2010 Articles

Emmaus House and Orthodoxy: Living with the Poor

Demaree-Raboteau, Julia

In 1963, when Patriarch Maximos ordained Father David Kirk in the Melkite Church of Saint Anne in Jerusalem, he said “You are ordained for the Church of God,” and he added the words, “for the poor, and for the unity of Christians.” These words laid the cornerstone for what was to become Father David’s lifelong ministry as an Orthodox priest, of working side by side with the poor in Harlem, until he died in May of 2007. His legacy lives on through the Emmaus House, a house of hospitality for the poor. In conversations with my husband Albert and I during the last two years of his life, Father David shared the hope that his work would continue to grow and develop after his death and that Orthodox Christians would be inspired to take on this kind of ministry in their service to God.