Dear members of the Orthodox Missionary Fraternity and readers of this wonderful and very useful magazine, rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ.
It was a great pleasure for me personally, the Abbot of the Holy Monastery of the Archangels in Levin NZ Archim. Fr. Meletios and the Graduate of the Patmian Ecclesiastical School Mr. Moses Taukei, citizen of Fiji, to attend the first general assembly of your Fraternity after the corona virus period, on October 9 this year, upon invitation extended to us by the president Mr. Charalambos Metallides and the board members. We thank you wholeheartedly for that.
We all had the opportunity to watch together on the screen the beautiful film about the missionary efforts and the results of the love of Venerable and highly revered by all of us Elder Amphilochios, former Metropolitan of Ganos and Chora, during his presence in the Missionary Diocese of New Zealand as its Shepherd. The film presented the life and testimonies of our Priests, Monks and Nuns, the children of St. Tabitha Orphanage and the faithful of the new Church that has been created in the Fiji Islands but also in the Kingdom of Tonga and Samoa Islands.
It was a one-hour film, created by the good and capable children of our Church in New Zealand, Angelos Giannoutsos, Anna Matsis and their good collaborators, Evangelos, Petra, Ritsa, Kostas and others.
We were all given the opportunity to be informed, to be moved, to become even more aware and to grow in this way our disposition to live, to contribute and to continue this so beautiful and God-loving effort.
However, life in the Mission goes on and we are confronted with new experiences every day.
Fr. Bartholomew is waiting for a call from the doctors to undergo an open heart operation, a triple bypass surgery. Fr. Panagiotis, having lost his vision completely, undergoes hemodialysis every 2 days. Sisters Melania and Anysia renewed their monastic experiences living the last period of time in the blessed monastery of Kechrovouni, under the spiritual guidance of Mother Abbess Juliana, on the beautiful island of Tinos. The novice nuns from Fiji, Pelagia and Catherine, are also there. Our spiritual children, Gabriel and Vassilis, are attending the last year of the Patmian Ecclesiastical School, while Moses, who has already graduated, is attending university-level Greek language courses at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Father Andronikos with his wife Julita and their 4 children, originating in South Africa, are preparing to go and serve our Church in Fiji, while at the same time our good children from America Michael and Elizabeth and their children are preparing to go to Tonga so that preparations for the opening of St. George’s Church can be completed.
There God allowed, after 3 years of our absence due to the closed borders and the fierce eruption of the Pinatonga volcano which resulted in many people finding themselves without homes and without property, some unfortunate people to think and put into practice the removal of the household equipment of the Mission Center. This means that we will have to replace the household equipment in order to be able to support the presence of Michael’s family and of the new priest there.
During our recent presence in Greece, we received many wishes and proposals from our brothers, all willing to come and help in the Mission and be active near us in order to create ways of permanent material support for the new Church within the country. We are awaiting with great joy and anticipating the arrival of more pious brothers who want to give a permanent perspective to our Church on the islands.
The Mission, however, is not only limited to the islands of the Pacific, but it is also carried out in the country of New Zealand, where more than half of the inhabitants declare themselves to be atheists or irreligious.
Our parishes in Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch, New Plymouth, Hastings, and especially our blessed Monastery of the Holy Archangels in Levin under the spiritual guidance of Abbot Archm. Meletios, are spiritual poles of Missionary work. Many young men and women from New Zealand’s multicultural society who are searching for meaning and purpose in their lives, approach and deposit their reflections and searches and receive catechesis and a proposal for a meaningful life. This is a very important and much promising spiritual work.
We invoke the grace of the Most Holy God for the support of all, and once again we ask for your prayers and your love, providing as a counter gift on our part our deep gratitude and the joy of life in Christ.
With deep appreciation and paternal wishes,
With deep appreciation and paternal wishes, + Myron of New Zealand
