ABOUT ST. MARY OF EGYPT ORTHODOX CHURCH

In November 1987, a group of interdenominational and multiracial Christians formed a ministry called "Reconciliation Ministries" in the "inner-city" of Kansas City, Missouri. What began as an outreach to help the physical needs of the neighborhood gradually emerged into an Eastern Orthodox Christian community, known as St. Mary of Egypt Orthodox Church.

Recently, Professor Cornel West wrote in his best-selling Race Matters that: "The genius of our black foremothers and forefathers was to create powerful buffers to ward off the nihilistic threat, to equip black folk with cultural armor to beat back the demons of hopelessness, meaninglessness, and lovelessness. These buffers consisted of cultural structures of meaning and feeling that created and sustained communities; this armor constituted ways of life and struggle that embodied values of service and sacrifice, love and care, discipline and excellence... These traditions consist primarily of black religious and civic institutions that sustained familial and communal networks of support."

Creating such a buffer has been the byproduct of this group seeking to simply put into practice the teachings of Jesus. Despair, violence, chemical dependency, abuse of all kinds had touched the lives of both those they were serving, as well as some of the volunteers. As these issues surfaced, they began to search for deeper answers. It resulted in discovering for themselves the ancient wisdom of the African desert fathers and mothers. They began to apply their advice on prayer, how to deal with one's own spiritual blindness, and how to be restored when one's emotions and desires were disordered. The community little by little was being led to the path of the ancient Orthodox Church. They drew inspiration from the ancient Egyptian monastics, the writings of The Philokalia, and the lives of the holy ones from the Northern Russian forests. In addition, the many saints in urban areas that had combined inner prayer with works of mercy provided models for the kind of Orthodox community they were seeking to become.

St. Moses the Black was a 4th century gang-leader along the Nile that had become one of the desert fathers. St. Mary of Egypt was a 6th century prostitute that left her way of life to spend 47 years in the same desert where St. John the Baptist lived. These radical transformations are but two examples of the deep changes wrought through this ancient path. As the group continued to search through the lives of African saints, they were introduced to hundreds of other examples of inspiration. In 1993, their core community became Orthodox. Each year more and more have been baptized and chrismated.

Since then, they have sponsored ten conferences on Ancient Christianity and African America. A book was published from various lectures after the fifth of these conferences, entitled An Unbroken Circle. The conferences have pulled from the depth of faith derived from the African-American experience of suffering and sanctity and linked it with the suffering of the early Christians. The result has been to show the place of Orthodox Christianity in African America today and the wealth of heritage waiting to be tapped from the Church in Africa.

The church operates a bookstore called Desert Wisdom Bookstore, specializing in ancient Christian texts and books on African Christianity. A book and price list is available upon request. During the day, free daily bread, soup and tea is served to those that drop by the bookstore.

The life at St. Mary's is centered on the daily cycle of Orthodox prayer and Church services. The church is on the third floor of their four-story building. The daily prayer life is indeed the cement that binds the works and individuals together.

Classes are held on Friday evenings at 8:00 P.M. followed by the Coffee House at 9:00 P.M. Themes vary from Bible Study, based on the perspective of the ancient Fathers or introductory topics to ancient, Orthodox Christianity. To see the entire schedule of classes and services, click here.

St. Mary of Egypt Orthodox Church is under HH Patriarch PAVLE of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Its bishop is HG Bishop LONGIN of new Gracanica Metropolitanate of U.S.A. and Canada.