Fr. Boris
I was born in the city of Nganjuk, East Java, on February 20, 1971. But I spent my childhood in Jombang City, not far from my birth place. I am the half brother of Fr. Daniel Byantoro; we have the same father but a different mother. I was born of our second mother, and Fr. Daniel was born of the first mother. In his childhood, Fr. Daniel lived with our first mother, his birth-mother, in a different town, half an hour away from my hometown. Jombang is a heavily Islamic City, with a famous Islamic Boarding School that belonged to the family of the third President of Indonesia, the former President Abdul Rahman Wahid, who was a very moderate Islamic cleric. It also has an Islamic University and various Islamic lower and higher educational institutions. Among family and friends I was known as “Wawan”. It was in this Jombang City that I received my education from Kindergarten to High School.
When I was a teen, I had a wide variety of friendships and acquaintances. One of them was a group of friends who were interested in the secret arts of magic, many of which are to be found in most of Indonesia and in almost all countries in the Far East. The city of Jombang is especially famous for that kind of magic, with various “gurus” and their brands of magical and mystical sciences being promoted. I began to learn such a magical science. I found that there were no difficulties and no obstacles during the difficult and arduous periods of learning and training in order to achieve the supernatural and magical power I greatly coveted. At last I achieved the highest ranking among the members of these mystical adepts. Finally, I was promoted to be the instructor and trainer at an Islamic religious boarding school (“pesantren”) to teach this mystical and magical science in order to achieve supernatural strength and power. It was during this time of teaching the mystical and magical art in this Islamic religious boarding school (“pesantren”) that I came across Christianity.
Exorcism & Baptism
In Solo I attended morning worship every day, followed by the teaching given by Fr Daniel. When everyone left the simple Church building of that time, after completing the lessons of the day, I tried my magico-mystical power against Jesus Christ. At that time, the Holy Trinity Church was not yet built; Fr. Daniel used a simple rented house that became the site of the present-day Holy Trinity Church. I stood up in front of the icon-screen, which was made from simple plaited-bamboo material. Actually, it was easy for me to knock it down by simply stomping my feet on the ground and hitting my fist in the air toward the icon-screen, but what happened then was shocking to me. Instead of knocking the icon-screen down, the power of the energy of the air that I sent to the icon-screen bounced back to me, and hit me so hard that I fell on the floor. I went out from the Church, but I still could not believe what had happened. Next, I tried my supernatural power against an electric bulb outside the Church, and it broke into pieces, which meant the power was still there. I entered the Church again, and tried again to knock the icon-screen down, but the same thing happened. Repeatedly I tried, and over and over I was knocked down to the ground.
I began to wonder who this Jesus Christ might be, and more importantly I began to be interested in the icons that at first I thought to be idols. After long pondering, slowly I began to confide to Fr. Daniel that, every time I entered into that simple Church building, I felt that a power left my body and made me feel very weak, but when I came out from the Church, that power returned to me. Immediately Fr. Daniel asked whether I practiced magical arts, and whether I had some magico-mystical power and practiced the chanting of mantras. Having admitted that I did, Fr. Daniel immediately asked me whether I had magical talismans or amulets. I admitted that I had. Fr. Daniel asked me to give the amulet to him. The amulet was in the form of a large belt sewn from a blue cloth that I always wore around my waist. I hesitated to give the talisman to Fr. Daniel, because no one is able to touch the amulets without being knocked to the ground by its sheer power. But Fr. Daniel retorted that no power is above the power of Jesus Christ. I was shocked to see Fr. Daniel did not show any fear at all. With a certain degree of skepticism, I removed the magical belt from around my waist and gave it to Fr Daniel. To my surprise, Fr. Daniel took the amulet without any harm; he could even carry the amulet with his left hand, and nothing happened to him. He threw the amulet down to the floor and stepped on it while calling upon the name of Jesus Christ. Then he took a scissor and cut the belt open, and there were written mantras in Arabic, dried flowers, and other charms inside. Fr. Daniel told me that he had to perform exorcism over me, and I obeyed him. Immediately Fr. Daniel spoke an exorcism prayer over me. I felt as if I were being torn apart. I saw my spirit-guide in panic and begging for mercy, while at the same time I heard the prayer of Fr. Daniel driving out this spirit-guide. I had been used to this spirit-guide, who many times gave me information about what was going to happen. I felt a deep pity for him, but I was powerless. When Fr. Daniel continued his prayer, I felt something snatched away from me, and I collapsed. When I woke up, I felt so weak that I tried to produce the power for a test; nothing was there anymore. Fr. Daniel told me to be baptized immediately for my own protection. I was baptized by Fr. Daniel and continued learning Orthodoxy under his guidance. Fr Daniel taught me the Jesus prayer as a replacement for meditation practices. I was bothered by the fact that, every time I started the Jesus prayer, the experience of my former meditation came back again with the old man clad in a white robe and white head-band appearing and crying for mercy and begging me not to leave him. He was asking for me to return. Daniel told me firmly to ignore this appearance of the spirit and his request for mercy from me. He taught me about the Devil and his cohorts, the demons, and told me very clearly that the old man who had been with me all those times was actually one of these demons. With a very strong effort, I was finally able to fight this demon, and his voice slowly faded away. Of course, it took many months to be freed from the influence of this old man demon.
To America & Back Again
In the year 1995, Fr. Daniel sent me to Ben Lomond, California, in the United States of America, to learn iconography under the guidance of Fr. Luke Dingman. He was one of the members of the former Evangelical Orthodox Church who converted to Orthodoxy along with Fr. Gordon Walker and friends. I stayed in Ben Lomond for a year. In 1996, I returned to Solo and studied in the university, majoring in architecture. In the year 2000, I was invited to Kerala, South India, by Fr. George from Mar-Thoma Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church, a friend of Fr. Daniel. In this place, the majority of the people are non-Chalcedonian Orthodox of the Syriac tradition. I lived in the Seminary in Chungam area, in Kottayam City. I painted icons for the Church and taught iconography to the students there. After completing what I was invited for, I returned to Solo, Indonesia, helping the ministry of Fr. Alexios. I married the sister-in-law of Fr. Alexios; my wife is the young sister of his wife, Presbytera Helenni. To our joy, soon a healthy and handsome baby boy named Uriel was born.
From America, Fr. Daniel contacted me, asking me about the calling of my life. I told him that I was interested in the ministry, especially since all this time Fr. Alexios had been training me in theology and liturgical life. At last, when Archbishop Hilarion came to Indonesia, I was one among those ordained by His Eminence. I was ordained by His Eminence on February 19th, 2006, in the Holy Trinity Church, Solo, Central Java, Indonesia. With my ordination, there are now 4 children of my late father, as well as a son-in-law of his, who have been ordained into the priesthood: Fr. Daniel, Fr. Yohannes, their half-brother (and my older birth-brother), Fr. Matthew, myself, and my older brother-in-law, the late Deacon Panteleimon (the husband of my half-sister, Debora). Now, I feel the call of God to approach my former gang members in Sumatra and convert them to the faith while ministering the Lord in their midst. I am waiting for the time when I can leave for Sumatra. For the time being I am serving our new Orthodox Community in the village of Simo, not far from Solo. May God be praised in all things!
