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The Suffering, Catacomb Christianity of=20 African America

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One response to =E2=80=9CThe Suffering, Catacomb = Christianity of=20 African America=E2=80=9D

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One woman=E2=80=99s journey in the Holy = Orthodox=20 faith=E2=80=A6

22=20 02 2007 =

Photograph=20 by Rudolf Eickemeyer, Jr. published in Down South, New York: R. H. = Russell,=20 1900. Site to See: Slavery = in=20 America

Article by Monk Damascene Christiansen

As Fyodor Dostoyevsky once observed, every society is founded upon a = certain=20 moral idea, a certain absolute standard of moral behavior; once that = idea is=20 lost, the society is doomed. The moral idea of our own land, America, = came from=20 direct revelation from God Himself: the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is = because=20 our society is abandoning this idea that it is currently in the process = of=20 collapsing rapidly.
The key, then, to the healing and survival of = American=20 society is to return to its Christian roots. American has always been a = very=20 religious nation. Its first settlers faced the hardships of coming to a = new,=20 untamed land, not first of all for the sake of economic betterment, but = in order=20 to practice, in freedom their religious beliefs. Undoubtedly, it was = because of=20 the Christian fervency of the early pioneers and the righteous Christian = Americans who came after them that God has blessed our land.
The most = profound Christian roots in America, however, are not to be found in the = white=20 settlers who came here from Western Europe, with their Protestant = religious=20 views and systems firmly intact. Rather, they are to be found in those = who were=20 brought here by force from Western Africa, who heard the Gospel of = Christ for=20 the first time in the New World. The most profound indigenous = expression of=20 Christianity in America belongs to the African Americans. (emphasis = mine)
The whites, for all the value they placed on freedom, were able = to=20 subject, for a span of nearly 250 years, one-sixth of the American = population to=20 an inhuman yoke of slavery. It was the African Americans who bore their = yoke,=20 who carried this cross, and thus it was upon them that God bestowed the = greatest=20 crowns. These crowns were not seen by the eyes of the world during the = time of=20 slavery, and their mystical presence is recognized even less today. And = yet it=20 is to these crowns=E2=80=93 to the martyric experience of the African = Americans=E2=80=93 that we=20 must turn first of all when we seek to return to our American Christian = roots.=20 This is imperative not only for African Americans of today, not only for = Christians who would carry the Cross of Christ in these latter times, = but for=20 all Americans who would seek to stem the tide of anarchy, = despair, and=20 moral schizophenia that is creeping upon our country.
An Evil = Institution
=E2=80=9CIn 1619,=E2=80=9D writes the great = African American Christian=20 author James Weldon Johnson, =E2=80=9Ca Dutch vessel landed twenty = African natives in=20 Jamestown, Virginaia. They were quickly bought up by the colonial = settlers. This=20 was the beginning of the African slave strade in the American Colonies. = To=20 supply this trade Africa was raped of millions of men, women and = children. As=20 many as survived the passage were immediately thrown into slavery. = {Almost half=20 died on the ships on the way over.} These people came from various = localities in=20 Africa. They did not all speak the same language. Here they were = suddenly cut=20 off from the moorings of their native culture, scattered without a = regard to=20 their old tribal relations, having to adjust themselves to a completely = alien=20 civilization, having to lean a strange language, and moreover, held = under and=20 increasingly harsh system of slavery.=E2=80=9D
It is true that many = slave owners,=20 being Christians, treated their slaves kindly, like family, looking out = for=20 their physical, emotional and spiritual welfare. This, however, did not = change=20 the fact that the very institution of slavery was evil, = relegating=20 human beings, created in the image of God, to the status of animals. As = one=20 former slave, Katie Rowe, recalls:
=E2=80=9CLots of old people lak me = say dat dey was=20 happy in slavery, and dat dey had de worst tribulations after freedom, = but I=20 knows dey didn=E2=80=99t have no white master and overseer lak we had on = our place=E2=80=A6 No=20 bless God, I ain=E2=80=99t never seen no more black boys bleeding all up = and down de=20 back under the cat-o=E2=80=99-nine-tails, and I never go by no cabin and = hear no poor=20 nigger groaning, all wrapped up in a lardy sheet no = more.=E2=80=9D
=E2=80=9CI can tell you,=E2=80=9D=20 says former slave Martin Jackson, =E2=80=9Cthat the life of an average = slave was far=20 from rosy. They were dealt out plenty of cruel suffering. But slavery, I = believe, had a more degrading influence upon slave owners than it had = upon the=20 slaves.=E2=80=9D
