One morning on an August Sunday, we were waiting at our Mission Centre for a priest from Sierra Leone who had brought his Elder, who was suffering from the incurable disease in various parts of her body, to Ghana for health reasons. Father Alexander, that morning came alone because his Elder was in the hospital. This clergyman was short in stature and had just been ordained, since he walked and got his feet tangled up in his cassocks. However, his humble demeanor was conspicuous and, as he walked, he seemed light on the earth. Several days passed and, after a short time, they came and stayed with us at the Missionary Centre in Accra. Sadly, in addition to a relative disability, the Elder was joined by the amputation of her right arm due to cancer. I observed them in their daily living near us. I noticed Father Alexander, day after day, putting on the tub and, with his hands, washing his clothes and those of his Elder, while she did not leave him alone, but sat beside him on a cement stone and talked to him. After he had finished washing, he would then carry the clothes to go and lay them out on the other side of the Mission Center. She by his side, with slow steps, walked with him slowly while he laid out the clothes to dry. She beside him with the crutch, standing helplessly to lend a helping hand, but actually helping with her posture. In the afternoon, they would sit side by side under the big tree at the Mission Center and he would read her various passages from the Bible. When you saw them talking to each other, there was complete harmony. They were talking and looking in the same direction. The presence of Father Alexander and his Elder Elizabeth was a great living example and, at the same time, a sermon of conjugal love, devotion and faithfulness to God’s will. Their life is a silent sermon that leaves a profound impact and a living example of God’s silent presence among us. Dear members of the Orthodox Foreign Missionary Fraternity, God’s presence in our lives is the greatest and greatest factor in our refinement. A living example, the protagonists of our described history. They are examples to be imitated of God’s life, which can only be described in one word: Love. This love and you make it a reality by your support in the struggle we are waging in the great field of Africa, trying to sow the love of God in the suffering, but dignified, human souls. With love in Christ
† The Akras Narcissus
