1 December 2013
Dear brothers and friends, Rejoice and be glad in the Lord! I rejoice, because I am once again given the opportunity to have this communication with you, on the occasion of the completion of fifty years of the dynamic presence of your Fraternity, in the worldwide missionary march and the struggles and sacrifices of obscure and dedicated workers of the Gospel Word. Today, my beloved brothers, my soul rejoices, because I have been, since my teenage years, a companion of your holy efforts, by the grace of God’s constant and sincere communication with the late pioneer and spiritual founder of your Fraternity,
Fr. Chrysostomos Papasartopoulos , from the moment he set foot on the hallowed soil of the African continent. My correspondence in this regard was published in your magazine (December 1986, 170 – 174 and October – December 1989, 595 – 599). May it have been a coincidence or a direct intervention of divine providence that this relationship has been my relationship since then, because I have been receiving, even from afar, your enthusiastic messages, despite my young age.
I am therefore entitled to directly and comfortably testify my own personal testimony to your offer and your contribution to the enormous missionary work of our Church. I have been, ever since, a close associate and fellow traveller of your Fraternity.
I know how much you have struggled to fulfil a sacred legacy, the foundations of which were laid by the first initiators of a new opening to the nations, to the whole world, which was truly thirsty to know the saving messages of the Church of Christ, our Orthodoxy. With the meagre means at that time, your brotherhood began a struggle with various difficulties, toils and sacrifices. And today you are in the front line to give your best and most precious to relieve, spiritually and materially, our brothers and sisters, the aching, the unjust, the despised. And you have succeeded. You have faith and steadfastness in your aims and purposes.
We are also rejoicing and celebrating with you today, because you have really been supporting and strengthening us for five or so decades now. Our thoughts and our prayers humbly accompany you from the mission field of the Black Continent, where your spirit of love and selfless giving increase, every day, the hope of people of every race and age.
Continuous needs
As you know, the Holy Metropolis of Kenya, which was, in fact, the bastion and the centre of your efforts and your struggles with the late Fr Chrysostomos, continues its humble ministry, despite the current financial difficulties. With faith and steadfastness, we strive, under difficult circumstances, to fulfill in full the mission entrusted to us by your Church. Today, once again, we appeal to all of you to come to our aid in the effort we are making throughout the Republic of Kenya to support with soup kitchens the young children who, truly, are hungry and suffering. We are standing here today and struggling doubly with these children, who do not have the basic and necessary means to live, at least more comfortably. They are deprived of the most important means of survival, food. We do what we can. The needs are many and varied. We humbly come to you, who, as a Brotherhood, have always been supporters of our work. We therefore make a heartfelt request that you help us in this program of feeding the young children. Thank you in advance. Once again we congratulate you on the occasion of the completion of fifty years of missionary service. With missionary greetings and warm wishes,
The Kenyan Macarius
