WHO WE ARE
The Oriental Orthodox Solidarity Project is a lay collective of Oriental Orthodox Christians devoted to advancing the Orthodox understanding of social justice to actively eliminate racism and inequities that exist in American society and within our Churches.
MISSION
Build a grassroots movement that challenges the status quo of a complicit social system by creating an anti-racist and anti-prejudicial culture within Orthodox Churches and America.
VISION
We envision our Orthodox Churches free of racism and equipped with educational resources and action- based opportunities that advance our Oriental Orthodox Christian calling for social justice.
Our Inspiration: Abuna Petros (1892 -1936)
Abuna ("Father") Petros (1892-1936) was an Ethiopian Bishop (Abun) who was martyred by fascist Italian occupational forces three years before the beginning of World War II. Abuna Petros was a deeply spiritual person who committed his life to prayer and service. He took up monastic vows and the priesthood at a young age, and was known for his erudition in biblical studies according to the rigors of the Orthodox tradition. The manner in which the Italian occupation of Ethiopia devalued the dignity of the human person was inconsistent with his spiritual formation, and Abuna Petros protested the injustice. Even though the Italian occupational forces courted him with a luxurious life in the capital to lure him away from his public denouncement of the occupation, he continued to condemn the human toll of Italian colonization and and fascist ideology. Ultimately, his dissent resulted in him being executed by an Italian firing squad in July 1936. Like Abuna, we as Oriental Orthodox have both a spiritual and a civic duty to stand up to corruption and oppression.
