Sunday, October 1, 2023

Saint John Coltrane

 


I´ve heard of the mysterious Kenyan Orthodox Church before (I think it´s mentioned in passing in Kallistos Ware´s book "The Orthodox Church"), but I never reflected over its pre-history. Until now...

Apparently, the Kenyan and Ugandan Orthodox Churches (which today are "officially" Eastern Orthodox) were originally connected to the so-called African Orthodox Church in the United States, a quasi-Orthodox Church body set up by Black nationalist Marcus Garvey.  

One of the AOC´s congregations is very exotic. It´s named after the jazz musician John Coltrane, who was worshipped as God (!) by a small cult. When the cultists wanted to join the AOC, they were told to demote Coltrane from divine status to that of an ordinary saint (yes, they have icons of him). Apparently, mass is still celebrated with a saxophone?!

I admit that I never heard of the AOC, or Saint John Coltrane for that matter, before. You learn new shit every day, LOL. 

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