Given what is happening in America, let us know that in the Orthodox church there is absolutely no distinction between people of different colors. Our most splendid example of this is, of course, St Moses the black i.e. St Moses the Strong. He was dark-skinned in body and was also once dark in his soul too. However, once he realized the true path of salvation and hungered for the true light and eternal blessings, he became a monk. Thus he pushed himself in tremendous ascetic feats, in unceasing prayer and intense fasting, finally purifying his soul of the passions after many years and acquiring a state of great grace.
Despite his body remaining always black, his soul nevertheless shined all white, to the extent that Christ Himself once visited him, something that happens only to exceedingly saintly souls. We highly esteem this great saint because he repented of great sins and succeeded in his monastic life, attaining to a high, unimitable level of union with God.
The following story in his life proves all this, “Having succeeded in his monastic life after many years, he became the Father and the spiritual guide of 500 brothers, who elected him to be ordained a priest. When he came before the Patriarch to be ordained, the patriarch wanted to test him by asking the elders, Who brought this black here? Cast him out. He obeyed, and left saying to himself, It is good what they have done to you, O black colored one. The Patriarch, however, called him back and ordained him a priest, and said to him, Moses, all of you now has become white”
As Elder Ephraim of Arizona said, “In Christianity, in the Church, people are evaluated not on the basis of gender, social position, level of education, financial means, giftedness, and so on. People are distinguished and evaluated on one single basis—holiness. For God there is neither man nor woman. There are only sinners and penitents, the wicked and the pious, the holy and the holiest.”
The color of the soul is very important, whilst the colour of the body is not important at all.
Source: Metropolis of Zambia
