2014 was a very important year for Orthodox Missions around the world. On the one hand, the economic crisis in Greece and Cyprus significantly reduced – for yet another year – the aid offered to the missions, and on the other hand, the local missions moved dynamically towards self-sustainability and self-sufficiency. Thousands were the thousands of returnees who joined the Body of the Church and hundreds of millions of kilometres travelled for the sake of the name of Christ. Let’s take a brief look at the most important missionary news that marked our memory in 2014.
- Since the beginning of the year, five irregular priests in Congo have returned to the arms of the Holy Metropolis of Central Africa. They took off their vestments and returned to the lay order. Thousands are the faithful who make up their flock and who are now back and anointed in the Orthodox Church.
- On February 6, the inauguration of the first Orthodox Church in the country took place in Lahore, Pakistan. The parish of the Immaculate Conception is served by Fr. John Tanveer, the first Orthodox Pakistani priest under the jurisdiction of the Holy Metropolis of Singapore and South Asia. Hundreds of faithful have already been baptized.
- On February 16, Fr. Andrew Giron, a pioneering clergyman who worked for years in Guatemala, founded parishes, mobilized the government for the rights of the indigenous Mayan people and, by the grace of God, converted to Orthodoxy along with hundreds of parishes and more than 350,000 faithful, fell asleep in the Lord. The loss of Fr. Andrew was great and irreplaceable for his flock. An intensive pastoral effort is required among these young Orthodox so that they do not lose their faith.
- On 25 February, the first group baptism of children in South Sudan was held. These were children who had been unbaptized for many years because of the civil war. The Metropolitan of Nubia, Mr. Narcissus, who has taken charge of the settlement of North and South Sudan, has been working hard to spread the Orthodox message in the country.
- July was marked by the horrific spread of Ebola cases across West Africa. The Orthodox Mission in Sierra Leone, led by Father Themistocles Adamopoulos, stood by the side of the people, distributing food and means of protection against the virus, providing education on how to prevent infection by it, and offering Divine consolation to the souls of the faithful. Our Brotherhood stood by the side of the mission there from the very first moment, sending money and humanitarian aid worth tens of thousands of euros. Six months later, not a single one of the Orthodox in Sierra Leone has been infected with the virus and all of them continue to receive Holy Communion fearlessly from the same Holy Chalice. During January, a second container of food and protection equipment will depart from our warehouse in Filiro.
- On July 20, the first Orthodox priest from Rwanda was ordained, who took over the ministry of the worship needs of the thousands of Rwandan faithful. This was later followed by the ordination of two more priests. Already more than 2,000 souls are expected to be catechized and baptized.
- On 29 August, the first Orthodox Church in the world to be dedicated in the name of the new Saint of our Church, Porphyry of Cauchocalyptus, was consecrated in the Nadi region of Kenya.
- The first male Monastery of the Holy Apostles in the Metropolis of Katanga was completed this year. May God bless the monastic desires of the native Congolese.
- On November 20, an Orthodox missionary arrived for the first time in the Tonga Islands of Oceania. Metropolitan Amfilochios of New Zealand made a missionary visit to the country, celebrated Mass for the local catechumens and faithful and is now seeking funds to build the first Orthodox Church.
We sincerely wish that 2015 will be a happy and spiritually rich year for you and your families and that it will bring forth many new missionaries, ready to work in the corners of the Earth with love for the Triune God and His image, man.
