South America - need for missionary activity

My dearest Fr. Seraphim and dears Julio, Zé Lauro and all

As my friend José Lauro tould you, it is true the situation of our Holy Orthodox Church is Brazil is a desperate one! As far as I know Brazil has about 30.000 Orthodox Christians, but most of them came from traditional Orthodox contries, like Russia, Greece, Rumania and so on. They and their children and grandchildren (some of them still regard themselves as "Russians" or "Greeks" rather than Brazilians citizens, although NOT ALL of them think like that!)firmly insist that our Divine Liturgy and other Divine services must be held in their native languages (Russian, Greek, Arab...), not in Portuguese, and that Parishes should be a kind of a "cultural centers" for their meetings and nationalistic Feasts. I think the most troublesome problem is not the language itself and culture, but many Brazilians who are not descendants of traditional Orthodox people and would like to convert to our Holy Orthodox Faith give up because they cannot understand a single word from the Divine Services and they are not willing to become a Slavonic person!

What José Lauro told you about some cities do not have a single Orthodox parish is altogether real! For instance, I live in the third largest city of Brazil - Salvador - and it does NOT have a single Orthodox parish! Even my Bishop got surprised when I toold him that! On Wednesday I am going on a trip to Recife (the nearest city to Salvador and where there is an Orthodox Parish)and Recife is about 800 miles away from here!

Worst of all, at Salvador, Roman Catholicism has mingled with pagans religions, so even Our Most Holy Lady is believed to be the same deity as the pagan goddess Yemanjá (this goddes is a mermaid!!!). In some days when Our Lady is commemorated, according to Roman Church calendar,people from Salvador go to the churches to pray in front of Mother of God´s staute in churches and after that they go to the sea in order to throw away flowers and roses, because they FIRMLY believe if Yemanjá appreciates their "gifts" she will grant them what they ask. I am telling all of it just for curiosity so that you, dear friends, can see how the religious situation is disgusting in my town!

Otherwise, dear brothers and friends, amongst this thorny situation, God has blessed us! Few parishes and Orthodox missions have been built and created by converted Brazilians and their services are performed in Portuguese, for example. My own parish is totally "made-in-Brazil": all our clergy are Brazilian priests, all the parishioners are Brazilian people (except one who is a Nigerian guy)and we can understand the Divine Liturgy performed in Portugese (of course, everybody knows what "Kyrie eleison" means!). Surprisingly, it belongs to the Eastern American Diocese of the Holy Serbian Orthodox Church! I think the fact of belonging to the Glorious and Holy Serbian Orthodox Church is to grant ecclesiastical canonicity to us. We are very happy.

Also God has blessed us with a young generation of faithful Orthodox Christians who wholeheartedly wants to change things to better, so that Orthodoxy becomes more accessible to the Brazilian people. But, we cannot go further due to the lack of assistance by some of our Hierarcs and laity. But, we have a strong faith in our souls and we are doing everything to see "Nossa Santa Igreja Ortodoxa" grow up more and more, God willing!

Please, dear brothers and sister, pray for us all and, please, help us by your prayers!

We just want Brazilians see the wonderful blessings we have saw and to hear what we have heard

In XC
Acácio
P.S.: Sorry, I tried to post this thread on "Bringing a OCA parish to South..." but I couldn´t. Please, sorry