The Bishop of the former Gano and Chora, Mr. Amphilochios Two days before the feast of Thomas, the Apostle of the Indies, the bells of our venerable Ecumenical Patriarchate rang joyfully for the canonization of the holy Gavrielia nun. St. Gavrielia came from Constantinople. She had studied medicine and spoke many languages. These skills, but…
He is our beloved brother and father Barnabas, pastor and spiritual father of the unbroken Orthodox community of Lampasa, on the second large island of Fiji, Vanua Levi. The news of his passing was sudden and shocked us, because he was still young and in the prime of his missionary activity. Every Sunday and feast…
I believe that these words of St. John Chrysostom are more relevant and appropriate as regards the case of my departure from the New Zealand missionary sites and the Islands of the Southeast Pacific Ocean, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa. I found myself in these places obeying the invitation of our Holy Church that was made…
Finally came the time of externalizing feelings with the simple but vivid in content addresses of our siblings in Christ, clergy and laity, through which they expressed their feelings of love as well as their sadness for their Shepherd’s falling asleep in the Lord due to bad health and old age, but for another more important need as well…
Joys come along with sorrows. Being very poor, the indigenous people expect Mother Church to provide for everything. They are not accustomed to meeting their needs and solving the problems that occur on their own. These people are forbearing and always smiling…
Mr. Penjamina gladly accepted to be baptized, he and his wife to become the first priest in a people who have traditions and easily accept the truth…
The people there may be thirsty for Orthodoxy, but we are facing problems
Forty-four years ago I humbly served, by the grace of God, the Orthodox Mission in Zaire, now Congo in central Africa. I asked for God’s help and composed this hymn, which is short but deeply meaningful…
We crossed Pepe’s foot with the piece of holy wood, which the Athonite brother Sava has, with the relic of the Holy Apostle Barnabas and the icons of the Virgin Mary, the Evangelist John the Theologian and other saints, saying their troparia. The next day Pepe came again, telling us that he was no longer in pain, and running down the steps of the courtyard…
Another presence of Orthodoxy in distant Oceania. The cross of the Lord adorns and sanctifies the breasts, the place and the homes of our newly converted brothers and sisters. The bell of the Holy Apostles is small but its sound, sweet, joyful and moving, spreads as the voice of the Church across the length and breadth of the vast Pacific, inviting every unconverted person to come to the source of truth and life: “Come, all nations know the power of the terrible mystery…”
