The Melanesian Brotherhood is an Anglican religious community of men in simple vows based primarily in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Papua New Guinea.
The Melanesian Brotherhood is an Anglican religious community of men in simple vows based primarily in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Papua New Guinea.
The Melanesian Brotherhood was formed in 1925 by Ini Kopuria, a policeman from Maravovo, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. He and the Bishop of Melanesia, the Right Reverend John Manwaring Steward, realised Ini's dream by forming a band of brothers (known in the Mota language as 'Ira Reta Tasiu') to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the non-Christian areas of Melanesia.
The Brothers (or 'Tasiu', as they are more generally known in the islands) were responsible for the evangelisation of large areas of Guadalcanal, Malaita, Temotu, and other areas in the Solomons, for Big Bay and other places in Vanuatu, and the Popondetta area of Papua New Guinea.
After training for three years, a novice is admitted as a brother by the Archbishop of Melanesia in his capacity as Father of the Brotherhood, or his deputy, or the Regional Father, who is a diocesan Bishop in his role as a Regional Father of the Brotherhood. This admission usually takes place on the Sunday nearest the feast of St. Simon & St. Jude (28 October) at one of the three regional headquarters.
The Head Brother is the leader of the whole Brotherhood and is based at The Mother House at Tabalia. [1] Tabalia is the place given by Ini Kopuria on northwest Guadalcanal. Three regional Head Brothers assist the Head Brother, and work supervising the Brothers' ministry in the three regions of Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, based at Popondetta, and at Tumsisiro, on east Ambae, Vanuatu.
Each of the three regional centres supervises the life and mission of the brothers in Sections (which are coterminate with the dioceses of the Church of Melanesia). The Sections are led by a Section Elder Brother. Under the Sections are the Households, which are led by an Elder Brother, and under the Households are relatively small communities of 3 to 6 brothers in Working Households, who are led by a Brother-in-Charge. Below the Working Households are Mobile Households with no full-time Brothers. Mobile Households have two or more Brothers, and may develop into Working Households.
Each Mobile Household, Working Household, Section, Region, and the entire Brotherhood has its own chaplain, responsible for the daily celebration of Mass and the spiritual lives of the Brothers in his care. He may or may not be a member of the Brotherhood.
The Brothers follow a sixfold cycle of daily office and Eucharist consisting of First Office (Prime), Morning Prayer, Mass, Morning Office (Terce), Midday Office (Sext), Afternoon Office (None), Evening Prayer, and Last Office (Compline). The text for Morning Prayer, the Eucharist, and Evening Prayer are from the Melanesian English Prayer Book, or its authorised alternatives, the lesser hours are simple offices in the "cathedral office" tradition rather than monastic, and the devotion of the Angelus (or Regina Coeli) is prayed daily.
The Brothers follow the evangelical counsels under the vows of poverty, celibacy and obedience. They spend three year as novices and then take vows for terms of five years, which are renewable . The constitution of the brotherhood permits some brothers to take life vows, but most brothers serve from seven to twenty years and are released. The released brother go back into the world, usually finds a wife, and resumes life as a Christian layman in his village.
Several brothers, however, and many more former brothers are ordained to the diaconate or the priesthood. Although called the Melanesian Brotherhood, there are many Brothers who are from Polynesian islands, and several Filipinos and Europeans have joined the community.
During the "ethnic tension" of 1999–2000 in the Solomon Islands, the Brotherhood participated in peace-making efforts which led to a ceasefire and to the Townsville Peace Agreement of October 2000. They then gathered weapons from combatants and discarded them at sea.
One rebel leader, Harold Keke, did not comply with the agreement and continued to cause trouble. Brother Nathaniel Sado, who knew Keke, went to reason with him, but did not return. On 23 April 2003, six brothers went to investigate reports that Keke had murdered Br. Nathaniel, and they did not return either. Scanty reports indicated that Keke was holding them hostage, but on 8 August 2003, the Police Commissioner was able to inform the Brotherhood that all six were dead. Keke and his men surrendered several days later, and the bodies of the seven brothers were exhumed and brought back to Honiara for autopsy. Br. Nathaniel had been tortured for several days before dying, three of the others had been shot on arrival and the remaining three had been tortured and shot the next day. The bodies were interred at Tabalia on 24 October 2003. [2]
On 20 February 2004, Prime Minister of Fiji, Laisenia Qarase presented the Brotherhood with the first prize in the regional category of the 4th Pacific Human Rights Awards "for its sacrifice above the call of duty to protect the vulnerable and build peace and security in Solomon Islands during the civil conflict and post-conflict reconstruction". [3]
On 3 August 2008, the seven martyred members of the Anglican Melanesian Brotherhood were honoured during the concluding Mass of the Lambeth Conference, at Canterbury Cathedral. Their names were added to the book of contemporary martyrs and placed, along with an icon on the altar of the Chapel of Saints of Our Times. When the Eucharist was over, bishops and others came to pray in front of the small altar in the chapel. [4] Now their icon stands at the Cathedral as a reminder of their witness to peace and of the multi-ethnic character of Global Anglicanism. [5]
The Seven Martyrs of the Melanesian Brotherhood are remembered in the Church of England with a commemoration on 24 April. [6]
Annelin Eriksen and Knut Rio suggest that the Melanesian Brotherhood is "dedicated to sorting out spiritual, demonic, and sorcery-related problems." They note that the brothers "wear black robes as uniforms" and "have a powerful walking stick that is highly respected and widely reputed to perform miracles." [7]
Melanesia is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from New Guinea in the west to the Fiji Islands in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea.
