“Don’t be afraid of the spirit.”
It is the exhortation of the Apostle Paul of the Gentiles to the Christians of the Church of the Thessalonians, not to do anything that could harm the Spirit of God and lose any missionary effort to transmit the Christian flame to the souls of the early Christians.
The Apostle Paul’s word to the Thessalonian brethren is simple and concise, to keep the grace of Christ in their hearts, to cultivate and keep the Spirit unquenched, so that this light of Christ may shine “throughout the nations”.
With this unquenched light the Orthodox missionary Brotherhood of the Thessalonians has been going on for sixty years, keeping the Holy Spirit unquenched.
He preserved it, increased it, and offered it as a gift and as a spiritual treasure to remain universal in the Lord’s commandment “Make disciples of the Gentiles always.”
This unquenchable Spirit does not light up for a small circle of people.
The Orthodox ought to take care of the sowing of the Faith, of the one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.
St. Paul likens the church of Christ to a body… And the body is not “one member, but many.”
But all the members do not perform the same work, as he says, but each has its own use!
One has the eye, one has the hand and one has the foot.
And each member is necessary and indispensable to the other and cannot do anything on its own without the others, since all members have the same care and thus there is no schism in the body of Christ.
So you too, dear brethren, remain “according to the measure of each one, a member for the increase of the body, building it up in love,” as the Apostle Paul writes (Ephesians 4:15-16).
So you, the members of the Orthodox Foreign Missionary Brotherhood, inspire us with your faith, guide us with your love, accompany us with your prayers, cover us with your patience, and tolerate us because of our shortcomings.
And as Uncle Paul writes to the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 5:15-16), “See no evil for evil, but always pursue what is good, both to one another and to all.”
Brothers in Christ, fellow travellers and collaborators of the Orthodox Mission, you are following the events and international developments of recent years, where conflicts and violence are leading us to a new world order, to the revision of geopolitical conditions and the questioning of social values.
Democratic institutions that were won with struggle and blood are being challenged and collapsing. New forces are appearing on the international scene with the same recipe, violence and terrorism on a global scale! And we know that when these great powers clash, the small and helpless ones are crushed! In these countries, the poor and powerless, the wounded and afflicted man, the hungry, the naked, the needy and insignificant, the breadwinner of everyday life, the Missionary Brotherhood supports him with all its strength in social and spiritual work.
Sixty years have passed since the Holy Missionary Pope Chrysostomos invited with his agonizing voice the first members of the Brotherhood: “please help me, here the world is thirsty for Orthodoxy and Christ and at the same time hungry”!
It is this biological and spiritual hunger that the Brotherhood is today supposedly called upon to cover in the budget for the coming year 2025.
With the unpredictable and unpredictable factors, as I mentioned before!
With God’s help, we will continue the work of humanitarian aid with containers, but we will also increase it even more! Because it is essential, people-centered, crucial and necessary work for our poor brothers and sisters.
It gives breath and hope to every missionary team to face food crises, to save lives, to support and strengthen God’s poor people, to stand by them as the mother Church!
At the same time, this work is a two-way street:
It gives testimony to our children to participate in this festival of love, in the hope that the values of life, humanity and philanthropy are not lost, proving once again that the small dough always puffs up the whole dough!
At the same time, we continue to support children’s scholarships. The poor child has every right to study, to acquire the knowledge that will lead him/her to provide services to himself/herself and to the local community for a better tomorrow.
We support with a standing financial mandate the Theological School in Kinshasa, the nursery of Orthodoxy in Central Africa, so that they can study the divine letters, remain in their country and help their society. We also support the Patriarchal seminary “Makarios the Third”, where candidates for seminary students, the future priests of Orthodoxy, study! We also contribute effectively to the support of the newly established Theological School that is being born in the Diocese of Bukoba.
The Brotherhood’s concern remains the work of health and medical care with vaccines, clinics and first aid stations.
We support and monitor donations for churches. We take care of catechisms, baptisms and any Spiritual, laborious, constant and painful work, work that is decisive for the salvation of the soul!
Of course, our interest and contribution to the crucial task of combating water scarcity, to the right of every human being to clean and potable water, with new boreholes and wells, will not diminish. A project of great priority and importance, since typhus afflicts and sickens the indigenous people…
The translations into local dialects remain a wonderful work, important and essential for our Brotherhood.
Liturgical books, Lives of Saints, Synaxaries, Spiritual books that emphasize and support the daily parish life.
Books on the attitude and contribution of the presbyter to the work of the priest and the local community.
Catechisms and camps are considered necessary for the strengthening and good functioning of parish life.
Schools and orphanages are a first priority line. Children found on the streets by death of parents. Children who were violently and cruelly persecuted by their family environment, children running around on the streets, those who are considered children of a lesser God, the Brotherhood is present to help them with all its might!
The missionary interest of the Brotherhood expands and opens the doors of the Faculty of Theology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. With its participation, visits, talks and discussions of missionaries with the budding theologians of the university take place, expanding and publicizing the missionary work.
The fixed expenses of missionaries, the salaries of priests and the needs that arise daily for them and their families remain daily, persistent and excruciating problems.
We are watching with interest the development of Orthodoxy. We feel the power of prayer. We understand the difficulties and listen to the wiles of the devil in such a great, multifaceted, resourceful and God-given work. We try with our small forces to fight evil with good, life with death, sorrow with joy, light with darkness.
“Don’t be afraid of the spirit.”
This word remains a compelling and imperative in thought and practice for every member of the Church. At the same time, it is apologetic for all of us who are fellow travellers and collaborators in the work of the Foreign Mission.
Have we lost our philanthropy or have we closed our conscience in the dustbin of oblivion?
Have we turned a deaf ear to the compelling voices of the holy missionaries?
Or are we tied to the mast of euphemism and secularism?
Where’s the spark? Where is the light of hope?
We travel silent and silent and alone on the road of a decent establishment.
The work of the Mission remains a constant and persistent joy. Poverty, wars, violence, hunger, disease, a social exclusion, as it is called, plague humanity.
We know, Lord, because you are the One who until today is both hungry and thirsty, the One who until today is in social exclusion. We struggle, Lord. Help us to understand You in the corners of the earth where You are. Light our darknesses today, that the Holy Spirit may never be quenched.
