Ini Kopuria

Ini Kopuria (died June 1945) 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 (known in the Mota language as 'Ira Reta Tasiu') to take the Gospel of Jesus to the non-Christian areas of Melanesia.

The Anglican Church of Melanesia, Church of England, and Episcopal Church (United States) commemorate Kopuria on their calendars of saints.

References

• Material by and about the Melanesian Brotherhood from Project Canterbury
• The Brothers: The Story of the Native Brotherhood of Melanesia, by Margaret Lycett 1935 account.

See also

• Calendar of saints (Church of the Province of Melanesia)
• Calendar of saints (Church of England)