African Saints (from the Prologue of Ohrid) Peter of Egypt (Jan. 27) 5th Century Synaxis of the Three Hierarchs: Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom (Jan. 30) Basil the Great (Jan. 1)spent time in Egypt and is listed in the Sayings of the Desert Fathers. Gregory and John would have known of these and … More Dispatch From The Desert: January 27th to February 1st, 2020
African Saints (from the Prolouge of Ohrid) Paul, Pausirius, and Theodotian (Jan. 24) 3rd Century, martyrs in Egypt Zosimas of Cilicia(Jan. 24) 6th Century, Bishop of Babylon in Egypt Ammon of Egypt (Jan. 26) a disciple of Anthony the Great (Jan. 17) A Word from the Fathers & Mothers “Some of them (monks), after … More Dispatch from the Desert: January 20th to 26th, 2020
African Saints (from the Prolouge of Ohrid) Theodulus (Jan. 14) 5th Century, Son of Nilus of Sinai Paul of Thebes (Jan. 15) 3rd & 4th Century, Lived in the deserts of Upper Egypt surrendering his part of an earthly inheritance for the sake of Christ. His asceticism made a heavy impression on Anthony the Great. … More Dispatch from the Desert: January 13th to 19th, 2020
African Saints (from the Prolouge of Ohrid) Elias the Wonder-worker of Egypt (Jan. 8) 5th Century, Agatho (Jan. 8, Greek calendar) 5th Century, Egyptian monk Venerable Ammon (Jan. 10) 5th Century, A monk in Nitra, Egypt. He was known for overcoming his anger and knowledge of Holy Scripture. Venerable Mother Theodora of Alexandria (Jan. 12) … More Dispatch From The Desert: January 6th to 12th, 2020
It has been said among African-Americans that if you don’t know your past, you don’t know your future. If this proverb is true, then the black church is doomed to fail as we don’t have much of a clue of who our ancient heroes are. Most of us belong to churches that were founded in … More Dispatch from the Desert: Raising Awareness of Ancient African Saints
African Saints (from the Prolouge of Ohrid) Basil the Great (Jan. 1) 330-379 AD, Although not an African, this Cappedocian is listed among the Sayings of the Desert Fathers as he spent time in Egypt. He patterned his life after the monastics and was known for his generosity as well as his theological contributions … More Dispatch From The Desert: December 30th, 2019 to January 5th, 2020
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
The goal of our profession is the kingdom of God. Its immediate purpose, however, is purity of heart, for without this we cannot reach our goal. We should therefore always have this purpose in mind … St. Moses from St. John Cassian’s On the Holy Fathers of Sketis (Philokalia vol. I) For anyone that thinks … More St. Moses: The Immediate Purpose of the Christian
I just started reading “On the Prayer of Jesus” by St. Ignatius Brianchaninov. I got hooked on the work of this 19th century bishop after reading “The Arena” during Great Lent. Aside from his wise instruction to monastics which are applicable to us in the regular world, Brianchaninov frequently referred back to several African fathers … More The Jesus Prayer: A Blood-bond
Many thanks again to the St. Andrews Orthodox Church in Ashland for their warm hospitality. Thanks also to the members of the Trinity Baptist Church in West Point (my former congregation) for their attendance. It is my prayer that we will continue to continue to dialogue with one another and evangelize based on our holy … More A Day of Bridge Building
Desert Fathers Dispatch 