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[[Archimandrite]] '''Daniel (Bambang Dwi) Byantoro''' (Chinese name "''Chao Heung Jin'' (''Cáo Héngjìn'' 曹衡进)") is an Indonesian Muslim convert to Orthodoxy to whom is widely attributed the rebirth<ref>Orthodoxy was first established in Indonesia in Batavia, Java as a parish of the [http://www.orthodox.cn/localchurch/harbin/index_en.html Harbin Diocese] in accordance with the Ukase of the Harbin Diocesan Council of [[November 23]], 1934, № 1559. In the late 1940's, the parish was under the [[omophorion]] of Archbishop [[Tikhon (Troitsky) of San Francisco|Tikhon of San Francisco]]. Unfortunately, after the Dutch relinquished their powers to the local leadership, many of the Russian parishioners had already fled during this period of civil unrest, and eventually the [[parish]] closed in the early 1950s, when its rector Fr Vasily immigrated to the USA. ([http://www.orthodox.cn/index_en.html Orthodoxy in China]. ''Incarnational Approach to Orthodoxy in Indonesia.'' March 31, 2005)</ref> of Orthodoxy in Indonesia.
Fr. Daniel was born into a middle-class family in Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the world. He was raised primarily by his maternal grandparents, who took great care to make sure that he received a complete religious education. Devout by nature, he studied the Qur’an, and accepted with great piety the teachings of [[Islam]] as they were passed on to him. As a Muslim, he opposed the teaching of Christianity, and was proud of his ability to win debates with Christians. He was nevertheless intrigued by the passages in the Qur’an that referred to Jesus, the son of Mary. One day during his evening Islamic prayers, Christ appeared to him in a miraculous and life-changing vision, similar to the experience St. Paul had on the road to Damascus. From that moment, Fr. Daniel’s life was radically and permanently altered.<ref>[http://www.orthodoxspeakers.com/fr-daniel-byantoro/ Fr. Daniel Byantoro: Biography], at [[Orthodox Speakers Bureau]].</ref><ref>[http://friendsofindonesia.org/about/fr_daniel/ Biography: Archimandrite Daniel Byantoro: Conversion]. Friends of Indonesia (Fr. Daniel's Website).</ref>
In 1978, he went to study in the Protestant Theological [[Seminary]], the Asian Center for Theological Studies and Mission, (ACTS) in Seoul, Korea, without finding the answer to his quest. In 1982 he found the book ''The Orthodox Church'' by [[Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia|Timothy (Kallistos) Ware]] in a book shop in Seoul, which helped him to discover the Church for which he had been looking. Finally on [[September 6]], 1983, he converted to Orthodoxy with the blessing of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, [[Demetrius I (Papadopoulos) of Constantinople|Patriarch Demetrios]], and of His Eminence Metropolitan Dionysios of New Zealand, and was chrismated by the hand of Archmandrite Sotirios Trambas (Bishop of Zelon, stationed in Korea).<ref>Archmandrite Daniel B.D. Byantoro. [http://www.cs.ust.hk/faculty/dimitris/metro/history_indonesia.html History: The Birth of the Orthodox Church in Indonesia]. [[October 29]], 1997.</ref>
