the original eighty arrested, eighteen remained in prison by 2006.^[12]

Islam
 

Qur'an collection in a library in Chinguetti

Islam is by far the largest and most influential religion in the country, and has been since the 10th century.^[6] According to government census, 100% of the country's citizens are Muslim.^[2] Like much of North Africa, Mauritanians follow the Maliki school of Islam.^[6]
Islam is the state religion, and sharia is used as the basis of judicial decisions.^[5] The five member High Council of Islam determines the compatibility of secular laws with Islamic laws.^[3]
Although nearly all Mauritanians are Muslim, the degree of religiosity varies in the population. The are liberal Muslims, moderate Islamists, Wahabbist, and jihadist Muslims in the country.

Christianity

There is a small community of Roman Catholics in Mauritania, of around 4,500 people, mainly foreigners living or working in the country.^[3] The Roman Catholic Church is not recognized by the government, but retains a presence in Mauritania without overt government interference.^[12] There is a Roman Catholic Diocese located in Nouakchott, the capital of the country.^[3] The government officially prohibits the distributions of Bibles, and Bibles cannot be imported, printed domestically, or sold. Private ownership of Bibles is not prosecuted, and Bibles can be acquired privately from fellow Christians.^[12] 

Photo from here

Government restrictions on religion

In Mauritania, religious and secular NGOs are granted tax exemption.^[5] Based on the sharia stance on apostasy, the government forbids converting Muslims to competing religions. The publication of religious materials that are not Islamic is restricted. Religious education is considered mandatory, but only makes up a small portion of the public school curriculum.^[5]
According to the Pew Research Center, although social conflict caused by religious hostilities is ranked Low in Mauritania, the amount of government restriction on the practice of religion is ranked High. Mauritania is the twelfth most religiously restrictive country in the world, ranked between Indonesia and Pakistan.^[13]

Please, see also

The Ancient Christianity (Orthodox Church) in Tunisia
The Last Christians of North-West Africa
Ancient Christian faith (Orthodox Church) in Africa
The Scillitan Martyrs of Numidia, the Protomartyrs of Africa
The Saints Forty Africans Martyrs of the Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church of Alexandria & the Patriarchate of Alexandria
Orthodox Mission in Tropical Africa (& the Decolonization of Africa)

Free Biram, end slavery in Mauritania
Forty years a slave: women start new lives in Mauritania
"Pour les maîtres, violer les esclaves est un droit"
Islam (tag)
 
"THE WAY" - An Introduction to the Orthodox Faith  
Theosis (deification): The True Purpose of Human Life

Ancient Christian faith (Orthodox Church) in Africa

A few of the Saints: ( l – r from lthe bottom) Sophia, Fulvainus-Matthew, Anthony, Elesbaan, Moses the Ethiopian, Cyprian, Djan-Darada, Maurice, Athanasius, and Mary of Egypt. Icon from here.

This is a part from the article Christianity in Africa in Wikipedia

Christianity in Africa began in Egypt in the middle of the 1st century. By the end of the 2nd century it had reached the region around Carthage. Important Africans who influenced the early development of Christianity include Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Origen of Alexandria, Cyprian (icon), Athanasius and Augustine of Hippo.
The spread of Islam into North Africa reduced the size of Christian congregations as well as their number, so of the original churches, the only ones remaining are the Coptic Church in Egypt, and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church in the Horn of Africa. Both the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox churches have their own distinct religious customs, a unique canon of the Bible and unique architectures. Neither of these communities of Christians in the Horn of Africa is the product of European missionary work; rather, they were founded prior to missionary work by any European country.^[1] [Note of our blog: The same applies to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria, which is the historical continuity of the first Christian church. About Ethiopian & Eritrean Tewahedo Church see the post "Oriental Orthodox"]

