Many times in the years we have worked here, we have faced great difficulties in finding suitable plots of land in densely populated areas, in order to build bases and Holy Churches, where the newly converted natives will be indoctrinated, liturgized, gathered, know and live the living Orthodox faith. All the central points of the busy districts are already occupied by various heretical denominations that have prominent buildings. This pains us greatly; we feel that the Orthodox Church deserves to have the best, not for human glory but for the glory of the True God. In time, however, we have often had the opportunity to see that God Himself provides and finds various solutions in His own way. Thus, a few years ago, it was considered a great blessing for us to be able to buy at a very reasonable price – which made everyone wonder – a centrally located plot of land in an area where an Orthodox core of fervent natives had formed many years ago. The first joy of finding the nice plot of land did not last long, for immediately the problems and temptations from all sides began.
Christian and Muslim groups have begun to resent the unexpected fact that an Orthodox church has “sprouted” among them!
From here a great spiritual struggle began. The zeal of the faithful natives led them to go daily to that place and to pray with pain and faith. “How can we not have temptations and how can we not have help from above?” they said. Threatening, anonymous phone calls were often made to us and slanderous comments were spread about the Orthodox co-workers working in the area. But the greatest difficulty had not yet been seen. Suddenly, the Muslims raised territorial claims and demanded that the land remain as it was and that no Orthodox church be built there, while we began a legal but lengthy and tedious process of discussions with the local and Muslim authorities to find a solution. The state would not give permission to build anything unless we had the official consent of the Muslims, and so meetings with leading Muslim officials began to find a solution to the problem. The effort was hard and the negotiation, delicate and difficult, gave a direction so that the land could be settled at the expense and care of our Church… Often we had the thought of giving up the whole project, but more powerfully our desire to fight as hard as we could for the good of the Church won out, and God supported us all the way. No evil is equal to good! So the meetings with the Muslims began and – despite the various obstacles – continued.
In the Muslim negotiating team, the Mufti was also a representative of the Muslim community. The position of mufti is important and valued. He is a mature, deep knowledge of the Qur’an, but at the same time a well-meaning and prudent man. In our numerous meetings, apart from the problem at hand, the discussion extended to matters of faith. We, on the one hand, sincerely respect the right of each one to have his own belief, but on the other hand, where circumstances permit, we sincerely confess our own belief, which is our strong trust in the True God, who revealed His Trinitarian nature to us, came down from Heaven, became incarnate in the person of Christ, suffered and rose again, in order to save humanity. In these days, after the long struggle, we have begun to see the first fruits. We are in the final stage of our obligations and the whole thing seems to be coming to a conclusion and closure. Certainly the fervent prayers of both the indigenous Orthodox and the Greek brothers and sisters have been answered.
So while the issue of the land has been initiated and is in the final phase and while there was no formal reason for a meeting with the Mufti, the Muslim leader came to our Mission office to meet us. Alone, without the accompaniment of his co-religionists, hesitant and shy this time, and without the familiar air of a leader that we were used to…
He came alone and humbly opened his heart to us and confided the following miraculous thing:
I have slowly come to understand that the truth is Christ! And that you, the Orthodox Church, keep the true faith 100%. So please go to my village and teach my fellow villagers about your faith and baptize them! They are suffering from ignorance. You will do great good, in fact, if you build them a church!
We were surprised to hear that. We talked to him, encouraged him and told him to be baptized himself. He didn’t tell us much there. He was silent… We understand that if a Muslim who holds his position dares to convert, he will not leave the fanatical followers of his faith who ruthlessly cut off lives without fear of the God of love indifferent… We, as you can understand, are stunned! He left the mission office, promising once again to do his utmost to overcome every last obstacle so that we can build our church. Unknown are the Lord’s counsels! Difficult are the right choices of each of us. Evil work is usually done easily, but it quickly brings more evil, while every honest turn to good takes effort and sacrifice, large and small. We never despair for any reason! We have a living God and we have a powerful weapon in prayer. We have invisible bullets that can overturn complex and seemingly dead-end situations. So let us all rush into the good, into the spiritual struggle to find progress! Let us pray fervently for every difficulty.
And with our souls, let us pray with pain for the mufti and for every imprisoned mufti. Let us pray for our country and for every nation to find the true God. Let us also pray for all the Orthodox who deserve to keep the right faith, because it is the only precious treasure in our lives. Amen!
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