Mount of Olives

Mount of Olives

The Fifth Sunday of the Great Fast, Lent in the EOTC, is called Mount of Olives. Pascha is a stone’s throw away. Keep fighting [https://aksum.substack.com/p/the-1st-rule-of-fasting-club?utm_source=publication-search]. The lectionary assigns the Gospel According to Matthew Chapter 24 to be read aloud before the great gathering (Psalm 39/40:9). I was called upon, by my former and beloved archdiocese of the great city of Los Angeles dba Southern California Orthodox Tewahdo Youth [https://www.instagram.com/scoty_org/] (SCOTY), to share a reflection on these words (debarim) of the Lord (yahweh). Praytell they edify. Aksum Review of Books (ARB) is a reader-supported literary review. Free subscribers help it grow by liking, commenting, and sharing with friends, strangers, and especially enemies. Paid subscribers help keep the lights on, for the price of a cup of coffee a month. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aksum.substack.com/subscribe [https://aksum.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

Guest Spot

OTYG invited me back to wish their great gathering a Merry Christmas. I decided to do so with the Gospel According to Matthew. Aksum Review of Books (ARB) is a reader-supported literary review. Free subscribers help it grow by liking, commenting, and sharing with friends, strangers, and especially enemies. Paid subscribers help keep the lights on, for the price of a cup of coffee a month. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aksum.substack.com/subscribe [https://aksum.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

Dcn. Mihret's Book Launch in Seattle

Mihret Melaku, an Ethiopian Orthodox deacon who went viral [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OP9DvsdyLxU&t=7s] defending the apostolic teaching on the eucharist and on baptism, is on a book launch tour for his second book Defending the Ancient Faith: An Orthodox Response to the Knechtle Debate [https://www.amazon.com/Defending-Ancient-Faith-Orthodox-Response/dp/B0G547X9HV/ref=sr_1_1?crid=13VAB2UWY0KJL&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.eoafKg64xw2WhNPGlBzffy-mLRqm0AnaABDP5bx2SyUDhQIQgLvv1JklF-HNrvTi-gYLLp4Ci8PgPzB5cMoM463Pew1T4laTHxuvQskEqvk.Pcf1Z_ppZlrH4ZaGqURaApfFk6g2EwhrFSkLbjwgsdo&dib_tag=se&keywords=defending+the+ancient+faith+mihret&qid=1766119109&sprefix=defending+the+ancient+faith+mihret%2Caps%2C174&sr=8-1]. The first stop was our hometown of Los Angeles. The second stop was Washington D.C. This is a snippet of the third stop in Seattle. The next stop is scheduled for this weekend in Dallas. And after that, Godwilling, Adees Abeba, Ethiopia. h/t OTYG Seattle. Aksum Review of Books (ARB) is a reader-supported literary review. Free subscribers help it grow by liking, commenting, and sharing with friends, strangers, and especially enemies. Paid subscribers help keep the lights on, for the price of a cup of coffee a month. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aksum.substack.com/subscribe [https://aksum.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

Hate Your Father

Here is a guest spot from last Sunday (11/30/25 A.D.) at Abouna Lazarus’ Christ the Good Shepherd Coptic Orthodox Church [https://meetchrist.org/] in the LBC (Long Beach, CA). I was home for the holidays. I hope that you are edified by my words as I was edified by the words of the gospel and the eucharistic liturgy which is its context. Remember me in your holy prayers! Aksum Review of Books (ARB) is a reader and watcher supported review. Free subscribers help it grow by liking, commenting, and sharing with friends, strangers, and enemies. Paid subscribers keep ARB’s lights bright for the price of a cup of coffee a month. “Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’? Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple. “Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”” (Luke 14:25-35 NKJV) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aksum.substack.com/subscribe [https://aksum.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

The Martyrs of Arethas

My top piece here at ARB is my book review of Saints of Ethiopia [https://aksum.substack.com/p/saints-of-ethiopia] by Scriptorium Press [https://www.scriptoriumpress.ca/]. This video is a reading of Chapters 7, 8, and 9, with the most minimal commentary short of no commentary. I hope you enjoy the reading, buy and read the whole book, and share this scary and spooky story with others. For this post, comments are open-to-all. Aksum Review of Books (ARB) is a reader-supported review. Free subscribers help it grow by liking, commenting, and sharing with friends, strangers, and enemies. Paid subscribers keep ARB’s lights bright for the price of a cup of coffee a month. Notes: -Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Saints and Feasts Arethas the Great Martyr and His Fellow Martyrs [https://www.goarch.org/chapel/saints?contentid=255] -Britannica: [https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-Ethiopia] At its height, Aksum extended its influence westward to the kingdom of Meroe, southward toward the Omo River, and eastward to the spice coasts on the Gulf of Aden. Even the South Arabian kingdom of the Himyarites, across the Red Sea in what is now Yemen, came under the suzerainty of Aksum. In the early 6th century, the emperor Caleb (Ella-Asbeha; reigned c. 500–534) was strong enough to reach across the Red Sea in order to protect his coreligionists in Yemen against persecution by a Jewish prince. However, Christian power in South Arabia ended after 572, when the Persians invaded and disrupted trade. They were followed 30 years later by the Arabs, whose rise in the 7th and 8th centuries cut off Aksum’s trade with the Mediterranean world. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aksum.substack.com/subscribe [https://aksum.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]