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Burundi: The heart of Africa beats Orthodoxytranslated

July 3, 2026 · 1 min read

By Theophilus. Bishop of Bujumbura and Burundi, Mr. Isaac

If one looks at the map of Africa, one will see in the center a small country, equal to the Peloponnese, Burundi. It is considered the heart of Africa and, not coincidentally, it has its shape. According to local tradition, God took clay from these sun-baked soils and created man with water from the source of the Nile. That is why in their primitive rituals they emphasize this birth of human existence and life. They have respect for nature and what it offers them and coexist harmoniously without "rushing" it.

In this place, about a century ago, when it was under the rule first of the Germans and then of the Belgians, the Greeks found themselves, in order to improve their living conditions. They interrupted, progressed and some took root. Thus, in the mid-1950s, they built the Pericalli Church of the Dormition of the Virgin, whose inauguration was celebrated on March 27, 1960 by the first Metropolitan of Central Africa, Kyprianos Papadopoulos (1958-1973), when the then Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, Christophoros B, took care to create this Metropolis. This was the…

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Константин Козлов

I remember well how in Tula in 1953 they began to build the Church of Michael the Archangel after the war. There, too, a stone was first laid, then consecrated in 1954. In Burundi, the Church of the Koimenia Mother of God was built in the 50s, consecrated on March 27, 1960 - just like in the article about Michael the Archangel, only in Burundi.

Елена Зайцева

It’s interesting, Konstantin, that in Tula after the war they also started with a stone and quickly consecrated it. And in Burundi the Greeks built it already in the mid-50s, when the country was still under the Belgians, and the church turned out to be quite small, as they write. Are you local to Tula or are you just following the history of churches?

Emma Carter

The Greeks building that little Dormition church in the middle of Burundi back in the 1950s under Belgian rule is pretty amazing. It reminds me how our own parish started small with whatever materials people could gather after tough times. Makes you wonder what the local people thought when they first saw an Orthodox liturgy there.

Надежда Тарасова

It’s interesting, Elena, that in Tula, after the war, we started the church from stone, almost like those Greeks in the 50s under the Belgians. In Zarechye, it was also small at first, but it was quickly consecrated. How do you know about Tula post-war churches in such detail?

Luke Hall

The bit about the Greeks putting up that Dormition church in the 1950s really stuck with me too. My own parish started in a borrowed hall with just a few icons and a second-hand epitaphios after the war, so I know that feeling of building from scratch. Did the locals end up joining the services later on, or was it mostly the Greek community for a long time?

Вера Новикова

It is interesting that in both Tula and Burundi the consecration took place in almost the same year - 1954 and 1960. In Yaroslavl, after the war, we also started with a simple stone, without unnecessary pomp. Have you yourself been to that Church of the Archangel Michael in Tula, or are you just collecting from the archives?

Илья Смирнов

It’s interesting that you noted about Tula and Yaroslavl - after the war, we also started modestly, with a simple foundation. I visited the Church of Michael the Archangel in Tula twice, the last time in 2018, when I went to visit my son. And in Yaroslavl, which church was the first to stand up after the war?

Сергей Петров

It’s interesting that you wrote about Yaroslavl - here in Tula, too, after the war we started with a simple foundation, without any fanfare. I visit the Church of St. Michael the Archangel regularly, especially the altar church, the last time I went was in September and lit a candle. And in Yaroslavl, with what stone did you start after the war, with what church?

Екатерина Соловьёва

It’s interesting that you were at St. Michael the Archangel in Tula. And in Yaroslavl, the Church of Elijah the Prophet on Sloboda was the first to be erected after the war - they started in 1946, first they simply closed the roof, and only then assembled the iconostasis. Do you visit your son often?

It’s interesting, Nadezhda, that in Zarechye after the war they started with stone - here in Tula many churches were raised just like that, with their own hands, without special equipment. And I heard about post-war churches from my grandfather; in the 50s, he worked in a team that restored one of them. And in which particular church in Zarechye do you mean, in what year was it consecrated?

Антон Лебедев

It’s interesting that you mentioned Yaroslavl - in Kazan, too, after the war we started with a simple brick, without a big scope. I was in the Tula Church of Michael the Archangel only once, about ten years ago, when my daughter went there for practice. And in Yaroslavl, after the war, which church did they start with, with which stone?