Kampala, Uganda, December 15, 2023
Photo: Facebook
The founder of the Orthodox Africa charity and missionary priest in Uganda, Hieromonk Silouan (Brown) was brutally attacked in his home last night by a machete-wielding burglar.
Prayers appreciated, I am at the hospital; had a guy break into the house and started slashing me with a machete. Fortunately, it wasn’t very sharp otherwise he would have probably chopped my arm off (I think he was going for my head but in the struggle he just got my shoulder)…
As it is I have a pretty good stab wound and a very sore head from getting slammed a couple of times in the ensuing fight… And a very sore shoulder. I am pretty sure when the adrenaline wears off I am going to be hurting a lot more than I am right now.
Fr. Silouan is a former police officer and Marine combat veteran, having served in Fallujah, and although his injuries from Iraq have left him partially disabled, he was able to defend himself against his attacker.
And in his typical deadpan manner, Fr. Silouan concludes:
I just wish I could go more than a year in between people trying to kill me.
Fr. Silouan is referring to an incident that occurred in the spring of this year. He was on his way with three others to celebrate the Divine Liturgy in a Ugandan village when the car he was riding in was involved in a terrible collision with a motorcycle in which one man died and another was critically injured.
An angry mob surrounded the scene and attacked Fr. Silouan and his traveling companions. Thankfully, cooler heads in the crowd prevailed, and Fr. Silouan and the others were able to get to safety.
Fr. Silouan, who has been working with African priests and missions for many years through the Orthodox Africa charity that he founded and directs, was well aware of the dangers of serving in Africa before he was ordained and sent to serve at the Holy Annunciation Church on Bukasa Island, Uganda, under the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia a few years ago (note that ROCOR has had a presence in Africa since before it reunited with the Moscow Patriarchate in 2007, thus its churches and missions are not part of the Moscow Patriarchate’s African Exarchate).
The St. John the Wonderworker Orthodox Christian Mission Center was also established on Palm Sunday in 2022, with the goal of creating an economically independent and self-sufficient group of local leaders.
Fr. Silouan and the Mission are in need of prayers and financial support, which can be offered through the Orthodox Africa website.
Fr. Silouan has offered several interviews to OrthoChristian and Pravoslavie.ru over the past few years, where you can learn more about him and the work of Orthodox Africa.
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