A Brief History of Anglicanism in North Africa
- Charles Perez
- May 8
- 2 min read
Historic consecration will mark a milestone for the Anglican Communion
By David W. Virtue in Tunis
May 8, 2025
The historic election of The Rev. Canon Dr. Ashley Null to be the first elected Bishop of North Africa marks a milestone in African Anglicanism.
The expansion of the Anglican Communion has been steadily growing on the continent of Africa to the point where it is entirely indigenous. It is today among the fastest and largest growing provinces in the Anglican Communion.
The election of an American Episcopalian to this post is a first. Dr. Null is a world authority on the theology of Thomas Cranmer, a trained theologian and a sports chaplain, counseling Olympic and other elite athletes. Null maintains close ties to the Anglican realignment movement as a theological adviser to the Anglican Church in North America's Diocese of the Carolinas.
Null will come under the authority of Egyptian Archbishop Samy Fawzy Shehata, the second archbishop and primate of the Episcopal/Anglican Province of Alexandria, the 41st province of the Anglican Communion. The first archbishop was the Rt. Rev. Dr. Mouneer Hanna Anis of Cairo.
The history of Anglicanism in the area is of recent origin; its theology is in keeping with the great African Christian leaders of the past, many of whom fought heresies and sacrificed their lives for the gospel.
In November 2021, Canon Anthony Ball was consecrated as an Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Egypt, with responsibilities across the new Episcopal/Anglican Province of Alexandria and in January 2024 became the appointed Bishop of North Africa in that Province. He became the first diocesan bishop of North Africa and the first Anglican successor to Augustine.
The Province of Alexandria, named after the north Egyptian city which was home to one of the earliest branches of the Christian Church, serves ten countries – five of them in the Diocese of North Africa (Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Chad and Mauritania) and five in the other three dioceses of the Province (Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia).
Bishop Shehata succeeded the Rt. Rev. Bill Musk, who presided over the diocese encompassing Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya from 2008 till his retirement in 2015. He is the author of numerous books, including Kissing Cousins? Christians and Muslims Face to Face (2006) and The Certainty Trap (2013).
Archbishop Samy came under the oversight of Archbishop Mouneer Anis an Egyptian Anglican bishop (2000-2021) and the first Anglican Archbishop of Alexandria from 2020 to 2021. He was the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East from 2007 to 2017, when his diocese was part of that ecclesiastical province.
Archbishop Anis consecrated the Rev. Samy Fawzy Shehata as the first Arab area bishop for North Africa on Feb. 27, 2021.
All of these countries are dominated by Islam, but some, like Tunisia are more tolerant of Christians since the Arab Spring. In Tunisia, it is legal to convert and while it is frowned upon, no one gets killed. In contrast, Coptic Christians face persecution in Egypt, and many Christians of all stripes feel uncertain about the future of Christianity in Syria.
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Very sad to say, but it seems that David "Virtue" has sold out, wholly sold out--but that does actually prove the veracity of the Gospel, now doesn't it?
Labeling Ashley Null an Episcopalian is misleading. He is a member of the Diocese of the Carolinas in the ACNA. Anglican would have been a more accurate label.