The Ultimate Gift
To these = longsuffering=20 people=E2=80=93the slaves=E2=80=93 was given the revelation of Jesus = Christ, God become flesh.=20 In the midst of the ultimate earthly humiliation and pain, they were = granted by=20 God the ultimate heavenly gift and consolation. They were given the only = means=20 of salvation from the laws of sin and death: the Cross of the Crucified=20 God.
Because our contemporary American society has become so = earthbound, this=20 ultimate gift, received by the first African Americans, is rarely = recognized for=20 what it is. Now it has become the fashion to say that the African = Americans were=20 force-fed the =E2=80=9Cwhite-man=E2=80=99s religion=E2=80=9D of = Chrisitanity. To this one may respond=20 with two observations. First of all, it was Moslem slave = traders in=20 Africa (who were also not black) who were capturing ans selling the = black=20 Africans into slavery in the first place. Secondly, when one reads the = accounts=20 of former slaves, one almost never gets the picture of slaves being = forced-fed=20 religion. Much more one hears of slaves being=20 persecuted by their masters for practicing the = Christian faith. We hear the slaves expressing gratitude for the good = masters=20 who allowed them to worship, read the Bible, etc., or = resentment at bad=20 masters who did not give them these = =E2=80=9Cprivileges.=E2=80=9D
When white ministers would=20 preach to the slaves, they would more that likely deliver them a = distorted=20 version of Christianity suited to the white man=E2=80=99s interests. = Such preaching,=20 however, had little effect on the religious beliefs of the slaves. Just = like the=20 Russians of our own century who were held under the yoke of Communist = slavery,=20 the African American slaves knew when they were being fed a lie. They = did not=20 swallow the false version of Christianity that was fed to them. Rather = they=20 seized upon the essence of true Christianity, which they gleaned for=20 themselves out of the tares which were sown in their midst by=20 hypocritical white people. Here are the words of former slave Jack=20 White:
Master preach to de white folks on Suday = mo=E2=80=99nin=E2=80=A6 He had two fav=E2=80=99rit=20 tex=E2=80=99es he uster preach from to de slaves. One was, = =E2=80=9CServ=E2=80=99nts, obey your=20 masters.=E2=80=9D He didn=E2=80=99 say much about de Master in Hebben, = but allus tole us to obey=20 our earthly master. De other tex=E2=80=99 was =E2=80=9CThou shalt not = steal.=E2=80=9D He preach that=20 ov=E2=80=99r an ov=E2=80=99r, to de niggers=E2=80=A6 Since I=E2=80=99s = got to readin an=E2=80=99 studyin=E2=80=99, I see some of=20 the chu=E2=80=99ches is wrong, and de preachers don=E2=80=99 preach = jis=E2=80=99 like de Bible=20 say.=E2=80=9D
The African Americans seized upon Christianity for one = reason only:=20 because it was true. In their profound suffering, what could be more = real and=20 true to them than the image of God Himself=E2=80=93 mocked, spat upon, = nailed to the=20 Cross, yet ultimately victorious over this world and stretching His arms = out to=20 draw all people to another world? Christ was their only hope. If Jesus = Christ,=20 His death and Resurrection were real, then life had meaning. If they = were not,=20 then the suffering of the slaves had no meaning at all. It would = be=E2=80=93as it is=20 wrongly believed to be today a society that has forgotten = Christ=E2=80=93an unfortunate=20 accident of history.
Catacomb Christianty
The = slaves did=20 sit through hypocritical sermons of the white preachers, but = that was=20 not their religion. They waited for the times when they could meet among = themselves, often in secret, and could practice what they knew to be the = true=20 religion. And often, as we have said, they were persecuted severely for = this.=20 Many slave owners did not want their slaves to meet among themselves = lest the=20 think for themselves; they did not want them to think of heaven, lest = they turn=20 their gaze away from the earth they were tilling in the sweat of their = brow;=20 they did not want them to pray, lest they pray for freedom. Harsh = measures were=20 taken to ensure this. In many ways, this situation of African American=20 Christians can be likened to the situation of the ancient Catacomb = Christians in=20 Roman times. In the first centuries of Christianity, when Christians = were=20 persecuted for their faith, they had to hide in sepulchral tunnels = (catacombs)=20 which extended for miles beneath the city of Rome, there to hold secret = prayer=20 services at scheduled times throughout the day and night. If caught, = they faced=20 torture and death at the hands of the Roman authorities.
The = following=20 reminiscences of former slaves about their religious persecution show = how the=20 experience of the first African American Christians was not unlike that = of the=20 early Christian martyrs and saints.

