Re-visiting a Golden Heart

His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Kenya (known in the world as Andreas Tylirides), was born in Limassol in Cyprus. Archbishop Makarios can speak, apart from his native Greek, English, French, Russian, Italian, plus several African dialects

He studied Theology at the Orthodox Theological Institute of St. Sergius in Paris from where he graduated in 1972. During his studies in Paris, he also studied Byzantology at the College de France and at the Ecolle Pratique des Hautes Etudes. These were followed by post-graduate studies in Church History at Oxford University. He received his Doctorate degree in Philosophy in 1976 from the same University. In January 1997, following the desire of Archbishop Makarios III of Cyprus of blessed memory, he arrived in Kenya where he gave himself to the preparation for the operation of the Seminary, being appointed at the same time as its Director. Between the years of 1978 – 1981he attended post-doctoral studies in History and religions and Church History at the Louvain-la-Neuve in Belgium on scholarship. In 1982 he returned to serve in Kenya. In July 1992 he was ordained Deacon, Priest and Bishop with the title of Rirouta. He served also as Director of the Patriarchal Library. He was elected Archbishop of Zimbabwe on 13th January 1998 and in February of 2001, he was placed at the Archdiocese of Kenya where he serves to date.

Having been gifted naturally, It is not disputable to say that His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Kenya has an exceptional heart. His golden heart has enabled him to travel far and wide to cherish and nourish those vulnerable hearts and souls. In His creation, God had a major reason to create such gifted people like Makarios for the welfare of the needy and the hungry. We should all emulate his generosity and selfless attitude towards the stability of our society by doing so we will be sending brilliant light of hope to the most vulnerable and hopeless in the society.

In his humanitarian missions, he interacts with children at St Irene Orthodox Mission Centre & Orphanage during his regular visits regardless of their nature and background since he is a friend of children. Apart from his frequent visit to children, Bishop Makarios does mentor them spiritually and guides them through their day-to-day academic processes for their future perfection. Children normally feel quite free to play with him and this gives them a lot of encouragement spiritually and hope. His visits normally encourage children to pursue excellently in their academic performance giving them strength in spiritual upbringing.