On 29 October His Beatitude the Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa arrived for his first pastoral visit to Brazzaville, where he has spiritual responsibility for the newly established Diocese of Congo (Brazzaville)-Gabon.
At the port of the capital, on the Congo River, he was received with great love and respect by the officials and clergy of our Diocese and with due honor by the Minister of Interior of the country, the Ambassadors of Greece, Russia and Egypt, our Consul General in Kinshasa and our Honorary Consul in Brazzaville.
The same afternoon, in a warm atmosphere, he was received by the President of the country, His Excellency Mr. Denis Sassou Nguesso, whom he thanked for his support to the Orthodox Church and honoured him with the Grand Cross and the Star of St. Mark.
His Beatitude’s tour of our diocese lasted until Saturday, November 3. We welcomed him as our Bishop and Patriarch, with all our love and every possible sacrifice, and even beyond our means. Wherever he went, our faithful awaited him with great reverence and enthusiasm.
He particularly enjoyed his meetings with the faithful in all three parishes of Pointe-Noire. In our oldest parish of Ascension, making a “prophetic” gesture, he took the young Theologian, the son of the parish priest, Fr. Laurentius, into his arms, without knowing it, giving him the opportunity to hold his staff and spoke about the future of the local Church. He also thanked the Lord during his visit to the Church of Agia Fotini, which he had founded in 2007, for the recent donation to complete its roof by the Holy Metropolis of Nea Smyrna.
He also blessed the foundation stone of our new clinic in a suburb of the city, offered by the missionary team of Fr. Nicholas Marketos from Sydney, Australia, and was thrilled to watch a recital presented by the choirs of the various parishes of the country.
At the Patriarch’s prompting, a Divine Liturgy was celebrated in our Cathedral of St. Demetrios, built with the support of the Brotherhood of Orthodox Foreign Missionaries, during which he ordained a true worker of the Gospel, Jean-Marie Magloire, a deacon, and ordained fourteen readers from all the parishes of our Diocese.
On November 2 in Dolisie he celebrated at the “Light of Nations” school (built at his instigation) among our 350 students with songs and sketches, sharing in their enthusiasm and giving them his blessing along with a hearty breakfast.
A great moment for us was the blessing he gave with the Holy Water to the buildings of our monastery on the lake and to the candidate monks, so that the local Church can have the blessing of breathing the spiritual oxygen of monasticism. The cypress tree, which he himself planted, coming from Fr. Paisios’ cell on Mount Athos, will encourage us to walk in his footsteps.
He then spent all his love on our children, the orphans, who, after five years since the opening of the orphanage, he met them again and shared with them moments of joy as well as their festive food and songs.
We know he left happy. We hope that his prayers will help us to give God’s solution to the great problems we face, now that our Patriarch himself has known, lived and approached them.
π. Theologos Chrysanthakopoulos