=E2=80=9CI rec=E2=80=99lec=E2=80=99=E2=80=A6{one night} the colored = folks in the trader yard hold a prayer=20 meeting. Mama was very religious=E2=80=93very religious=E2=80=93 and if = ever a soul went to=20 Heaven, her=E2=80=99s did. Seems like Major Long was gone that eveing, = and Mama and some=20 folks in the yard got together for a praying time. Didn=E2=80=99t do no = singing, =E2=80=99cause=20 that would have =E2=80=98tracted attention, and the major didn=E2=80=99t = allow no meetings. But=20 someone saw the folks praying and told him the next morning, and he = comes out in=20 the yard with a cat-o=E2=80=99-nine-tails- and rounds everybody up. = Then, he said, =E2=80=9CYou=20 niggers what was praying last night, step out here.=E2=80=9D None come = out, though,=20 =E2=80=98cept Mama, =E2=80=99cause they was afraid they was gonna to get = whipped. Major said to=20 Mama, =E2=80=9CWell, you are the only truthful one in the yard, and I = won=E2=80=99t whip you,=20 =E2=80=99cause you have been truthful.=E2=80=9D=E2=80=A6 Mama jes fell = on her knees and thanked the good=20 Lord right in front of the major, and he never touched her with his = whip.=E2=80=9D=20 (Stephen Williams)

=E2=80=9COne night Joe and an=E2=80=99 my Mammy an=E2=80=99 some more = slaves wus down on deir kness=20 praying fur de good Lord to sot dem free, an=E2=80=99 Frances wus = slippin=E2=80=99 round de=20 corner of de house an=E2=80=99 heard what dey was sayin=E2=80=99. = An=E2=80=99 she goes back to de house=20 an=E2=80=99 tells de ol=E2=80=99 master, an; he sent de oberseer down = an=E2=80=99 he brung every one of=20 dem to de stake, an=E2=80=99 he tied dem an=E2=80=99 whupped um so hard = dat blood come from some=20 of dem=E2=80=99s backs.=E2=80=9D (July Halfen)

=E2=80=9CWe used to steal off to the woods to have church, like de = spirit moved=20 us=E2=80=93sing and pray to our own liking and soul = satisfaction=E2=80=93and we sure did have=20 good meetings, honey=E2=80=93baptize in de river, like God said. We had = dem=20 spirit-filled meetings at night on the bank of the river and God met us = there.=20 We was quiet =E2=80=98nuf so de white folks didn=E2=80=99t know we was = dere and what a glorious=20 time we did have in the Lord.=E2=80=9D (Susan Rhodes)

In some cases the African Americans became Catacombe Christians in a = literal=20 sense, digging holes in the fields in which they hid and prayed:

=E2=80=9CMaster neber =E2=80=98low he slaves to go to church. Dey hab = big holes out in de=20 fielsd dey git down in and pray. Dey done day way =E2=80=99cause de = white folks didn=E2=80=99t=20 want =E2=80=98em to pray. Dey uster pray for freedom. I dunno how dey = learnt to pray,=20 =E2=80=99cause dey warn=E2=80=99t no preachers come round to teach = =E2=80=98em. I reckon de Lawd jis=20 make =E2=80=98em to know how to pray.=E2=80=9D (Ellen Butler)

Another account tells of slaves trying to drown the sound of their = prayer=20 with a tub of water:

=E2=80=9CI was a =E2=80=98ligious chile, in dem days and I=E2=80=99m = =E2=80=98ligious now too, but colored=20 floks jus=E2=80=99 naturally had more =E2=80=98ligion back dere, = =E2=80=98fore de War. I kin remember=20 when my ma used to put us chillun outside de cabin in de quaters and den = she=20 would shut de doors and de windows tight and sit in a tub of water in de = middle=20 of de middle of de floor and kneel down and pray dat de yoke of bondage = be=20 removed from de nigger=E2=80=99s neck, All de niggers done dat. Dey did, = Ma allus said=20 de sound of dey voices went down into de tub of water and de white folks = couldn=E2=80=99t hear =E2=80=98em praying.=E2=80=9D (Rachel Reed)

