St. Simon of Cyrene Orthodox Mission
Once, not too long ago, a Protestant missionary to the Middle East came to a little Christian village in the desert. He struck up a conversation with a young man, and asked, in the boy’s language “Son, do you know about Jesus Christ?”
The young man responded and said “Of course! Everybody in this village is a Christian!”
The evangelist, delighted, inquired “Wonderful! Who brought you the Gospel? The Lighthouse Baptists? The Presbyterian Gospel Coalition? Lutheran World Missions?”
The young man responded and said “You know, I actually don’t know.
Everybody has been a Christian here for as long as I can remember. Let
me ask the village elders.”
The young man then walked over to a group of old men sitting under a shade tree, drinking Arak and trying to keep cool. He spoke to them in their language briefly, and walked back over to the missionary.
“They said it was St Paul”.
Once there came to the village two American Baptist missionaries. They sermonized for three days. Finally they promised to build a church, a school, and a hospital if everyone were converted. But the elder of the village speaking for all of the locals answered them: "We could demand your departure at the very first day, but we listened to what you wanted to say. Now, when you have finished your sermon, we ask you to leave our village and never come back. We don't need your churches, schools and hospitals as we are Orthodox Christians". The locals were not christened at the time and had not given a promise to build something. [From the post The Orthodox Christian Church in Madagascar]
See also
During the time that Luther and Calvin were formulating the Reformation...
The young man then walked over to a group of old men sitting under a shade tree, drinking Arak and trying to keep cool. He spoke to them in their language briefly, and walked back over to the missionary.
“They said it was St Paul”.
***
The Orthodox mission [in Madagascar] guides several villages and settlements, some of them are fully converted to Orthodoxy. One of them is the village Ambovandramanesi. It is one of the first villages visited by Father Nectarios. It has one of the strongest Orthodox communities. This is confirmed by a case which happened here. Once there came to the village two American Baptist missionaries. They sermonized for three days. Finally they promised to build a church, a school, and a hospital if everyone were converted. But the elder of the village speaking for all of the locals answered them: "We could demand your departure at the very first day, but we listened to what you wanted to say. Now, when you have finished your sermon, we ask you to leave our village and never come back. We don't need your churches, schools and hospitals as we are Orthodox Christians". The locals were not christened at the time and had not given a promise to build something. [From the post The Orthodox Christian Church in Madagascar]
See also
During the time that Luther and Calvin were formulating the Reformation...
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