Lynette’s Hope – the witness of Lynette Katherine Hoppe’s life and death.

Compiled and edited by Fr Luke A. Veronis

Published by Conciliar Press Ministries, 2008

This book is a profoundly personal insight into the life and death of a devout Orthodox missionary of our time.  Lynette Hoppe was born in Indianna, USA, in 1960 into a protestant missionary family. She completed Bible College and a degree in graphic design. Lynette married Nathan, a protestant missionary. Their conversion to Orthodoxy was miraculous. Interested readers will find more details in a related book “Becoming Orthodox” by Peter Gillquist (reviewed in April-May 2013 edition of Lychnos).

Lynette and Nathan became Orthodox missionaries in Albania during the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. Albania was resurrecting itself from communism. Nearby Kosovo was being torn apart by war. The local people were suffering from poverty, hunger, displacement and spiritual ignorance.

In the first part of the book, Fr Veronis, a fellow missionary, recounts Lynette’s life story. The rest of the book consists of Lynette’s journals and newsletters. Lynette describes daily family life in Albania: raising her children in the church and celebrating the Orthodox feasts. Her family would feed the hungry, look after the sick and take in refugees. Lynette worked as a graphic designer and English editor for Church publications as well as a youth leader.

Lynette was diagnosed with breast cancer while in Albania. She accepted that it was God’s plan for her salvation. She was active in missionary work until her death in 2006. Several weeks before she died, she gave a talk at a girls’ youth camp and organised craft activities. The book contains photographs of her missionary work and her funeral. She was buried in Albania, in the monastery of St Vlash.

The book is a beautiful portrait of a convert to Orthodoxy, who was dynamic in her faith and found ultimate expression of her Christian love as a missionary in Albania. The reader feels they are travelling with Lynette on her journey. The book emphasises that our life in this world is transient and a preparation for the next life. Lynette’s step into the next world was made natural, fearless and painless by her great love for God.

Source: April– May 2014 Lychnos Edition