Legio Maria (Latin for ‘Legion of Mary’), is a series of photographs by Andre Epstein. This set of photographs portrays the followers of a Legio Maria church located in Kibera slum, Nairobi.
The Legio Maria church represents the continuation of a Luo community response to Christianity seen in its colonial form, and the control exercised by European missionaries on Christian communities in western Kenya. Legio Maria is a new religious movement and African independent church. The doctrine follows the central message of Christianity, and specifically in the central role of Mary as ‘queen’, ‘mother’ and the ‘mediatrix’. However, beliefs concerning the interaction between the world of the spirits and that of living human beings differs slightly from mainstream Catholic beliefs.

At the Legio Maria church in Kibera, Nairobi. Copyright 2012 © Andre Epstein
This notebook is full of revelations from God. he believeS they are in ancient greek, aramaic, and hebrew. one day, he told me, he will learn these languages so he can decipher the many notebooks he has filled with this writing. -Andre