For the last twenty years the Holy Metropolis of Mexico headed by His Eminence Archbishop Athenagoras of Mexico has been struggling in the region of Central America for the dissemination of true Orthodox Christian faith. The beginning of this course was characterized by a slow pace, but then there was a big response on the part of the local population. As a result, during these two decades, over forty new churches were founded in Central American countries such as Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba and others with young, qualified in spiritual matters priests with studies in Higher Education in Theology in Greece. One of the largest and most recent missionary efforts of our H. Metropolis is the one taking place in Guatemala to the indigenous populations of Mayan descent. Despite the fact that these people are deprived of essential goods, they have shown tremendous faith and love towards Orthodoxy. They reside in Peten, the northeastern region of the country, and number about 350 000. It is moving to see them walk through the woods to attend the Divine Liturgy at the nearest church.
It is noteworthy that despite the economic and other difficulties we face in our work, with the help of Christ and of the Virgin Mary and the daily support and sympathy on the part of the people, the Holy Metropolis of Mexico is developing into an Orthodox Metropolis of the future.
A recent welcome development is that after our actions, our Holy Metropolis has now acquired another very old church, which belonged to the Roman Catholics, in the center of the Mexican capital. We have transformed it into an Orthodox Sacred Church and daily a large number of people visit it and ask to learn about Orthodoxy.
We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to the Orthodox Missionary Fraternity for all the help that it has offered to our Metropolis over the years, and to all the partners who stand by the missionary work in Central America, since we are talking about the only Orthodox Mission in the West. We would also like to thank our clergy, our priests, who, although they give their struggle for Orthodoxy under adverse conditions daily, they take strength from their great faith in God. We can see very clearly that our Church is a recipient of a multitude of miracles that happen every day as more and more young people are gradually approaching our Metropolis, which is the greatness of the Orthodox Church.
Archimandrite Damian
Chancellor of the H. Metropolis
