Aftimios Ofiesh
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Aftimios Ofiesh, born Abdullah Ofiesh (), was an early 20th-century
Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...
bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...
in the
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, serving as the immediate successor to St. Raphael of Brooklyn under the auspices of the
Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...
. 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''.


Career

Ofiesh, a graduate of the Middle Eastern Orthodox Ecclesiastical Seminary in 1898, assisted Bishop Gabriel Shatilla in
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where he was tonsured as a monk, and ordained into the diaconate. After being appointed an
archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denomina ...
, Ofiesh unsuccessfully advocated for reform within the Eastern Orthodox Church as he did in seminary. Facing previous threats of excommunication, a few years later, Aftimios lobbied for modernistic reform and was met with further resistance from Patriarch Meletius II of Antioch who threatened excommunication again. Arriving in
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in 1905, Aftimios was submitted to the leadership of St. Raphael of Brooklyn. Following the untimely death of St. Raphael of Brooklyn in 1915, then
Archimandrite The title archimandrite (; ), used in Eastern Christianity, originally referred to a superior abbot ('' hegumenos'', , present participle of the verb meaning "to lead") whom a bishop appointed to supervise several "ordinary" abbots and monaste ...
Aftimios Ofiesh was elected to serve as his replacement in caring for the Arab Orthodox faithful in North America under the Russian Orthodox Church's canonical authority. He was consecrated by Archbishop Evdokim Meschersky as an
auxiliary bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...
in 1917 with the title of ''Bishop of Brooklyn''. In 1923, in recognition for his work in the United States, he was elevated by Metropolitan Platon (Rozhdestvensky) of New York to the rank of
archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...
. His elevation to the rank of archbishop was disputed and deemed illicit. In 1924, in the canonical disputes of American Orthodoxy following the onset of the
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in
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, the Arab Orthodox faithful split into two factions: one that wished to go under the canonical authority of the
Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch (), also known as the Antiochian Orthodox Church and legally as the Rum (endonym), Rūm Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East (), is an autocephalous Greek Orthodox church within the wider ...
, and another that wished to stay faithful to the Russian Orthodox Church. The former group was organized by Bishop Victor (Abu Assaly) of New York, thus beginning the official presence of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch on American soil—today, the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. In 1927, Aftimios was commissioned by the Russian
diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...
in America to form an English-speaking jurisdiction: the American Orthodox Catholic Church. The purpose of the diocese was to establish a new tradition in
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that was separate from any other particular ethnic or cultural traditions. The diocese in its original form only lasted for six years. During this time, Aftimios consecrated four bishops for his new jurisdiction. Additionally, in 1931, the Society of Clerks Secular of St. Basil, a Western Rite Orthodox group, was established under the auspices of this diocese and subsequently led by Bishop Nichols. In 1932, Archbishop Aftimios was invited to come to St. Mary's Syrian Orthodox Church in
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, to arbitrate a dispute regarding the transfer of its priest, Fr. Constantine Abou-Adal. When Fr. Constantine left St. Mary's in November 1932, the parish was without a pastor, and so Archbishop Aftimios served in that capacity until February 1933, organizing a choir and
Sunday School ] A Sunday school, sometimes known as a Sabbath school, is an educational institution, usually Christianity, Christian in character and intended for children or neophytes. Sunday school classes usually precede a Sunday church service and are u ...
at the parish. During this time, he met and became involved with one of St. Mary's parishioners, Mariam Namey, then subsequently married her in a civil ceremony in April 1933. Reports vary at this point as to what happened regarding his episcopacy. According to the parish records of St. Mary's, he "was retired" and lived in nearby Kingston until his death in 1966. With the subsequent withdrawal of support for the American Orthodox Catholic Church, it lost any meaningful chance at resolving its disputed status. According to the book ''Orthodox Christians in North America (1794–1994)'', however, Aftimios "resigned his episcopacy and married." A newspaper article states he received a
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to abolish
clerical celibacy Clerical celibacy is the requirement in certain religions that some or all members of the clergy be unmarried. Clerical celibacy also requires abstention from deliberately indulging in sexual thoughts and behavior outside of marriage, because thes ...
. The biography by Ofiesh's widow Mariam claims that Aftimios fully intended to function as a married bishop, having that intent even before he met Mariam. Relations between the small jurisdiction created by Aftimios and the mainstream
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were not regularized following his marriage and ''de facto'' deposition from the episcopacy. Since that time, numerous and still multiplying lines of succession of '' episcopi vagantes'' continue to persist which all trace their roots to Aftimios (mainly through Ignatius Nichols), many of whom regard him as a
saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...
. Some of those bishops are married men, as well, which is a continual stumbling block to their unity with the mainstream Orthodox Church that has, for centuries, maintained a
celibate Celibacy (from Latin ''caelibatus'') is the state of voluntarily being unmarried, sexually abstinent, or both. It is often in association with the role of a religious official or devotee. In its narrow sense, the term ''celibacy'' is applied on ...
episcopacy. Following his death in 1966, Aftimios was buried in Maple Hill Cemetery across from St. Mary's Orthodox Cemetery in Wilkes-Barre. His widow, Mariam, subsequently wrote his biography, published in 1999.


Book

The book by Aftimios's widow, while including a great deal of historical information, is not mainly a scholarly work but is, rather, a biography aimed toward the exoneration of her late husband. One of its primary themes throughout is that Aftimios's marriage to Mariam was justified and that the canonical tradition of celibacy for Orthodox bishops is "man-made" and should be abolished.


Writings

*


Claimed successors

Various independent sacramental jurisdictions have claimed
apostolic succession Apostolic succession is the method whereby the Christian ministry, ministry of the Christian Church is considered by some Christian denominations to be derived from the Twelve Apostles, apostles by a continuous succession, which has usually been ...
through Aftimios Ofiesh. Most of the groups have merged or disbanded. Notable continuations include the American Orthodox Catholic Church (American Orthodox Patriarchate), Byelorussian Orthodox Catholic Church (today the American World Patriarchs), and the American Orthodox Church established in 1972 by Bishop Joseph Thaddeus (Alan Sanford).


See also

* American Orthodox Catholic Church * Episcopi vagantes


Notes


References


Further reading

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ofiesh, Aftimios 1880 births 1966 deaths 20th-century Eastern Orthodox bishops American people of Lebanese descent Eastern Orthodox bishops in the United States