Metropolitan Jonah delivers keynote address at St. Moses the Black national conference

ANNISTON, AL [OCA] — His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, addressed attendees at the Brotherhood of Saint Moses the Black’s Annual Conference at Saint Luke Mission here recently.

The annual gathering explores the rich treasures of ancient African Orthodox Christianity and the experience of today’s African Americans who are discovering their heritage and home in the Orthodox Church.

In addition to delivering the keynote address, Metropolitan Jonah celebrated the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy with nearly 200 faithful in attendance, after which he presented the Brotherhood’s founder and president, Priest Moses Berry of Ash Grove, MO, with a gold pectoral cross.

“This was the first time in the Brotherhood’s history that a conference has taken place in the Diocese of the South,” said Priest Basil Henry of Saint Luke’s, who added that the mission community had just moved into its newly renovated temple in early May. With clergy of several jurisdictions participating, “the conference was a radiant experience of grass-roots Orthodox unity in America.”