African Orthodox Church

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The African Orthodox Church owes its Episcopate and Apostolic Authority to the Syrian Church of Antioch where their disciples were first called Christians, and of which the Chair (See) of St. Peter the Apostle was the first Bishop.

In a Bull issued by Ignatius Peter III, Patriarch of Antioch and the East, permission was given for the Consecration of the Priest Joseph Rene Vilatte as Archbishop - Metropolitan of the arch diocese of America, namely, for churches adhering to the Orthodox Faith; and, on May 29th, 1892, Archbishop Vilatte was duly consecrated in Ceylon by Archbishop Julius Alvarez, assisted by the Syrian Bishops George Gregorius and Paul Athanasius, all three being under obedience of the Patriarch of Antioch. On September 28th, 1921, in the City of Chicago, George Alexander McGuire was consecrated first Bishop and Primate of the African Orthodox Church by Archbishop Joseph Rene Vilatte, assisted by Bishop Carl A. Nybladh who had been consecrated by Vilatte.

On September 10th 1924 The Conclave, or House of Bishops of the African Orthodox Church, was duly organized, following which the first Bishop, George Alexander McGuire, was unanimously elected Archbishop, and enthroned with the title of "Archbishop Alexander". Archbishop George Alexander McGuire after many years of service as Chaplin broke with Marcus Garvey, who wanted to locate the UNIA headquarters in the West Indies, and devoted himself to the development and extension of his church, founding the Endick Theolgical Seminary, and order of deaconesses, and the Negro Churchman, which he edited. The African Orthodox church attracted mostly Anglican West Indian immigrants. It spread to the South in 1925 when McGuire started a parish in West Palm Beach, Fla. Two years later he consecrated an African as Metropolitan William Daniel Alexander of South Africa and central and southern Africa province. At the time McGuire was elected as Patriarch with the title of Alexander I. His church then spread to Uganda where it grew to about 10,000. Its greatest strength, however, was in New York City where on Nov 8, 1931, he dedicated Holy Cross Pro-Cathedral, a remodeled house purchased by McGuire from funds obtained by mortaging his own home. In 1934 the church had about 30,000 members, about fifty clergy, and thirty churches located in the United States, Africa, Cuba, Antigua and Venezuela. McGuire died on Nov. 10 1934. He was survived by his wife, Ada Robert McGuire, a native of Antigua, and a daughter.

An AOC jurisdiction in California is also known for having beatified the late jazz saxophonist John Coltrane as a saint; the St. John Will-I-Am Coltrane Church in San Francisco was founded in 1971 by Bishop, Franzo King, and was merged into the main AOC body in 1982 by the Archdiocese of Chicago.

[edit] Bibliography

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), and Gavin White's Patriarch McGuire and the Episcopal Church

[edit] Source

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