The late Archbishop of Uganda Orthodox Church Metropolitan Jonah Lwanga will be laid to rest on Sunday. The Archbishop breathed his last on Sunday in Athens where he had gone for medical treatment.
According to Reverend Father John Kibuuka Bbosa, Archbishop Lwanga succumbed to prostate cancer. “An autopsy of the late Lwanga as provided to the Church on Monday evening by the hospital where he died in Athens, confirmed the cause of death.” Fr. Kibuuka said.
The Church also revealed that the body of the deceased prelate is expected to arrive in Uganda on Friday morning. The late Archbishop will be laid to rest at his ancestral home in Degeya, Luwero District.
Who is the late Jonah Lwanga?
Metropolitan Jonah Lwanga was born on 18 July 1945 in Degeya, Luwero District – Uganda, to an Orthodox family. Father Obadiah Kabanda Basajakitalo was his grandfather, and thus His Eminence grew surrounded by the missionary efforts of the first Orthodox Ugandans. From 1952 to 1964, Jonah completed his general education in Bulemezi and Kyadondo, Uganda and then departed that year to study at the Ecclesiastical School of Crete, until 1968.
Immediately following graduation from the Ecclesiastical School, he continued his studies at the University of Athens, graduating in 1973 with a degree in Philosophy. He stayed at the University of Athens until 1978, this time obtaining a degree in Theology. In 1979 Jonah headed back to Uganda, serving as secretary of the Ugandan Mission under Archbishop Frumentius (Nasios) (1972–1981) of the Archdiocese of Irineopolis until 1981.
On May 1, 1981, he was ordained to the diaconate. In October His Beatitude Anastasios (Yannoulatos), then Bishop of Androusa (1972–1991), arrived in Kenya in order to become Vicar for East Africa, following the repose of Archbishop Frumentius. The East African Mission grew substantially during his tenure because it was one of the few occasions in Church History that a hierarchy from a certain Synod (the Church of Greece) ruled another Synod’s (the Patriarchate of Alexandria) jurisdiction during its vacancy.
His Beatitude ordained Deacon Jonah to the Holy Priesthood in 1982. In the same year, as Professor of Theology, he was sent to the Ecclesiastical School of Makarios III in Riruta, Nairobi, which had been inaugurated in the previous year. During this time, he was elevated to Archimandrite. Archimandrite Jonah worked together with Professor Andreas Tillyrides, current Archbishop of Nairobi, who helped establish the seminary in 1977.
The fall of both Atheist Albania and the Socialist Bloc in 1991 marked the end of the persecution against Orthodoxy in Albania, and Bishop Anastasios was elected the first Archbishop of Tirana since 1967, leader of the Church of Albania. Succeeded him as Vicar to East Africa Archbishop Petros of Accra (1990–1994), future Patriarch of Alexandria (1997–2004). With the help of Patriarch Parthenios III of Alexandria (1987–1996), Archbishop Petros submitted to the Holy Synod the request to establish two titular dioceses: one in Riruta for Professor Andreas, now known as Archimandrite Makarios, and another one for the Tanzanian Mission in Bukoba for Archimandrite Jonah.
The Holy Synod agreed and, on July 26, 1992, Archimandrite Jonah was elected titular Bishop of Bukoba, while Makarios was made Bishop of Riruta on the previous day. One of His Grace’s first decisions in Tanzania was joining the Syndesmos Orthodox Youth Movement together with Bishop Makarios. Bishop Jonah has always stressed the participation of children in the Church, as he was raised in the Church in his youth. Because of this, today East Africa has the largest Orthodox population of Africa.
In 1997, Archbishop Petros was elected Patriarch of Alexandria following the repose of Patriarch Parthenios. Three days after his election and under his recommendation, the Holy Synod elevated Bishop Jonah to Archbishop of Kampala and Exarch of All Uganda on March 12, 1997.
His Eminence succeeded Archbishop Theodoros (Nankyama) on the set of Kampala, honoring his legacy and expanding the Orthodox Faith in Uganda. In 1999, Archbishop Jonah made a lecture tour in the United States in which he described his experiences and struggles as a missionary in Uganda. He visited over 18 parishes throughout the country, learning about the way Orthodoxy spread in the United States and apply it later in Uganda.
Under Archbishop Jonah, over twenty medical facilities and a hospital have been established in Uganda, as well as an Orthodox Mother’s Union to address issues of spiritual and social development of women and their children and to fight against poverty, hunger and illiteracy.
Metropolitan Jonah distributing sweets to the children at Hopeful Future school
On 27 October 2017, the Metropolitan was elevated to the rank of an Elder (Geronta / Yeronda) by the Holy Synod in Alexandria.
It was yesterday, Sunday 5th September 2021 that our Spiritual father reposed in the Lord!
