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Daniel (Byantoro)

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[[Image:Arch Daniel Byantoro of Indonesia.JPG|right|thumb|250px|Archimandrite Daniel Byantoro of Indonesia, missionary to Indonesia.]]
[[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|September 6th]], 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>
Having graduated from Korea, he went to Greece, where he stayed on [[Mount Athos]]. During this time he began to translate liturgical books into Indonesian, and struggled with terminology suitable to express the faith. From 1983-84 he studied in Greece with the [[Apostoliki Diakonia]] of the [[Church of Greece]]. By the end of 1984 he went to study in the U.S., at the [[Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology (Brookline, Massachusetts)|Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology]] in Boston. Having finished his study in Boston and in two other schools in the U.S., he was [[ordination|ordained ]] by His Grace Bishop [[Maximos (Aghiorgoussis) of Pittsburgh|Maximos of Pittsburgh]] to the [[Diaconate ]] in the Holy Cross Church (pastored by Fr. John Chakos), and to the priesthood [[priest]]hood in the St. Paul Orthodox Church in Cleveland, Ohio, (pastored by Fr. James Symeonides).<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>
===Mission In Indonesia===
The Mission in Indonesia was started on [[June 8th 8]], 1988, as Fr. Daniel left the United States for Indonesia. The first convert to the Orthodox faith was a Muslim young man named ''Muhhamed Sugi Bassari'', who was [[baptism|baptized ]] by the name of Photios, on in April 1989.<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>
Fr. Byantoro has said that the mission is a completely new phase of the modern mission movement within Orthodoxy, in that it is being done by a local son of the Indonesian soil rather than by the missionary efforts of a foreign mission body; it is the Church for the Indonesians started by an Indonesian. His missionary effort eventually brought official government recognition of the Orthodox Church in Indonesia in 1996, with a legal act of Government: ''"SK Dirjen Bimas Kristen Depag R.I. no.: F/Kep/Hk.00.5/19/637/1996"''.<ref>[http://www.orthodox.cn/news/050331indonesia_en.htm Incarnational Approach to Orthodoxy in Indonesia: An Interview with Fr.Dionysios (Rm.Dionisius Surya Halim) and his presbytera Artemia Rita]. Orthodoxy in China. [[March 31]], 2005.</ref>
===Jurisdictional Change===
Although ordained in the [[Church of Constantinople|Ecumenical Patriarchate]], serious conflict arose among the ecclesiastical leadership in Indonesia in 2001, and Fr. Daniel returned to America for several years. In 2004 he began a dialogue with Archbishop (now Metropolitan) [[Hilarion (Kapral) of New York|Hilarion]] of Australia, and in 2005 the Synod of [[ROCOR ]] (the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia) accepted him as a Priest, as well as the [[clergy ]] and parishioners of the [[Orthodoxy in Indonesia|Indonesian Orthodox Church]] that were formerly under the [[jurisdiction ]] of the [[Orthodox Metropolitanate of Hong Kong and Southeast Asia]] ([[Church of Constantinople|Ecumenical Patriarchate]]). Under Metropolitan Hilarion’s oversight, Fr. Daniel has been appointed Dean of the Mission for the Indonesian Orthodox Church under ROCOR, and continues to split his time between Indonesia, supervising the work of church planting, and evangelism, and raising up additional clergy for ordination, and the US, where he raises support for the Indonesian Orthodox Church.<ref>[http://www.orthodoxspeakers.com/fr-daniel-byantoro/ Fr. Daniel Byantoro: Biography], at Orthodox Speakers Bureau.</ref>
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