Vespers and Presentation, May 2009

After I arrived in Detroit, I had lunch at Fr. Roman's home and then he took me to the motel. Around 15:30 Subdeacon Robert Mitchell fetched me and took me back to the church. We had Vespers, then the presentation, a lunch break, questions and answers, and then they took me out to dinner at Nikola's Restaurant.

The presentation covers a selection of African saints and their impact on Christianity in general and Orthodoxy specifically. First I gave a quick background on myself and why I am Orthodox. In this portion I discussion some of the main reasons that I am Orthodox. Then I talked about various saints and shared stories of their lives.

In the Question and Answer section I gave more details about my experience as a black Orthodox. I shared two particular incidents which occurred here in Baltimore.

The first one involved a neighbor of mine. One said he told me, "I'm tired of blacks thinking that we are accepted in the white man's society. Take you, for example. You are not accepted in your church!" Shortly thereafter I was elected secretary of the Parish Council of my parish and then shortly after that I was elected secretary of the "O" Club, the social organization of the parish. Then I was elected recording secretary of the Colonial District of the Frederated Russian Orthodox Clubs.

The other incident involved an Orthodox faithful. We were talking on the telephone and he told me that race was the reason that I was not ordained. I was still a member of my former parish at the time. I said, "I don't think so." He replied, "Let's face it! Where could they send you?" In five seconds I named six parishes.

I also shared some incidents which happened at work. Sidney asked me "What possessed me to be Orthodox instead of Baptist?" and when I told him that I believe in what the Church teaches, he asked, "Have you looked at your skin lately?" The late Fr. Andrew, when he heard about this, replied that black people were Orthodox long before the Russians.

Jerel asked me if I were the only black member of my parish and when I said yes, he asked, "Don't you feel out of place there?" My response was that the only place where this is an issue was there at work.

Reader Andrew recorded the presentation and I hope to receive a copy of the tape soon.