The Prayer of a Broken Heart: An Orthodox Christian Reflection on African American Spirituality

What do African American spirituality and Orthodox Christianity have in common? More 

than you might think. Drawing on both his own background as a biracial convert to 

Orthodoxy and historical resources that span St. Athanasius to Frederick Douglass, Fr. 

Paul Abernathy details the many intersections between these two traditions, including a 

redemptive understanding of the Cross and a faith shaped by suffering and persecution. 

In so doing, he points to a new path whereby Orthodox Christianity can uniquely answer 

the spiritual needs of African Americans.