The Orthodox Church in North Tanzania consists of a large number of faithful. Always and everywhere, the people who have a pure soul appreciate the valuable pearl on finding it, and sell all their property in order to obtain it and make it theirs. The same thing has happened here.Those people who are in a position to identify in the Orthodox faith and life the treasure that has never been taken from them – now and forever- give their heart to it and follow it.
It is not easy at all for one to walk miles barefoot with the child on their back in order to reach the church of God and pray. It is not easy, either, to attend the celebration of the Divine Liturgy, standing for 3 to 4 hours, joining their voice with the voices of the others in the choir, before they have to walk again a few miles back to their hut having eaten nothing. Neither is it easy to get away from home for 10-15 days and stay in an outdoor camping in order to take part in an intensive catechetical seminar.
And yet, they do all the things mentioned above, and not only these. They are willing to do much more, given the chance and the incentive. The Church has to utilize these people and offer them a field of action so that they can minister to it.
However, there are plenty of obstacles that need to be overcome so that the natives can join Orthodoxy. The first and of utmost importance difficulty is for the Orthodox message to reach them, in their own place. This is feasible only if the workers of the Gospel can be found and accept to travel far away from their place in order to bring it close to them. This does not always happen, though. That is why a big complaint on the part of these people is why true faith took so long to reach them. Why, for instance, haven’t the Greeks shared with them before what they have had for two thousand years now? The question is staggering and the answer to it is very difficult indeed.
Now, lets us suppose that the first difficulty has been overcome; there is a second one, equally big, that arises: the language problem. As the truth is registered on both mind and heart through the language, the word of the Gospel must be written in their own dialect. For them learning a foreign language is very difficult. Therefore, someone who knows foreign languages should learn their own in order to get closer to them, translate texts and have them printed for them, distribute them to them and so on. From then on it is them that bear the responsibility.
Other difficulties derive from their own racial as well as social environment. Embracing a faith unknown to their environment, means to them making changes and redefining the structures of their life. Accepting to live with the others, but unlike the others. This means a lot of things.
These people must uproot from deep inside habits, practices, views experienced for centuries by their ancestors and handed down to them. At the same time they must inform and convince their fellow countrymen that what they have chosen is stronger and more real, it is something really unique.
Many times they have to confront suspiciousness, rejection, marginalization as well as the aggressive behaviour on the part of their fellowmen. Some probably do not like the rise in figures of the Orthodox Christians and are trying to undermine this spread, sometimes with obvious and sometimes with devious means.
Moreover, there are practical difficulties, too. For example, what will a man do if he has so far lived with three or four women and has had children with them, since once he becomes Orthodox, he ought on the one hand to exist and function within one blessed marriage, on the other, support the women and children he got when he lived in ignorance.
I referred to difficulties and obstacles in brief so as to enable the friends of the Mission to have an idea about the daily struggle of the Orthodox Missionaries. There are undoubtedly more difficulties, “which are without number”. This is why we need your constant prayers so that by the Grace of God and with patience, we can continue preaching His Word in this part of North Tanzania.
From the Holy Metropolitanate of Mwanza
http://orthodoxmission.org.gr/2014/01/obstacles-in-the-way-to-orthodoxy/
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