See also
- Evangelical Orthodox Church – American Christian denomination, 1979–
- Harlem Renaissance – African-American cultural movement in New York City in the 1920s
- Raphael Morgan – 19/20th-century Jamaican-American priest
The African Orthodox Church (AOC), is a predominantly African-American Christian denomination which was founded in the United States in 1918 by the joint collaboration of its first patriarch, George Alexander McGuire, and Marcus M. Garvey.
The AOC holds to the historic three-fold ministry of bishops, priests, and deacons, and lays strong emphasis on apostolic succession. The church celebrates the seven sacraments of the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches. Its worship is liturgical, of Eastern and Western rites. The Nicene, Apostles', and Athanasian creeds are affirmed. [1]
The African Orthodox Church was founded on the belief that black Episcopalians should have a denomination of their own. Episcopal rector George Alexander McGuire was consecrated a bishop on September 28, 1921, who had served as Chaplain-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (U. N. I. A.), in Chicago, Illinois, by an episcopus vagans , Archbishop Joseph Rene Vilatte, assisted by Bishop Carl A. Nybladh who had been consecrated by Vilatte. This placed Bishop McGuire in apostolic succession, which was something he had greatly desired. [1]
The United States Census Bureau's Religious Bodies, 1926 edition, first reported one denomination "which now has a thriving organization of congregations" derived from Vilatte, that "aspires to ultimate association with Eastern Orthodox Churches as a racial or national unit" and "does not desire any association with Old Catholic Churches"—the AOC. [2] : 1070 It had its episcopal see in New York City but incorporated in Florida. It claimed 13 organizations, with a membership of 1,508 without a church edifice. There was no organization reporting a parsonage. The number of ministers identified with the church was 30. [2] : 46–47
The African Orthodox Church of New York (AOCoNY) was another denomination first reported in 1926 within Religious Bodies. It was incorporated in New York state) and also had its episcopal see in New York City. The AOCoNY was in a fellowship "strictly one of spiritual communion" with the AOC and a distinct organization with "absolute independence." It claimed three organizations, with a membership of 717 with one church edifice. There was one organization reporting a parsonage. The number of ministers identified with the church was not reported. [2] : 49
The African Orthodox Church originally attracted mostly Anglican West Indian immigrants. It spread to the South in 1925 when McGuire started a parish in West Palm Beach, Florida. Two years later he consecrated an African, Daniel William Alexander, as Primate of the Province of South Africa and central and southern Africa. At this time McGuire was elected as patriarch with the title of Alexander I. The church then spread to British Uganda and British Kenya, where it grew to about 10,000. A congregation also developed in Nassau, Bahamas. [3] : 37
In 1932 a bishop of the church went to Uganda and ordained Ruben Spartus Mukasa and one of his associates there priests of the African Orthodox Church. However, a few years later, Mukasa and his followers decided to align with the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria. Mukasa went to Alexandria and was ordained by the patriarch there, while the African Orthodox Church lost its connection in Uganda. [4]
The St. John William Coltrane Church in San Francisco was founded in 1971 and joined the AOC in 1982. [5]
A notice from the Syriac Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East concerning schismatic bodies and episcopi vagantes , dated December 10, 1938, states that "after direct expulsion from official Christian communities" some schismatic bodies exist, including "all the sects claiming succession through Vilatte", that claim "without truth to derive their origin and apostolic succession from some ancient Apostolic Church of the East" and
[...] some of these schismatic bodies have with effrontery published statements which are untrue as to an alleged relation "in succession and ordination" to our Holy Apostolic Church and her forefathers, We find it necessary to announce to all whom it may concern that we deny any and every relation whatsoever with these schismatic bodies and repudiate them and their claims absolutely. Furthermore, our Church forbids any and every relationship, and above all, intercommunion with all and any of these schismatic sects and warns the public that their statements and pretensions [...] are altogether without truth. [3] : 70
The notice named the AOC specifically as an example of such schismatic bodies. [3] : 70
Apostolic succession is the method whereby the ministry of the Christian Church is considered by some Christian denominations to be derived from the apostles by a continuous succession, which has usually been associated with a claim that the succession is through a series of bishops. Those of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Scandinavian Lutheran, Anglican, Oriental Orthodox, Church of the East, Hussite, Moravian and Old Catholic traditions maintain that "a bishop cannot have regular or valid orders unless he has been consecrated in this apostolic succession". These traditions do not always consider the episcopal consecrations of all of the other traditions as valid.
A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role or office of the bishop is called episcopacy. Organizationally, several Christian denominations utilize ecclesiastical structures that call for the position of bishops, while other denominations have dispensed with this office, seeing it as a symbol of power. Bishops have also exercised political authority within their dioceses.
In Christianity, an episcopus vagans is a person consecrated, in a "clandestine or irregular way", as a bishop outside the structures and canon law of the established churches; a person regularly consecrated but later excommunicated, and not in communion with any generally recognized diocese; or a person who has in communion with them small groups that appear to exist solely for the bishop's sake.
