Author: MosesAdmin
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Abbess Katherine Weston speaks with Religion Unplugged on Faith and Racial Reconciliation
Click below to read an interview of the Fellowship board president Abbess Katherine Weston speaking with Religion Unplugged:
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Become a sponsor of the upcoming conference in Houston
Click here to apply to become a sponsor
Gold – $5,000
Promotion at the conferences highest attended event
Name & Logo on the registration page and on our website for a year
Vendor booth is half price
Social media recognition
Large logo on the conference t-shirt and printed programSilver – $3,000
Promotion at the conferences second highest attended event
Vendor booth is half price
List as a sponsor on the registration page and the website plus social media recognition
Small logo on the conference t-shirt and printed programBronze – $1,000
Promotion at the conference
Vendor booth is half price
Listed as a sponsor on the registration page and the website
Name on the conference t-shirt and printed programPatron – $500
Listed as a sponsor on the registration page
Listed as a sponsor on the website
Name on the conference t-shirt and printed programSponsor – $250
Listed as a sponsor on the website
Name on the conference t-shirt and printed programSupporter – $100
Name on conference t-shirt and printed programFill out the pre-conference survey here
If you are interested in sponsoring this event, please fill out the application at mosestheblack.org on the
sponsorship page. The conference is also accepting anonymous donations through the
“donate” button above. Please contact Cecil Mitchell, Conference
Director with any questions: Cmitchell@mosestheblack.org -
2023 Conference Announced!
Anchored in the Lord: This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil. (Heb. 6:19)
October 13-15, 2023
Host parish:
TBD
Houston, TXCome join us for the 30th Annual Fellowship of St. Moses the Black Conference as we explore what it means to be “Anchored in the Lord”.
Donate to the Conference: https://mosestheblack.org/donate/
Purchase aSt. Moses the Black T-Shirt: https://mosestheblack.org/2022/04/fsmb-t-shirts/
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FSMB T-shirts
A new St. Moses shirt is available from the Fellowship. Featuring an icon of St. Moses on the front and a quote on the back, the shirt is available for purchase here.
The 2021 conference logo t–shirt is also still available.
Proceeds from sales of the shirts support the mission of the Fellowship.
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Now available: Foundations 1994-1997!
Vol. 1 of the Unbroken Circle Series
Good news for those who have been waiting to purchase An Unbroken Circle, which has been out of print for some time. This new book is a replacement and updated edition, and the beginning of a new series of books based on talks given at our Conferences over the years.
This collection of talks from the foundation years of the Fellowship of St. Moses the Black Conference, 1994–1997, shows the deep resonance between the faith of the early Church and the heartfelt Christianity born out of the experience of the enslaved Africans on the American soil. Indeed, the “sad joyfulness” that characterized the African Desert Fathers and Mothers of the 4th century and that permeates traditional Christianity today, is our legacy from the suffering Church of the enslaved African-Americans, our elders in the faith. Now that the link between America and the African Christian tradition is restored, the time has come to embrace the Unbroken Circle which is our rich heritage from the past—and our hope for the future.
List price: $19.95. Available for purchase here.
See all of our publications on the Books page >
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2021 FSMB Conference: Online
Join us this weekend, October 8-9, for our 28th annual conference! We will be gathering online for the second year, so there’s no need to travel and it’s not too late. Registration is available here and only costs $25.
This year we are using an all-in-one conference website that will allow us to listen to the talks as well as participate in breakout sessions, workshops, and informal fellowship together.
The conference begins on Friday at 5:30pm Eastern time with an Akathist prayer and the first talks, and continues through Saturday.
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Exodus: A Mourning Song
For Bishop Athanasios Amos Akunda (1971-1/4/2019) and read out at his grave.
Presvytera Elizabeth Tervo
What song shall I sing for your Exodus, my friend
since you went out from among us?
You went out from laughter to tears
and the wrinkles from smiling are all smoothed out now.
You left the tribes and the diocese and
the Library of Alexandria behind.
You took the flight of the alone to the Alone.
You went from silence to the Great Silence
because the voice of God is not in the thunder
and your very name in Greek means the one who listens
but not in the subject case.
You never put yourself in the subject case.
What song shall I sing for your Exodus?You used to ask us for a blessing, and
You used to ask even tiny children for a blessing.
You never asked anything else for yourself.
What song shall I sing for your Exodus?
God only knows why there had to be pain in your smile
and you burned yourself up.
Your life went out like a candle.
Every human soul is a mystery.
What song shall I sing for your Exodus?
You knew the African diaspora and all its scholars,
the Middle Passage, slavery, and colonization,
the botched freedom, the movement of the people.
