![RTE: How did the Mayans come to Orthodoxy?!
Fr. Andre Giron: When you are in a country where there are no material answers, there is a
search for God that you will never believe. Their search for God came through their physical
poverty. [Orthodoxy has not been imposed. These people have willingly and whole-
heartedly converted to Orthodoxy on their own. Almost all of them were baptized Catholic
and many came from the recent Catholic Charismatic Renewal movement, which very much
discouraged pagan customs... Once they discovered Orthodoxy, they felt they had found an
expression of Christianity that seemed native to them, that fit their spirits, because they
deeply respect God and the sacred things of God. It seems now that the Mayan pagan world
has ended, and that there has begun a beautiful search for Orthodoxy.]!
RTE: Father, will you describe the (2013) demographics of the Mayan Orthodox population in
Guatemala?!
Fr. Andre Giron: The total population of Guatemala is around 14 million, about the size of
Ohio. About 67%, or 8 million, are Mayan. Poverty and illiteracy are still great problems. We
now have 150,000 active Mayan parishioners in 300 communities and many others who are
moving towards Orthodoxy. This is why the local Catholic Church is very concerned, and
why in Guatemala the Catholics are even rebaptizing Orthodox who come to their churches,
which is not done anywhere else in the world.!
Fr. John Chakos (OCMC Missionary): Fr. Andres not only works with the Mayans in
Guatemala, but he also has fifty-two vibrant parishes in Chiapas, Mexico, mostly made up of
Guatemalan refugees who had to leave during the wars, but who have kept their identity and
languages. There are also some native Mexicans.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/newocmcmissionspresentationpdf-140616101710-phpapp01/85/OCMC-Missions-Presentation-2014-Tyrone-Stavros-Emery-133-320.jpg)
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Similar to OCMC Missions Presentation (2014)- Tyrone-Stavros Emery (20)
OCMC Missions Presentation (2014)- Tyrone-Stavros Emery
- 1. 0 OCMC Missionary Candidate to S.Korea! Tyrone-Stavros Emery! Support-raising Tour- Midterm Assignment & Exploratory Visit
- 2. OCMC is the official mission agency of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the USA. The mission of OCMC is to make disciples of all nations by bringing people to Christ and His Church. -
- 3. ! “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.” -Matthew 28:18-20
- 4. OCMC Headquarters- St. Augustine, FL / OCMC Missionary Evaluation Retreat (2/2012)
- 5. OCMC- New Candidate Orientation- St. Augustine, FL (6/2012)
- 6. Welcome to your Orthodox Christian Mission Center! Current Missionaries In-Field- (8); Missionary Specialists- (4); Missionary Candidates- (5) = Total- (17)! More Orthodox Christian Missionaries Needed? YES OCMC Board & Staff (Executive; Development; Missionaries; Mission Teams; Communications; Finance) OCMC Active Missionaries- “In-field”, “Mission Specialists; and “Candidates” Albania Guatemala Romania Alaska, USA Kenya Mongolia South Korea
- 7. Requests for missionaries continue to come to the Orthodox Christian Mission Center from all over the world. "Knowing that I don't have 50 people to send hurts," Fr. Martin Ritsi said. "I believe God is calling people, but many people don't realize it yet." “Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly if plentiful, but the laborers are few.” Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” ! -Matthew 9:37-38 Fr. Martin Ritsi, OCMC Executive Director
- 8. “‘Love never ends’ (1 Cor. 13:8). Therefore, evangelizing and witnessing must never end... The motive behind evangelizing and witnessing is not simply duty but love.” - Archimandrite Athanasios Mitilinaios
- 11. Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology- Class of 2008
- 12. KASIKIZI & RUBALE, TANZANIA
- 13. -OCMC Teaching Team 2005- Kasikizi, Tanzania Swahili: (Kristo Amefufukka! - Kweli Amefufukka!)// (Bwana Utuhurumie; Bwana Hurumia) ??
