More than 200 Orthodox young people aged 12 to 22 gathered at St Peter’s College in Larte for a ten-day camping season. On Tuesday, August 22, campers began arriving by bus. They were registered and placed in two large groups under the supervision of the group leaders. Immediately, there was great bonding between campers and staff. An infectious joy permeated the place. Soon a motto was heard from meeting to meeting, from class to class, from event to event:
We are learning the Orthodox faith! We live the Orthodox life!
The idea was to create and provide an atmosphere of full immersion in Orthodox life. This was a way to strengthen the faith of young people and protect them from aggressive and harmful proselytizing. The daily activities included morning prayer and holy water painting in groups, followed by the morning meal. We then ate breakfast followed by two hours of study with short breaks in between. Then we had lunch, midday silence and afternoon activities such as crafts, sports, discussions about life issues relevant to this age group and lots of play. There was then some time to freshen up, before we all gathered again in the tiny chapel of the Resurrection for vespers, which was sung with great enthusiasm by the campers. During these services, one of the leaders gave a pep talk to help us “live the Orthodox life” and be better Orthodox Christians. Vespers was followed by dinner and an evening program of meaningful educational entertainment. The day ended with evening prayer by groups before the campers retired to bed. However, the campers also received many gifts. Prominent among these was an eye-catching inflatable solar lamp that will surely make reading somewhat easier for the young people in the rural areas. When they returned home, many children proudly displayed the shiny sack with the camp logo or the gifts they had made themselves for their mothers.
For the first time, our camp was a great success. The cry of the children on the last day of the camp said it all. As they gathered in the small room for the last lesson and in the area in front of the chapel for the closing ceremony, they sang:
Yep.
This is not easily translated. They simply meant: “We don’t want to leave”! This cry only subsided when we assured them that this would be an annual meeting and that next year it would last at least two weeks. The news was greeted with lively cheers of joy.
From the Holy Metropolis
