Jacob's Well - Special Issue: Fall 2020 - Black Voices

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Mat. Julitssa Davis Julitssa Davis is a parishioner at St. Simon the Cyrene Mission Orthodox Mission in New Brunswick, N.J. and the wife of Rev. Samuel Davis. Matushka, thank you for taking the time to do this

canonical. My husband led the way in our conversion. He read lots of Church history and introduced me to more of the faith. I was a bit standoffish at first, and it was the change I saw in him that made me take Orthodoxy seriously.

interview. I believe you are the only woman we have managed to recruit for this series.

You’re welcome! I’m glad to help. Tell me a little bit about yourself, your background and upbringing.

I’m originally from Brooklyn. My parents are from Panama and still live in the neighborhood in Brooklyn where I grew up. I am the oldest of four kids, and I was married at 23. I was the youngest of my friends to get married. Even my parents were older than I was when they got married. I remember my mother asking me, “Are you sure you want to get married so young?” Most of my friends growing up were from West Indian backgrounds and were either Latino or Afro-Latino. My husband’s father was my pastor when I was growing up. The church was a nondenominational Protestant church with a Pentecostal bent.

Did you have kids when you converted?

We had three kids when we first converted. They were 6, 4, and 2, at the time. They were so young, they really didn’t question anything or realize it was happening. So practically speaking, all our kids are cradle Orthodox. Do you think about your kids growing up Orthodox? Do you worry about them being able to find Orthodox spouses?

Yes. Yes, I do worry about that, and I know that it will be difficult for them. There are so few Orthodox in this country that it can feel like they are all alone and no other kids are like them. I also just pray that God will bring the right people into their lives for them to marry. I just have to trust God in this, because worrying about it won’t change anything.

How did you first encounter Orthodoxy?

How did you your family react to your conversion?

My husband and I were in Iceland when we first ran into Orthodoxy. We listened to a bishop named Veron Ashe 1 preach. He really got our attention, even though we later found out he wasn’t exactly

My family was OK with my conversion. They were not devoutly religious. They went to church every Sunday, but nothing more than that. Once I explained why I wanted to make this change in my life, they understood where I was coming from.

1. Ashe, who died in 2014, was the founder and self-

There aren’t many Black people in the Orthodox

styled “archbishop” of the Mar Thoma Orthodox

Church in this country. Can you describe your

Church, a noncanonical parish in California.

experience of encountering the Orthodox Church? 9

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