As in the Levant, Christianity in Africa has roots in the Israelite/Jewish religion. The story of Noah’s descendants populating the earth has the descendants of Ham settling Egypt and points west and southward along the Nile River (Genesis 10:6~20). An ancient name for the Nile is Gihon, one of the four rivers mentioned in the … More How Christianity Came to Africa: Hebrew Preparation
Between 10,500 to 7,300 BC, the area known today as the Saharah Desert was lush and habitable due to monsoonal rains falling on the land. There were enough waterways and wetlands to support crocodiles, hippopotamuses, and other aquatic beast as well as terrestrial creatures such as elephants and lions. Animal herders from the Nile River … More How Christianity Came to Africa: Blacks of the Ancient Mediterranean
I was born not long before Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination. Despite the riots in Detroit and Watts, there seemed to be a hope that human brotherhood and the beloved society would end racism and racial injustice. Somewhere between April 4th, 1968 and the mass incarceration of low level black drug offenders in the Regan, … More Seeking a Greater Restoration
It never fails to amaze me how many conscious and woke brothers and sisters overlook African Christian Saints. It isn’t hard to find memes about the glories of the golden eras of Pharaonic Egypt on social media. Many African-Americans have had an affinity for various branches of Islam. There is a growing Hebrew Israelite identity … More Living an Orthodox African-American Christian Life: Embracing Our Saints
I read the lives of the saints from the Prologue of Orhid every morning. This is how I created a very long list of African holy men and women and created my book, Become All Flame: Lent with African Saints. A member of my parish gave me a copy of the Ethiopian Synaxarion. I find … More Abba Akaweh: An Orthodox Link to West Africa?
There is no shortage of people who use white images of Jesus Christ to support the idea that blacks should turn away from the Christian faith in favor of some form of Islam, Hebrew Israelitism, or some other faith based on a traditional African religion. It is not hard to find the presence of brown … More Living an Orthodox African-American Christian Life: Ancient Iconography for Evangelism
Noah cursed his grandson, Canaan, because Ham exposed his father’s nakedness while he was drunk. For thousands of years, accidental and intentional misinterpretations of scripture placed the curse on all descendants of Ham, especially the various peoples of Africa and that brown and black skin was a symbol of the curse. Yet, God made a … More Saints of Africa: December
Malcolm X was an influence for me to become an Orthodox Christian. Born the son of a preacher, Malcolm Little was disenchanted with the Christianity of his time as he developed into a Harlem street hustler. While in prison, he was drawn to the teachings of the Nation of Islam which preached black separatism. Leaving … More Living an Orthodox Christian African-American Life: A Meaning of Malcolm X
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32 My wife asked me why I liked the stories of Orthodox saints so much. This verse from John’s Gospel is my answer in a nutshell. I have heard all sorts of talk about black Africans during the biblical and early Christian periods. … More Saints of Africa: November
In a recent post on Facebook, I mentioned that “There will be some bumps and bruises in some parishes for black Inquirers.” Over thirty years after a wave of evangelicals converted to Orthodox Christianity under the Antiochians, the hurdle of ethnicity can still be daunting for anyone seeking the faith. Along with that are the … More Living an African-American Orthodox Christian Life: Dealing with “Bumps and Bruises”
Desert Fathers Dispatch 