OCMC - The Joy of Missions: Rajmonda's Pascha
4/13/2007
NEWS FROM THE ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN MISSION CENTER (OCMC)
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To
look into the eyes of Rajmonda (Ray-moonda) is to stare across oceans
of time. Within her lies a storied past, but also a sincere hope for
the future. Rajmonda was born in Albania into a world made gray by
communism. During her childhood, food was scarce and the pangs of
hunger could be felt by many. The fear of heavy handed authorities hung
over the entire country like a dark cloud.
It hadn’t always
been that way in Albania. Rajmonda’s parents could remember how the
policies of the communist government kept people employed and mouths
fed during the Second World War, while their neighbors struggled. But
as time passed, the costs of a radical communistic
(Bolshevikian)
utopia would take a heavy toll on the Albanian people. Life behind the
iron curtain would get progressively worse as the economic reforms that
brought sustenance during the war, now served to suffocate Albania
in the decades that followed.
Wreaking
more havoc on the Albanian people than communism’s economic failings,
however, was the merciless religious persecution that the government
wrought. Albania had been Christian since the time of the Apostles; but
from the 1950s on, the Church had become increasingly persecuted –
culminating in a constitutional ban on religion in 1976. A devout
Orthodox Christian, Rajmonda’s father was devastated.
Growing
up, Rajmonda would sit on her father’s lap as he would tell her stories
of how his countrymen used to care for one another like a family
because of their Orthodox faith. The contrasting reality she witnessed
in Albania under communism would create a longing in her heart for the
days of which her father spoke. People accused of being Orthodox were
blackmailed, imprisoned, sent to labor camps, stripped of their
possessions, and robbed of a future.
By 1992 the communist
regime had fallen. The constitutional ban on religion was revoked and
Orthodox Churches began to re-open. So deeply had the fear of being
labeled a Christian been ingrained in Albania, that Rajmonda’s mother
forbade her from entering a church – in spite of the country’s new
religious freedom. Rajmonda’s longing for the days of her father
remained and she began walking by the Orthodox Church in her community
regularly, her curiosity growing with each passing day.
One day
Rajmonda noticed that the church was offering English classes, and she
decided to attend. The course was being conducted by an Orthodox
Christian Mission Center (OCMC) Missionary from America. Rajmonda and
the missionary quickly became friends through gentle encouragement,
Rajmonda and her children began to attend worship services.
Bathed
in the flickering light of candles and swimming in clouds of incense,
Rajmonda felt the love of God that permeated the stories her father
would tell her as a child. The seed of the Holy Spirit that her father
planted so many years ago was watered by Rajmonda’s missionary friend
and through Bible study and Catechism; and on Great and Holy Saturday,
she was welcomed into the Orthodox Church.
Today, Rajmonda is a
leader in the Albanian Orthodox Church’s women’s movement. Her life is
dedicated to caring for the poor, engaging in outreach, conducting
Bible studies and coordinating volunteers.
For decades,
churches in Albania were destroyed or seized by the communists and
transformed into barracks, nightclubs and even brothels. By the grace
of God the faithful have reclaimed these houses of worship and with one
voice proclaim, “Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!”
The
Paschal flame that emerges from Christ’s tomb spreads around the world
and burns brightly in the hearts of people like Rajmonda. In answering
the call to missions, Orthodox Christians across America have been able
to join their newly illumined brothers and sisters around the world in
joyous celebration of the glory of Pascha.
The Orthodox
Christian Mission Center (OCMC) is the official international mission
agency of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the
Americas (SCOBA). Its purpose is to encourage, support and facilitate
the establishment and development of self-supporting, Eucharistic
Orthodox Christian communities worldwide, thus incorporating the person
into the fullness of a life in Christ. Visit www.ocmc.org for more
information regarding OCMC’s ministries.
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