The Orthodox Mission in the Kingdom of Tonga
The first Orthodox chapel on the islands
On a small island in the Kingdom of Tonga, the words of Christ to His Apostles are quietly and beautifully being fulfilled: “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:19) -are quietly being fulfilled. At the heart of this unfolding story stands the Orthodox chapel of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, the first of its kind in the islands.
This year, on the Apostles’ feast, the faithful gathered to celebrate their heavenly patrons and to witness the completion of sacred iconography adorning the chapel walls—a work of beauty long awaited in a land searching for the fullness of the Apostolic faith.
The new iconography – a silent sermon
The newly painted icons tell the story of the Gospel. One wall shows Peter baptizing Cornelius as the Holy Spirit descends (Acts 10). Another depicts Paul among the disciples in Ephesus, laying hands on them so they too receive the Spirit (Acts 19). These images are not mere decoration; they are silent sermons proclaiming that the same Apostolic Church which spread across the Mediterranean now extends her hands to the Pacific.
Recent developments
This past year and a half has brought visible signs of growth:
- The Divine Liturgy was celebrated in the Tongan language for the first time, allowing prayers of the Church to rise in the voice of the people.
- Catechumens have entered the Church through baptism, receiving “the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit” and joining the Body of Christ.
- Fr. Bartholomew—a native Fijian and the first of his people ordained into Orthodoxy—has served faithfully, guiding the mission in Tonga and across the Pacific.
Support groups
Supporting this renewal, a team of builders from Greece, led by Ilias from Tripoli, has travelled to Tonga four times. For three months this year, they laboured in tropical heat to bring the new Church of St. George near completion. Their work is more than construction; it is a gift of love uniting the Church in Greece with her brothers and sisters in the Pacific.
Supporting the mission on the ground are other remarkable servants: Reader Michael, his wife Megan-Elisabeth, and their four children came from America and have served for a year and a half, living as a quiet witness to Christ’s love in these distant islands.
The living testimony of faith
To stand in the chapel of Peter and Paul, surrounded by icons, hearing hymns in Tongan, and seeing the joyful faces of those newly baptized is to sense the Apostolic faith alive in a new land. One woman, gazing at the icon of the Theotokos, whispered, “Why have we never had this before?” Her voice carried no complaint, only wonder. The icons, the chanting, the incense, the Liturgy—all spoke to her as if they had been waiting for her all her life.
Orthodoxy in Tonga does not arrive as a stranger. She is the Church of the Apostles, sent by Christ to the ends of the earth—not to compete, but to fulfil the longing of the human heart for communion with God.
The need for support
But this work needs support. Essential steps for growth include:
- printing liturgical books in Tongan,
- completing the Church of St. George,
- training catechists,
- providing icons,
- supporting priests like Fr. Bartholomew.
The small chapel of Peter and Paul is a sign of hope in Tonga, but it is only the beginning.
We who have inherited Orthodoxy’s treasures are called to share this gift. As St. Paul wrote, “If one member is honoured, all rejoice together” (1 Cor. 12:26).
Even one baptism in the Pacific is a joy for the entire Body of Christ.
May we, like Aquila and Priscilla, like Peter and Paul, become co-workers in the Lord’s vineyard, helping bring the light of the Resurrection to the farthest reaches of the earth. The Spirit who moved over the waters at creation is still moving over the Pacific, making all things new.