- 30. “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news”, (Isaiah 52:7)
- 40. TIRANA & DURRES, ALBANIA
- 41. -OCMC Youth Camp Team 2007- Tirana, Albania Albanian: (Krishti u ngjall! - Vërtet u ngjall!)// (Mëshiro, O Zot)
- 60. SITKA, ALASKA
- 61. - -OCMC Teaching & Youth Team 2007- Sitka, Alaska English: (Christ is Risen! - Truly He has Risen!)// (Lord have Mercy) Native Alaskan languages: (-)
- 65. -
- 75. TURKANA, KENYA
- 76. -OCMC Construction Team 2012- Turkana, Kenya Turkana: (Ayeru Kristo! - Iteni Ayeru!)// (Ekapolon Kisienoi)
- 80. -
- 94. -
- 124. Fr. Vladimir Lonyuduk, the first ordained priest of Turkana, spoke these beautiful words as we said our farewell- “We thank God for having you come be with us here, interact with us here, work with us here, eat with us here, enjoy with us and celebrate with us. Thank you God.. God grant you many years. And God bless our community from America, and bless the community of Loupwala, and all of us here in Turkana, and Kenya, and the entire Africa. So we thank you for helping us to construct this church. We pray and believe that maybe next year we’ll be having a consecration for Loupwala here, maybe constructing another chapel. So let’s get strong in faith. Let’s take the word- all of us and share with the rest of us who are not with us, to those who have not heard this great word, for the glory of God. So it is now in our hands- God has commissioned us, men and women of God of Loupwala, so that we take the good news to those of us who are far away from us, maybe impassable some areas, so that we have our Christian community getting larger and larger. Thank you very much (Ejoka Noi)…. Continue being a living offering to God and God will be with us. He will bless us- let us look for His Kingdom first.”! !
- 125. HUEHUETENANGO & AGUACATE, GUATEMALA
- 126. ! OCMC Exploratory Visit Guatemala (& Mexico)- 2013 Spanish: (Christo ha Resucitado! - En Verdad ha Resucitado!)// (Señor ten Piedad) Mayan languages: (-)
- 127. Orthodox facilities at Nueva Concepcion, Guatemala
- 128. Orthodox church at Nueva Concepcion, Guatemala
- 129. Sunday after Liturgy- Padre Andres Giron and fellow Orthodox Christians- Nueva Concepcion, Guatemala
- 130. Boys orphanage, Nueva Concepcion, Guatemala
- 131. Orthodox Seminary
- 133. RTE: How did the Mayans come to Orthodoxy?! Fr. Andre Giron: When you are in a country where there are no material answers, there is a search for God that you will never believe. Their search for God came through their physical poverty. [Orthodoxy has not been imposed. These people have willingly and whole- heartedly converted to Orthodoxy on their own. Almost all of them were baptized Catholic and many came from the recent Catholic Charismatic Renewal movement, which very much discouraged pagan customs... Once they discovered Orthodoxy, they felt they had found an expression of Christianity that seemed native to them, that fit their spirits, because they deeply respect God and the sacred things of God. It seems now that the Mayan pagan world has ended, and that there has begun a beautiful search for Orthodoxy.]! RTE: Father, will you describe the (2013) demographics of the Mayan Orthodox population in Guatemala?! Fr. Andre Giron: The total population of Guatemala is around 14 million, about the size of Ohio. About 67%, or 8 million, are Mayan. Poverty and illiteracy are still great problems. We now have 150,000 active Mayan parishioners in 300 communities and many others who are moving towards Orthodoxy. This is why the local Catholic Church is very concerned, and why in Guatemala the Catholics are even rebaptizing Orthodox who come to their churches, which is not done anywhere else in the world.! Fr. John Chakos (OCMC Missionary): Fr. Andres not only works with the Mayans in Guatemala, but he also has fifty-two vibrant parishes in Chiapas, Mexico, mostly made up of Guatemalan refugees who had to leave during the wars, but who have kept their identity and languages. There are also some native Mexicans.
