How the Orthodox Christians of Goma Faced the Recent Volcanic Eruption of Mount Nyirangongo

 

Fr. Chariton with some of his parishioners in Goma.

We watched horrifying images of the Nyirangongo volcano erupting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, causing tragic devastation and the death of many people (the first eruption on 22 May 2021 killed over 30). Ten kilometers from the volcano, in the city of Goma, which suffered the most damage, is the parish of Saint Nektarios. The Orthodox priest Father Chariton Ilunga Musungayi, pastor of the church and Patriarchal Commissioner of North and South Kivu, did not leave the place of his pastoral ministry in order to support the needy, the elderly and those who could not move. We talked to him and he described the devastation with the dead, the wounded and those who lost their homes from the lava of the volcano, but also the consolation that he and his parishioners felt from the timely help of the Panagia, after the prayers that stopped the lava preventing it from causing more damage. Father Chariton describes the situation:

Things as you know them from both television and the media are terrible. We heard on Saturday night, at 5:30 in the afternoon, that the sky was red. I went out to look, I saw that the sky was red and I told my colleagues to come and see what was happening and they told me that the volcano was erupting. I went out on the street, everyone was running around, on foot or in cars, others with their animals. At that time, our faithful call us that they are leaving the city and they suggested that we leave quickly because the lava was approaching. But I had decided to stay.

Hieromonk Kosmas of Gregoriou, Missionary to Congo (+ 1989)

 By Monk Moses the Athonite

He was born in the village of Theodosia in Kilkis in 1942. At a young age he went with his parents to Thessaloniki, where they lived very poor. His second home was the church and his second father was the pastor of his parish. He enjoyed studying Holy Scripture and going to catechism. From a young age he entered the daily struggle while studying. He became spiritually connected with the late Augoustinos Kantiotis (+ 2010) and began correspondence with Fr. Chrysostomos Papasarantopoulos (+ 1972), who was in Africa. The desire for missionary work was constantly burning inside him. He also had contacts with Elder Philotheos Zervakos (+ 1980) of the Longovarda Monastery of Paros. He knew technical, mechanical, electrical, electronic, nursing, lifeguard and construction things. He attended the Frontistirion for Catechists and took foreign mission courses at Apostoliki Diakonia, as well as nursing at Red Cross. He even got a degree for swimming. Later he would rescue a child from drowning in a lake in Kolwezi. He also wanted to study medicine, but he did not succeed. However, he went to the Higher Frontistirion of Rizareio School.

An African Neomartyr

 

 

By Archimandrite Seraphim Demopoulos

In 1985 an African - who was then a deacon - named Nicholas narrated to us the following circumstance.

In Uganda, Archimandrite Nikodemos Sarikas (1878-1941) preached for the first time (in 1933). Among those who heard him preaching was a young African boy.

That night, when the boy and his family sat to eat, he did his cross first.

Synaxarion of our Venerable Father Anthimos the New Ascetic of Kefallonia

Synaxarion

By Priest Haralambos Floriou (+ late 18th cent.)

On the 4th of this month [September], we commemorate our Venerable Anthimos of Kefallonia, the New Ascetic, Father and Protector of Astypalaia.

Verses

As a flower of the Spirit, O Anthimos,
You make fragrant the souls of those who honor you,
As a most-fragrant flower in Paradise,
There spring, without a change exists.
Destiny seized the Chief-Shepherd Anthimos on the fourth.

Saint Julian, Bishop of the Cenomani in Le Mans

St. Julia of Le Mans (Feast Day - July 13)

Saint Julian was elevated to the episcopal office by the Apostle Peter. Some believe that he is the same person as Simon the Leper (Mark 14:3), receiving the name Julian in Baptism. Others believe he was a Roman nobleman, or perhaps one of the Seventy Apostles.

The Apostle Peter sent Saint Julian to preach the gospel in Gaul. He arrived among the Cenomani tribe (who were in the region of the River Po in the north of present day Italy) and settled into a small hut out beyond a city (probably Cremona), and he began to preach among the Cenomani pagans. The idol-worshippers at first listened to him with distrust, but the preaching of the Saint was accompanied by great wonders. The capital city of the Cenomani was Civitas Cenomanorum (Le Mans), which was suffering from a shortage of drinking water. Julian thrust his staff into the ground and prayed. Water began to gush out of the ground. This miracle allowed him to preach freely within Le Mans.

