Letter from the first Taiwanese Missionary Pelagia Yu:

-"...Greeks, you think you are poor with the crisis you are going through but you don't know how rich you are...".

I am Chinese, born in Taiwan and my Christian name is Pelagia. I was a Protestant and it took five years to become Orthodox. I like to read the Bible and I have all its versions in Chinese.

I have visited Greece and found it to be a very special country. Traveling to your country, before I even arrived, inside the plane I realized how different the Greeks are, how carefree they talked, how they laughed and how they applauded the pilot when he landed, which was incredible for us Asians who are conservative and don't show our emotions. Now I know that freedom has in it a little passion and a little volume of voice.

In Greece I visited many churches, I participated in the Divine Liturgy and when I received the Holy Mysteries I cried, even though I did not understand the Greek language because the Orthodox faith is the same.

I would like to have been Greek, to have been born Orthodox, to partake of the Holy Communion and to kiss the Holy Icons from my infancy until my death.

I weep for myself and for my countrymen, because instead of Holy Communion we eat and drink the food of idols.

I wish I were Greek, so that my ears would be filled with Holy Hymns.

I weep for myself and for my countrymen, whose ears are filled with the sounds of the sutras and the screams of the idols.

I would like to be Greek, to smell the sweet fragrance of incense.

I weep for myself and for my countrymen, whose sense of smell is full of the fumes of sacrifices to idols.

I would like to be Greek so that my hands could touch the icons, the Holy Relics and embrace the love of Christ.

I cry for myself and for my compatriots, whose hands touch idols, idolaters and embrace nothingness.

I would like to be Greek, to light candles for Christ and not like here where we burn money for ghosts.

I have been searching for the truth, using more than 30 different versions of the Bible, all of which are unfortunately full of errors.

  (translated by heterodox).

I wish I was Greek so I could read the New Testament in the original!

I weep for myself and for my countrymen, because we have eyes and yet we are blind.

I would like to be Greek, so that I could see the grace of God everywhere.

I weep for myself and for my countrymen, for we see temples of idols everywhere.

Yes, I am Orthodox, but as a Taiwanese, my Orthodox experiences are poor.

I cry for myself because I am not able to show my fellow countrymen the greatness of our faith... People here want to see signs and wonders...

I cry for me and for my compatriots, because we do not have the grace to see and hear so many miracles, so many holy words that you have seen and heard 2000 years in Greece and that you still see... Taiwan is not an orthodox country, our holidays are not they look nothing like yours.

I am sorry that in Greece you have such beautiful mountains, that you burn them and do not take care of them, but I admire that almost every mountain has a monastery. We have such beautiful mountains, but full of temples, monasteries and Buddhist idols.

I wish I was Greek so I could go and pray in a monastery easily.

I cry for myself and my countrymen. For the first time I went to a Monastery, to the Holy Monastery of Timios Prodromos, in Pelion. I traveled from Taiwan to Greece 16 hours by plane, a few hours by train to Larissa and another hour in the Monastery car, driven by a sister...

I saw the old ruins of the Holy Monastery, I saw so many abandoned places in Greece and my heart bled. In Taiwan we don't have such ancient Shrines and beautiful places, but you don't appreciate them.

I cry that we don't have beautiful pictures here. I cry because I feel Christ weak, naked.

Greeks, you think you are poor with the crisis you are going through but you don't know how rich you are.

Taiwan is a highly developed country but it is in the darkness of satan and our spiritual life is empty.

In Greece I saw many Greeks, especially on Sundays, partying drinking and not going to church. But here in Taiwan my fellow citizens but especially the young people, even if they wanted to come to our church it is almost impossible because the only Orthodox church that exists is a room on the 4th floor of an apartment building on the edge of Taipei and many times many people stay outside the Church because the space is small.

My brothers and sisters in Greece, even though I am mentally crippled, I still have my legs alive to kneel...

Lord, have mercy!

Thank you and excuse me.

Pelagia Yu