The Patriarchal School of Saint Athanasius of Alexandria

“But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” (2 Tim. 4:5).

The words of this Apostle Paul to his disciple Timothy, the Bishop of Ephesus, are always timely and true, and above all, they are guiding.

It is true that there are values that do not lose their prestige over the centuries. One of these unique values is the teaching of Christ, and its legacy to the ancient and venerable Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa, as it was implanted here by the Apostle and Evangelist Mark. And of course, this value constitutes our identity, and it is our honor and duty to serve it faithfully. To proclaim it and cultivate it in the souls of people, especially in the new generations. To strengthen and contribute, each in their own way, to the magnificent and arduous effort of the pre-eminently missionary Church of Alexandria for the enlightenment of the people living throughout the blessed continent of Africa, the continent of the future, as our Most Blessed and Divine Pope and Patriarch, Lord Theodore II, very characteristically, aptly, and prophetically calls it.

And to strive, by helping, to gain time in the spread of the Gospel and in the relief of people, our brethren. Offering love, education, trust, a beneficial inoculation into culture, but more than anything, a genuine and true relationship with our true Triune and Thrice-Holy God.

Having in all this beautiful endeavor, as a bright and living example, our Most Blessed Patriarch himself, this Great Missionary of our days, walking in the footsteps of the Good Shepherd Jesus Christ and the Apostle and Evangelist Mark.

Indeed, an epistle of Christ, read and known, an ever-shining spiritual beacon of Alexandria, a spiritual Nile that gushes forth divine teaching, the streams of divine knowledge, to all the ends of His vast and beloved Africa, His truly sacred canonical jurisdiction.

Succinctly and practically, the work of God being accomplished throughout the mission of blessed Africa, from end to end, I have within me the thought and conviction that it focuses on the following text by a Missionary Hierarch, a Bishop of the Alexandrian Throne, who, addressing His Beatitude during a Sacred Tour in his Diocese, spoke these true words that we all truly applaud:

“Your Beatitude, you came to us to strengthen us, to bless us, to advise us on our path. To share with us Your overflowing love in every direction, to wipe the tears of the orphaned children of Africa, to give us a little light from the light of Your Countenance, because this is what You do: You do not exercise Your authority from the comfort of Your Office, but You run from one end of Africa to the other, to spread joy, light, peace, courage, love, to open schools, to establish clinics, to found churches, to teach the word of the Gospel, which becomes bread for the hungry, water for the thirsty, an open embrace for the desperate and weary modern person.” (Metropolitan Agathonikos of Arusha, June 28, 2019).

Our Patriarchal School “Saint Athanasius the Great” is the work of the honorable hands of our Most Blessed Pope and Patriarch, Mr. Theodore II, whose paternal love, care, and continuous solicitude founded and maintains it flourishing, here in the Sacred and Venerable Patriarchal Monastery of our Holy and God-bearing Father Sabbas the Sanctified of Alexandria, and in the fragrant sanctity of its space.

Alongside its daily educational program, our School offers us the opportunity to experience the current missionary vitality and the arduous effort of the Apostolic Throne of Saint Mark. The hopeful future leaders of our Church, these blessed and talented young people, who come from the states and the missionary holy Metropolises and holy Dioceses of our Patriarchate in Africa, constitute it and are among us as its members and students.

This time, those who arrived for their two-year studies at our Patriarchal School come from the African countries of Benin, Togo, Madagascar, Burundi, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Congo. All these brilliant young people and all those who previously graduated responded with enthusiasm to the paternal call of His Beatitude, and with the Archpastoral recommendation of their Most Reverend Metropolitans and God-loving Bishops, they came. And one cannot but marvel at their wonderful spiritual world and their trust.

They set out at the Apostolic call and left everything to the unknown. Steadfastly devoted to the paternal care, which like a guiding star attracts and directs steadily and unwavering, towards the Sun of Righteousness, near Whom everything is flooded with Holy light. They gave their will to Christ and to the Patriarchal call, believing that this is God’s good pleasure for them. It is divine providence that directs everything, and they were not deceived!

Many tribes of children passed through the School’s journey. Young people from the Kiga tribe, Hehe tribe, Acholi tribe, Haya tribe, Luyia tribe, Kasai tribe, Maasai tribe, Mtusi, Ewe, Amhara, Merina, and possibly from other tribes. And all united as brothers, with one mouth and one heart. To the point of recalling the wondrous hymn of the Church: “Bound by the bond of love, the Apostles, dedicating themselves to the Lord of all, made their feet beautiful, proclaiming peace to all” (Ode of the Canon of Great Thursday).

From the curriculum of the educational program, we indicatively mention the learning of the Greek Language, Informatics, Agricultural Studies, Gymnastics, First Aid, Dogmatics, Ecclesiastical History, Liturgics, and other important related subjects.

It is indeed wonderful to witness the attendance, the fervent desire, and the participation of the students in the Sacred Services and Holy Mysteries of the Church, which are unfailingly celebrated in the Catholicon of the Holy Monastery. Our primary endeavor, by the grace of God and the blessing of our Saint Sabbas, is that, within the operation of the Patriarchal School, our young people, as members of our Church, as faithful children of our Patriarchate and our Most Blessed Patriarch, may draw closer to our Christ every day, even one step closer, to place Him within their soul and heart, and to live Christ and His Holy Gospel. To be bound to the Great Capital, which is the ancient Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa, and through it, to enjoy the majesty of Orthodoxy. To love God and the image of God, man.

The esteemed professors, both male and female, who teach with the blessing of His Beatitude, daily give their best, offering their finest teaching and contribution to learning. In our humble endeavor here, both teachers and students and the fathers of the Monastery wholeheartedly offer their will, and may the Holy God, the giver of every good, grant His strength and blessing, His enlightenment and His mercy, with the God-pleasing prayers and the paternal love and care of our Most Blessed Pope and Patriarch, Mr. Theodore II, whom we thank again and again, with infinite gratitude, filially and from the heart.

We owe heartfelt gratitude and sincere thanks to the excellent and historic Orthodox Missionary Fraternity, to its esteemed President Mr. Charalambos Metallidis, to its esteemed Vice-President Mr. Nostis Psaras, to the esteemed members of the Board of Directors, and to all the pious members of this blessed Fraternity from God, because their good works are manifest.

Throughout the length and breadth of the earth, Foreign Mission is carried out, but especially here at our Patriarchal School “Saint Athanasius” of Alexandria, where their loving heart reveals them as great caregivers and benefactors of this institution.

And surely the blessed souls of the Great Missionary of our days, Saint Chrysostom Papasarantopoulos, who excelled apostolically in Africa, and of the late physician and President of the Fraternity, Mr. Papadimitrakopoulos, will rejoice with unspeakable and inexpressible gladness for their successors in the work of the Holy Orthodox Missionary Fraternity.

May our Christ and our Panagia bless them, strengthen them, and sanctify them.

The Headmaster of the Patriarchal School “Saint Athanasius”

The Treasurer Germanos