Tanzania, May 25, 2021
Photo: romfea.gr
Mother Thekla, affectionately know as “Mama Thekla,” the spiritual mother of Tanzanian children, reposed in the Lord on Sunday at the age of 74.
The Nun Thekla breathed her last in the hospital in Katerini, Greece, and was buried yesterday at Holy Resurrection Monastery in Lagada. Her funeral was served by Metropolitan Dimitrios of Irinoupolis of the Patriarchate of Alexandria, in the presence of dozens of priests, monks, and spiritual children from Africa, reports Romfea.
Mother Thekla is remembered for her burning love and her ability to draw many to Christ throughout her many decades of selfless service in Ethiopia and Tanzania.
Met. Dimitrios offered moving words in honor of the newly-reposed “Nun Thekla, the missionary, the Mother of the children of Africa, the Sister Thekla of our heart,” whose departure “leaves Africa much poorer.”
Mother Thekla was born in Thessaloniki in 1947. She was nurtured on holy Orthodoxy from birth, and at the age of 23, she entered the monastic life.
“All those who lived near the Nun Thekla and ministered in Africa and Greece remember her holy form!!! The humility and simplicity of her character, her affability, selflessness and charity, her reverence and asceticism, her sweet voice and her blue eyes, which were able to look and anticipate every need, especially for her ‘little children!!!’” Met. Dimitrios exclaimed.
“She served the children of Africa, the children of God, ‘her own children’ with exemplary devotion and a sacrificial spirit for 35 years as a mother, as a sister and as a servant of love!!!” he continued.
Mother Thekla exemplified the Orthodox ethos of service, of practicing faith and love for God through love of neighbor.
“At the core of Mother Thekla’s spirituality was absolute trust in the Divine grace that always healed the sick… In the face of the eudemonistic culture, she was completely indifferent to herself and her so-called ‘individual rights,’ but took a direct interest in supporting her fellow man and especially the children!!!”
Mother Thekla never judged or sought to control anyone, Met. Dimitrios recalled, “but was a true spiritual mother, with grace and benevolent understanding for the natives coming to our Missionary Center in Tanzania,” where she served hundreds of hungry children, and always remembered them in prayer.
She labored for 40 years in the Patriarchate of Alexandria, first in Ethiopia, and for the last 15 years in Tanzania with Met. Dimitrios, as the hierarch lovingly recalled. She never sought any honor for herself, but “served all people with charity, without distinction of race, religion, or origin.”
Mother Thekla is remembered as a very capable catechist, an excellent chanter, a helper of the penitent, and a genuine spiritual mother, the Metropolitan said. All would lovingly call her, “Mama Thekla.”
Her love and humility led hundreds to holy Orthodoxy.
“We say goodbye to her with feelings of deep respect and we bow to her sanctified form and reverently ask for her blessing. May her memory be eternal and her virtues an example for all of us. Amen. Christ is Risen!” the Metropolitan concluded.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Vkontakte, Telegram, WhatsApp, Parler, MeWe, and Gab!
