Olga Papasarandou
Eastern Orthodox nun and missionary
Olga Papasarandou (in Greek: Όλγα Παπασαράντου (Ólga Papasarándou)) (1904 in Roino-19 August 1996, in Athens) was a Greek Eastern Orthodox nun, nurse, and missionary who pursued a missionary career in Katanga, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Sometimes referred to as the "Orthodox Mother Teresa", she was one of the first modern Orthodox missionaries. She played a significant role in the establishment of the Eastern Orthodox community in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in the missions of the Patriarchate of Alexandria. Buried in a monastery in Megara, her remains were transferred to Kananga in 2005 at the request of the local Eastern Orthodox community.
Biography
Olga Papasarandou was born in Roino, Greece, in 1904. Her parents were devout Eastern Orthodox Christians, but she lost her mother at an early age and had to take on household responsibilities in her place. As a result, she left school early and, at the age of 15, moved to Piraeus to help her brother.
In 1939, when her uncle, Ioannis Papasarandos, was elected Metropolitan of Argolis, she followed him to Nafplio and learned to live an ascetic life under his guidance. He reportedly preferred to distribute leftover food to the poor, which deeply inspired her. After his death, she returned to Athens to care for her elderly and sick father, who had become blind, until his death.
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This entry incorporates text from “Olga Papasarandou” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.