Orthodox Disturbance: The State of Nepali Church at Present

Ever since Nathan, one of the precious friends we were able to meet while ministering in Korea, made the transition into Orthodox Church, my wife and I have been studying orthodoxy; have watched every available documentary in the internet about Mt. Athos, Meteora and the desert monks of the Coptic tradition.  The common thing that marks these monastic communities is their quest for purity from the evil that is within each of us.  Holy mountains of Athos, the roof top monasteries of Meteora, and the desert caves of saint Macarious have witnessed for centuries the tenacity of human spirit in overcoming unimaginable hardships and suffering of all kinds for the purpose of attaining purity, holiness, serenity and blessed union with Christ. 
Often, these monastic communities were subject to all kinds of cruelty and persecution from the opposing faiths and invading armies; the landscapes and the ossuaries of these monasteries have been hallowed by countless tombs and the remains of the martyrs who gave their lives without fear or complain.  In responding to the evil done to them, they would simply say “when evil is done to us, we respond with good so that we do not add to the evil that is already in existence”.  Indeed, they truly imitate their Lord, Jesus Christ, in absorbing the evil from the world taking it with them to the grave so that the world behind them could be a little better.  For these fathers, monks, priests and believers, the way to victory against the evil in human heart is found through what they call the fellowship of suffering (Phil.1:29), and the person who has suffered the most appears to be the most deified (not becoming God, but becoming like God); Peter also tells us that the one who has suffered in the body is done with sin (1 Peter 4:1).

Though far from the kind of suffering these precious people of God have gone through, I have also witnessed the benefit of suffering for the cause of Christ.  The Lord saved me in the midst of a decade that was known for severe persecution of Christians in my nation.  Police harassment/brutality, ostracism from the communities, discrimination in the work places and lengthy imprisonments purified the Christian community beautifully.  For example, a Nepali brother by the name of Dabal Bahadur Bam had left Nepal for India in search of a job while he was still a young boy.  He worked in India for many years as a watchman.  But one day someone shared the gospel to him, he accepted the Lord Jesus Christ.  As he continued to grow in grace and in the Knowledge of the Lord, he remembered his country, his village and his people who had never heard the gospel.  The more he fell in love with Jesus, the more he was restless to go to Nepal and share the gospel to his people.  Finally, he left the job, with the money he had, he bought bags full of Bibles, tracts and evangelistic materials and headed for Nepal.  He was so full of joy and zeal for the Lord; he did not care for his future.  All he wanted was to share the message of salvation to his people.  No one had commissioned him, no one had funded him, no one had promised missionary perks; in fact he had no idea about the commercial side of Christian missions.  Filled with excitement, he arrived at a border checkpoint (Gauriphanta, near Dhangadi) between India and Nepal.  His entire luggage was Bibles and tracts.  While his bags were going through the custom inspection, he was so happy to talk to the Nepali officers and the people standing around; he began to handover the tracts as he preached the gospel to them.  When the custom officer asked him what these books were, he was so glad to explain to him that these were words of God in the written form and he had come from India to preach the gospel to his people in Nepal.  Immediately the custom officer told him to follow one of the officers there to a nearby police station.  Brother Bam was so happy that he can now start preaching the gospel from the police officers.  He was absolutely oblivious of the prevailing laws against Christianity.  When the police officer asked him his identity, he was so glad to tell that he was a Christian evangelist and wanted the officer himself to begin to read the Bible.  With no further investigation, no trial and prosecution, straightaway he was handed with a 3 years prison sentence without any possibility of a parole.  He had never known that Christianity was banned in Nepal; he had never met a Nepali Christian.  Until three months, no one knew that he was in prison, except the police.  After three months of his imprisonment, a local newspaper, under brief headlines in about 75 words wrote, “a Christian preacher from the district of Doti has been sent to a three years imprisonment for preaching Christianity”.  There was no further information to identify him; no name, address, nothing.  All we knew was his district which happened to be my district as well.  Until that time, I had known only one more Christian brother from this district.  With the district of Doti being the only common thing between us, the local Christian group that I was part of in that town suggested that I should go and try to find out about him.  Knowing that this brother was in prison for 3 years, I was ready to risk for one year imprisonment (if the police knew I was a Christian, they would put me in for one year for converting from Hinduism to Christianity) to find out who he was. 

