What is this book about?

It’s the story of Saint Moses the Strong/Black/Ethiopian, set in today’s world. He starts off as a gangster in a city rife with corruption, and when his crime empire collapses, he runs to a secluded monastery, where he meets Abba Isidore, Arsenius, Abba Macarius and other monks, and starts his journey of repentance. It’s a fiction novel that draws heavily from the life of Saint Moses and the sayings of the Fathers. It is honest and I deliberately tried not to over-sanitize it.

Why This Book Exists

Many youth disengage from traditional saint biographies, and set aside the Church’s greatest saints because they feel distant from modern struggle. Moses: The Cross & The Gun aims to bridge that gap, presenting the life and repentance of Saint Moses in a raw, urban setting that young adults understand.

• Gritty but redemptive
• Rooted directly in Saint Moses’ life and sayings
• Orthodox anthropology woven naturally into story
• Written for ages 18+

Common Questions from Servants

Is this theologically sound?

Yes. Moses: The Cross & The Gun is not a speculative retelling detached from Orthodox tradition.
I’ve rooted the essence of the story in the official manuscripts by Palladius and Sozomen, guided by the book “The Strong Saint Abba Moses” 

The novel’s portrayal of repentance, spiritual warfare, obedience, passions, and transformation draws from:

• John Cassian, Conferences
• John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent
• Saint Theophan the Recluse, The Path to Salvation
• Evagrius of Pontus, Talking Back: A Monastic Handbook for Combating Demons
• Saint Macarius the Great, Fifty Spiritual Homilies
• Saint Anthony the Great, The Letters of Anthony

and more.

Given the focus of Abba Moses’s life, I focused the narrative on themes such as the ordering of desire, watchfulness (nepsis), the warfare of thoughts (logismoi), obedience to a spiritual father, and gradual purification of the heart as part of a liturgical community.

While the setting is contemporary and urban, the theology remains recognizably Orthodox, consistent with the Desert Fathers’ understanding of repentance as a lifelong, embodied struggle toward union with Christ.

This is not a modern moral reinterpretation of Saint Moses. It is a literary rendering of the same spiritual arc preserved in patristic and liturgical tradition.

Is it appropriate for teens?

Recommended age: 18+.
Contains violence (not glorified), light language (the word “shit” occurs 13 times in the text), interior struggle, and honest confrontation with sin.
Several mentions of alcohol, drug trafficking and consumption. No explicit sexual content, but a vague/masked allusion to self-abuse occurs once in the text.

Several clergy reviewed the text for content and context to ensure it remains faithful to Orthodoxy without glorifying sin.

How can this be useful in the service?

• Youth book club
• Lenten reading group
• Easter gift
• Brotherhood spiritual retreat gift
• Prison ministry

Work in progress:

I’m working on a discussion guide with chapter-based reflection questions, scripture pairings and Desert Father cross-references.

Read the first three sample chapters

Bulk & Parish Pricing

For larger parish orders or custom support, reach out to me.