Orthodox Anglican Church

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The Orthodox Anglican Church (OAC) is the American branch of the Orthodox Anglican Communion and is usually considered to be part of the Continuing Anglican movement. The church was incorporated on March 6, 1964^[1] as the Anglican Orthodox Church by Episcopalians who were alarmed at what they considered to be liberal trends in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.^[2] The AOC was founded as a conservative alternative to the Episcopal Church, with apostolic succession being initially preserved through Old Catholic and Eastern Orthodox lines. Its first Presiding Bishop was the Right Revd James Parker Dees who was formerly a priest of the Episcopal Church. His successor in office was the Most Revd George C. Schneller from 1991 to 1994. In 1995 the Most Revd Robert J. Godfrey became the presiding bishop.

For more than the first thirty years of its history the Church practiced a very low church variety of Anglicanism, even limiting the celebration of Holy Communion to once a month. Then in 1999 the Presiding Bishop, Robert Godfrey, and the majority of the Anglican Orthodox Church clergy and laity met in synod. The synod decided to align the Church with the high church liturgical standards of the majority of the Continuing Anglican jurisdictions. The name of the Anglican Orthodox Church then was changed to The Episcopal Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of America.^[3] Some members of the Standing Committee of the church and some clergy opposed the changes, separated, and started a new church,^[4] adopting the Anglican Orthodox Church name.

In order to match the name of its international communion, in 2005 the jurisdiction changed its name from the Episcopal Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of America to the Orthodox Anglican Church.^[5]

On 30 April 2000 Bishop Godfrey retired as Presiding Bishop in favor of his suffragan bishop, Scott Earle McLaughlin. Bishop McLaughlin is the fourth and current Presiding Bishop of the church. His apostolic succession is Anglican, Old Catholic, and Orthodox. Bishop McLaughlin was a signatory to the Bartonville Agreement, and a Covenant of Intercommunion^[6] with the Most Revd Augustin Bacinsky, Archbishop of The Old Catholic Church in Slovakia.

The theological educational institution of the church was incorporated in 1975 as Cranmer Seminary. The school was renamed Saint Andrew's Theological College and Seminary in 2002.

The Orthodox Anglican Church and Saint Andrew's Theological College and Seminary are headquartered in Lexington, North Carolina. The Presiding Bishop of the American church also serves as Metropolitan of the global Orthodox Anglican Communion.