For six years I have been ministering in Congo (Brazzaville) at the invitation and with the blessing of His Eminence Metropolitan Ignatius of Central Africa. There, at the end of the 1980s, three parishes had been established in as many cities, when the country was ecclesiastically dependent on the Metropolis of Cameroon. Without any building and support, they waited for more than ten years, with unquenchable hope, for the help of the ecclesiastical authorities. With the ordination of His Eminence, the Monsignor of Central Africa, the mission in this country, bordered by the Atlantic and crossed by the Equator, was intensified. It is three times larger than Greece but its population is less than four million. It is covered by vast forests sustained by tropical rains and great rivers. One of them, the Congo, gives its name to the country. Outer timber, which is exported, and abundant oil give wealth to foreign companies and statesmen. The people live in decent poverty. French culture as well as education and administration characterize the social fabric. French is the official language of the state, the many local languages are typical of the regions and tribes. In the capital Brazzaville, the reconstruction of the Church of the Resurrection, housed in the old Masonic Lodge in the centre of the city, was completed this year. The building was provided when the country left communism. In Pointe-Noire, the state’s second city with one million inhabitants, a large port and with many oil wells, His Eminence founded our missionary center of St. Demetrius. A large hall has been built on a spacious plot of land in the center of the city, temporarily used as a temple, office, residence of the leaders, youth hall. The building, the facilities and the antenna of our radio station, offered by the Brotherhood of the Orthodox Foreign Mission of Thessaloniki , were recently completed there. In the center of the plot of land, the large church of St. Demetrios is slowly being built, due to economic hardship. This month (May 09) St. Demetrios, showing his protection in a miraculous way, sent us a blessing from his city so that the work can continue. Also completed this year in Pointe Noire was the Church of the Ascension which for years was housed with boards and sheet metal, the second parish in the City. A third church, St. Bright, has begun to be built in a much-needed neighborhood, of which Mac. The foundation stone was recently blessed by the Patriarch. Inland in the town of Nkayi, where the sugar factory is located, a large octagonal church is being built in the name of the Transfiguration of the Saviour and the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Five years ago, Rodrigue, then ten years old, orphaned by his parents, was looking for his fate as a stowaway on the train, where he met us. The Lord sent him to us to protect and care for the orphans of the Congo. This was the occasion for our orphanage to be built and inaugurated by our loving Patriarch. There thirty orphaned boys grow up in the love of God. Eight of them have not yet found their guardian (100€ per month).
Next door, our primary school with about 200 students opened this year, at the Patriarch’s urging, but we have not yet completed the building. In Dolisie, also a large town, the church of St. Irene, the orphanage and the elementary school have been operating in recent years, and the larger church of St. Nicholas has begun to be built. Baptizing in the rivers, amidst the natural beauty and abundance of waters, we have the memory of the Jordan River. Lately we have been pursuing and building cross-shaped baptisteries near the temples. This was prompted by the incident with little Rebecca who I almost lost after the second dive when she was swept away by the current of the Loubomo River. I then found out how useful the little tufts of hair that radiate from their little heads are after I pulled her back from them and continued the mystery.
Every day we try to help when injustice touches us and the multifaceted pain hurts us, by living and seeing our brothers and sisters. Like 14-year-old orphan Faly whom the Lord put before us and we met him in a squalid hospital with both his legs cut off by a train where he was kicked by a soldier. Our ministry is completed with catechesis, baptisms, seminaries for priests, celebrations with the choirs and more. It is worth emphasizing the constant struggle against the habits and traditions that oppose the law of God and are difficult to eradicate such as fear of witchcraft, polygamy, compulsion of dowry, etc.
My dear brothers, I ask only your prayers to the Lord so that I may give a good testimony by working in His vineyard and not be burned by the hot equatorial winds now that the harvest has come.
Monk Theologian
