- 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]
Contents
History
The church was founded as a conservative alternative to the Episcopal Church, with apostolic succession being initially preserved through Old Catholic and Eastern Orthodox lines. For more than the first 30 years of its history the church practiced a very low church variety of Anglicanism, even limiting the celebration of communion to once a month. Then in 1999 the Presiding Bishop, Robert Godfrey, and the majority of the clergy and laity met in synod. The synod decided to align the church closer to the liturgical standards of the majority of the Continuing Anglican jurisdictions. [3] Laity close to the founding bishop, and a minority of clergy, who were opposed to the changes, separated and started a new church adopting the Anglican Orthodox Church[clarification needed] name.[4]
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. 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]
Bishop McLaughlin was a signatory to the Bartonville Agreement in 1999 and in 2007 to a Covenant of Intercommunion between the OAC and the Old Catholic Church in Slovakia, represented by the Most Revd Augustin Bacinsky.[6]
Institutions
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 offices and Saint Andrew's Theological College and Seminary are in Thomasville, North Carolina. The Presiding Bishop of the American church also serves as Metropolitan of the global Orthodox Anglican Communion.
See also
References
- ^ North Carolina Secretary of State
- ^ The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw, Random House, p.58 (May 11, 2004)
- ^ http://www.secretary.state.nc.us/imaging/Dime/IVTIFF_8547893.pdf
- ^ http://www.secretary.state.nc.us/imaging/Dime/IVTIFF_5206144.pdf
- ^ http://www.secretary.state.nc.us/imaging/Dime/IVTIFF_14667583.pdf
- ^ A Covenant Between The Old Catholic Church In Slovakia and the Orthodox Anglican Church April 25, 2007.
External links
Categories:- Religious organizations established in 1964
- Continuing Anglican denominations
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