Saint Nicetas, Bishop of Remesiana (+ 414)

St. Nicetas of Remesiana (Feast Day - June 22)

Saint Nicetas was born around 335 in the Roman province of Dacia. He was probably either a Goth or a Thracian. Around the year 370 he was made the Bishop of Remesiana (present-day Bela Palanka, Serbia). In 398, Nicetas made a pilgrimage to Nola to visit the grave of Felix of Nola and he had gained the friendship of Paulinus of Nola.

He was engaged in active missionary work among the peoples to the northeast, not yet enlightened by the light of Christ. The lands and peoples covered by his apostolic preaching lay on both sides of the Danube. This points to the land and population of Dacia Trajan, Thrace, Mysia and Lesser Scythia - the territory now divided between Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine. Saint Nicetas became the founder of not only new communities and temples, but also new dioceses, or diocesan centers. Because of his missionary activity, his contemporary and friend, Paulinus of Nola, lauded him poetically for instructing in the gospel those barbarians changed by him from wolves to sheep and brought into the fold of peace, and for teaching bandits to sing of Christ with a Roman heart, who previously had no such ability. Paulinus glorified Nicetas as the “father of the whole north” and the “good servant of Christ”. He also came to be known as the Apostle to the Danube.

Saint Columba of Iona

By Rev. Alban Butler (1710-1773)

(Lives of the Saints)

St. Columba, commonly pronounced Colme, was one of the greatest patriarchs of the monastic Order in Ireland, and the apostle of the Picts. To distinguish him from other saints of the same name, he was surnamed Columkille, from the great number of monastic cells, called by the Irish Killes, of which he was the founder. He was of most noble extraction from Neil, and was born at Gartan, in the county of Tyrconnel, in 521. He learned from his childhood that there is nothing great, nothing worth our esteem or pursuit, which does not advance the divine love in our souls, to which he totally devoted himself with an entire disengagement of his heart from the world, and in perfect purity of mind and body. He learned the divine scriptures and the lessons of an ascetic life under the holy bishop St. Finian, in his great school of Cluain-iraird. Being advanced to the Order of priesthood in 546, he began to give admirable lessons of piety and sacred learning, and in a short time formed many disciples. He founded, about the year 550, the great monastery of Dair-Magh, now called Durrogh, which original name signifies Field of Oaks, and besides many smaller, those of Doire or Derry in Ulster, and of Sord or Swords, about six miles from Dublin. St. Columba composed a rule which, as Usher, Tanner, and Sir James Ware inform us, is still extant in the old Irish. This rule he settled in the hundred monasteries which he founded in Ireland and Scotland. It was chiefly borrowed from the ancient oriental monastic institutes, as the inquisitive Sir Roger Twisden observes, of all the old British and Irish monastic Orders.

Saint Philotheos, Metropolitan of Tobolsk and Enlightener of Siberia (+ 1727)

St. Philotheos of Tobolsk (Feast Day - May 31)

The Most Reverend hierarch, the renowned Metropolitan of Siberia and Tobolsk, was from a noble, but poor family and received a theological degree at the then famous Kiev Theological Academy.

At the end of the course, he was ordained as a priest for one of the rural churches, but he was soon widowed. He was tonsured as a monk with the name Philotheos, and joined the brotherhood of the Kiev Caves Lavra.

In Siberia Christianity began to spread among the native pagans and Mohammedans from the very conquest of this country by the Russian state (in 1581), but conversions of the Siberian non-Russians to faith in Christ were generally insignificant and mostly individual.

Reflection for the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman (St. Theophan the Recluse)

By St. Theophan the Recluse

The Samaritan woman's fellow citizens said to her after two days with the Savior in their midst, "Now we believe not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world" (John 4:42). It happens this way with everyone. At first they are called to the Lord by an external word, or as for many now, simply by birth. But when they taste in practice what it is to live in the Lord, they no longer cleave to the Lord through their external affiliation with Christian society, but through their inner union with Him. It is necessary for all who are born in Christian societies to make this a law for themselves; that is, to not limit themselves to mere external affiliation with the Lord, but to seek to unite with Him inwardly, that they may always bear witness within themselves that they are standing in the truth. Why is this necessary? It is necessary to embody within oneself the truth of Christ. The truth of Christ is a restoration of what is fallen. Thus, put off the old man, which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts, and put on the new man, which is created after God in righteousness and true holiness (cf. Eph. 4:22–24), and you will know within yourself that the Lord Jesus Christ is in truth the Savior — not only for the world, but also for you.

An Interesting Report During the Ebola Outbreak of 2014 in Sierra Leone

On August 14, 2014 the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 1975 cases of Ebola had been reported and 1069 people had died from the disease. In Sierra Leone, there were 783 cases of Ebola and 334 fatalities.

