At the beginning of the Orthodox Mission in our own land, we were just a dream and a vocation created in the lives of some Colombian people, a vocation that pushes our existence towards Orthodoxy but without understanding where and why it comes from in our own heart, in the heart of Bishop Athenagoras of Myrina and mine, to seek Orthodoxy in order to bring it to our own wider region. Orthodoxy was something beautiful but distant, distant from our peoples and our own logic already influenced by the excessive rationalism of the West, an exotic Christianity I would say. But inside us something or Someone was telling us: go ahead and don’t stop. Few people understand why we are so moved when events like a diaconal ordination, a baptism or an Orthodox sermon move us to tears, but the theosophy of the Orthodox faith is something so precious in our own lives that every sacrifice is small compared to the much we gain and every step a miracle.
We were not rich or wealthy young people, just children from poor neighbourhoods, from poor families, from those who have to work hard to make ends meet, or rather from those who work not to live but to survive. God writes straight on crooked lines, because in our struggle, without money and material goods to finance a journey to the source of the Orthodox faith, which is the Greek world, God built everything and by his own grace and not by our just powers he gave us the way to do it. How he did it, we do not know, but why he did it we understand, it is his exceeding love for us. However it was done, what matters is how it was done and today we have a strong Orthodox presence not only in Colombia and Venezuela but in the entire Metropolitan Metropolis of Mexico, Caribbean, Colombia and Venezuela and he has given us in the person of Metropolitan James of Mexico, a true missionary, pastor and father, sympathetic to our people and a pioneer and companion in every struggle we wage.
It is very important now to tell you about the construction work of the Orthodox Church in the city of Cereté Cordoba, Colombia, although I will let the photos show you what is going on there so that you can understand the work through your own eyes. The Orthodox community of Cereté is made up of simple farmers living in the countryside, that is, on the outskirts of the city, who are limited by a lack of economic resources. That is why we want the church to be beautiful, so that not only can they use it functionally, pastorally and spiritually, but also so that it can be an artwork for their own local community.
God, who in his infinite mercy provides solutions, has allowed us through dear benefactors to begin the construction of the church so that we can provide a suitable liturgical space for this community. We thank the Orthodox Foreign Missionary Fraternity for the support and benevolence offered for the realization of this great project, which responds to the needs of an Orthodox community that until recently celebrated the Divine Liturgy under a tree or in places not best suited for such a magnificent sacrament.
The work has an insular rhythm, so that the blue shows the immensity of God’s love and the whiteness the pure and unchanging Orthodox faith, proving at the same time that the Greek Orthodox world has opened our eyes to hope. Our projection, in addition to the construction of the church, includes the construction of some halls around it to create the first technical and foreign language school for children in the area who, due to limited resources, do not have access to a complete education and are often relegated to primary or secondary education without being able to become professionals.
It is no less important that the priest’s house can be built so that the priest can have a decent place to live and carry out his pastoral and spiritual duties.
With many best wishes
† Timothy of Assos
