Eternal Sacred Order of Cherubim and Seraphim

The Eternal Sacred Order of Cherubim and Seraphim is a Christian Trinitarian church established in Nigeria by Saint Moses Orimolade Tunolase on September 9 1925. "Cherubim" was added to the name in May 1926.

Like John Wesley, Moses Orimolade did not aim to set up a separate church, but found that the missionary churches of the time did not welcome his approach to the faith. The church originated as an association of prayer groups or "bands" of up to 20-30 members. This loose structure made it extremely easy for different groups to separate from the main body, and the ESOC&S is thus notable for the numerous groups, many of them small, which sprang from it but remain related to it. There are five principal streams:
*Eternal Sacred Order of the Seraphim and Cherubim
*Cherubim and Seraphim Society
*Praying Band
*Cherubim and Seraphim Movement
*Holy Order of Cherubim and Seraphim

The ESOC&S is an Aladura church and one of the principal members of the Organisation of African Instituted Churches. The tenets of the ESOC&S are Biblical, and the worship is broadly similar to that of the Pentecostals.

The church continues to grow and ESOC&S churches are established in the United Kingdom and in the United States. Present membership is estimated at about over 10 million worldwide.

References

*Akin Omoyajowo, "Diversity in Unity: The Development and Expansion of the C & S Church in Nigeria". Rowman & Littlefield, 1984. ISBN 978-0819136558
*Rufus Okikiolaolu Olubiyi Ositelu, "African Instituted Churches: Diversities, Growth, Gifts, Spirituality and Ecumenical Understanding of African Initiated Churches". Berlin-Hamburg-Münster: LIT Verlag, 2002, pp. 86-89. ISBN 3825860876
*Lamin Sanneh, "West African Christianity". New York: Orbis Books, 1983, p. 190.
*H. W. Turner, "History of an African Church: Independent Churches in Nigeria". London: Oxford University Press, 1967, p. 15.
*J.D.Y. Peel, ‘The Aladura Movement in Western Nigeria’, "Tariqh" 3:1 (1969)
*J.D.Y. Peel, "Aladura: A Religious Movement among the Yoruba". London: Oxford University Press, 1968.:*reviewed in "The British Journal of Sociology" 20:3 (1969), p. 339; "Man". New Series, 4:2 (1969), p. 314; "American Sociological Review" 35:1 (1970), pp. 171-172; "African Affairs" 69:275 (1970), pp. 191-192; "American Anthropologist". New Series 72:3 (1970), pp. 649-651; "Journal of Religion in Africa" 4:2 (1971), pp. 141-143
*Allan Anderson, "An Introduction to Pentecostalism: Global Charismatic Christianity". Cambridge University Press, 2004, p. 118. ISBN 0521532809
*Allan Anderson, "African Reformation: African Initiated Christianity in the 20th Century". Africa World Press, 2001, pp. 82-83.
*Alister E. McGrath, "The Future of Christianity". Blackwell, 2002, pp. 34-35. ISBN 0631228152

;Church publication
*"The Biography of Moses Orimolade Tunolase", published by a special committee of C & S (Ikare, n.d.): p. 10.

External links

* [http://c-s-church-noahs-ark.org/about/sub2/ Eternal Sacred Order of Cherubim and Seraphim website]
* [http://www.pctii.org/wcc/churches96.html Summary history of church]
* [http://www.dacb.org/stories/nigeria/orimolade_moses.html Saint Moses Orimolade]
* [http://www.londonse1.co.uk/news/imageuploads/1175439857_62.49.27.213.jpgUK church - picture]
* [http://www.edkashi.com/ESSAYS/Nigeria_2006/full/NIG06018_13091.jpgNigerian church - picture]