Third Series of Online Lectures “Time for Action”

Metropolitan Gregorios (Stergiou) of Cameroon:

ORTHODOXY IN AFRICA: PROBLEMS, CHALLENGES, PROSPECTS

The third series of online lectures “Time for Action” by Volos Academy for Theological Studies will begin next Wednesday, February 15, at 7:00 p.m. Greek time. The speaker will be His Eminence Gregorios (Stergiou), Metropolitan of Cameroon, and the topic of the lecture will be “Orthodoxy in Africa: Problems, Challenges, Prospects”. The lecture will be given with interpretation into English and will be accessible via Zoom, at the link https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82201847277.

Metropolitan Gregorios of Cameroon (b. George Ierotheou Stergiou) was born in Megara, Greece in 1961. He studied drawing and painting in Athens and he graduated from the Theological Faculty of the University of Athens in 1988. In 1984 he became a monk. He was ordained a deacon in 1984 and then a presbyter in 1988, by the late Metropolitan Bartholomew of Megara and Salamis. He served as a preacher in the Metropolis of Megara. Between January 2001 and July 2002 he served as the Director of the Special Patriarchal Office of His Beatitude Patriarch Peter VII in Alexandria. From May 2003 until his election as a Metropolitan he served as vicar at the Holy Church of Agios Theodoros in Rome and was at the same time Commissioner for Central Italy of the Holy Metropolis of Italy. He attended postgraduate courses at the Gregorian University in Rome. On October 27, 2004, he was elected Metropolitan of Cameroon and on November 25, 2004, he was ordained Bishop. Due to his activities, in 2009 the Orthodox Church was officially recognized by the State of Cameroon. He has published numerous articles in various magazines and websites about Mission in the region of Africa.

The history of the Orthodox Mission in the African continent is intertwined with the history of the Patriarchate of Alexandria. The theological and historical circumstances such as the Roman persecutions, the appearance of heresies, the appearance and organization of Monasticism, the Arabian expansion with the violent conversions to Islam and the subsequent new persecutions, gave to the Old Patriarchate, in addition to a cloud of Martyrs and confessors, a unique experience in the transfer of the Gospel words and its adaptation to the specificity of each place. Just as the dispersion of the people of Israel helped the Christian preaching to root in various places in the then known world, the same way the forced dispersion of Greek people in Africa, after the disasters that took place in its primordial cradle, was the trigger for the spreading of the Gospel of the Orthodox Church in the 19th century. The Patriarchate of Alexandria, observing the signs of the times, hastened again to minister the coagulation and establishment of new local Churches in almost all African states in an attempt to regain its identity. This path is neither easy, nor self-explanatory, nor without problems, both external and internal. The questioning of the Orthodoxy of the Patriarchate of Alexandria on behalf of the Moscow Patriarchate adds to the pain and suffering, as it acts against the Church, bound by secular criteria. However, hoping to the Righteous Judge, the Patriarchate of Alexandria keeps following its difficult path, “never abandoning its duty”.

The online lectures “Time for Action” were launched in the spring of 2021, due to the restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic. This year's full program will be announced within days.