Harold Keke is a Solomon Islands warlord involved with the Guadalcanal Revolutionary Army (GRA).
Gela, also known as Nggela and formerly as Florida, is an Oceanic language spoken in the Nggela Islands, in the middle of the Solomon Islands. It belongs to the Southeast Solomonic group of the Oceanic family.
Tabalia is the name of the Mother House of the Melanesian Brotherhood (MBH) on northeastern Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.
Tumsisiro is community located near Saratamata on east Ambae Island, Vanuatu and is the headquarters of the Southern Region of the Melanesian Brotherhood, an Anglican religious community.
The Society of Saint Francis (SSF) is an international Franciscan religious order within the Anglican Communion. It is the main recognised Anglican Franciscan order, but there are also other Franciscan orders in the Anglican Communion.
The Southern Oceanic languages are a linkage of Oceanic languages spoken in Vanuatu and New Caledonia. It was proposed by John Lynch in 1995 and supported by later studies. It appears to be a linkage rather than a language family with a clearly defined internal nested structure.
Lavukaleve is one of the four Central Solomons languages of the Solomon Islands. It is thus assumed to be the descendant of the languages spoken in the Solomon Islands before the spread of the much more numerous Austronesian languages. The name Lavukaleve derives from the ethnonym Lavukal. The Lavukals are the indigenous peoples of the Russell Islands, part of the Solomon Islands Central Province. A comprehensive grammatical description of Lavukaleve was published by the linguist Angela Terrill in 2003.
Ini Kopuria was a police officer from Maravovo, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands who founded the Melanesian Brotherhood in 1925. He and the Bishop of Melanesia, the Right Reverend John Manwaring Steward, realised Ini's dream by forming a band of brothers to take the Gospel of Jesus to the non-Christian areas of Melanesia.
The Anglican Church of Melanesia (ACoM), also known as the Church of the Province of Melanesia and the Church of Melanesia (COM), is a church of the Anglican Communion and includes nine dioceses in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. The Archbishop of Melanesia is Leonard Dawea. He succeeds the retired archbishop George Takeli.
Mota is an island in the Banks group of northern Vanuatu. Its population – today about 700 people – speak the Mota language, which Christian missionaries of the Anglican Church used as a lingua franca in parts of Melanesia.
John Manwaring Steward (1874–1937) was the fifth Anglican Bishop of Melanesia, serving from 1919 to 1928. From 1924 he was assisted by Merivale Molyneux as assistant bishop. He was the son of Charles Edward Steward, also an Anglican priest. J.M. Steward was elected Bishop of Melanesia after 17 years of missionary work as a priest in the Melanesian Mission, which he joined in 1902.
The Community of the Sisters of Melanesia, more usually called The Sisters of Melanesia, is the third order for women to be established in the Church of Melanesia, which is the Anglican Church of Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.
The Archbishop of Melanesia is the spiritual head of the Church of the Province of Melanesia, which is a province of the Anglican Communion in the South Pacific region, covering the nations of Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. From 1861 until the inauguration of Church of the Province of Melanesia in 1975, the Bishop of Melanesia was the head of the Diocese of Melanesia.
The Melanesian Mission is an Anglican missionary agency supporting the work of local Anglican churches in Melanesia. It was founded in 1849 by George Selwyn, the first Bishop of New Zealand.
The Solomon Islands (archipelago) is an island group in the western South Pacific Ocean, north-east of Australia. The archipelago is in the Melanesian subregion and bioregion of Oceania and forms the eastern boundary of the Solomon Sea. The many islands of the archipelago are distributed across Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands (country). The largest island in the archipelago is Bougainville Island, which is a part of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville along with Buka Island, the Nukumanu Islands, and a number of smaller nearby islands. Much of the remainder falls within the territory of Solomon Islands and include the atolls of Ontong Java, Sikaiana, the raised coral atolls of Bellona and Rennell, and the volcanic islands of Choiseul, Guadalcanal, Makira, Malaita, New Georgia, the Nggelas, Santa Isabel, and the Shortlands. The Santa Cruz Islands are not a part of the archipelago.
Honiara is the capital and largest city of Solomon Islands, situated on the northwestern coast of Guadalcanal. As of 2021, it had a population of 92,344 people. The city is served by Honiara International Airport and the seaport of Point Cruz, and lies along the Kukum Highway.
Maravovo is a village on the northwest coast of Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. It is located 57.6 kilometres (35.8 mi) by road northwest of Honiara. Mangakiki is in close proximity to Maravovo. The population is reportedly entirely Anglican. On 7 October 1942, during the Guadalcanal campaign, the Japanese established a small midget submarine base there. On 7 February 1943, when the first American troops reached the area, they only encountered slight resistance, and found out most of the Japanese had already been previously evacuated during Operation Ke. Wreck of one of the midget submarine still lies underwater in the bay facing the village.
The Diocese of Banks and Torres is one of the nine current dioceses of the Anglican Church of Melanesia.
The Diocese of Guadalcanal is one of the nine current dioceses of the Anglican Church of Melanesia. It was founded on 23 June 2013.
