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Father [[Chrysostomos Papasarantopoulos]] pioneered the Orthodox missionary movement in Africa. As Father Alexander Veronis has pointed out, this faithful servant of God embodied the historic principles of Orthodox mission work, preaching the [[Gospel]] in the vernacular and attending to the people’s social concerns.
During his studies in Athens, Father Chrysostomos was inspired by his contact with Ugandans who had embraced the Orthodox faith (including Theodore Nankyamas, who would “become one of the first Orthodox bishops in East Africa”). At age 57, Father Chrysostomos felt a strong sense that God was calling him to become a missionary to Africa. He arrived in Uganda in 1960 and without any aid or infrastructure, began preaching the [[Gospel]] to the African peoples. He spent 12 years spreading Orthodoxy throughout Uganda, Congo, Kenya, and Tanzania. Within a year of arriving in Uganda, he was sufficiently fluent to preach in the Swahili language. Soon he began translating parts of the Bible and services into the language of the people. In 1963, Father Chrysostomos started the missionary society "The Friends of Uganda," now known as the [[Orthodox Missionary Fraternity]]. With fiery zeal and true holiness, he [[evangelize]]d the African peoples, always “with God’s help,” as he frequently said.
Through his correspondence from the mission field, Father Chrysostomos inspired many friends in Greece and in the United States to adopt an evangelistic mindset and to consider the missionary vocation, including present-day Archbishop [[Makarios (Tillyrides) of Kenya]]. His missionary work, newsletters, and correspondence can be said to have inspired the missionary movement in Greece around the same time, as well as the founding of the [[Orthodox Christian Mission Center]] in the United States.
Mention should also be made here of the great and ever memorable Orthodox missionaries to Africa, Father Athanasios Anthidis (who served in Congo, as well as India), Metropolitan Ignatios Mandelidis of Pentapolis, Metropolitan Timothy (Kontomeros), Bishop Nektarios (Kellis) of Madagascar, as well as the current Metropolitan Nikiforos (Mikragiannanitis) of Kinshasa, Metropolitan Theodosius of Kananga, and Bishop Ignatios (Sennis) of Madagascar (who also served as a missionary to Korea).
The [[Orthodox Missionary Fraternity ]] of Greece reports missionary work in many other African nations at this time, including: Rwanda, South Africa, Malawi, Nigeria, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Benin, Burundi, Guinea, Sudan, Mauritius, Zambia, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe.
'''Albania'''