- 134. RTE: What did the Mayans think about the end of the Mayan calendar in December 2012?! Fr. Andre Giron: They were laughing at people who thought it meant the end of the world. To the Mayans, it signals the end of an era and it signified changing the mind of the world for something better. There has to be a miracle within the hearts of people and something is going to happen. They think that the world is not going to end, but to change for the better. They hope for a world of peace and justice.! RTE: Perhaps bound up with their new-found Orthodoxy. Are their other countries in Latin America with indigenous movements towards Orthodoxy?! Fr. John Chakos (OCMC Missionary): There is a growing church movement in Cuba... Parishes in other parts of Latin America are mostly emigre Ukrainian, Greek, Arab, or Russian Orthodox, not native missions. The only indigenous mission in Central America is in Guatemala, where the people themselves are spreading the faith.
- 137. -Wedding of Juan & Blanca ; Baptism of their daughter Natalia
- 140. Aguacate, Guatemala (w/Fr. Evangelos)
- 143. -Aguacate, Guatemala
- 145. -Tamales
- 146. -Aguacate, Guatemala
- 156. -Zacaleu, Guatemala
- 158. -
- 159. -
- 160. “Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.” (Psalm 19:4)
- 161. SOUTH KOREA
- 162. OCMC Mid-term Placement & Exploratory Visit Korea- 2014 Korean: (그리스도께서 부활하셨습니다! Kristo Gesso Buhwal ha sho sumnida! - 참으로 부활하셨습니다! Chamuro Buhwal ha sho sumnida!)// (주님, 자비를 베푸소서 - Junim, jabireul bepusoseo; Chu yaw, brr sung he yaw ghee soh saw)??
- 163. SOUTH KOREA 8 Parishes! 1 Chapel! 2 Monasteries! 50 MILLION PEOPLE
- 164. Metropolitan Ambrosios of Korea, in a talk given at the Mission Team Chicago Benefit (2013) says, “It is my honest belief that the location of today’s greatest challenges lie primarily in East Asia, particularly in the Far East… Let me ask: Who among us has wondered how many of these three and a half billion (3,500,000,000) people in East Asia, as of today, in 2013, are Christians? The answer is painful, and I do not want to dwell on it. But please allow me to ask just this question: How many among the Orthodox Christians in America are aware of the fact that “the joyful news of the Resurrection” has not yet reached the ends of the earth?”! ! “Simply by considering these basic facts about Orthodoxy’s minimal witness in East Asia, we become totally convinced that the Orthodox Church is facing new and cosmogonic challenges. Ours is a small, soft voice amidst a loud cacophony encompassing half of the earth’s people. Yet this reality is also an opportunity of unprecedented significance. If we seize this opportunity while we have the chance and we respond with zeal, dedication, and hard work, Orthodox Mission will write golden pages in history for the glory of God and of our Holy Church.”
- 170. “The spread of Christ’s faith ought to be near and precious to the heart of every Christian. In this work every member of the Church ought to take a lively and heart-felt interest. This interest may show itself in personal preaching of the Gospel of Christ. And to our great joy, we know of such examples amongst our lay brethren.” -St. Tikhon, New Confessor, Patriarch of Moscow and Enlightener of America
- 171. Follow me on Facebook at:! www.facebook.com/OCMCMissionaryEmeryStavros
- 172. Consider making a generous donation today ! so that we may go to the ends of the earth! to serve the people of South Korea.! ! ! Make checks payable to: ! OCMC! Orthodox Christian Mission Center! 220 Mason Manatee Way! St. Augustine, FL 32086! 808-778-3757! Memo Field: Tyrone-Stavros Emery “You shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” -Acts 1:8
- 173. Or at www.ocmc.org:
- 174. THANK YOU! FOR YOUR! TIME AND CONSIDERATION