Set deep in a dusty, less-than-spectacular Midrand suburb, St Sergius of Radonezh Russian Orthodox Church is an anomaly: only one of three Russian Orthodox Churches in Africa, its gold-leaf domes blindingly glint against an incongruous hot-blue sky; a Slavic Star of Bethlehem, they guide curious strangers from the N1 highway to the gate’s buzzer…
The tail-end of a storm torrent washes over the driveway’s blue-brick menorah. Across the road, Praise Jesuses hail from a Pentecostal church; its neon palm-tree sign blinks in the drizzle. A tall, white-robed man greets us at the gate; his matching yarmulke contrasts against the dome of his black-skinned head…
Emmanuel’s car is old and beaten up, but smells new. The Virgin Mary is perched on the dashboard; a moving pedestal for her bleeding, plastic Sacred Heart. Two rosaries jangle above her from the rear-view mirror, their beads swing wildly with each turn through Joburg’s Sunday morning CBD streets…
