Brazzaville: a year of ministry in the African Equator

In a few days it will be one year since my arrival in the newly created Holy Diocese of Brazzaville and Gabon. A year of apprenticeship to the principles and attitudes of the Congolese brothers, a year of anxiety for their spiritual progress in accordance with Orthodox teaching and tradition, a year of exhausting tension for the administrative reconstruction of the Diocese – in accordance with the Holy Canons, the Patriarchal Decrees of the Deuteronomic Church of Alexandria and the legislation of the countries of Congo-Brazzaville and Gabon. And a year of conscious silence, in response to pastoral responsibility to extremely reckless and dangerous for the cohesion of the fledgling local Church external blows… But as the Lord lives “who wonderfully lives alone”!

Meeting with the Pygmies Orthodox

During this year I experienced the most intense emotions of my life and the mysterious way of God’s answers in the depths of the soul. The first meeting with the orthodox Pygmies in the north of the Congo dominates the thought. An ancient people who live in the rainforests with all that nature has to offer, very noble and benevolent. When I met them for the first time, they told me nothing about problems or future plans. They were experiencing in practice the enduring present of the ecclesiological time, with no plans for tomorrow. And they did not fail to mention the mercy and unconditional love of the Orthodox Greeks they met through Orthodoxy, as expressed through the Brotherhood of Orthodox Foreign Mission, which donated the sum of 7,380 euros for the purchase of precious essentials in the difficult conditions of their living in the forests. Axes, knives, files to sharpen their tools and cooking utensils were what they prioritized as essential. This amount also covered the annual rent of the small house used as a temporary “Temple” for their liturgical needs, as well as the monthly financial support of the trained Chaplain, Fr. Sergio Mabelemo.

I recall with emotion the baptisms on the banks of the serene Oubangui River. A pirogue served as the platform from which I performed the baptisms of the new believers, praising the Most High God for the early Christian experience I was having. Six months later, the Merciful God spoke to the heart of a donor unknown to me and on the day of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary, the first anniversary of my election to the high priesthood, I laid with trembling hands the foundation stone of the first Orthodox Church of the Holy Baptist and St. Nicholas, to become a shining spiritual beacon that will illuminate the northern Congo.

At the “Agios Efstathios” Orphanage

Livelihood, life, death, joy, dance and song are intertwined in Africa. Its inhabitants know how to manage the diametrically opposed situations of their daily lives. But when you have the responsibility of young orphaned children, things get more serious. To these little children, food, clothes, shoes, medicine, schoolbooks, toys are as important as Christian training and proper education. As an unmarried clergyman, I confess that I did not know that by taking charge of the diocesan orphanage “St. Eustatius” I would become the father of 25 boys aged 5-17 years old, who have exactly the same needs, material, mental and spiritual, as all the other children of the world. I now understand that I must become a child with the young child and a teenager with the teenager, but at the same time remain a pastor for them and a responsible coordinator and employer of the twelve staff members who care for them. In addition to mental fortitude, they definitely need money. Money for clothes, food, salaries, insurance contributions… But again our philanthropic brothers and sisters through the Brotherhood of Orthodox Foreign Mission came as co-curators, adding a total of 8,000 euros to the money needed by this “love nest” in the past year.

Material and spiritual reorganisation

Talking – necessarily and unkindly – about finding the necessary funds in leap years for our friendly country, it has now become clear to all of us here in the Congo that we must seek resources within the country itself. And for this to happen, there are many legal steps to be taken, endless and time-consuming procedures to secure resources that could support the future operation of the Diocese. Numerous flights to the capital Brazzaville for meetings with officials, various obstacles, complex laws of the former French colonies, frustrations, tensions… And since we are in the beautiful city of Brazzaville, it is worth mentioning the unprecedented event of the consecration of the waters on Epiphany, which was celebrated for the first time this year by the immersion of the Holy Cross in the rapids of the Congo River. There are still many events, agonies and joys that have taken place during the past year. The ongoing training of priests, the finding of healthy spiritual candidates for clergy, the pastoral and administrative reconstruction of the nine parishes, the reorganization of the Radio Station “Voice of Orthodoxy”, the orderly and lawful operation of our Orthodox schools with 289 students and 26 teachers, the most important for the activation of the youth “1st Conference of Orthodox Youth”, the assistance of the animators, the unspeakable feelings during the first ordination of Fr. Paul Diafouka.

A recent event was the pastoral visit to Gabon. Orthodoxy, by the grace of God, is beginning its first steps there as well. Much is needed: the first Orthodox Church, the first Gabonese clergyman, the formation of the first community…

History is nothing more than a sequence of events. The history of the local Congolese Church began only 30 years ago. The first Orthodox Congolese and later first priest, the blessed Floribert Tchizibou, sowed the seed of Orthodoxy. The faithful who received baptism at his hands are still living. Ven. Metropolitan Ignatius, formerly of Central Africa, now of Pentapolis, with his pioneer Fr. Theologos Chrysanthakopoulos, who spent his missionary ministry well in this corner of the African land, gave a great impetus to the promotion of the local Church. And the long experienced missionary of Africa, the Patriarch of Africa, my Father, Teacher and Benefactor His Beatitude Theodore II, with the unanimous decision of the Holy and Holy Synod of our Patriarchate, have judged that this Church has matured spiritually to become a Diocese and to have its first own Pastor. When they asked me as a small child “what will you be when you grow up?”, I would answer “a priest”. But what I had never imagined was the cruciform archpriestly ministry in the African Equator and the overwhelming experiences that ministry entails!

Brazzaville & Gabon Panteleimon

Dear friends of the mission, our orphanage in Dolisie is waiting for your love so that it can continue its operation. You too can support orphan care by making a donation today.