To make the long story short, I was the first person to meet him in prison after he was sent there.  We talked a lot as how this all happened.  As I walked out of that prison, my heart was filled with joy to see a brother so happy to go to prison for the Lord.  His attitude ministered me in such a way that from that day I was no longer the same.  Come what may, I was ready to lay down my life for the Lord and so long I was there in that town, I regularly visited and carried many gifts from the rich and famous Christians (these Christians were afraid to be noticed by the police, so I became their conscience soother).  I did not have much to offer him materially and like him, I was also not aware that Christianity was after all a commercial religion.  But I began to notice the influx of Christians coming from as far as Kathmandu, writing about him, asking me so many things about him and finally even daring to meet him in prison and take some pictures!.  Sadly I left that town, brother Bam completed his 3 years prison terms and right about that time, the political changes in Nepal brought freedom for the Christians as well.

Rumors began to spread that so many Christian leaders were soliciting donations from abroad in the name of this brother claiming that they were taking care of his family, his legal fees, so on and so forth.  When brother Bam came to know how Christians were running after money for preaching the gospel, how they had sold him many times over while he was in jail; all his zeal, joy and commitment to the Lord came crashing down. 

During the persecution era, there were many brother Bams who were willing to lay down their lives for the kingdom of God, if not for a handful of greedy preachers, the church in Nepal was by and large pure and innocent.  The thought of suffering for Christ was never a scary thing; it was an honor to suffer for Christ.  There was a wonderful sense of belonging and fellowship among the believers from various congregations, and the mammon serving wolfs in sheep’s clothing could easily be spotted and tackled with.

But after the advent of democracy and relative freedom, the church in Nepal fell prey to the mammon serving wolfs in sheep’s clothing.  Ministry became the best and quickest means for luxurious living for the leaders whose only ambition in life is to get connected with as many native missionary supporting agencies as possible from the west or east.  The moment such a minister from Nepal meets potential donors, s/he will quickly extend an invitation to come to Nepal as partners and preach or teach or do anything the donor would like to do from a pastoral training to holding of a crusade.  The only condition is that the one who would like to come to Nepal for such ministry opportunities should also fund these activities (the budget is prepared in dollars, not in local currencies).  In the name of saving souls and training leaders, the mammon serving leaders’ aim is to save as much money as they can from whatever is left from conducting a conference, pastoral seminars, and crusades and so on. 

To make the matter palatable for these kinds of leaders, the prosperity gospel from the west has become almost like the 11^th commandment that “thou shall not suffer”.  Suffering is regarded as the divine disfavor.  The Cross of Christ does not appeal to these leaders; they love the crown without the cross.  The quest for crown without the cross has brought all kinds of immoral and unethical practices in the church.  Sexual immorality, financial fraud and cultic teachings are plaguing the church in Nepal.  The desire for prosperity without purity has given birth to pastors who are now part of mafia and underground extortion gangs that threaten anyone who dares to speak against their activities.  Church in Nepal is known to have been the fastest growing church in Asia, but along with its growth, we are also witnessing the erosion of genuine faith in the suffering savior. 

In the face of such an erosion of Christian virtues from Nepal, a look at Orthodox tradition is so captivating, so comforting that when all else fails, maybe, maybe we will have to look to the church that is truly the historic church dating back to the first century.  Sadly, up until now, Nepal has not seen the presence of a real Orthodox Church and hopefully this link (orthodoxnepal.org) that I have will someday provide a possible window for us to peek into so that we will have an Orthodox disturbance in our hearts to seek the Lord.