On June 3rd, annually celebrated as Martyrs’ Day in Uganda, the Uganda Orthodox Church, just like other religious denominations in the country, also held prayers and festivities in paying tribute to Fr. Obadiah and Bishop Sparta, the Orthodox Faith pioneers, in Uganda and East Africa.
The late Bishop Christophoros Ssebbanja Sparta and Archimandrite Obadiah Basajjakitalo, the first ever confessors of the Orthodox faith in Sub-Saharan Africa in the early 1920’s were celebrated in a hierarchical divine liturgy held at the headquarters of the Church in Kampala, Namungoona, co-celebrated by the Metropolitan of Kampala, Jeronymos Muzeeyi, Bishop of Juba and South Sudan, His Grace Constantine Mbonabingi and the Honorary Bishop of Sozusa Metropolitan Innocentios Byakatonda.
Bishop Sparta highlights the discovery of the Orthodox Faith
In his autobiography, Bishop Sparta of thrice-blessed memory writes, “I started to be very concerned as to where I was to find the True Church…”
“Despite all this, I found time for meditation daily. It was an attempt on my part to try to discover the true Church -Ecclesia. The Church of one flock, one shepherd and one Lord.
I had a chance when I was working at the library of Bishop Tucker College under E.S Daniel (Archdeacon) at Mukono to read the Church History and came across a passage which says: The Church of Truth which has never deviated from Christ and his disciples, is called ORTHODOX…”
Bishop Sparta further writes in his autobiography that, after his discovery, he made special pronouncements on January 6, 1929, in the Protestant Church at Namwatulira village, Bulemeezi (Luweero district), which he ascribed to before being guided by the Holy Spirit to discover the true apostolic church.
Archimandrite Obadiah, one of the initial leaders of Orthodoxy in Uganda
Archimandrite Obadiah was a prominent figure in the early development of the Orthodox Church in Uganda.
In the stages of pioneering Orthodox Faith, he was based in Bugolo in Buikwe district, from where he spread the gospel of our Lord to far in Eastern, Northern Uganda and the rest of East Africa.
Rather than differ from Sparta, long with whom were the two initial leaders of the church, Obadiah’s quest for the Orthodox Faith was influenced by the Marcus Garvey movement, which advocated for freedom, independence, and African self-reliance.
In his legacy, Fr. Obadiah was able to groom one of his grandsons, Jonah Lwanga, into joining the service of the Church, who became a Bishop and the second Metropolitan of Kampala, who, until today, is remembered among significant figures in the Orthodox Church and the country of Uganda at large.
The Pioneers of Orthodoxy, ‘Parents of the Orthodox mission in Uganda and Eastern Africa’
Yesterday, Metropolitan Innocentios of Sozusa was one of the pilgrims who went to Namungoona In honor of the first pioneers of the Orthodox Faith in Uganda and East Africa.
In his sermon, amidst pilgrims from the different Dioceses of the Uganda Orthodox Church, the Metropolitan stressed that the pioneering fathers embraced the Patriarchate of Alexandria even before the Patriarchate embraced them, hence they were the parents of the Orthodox mission in Uganda and Eastern Africa.
In that regard, he stressed that the Orthodox church, guided by the vision of our pioneering fathers, will always pay its allegiance to the Patriarchate of Alexandria.
He emphasized to all the orthodox Christians to maintain their stand as faithful, not just followers of their Holy Church, urging them to emulate the pioneers who embraced faith and spread it to the rest of the region without segregation in whatever capacities of the people, both in Uganda and beyond.
