First Divine Liturgy at Mamelodi
Yesterday we had the first Divine Liturgy in Mamelodi, for our mission
congregation that meets in a classroom a Zakhele School in Mamelodi
East. Last year 8 people from the congregation were baptised after two
years of preparation, and most of them were there yesterday to receive
communion, and there were also several visitors. We were able to to do
this thanks to the clergy at St Thomas's Orthodox Church in Sunninghill
Park. They now have two priests, Fr Panteleimon and Fr Spyridon, both
from the same monastery in Serbia, so one of them is sometimes
available to help us.
We go to Mamelodi and Tembisa on alternate Sundays, and the previous Sunday (4 December) we
went to Tembisa, a congregation that had started in Feburary this year.
One of the young teachers there, Bothwell Gurure, normally acts as reader, but some weeks ago he had to return to Zimbabwe, where his
uncle had died, and stayed to renew his visa, which took longer than
expected. But young Valencis Semenya, 12 years old, who is from
Mamelodi, but was visiting her aunt in Tembisa, suddenly jumped in, to
everyone's surprise, and led the Hours and Readers Service. She had
never done that before, though in Mamelodi she had occasionally read a
prayer or a psalm when the service was being led by her older cousins. Here is a picture of her with one of the older members of the Mamelodi congregation, Theophania Malahlela.
It would be nice to show more pictures of this historic occasion, but
unfortunately the flash on our little digital camera isn't strong
enough to counter the light coming in through the classroom windows, so
most of the pictures we took were rather dark.
congregation that meets in a classroom a Zakhele School in Mamelodi
East. Last year 8 people from the congregation were baptised after two
years of preparation, and most of them were there yesterday to receive
communion, and there were also several visitors. We were able to to do
this thanks to the clergy at St Thomas's Orthodox Church in Sunninghill
Park. They now have two priests, Fr Panteleimon and Fr Spyridon, both
from the same monastery in Serbia, so one of them is sometimes
available to help us.
We go to Mamelodi and Tembisa on alternate Sundays, and the previous Sunday (4 December) we
went to Tembisa, a congregation that had started in Feburary this year.
One of the young teachers there, Bothwell Gurure, normally acts as reader, but some weeks ago he had to return to Zimbabwe, where his
uncle had died, and stayed to renew his visa, which took longer than
expected. But young Valencis Semenya, 12 years old, who is from
Mamelodi, but was visiting her aunt in Tembisa, suddenly jumped in, to
everyone's surprise, and led the Hours and Readers Service. She had
never done that before, though in Mamelodi she had occasionally read a
prayer or a psalm when the service was being led by her older cousins. Here is a picture of her with one of the older members of the Mamelodi congregation, Theophania Malahlela.
It would be nice to show more pictures of this historic occasion, but
unfortunately the flash on our little digital camera isn't strong
enough to counter the light coming in through the classroom windows, so
most of the pictures we took were rather dark.