Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate

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The Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate (AWRV) is the successor within canonical Orthodoxy of the Society of St. Basil.

1 Origins
2 Expansion
3 Current status
4 External links
5 See also

[edit] Origins

The Western Rite Vicariate began when the Society of St. Basil was received into the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese by Metropolitan Anthony Bashir in 1961 under the leadership of then Bishop (and subsequently, Father) Alexander Turner. Fr. Alexander had been in conversations with Metropolitan Anthony since 1952 concerning the regularization of the Society of St. Basil.

Fr. Turner served as the first Vicar-General for the new Western Rite Vicariate, a position which he held until his death.

[edit] Expansion

Following the conflict over women’s ordination within the Episcopal Church and the publication of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, several congregations began to look at the possibility of locating another communion with which they were more ideologically aligned. The first church to be received was the Church of the Incarnation in Detroit, Michigan. Additional congregations joined over the next several decades, including congregations formerly a part of the Evangelical Orthodox Church (many subsequently switched to the Byzantine Rite).

[edit] Current status

At present, the AWRV consists of nearly twenty different congregations in all of the dioceses of the Antiochian Archdiocese. Western Rite parishes are under the ordinary supervision of their diocesan bishop, though some have retained Bishop Basil (Essey) of Wichita and the Midwest. The current Vicar-General is Paul W.S. Schneirla.