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Photo gallery 3 -:- Activities of the Mission Committee
A Recent History of our Archdiocese Mission Melpo Gerondouthis and Nico Michael are interview on the Greek Radio NPV 1422Khz On Monday 20th Aug 2001 at 17:00 Melpo Gerondouthis and Nico Michael were interviewed on the Greek Radio New PanHellenic Voice. Melpo representing the Mission PR subcommittee and Nico the webmaster of the Archdiocese web page. During this interview we had to explain to the public a bit of the background of the Mission Committee .This lead to Nico talking briefly of the background History of the Mission activities of our Archdiocese to explain some of the developments leading to him baptism of the first Black Orthodox Converts from Shoshanguve. The report was very brief and I have felt that a more detailed report would put all the issues in their prospective and give a complete picture of the situation as I had observed it. The scope of this Document Being representatives of the Mission Melpo And I were interviewed and we gave a brief history of the Mission as was requested on radio by our interviewer This document is based on our interview and serves to inform one of the various situations that arose over the last two decades. It is an account of the events that ultimately ended in the Baptism of three men from Soshanguve and many people from Eldorado. This document also highlights the lessons learned so that they are not repeated This is my account of the situation as I experienced it I was privileged to be able to witness the situation virtually unfolding in front of my face and to have met Steve Hayes and assisting him in a very small way in the role that he played for our Church A bit of Background History During the period +/-1920/30’s a so-called self-ordained Archbishop comes to South Africa and starts ordaining Black priests and bishops of the so-called "African Orthodox Church" was formed The Apartheid Era During the Apartheid Era the government passed discriminatory laws to isolate people on racial grounds attempting to prohibit interaction and prohibiting the Church to undertake Mission activities with people of colour. That government had also blackmailed the church that if it embarked on Black mission it would deport its priests and prevent them from entering the country. We are not aware of any mission activities undertaken in the Black and Coloured areas however I have heard of stories of a priest in our Archdiocese visiting the Black townships to preach the word of God. However we are not aware of any formal Mission activities. Mission activities Of Dr Stephen Hayes Dr Stephen Hayes was a priest of the Anglican Church and was actively involved with mission with the Zulu Nation. He was based in Zululand and also in Northern Natal Year’s later Steve had issues with the Anglican Church and at the time was reading Alexander Schmeman when he made the decision to convert to Orthodoxy. The Ordination of the first Non-Greek Priest in our Archdiocese In 1985 Fr Chrisostomos was the first Non-Greek priest ordained in our Diocese his ordination was controversial and some of the Congregation shouted "Anaxios" (Unworthy). Was it too much for the some members to accept people who were not Greek into our faith? To Fr Chrisostomos credit he started a bible study in English. Steve Hayes, Marios Joseph and Nico Michael started travelling from Pretoria every week to the Pantanassa Church to attend these classes. Due to a spate of unfortunate circumstances After Easter in 1987 Fr Chrisostomos was instructed to leave the Pantanassa Parish after handing his resignation to Archbishop Paul .So he left for America. Fr Chrisostomos Returns to South Africa to become the St Nicholas Parish Priest When Fr Chrisostomos left for America his wife remained in Johannesburg and when she was about to give birth to their first child Fr Chrisostomos returns to South Africa. At this time Steve contacts Fr Chrisostomos and he is invited to become the Parish Priest of the Mission Society of St Nicholas (Katsatkin) of Japan So they start a new and controversial parish in Johannesburg. Fr Chrisostomos did not get this parish to be accepted by Archbishop Paul Lingris as part of our Archdiocese and their relationship was strained. This Parish fell under duerestiction of the Russian Orthodox Church in the USA. Dr Steve Hayes and his family are accepted into Orthodoxy by Chrismation During this period Steve and his family were accepted info Orthodoxy by Chrismation. I was privileged to be Dr Steve’s Sponsor (Nono). Steve Starts his Mission activities for the Orthodox Church Steve was actively involved in Mission and was involved in the early dialogs between Orthodoxy and the so-called "African Orthodox Church" Fr Chrisostomos and Dr Steve Hayes were lecturers at the University of South Africa They were both lecturers at University of South Africa (UNISA) where they taught in the Theology Department. Steve taught Missionology. The St Moses the Black Theology Course Fr Chrisostomos and Dr Steve Hayes developed the first Orthodox Theology Course the "St Moses the Black Theology Course" in South Africa. This was to be a correspondence course where the students would get their study