Editing John Coltrane (section)

== Veneration ==
{{Infobox saint
| name      = Saint John Coltrane
| image = JohnColtraneWiki.jpg
| caption = Coltrane icon at St. John Coltrane African Orthodox Church
| birth_date = {{birth date|mf=yes|1926|9|23}}
| birth_place = Hamlet, North Carolina, US
| death_date = {{death date and age |1967|07|17|1926|09|23}}
| death_place = Huntington, New York, US
| venerated_in = [[African Orthodox Church]]<br>[[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church]]{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}
| feast_day        = December 8 (AOC)
| canonized_date   = 1982
| canonized_place  = St. John Coltrane Church, 2097 Turk Blvd, San Francisco, California 94115
| canonized_by     = [[African Orthodox Church]]<ref name="Church"/>
| patronage = All artists
}}

After Coltrane's death, a congregation called the Yardbird Temple in San Francisco began worshipping him as God incarnate.<ref name="Sunday">{{cite news |last=Freedman |first=Samuel G. |title=Sunday religion, inspired by Saturday nights |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/01/us/01religion.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=November 25, 2018 |date=December 1, 2007 |archive-date=July 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190701004730/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/01/us/01religion.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The group was named after [[Charlie Parker|Charlie "Yardbird" Parker]], whom they equated to [[John the Baptist]].<ref name="Sunday" /> The congregation became affiliated with the [[African Orthodox Church]]; this involved changing Coltrane's status from a god to a saint.<ref name="Sunday" /> The resultant [[St. John Coltrane African Orthodox Church]], San Francisco, is the only African Orthodox church that incorporates Coltrane's music and his lyrics as prayers in its liturgy.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://elvispelvis.com/jazzchurch.htm |title=The Jazz Church |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060812213403/http://elvispelvis.com/jazzchurch.htm |archive-date=August 12, 2006 |first=Gordon |last=Polatnick |website=Elvispelvis.com}}</ref>

Rev. F. W. King, describing the African Orthodox Church of Saint John Coltrane, said "We are Coltrane-conscious...God dwells in the musical majesty of his sounds."<ref>{{cite web|last=Hyena|first=Hank|title=The Church of St. John Coltrane: Jazz and German Tourists|url=https://www.sfgate.com/music/article/The-Church-of-St-John-Coltrane-Jazz-and-German-3003904.php|work=[[San Francisco Chronicle]]|date=June 16, 1998|access-date=May 15, 2020|archive-date=May 7, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110507073710/http://articles.sfgate.com/1998-06-16/music/17722625_1_saint-john-coltrane-patron-saint-black-jesus|url-status=live}}</ref>

Samuel G. Freedman wrote in ''The New York Times'' that {{blockquote|...&nbsp;the Coltrane church is not a gimmick or a forced alloy of nightclub music and ethereal faith. Its message of deliverance through divine sound is actually quite consistent with Coltrane's own experience and message. ... In both implicit and explicit ways, Coltrane also functioned as a religious figure. Addicted to heroin in the 1950s, he quit cold turkey, and later explained that he had heard the voice of God during his anguishing withdrawal. ... In 1966, an interviewer in Japan asked Coltrane what he hoped to be in five years, and Coltrane replied, "a saint".<ref name="Sunday" />}}

[[File:Coltranechurch1k.jpg|thumb|Musicians at St John Coltrane African Orthodox Church, San Francisco 2009]]
Coltrane is depicted as one of the 90 saints in the Dancing Saints icon of St.&nbsp;Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco. The icon is a {{convert|3000|sqft|m2|adj=on}} painting in the Byzantine iconographic style that wraps around the entire church rotunda. It was executed by Mark Dukes, an ordained deacon at the Saint John Coltrane African Orthodox Church who painted other icons of Coltrane for the Coltrane Church.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.saintgregorys.org/worship/art_section/243/ |title=The Dancing Saints |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101218030246/http://www.saintgregorys.org/worship/art_section/243 |archive-date=December 18, 2010 |publisher=Saint Gregory's of Nyssa Episcopal Church}}</ref> Saint Barnabas Episcopal Church in Newark, New Jersey, included Coltrane on its list of historical black saints and made a "case for sainthood" for him in an article on its website.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.forministry.com/USNJECUSASBECS/SaintJohnColtrane.dsp |title=John Coltrane: The case for sainthood |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090510123849/http://www.forministry.com/USNJECUSASBECS/SaintJohnColtrane.dsp |archive-date=May 10, 2009 |url-status=dead |access-date=April 3, 2011 |website=St.&nbsp;Barnabas Episcopal Church}}</ref>

Documentaries about Coltrane and the church include [[Alan Klingenstein]]'s ''[[The Church of Saint Coltrane (1996)|The Church of Saint Coltrane]]'' (1996),<ref name="Church">{{cite news |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/436615/The-Church-of-Saint-Coltrane/overview |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121230083800/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/436615/The-Church-of-Saint-Coltrane/overview |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 30, 2012 |title=The Church of Saint Coltrane |department=Movies & TV Dept. |work=[[The New York Times]] |year=2012 |access-date=April 16, 2012}}</ref><ref name="huffpost">{{cite web |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-klingenstein |title=Alan Klingenstein |website=HuffPost |date=February 5, 2008 |access-date=April 16, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222203656/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-klingenstein/ |archive-date=December 22, 2015}}</ref> and a 2004 program presented by [[Alan Yentob]] for the [[BBC]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.diverse.tv/programme.aspx?id=67 |year=2004 |series=BBC documentary |title=Saint John Coltrane African Orthodox Church |website=Diverse.tv |access-date=October 10, 2006 |archive-date=September 27, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927082308/http://www.diverse.tv/programme.aspx?id=67 |url-status=live }} ''See also wikipedia article:'' [[Saint John Coltrane African Orthodox Church]].</ref>