Excerpt from the presentation of the Bishop of New Zealand
Mr. Myron to the Synod of the Hierarchy of the Ecumenical Patriarchate
I was given the opportunity to see and experience first-hand early Christian apostolic experiences of our Church. To see for myself that everything described in the Epistles and the Acts of the Apostles is absolutely true.. It is a story that is repeated to this day, where the Orthodox Church gives birth to new local Churches. The problems and infantile illnesses of the new little Church cannot obscure the sight of the miracles that are performed daily by the Grace of God for the establishment and spread of the Truth in the most remote corner of our planet. God has claimed us to know, associate and live with people who have brought His Grace, radiated and distributed it without realizing what has been accomplished, giving us, experientially, the measure of our mission and the intended purpose of our mission and our Church. The all-encompassing experience of the Grace of God, by the recently deceased Father Barnabas, a Hindu by birth, in the town of Lampasa on the island of Viti Levu in Fiji, assures us of God’s presence and goodness, being our spiritual compass.
Acknowledgements. All of the above would not be possible if it were not for the Good Samaritans, fellow travellers and sensitive people to support and help. Thanks and gratitude: […] the Brotherhood of Orthodox Foreign Mission based in Thessaloniki, which promotes the missionary work in its magazine, contributing financially to the purchase of land, to the daily needs of missionaries and neophytes and to the spreading of the missionary message. […]
In closing my speech, I would like to underline that all those who serve in the Pacific Ocean mission are volunteers. There are no salaries in the usual sense, no health insurance for priests and missionaries. There is only coverage for the needs of the priests and missionaries for food, transportation, daily expenses and charity. We are knocking on your door and we will knock on your door. Please do not let us feel that we have become a burden to you, do not treat us as beggars, see us as an extension of your own witness, offering and sacrifice and as an invitation to participate in the joy of evangelizing the whole world and in the encounter of God’s miracles.
The mission in the Antipodes is not our personal affair. It is a collective affair of the Church, it is an ecumenical affair. We, by God’s grace and tolerance, are physically present there, as the last link. Without your participation, the joy is incomplete. Let us not deprive yourselves and members of our flock of this joy. We are all invited. We are all welcome. Let no field and no bu take away our joy. And it is a great joy when you see matter transformed into thanksgiving and praise to God, into love for one’s fellow man, into holiness of life and into participation in Divine Glory. As a blessing you are present.
† The New Zealand Myron
