By the grace of God, the blessings of our Patriarch and your own efforts, last September the construction of Saint Charalambos Holy Church was completed in the city of Sangmelima in Southern Cameroon, only 140 km away from the capital city Yaoundé.
The construction started in 2007 and was financed through a Fraternity donation. As I had explained, due to several design errors on the part of the contractor, the construction was halted at the foundation level. We resumed in November 2013 with a new contractor and with the help of God, in September 2014 we ended the construction, adding a small rectory for the priest as well.
On December 27, Memory of the First Martyr for Christ and Archdeacon Stephen, I visited the parish with other clergymen of the Holy Metropolis and conducted the Inauguration service of the S. Church as well as the first Divine Liturgy.
We expressed our gratitude to the Lord for this new opportunity given to us with the establishment of this parish for the promotion of the work of the Apostles in one of the major cities of Cameroon with excellent prospects.
We extended our warmest thanks to the Greek sponsor of the plot Mr. Stefanos Kokkinidis, local resident, who attended the Divine Liturgy with his family, to the former presidents of the Fraternity Mr. Vaios Prantzos and Mr. Konstantinos Daoudakis for the adoption of the S. Church on the part of the Fraternity, and also to our noble sponsors, living and dead, for the boldness of their faith and their love for the forgotten command “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” May the Lord grant them a hundredfold in return of their donations and give eternal rest to the deceased. We will humbly remember their names in every Divine Liturgy.
This is certainly only the beginning. A new field for struggle is opening before us now: to organize the parish, to start catechetical lessons until through His Grace Christ has been formed in the hearts of our newly illuminated brothers.
We have put our hopes on the constant presence of Fr. John, the new active priest, who has good knowledge of the local dialect and moved here with his family, which comprises adoptive children as well.
For all these great and wonderful things for our local Church, we ask for your wishes and prayers and greet you all with a holy kiss wishing every spiritual blessing in your struggle.
With ardent prayers unto the Lord
Bishop Gregory of Cameroon