History

Mark the Evangelist became the first bishop of the Orthodox Church of Alexandria in about the year 43.^[5] At first the church in Alexandria was mainly Greek-speaking. By the end of the 2nd century the scriptures and liturgy had been translated into three local languages. Christianity also spread in Sudan in the early 1st century, and the Nubian churches there were linked to those of Egypt.^[6]
Christianity also grew in northwestern Africa (today known as the Maghreb). The churches there were linked to the Church of Rome and provided Pope Gelasius I, Pope Miltiades and Pope Victor I – all of them Christian Berbers like Saint Augustine and his mother, Saint Monica (icon).
At the beginning of the 3rd century the church in Alexandria expanded rapidly, with five new suffragan bishoprics. At this time, the Bishop of Alexandria began to be called Pope, as the senior bishop in Egypt. In the middle of the 3rd century the church in Egypt suffered severely during the persecution under the Emperor Decius. Many Christians fled from the towns into the desert. When the persecution died down, however, some remained in the desert as hermits to pray. This was the beginning of Christian monasticism, which over the following years spread from Africa to other parts of the Christian world.
The early 4th century in Egypt began with renewed persecution under the Emperor Diocletian. In the Ethiopian/Eritrean Kingdom of Aksum, King Ezana declared Christianity the official religion after having been converted by Frumentius, resulting in the foundation of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church [Note of our bog: No Tewahedo, but canonical Eastern Orthodox Church. Monophysitism penetrated in Ethiopia a century later. Ethiopian Orthodox (Eastern Orthodox) saints here].
In these first few centuries, African Christian leaders such as Origen, Lactantius, Augustine, Tertullian, Marius Victorinus, Pachomius, Didymus the Blind, Ticonius, Cyprian, Athanasius (icon) and Cyril (along with rivals Valentinus, Plotinus, Arius and Donatus Magnus) influenced the Christian world outside Africa with responses to Gnosticism, Arianism, Montanism, Marcionism, Pelagianism and Manichaeism. Ecumenical councils were organized by them from time to time to help keep the Church unified in matters of doctrine. The world also owes to such Christians the idea of the University (after the Library of Alexandria), the understanding of the Trinity, Vetus Latina translations, methods of exegesis and biblical interpretation, monasticism, Neoplatonism, and African literary, dialectical and rhetorical traditions.^[7]
[Our note: See also Three Africans ancients saints: Anthony the Great (the Professor of Desert), Athanasius the Great & Cyril of Alexandria]
 
Christianity in Berber Africa

The first document that allows us to understand Christianity in Berber Africa is located in the Africa of the early Christians, and dates from before the year 180 AD: the "Acts of the Martyrs scillitans". This is the record of attendance of a dozen Christians (called Scillitan Martyrs) in a village of Africa Proconsularis still not identified, in front of the proconsul of Africa.
The early history of Christianity in Africa is closely linked to the person of Tertullian. Born to pagan parents (his father was a Roman centurion and his mother was probably a Romanised Berber), he joined the Christian community in Carthage in 195 AD and became close to the local municipal elite, which protected him from repression by the authorities. Having received the priesthood, he fought in his early writings for the Christian Church to be officially recognized by the Roman Empire.
The politico-religious opinions of Tertullian caused violent conflict and persecutions: Christians were accused of endangering the Roman Empire when they refused to take part in military service (and this was done during a period which required a greater need for soldiers). Thus, Tertullian provoked sanctions by the authorities that led to killings, creating the martyrs very specific to the Christian religion.
Indeed, the historical period of the African Church begins in 180 AD with groups of martyrs. At a somewhat later date, extant writings of Tertullian told of how rapidly African Christianity had grown. It had passed the Roman military lines, and spread among the peoples to the south and southeast of the Aures mountains. About the year 200 AD there was a violent persecution at Carthage and in the provinces held by the Romans. We gain information on its various phases from the martyrdom of St. Perpetua and the treatises of Tertullian [see The Saints Forty Africans Martyrs of the Orthodox Church (icon)]. Christianity, however, did not even then cease to make distant conquests; Christian epitaphs are to be found at Sour el Ghozlane, dated 227 AD, and at Tipasa, dated 238 AD. These dates are assured. If we rely on texts less definite we may admit that the evangelization of northern Africa began very early and was totally complete by the fifth century.
By the opening of the third century there were large Christian populations in the towns and even in the country districts, which included not only the poor, but also persons of the highest rank. A council held at Carthage about the year 220 AD was attended by eighteen bishops from the province of Numidia. Another council, held about the middle of the third century in the time of Cyprian, was attended by eighty-seven bishops. But at this period the African Church went through a very grave crisis.
The accession of Constantine found the African Church torn apart by controversies and heresies; Catholics and Donatists contended not only in polemics, but also in violent and bloody ways. A law of Constantine (318 AD) deprived the Donatists of their churches, most of which they had taken from the Catholics. They had, however, grown so powerful that even such a measure failed to crush them. In fact, they were so numerous that a Donatist council held at Carthage in 327 AD was attended by 270 bishops.
Attempts at reconciliation, suggested by the Emperor Constantius II, only widened the breach and led to armed repression, an ever-growing disquiet, and an enmity that became increasingly embittered. Yet, in the very midst of these troubles, the Primate of Carthage, Gratus, declared (in the year 349): "God has restored Africa to religious unity. "Julian's accession (361 AD) and his permission to all religious exiles to return to their homes added to the troubles of the African Church. A Donatist bishop sat in the seceded see of Carthage, in opposition to the orthodox bishop. One act of violence followed another, marking new conflicts. About this period, Optatus, Bishop of Milevi, began to combat the sect by his writings. A few years later, St. Augustine, converted at Milan, returned to his native land, and entered the lists against every kind of error. Paganism had by that time ceased to be a menace to the Church; in 399 AD its temples were closed at Carthage. Nevertheless, the energy and genius of Augustine were abundantly utilized in training the clergy and instructing the faithful, as well as in theological controversy with heretics. For forty years, from 390 to 430 AD, the Councils of Carthage (which reunited a great part of the African Episcopate), public discussions with the Donatists, sermons, homilies, and scriptural commentaries followed almost without interval – an unparalleled activity that had commensurate results.
Pelagianism, which had made great strides in Africa, was condemned at the Council of Carthage in 412 AD. Donatism, also, and Semi-Pelagianism were stricken to death at an hour when political events of the utmost gravity changed the history and the destiny of the African Church. Conflict between Carthage and Rome on the regulation of the African Church came to the fore when Apiarius of Sicca appeal his excommunication to Rome and thus challenging the authority of Carthage. Count Boniface had summoned the Vandals to Africa in 426 AD, and by 429 AD the invasion was completed. The barbarians advanced rapidly and made themselves masters of cities and provinces. In 430 AD St. Augustine died, during the siege of Hippo; nine years later Geiseric, King of the Vandals, took possession of Carthage. Then began for the African Church an era of persecution of a kind hitherto unknown. The Vandals were Arians. Not only did they wish to establish their own Arianism, but they were bent on the destruction of Catholicism ( = Orthodoxy*). [About st. Augustine, please see: Reception of Augustine in the Orthodox Church].