Ebola is not transmitted by air, but rather through bodily fluids like blood and saliva. The virus is also not transmitted through water or food, but it can remain on objects, such as needles or even clothing, for an extended period of time after the infected person comes in contact with that object. There was no known cure for Ebola (other than experimental drugs) and no inoculation against the disease. The death rate for those infected with the Ebola virus can be as high as 90%.

Saint Juvenaly of Alaska as a Model for our Lives

By Protopresbyter Fr. George Papavarnavas

Saint Juvenaly, who in the world was known as Yakov Feodorov, was born in Russia in 1756. He was a military man and reached the rank of brigadier, but the desire for God that burned in his heart caused him to abandon the military and settle in the renowned Monastery of Valaam, where he was tonsured a monk and ordained a priest. The abbot of the monastery, Staretz Nazarius, seeing his divine zeal, sent him to Alaska for missionary work, together with other monks, after a decision by the Holy Synod of the Church of Russia. With joy and enthusiasm Juvenaly joined the missionary team, led by the thirty-three year old Archimandrite Joasaph. On January 22, 1794 the eight missionaries left Moscow and mainly traveled by ship. According to a letter from the leader of the group to the abbot Staretz Nazarius, Juvenaly "was by far the most capable and prudent, with so much fervor for missions, that he wanted to run everywhere preaching about Christ."

Saint Theodoret of Kola, Enlightener of the Lapps in Solovki (+ 1571)

St. Theodoret of Kola (Feast Day - August 17)

Venerable Theodoret left his home in Rostov and went to the Solovki Monastery when he was only thirteen years old, where he was a scribe of books. The following year he was tonsured and placed under obedience to the wise Father Zosimas. For the next fifteen years he grew in wisdom and virtue, then was ordained a deacon by the Archbishop of Novgorod.

Theodoret spent one more year with his Elder, then asked for permission to visit other monasteries. At each place he spoke with experienced ascetics, deriving much spiritual profit from their conversation. After two years at the White Lake Monastery, Theodoret lived alone in the forest around the monastery. During his four years in the forest, he came into contact with other ascetics, from whom he learned many useful things.

Saint Martin of Braga, Apostle of the Sueves (+ 580)

Little is known of his early life. Martin was born about 520 in Pannonia (today: Hungary, Croatia, Serbia). As a young man he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, where he became a monk. While living in Palestine, he met pilgrims from Spain who spoke to him about the need to convert pagans and Arians in their lands. With the encouragement of the pilgrims he traveled to Spain at about 550. He arrived in Galicia in the northwestern part of of the Iberian peninsula to convert the Suevi, a Germanic tribe that earlier had migrated into Spain. Many in the tribe were still pagans and others had accepted Arianism.

Saint Willibrord, Archbishop of Utrecht and Apostle of Frisia (+ 739)

Saint Willibrord (or Wilbrord) was born in Northumbria, and he went to Ireland to study under Saint Egbert. From there he went to Friesland (c. 690) accompanied by eleven other monks from England. Six years later he was consecrated first Bishop of Utrecht with the name of Clement and he founded his Cathedral in Utrecht. His work with the Frisians bore much fruit, as also in Heligoland and Denmark, for which reason he is known as the "Apostle to the Frisians". He founded the monastery of Echternach in Luxembourg in 698, reposed in 739, and was buried in Echternach, where his relics remain and have been a source of many miracles.

Saint Agapios the Presbyter (+ 1815)

St. Agapios the Presbyter (Feast Day - November 6)

Known in the world as Asimakis Leonardos, but more popularly known as Agapios the Presbyter, he was a prominent scholar and ecclesiastical writer. He was born in Dimitsana in 1740 and reposed in Argos in 1815.

The young Asimakis was first educated in his homeland, probably at the School of Philosophou, which was near Dimitsana, and later went to Tripoli, where he had as a teacher Parthenios. In 1759, at the age of 19, he departed for Constantinople, and would stop at Mount Athos on the way, where Eugenios Voulgaris was teaching. However, he ended up in Smyrna, where he studied at the Evangelical School from 1759 to 1764. He was also tonsured a monk and took the name Agapios.

Saint Nikephoros, Who Founded a Monastery in Charsianon

St. Nikephoros, Founder of the Monastery in Charsianon (Feast Day - October 23)

Verses

Raising up a sacred monastery Nikephoros,
You also hastened to live a victorious life.

