“…Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you…”
These words of Jesus Christ our Saviour quite often resound in our hearts, and come to warm our spiritual zeal like a light breeze, and appear like the dew of dawn to kindle within us the flame of Mission, which always smolders our priestly hearts.
With this mandate from the Gospel spinning in my mind and occupying my thought temporarily, we boarded the plane along with my partners, Archim. Father Chrysostomos, Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Saint Athanasios the Athonite of Kinshasa, and the undergraduate student of the Theological School of the Holy Metropolis of Kinshasa Achilles, and we traversed the skies, making an unprecedented opening of Orthodoxy and Mission in an unknown province of the Holy Metropolis of Kinshasa, the distant Mbandaka, capital of Equateur Province, a city of 1,3 million people.
This city is located northeast of the capital Kinshasa. It became a colonial administrative center in the year 1886. Now it is a busy port on the legendary Congo River. Agriculture and forestry are developing in the area. In the year 1883 the intrepid explorer Henry Morton Stanley stopped just outside the city as the Equator line passed there and named the area “Equateur”.
Shortly before our arrival, the cry of our brothers there rose from the depths of their souls and as a fervent plea reached our missionary team in Kinshasa. “Your Eminence, don’t forget your children in Mbandaka…”. This voice sounded a spiritual alarm in our hearts. I summoned my partners to a meeting. “Dearly beloved,” I said to them, “the time has come for Orthodoxy in distant Mbandaka. Which one of you wants to go and prepare the ground’? “I do”, replied Achilles first, ahead of everyone else. “I will go, with your blessing…”
Shortly before our arrival, the cry of our brothers there rose from the depths of their souls and as a fervent plea reached our missionary team in Kinshasa. “Your Eminence, don’t forget your children in Mbandaka…”. This voice sounded a spiritual alarm in our hearts. I summoned my partners to a meeting. “Dearly beloved,” I said to them, “the time has come for Orthodoxy in distant Mbandaka. Which one of you wants to go and prepare the ground’? “I do”, replied Achilles first, ahead of everyone else. “I will go, with your blessing…”
“Your Eminence, the time has come. We have to go. They are waiting for us. They are eagerly waiting for you with love and impatience…” and the eyes were filled with tears of joy.
February 23, 2023, time 7:30 am.
For the first time – who knows when again!–, we set foot on the blessed land of Mbandaka, Equateur, full of expectations and hopes. We met with the Governor of the Country, the Mayor and the local authorities. As if the doors were opened automatically. Everything turned out well, as planned, blessed by the Lord. Our target was the construction of a Holy Church in honor of the Resurrection of Christ. Everything should bring to memory that historic day, the resurrection of Mbandaka. The Pentecost of the local Church, which was seeking to reverently welcome the honored cassock of the Greek Orthodox priest in order to receive the grace and blessing that it so longed for.
Time: 1 pm in the afternoon. Meeting place: the banks of the Congo River. A large crowd of people had gathered there. Seven catechumens stood out. They were ready as if for years. They waited patiently.
The Holy Mystery began. They were all crying. Seven young people, the first Orthodox Christians in the new local Church. Thank God. The miracle had begun. “Your Eminence, let me be baptized too,” cried little Sikaou, tugging at my cassock. “And me and my children, Klaiou,” mother of many children, exclaimed with longing, holding my hand tightly.
Our work had just begun. “Before Easter, a priest will come to catechize you and baptize you. Christ has found you. You have found Christ. He is yours now..”
February 24, 2023. Last day of our missionary sojourn.
Meeting place: The main Hall of the Hotel…Purpose: The celebration of the Divine Liturgy. For the first time. a truly unique moment. Unprecedented feelings. Historic moments. Holy Easter, Resurrection day, Christ is Risen… Yes, it was these Paschal hymns that we sang in the Matins service. Easter before the Resurrection in Mbandaka. We didn’t have a church bell. We struck the talanton.
The priest’s words “With fear of God, with faith and love…” filled the congregation with apparent emotion. Holding the Holy Chalice, he came out to commune the newly enlightened Christians…
We all became one body, one Church, one soul, one breath. “Today, my children, Christ did not just come into your life, but through the Divine Liturgy, He entered your heart. Keep Him there, as the most precious treasure… along with the wishes and blessings of His Beatitude our Patriarch Theodore II.
“Christ is Risen, my brothers in Mbandaka,” cried the Metropolitan.
And “Mbandaka is risen, too” the voice echoed throughout the region.
✝ Theodosios of Kinshasa