(*) From the article Catholicism: "Catholicism" and "Catholic" in this sense refer to the practices of several Christian churches. This sense is to be distinguished from the use of these words to refer to the Roman Catholic Church, that which is in full communion with the Holy See, as well as the Orthodox Catholic Church (commonly called the "Orthodox Church" or the "Eastern Orthodox Church"), which also considers itself the universal and apostolic church. (...)
The earliest evidence of the use of the term Catholic Church is the Letter to the Smyrnaeans that Ignatius of Antioch wrote in about 108 to Christians in Smyrna. Exhorting Christians to remain closely united with their bishop, he wrote: "Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church."
From the second half of the second century, the word began to be used to mean "orthodox" (non-heretical), "because Catholics claimed to teach the whole truth, and to represent the whole Church, while heresy arose out of the exaggeration of some one truth and was essentially partial and local". In 380, Emperor Theodosius I limited use of the term "Catholic Christian" exclusively to those who followed the same faith as (our note: Orthodox, non Roman Catholic) Pope Damasus I of Rome and Pope Peter of Alexandria. Numerous other early writers including Cyril of Jerusalem (c. 315–386), Augustine of Hippo (354–430) further developed the use of the term "catholic" in relation to Christianity. 

Churches the invasion had left standing were either transferred to the Arians or withdrawn from the Catholics and closed to public worship. The intervention of the Emperor Zeno (474-491 AD) and the conclusion of a treaty of peace with Geiseric, were followed by a transient calm. The churches were opened, and the Catholics were allowed to choose a bishop (476 AD), but the death of Geiserich, and the edict of Hunneric, in 484 AD, made matters worse than before. A contemporary writer, Victor of Vita, has told us what we know of this long history of the Vandal persecution.
During the last years of Vandal rule in Africa, St. Fulgentius, Bishop of Ruspe, exercised a fortunate influence over the princes of the Vandal dynasty, who were no longer completely barbaric, but whose culture, wholly Roman and Byzantine, equalled that of their native subjects. Yet the Vandal monarchy, which had lasted for nearly a century, seemed less firmly established than at its beginning.

Christian Mosaic at the "National Museum of Bardo" (Tunisia)

