On Sunday, December 10, 2023, an event was held at the Ceremonial Hall of the University of Thessaloniki for the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the Orthodox Missionary Fraternity.
The event with the general title “Memory of Holy Missionaries” was dedicated to 4 pioneering persons of the Orthodox Mission in the African continent:
- fr. Nikodimos Sarikas (†1941), the first Orthodox missionary in subsaharan Africa,
- fr. Chrysostomos Papasarantopoulos (†1972), the second Greek missionary and founder of our Fraternity,
- fr. Obadiah Basajjakitalo (†1985), pioneer of Orthodoxy in Uganda, and
- fr. Sosthenes Kiyonga (†2005), the first Orthodox priest in Tanzania.
The speakers, who paid tribute to each of these holy figures of African Orthodoxy, were their graces Bishop Agathonikos of Arusha, Geron Metropolitan Makarios of Nairobi, Silvester of Jinja and Chrysostomos of Bukoba
The event began with a video message from Patriarch Theodore of Alexandria and was musically accompanied by the youth choir of the Holy Metropolis of Kalamaria and the Lychnos and Christian Hope choirs.
It was also attended by Metropolitan Platon of Lagkadas and Photios of Malawi, politicians of Thessaloniki and a large crowd.
The Patriarchate of Alexandria decorated the former Mr. Dimitrios Sotirkos, the former President of the Fraternity with the office of Archon Hagiographer of the Churches for his contribution to the icon painting of churches in Africa, while the Fraternity awarded the highest distinction of the Missionary to the Nations to His Eminence Geron Metropolitan Makarios of Nairobi.
May the intercessions of the pioneer missionaries cover the spiritual work that is being carried out on the African land, so that the tree of Orthodoxy that they planted will bear more fruits and new missionary workers will follow their own pioneering and sacrificial example.
