On Thursday, March 28, 7 p.m. CET, as the fourth event of the series “The Liturgy after the Liturgy,” a lecture on the subject of mission will be given by His Eminence Gregorios, Metropolitan of Cameroon. Organized by the Holy Metropolis of France and the Vicariate of French-speaking parishes, (Vicariat Sainte Marie de Paris et Saint Alexis d'Ugine, Ecumenical Patriarchate), in collaboration with the Volos Academy for Theological Studies, this lecture will develop the idea of “Mission as a form of ‘liturgy after the liturgy’”. The event will be accessible online either via Zoom (at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84913433453, with free registration at https://vicariatorthodoxe.fr/inscription-catechese/) or via the YouTube Channel of the Metropolis of France at https://www.youtube.com/c/lalettreduvicariat. The event will be in French.

Mission in African countries, as with other countries still in the early stages of economic development, cannot be limited to simple sermons or an acquaintance with the doctrines of the Christian faith. On the contrary, mission is the call to active involvement with the specific needs of the population approached, and demands everyday, routine actions vital to the community. Missionaries are regularly faced with shortages in daily necessities, feeble health and education infrastructure, and various forms of social injustice or violence. In confronting these realities, mission means expanding the divine service of the common table outside the church area and putting into practice of words of the gospel, “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Mt. 25:40).

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. From January 2001 through 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. In 2009, due to his activities, 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.