Central Africa…somewhere, far, far away. In Rwanda….
\nOrthodox Christians pray, together with their priests. Inspiring them is Father
\nNectarios, a Romanian missionary monk. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Hailing from Tulcea in the south-east Father Nectarios,
\nwhose layperson’s name is Alexandru Dima, is only 30 years old. Young as he may
\nbe, Father Nectarios has had very special spiritual experiences. It was not by
\nchance that upon his ordination he was given the name Nectarios, while his presence
\non the African continent is not a happenstance one, either. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The urge to depart there came from Father Damaskin the
\nGregorian, of the Gregoriou Monastery in Mount Athos <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Father Nectarios:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u02baI arrived in Burundi, Africa, on
\nSeptember 11, 2019, at the Orthodox Archdiocese of Burundi and Rwanda.
\nTherefore, my Bishop is colored, he is African and pastorates two countries.
\nThere, not having any knowledge of Swahili of the Chirunde local idiom, I started
\nlearning Swahili. The Swahili Language is
\nspoken in, like, 17 countries of the African Continent. There are 56 or 57 countries
\non the African Continent, while Swahili is being spoken in the central, Western
\nand Eastern part. It is some sort of African English, just as English is in
\nEurope, for us, so is Swahili for Africa. I learned that language, I perform the divine service
\nin Swahili and that’s how I got to find my bearings, in the places I also travelled
\nto, as well, in Africa or in other countries. After a month, the Bishop had me come
\nto Rwanda, he told me It is here you are needed as in Burundi we have a cathedral
\nof the Greeks, but in Rwanda we had nothing. I performed the Holy Mass outdoors,
\nin tents, in rented rooms or in the field. And the Bishop told me I was needed
\nhere, in Rwanda, and, with God’s help, if I can, I should build a church. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
And he did build it !<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Father Nectarios:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u02baThe cathedral that was built, for it, the plot of
\nland was bought by my Bishop, Inokentios, and only the foundation was laid, that was the best he could do in 2014, while nothing else had been done, from that
\nyear and until 2020-2021. I took over the work and, with the help of God, this
\nyear we also had its consecration, on October 30. We worked day in, day out,
\nfor the cathedral, masonry, plastering, painting. I brought a painter, a boy
\nwho was very skilled, from Iasi, Alexandru, he painted the church in three
\nmonths, he works uninterruptedly, that boy. As for the iconostasis, the wood,
\nthe sculpture for the iconostasis, the lectern, the pulpit or everything else
\nthat was manufactured there, the iconostasis, we brought in a boy from Congo,
\nwho was skilled in carpentry manufacturing work. We do not have the machines so
\nthat we can work fast, and with perfection, but we did try manufacturing work,
\nand to the best of our abilities, everything came out fine. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The church is scanty for the Rwandians stepping in,
\nthat is why many of them continue to listen to the mass in the courtyard. In the
\nlectern, a couple of dozens of children sing, also in Romanian. Father Nectarios learned Swahili, so why shouldn’t they
\nlearn a little bit of his mother tongue too !<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Father Nectarios:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u02baIn time, I carried a lot and I brought priest’s garbs from Romania, I take care of the communion wine, of candles, of
\neverything related to performing the divine service proper. When I got here,
\nthe priests didn’t have win for the Holy Communion and they were performing the
\ndivine service with fruit juice. They bought fruit juice from the shop, the cheapest
\none, to perform the Holy Communion or, instead of frankincense, in order for
\nthe smoke to come out of the incense burner they put a little bit of white wax
\nfrom the Catholic churches. And that was a kind of choking smoke, like the one
\nof a train locomotive. They are very poor! In Rwanda, Orthodoxy has been
\naccepted since 2012, but very little has been done to that effect. When I came, in 2019, I started everything from
\nscratch. What we’ve got so far are two small parishes and the cathedral that has
\nbeen built. When I arrived, there were roughly 2,000 believers, baptized by
\nBishop Inokentios, while this year – we built a cross-shaped baptistery, with a
\nstairwell, a nice one, we put water in there and we perform the baptizing
\nthere, since April and until now, recently, we have baptized 3,500 to 4,000
\npeople, or thereabouts.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
However, quite a few of the Rwandans who embraced the Orthodox Church also do that because, apart from the spiritual aid, they receive material
\naid as well. When he doesn’t perform the divine service, Father Nectarios…the
\nRomanian…travels across Rwanda, far and wide, in a bid to discover the needy of
\nthe land.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Father Nectarios:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u02baThe Christians come to the church also
\nfor poverty reasons, since we gift away, and the Orthodox Church does indeed gift
\naway. I put a lot of passion so that I can gift away as much as I can, with
\nevery Divine Service, no matter how tiny that gift is, but I make sure I gift
\naway from the bottom of my heart, a candy, a piece of cake, a little loaf of bread,
\na bottle of milk… while in my day-to-day life, in the morning…today I skipped
\nthat…we perform the Morning Service, while on Saturdays and Sundays, the Holy
\nMass. After the Morning Service, on weekdays, I am off to do my fieldwork. I
\nset off in the morning and I find myself still at it in the evening, when it
\ngets dark outside, as a lot of people wait for me, quite a few of them write
\nletters…Father, I need a house, Father, I need clothes, I need something to
\nwear, my children are sick! I focus on a situation; I am exposed to other situations.
\nAnd there’s nowhere I can run, you know, I want to run, but I can’t. Oftentimes
\nI felt I cannot cope with it any more and even this week I said to myself it is
\ntoo much for me. But I have no choice!<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Whenever he comes to Romania, Father Nectarios is busy replenishing the stocks, so to say, that including the donations he receives from his fellow citizens, dozens
\nof suitcases he then takes with him to Rwanda. Communion
\nwine, priestly garbs, candelabra, paints…and many, many other things. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u02baMy record high is made of
\n82 trolleys, this very year, in April. They were so many! When I departed from
\nBucharest, I have a staging post in Amsterdam, and from Amsterdam I have a
\nnon-stop flight to the Airport of Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. So what I’m
\nsaying is, for the 82 trolleys I had, we boarded the plane, but the plane had an
\nhour and a half delay and the flight attendant kept saying on the phone, though
\nthe receptionist’s we apologize for the delay, it s because of too much
\nbaggage. I didn’t say anything, can you imagine how I got holed up in there,
\nin my chair? Because they were all mine!<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Whoever wants to, they can support the orthodox Mission in Rwanda
\n– it is an appeal made by Father Nectarios, who recalled an urge made by one of
\nthe Romanian Orthodox Church’s famous spiritual advisers, Nicolae Steinhardt, who
\nused to say that if we gift away, we stand to gain! But paradoxically, we gain
\nnot that which we have plenty of, but that which we lack.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
And, since the Winter Holidays are drawing near, here is
\nFather Nectarios once again, this time with a well-wishing thought.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I am 8,000 kilometers away
\nfrom Romania. I think the distance between us is rather big, but I should like
\nto take this opportunity and thank you for the fact
\nthat I can go public and extend a heartfelt well-wishing thought to all our Christian
\nRomanians from everywhere, in Romania and in the diaspora, so from the bottom
\nof my heart, may the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ fill their
\nsouls with joy! I wish them all a blessed 2023, a year with spiritual fulfilment
\nand joy, harmony and a united family! (EN)<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Romanian Orthodox Church in Africa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":144277,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42997],"tags":[34567,36759,37651,43913,43914],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-144276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society-today","tag-africa","tag-church","tag-gain","tag-gift-away","tag-swahili"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n