You tried to heal even the land, to bring water.
How shall I meet you now under the earth?
How can I know someone who is before God now?
What song shall I sing for your Exodus?Our grief for you is undying and endless
and you can never be replaced
yet someday there may come others
who might grow to be almost equally as beloved
as we all rise up into the full measure of Christ,
shining like stars as we walk through the waters
holding out the word of eternal life.
What song shall I sing for your Exodus?
Shine on your way, Master!
Lead us on your path between the waters and the waters
and we will come out with dancing and singing,
with drumming and with rattles,
like the people out of Egypt long ago
to follow you down the years—
Send us your journey’s mercies from God.Heaven is infinitely larger than the earth
but as small as a village where everyone is a friend
and no one is a stranger.That is the song I sing for your Exodus.
Through the prayers of the Theotokos
Through the prayers of St. Athanasios the Great
Through the prayers of St. Moses the Black
And through the prayers of our holy master Athanasios
of blessed memory, hierarch of Kisumu
and all western Kenya
may the Lord God have mercy on us. Amen.
Poem originally published in The Basilian: A Journal of Orthodox Thought and Culture. Volume II. Issue 1.
Photos originally published with His Grace’s obituary atOrthodoxMissionKenya.org
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Two Trials, Two Tombs
Like many Americans I followed the high-profile trial from the opening statements through the historic
verdict. There were certainly many hopes and fears riding on it that were far greater than the
specific incident, decedent, or defendant. George Floyd’s death flashed into global consciousness
as a symbol, not as an incident. His tomb represents everything that Africans have endured in
America for the last 400 years.The trial in its entirety was live-streamed, an unheard of level of transparency. I tried to
judiciously follow updates and not get too caught up. It was still, after all, Great Lent and we
continue to move toward the annual commemoration of a very different kind of trial—the trial of
the wholly innocent Son of God who takes away the sin of the world. This involves a wholly
different type of symbolism—the symbolism that allows us to speak in earthy language about
heavenly realities.But back in America—Listening to the various defense arguments and lines of reasoning,
something struck me the other day. It’s as if the subtext of those arguments was that there is a
certain amount of abuse that a [Black] man should be able to take, and if he can’t take it, then it’s
his fault! A man should be able to handle lying prone, restrained, and under compression for an
indefinite period of time and if he can’t, well, he failed. So I go on record saying I completely
object to that valuation of human life. God didn’t create us for abuse. A man is not obligated to
be able to withstand a certain amount of it. Neither is any woman obligated to withstand a certain
amount of abuse lest it be her own fault that she is harmed. No children are obligated to
withstand a certain amount of abuse lest it be their own fault that they suffered harm. Each
person has their own threshold of experiencing harm in a given situation and we are all different.
We are rather obligated as Christians to respect the image of Christ in one another and to let that
steer our interactions.There are martyric situations in which Christians have had to endure hellish torments without
betraying their faith or their fellow Christians. Some of those were helped by the grace of the
Holy Spirit to overcome and have been canonized as saints. Others fell through human
limitation. Being interrogated for 13 days and nights without respite or sleep, until in a
psychotically disoriented state, one might say or sign anything but for the grace of God. That
happened in the Soviet prisons. I pray that I, that we, may never face such a situation! As we
move toward the annual commemoration of Golgotha, let us continue to pray for the world. Let
us continue to pray moving forward from verdict to next steps that God’s will may be
done. Without the grace of God, how can anyone act with truth and honor? It is our vocation as
Christians, not to be bystanders or voyeurs, but to actively bring grace to difficult situations. In
this sense we approach both tombs with the myrrh of our prayers.-Nun Katherine Weston
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Invitation to the new FSMB Women’s Prayer Group
Greetings in the Lord!
For many years our sisters in the Lord within the Fellowship have been asking what avenues of ministry are open to them as women in the Church. Responding to that question and the urgent need for spiritual upliftment in these times, Mother Katherine and the Fellowship of St. Moses the Black are starting a Women’s Prayer Group. This will provide a place for them to voice their concerns in ways that seek or provide solace for their burdens through prayers and the love of Christ without political “noise.” It is an opportunity to bring the grace of our Lord to bear on situations through collective, intercessory prayer.
The group will function in two areas: a private Facebook group and an email list. The Facebook group will allow for members to share prayer requests and updates; the email list will share these and any other submissions periodically, as a way for women to participate outside of Facebook.
The group is for Orthodox women or catechumens who are in support of the mission of the Fellowship. It is not a Chapter, but another way to connect. For more information and to join, visit: http://mosestheblack.org/join/womens-prayer-group.