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Archbishop +Anthony MACFONSE A OSMOND, CSB,
after his secondary education joined an International order
of educators in 1996. He
entered the Novitiate in 1998 at Nairobi, Kenya. He taught
in classrooms and after careful deliberation on his
vocation, he continued the discernment process by studying
the Church History.
Filled with the Holy
Spirit, in response to God’s
call he founded the
Signum Fidei Charity Organization in 2004 to establish
and foster his God given mission in a secular world through writing and
teaching not neglecting the charity towards the needy.
He published several
articles in the National Newspaper among other published
books and poets.
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As part of his apostolate, he had had
to minister to the people living in abject poverty, those that have
health challenges and especially those living
with HIV/AIDS, those struggling to survive financial constraints and those whose case were considered hopeless. He had
worked in Kuwinda and Kibera Slums of Kenya. His Excellency has been
charged to provide education, alleviate the plight of the
impoverished and win hearts for God while inculcating human values
and dignities in those whose life and heart are touched by his lives
and teachings.
This mission, coupled with his divine
calling in the ministry which again brought him
into close proximity with the sufferings of people, made so deep
impression on Archbishop +++Macfonse that it soon became his lifework, edging out
the ministry of religious life. But does Archbishop +++Macfonse agree that
secular life has replaced religious calling?
Not at all! Rather he insists. “I am a
wholistic Minister. I cast out the demons from their spirit
in prayer, feed their soul with a positive mental attitude – a
burning desire to live a just life with teachings and writings, to
thrive and to win. Then I put food in their mouth to give
them strength and support them as they face the world. Towards
becoming self reliant I empower them with skills that enable
them to make money. The glory of God is a person fully alive.”
Prayer, Knowledge and Wealth as the key to successful living.
Because this takes care of the total being, the spirit, the soul and
the body.
In his passion to
take care of the sick and the homeless children in our society,
Archbishop +++Macfonse as a
Religious Counsellor worked a foster father to neme orphans at the Nyumbani
Children of God Relief Institute, home for the HIV/AIDS Orphans in
Nairobi –Kenya, the largest of its kind in East Africa.
He also worked with Africa Peace Point (a Non
Governmental Organisation for children’s right) in Kenya and also in
Tanzania
for another two years before coming to Nigeria to
continue his charity and evangelical work and
to
establish this Non Profit Making Organisation that cater for the
needy and those living with the scourge of HIV/AIDS pandemonium
while spreading the gospel.
Between 2001 to 2009, He studied Theology and graduated with
Bachelorette Degree,
he earn Masters Degree in Orthodox Theology from Apostolic Confraternity
Seminary in Northridge, California and Graduated with Doctorate
Degree in Divinity at the International Theological University,
California in 2009.
In
2010 after his priestly ordination in Yaound, Cameroun, he was
assigned to start the Byzantine Orthodox Mission in
Nigeria, a mission he accepted with great humility and in total
obedience to the will of God without hesitation. Archbishop
+++Macfonse founded the mission in Nigeria with the Grace of God and
admitted candidates to the Seminary, funded Missions and ministries.
In
2012, after the death of Patriarch Mar Markus I of the Byzantine
Catholic Church in California, Archbishop +++Macfonse sought to
unite the church in Africa with the autocephalous canonical orthodox
Jurisdiction. The True Antiochian Orthodox Church
accepted the petition and Archbishop +++Macfonse was incardinated as
the Archbishop of the First Diocese of Africa and later in 2014 was
appointed by the Primate as the First Hierarch of the True Antiochian Orthodox
Church in Africa.
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