The Missionary Diocese of Kisumu and Western Kenya of the Patriarchate of Alexandria was visited by its Prelate, His Beatitude the Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa Theodoros II at the end of November and on the occasion of his birthday.
He was accompanied by His Eminence Elder Makarios Metropolitan of Nairobi, His Eminence George Metropolitan of Guinea and Exarch of the Patriarchate of Alexandria in Athens, His Grace Bishop Neophetos of Nyeri and Mount Kenya, as well as His Grace Bishop Silvester of Gulu and Eastern Uganda.
His Beatitude also visited other areas of the Mission and the Orthodox Church of Kenya where the missionary work has spread widely for several years now since the Archbishop and Ethnarch of the Church of Cyprus and the Republic of Cyprus was here in the 1960s. The work of the Church had begun long before, and in general, the historic Church of the Patriarchate of Alexandria has its origins in the first century AD and was founded by the glorious Apostle and Evangelist Mark, and so the work of the Church spread to the rest of the African Continent.
The aim of the Patriarch’s visit was not so much to promote the history of our Patriarchate, which of course must be preserved for the next centuries and cannot be erased since it is our past that determines our future and the future of our children, but to show another aspect of Kenya: that the Kenyan man -more specifically in this story- is the “poor man”; the man who is not poor in spirit, because the Mission has precisely this purpose, that is, to instill our God, Jesus Christ Himself, in the souls of men. “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
It was with a lot of affection and paternal love that our Patriarch embraced all the children. The Church and the world have rightly called him “Patriarch of Love”.
It was with emotion that we saw His Beatitude planting a tree symbolizing a better future for Kenya and for the whole world. We saw him sharing the priests’ problems and concerns, we saw him distributing food to poor children.
We saw his love for the poor and much-afflicted man of Africa, who still has a smile on his face, a sign of hope in God. But it is also up to us to give this long-suffering man even more joy with our own smile and support him through our own almsgiving. So let us all become merciful and compassionate, as our Lord Himself is merciful and compassionate and as our beloved Patriarch Theodore conveys it through his words and actions.
✝Bishop Markos of Kisumu
