Referring back to the movie Moses the Black; I’m thinking about the main character’s grandmother. I’ll assume she was an Orthodox Christian, although I don’t know too many Churches in an inner city. The hero hadn’t had the time nor put in the effort to be fully catechized and brought into the faith. Yet, his grandmother planted a seed of truth in him. He reflected and grew it enough to have a change of heart and way of life.
There is an Oriental Orthodox version of the life of St. Moses that describes him having a seed of truth in him. This greatly conflicted with his life as a bandit and drove him to the monastery to change his life. The Eastern traditions have Moses seeking to pillage the place. But he’s overcome by the warmth and hospitality of the monks and became remorseful and repentant. At his death, Moses and those with him attempted to show the same giving spirit to the marauding bandits that killed them. In both branches of Orthodoxy, the seed of truth was in the sinner, and he grew it to become a saint.
Everyone has this gift of God and the ability to develop God-like qualities and virtues. Reading the lives of the saints we find former pagans, prostitutes, and all sorts of criminals who had a change of heart. The change is possible because there is an element of good in even the worst of people. The element is brought to God’s presence, and the Holy Spirit sets the person on a path of growth. Recognizing the seed is in us the first step to sainthood.
“Black” has always been associated with doom, something evil, and unredeemable. Although there was no modern white supremacy in the Greco-Roman world, the color black was seen as a bad omen. Moses was known as an especially cruel and powerful criminal with a very dark complexion. The movie takes place in a gritty urban area with profanity and violence as normal behavior. Yet, there was something good in the main character and the African saint. Let’s not forget a question that was asked, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” The seed of truth is in all of us no matter who we are, what we have done, or where we come from. Our challenge is to see it inside of us, bring it to God’s presence, and let the Holy Spirit lead us to growth.
Desert Fathers Dispatch 