Pastoral Visit of His Grace Damaskinos, Bishop of Ghana to Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone
Orthodox Christian Mission Center
His Grace Damaskinos, Bishop of Ghana, made a pastoral visit during the month of June to the Orthodox Churches on the Ivory Coast and the Orthodox Missionary Division of Sierra Leone, respectively, under his jurisdiction. The Bishop conveyed the paternal blessings of His Beatitude THEODOROS II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa; and he urged the Faithful of both countries to hold to the Orthodox faith and her teachings.
In the Ivory Coast, His Grace visited about five hundred Orthodox Faithful. He also inspected the Church building and Mission House, which contains three bedrooms and a big hall (for church activities), which is still under construction. Hopefully the Church will be inaugurated in September 2009. As you may be aware, there was a Civil War in the Ivory Coast for some time; for this reason we were not able to develop any projects, but by the grace of God the country is calm, and in the future we have plans to build a clinic and a school for educating the children.
With the Grace of God, the Orthodox Missionary Division of Sierra Leone is also growing; they have been able to baptize 130 people. On the 20th of June 2009, His Grace Damaskinos ordained Stephen Kamara to the Diaconate, and the next day His Grace elevated him to the rank of Presbyter. On Monday, the 22nd of June, Deacon Siluanos Nkounkou was ordained to the Priesthood. These Ordinations took place at the Orthodox Church of St. Eleftherios, where His Grace urged the newly ordained priests to take up their pastoral duties as soldiers in Christ, soldiers who will serve the Heavenly King and will give witness to the world of His Orthodox Christian faith and love towards their fellow men.
In the compound at Freetown, they have built an Academy which is known as “Freetown Orthodox Christian School.” The school consists of a Primary School and a Junior High School. The total number of pupils is presently 1,200. The compound is also home to St. Eleftherios chapel and a clinic. The Bishop also visited a five-acre compound in a village on the outskirts of the capital in an area around the town of Waterloo, where some projects are under construction. The compound has a temporary church building which is named after St. Moses the African, a mission house for the priest, and a guest house for visitors. At the moment, they have completed about three large houses, one is nearly ready, and there are two others halfway through completion. They have opened a Junior School for young children of the disabled and of the local community as well as a Tailoring School to train the disabled. When all the buildings are finished, they should be able to house one hundred people. During his visit, the Bishop blessed these projects. Most of the projects are near completion and will soon be used for the glory of God and for the people of Sierra Leone.
