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
OBSERVING THE FEAST DAYS OF THE AFRICAN SAINTS Why observe the African Saints? Every Christian community and nation celebrates its ancient heroes of the faith. St. Patrick among the Irish, St. Vladimir of the Russians, even the Alaskan Native St. Peter the Aleutian; all of these peoples embrace their ancient fathers and mothers of the … More African Saints & Feast Days
What is the relevance of this ancient African Christianity? What is the relevance of Orthodox Christianity? I tell you the relevance is the future of our community and nothing short … Subdeacon Paul Abernathy Broken souls need a home to come to. Those souls are not finding a suitable home in the poor theologies … More Relevance and a Need for Real Faith: Reflections from the First Symposium of the VA Chapter of the Brotherhood
The following is a collection of notes I wrote to present to my former congregation and colleagues concerning my desire to form a bridge between African American Baptist and Orthodox Christians. I still believe strongly that such a bridge is very necessary for the sake of black Christians to grow deeper in the faith. Now, … More A Case for Orthodoxy in the African American Church
In volume 15:4, 1995 of Epiphany magazine (from the Christ the Savior Brotherhood, no longer in print), there is a story of a sad example of a missed opportunity that may have bridged the gap between African Americans and the Orthodox Church. In 1893, Bishop Daniel Payne of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church went … More The Pain of Missed Opportunities
Martin Luther King, Jr. is the closest person that African-Americans (no, all Americans) have to a canonized saint. Like the holy men and women of old, he had his failures in his struggles against sin. But, whatever those failures may have been, they do not detract from his leadership in the struggle for human dignity, … More From Martin to Macarius: A Weekend of Saintly Reflection
There are a lot of titles being used in African-American churches these days. It used to be the only black churches that had bishops were the AME and other Methodist, Episcopalians, and COGIC. Today with the modern interpretations of the “Five Fold Ministry,” it is not uncommon to see apostles, prophets, and bishops in both … More Reading The Ancient Apostolic Alternatives
Desert Fathers Dispatch 