A Blessed Visit

30/3/2011
Indian Orthodox Church – Diocese of U.k, Europe and Africa

H.G.Dr.Mathews Mar Thimothios, the head of Europe and African diocese of the Indian Orthodox Church, made his maiden visit to Tanzania from the 25th to 28th of March,2011. Apart from Tanzania, His Grace is visiting South Africa and Botswana during a month-long spiritual sojourn in Africa. The Metropolitan was received at the Dar es Salaam airport by the members of the Orthodox Church. On Saturday, 26th of April, Metropolitan celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Greek Orthodox Church in Dar es Salaam. His Eminence Dimitrios (Zaharengas) of Irinoupolis, the Bishop of the Greek Orthodox Church, helped in making the arrangements for the Holy Communion through the parish priest Fr.Peter. A packed crowd of almost seventy Syrian Kerala Christians witnessed the communion. H.G gave a very thought-provoking sermon between the communion, explaining the healing miracles of Jesus, the significance of prayer and its power which cannot be explained through human intellect. ‘There is a lot of positive energy that emanates from good deeds of our everyday life including our prayers and this positive energy, though invisible, have great impacts on our lives’ stated Metropolitan in his sermon.

On Sunday, His Grace along with few Kerala families made a visit to the first church of East Africa located in Bagamoyo, 70 km north of Dar es Salaam. In the evening an Ecumenical prayer meeting was organized, where Metropolitan delivered the keynote address and also lead the prayers. Metropolitan i left for South Africa on Monday morning and assured the Christian community that he will definitely make it a point to visit Tanzania again to meet the spiritual needs of the Orthodox Christians. That concluded the blessed visit that provided great inspiration and spiritual boosting to the Indian Orthodox Christian Community in Tanzania.

Source:
OCP News Service