Monastic Tonsures at the Holy Monastery of the Holy Trinity in Katavi, Western Tanzania
The period of Great Lent, a time of repentance and spiritual struggle, was particularly significant for the Holy Monastery of the Holy Trinity in Katavi, Western Tanzania.
With the blessing of His Beatitude Pope and Patriarch Theodoros II of Alexandria and All Africa, His Grace Bishop Chrysostomos of Bukoba and Western Tanzania was present on Wednesday, 1 April, on the feast of Saint Mary of Egypt—the great ascetic of Africa—and performed the monastic tonsures during the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts.
The joy of all was great, as six brothers and twenty-four sisters received the Orthodox monastic angelic schema.
During the service, His Grace said: “Today you have become Orthodox monastics. You have been clothed in the monastic schema. You have been clothed in the angelic schema, as it was revealed by the Angel to Saint Pachomios. You have left the world. You have renounced the joys of the world and now live in the true joy of your union with Christ. The married, according to the Apostle Paul, seek to please one another; the unmarried seek to please only Christ. Therefore, clothe yourselves with the adornments of the virtues, so that you may always be joyful and radiant near Christ the Bridegroom.”
Participating in the services were Archimandrite Sosthenes Matthaios, Fr Ioakeim Mpondo, and Deacon Fr Gervasios Kiiza.
The Bishop offered each of the new monastics an icon of their patron saint, encouraged them to imitate their example, and wished them to have their protection.
A celebration followed to mark this historic day for the Monastery, the Diocese, the Patriarchate, and for Orthodoxy as a whole.
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