On Friday, October 2, St. Michael’s Men’s Society hosted a movie viewing and fellowship night in the Parish Hall, with a screening of El Tonto Por Cristo (The Fool for Christ). More than 40 people attended.
About the film
El Tonto Por Cristo is a black-and-white Orthodox Christian feature film directed by Dallas filmmaker Josh David Jordan. It follows a brotherhood of monks at a fictional monastery on the Texas coast, and one monk among them who takes up the life of a holy fool. The cast includes Matthew Posey, Frank Mosley, and Jordan Walker Ross. It runs a little over two hours.
The film has been screened in theaters and parishes around the country, including at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. It is available to rent or buy online and on Blu-ray, and parishes can host their own screenings through the film’s website, eltontoporcristo.com.
The holy fool
The title comes from St. Paul: “We are fools for Christ’s sake” (1 Corinthians 4:10). The Orthodox Church honors a small number of saints called fools for Christ. They hid their holiness behind behavior that looked foolish or even mad, gave up every claim to respect, and used that freedom to call others to repentance. St. Basil of Moscow and St. Xenia of St. Petersburg are two of the best known. The film is inspired by the lives of real Orthodox saints and monastics.
Will Cross organized the screening. Thank you to Will and the Men’s Society for hosting, and to everyone who came.
