Episode notes
Here is a guest spot from last Sunday (11/30/25 A.D.) at Abouna Lazarus’ Christ the Good Shepherd Coptic Orthodox Church 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…
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5 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 9 min
EL TONTO POR CRISTO
Editorial Note: I have trusted Google Meet for six years, but today it betrayed me tremendously. There is some bug it has with file type compatibility where it works online in workspace, but I had to troubleshoot for hours to get that downloaded file to be compatible with Substack. Youtube is of course the giant in this field, and connected with Google, so there was no trouble uploading this conversation there. Mea culpa, I originally sent out a five minute clip to your email, and now it should be the full hour plus conversation. Pray to God, and any patron saint(s) of technology that…
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20 Mar 2026 · 59 min
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 . 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 (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…
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12 Jan 2026 · 1 hr 9 min
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
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19 Dec 2025 · 54 min
Dcn. Mihret's Book Launch in Seattle
Mihret Melaku, an Ethiopian Orthodox deacon who went viral 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 . 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…
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1 Nov 2025 · 22 min
The Martyrs of Arethas
My top piece here at ARB is my book review of Saints of Ethiopia by Scriptorium Press . 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: -…
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18 Oct 2025 · 2 hr 10 min
On Orthodoxy
When maximally polemical, I refer to the communion that I serve as deacon in as Apostolic Orthodoxy ; short for the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. This is the communion that began in Alexandria and Antioch, very quickly added Armenia and Aksum, and one thousand years later grafted in the Malabar Coast. When I am being more neutral, I refer to our communion as Afroasiatic Orthodoxy, because Coptic (Alexandria) and Syriac (Antioch) and Ge’ez (Classical Ethiopic) are Afroasiatic tongues, and Egypt, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Greater Armenia, Greater Ethiopia, and India are all…
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15 Aug 2025 · 1 hr 9 min
Subdeacon Moses Barjon
I am joined on the latest philosophy of art and science broadcast by Subdeacon Moses Barjon of the Coptic Orthodox jurisdiction (specifically the Los Angeles and Hawaii archdiocese which gives us the gift of the saints Athanasius and Cyril Theological School (ACTS) and the In Spirit and Truth app) of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church. Aksum Review of Books (ARB) is a reader-supported publication. Free subscribers help amplify this project by liking, commenting, and sharing with friends, strangers, and enemies. Paid subscribers keep ARB’s incandescent lights bright, for the price…
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2 Aug 2025 · 14 min
The Emperor by Ryszard Kapuściński
They say the number one way to get you to read or hear something is to be recommended it by someone whom you trust. A dear reader (and hearer ) recommended the True Anon broadcast to me with gumption, and I gave it a try. I like it in the way that you smell something you do not like but it is so unique that it keeps beckoning you back to smell it again, an olfactorial siren. Some experience this feeling with smelling salts . I have experienced it with Newcastle Brown Ale, black drip coffee, and now True Anon . The episode that lured me in was about Ethiopia’s neighbor and newest African…
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9 Jul 2025 · 1 hr 34 min
Guest Spot
Friend of the online zine and show, Childish Wiseguy , invited me to speak to his adult English group that he runs for his Eritrean Orthodox parish in London, United Kingdom. The advantage of this digital age is that geographic distance and eight hours of time zone difference are stumbling blocks that we are able to overcome for the sake of the euangelion . I discuss love, as it is written (John 21). And as I have written . Aksum Review of Books (ARB) is a reader-supported publication. Free subscribers help amplify this project by liking, commenting, and sharing with friends, strangers, and…
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