Every American high school (public, private, and home school) and GED program requires students to learn US History in order to earn a diploma. There is not a black church or civic organization that does not have some sort of African-American History Month presentation. In fact, every ethnic group, women, and the LGBTQ+ has a month of honoring their culture, heritage, and past. Yet, when it comes to the Christian faith, most African Americans cannot trace our spiritual ancestry past the founders of their grandparent’s Baptist or Pentecostal congregation. Perhaps a few may know of Bishop Richard Allen and the African Methodist Episcopal denomination. Yes, we can turn to the scriptures and celebrate the Ethiopian Eunuch (the Bible doesn’t mention his name). Some of us may even declare the Old Testament Israelites were all black people (forms of European Israelitism declare the same for themselves). Why aren’t we taught any in-depth history of African Christians in the ancient world?
Beginning with the Radical Reformers of European Protestantism, a theory that true Christianity disappeared from the world either in the first century with the death of St. John the Evangelist, or in the early fourth century when Constantine legalized Christianity. In their view, the Roman Catholic Church was far too corrupt to be the true body of Christ. The first Reformers (Calvin, Luther, etc.) began to reveal the real church. But their doctrines and practices were too similar to the Catholics. Later movements such as the Congregationalist, Puritans, and others decided their own Bible based theologies were the correct expressions of Christianity while all other Christians rejected the truth. This is the Great Apostacy theory.
The theory has a few major flaws. First of which is that ignores the continued Christian faith of the first believers such as the Antiochians, Cypriots, Ethiopians, Greeks, Lebanese, Macedonians and others who can trace their origins directly to the Lord’s Apostles. These and other Churches practice Orthodox Christianity which is built on practices and traditions that are far older than the European Reformation movements. Secondly, the New Testament is a product of this ancient Christian tradition as it was canonized in 398 AD at the Council of Carthage (Constantine died in 377). As for the Old Testament, these Churches still use the Greek Septuagint as the base of their translations. This was the version used by the Lord’s Apostles (canonized about 200 BC in Alexandria Egypt) and matches the original Hebrew text 98% of the time. The more modern Hebrew Masoretic text came out of Medieval Europe with entire books and verses missing from what was found in the Original Hebrew and the Septuagint.
The Bible has it’s very roots on the African continent (Alexandria & Carthage). But those who believe in the Great Apostacy will not tell you this. Nor will they tell you that some of the most noteable saints such as Athanasius, Augustine, and many of the Desert Fathers were some shade of brown if not fully black men and women. They will not teach you that Christian Nubia lasted almost as long as the Byzantine Empire and Ethiopia was officially a Christian nation until the Communist takeover in 1974. Both black and white Protestant churches are guilty of ignoring our history and spirituality of the ancient faith.
Someone has to step up and correct this omission of who we fully are in Christ. I have been and studied Orthodox Christianity for over 10 years. Shame on me if I don’t share what I learn and practice with my brothers and sisters. Meet with me every first and third Tuesday evening at 5:00 pm at the East End Branch of the Richmond Public Library. Come with an open mind and questions. May God bless and reveal love and truth to us in this effort.
St. Djan Darada Fellowship 
Leave a comment