When the Gadarenes were running in awe to see the healing of their brother-in-law by Jesus, they probably never expected that they would be in for two great surprises. The first, that they would see their formerly possessed countryman, who until yesterday had been wandering the deserts, naked, with the chains that held him back broken, by his own demonic power, now in prison, and sitting “at the feet” of his Benefactor. The second, that their greedy and miserly hearts could lead them down the path of their willful self-domination, the expulsion and removal of Jesus from their territory, from Gadara, from their world, from their lives. Who would really expect the formerly possessed Gadarene to become sane, while the formerly “sane” Gadarene are now, by now, following his path. For there is no more demonic situation than asking someone to cast Christ out of their life.
Walking through the streets of Bunia, near the eastern border of Congo and Uganda, in the Ituri district, one sees these dozens of suffering beings. People whose clothing gives them the involuntary status of “possessed”. Hands stretched out in front of you, dirty and unwashed, to ask you for 500 or, in the best cases, 1000 francs, that is, 40 euro cents, for a miserable plate of food. Black figures in the streets, who spend the whole night on the pavement, having no home, no wife, no children to wait for them. The “cardboard box children” I kept meeting on the streets of Madagascar. The “possessed” that the majority of the world overlooks us and passes us by, because other serious business is waiting for us, always behind and we have no time to get down to earth, even for a moment, our healed, unbearable offry.
I met these children, these people in one of the 63 refugee shelters in Bunia. Inside the shelter, 14,000 people are crammed in, of which about two thirds are children. They are the victims of internal migrations caused by the well-known ‘civil wars’ in the region, which are obviously caused, as always, by the great of the world, who want to empty the land of its children, the mother of her children, the world of its beauty and peace, for their own interests. Tragic figures, then, these children, no longer parentless. Without often without food, home or clothes. Likewise, of course, parents without their children and their lives. Above the structures, on their entrance, you will see clearly the large signs with the descendants of the “merciful” countries and the NGOs, which come to “throw” their humanitarian “help” to these hungry victims of the same human greed, which on the one hand decimates and on the other supports.
These are the “possessed” of our world, who walk the streets at night like ghosts. The people for whom no one seeks their cure. And if someone will give it to them, the great of the earth will see to it that he is cast out, like the Gadarenes, to keep the “herd of swine” alive, so that it may feed them forever, for their own, always, benefit.
Tough talk? But this is the truth about our world. I’ve said countless times that I’m tired. But many more I stayed behind, remembering the hands of those innocent children of ours reaching out to me in supplication.
With the blessings of His Beatitude our Patriarch and the good heart of my dear and ever-mortal Mr. George Horriatelis, who has already been resting for two months in the Lord, we have accepted his donation of a field near Lake Albert, located on the eastern, border of Congo. This land is near a refugee structure like the ones I described above.
I announce to you, my dear brothers, that from now on, we intend to build the first Orthodox Church, which will be dedicated to the Transfiguration of Savior. Hopefully, we will then be able to build our missionary center, which will help the dozens of refugee children in the nearby structures.
Our first need is the construction of a well, because there is no water supply in the area. The cost is about 5.000 €.
I would like to thank for the umpteenth time the Brotherhood of the Orthodox Foreign Mission of Thessaloniki for standing by our side, on the road of the foundation of our newly established Diocese in the wider region of the Eastern Congo – Ituri.
My brothers and sisters, our world is full of people who daily call us on their way. To listen to their pain and to bow to their despair. They are often called fire victims, flood victims, war victims, Ukrainians, Israelis, Palestinians and no one doubts that they are all our people. No one doubts that they too are bound by the “chains” of the torment of this present life, which drags them into the “arid deserts” to try their pain, to the death many times over. For all of them mourns humanity.
But let us not forget that among them are our brothers and sisters in Africa. These are the people who have known the world through cruel and ruthless colonialism and have not seen the truth, but only through their slavery that still oppresses them today. The more we bend over the chains of their suffering, the more we discern our own reality. We all carry our own ‘chains upon us, each one of us, that keep us bound in the deserts of this world. By offering our love and our scant mercy, we “unchain” our brothers and sisters. But it is these people who are saved from us today, who tomorrow will save us from the cruel bonds of ourselves, first of all, and of our cruel and difficult world, secondly.
The hands that are now stretched out before us are those that tomorrow will gratefully take hold of ours, to lead us towards eternity.
And we probably need those hands.
π. Polycarp Diamantopoulos
