Moscow, February 17, 2017
Photo: The web site of the Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa
On February 15 His Beatitude Theodoros II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa visited a Church-run hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo to bless its newly-built wing, reports the site of the Alexandrian Patriarchate.
The patriarch arrived to the hospital of the Holy Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian parish in the city of Kolwezi, in the south of the country near the border of Zambia, accompanied by the clergy traveling with him. His Beatitude officially opened the new wing, celebrating a rite of blessing, and also met and spoke with the patients and hospital staff.
The ceremony was attended by the Minister of Health of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Mayor of Kolwezi, a representative of the governor, the President of the Governing Council, the Kolwezi health inspector and a variety of other state officials, in addition to the hospitals’ medical and nursing staff and many other guests, especially including His Eminence Meletios Grigoriatis of Katanga, whose see is located in Lubumbashi, 185 miles southeast of Kolwezi.
Patriarch Theodoros thanked President Joseph Kabila for his support of the work of the Orthodox Church, and congratulated Met. Meletios for his great work in seeing through the implementation of the hospital and its new wing, which features modern medical equipment. The primate also urged all present to continue contributing to the successful functioning of the hospital for sanitary service to residents of the greater area.
After the ceremony, Patriarch Theodoros also visited the nearby women’s monastery dedicated to St. Nektarios. In his address there he stated,
Monasteries are a great blessing for our patriarchate, because as our bodies need life-giving oxygen to live, so the Church needs monasticism. We need saints, monks and nuns! And my prayer to God is that this continent be blessed to be full of monasteries, that the name of our holy God would be praised and glorified. I bless you from my heart. I want you to know that our Metropolitan Meletios is very fond of the monastery, because first of all he is a good monk. You, yes you, have the privilege to be next to the metropolis’ hospital. I ask you to please, please, please support it with your contributions and with your prayers and to give courage to those weary...
The African primate’s visit then continued with pastoral visits to several parish communities.
