Dear Friends of Mission,
The person writing this article is your younger brother in Christ Timotheos of Assos, Assistant Bishop of His Eminence Metropolitan Athenagoras of Mexico. I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your love and care for us, the unworthy and new to Orthodoxy believers in Colombia and Venezuela. As a child of the Orthodox Missionary Fraternity, I wish you, our fellow companions, every blessing from God. They say that ingratitude is for the soul what cancer is for the body, which is why I am grateful to you for what you do for the Mission around the world.
The Mission of Colombia and Latin America in general is different from any other Mission, in the sense that most people here know about God but they have a wrong view of Him and of faith, since the presence of Orthodoxy for us Latin Americans is something new, despite the distant and primordial history of Orthodoxy. Until the time His Eminence Athenagoras of Mexico arrived, the doors of Orthodoxy were closed to us, the indigenous Latin Americans.
Colombia is one of the many countries belonging to the Holy Metropolis of Mexico, a country located in South America, which is distinguished for its education throughout Latin America. Orthodoxy, however, is something new to us, because Christianity entered through the Spaniards who conquered our land from the years of the discovery made by Christopher Columbus. Christopher Columbus brought Roman Catholicism through the sword and slavery, but our Most Reverend Metropolitan Athenagoras offered us and still offers us an Orthodox faith combined with the Greek culture, which liberates us. His Eminence constantly tells us and reminds us that Orthodoxy in our places is in our hands, because we are the ones to know our own people and every traditional culture of each region.
In the village of Copacabana, some years ago, a brother began his journey to Orthodoxy. His name is Juan Paulo and he is a man of love but also with a special vocation to serve the Church of God. By the grace of God, he became acquainted with Orthodoxy when a friend of his invited him to an Orthodox Divine Liturgy. When he saw the Orthodox worship, it deeply touched his heart and, as he says, he greatly marveled at the way in which the Holy Gifts are prepared, as well as every part of the liturgical procedure (typikon). He says that as soon as he had his first contact with Orthodoxy, he ran to find its roots in history, to make sure that Orthodoxy is the True Church of Christ.
This man, along with a large group, after a dialogue with Chancellor Fr. Damianos, applied to our Metropolitan for catechesis and received a positive answer. Thus, they all attended catechetical classes through which they were gladly taught the Orthodox faith. After the catechesis, Juan Paulo became an Orthodox Christian by the name of John, and we conducted his wedding ceremony; he married an excellent Christian woman, a real companion in Christian life.
The Omniscient God who penetrates to every heart and searches it, made him worthy of entering the priesthood, brought him to the priestly ministry, and today he is a good priest who pleases God and people with his struggle.
In order to make myself understood, I want to share with you my experience of the Epiphany in this parish, which is under the protection of the Archangel Michael the Taxiarch.
Coming from the city of Cucuta, as a bishop, I thought that due to the pandemic, we would not have a big attendance at the sacred services and that I had to give courage to this brother, the loyal priest, who serves God and His people so lovingly. I had in mind that weeks before, the elderly priest had been seriously tried by the corona virus he had contracted and that because he suffers from other diseases as well, I would find him in a poor state of health.
However, as soon as I arrived, I saw a completely different situation. The priest and his presbytera were waiting for me with so much joy that all the tiredness that the long journey had caused me immediately disappeared.
When the time came for the service in a rented space where we have the church, I found dozens of people who had joyfully and hopefully come to participate in the liturgical life and partake of the Holy Body and the Holy Blood of our Savior Jesus Christ.
I must confess to you that the whole thing touched me deep inside because I forgot that the power of faith is greater than the fear of a pandemic. Indeed, when a person is really thirsty and hungry, there is nothing to stop him and prevent him from finding what will nourish him, especially when the food he longs for is spiritual.
My eyes were filled with tears and my heart was pounding when in the beginning I saw over one hundred and fifty people inside and outside the church; as time went by, more and more people were coming, like a flock of sheep going to find the water that quenches their thirst; in that case, the Water of eternal life.
When I climbed onto a simply constructed outdoor platform, I heard the chants and I truly saw the divine grace acting where it was least expected. We are in a western land, where Christian offshoots spring up like wild grass and hurt and intoxicate people with false theologies and teachings that mislead and confuse them.
Although we are newcomers to Orthodoxy, when we began the Divine Liturgy, the voices of the congregation sang “Through the intercessions of the Theotokos” and responded to every request with such reverence and love that the only thing one could say was:“Glory to God, for we are on the right track!”
In a rented space, paying a lot of money given the rental rates in Colombia, where a square meter of land is very expensive, the tough current reality did not prevent us from glorifying the Triune and Almighty God for the blessings He grants unto us, when as members of the true Church we are fed with the Holy Body and Blood of Christ.
In order not to tire you, I must mention that after severe quarantines, the only days on which the Colombian government gave permission to move freely outside were on January 5 and 6, as if they knew that we would have the Feast of the Epiphany! This is how facts speak, this is how God makes plans!
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, remember us in your prayers and continue to be pillars of the Gospel and of Christ’s command to enable us to go to all nations and evangelize them.
✝Timotheos of Assos Assistant Bishop of the Holy Metropolis of Mexico for Colombia and Venezuela
