On Tuesday, 6 August 2024, the Holy Patriarchal and Stavropegic Vlatadon Monastery in Thessaloniki, Greece, celebrated the great Feast Day of the Transfiguration of the Saviour. The Feast Day Divine Liturgy was presided over by His Grace Bishop Agathonikos of Arusha and Central Tanzania, who was also joined in concelebration by Their Graces, Bishop Athenagoras of Patara and Bishop Nikephoros of Amorion, Abbot of the Vlatadon Monastery.
During the Divine Liturgy, Deacon Parthenios Kiyonga from Tanzania, who is currently studying at the Theological School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and is going to serve in the Holy Diocese of Arusha, was ordained a Presbyter. Father Parthenios is the son of Tanzania’s first priest, the Late Father Sosthenes Kiyonga, while his older brother, Father Anastasios, serves in the Tanzanian capital of Dodoma, which belongs to the spiritual jurisdiction of the Holy Diocese of Arusha.
“It is very comforting that nowadays workers of the Gospel are emerging, who with the grace of God will continue in the future the work of spreading the Orthodox faith in the land of Africa”, states the Missionary Shelter, which wishes the new Presbyter “the Mount Tabor light of the Transfiguration to always illuminate his priestly path, so that he may serve his brothers and sisters with humility and love”.