Saint Nikephoros was a monk at Esphigmenou Monastery, probably a hellenized Armenian, and was sent on an important mission to the theme of Charsianon in 1001, i.e., immediately after David Kouropalates, prince of Taiq, had died and his princedom was annexed by Emperor Basil II. Nikephoros worked in the province near the newly annexed land and contributed to the expansion of Christianity for thirty-six years. There he also established a monastery. As a reward, his retirement within the Church was provided for: in 1037 he was settled on Mount Athos; he received the privilege of eating at Protos Theoktistos's table, or, if he preferred, he would be served in his own cell from the protos 's kitchen. His servant was fed with the brethren. After the death of the protos (who was of Armenian stock), Nikephoros was bequeathed an estate. Finally, he reposed in peace. (Actes d'Esphigmenou, Paris, 1973, no. 2.)

Saint Columba of Iona, Enlightener of Scotland (+ 597)

St. Columba of Iona (Feast Day - June 9)

A poet, prophet and monk of royal Irish lineage, Columba went to Scotland to evangelize the pagan Picts. He was a student of Finnian of Clonard. His name means “Dove of the Church.” 

Columba was born into a royal clan in Donegal, Ireland. He called Christ “his druid,” or teacher. Columcille, his Irish name, or Columba, as he is known in Latin Britain, founded the monasteries of Derry and Durrow in his native Ireland, and the island monastery of Iona on the coast of Scotland. Iona was the center of operations for the conversion of the Scots and Picts, and became the most famous monastic complex in Scotland. There Columba baptized Brude, King of the Picts, and later a King of the Scots came to this Abbot of the "Holy Isle" for baptism. All of these monasteries had oak groves, the favorite trees of the druids. 

Saint Boniface, Apostle to the Germans (+ 754)

St. Boniface, Archbishop of Mainz (Feast Day - June 5)

Our father among the saints Boniface (c. 672 - June 5, 754 or 755), the Apostle of the Germans, born Winfrid or Wynfrith at Crediton in Devonshire, was a missionary who propagated Christianity in Germany during the 8th century. His feast day is celebrated on June 5, the day of his repose.

He was of good family, and it was somewhat against his father's wishes that he devoted himself at an early age to the monastic life. He received his theological training in the Benedictine monasteries of Adescancastre, near Exeter and Nursling between Winchester and Southampton, under the abbot Winbert, taught in the abbey school and at the age of thirty became a priest. He wrote the first Latin grammar produced in England.

Saints Cyril and Methodios Resource Page

Sts. Cyril and Methodios (Feast Day - May 11)

 

Eulogy for Cyril and Methodios (Clement of Ochrid) 

 

Saints Cyril and Methodios, Enlighteners of the Slavs 

 

May: Day 11: Teaching 1: Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodios

 

Homily One on the Commemoration of the Enlighteners of the Slavs and Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodios (St. John of Kronstadt)

 

Saints Cyril and Methodius, the Apostles of the Slavonians (Sebastian Dabovich)

 

Saints Cyril and Methodios of Thessaloniki, Teachers of the Slavs

 

The Tomb and Relics of Saint Cyril the Apostle to the Slavs 

 

The Disputation Between Saint Cyril the Philosopher and the Muslims 

 

Who Sent Cyril And Methodius Into Central Europe? 

 

The Veneration of Saints Cyril and Methodios in Greece 

  

Thessaloniki Declares 2013 the Year of Saints Cyril and Methodius 

 

Unveiling of the Monument to Sts. Cyril and Methodios in Thessaloniki 

 

Patriarchs of Constantinople and Russia Celebrate Slavic Letters Day 

 

Bulgaria Honors Glagolitic Alphabet on Enlighteners' Day 

 

Slovakia Removes Saints' Halos On New Euro Coin 

 

A Prague Church That Defied Nazi Rule 

 

Movie: "Cyril and Methodius: The Apostles of the Slavs" (2013) 

 

"Cyril and Methodius: The Apostles of the Slavs" (2013) - Full Movie with English Subtitles 

 

Holy Seven Apostles of Bulgaria - Saints Cyril, Methodios, Clement, Nahum, Sava, Gorazd and Angelrius 

 

Saint Rastislav, Prince of Great Moravia (+ 870)

Saint Nicholas of Japan Resource Page

St. Nicholas of Japan (Feast Day - February 3)

 

Saint Nicholas, Archbishop of Japan (+ 1912)

 

The Missionary Example of Saint Nicholas of Japan

 

An Article About Saint Nicholas of Japan From 1904

 

Fyodor Dostoevsky's Meeting With Archbishop Nicholas Kasatkin the Missionary of Japan 

 

Documentaries on St. Nicholas of Japan

 

Saint Nicholas of Japan on Buddhism

 

Orthodoxy in Japan Today