If you gift away, you stand to gain

The Romanian Orthodox Church in Africa

Roxana Vasile, 21.12.2022, 14:00

Central Africa…somewhere, far, far away. In Rwanda….
Orthodox Christians pray, together with their priests. Inspiring them is Father
Nectarios, a Romanian missionary monk.

Hailing from Tulcea in the south-east Father Nectarios,
whose layperson’s name is Alexandru Dima, is only 30 years old. Young as he may
be, Father Nectarios has had very special spiritual experiences. It was not by
chance that upon his ordination he was given the name Nectarios, while his presence
on the African continent is not a happenstance one, either.

The urge to depart there came from Father Damaskin the
Gregorian, of the Gregoriou Monastery in Mount Athos

Father Nectarios:

ʺI arrived in Burundi, Africa, on
September 11, 2019, at the Orthodox Archdiocese of Burundi and Rwanda.
Therefore, my Bishop is colored, he is African and pastorates two countries.
There, not having any knowledge of Swahili of the Chirunde local idiom, I started
learning Swahili. The Swahili Language is
spoken in, like, 17 countries of the African Continent. There are 56 or 57 countries
on the African Continent, while Swahili is being spoken in the central, Western
and Eastern part. It is some sort of African English, just as English is in
Europe, for us, so is Swahili for Africa. I learned that language, I perform the divine service
in Swahili and that’s how I got to find my bearings, in the places I also travelled
to, as well, in Africa or in other countries. After a month, the Bishop had me come
to Rwanda, he told me It is here you are needed as in Burundi we have a cathedral
of the Greeks, but in Rwanda we had nothing. I performed the Holy Mass outdoors,
in tents, in rented rooms or in the field. And the Bishop told me I was needed
here, in Rwanda, and, with God’s help, if I can, I should build a church.

And he did build it !

Father Nectarios:

ʺThe cathedral that was built, for it, the plot of
land 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
year and until 2020-2021. I took over the work and, with the help of God, this
year we also had its consecration, on October 30. We worked day in, day out,
for the cathedral, masonry, plastering, painting. I brought a painter, a boy
who was very skilled, from Iasi, Alexandru, he painted the church in three
months, he works uninterruptedly, that boy. As for the iconostasis, the wood,
the sculpture for the iconostasis, the lectern, the pulpit or everything else
that was manufactured there, the iconostasis, we brought in a boy from Congo,
who was skilled in carpentry manufacturing work. We do not have the machines so
that we can work fast, and with perfection, but we did try manufacturing work,
and to the best of our abilities, everything came out fine.

The church is scanty for the Rwandians stepping in,
that is why many of them continue to listen to the mass in the courtyard. In the
lectern, a couple of dozens of children sing, also in Romanian. Father Nectarios learned Swahili, so why shouldn’t they
learn a little bit of his mother tongue too !

Father Nectarios:

ʺIn time, I carried a lot and I brought priest’s garbs from Romania, I take care of the communion wine, of candles, of
everything related to performing the divine service proper. When I got here,
the priests didn’t have win for the Holy Communion and they were performing the
divine service with fruit juice. They bought fruit juice from the shop, the cheapest
one, to perform the Holy Communion or, instead of frankincense, in order for
the smoke to come out of the incense burner they put a little bit of white wax
from the Catholic churches. And that was a kind of choking smoke, like the one
of a train locomotive. They are very poor! In Rwanda, Orthodoxy has been
accepted since 2012, but very little has been done to that effect. When I came, in 2019, I started everything from
scratch. What we’ve got so far are two small parishes and the cathedral that has
been built. When I arrived, there were roughly 2,000 believers, baptized by
Bishop Inokentios, while this year – we built a cross-shaped baptistery, with a
stairwell, a nice one, we put water in there and we perform the baptizing
there, since April and until now, recently, we have baptized 3,500 to 4,000
people, or thereabouts.

However, quite a few of the Rwandans who embraced the Orthodox Church also do that because, apart from the spiritual aid, they receive material
aid as well. When he doesn’t perform the divine service, Father Nectarios…the
Romanian…travels across Rwanda, far and wide, in a bid to discover the needy of
the land.

Father Nectarios:

ʺThe Christians come to the church also
for poverty reasons, since we gift away, and the Orthodox Church does indeed gift
away. I put a lot of passion so that I can gift away as much as I can, with
every Divine Service, no matter how tiny that gift is, but I make sure I gift
away from the bottom of my heart, a candy, a piece of cake, a little loaf of bread,
a bottle of milk… while in my day-to-day life, in the morning…today I skipped
that…we perform the Morning Service, while on Saturdays and Sundays, the Holy
Mass. After the Morning Service, on weekdays, I am off to do my fieldwork. I
set off in the morning and I find myself still at it in the evening, when it
gets dark outside, as a lot of people wait for me, quite a few of them write
letters…Father, I need a house, Father, I need clothes, I need something to
wear, my children are sick! I focus on a situation; I am exposed to other situations.
And there’s nowhere I can run, you know, I want to run, but I can’t. Oftentimes
I felt I cannot cope with it any more and even this week I said to myself it is
too much for me. But I have no choice!

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
of suitcases he then takes with him to Rwanda. Communion
wine, priestly garbs, candelabra, paints…and many, many other things.

ʺMy record high is made of
82 trolleys, this very year, in April. They were so many! When I departed from
Bucharest, I have a staging post in Amsterdam, and from Amsterdam I have a
non-stop flight to the Airport of Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. So what I’m
saying is, for the 82 trolleys I had, we boarded the plane, but the plane had an
hour and a half delay and the flight attendant kept saying on the phone, though
the receptionist’s we apologize for the delay, it s because of too much
baggage. I didn’t say anything, can you imagine how I got holed up in there,
in my chair? Because they were all mine!

Whoever wants to, they can support the orthodox Mission in Rwanda
– it is an appeal made by Father Nectarios, who recalled an urge made by one of
the Romanian Orthodox Church’s famous spiritual advisers, Nicolae Steinhardt, who
used to say that if we gift away, we stand to gain! But paradoxically, we gain
not that which we have plenty of, but that which we lack.

And, since the Winter Holidays are drawing near, here is
Father Nectarios once again, this time with a well-wishing thought.

I am 8,000 kilometers away
from Romania. I think the distance between us is rather big, but I should like
to take this opportunity and thank you for the fact
that I can go public and extend a heartfelt well-wishing thought to all our Christian
Romanians from everywhere, in Romania and in the diaspora, so from the bottom
of my heart, may the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ fill their
souls with joy! I wish them all a blessed 2023, a year with spiritual fulfilment
and joy, harmony and a united family! (EN)