He came to meet us with his three companions. He had just arrived from Colombia at the mission offices in Thessaloniki and greeted me by singing “Hello, Mother Salonika,” a song by popular singer Zafiris Melas.
“I love Thessaloniki. I studied here, at the Aristotle School of Theology. I carry the city in my heart, thousands of kilometers away, in the forests and poor neighborhoods,” he says, moved.
Under the Orthodox Christian cassock, Trotskian headdress and glasses, Timothy of Assos, assistant bishop of the Holy Metropolis of Mexico in Colombia and Venezuela, is immediately recognizable as a Central American native.
“I come from an Indian tribe, my lay name is Luis Antonio Torres Esquivel, and I do missionary work for the Orthodox Church in Latin America, particularly in Colombia and Venezuela, and I am based in Bogota. I was also in Cuba under Fidel,” Timotheos introduced himself in perfect, lilting Greek.
Right after, he introduced his three companions. “This is Andres Santiago, the “jungle kid”, our Mowgli. Look, isn’t he a doppelgänger? Touch his hair to see how straight it is. It comes from a place, Catatumbo, a big jungle, you will be shocked to see it, it’s the place where coca grows. He fled his village, San Martin, because he risked being recruited by the guerrillas. Instead, they snatched a young girl from her family and demanded a ransom to free her.
“There is Costas (Constantino Timoteu), a Cuban tenor.” And, as if to confirm, at a nod from Timotheos, the young man began to sing in a resounding voice a well-known Greek hit: “I love you because you are pretty, I love you because that you are you…”
“I met Costas by chance on a bench in Havana, strumming a broken guitar and singing,” says Timotheos. “I asked him if he wanted to sing me a song and he replied that he would do so with pleasure if I explained to him what this cross hanging on my chest was, that is to say the pectoral cross of my bishop. I explained it, he sang for me and he showed up at church the next day. He has been a member of the mission ever since.
“And this is Christos from Venezuela. He was introduced to Orthodox Christianity one day when I went to speak to some young people in a village called Tovar. He immediately asked to follow our path to learn more about Orthodoxy. Not only was he baptized, but he also brought his father and mother to be baptized. This is how it happens in Colombia, Venezuela and throughout Latin America in general: young people come first, they become Orthodox Christians and then their parents follow. This is a special blessing for us. Seventy percent of the Orthodox faithful are young people.”
And you, native, how did you encounter the Orthodox Church and end up becoming a bishop?
Totally by chance (laughs). I must have been 10 years old and the television showed leaders of the Non-Allied Movement visiting Colombia, including Archbishop Makarios of Cyprus. I didn’t know him, of course. I saw it on my aunt’s black and white television in a village – we didn’t have many televisions back then – and I was impressed. I asked a Catholic priest who told me he was a high-ranking priest, a bishop, of a so-called Orthodox church. He pointed out that it was a heretical church that had strayed from the path. But another priest, an Anglican, explained that the New Testament was written in Greek and that the Orthodox Church is the source of all Churches. He also spoke of the works of the Fathers of the Church. So, my path to Orthodox Christianity began with Makarios.
“I must have been 10 years old and they happened to show on television the leaders of the Non-Allied Movement visiting Colombia, among them Archbishop Makarios of Cyprus”
And how did you continue on this path?
It was only at the age of 27 that I came into contact with the Orthodox Church. I wrote to the Orthodox base in (North) America and they replied that there was not a single Orthodox priest in Colombia and that there was a church somewhere where, once a year , a priest officiated. I wrote them a second letter saying I wanted to become Orthodox and what could I do. They sent me an address in Panama saying that the Mother and Great Church of Constantinople had recently established a see and appointed a metropolitan. I wrote to this address and, shortly after, received a reply indicating that, for the first time, an Orthodox bishop would visit Colombia. It was in August when His Eminence Athenagoras, then Metropolitan of Panama, now of Mexico, Central America, Colombia, Venezuela and the Caribbean Islands, arrived and we met. He was surprised to be greeted at the airport by around fifty Orthodox people from all over Colombia. It was obvious that I was not the only one seeking to join the Orthodox Church. We spoke with the metropolitan; he chose three of us and said, “You will go to Greece,” where we studied and returned to join the mission.
Is it difficult to be a missionary in the jungle?
We started from scratch. In 2000, there were only two Orthodox people in Colombia. Today we have nine parishes under the omophorion of His Eminence Athenagoras (a bishop’s vestment worn around the neck and shoulders). There are 1.5 million of us in Central America, Colombia, Venezuela and the Caribbean. All premises. Until 2000, Orthodox Christianity was unknown in Colombia. Today, we participate in all aspects of public life. We appear regularly on television, we speak on peace issues. I would say that we play an important role in Colombian life, for everyone, Orthodox and non-Orthodox. In general, everyone in Colombia has heard of Orthodox Christianity, at least the name. And that’s where the desire to learn more about it comes from.
Does the State put obstacles in your way?
No. The main obstacle is distance. Think about it; I serve two countries, Colombia and Venezuela. Until a few years ago, I used public transport, I didn’t have a car. Now we bought a small car and are traveling from Bogota to Caracas, four consecutive days of travel. We have parishes that take 10 to 15 hours to arrive, sometimes 24 hours. It takes 12 hours (from Bogota) to Medellín. There are great difficulties.
Speaking of Medellin, it is world famous for its drug cartels. What is the Church’s position on issues such as gangs, cocaine cartels, clashes between paramilitary groups?
The Church sends a message of love. In Colombia, only 5% of the population, at most, uses drugs. The image projected abroad is inaccurate, and I will explain to you why. Unfortunately, there are areas where this tree (coca) grows naturally. “Mowgli,” from San Martin, a jungle village, knows better. The tree is one thing, the coca (the leaves) is another, the cocaine yet another. And those who produce and participate in extraction are 2.5% (of the population) and I may be exaggerating. They live and work deep in the jungle; it takes nine hours to reach these places through the mountains. You don’t find these people in towns and villages.
Colombia’s big problem is the civil war. We have left-wing guerrillas, but we also have (right-wing) paramilitaries. They confront each other and the army fights them both. Of course, if someone comes to Colombia, they won’t feel it; Colombia is almost 10 times larger than Greece and has almost 60 million inhabitants.
