The baptism of the first Orthodox Chinese woman in Zambia

On the Sunday of the Veneration of the Holy Cross, 7 April 2024, in the Holy Metropolis of Zambia, in the capital city of Lusaka, the catechumen Emilia, from China, with exemplary piety, fasting and prayer, received the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

With the Sacrament of Baptism, which was performed by His Eminence Metropolitan John of Zambia, the neophyte entered the Orthodox Church taking the name Maria – the name of the Virgin Mary – following her own wish.

The sponsor for the baptism was her classmate and friend, Ioanna, a Zambian originally from Kefalonia, Greece and spiritual child of Metropolitan John.

This baptism was a cause for blessed and joyous day for the Holy Metropolis of Zambia. Everyone congratulated the newly enlightened Maria and wished for her whole life to be filled with the Grace and the blessings of God, as a faithful member of the Orthodox Church.