In honor of the 60th anniversary of the march on Selma, the Orthodox Observer is excited to highlight several resources for our audience.
Please visit the GOARCH Racial Reconciliation Resource page to access the miniseries “A Conversation on Racial Reconciliation.” This series, which was produced during the Black Lives Matter Marches, is intended to initiate and facilitate a broader conversation about racial justice and reconciliation. Fr. John Chryssavgis speaks with Orthodox Christian laity and clergy about challenges to racial justice and reconciliation.
Among the many interviewees were:
- Fr. Moses Berry—may his memory be eternal—was one of the founding members of the Fellowship of Saint Moses the Black.
- Mother Katherine Weston is abbess of St. Xenia Monastic Community, an iconographer, a licensed mental health counselor, an author, and arranger of liturgical music. Her acclaimed arrangement of the Jubilee Liturgy draws on traditional African American spirituals and has been performed by Capella Roman. Mother Katherine is also a founding member of the Fellowship of Saint Moses the Black.
- The Rev. Fr. Paul Abernathy directs the Neighborhood Resilience Project, whose mission it is to “support the transformation of neighborhoods from Trauma Affected Communities to Resilient Healing and Healthy Communities through Trauma Informed Community Development.” Watch Fr Paul’s Tedx talk, “Trauma Informed Community Development,” here.
- Dr. Carla Thomas has practiced medicine for over 40 years, and is the founder of the Abba Moses Free Clinic, which welcomes underserved and underinsured communities. She is also the author of the “Canon for Racial Reconciliation: Glory to God for all the flowers in His garden,” which can be found here.
- Dorothy Berry, daughter of the late Rev. Fr. Moses Berry, is the Digital Curator for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. You can view the Smithsonian’s newly published page on the march to Montgomery here.
You can also view the relevant sections of the Social Ethos Document, For the Life of the World: Toward a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church.
Additionally, watch The Black American Orthodox Experience, a program co-organized by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and Orthodox Christian Network (OCN) which focuses on Orthodox missions in America—insights, challenges, and how we can reach (and are reaching) members of Black, Indigenous, and other communities with the Church of Jesus Christ. The goal is to feature honest and informative conversations about what the Great Commission looks like in modern America within a historical and cultural context.
Photo: Dan Budnik.
