At dawn on October 12, His Beatitude the Patriarch of Alexandria arrived at Kenya International Airport. During the day, the Patriarch had a lengthy interaction with His Eminence Metropolitan Makarios of Kenya on the course of the Orthodox Church in the country. On Monday 13 October 2014, His Beatitude, accompanied by the Hierarch concerned, visited the second largest slum in the world, after Brazil, the well-known Kibira. His Beatitude toured the premises where the Metropolis maintains a Kindergarten and Primary School, a clinic and the Holy Church of St. George. The pupils, together with the priest and the teachers, received a warm welcome, with dances and songs.
His Beatitude, overwhelmed, thanked for the welcome and then distributed sweets and icons to all the children. He then visited, just behind the slum, the newly completed orphanage, where he toured the premises of the state-of-the-art building complex. He then visited three other primary schools and kindergartens in the Kauaguare, Rironi and Kereita districts. At all the schools, His Beatitude thanked and distributed gifts to the children. On Tuesday, October 14, His Beatitude visited the Holy Church of St. Titus in the village of Mukui with the adjacent Orthodox High School and Kindergarten, as well as the parishes of St. Panteleimon Kerwa, St. Seraphim of Sarov, where there is a Boys’ High School of the same parish, and Metamorphosis Kamagou, where the parish maintains a mixed high school and medical center. On his return, late in the afternoon, His Beatitude visited the Holy Church of Saints Raphael, Nicholas and Irene in Dogotto, where he performed a requiem at the grave of the late Bishop George Gaduna of Nitria, the first African Bishop of Kenya. He also visited the adjacent parish infirmary. In the evening, he attended a formal dinner hosted in his honour by the Russian Ambassador at the Embassy residence. The ambassadors of the countries of Greece and Egypt also attended. The following day, a banquet was held in His Beatitude’s honour by the Egyptian Ambassador, attended by all the ambassadors of the Muslim states.
On 16 October His Beatitude visited the Orthodox Patriarchal School “Archbishop Makarios III of Cyprus”. At the beginning, the seminarians of the Patriarchal School sang the Patriarch’s praise and fame in Greek. His Beatitude expressed his great joy at being, for the first time, at the beginning of the new academic year at the Patriarchal School. Addressing the seminarians, he urged them to benefit during their studies here, so that, when they return to their countries, they can serve, with the knowledge they will acquire, the ethos and greatness of Orthodoxy. This year’s first class has twenty seminarians from African countries besides Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Malawi, whom His Beatitude ordained as readers. At the end, His Eminence Makarios offered a gift of an icon of the Virgin Mary with the inscription in Swahili “The Mother of Orphans” surrounded by young African children.
After a short break, His Beatitude attended a clerical gathering of representatives of the Church and the surrounding parishes in the church of St.Makarios. His Eminence Metropolitan Gregory of Cameroon and Metropolitan George of Guinea spoke to those present and His Beatitude answered questions from the clergy and laity. October 18, 2014 was a historic and special day for the Holy Metropolis of Kenya. At 11 am the graduation ceremony of the students of the Orthodox College of Africa began. The presence of the Primate of the Alexandrian Church gave a special honour and glamour to the whole programme, since, for the first time, the Spiritual Leader of African Orthodoxy, Theodore II, was present. The programme of the whole ceremony included speeches, prayers, performance of songs by various choirs, the Patriarchal School and the Teachers College, talented Orthodox singers, as well as primary school children. His Beatitude congratulated His Eminence with all the strength of his soul, for all these years of striving and trying to support and promote the work of education in Kenya. He rejoiced because, once again, he sees progress in all areas and promised that he will continue, as always, to support the efforts made for the development of the Church in this blessed country of Kenya. Addressing those who have graduated from the College, he wished them all the best in their new course and showered his patriarchal blessings. At the end, His Beatitude with other dignitaries conferred degrees on the graduates.
Mr. During his visit to the premises of the Metropolis of Kenya, Mr. Theodore Theodore did not fail to celebrate a service at the graves of the ever-deceased Archimandrite John Echo, a Dutch missionary, who for three decades worked exemplarily in Kenya first as a teacher and then as a clergyman, the late “mama” Stavritsa Zachariou, who also worked tirelessly until her death, the late pioneer African priest Fr. Eleftherios Dwaros . Το πρωί της 19ης Οκτωβρίου η Α.Θ.Μ. ο Πάπας και Πατριάρχης Αλεξανδρείας και πάσης Αφρικής Θεόδωρος ο Β΄ λειτούργησε στον Καθεδρικό ναό των Αγίων Αναργύρων στην πρωτεύουσα της Κένυας, Ναϊρόμπι. Μαζί του είχε συλλειτουργούς τους Σεβασμιώτατο Κένυας κ. Μακάριο, τον Θεοφιλέστατο Επίσκοπο Μπουρούντι και Ρουάντας κ. Ιννοκέντιο και πλειάδα Αφρικανών ιερέων. Κατά τη διάρκεια της θείας λειτουργίας χειροτόνησε σε διάκονο τον δευτεροετή ιεροσπουδαστή της Πατριαρχικής Σχολής Ιωάννη Καρακάσια, που προέρχεται από τη φυλή των Λούγια. Στο τέλος της θείας λειτουργίας, εξέφρασε τη χαρά του για την ευκαιρία που του δόθηκε να ξεκινήσει τη δεύτερη δεκαετία της Πατριαρχίας του από τη Μητρόπολη Κένυας. Είπε χαρακτηριστικά: Εδώ είναι στο κέντρο της ιεραποστολής μας στην Αφρική.
In the early hours of October 22nd, the Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, Theodore II, having successfully completed his pastoral visit to Kenya, departed, returning to the seat of the Patriarchate in Alexandria. Overwhelmed with feelings of love and gratitude, His Beatitude thanked His Eminence Makarios for his successful and blessed visit to Kenya. His Eminence expressed the unlimited gratitude of the clergy and people for such a rich visit, with spiritual support for the multifaceted work being carried out in Kenya. It was not an ordinary typical pastoral visit of the Patriarch of Alexandria. It was an unprecedented profound visit, rich in spiritual messages, which summed up the whole state and character of the Spiritual Leader of the Black Continent.
The Africans were waiting for him and wanted to see him in person, to kiss his hand, to see him not only in the photos and the wall calendars that the Metropolis publishes every year.. His visit to colleges, clinics, schools and Holy Temples was a feast, an apocalyptic mosaic, decorated with the Primate’s virtues of love, humility and acceptance of everything as it is, of his good and naive heart, his smile of kindness and innocence, his shining face, his movements, even his gait, showed it all and revealed the greatness of his mental strength and endurance…
But the most shocking was the visit, for the first time, of the Primate to the slum of Kibira, where the people and, in particular, the young children live despised and abandoned.. He stayed with them, listened to them, shared their pain, anxieties, sorrows and adventures, shaking their hands, wanting to tell them that there is hope. A Father with the infinite goodness of sharing with them, he walked and tasted their daily Calvary, embraced their skeletal arms and promised them that he would always have them in his heart, in the depths of his heart and continue to walk with them.
The Kenyan Macarius
