By the grace of God the first four years were completed in the vineyard of the Lord in western Tanzania, which His right hand planted. Four years have passed since His Beatitude Patriarch Theodore entrusted to our Minority the Diocese of Bukoba and Western Tanzania, and six months ago also the long-suffering Diocese of Ruanda.
When the Apostle Paul tells Timothy to “inform your ministry” (2 Timothy 4:5), he means “to fulfill your duty in the service of God”. In taking stock, we attribute all the good things to what the Lord has done, which at the same time reveal our own shortcomings.
We will attempt to take stock and look ahead in the following. We will review the objectives we have had and continue, or set new ones.
TANZANIA
1. Priests. The priests are the true missionaries on whom the whole missionary work rests. Today in the Diocese of Bukoba there are 50 priests, 4 deacons and 2 retired priests. I give them a salary of 300,000 shillings, i.e. €110.
What remains to be done is to give the 20 young Irishmen 20 pee-pee motorcycles, which cost 20,000 €.
Great are the needs of our priests for their children’s studies, illnesses and house building. They need to continue their studies and their homes.
2. Catechists. The 110 Catechists are the direct collaborators of the Priests and promote the mission through the catechisms before baptism and do catechesis in schools and in the Parish of children and young people. I owe them 80 bicycles, each costing 100€. They need 8,000 euros.
3. Vibrators of the Sanctuary. For the upgrading of the liturgical life we trained and appointed 90 ministers of the sanctuary. All of them were ordained and wear a stole.
He will be the right hand of the priest. They will knead the bread, ring the bell, clean the Sanctuary and the Temple, take care of the wine, water, candles, incense, coals and be responsible for the children of the Sanctuary. They will be present at the time of the Divine Liturgy and will be responsible for the movements in the Sanctuary.
All these materials of worship need special care. We cannot carry them from Greece. We have to get it from here.
We order Nama Divine Liturgy wine from a company in Central Tanzania, where the vine grows. Each priest needs every six months a 5kg of concrete Nama wine, which costs 10 € each. The 50 priests need 500 € per semester for the supply of Nama.
We should make and organize candles in our own candle making workshop in the area of the Diocese. It will take a sum of 10.000 € to build the equipment.
Coals shall be made of coconut shell. They have a patent in Indonesia, where we will copy from. You need a machine to make charcoal dust and then another machine to make a brigette of glue. We’ll find out the cost.
The children’s uniforms of the sanctuary will be sewn by the priesthood workshop of the staff.
The wings for the 230 churches will be made of wood and will have painted depictions of Cherubim, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection.
Bells do not exist and cannot be carried from Greece. For this reason, signals and talents will be made.
4. Missionaries. 24 catechists graduates of the seminary were trained in a Weekly Seminar. They attended missionary and catechetical courses. They were assigned to do missionary work. They were ordained and given a vestment.
I have to give them 100,000 pages, i.e. 2,400,000, i.e. 860 € a month and a pee-pee motorbike, 24,000 €.
5. Seminary of the Apostle and Evangelist Mark. From October, 22 students will be attending the Bukoba Seminary School. In the first year, from this year onwards, students from Rwanda, Burundi and Congo will also be attending. Already 17 have graduated. 8 of them are continuing in theology and 4 priests and 4 deacons have been ordained. It takes €5,000 a month to operate.
6. Theological College of St. Nicholas Muanza. 26 students preparing for the Theological College. It operates a Greek Language Centre along with Byzantine Music, Old and New Testament, Doctrinal differences with Papists and Protestants. It takes 4,000€ a month to operate.
7. Scholarships for Orthodox students. The scholarship programme for 130 students studying in the Diocese continues for 2024-25. There are 130 orphans and children of our priests who attend the Diocesan Aristotle and St. Sosthenes Schools. Each scholarship is 420€
8. Camp Kakerere. In December, the month of school holidays, the Holy Cross Camps for the young people of Karagwe and Kyerua will be open for the first time. 200 students aged 13-17 and 200 young people aged 18-25 will be accommodated.
The main objective is the orthodox catechism, the experience of spiritual life and preparation for marriage. They will need experienced staff from Greece and 10.000 € for their operation.
9. Distribution of the Holy Bible in Swahili in 2025. This means that we have to distribute 500 Bibles to all the cadres, which cost 3,500 €. To distribute 1,000 copies of the New Testament 3,000€. To print and distribute 3,000 copies of the Gospel of Mark.
For 2025, 10,000€ will be needed for the donation of the distribution of the Holy Scriptures to the Orthodox of Tanzania and another 3,000€ to the faithful of Rwanda.
ROYADA
The recent ordeal of the Church of Roanda with the ban on the operation of Churches and Priests obliges us to move decisively and firmly so that our Orthodoxy has a future in this country. We need immediate theological education of 8 priests in a theological school. Three will finish in one year and the other five in three years. They need 3,000 euros a year from September for the studies of the clergy. It takes 10,000 euros to open 3 churches by Christmas.
They need 1,000 a month to rent a Diocese and offices in the capital Kigali from October onwards.
Volunteers are needed from Greece, but also 10,000 € per month for the operation of 4 street children’s programmes, for the social face of our Church towards the state and the Society of Roanda.
Master assistant and perceiver!
† Boukobas Chrysostomos