When one hears of the burning faith and incredible depths of piety = possessed=20 by some of the early African American slaves, one cannot coubt that the = American=20 yoke of slavery has produced her own catacomb saints. Here are the words = of a=20 former slave realling her own saintly mother:

=E2=80=9CMy mother, all de time she=E2=80=99d be praying to de Lord. = She=E2=80=99d take us chillun to=20 de woods to pick up firewood and we=E2=80=99d turn around to see her = down on her knees=20 behind a stump, a-prayin=E2=80=99. We=E2=80=99d see her wipein=E2=80=99 = her eyes wid the corner of her=20 apron=E2=80=93 first one eye, den de other=E2=80=93 as we come along = back. Den, back in de=20 house, down on her knees, she=E2=80=99d be a-prayin=E2=80=99.=E2=80=9D = (Rebecca=20 Grant)
Suffering Orthodoxy
The African American = slaves=20 did not have the advantage of having Orthodox missionaries or holy = elders from=20 Russia or Greece=E2=80=93 those who had received the fullness of ancient = Christianity in=20 an unbroken transmission=E2=80=93 coming to preach to them. And yet = their Christian=20 experience appears before us as so Orthodox in its feeling and = savor,=20 because it was forged in the catacombs.
The Orthodox Christianity = that we=20 have received today was formed and nurtured, like an embyo in the womb, = during=20 the catacomb period of the Church. It was this period of persecution = that gave=20 to original ancient Christianity its otherworldly pathos, its sense of = placing=20 all hope in the life to come, its conquering faith, and its emphasis on=20 repentance and remembrance of death.
Orthodox Christianity, = therefore, was=20 literally born in suffering and persecution, and it remains in that = condition=20 today=E2=80=93 when it is genuine. Father Seraphim Rose once explained = this as follows:=20 =E2=80=9CIn the fourth century, a great Orthodox theologian, Saint = Gregory Nazianzus=20 (also called =E2=80=9Cthe Theologian=E2=80=9D) described our religion as = =E2=80=99suffering Orthodoxy,=E2=80=99=20 and so it has been from the beginning, throughout the whole history of = the=20 Church. The followers of the Crucified God have suffered persecution and = tortures. Almost all of the Apostles dies as martyrs, Peter being = crucified=20 upside-down, and Andrew being crucified on an X-shaped cross. During the = first=20 three centuries of Christianity, believers fled to the catacombs and = endured=20 tremendous sufferings. It was in the catacombs that the Chruch=E2=80=99s = Divine=20 Services=E2=80=93 which we celebrate today in a form little changed = since that time=E2=80=93=20 were worked out in an atmosphere of constant expectation of death. After = the age=20 of the catacombs there was a struggle to retain the purity of the Faith, = when=20 many teachers tried to substitute personal opinions for the divinely = revealed=20 teachings given by our Lord Jesus Christ. In later centuries, there were = the=20 invasions of Orthodox countries by Arabs, Turks, other non-Christian = peoples,=20 and finally=E2=80=93in our own days=E2=80=93 by Communists. Communisim, = which has persecuted=20 religion as it has never been persecuted before, has attacked first of = all=20 precisely the Orthodox lands of Eastern Europe. As can be seen, = therefore, our=20 Faith is actually a suffering Faith; and in this suffering, = something=20 goes on which helps the heart receive God=E2=80=99s = revelation=E2=80=A6
=E2=80=9CWhen conversion does=20 take place, the process of revelation occurs in a very simple way; a = person is=20 in need, he suffers, and then somehow the other world opens up. The more = you are=20 suffering and difficulties and are =E2=80=98desperate=E2=80=99 for God, = the more He is going to=20 come to your aid, reveal Who He is and show you the way to get = out.=E2=80=9D
This was=20 the experience of the African American slaves. =E2=80=9CDesperate for = God=E2=80=9D as were the=20 ancient Catacomb Christians, they received the Gospel of Christ fresh = and alive,=20 with innocent hearts and simplicity, not tainted by all the byproducts = of the=20 apostasy of Western Civilization. Christianity was for them a simple = matter: a=20 matter of dying to this world and being alive to the next, a matter of = turning=20 away from sin, repenting, keeping the commandments and preparing oneself = for the=20 heavenly homeland.
Like the ancient Catacomb Christians, African = America=20 slaves constantly experienced the imminence of death. Many slaves were = beaten or=20 worked to death in five or ten years. Some of the worst masters would = think it=20 better to buy new slaves than to pay for medical treatment, etc., for = the sick=20 old ones who were being worked to death.
