The African Orthodox Church (AOC), registered as the Holy African Orthodox Church, is an

Episcopalian Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...

, primarily African-American denomination which was founded in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

in 1918 by the joint collaboration of its first Patriarch

George Alexander McGuire George Alexander McGuire (28 March 1866 – 10 November 1934) is best known for his prominence in Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). McGuire was elected in 1920 as Chaplain-General of the UNIA and wrote important do ...

and Marcus M. Garvey. It has approximately 15 parishes and 5,000 members, significantly down from its peak membership. The AOC holds to the historic three-fold ministry of

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

s, and

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

s, and lays strong emphasis on

apostolic succession Apostolic succession is the method whereby the ministry of the Christian Church is held 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 bisho ...

. The church celebrates the seven

sacraments A sacrament is a Christian rite that is recognized as being particularly important and significant. There are various views on the existence and meaning of such rites. Many Christians consider the sacraments to be a visible symbol of the rea ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

. Its worship is

liturgical Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...

, of Eastern and Western rites. The

Nicene The original Nicene Creed (; grc-gre, Σύμβολον τῆς Νικαίας; la, Symbolum Nicaenum) was first adopted at the First Council of Nicaea in 325. In 381, it was amended at the First Council of Constantinople. The amended form is a ...

, Apostles', and

Athanasian Athanasius I of Alexandria, ; cop, ⲡⲓⲁⲅⲓⲟⲥ ⲁⲑⲁⲛⲁⲥⲓⲟⲩ ⲡⲓⲁⲡⲟⲥⲧⲟⲗⲓⲕⲟⲥ or Ⲡⲁⲡⲁ ⲁⲑⲁⲛⲁⲥⲓⲟⲩ ⲁ̅; (c. 296–298 – 2 May 373), also called Athanasius the Great, ...

creeds are affirmed.Mead, Frank S., ''Handbook of Denominations in the United States'', 10th edition, Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995, pp. 128-129

History

The African Orthodox Church (AOC) was founded on the belief that black

Episcopalians Anglicanism is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Euro ...

should have a denomination of their own. Episcopal rector

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 (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, 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

, which was something he had greatly desired. The

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of th ...

'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 . It had its episcopal see in New York City but incorporated in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

. 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. Another denomination first reported in ''Religious Bodies'', 1926 edition, named the African Orthodox Church of New York (AOCoNY) also had its episcopal see in New York City and incorporated in New York. The was in a fellowship "strictly one of spiritual communion" with the 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. The African Orthodox Church originally attracted mostly

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...

West Indian A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). For more than 100 years the words ''West Indian'' specifically described natives of the West Indies, but by 1661 Europeans had begun to use it ...

immigrants. It spread to the South in 1925 when McGuire started a parish in

West Palm Beach West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

, Florida. Two years later he consecrated an African, Daniel William Alexander, as Primate of the Province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

and central and southern Africa. At this time McGuire was elected as

patriarch The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in c ...

with the title of Alexander I. The church then spread to

British Uganda The Protectorate of Uganda was a protectorate of the British Empire from 1894 to 1962. In 1893 the Imperial British East Africa Company transferred its administration rights of territory consisting mainly of the Kingdom of Buganda to the Brit ...

and

British Kenya British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

, where it grew to about 10,000. A congregation also developed in

Nassau, Bahamas Nassau ( ) is the capital and largest city of the Bahamas. With a population of 274,400 as of 2016, or just over 70% of the entire population of the Bahamas, Nassau is commonly defined as a primate city, dwarfing all other towns in the country. ...

. In 1932 a bishop of the church went to Uganda and ordained

Ruben Spartus Mukasa Bishop Christopher (secular name Ruben Spartas Mukasa, born Reuben Mukasa Mugimba Sobanja; 1899 – 4 June 1982) was an early-20th-century religious reformer in Uganda. He had been part of the King's African Rifles of the British Army, but came to ...

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 The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and all Africa ( grc, Πατριαρχεῖον Ἀλεξανδρείας καὶ πάσης Ἀφρικῆς, Patriarcheîon Alexandreías kaì pásēs Aphrikês, The Patriarchate of Alexandria and ...

. Mukasa went to

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

and was ordained by the patriarch there, while the African Orthodox Church lost its connection in Uganda. The St. John William Coltrane Church in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

was founded in 1971 and joined the AOC in 1982.

Relationship to the Oriental Syriac Patriarchate

A notice from the Syriac Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East concerning schismatic bodies and ', 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 The notice named the specifically as an example of such schismatic bodies.

References

Works cited

* Alexander, D. W. ''Constitution and Canons and Episcopate of the African Orthodox Church'' Beaconsfield 1942 * Arthur C. Thompson's ''The History of the African Orthodox Church'' (1956) * Byron Rushing's ''A Note on the Origin of the African Orthodox Church'' (JNH, Jan. 1972) * Gavin White. "Patriarch McGuire and the Episcopal Church" in Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church. No. 38. — 1969. — P. 109—141.

External links

NetMinistries - African Orthodox Church, Inc.

A Place For The Soul To Sing: The Church Of St. John Coltrane

Carvell Wallace Carvell Wallace (born October 20, 1974 in McKeesport, PA) is a ''New York Times'' bestselling author, writer, and podcaster. He is a regular contributor to ''Pitchfork'', MTV News, the ''Huffington Post'', and ''Slate'', and has written for ''The Ne ...

, 5 April 2016,

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

. {{Authority control Anglicanism in the United States Christian denominations established in the 20th century Christian organizations established in 1921 Historically African-American Christian denominations Old Catholic denominations in the United States 1921 establishments in Illinois

History

Relationship to the Oriental Syriac Patriarchate

See also

References

Works cited

External links