The Voice of Orthodoxy is heard every morning in the homes, in the huts, in the villages, in the surrounding towns of the natives. It is the daily catechism that is being carried out here in the heart of Africa, in the Orthodox Metropolis of Central Africa by the Orthodox University of St. Athanasius of Athos. Here in the capital of Kogo in Kinshasa. The Voice of Orthodoxy is the hymns, the lives of the saints, the catechism, the interpretation of the daily Gospel readings, the speeches of the Fathers of our Church, the message of Orthodoxy. Four hours in the morning and four hours in the afternoon on the airwaves, the “Voice of Orthodoxy” can be heard, not only by ten, twenty, one million people, but by every one who turns on his radio on the 94.1 megacycles. Where the priest, the catechist, where he cannot go, where he cannot enter, in homes, in people of any religion, the Voice of Orthodoxy enters and there miracles happen.
I hear you on the radio, I know you from the radio, what do I have to do to become Orthodox?
-We are two hundred kilometers from Kinshasa, we have no Church here, no priest, no catechist, we listen every day to the radio station of Orthodoxy, we learn how to be saved, we sing what we hear, what beautiful hymns!
-I visited my friend in Kinshasa. He was listening to your radio station, listening to the Voice of Orthodoxy. My soul was at rest, he said, I learned things I didn’t know, I saw what the truth was, something spoke to me. I envied him. In the days I was near him, we listened together. Soon I’ll be leaving for my village, 600 kilometers from here. How can we hear you there too? Give us a radio station like that. I’m Orthodox. From time to time a priest comes and ministers to us. Every day the catechist gathers the faithful in our grass-covered church in the morning and afternoon and they sing. I am in bed, I can’t go to church but I listen to our church radio station and I am happy, I forget my loneliness and my disability and I praise God. -I became an Orthodox Christian by listening to your radio and I tell my friends, listen to the “Voice of Orthodoxy” and your life will change.
The catechism that goes everywhere, the Church that enters every home, whether Orthodox or non-Orthodox. “The Voice of Orthodoxy”. Alas, this voice of Orthodoxy is in danger of ceasing to send its message. It is in danger of being silenced. Not because it has no reason to send to the people, not because it has no people with vitality and sacrifice to run the radio station. But because he doesn’t have the money to buy oil to power the generator to run the radio station’s machinery. The economic crisis in Greece has brought financial hardship to the mission. We understand. Who in Greece can help us when we’re struggling to make a living? We here are waiting with open hands for the charitable donations, to meet the expenses of the mission, to keep the schools open, to help those who cannot eat, to go to the doctor, to buy their medicine, to study, to get married. We’re trying to move with a lot of economy, counting every last penny, every last franc. But it hurts us. Shut down the “Voice of Orthodoxy”, close the radio station of the Metropolis, because we have no money to buy oil to run the generator?
Every day we ask God to send us donors and sponsors so that the “Voice of Orthodoxy” can continue to enter the homes of the natives, to enter their hearts.
† African centrist Nikiforos