An episcopal polity is a hierarchical form of church governance in which the chief local authorities are called bishops. The word "bishop" here is derived via the British Latin and Vulgar Latin term *ebiscopus/*biscopus, from the Ancient Greek ἐπίσκοπος epískopos meaning "overseer". It is the structure used by many of the major Christian Churches and denominations, such as the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Church of the East, Anabaptist, Lutheran, and Anglican churches or denominations, and other churches founded independently from these lineages. Many Methodist denominations have a form of episcopal polity known as connexionalism.
The Free Protestant Episcopal Church (FPEC), later named The Anglican Free Communion and now entitled the Episcopal Free Communion, was formed in England on 2 November 1897 from the merger of three smaller churches. Others were to join later.
The Charismatic Episcopal Church (CEC), officially the International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church (ICCEC), is a Christian denomination established in 1992. The ICCEC is a part of the Convergence Movement. Within North America, most of the Charismatic Episcopal Church's congregations and missions are located within the Northern, Southeastern, Midwest, and Western United States; it also has a presence in Texas, and in Western Canada.
Joseph René Vilatte, also known as Mar Timotheus I, was a French–American Catholic active in France and the United States. He was associated with several Christian denominations before his ordination as a Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland (CKS) bishop for service in an Episcopal diocese. Eventually, he was reconciled with the Catholic Church and voluntarily entered a solemn vow of abjuration.
The Convergence Movement, also known as the Ancient-Future Faith, whose foundation is primarily attributed to Robert E. Webber in 1985, is an ecumenical movement. Developed as an effort among evangelical, charismatic and Pentecostal, and liturgical Christians and denominations blending their forms of worship, the movement has been defined for its predominant use of the Anglican tradition's Book of Common Prayer; use from additional liturgical sources common to Lutheranism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Catholicism have also been employed.
The independent sacramental movement (ISM) refers to a loose collection of individuals and Christian denominations that are not part of the historic sacramental Christian denominations embodying catholicity and yet continue to practice the historic sacramental rites independently.
The historic or historical episcopate comprises all episcopates, that is, it is the collective body of all the bishops of a group who are in valid apostolic succession. This succession is transmitted from each bishop to their successors by the rite of Holy Orders. It is sometimes subject of episcopal genealogy.
George Alexander McGuire was the founder of the African Orthodox Church, and a prominent member of Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA).
Hugh George de Willmott Newman was an Independent Catholic or independent Old Catholic bishop. He was known religiously as Mar Georgius I and bore the titles, among others, of Patriarch of Glastonbury, Catholicos of the West, and sixth British Patriarch. He was the head of the Catholicate of the West from when he became a bishop, in 1944, until his death in 1979.
Robert Josias "Raphael" Morgan was a Jamaican-American who is believed to be the first Black Eastern Orthodox priest in the United States. After being active in other denominations, including the AME Church, Church of England, and the Episcopal Church, Morgan converted to Orthodoxy. He was ordained as an Orthodox priest of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. He was designated as "Missionary to America and the West Indies." He claimed to have founded the "Order of Golgotha", but the Orthodox Church is not organized into orders.
Frederick Ebenezer John Lloyd (1859–1933) was an independent Catholic bishop with the American Catholic Church and founder of the Order of Antioch. He was born at Milford Haven, Wales, United Kingdom.
The American Catholic Church (ACC) was an Old Catholic denomination founded in 1915. Though no longer in existence, many groups have made claims to its lineage through the consecrations of Paolo Miraglia-Gulotti and Frederick Ebenezer Lloyd. The State of Illinois Charter for the ACC obtained by Archbishop Vilatte, dated 13 July 1915, is now registered to Archbishop Robert Clement, and his ACC ministry is continuing in California.
Aftimios Ofiesh, born Abdullah Ofiesh, was an early 20th-century Eastern Orthodox bishop in the United States, serving as the immediate successor to St. Raphael of Brooklyn under the auspices of the Russian Orthodox Church. He held the title Bishop of Brooklyn from 1917 to April 1933, founded and led the American Orthodox Catholic Church for six years, and is, perhaps, best known as being the source of various lines of succession of episcopi vagantes.
Leon Chechemian (1848–1920) was an Armenian Christian cleric. In 1897, he was a founder of the Free Protestant Episcopal Church, and that church's first primus. He is also considered an episcopus vagans.
Stephen Kaminski was the bishop of an independent Christian diocese known as the Polish Independent Catholic Church of America. He is considered to have been an episcopus vagans.
Archbishop Doyé Teido Agama is a Christian leader within the Pentecostal Holiness and Convergence movements. He is the founder of Apostolic Pastoral Congress, a collegiate collective of Pentecostal bishops and pastors adhering to paleo-orthodoxy and was for many years the organisation’s President and its presiding prelate. He leads the Christian Way of Life group of churches. He has been a prominent figure in the Churches Together in England movement and is involved extensively in the African diaspora and black and multicultural affairs.
The Catholicate of the West was a Christian denomination established in 1944 and which ceased to exist in 1994 to become the British Orthodox Church.
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