Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
We are a few days before the great feast of the Nativity of our Savior Jesus Christ here in Vanua Levi, the second large island of Fiji.
We have been trying since yesterday to meet the family of Mr. Joeli, who have declared that they want to become Orthodox Christians. They live in the forest and it was difficult to go and meet them there, although we set out for this purpose. The constant rainfall made the dirt road impassable. Today they came themselves and found us at the house of our first Orthodox brother Barnabas. The parents with six children. There are four others who could not come because they were sick with fever. And those who did come were in bad shape. It hurt our souls to see them so battered, unwashed with torn and soiled clothes! Our first job was to get Ariadne and Mary, Barnabas’ wife, to wash their little hands and faces. Then to get them to sit down at the table to eat something, to recover from their toil and exhaustion. They had a hard time doing this out of shyness and because they are not used to sitting at a table, except on the mat. There is their table, there is their dining room, there is their living room, there is their sleep. How can one not be overwhelmed and feel, control in one’s conscience seeing so much misery and so much deprivation in these people! And how not to admire their patience, their patience, their patience and their so modest dignity!
After they had recovered from the milk and other foods offered by Christian love, it was time to talk to them. To welcome them and tell them who we are and how happy we are about their decision to become members of our true, Orthodox Church! We then suggested that they move from Savo-Savo, where they live, to the island’s capital, Lampasa, and stay with Barnabas’ family temporarily until they are settled permanently near the Church that has begun to be established there. There they will be baptized and churched. And by cultivating the garden and selling the fruit and vegetables they produce, both families will be able to live in some comfort, forming the first Orthodox nucleus in the area. Only after these decisions did we feel the sadness and pain that we felt when we saw this sad situation on the faces of these few brothers of Christ, who, by becoming members of His Church, will be saved spiritually and benefited physically. Christ, His Church, saves not only the soul of man but also his body. The whole man. That is why the Lord says in His Holy Gospel, “I have come and you have given me food, I have eaten and you have seated me…” (Mt 25:35)
By these actions, which the Holy Spirit enlightened us to undertake, and by the thought that as His humble and unworthy servants we are contributing to bringing these brethren out of the darkness of ignorance and heresy into the light of the Truth of our Christ, and from the deprivation of the most basic material goods to a decent Christian and social life, we are relieved. Close to our poor Fijian brothers and sisters, and especially to the ten hungry and despised children, and trying to convey to them the pulse of Christian love, we live the true joy of Christmas by singing together with the holy hymn of our Church, “Christ is born, praise be to you”. New Zealand Amphilochius.