Also, the Christian slaves = of=20 America were like the Catacomb Christians in their sense of the = transience of=20 those things they held dear. Even slaves who had the best masters = could=E2=80=93 due to=20 the financial insolvency or death of those masters=E2=80=93 be sold = again or snatched=20 away from their loved ones=E2=80=93 their parents and children=E2=80=93 = never to see them=20 again in this life. This experience, horrible and unthinkable for = us today,=20 was a common, everyday reality for the slaves.
Also, like the = Catacomb=20 Christians, the slaves were not considered citizens by the worldly = society=20 around them and thus they were ostracized from the = world.
Redemptive=20 Suffering
When we look at the story of the African = Americans, we=20 have to do so from a higher, spiritual vision of history. We have to ask = ourselves why God allows things, and to see everything according to His=20 Providence. In Christiantiy alone can we do this. Because in Christ = alone we are=20 given what is know as Redemptive suffering: the knowledge that our = suffering on=20 this earth, when we take up the Cross of Christ, purifies us, and that = by=20 embracing this we share in Christ=E2=80=99s Crucifixion and follow Him = to His Passion on=20 Golgotha and go to Heaven.
Under the Communist yoke of slavery in = Russia, an=20 untold number of people suffered and at least sixty million were killed. = Today,=20 many people in Russia do not have Christ, who do not understand the = reality of=20 Redemptive suffering, look on this with great bitterness, shame and = despair, and=20 feel that God has abandoned them. Those who have taken on the Cross of = Christ,=20 however, are given power from it. They are given power from the martyrs = who=20 suffered all those years of slavery under the Communist yoke. They look = to the=20 martyrs as to a repository of grace; they pray to them, and the martyrs = in turn=20 shed their grace upon the much suffering Russian land. Under the yoke of = slavery=20 in America, an untold number of people also suffered and were killed. = Today=20 those who do not have Christ, like their counterparts in Russia, look = upon this=20 only with shame and bitterness. They do not see that out of this great = evil of=20 American slave times=E2=80=93like Christians being thrown to the lions = in pagan Roman=20 times or into the Gulag in Soviet Communist times=E2=80=93 has come = another great=20 repository of grace: a martyric witness of Christ in America. This = source of=20 grace exists even now, through the prayers of all these people who have = endured=20 in the spirit of devotion under the yoke of American slavery and have = died under=20 that yoke.
They were not martrys in the traditional sense, i.e., = those who=20 are told to either renouce Christ or die. In the Orthodox Chruch, = however, there=20 is the phenomenon of what we call Passion-bearers: those who have = suffered in=20 devotion to Christ, who have borne His Passion and Cross, though they = were not=20 neccessarily asked to renounce Christ directly. Such are the Christian = slaves of=20 our land who, having endured a terrible, inhuman yoke on earth, are now = in=20 heaven, rejoicing before the throne of God and praying for us. In their=20 Redemptive Suffering, they have been truly blessed by God, and now they = can=20 bless us. What believing Christian, having heard the testimonies of = these people=20 can doubt that from their midst there are now thousands of = Passion-bearing=20 martyers in heaven? To those who may object that they were not baptized = Orthodox=20 Christians, we will only say this: they were baptized into = Orthodoxy=E2=80=93 suffering=20 Orthodoxy=E2=80=93 by their blood.
Today, in the face of the = godlessness coming upon=20 our land, under which we too will have to suffer as Christians, we have = them to=20 help us, if we ask their prayers and thus draw from the heavenly cup of = their=20 grace.

Heiromonk Damascene Christensen is a monk of the Saint Herman = of=20 Alska Monastery, Platina, California

Sources:
James Mellon, ed., Bullwhip Days: The Slaves = Remember, An=20 Oral History. New York: Avon Books, 1988
James Weldon Johnson, The = Book of=20 american Negro Spirituals. New York: Viking Press,=20 1925

=C2=AB Great= Lent=20 The=20 Cloud of Witnesses =C2=BB

Comments=20 rss=20
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Date : 22 February 2007=20
Categories : Saints, African American Orthodoxy, Eastern=20 Orthodox, Articles, Worthwhile,=20 Black=20 History Month

23 02 2007 =: Elias=20 (09:29:25) :

Thank you for posting this. It is a very important part of African = American=20 history that is being forgotten today.

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