The Mission in Central America

The Holy Metropolis of Mexico, with His Eminence Archbishop Athenagoras of Mexico as Archbishop, has been struggling for the last twenty years in Central America for the dissemination of the true Orthodox Christian faith. The beginning of this course was characterized by slow steps, but then a great response from the local population appeared. Thus, during these two decades, more than forty new churches have been founded in Central American countries such as Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba and others, with young, well-trained spiritual priests who have higher studies in theology in Greece. One of the most recent and largest missionary efforts of our Metropolis is the one in Guatemala to the indigenous Mayan populations. These people are deprived of basic necessities, yet they have demonstrated tremendous faith and love for Orthodoxy. They reside in the northeastern region of the country, called Peten, and number about 350 thousand. It is touching to see them marching through the forest to the nearest Church to attend church. It is characteristic that despite all the financial and other difficulties we face in our work, with the help of Christ and the Virgin Mary, and with the daily support and sympathy of the people, the Holy Metropolis of Mexico is becoming an Orthodox Metropolis of the future.

A recent pleasant fact is that after our actions, our Holy Metropolis has now acquired another old church, which belonged to the Roman Catholics, in the centre of the capital of Mexico. We have transformed it into an Orthodox Church and every day a large number of people visit it and ask to learn about Orthodoxy. We wish to express our warmest thanks to the Brotherhood of Orthodox Foreign Mission for all the help it has offered to our Metropolis over the years, and to all the partners who assist in the missionary work in Central America, since we are talking about the only Orthodox mission in the West. We also thank our clergy, those of our priests who daily give their struggle for Orthodoxy under adverse conditions and draw strength from their great faith in God. We see that our Church daily becomes a place of a multitude of miracles, as more and more young people gradually approach our Holy Metropolis, and this is the greatness of the Orthodox Church.

Archim. Damianos
First Chancellor of the I. Metropolis