materials from the St Nicholas Church and attend one lecture every three Months. This course had attendees from the "African Orthodox Church" the St Nicholas Church as well as from our Archdiocese I was privileged to be one of the students. This was to be a three-year course however after the end of the first year many of the students had dropped out. It was very hard to do a correspondence course and it required a lot of discipline but for your effort you were greatly rewarded. It helped my very much as I was Sunday school teacher in the Pretoria Church and now I could teach the children Orthodoxy instead of just basic Christianity which I had learned at the Catholic school where I received my education. The Coptic Church makes it classrooms available for this course Fr Chrisostomos needed a school to give the "St Moses" students a lecture and he approached Archbishop Antonios Markos of the Coptic Church in Johannesburg who had purchased an old Greek School and is using it as the Coptic Church. Ironically it was the Coptic Church that made it possible for the Greek Orthodox students to use these premises to learn Orthodoxy We became good friends with our Coptic Brothers. A great loss for our Archdiocese One day I heard the "Archbishop" of the "African Orthodox Church" complain that the Greek Orthodox Church in Johannesburg were not giving him a message of welcome so Fr Chrisostomos said to him that he should speak to the Coptic Church. Archbishops Markos opened his heart and extended his love and welcome to them. I was present when they made their discussion to join the Coptic Church It was the saddest day of my life I felt that our Archdiocese had suffered a great loss. Fr Chrisostomos leaves the Orthodox Church Eventually Fr Chrisostomos decided to leave the Orthodox Church this was during the period when our Patriarch was being elected. An emergency meeting was held at Steve’s house where Steve Hayes, Marios Joseph, and Nico Michael met to discuss how to rescue the Parish. We agreed that the original problem was between Fr Chrisostomos and our Archbishop and since Fr Chrisostomos was leaving we should try to approach our Archdiocese to incorporate the members of the Parish into our Archdiocese. I volunteered to start the communications and introduced Fr Michael to Steve Hayes. Our Archdiocese welcomed the members of the St Nicholas Church The first Dialog between Steve Hayes and our Archdiocese I was also approached by Steve Hayes to set up a meeting for him to discuss the "African Orthodox Church" with Fr Michael and so the Pretoria Parish became the focus of attention regarding our Archdiocese Mission His Beatitude Pope and Patriarch Petros visits the St Nicholas Parish I was present when our Patriarch H.B. Petros served a liturgy in the St Nicholas Church and on the day when He laid the foundation Stone for the "Mission" in Pretoria. Our Archbishop sent his priests to keep the doors of the St Nicholas Church open and the Orthodox Church in America sent Fr Iakovos , who is now parish priest of this church. Fr Iakovos is given the responsibility of the Mission Fr Michael has a very large congregation and was not able to cope with all the additional pressure this Mission imposed on him consequently Fr Iakovos was given the role of manning and coordinating the Mission His Eminence Archbishop Seraphim is Ordained as our Archbishop With the passing away of our Late Archbishop Ioannis His Eminence Archbishop Seraphim was ordained as our new Archbishop. He is young, well educated and experienced leader who motivates his people and has all energy needed to "push" our Archdiocese in the direction it must move. Our Archdiocese is experiencing a spiritual revival like never experienced before in this country. His Eminence Archbishop Seraphim sanctions a Mission Committee H.E. started a Mission Committee, which would have members from many different disciplines and talents consisting of both laity and clergy. This Mission Committee functions as a well-oiled machine with some very experienced and capable persons at the helm. The rest is history just read our Mission news to see what His Eminence and his Mission committee are achieving in such a short time Lessons learned This is something that large corporations give a lot of attention to so that they don’t repeat mistakes .As an IT (Computer) speacilists I have been taught to dissect every project after completion to identify lessons learned so that we don’t repeat the mistakes made ! The lesson learned from this period is that it is important to have healthy relationships between the laity the Clergy and the Archbishop. Strains in these relationships cause serious problems in the Church and ultimately the whole Archdiocese suffers great losses. Conclusion On 29th July 2001 there were 24 persons baptised at the St Nicholas Church. Most of these persons baptised were the results of Mission work that took place in Eldorado , however there were three men from Soshanguve of whom Colin Rakumako was sent to study theology at the seminary in Nairobi . The people saw the fruits of the mission but needed to be given the background information
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Archbishopric of Johannesburg and Pretoria |