The Vandal kingdom allowed the creation of some Romano-Berber states at the borders, but fell a century later, conquered by the Byzantine empire, which established an African prefecture, and later the Exarchate of Carthage. Nearly all Berbers were Christians since the third century, to the point that one of the most famous and important Christian saints was Berber: Saint Augustine. But in the Atlas mountains was still worshipped some form of paganism and idolatry when the Vandals arrived: Pope Gelasius I, a Berber born in what is now Kabylia, successfully converted to Christianity around 492 AD all the Berbers of the Aures (who were the last to defend Romanised north western-Africa with their queen Kahina from the Moslem invasion).
Indeed these Berber states are often called "Neo-Latin" because were post-Roman (meaning: no more under the Roman Empire authority), with a local and differentiated Latin language mixed with many local Berberisms, and with a Christian religion. Some of their Christian kings (like those of the "Regnum Maurorum et Romanorum") left the monuments called Djeddars. Furthermore during the fifth century the area was fully Christianized, according to historian Theodore Mommsen, and the kings were probably buried in a mausoleum called "Djeddar" in Berber. Historian Gabriel Camps thinks that some Berber kings (like Masuna and Garmul) were buried in a Djeddar near Frenda.
In 533 AD a Byzantine fleet appeared off the coast of Africa. The battle of Ad Decimum won the initiative for the invading Byzantines. The taking of Carthage, the flight of vandal king Gelimer, and the battle of Tricamarum, about the middle of December, completed their destruction and their disappearance.
The victor, Belisarius, had but to show himself in order to reconquer the greater part of the coast, and to place the cities under the authority of the Emperor Justinian. A council held at Carthage in 534 AD was attended by 220 bishops representing all the churches. It issued a decree forbidding the public exercise of Arian worship. The establishment of Byzantine rule, however, was far from restoring unity to the African Church. The Councils of Carthage brought together the bishops of Proconsular Africa, Byzacena, and Numidia, but those of Tripolitana and Mauretania were absent. Mauretania had, in fact, regained its political autonomy, during the Vandal period. A native dynasty had been set up, and the Byzantine army of occupation never succeeded in conquering a part of the country so far from their base at Carthage.
The reign of Justinian marks a sad period in the history of the African Church, due to the part taken by the clergy in the matter known as that of the Three Chapters. While one part of the episcopate wasted its time and energies in fruitless theological discussions, others failed of their duty. It was under these circumstances that Pope Gregory the Great (icon & orthodox article here & here) sent men to Africa, whose lofty character contributed greatly to increase the prestige of the Roman Church. The notary Hilarus became in some sense a papal legate with authority over the African Bishops. He left them in no doubt as to their duty, instructed or reprimanded them, and summoned councils in the Pope's name. With the help of the metropolitan of Carthage, he succeeded in restoring unity, peace, and ecclesiastical discipline in the African Church, which drew strength from so fortunate a change even so surely as the See of Rome regained in respect and authority. However Justinian promoted Christianity in Berber Africa: for example, he made in Septem (actual Ceuta) an important Christian center in Mauretania Tingitana, as recent discovered ruins of a Roman basilica showed.^[8]
fragments of Byzantine Africa into the hands of the Arabs. The Berber, or native tribes, which before this had seemed on the way to conversion to the Gospel, passed in a short time, and without resistance, to Islam. Carthage was taken by the Arabs in 695 AD. Two years later it was re-entered by the Byzantine Patrician John, but only for a brief period; in 698 AD Hassan once more took possession of the capital of Northern Africa, destroying totally the city. He killed half the inhabitants and enslaved the other half, erasing forever in this way the main center of Greco-Roman presence and influence in the Maghreb.This renewal of vigour, however, was not of long duration. The Arabs, who had conquered Egypt, made their way into Byzantine Africa. In 647 AD the Caliph Othman gave orders for a direct attack on Berber Africa, and an army that had gained a victory at Sbeitla against Byzantine and Christian Berber armies, withdrew on payment of a large ransom. Some years of respite ensued. The African Church showed its firm attachment to orthodoxy by remaining loyal to Pope Martin I (icon) (649-655 AD) in his conflict with the Emperor of Byzantium. The last forty years of the seventh century witnessed the gradual fall of the

After the Muslim conquest of Byzantine-ruled north Africa
 

The conventional historical view is that the conquest of North Africa by the Islamic Umayyad Caliphate between AD 647–709 effectively ended Catholicism (=Orthodox Church) in Africa for several centuries.^[9] The prevailing view is that the Church at that time lacked the backbone of a monastic tradition and was still suffering from the aftermath of heresies including the so-called Donatist heresy, and this contributed to the earlier obliteration of the Church in the present day Maghreb.^[10] Some historians contrast this with the strong monastic tradition in Coptic Egypt, which is credited as a factor that allowed the Coptic Church to remain the majority faith in that country until around after the 14th century. (...)

Our note: After 1054 AD in Western Europe we have the familiar Roman Catholicism. Therefore, the continuity of the original article is no about Orthodox Church.
About ancient Catholic Church (Orthodox Church, before Papacy), please see:
Basic Points of Difference between the Orthodox Church and Papism (Catholic Church) 
The ancient Christian Church - About Orthodox Church in the West World...
Historia ya Kanisa la Orthodox : Ukristo barani Afrika
 
See also
The Orthodox Church of Alexandria & the Patriarchate of Alexandria 
The holy anarchists... in the Egyptian Desert
Orthodox Monasticism

Orthodox Mission in Tropical Africa (& the Decolonization of Africa)
"THE WAY" - An Introduction to the Orthodox Faith  
Theosis (deification): The True Purpose of Human Life
Protestants ask: Why be Orthodox?

ROMANITY, OR BARBARITY?