With the growth of converts, an official recognition of Fr. Daniel’s work was very important. A foundation was formed as a first step to gaining legal recognition for the growing mission. This foundation was named as “Yayasan Dharma Tuhu” (“The Straight Doctrine Foundation”), and then, due to the objection of some people for its Hindu sounding name (i.e. “Dharma”), it was changed into “Yayasan Orthodox Injili Indonesia” (“The Indonesian Orthodox Evangelistic Foundation”) legalized with a notarized Acts “No 28, Surakarta, 12th July 1990”. Through this legal notarized foundation, an office was opened, with two workers, using the pavilion of Fr. Daniel’s rented house, and his empty dining room as a place of worship with a simple iconostasis. After some months the office moved to a rented room of a small hotel (“Hotel Kaloka”) in the middle of the city. This foundation later became what we know as the “Gereja Orthodox Indonesia” (“The Indonesian Orthodox Church”), and does not belong to any one jurisdiction, since there are no religious bodies that have headquarters outside of Indonesia. GOI is an umbrella organization for all Orthodox jurisdictions if they want to be legally recognized when operating in Indonesia, with Fr. Daniel B.D. Byantoro as the current president. This is the only legal Orthodox organization with Fr. Daniel Byantoro as the only legal president and founder of the organization. No foreigner is allowed to be a head of any religious organization in Indonesia.
Fr. Daniel had a difficult time acquiring a permit from the government for the Orthodox Church since the government recognizes only five religions, with the Orthodox Church failing to fall under either the Protestant or Roman Catholic designation. A secretary of the Semarang (Central Java, 3 hours away north of Solo) Roman Catholic Diocese was sent by his Bishop to see Fr. Daniel. A letter from the late Pope John Paul II to the Vatican Ambassador, Msgr. Petrus Sambi, in Jakarta advised him to take a look at the mission work in which Fr. Daniel was engaged. Msgr. Petrus Sambi invited Fr. Daniel to lunch in his residence in the Vatican Embassy in Jakarta. Fr. Daniel hoped the Roman Catholic Church might make room for the Orthodox Church under its legal umbrella in the Department of religion. But to his disappointment, when Fr. Daniel wrote a letter to the Indonesian Roman Catholic Council of Bishops asking for such help, the Council turned down his request. Also a letter was sent by the then President of Lutheran World Federation, Rev. Dr. Chilton to the President of the largest Lutheran Church: “ Huria Kristen Batak Protestan” the Rev. Dr. Soritua Nababan, asking him to help Fr. Daniel in legalizing the Orthodox Church in the Indonesian State Department of Religion, but nothing came out from that letter of appeal.
At this time Indonesia no longer had a canonical tie with Bishop Maximos of Pittsburgh because of internal hierarchical contention about who had the jurisdictional right over the newly developing Church of Indonesia. Metropolitan Dionysios of New Zealand was assigned and Fr. Daniel Byantoro came to be under his jurisdiction. By this time Fr. Daniel Byantoro had moved his office from “Hotel Kaloka” to a rental property belonging to a Muslim cleric. With the help of many friends during several visits to the USA, Fr. Daniel was able to purchase this property allowing the rented house in this slum to finally be used for worship. The “Holy Spirit“ Church, which later became “Holy Trinity” Church, had an iconostasis made from a blue curtain and later, one was created with a plated bamboo screen. Parishioners sat cross-legged on a plastic mat during the Liturgy. The icons were painted in a simple style by one of the parishioners. On September 24th, 1990 Fr. Daniel was elevated to Archimandrite at Holy Trinity Church of Solo during the visit of Metropolitan Dionysios and the then Archimandrite Soterios of Seoul, Korea and appointed as the “Vicar” of the Metropolitan for Indonesian Mission.
As the church continued its steady growth, Fr. Daniel Byantoro desperately needed to obtain legalization for this fledgeling Orthodox Church. A strong believer in the power of fasting and prayer, Fr. Daniel sought divine help for the situation. He went to East Java near his hometown, a 5 hour journey by bus from Solo, to rent a room in a Roman Catholic convent located high atop a mountain. He stayed there for 30 days and 30 nights praying, fasting and beseeching the help of God. At the end of those 30 days a call came to Fr. Daniel from Solo. He needed to return to Solo because the Director of the Central Java Department of Religion wanted to see him.
The Orthodox Church was legally recognized after many difficult struggles, and Fr. Daniel’s missionary effort eventually brought official government recognition of the Orthodox Church in Indonesia on November 30th, 1991 with a legal Act of Government:” Dirjen Bimas Kristen Depag R.I, No: F/Kep/189/3336/1991. This Act was then renewed with a legal Act of Government:” SK Dirjen Bimas Kristen Depag R.I. no.: F/Kep/Hk. 00.5/19/637/1996”, and was renewed again with a legal Act of Government: “SK Dirjen Bimas Kristen Depag R.I. no: F/Kep/HK.00.5/20/708/2001” on February 28th, 2001, and the latest renewal was the Act of Letter of Decision Number: DJ.III/Kep/HK. 00.5/190/3212/2006 to replace the previous Letter of Decision Number F/Kep. /Hk. 00.5/20/708/2001