Orthodox Catholic Church

The name "ORTHODOX CATHOLIC CHURCH" is used by many different organisations and in combination with other terms by many, many more. This article will list as many of these as possible, but as some are known by other names and have been considered under those names in other articles, it will concentrate on groups which are not found elsewhere.

The name "Orthodox Catholic"

The reasons for the popularity of this name are two-fold. The first is linked with the meanings of the words themselves: "Orthodox", means literally "true faith", whilst the word "Catholic", means literally "universal" and obviously these are epithets that all churches like to ascribe to themselves. They both derive from the Greek language, and although in popular usage, the word "Orthodox" is usually linked with the Eastern Churches and the word "Catholic" with the Western, both groups often lay claim to both epithets, and with some historical justification. In practice, however, they are usually known by geographical names linked either with their origins or with the nationality of their adherants; such as; The Roman Catholic Church, The Anglican Catholic Church, The Greek Orthodox Church, The Russian Orthodox Church, The Coptic Orthodox Church, etc., and in some cases by other terms, such as the Liberal Catholic Church, and the Old Catholic Church. Most of these are listed in this encyclopaedia under such names and will not be discussed further in this article.

The second reason is linked with that common usage and in that context it is used by groups that have sought to combine elements of Eastern and Western Churches. Most commonly this is seen as an attempt to heal the breach that occurred in 1054 and which led to the formal separation of the Roman and Constantinopolitan Churches, that still exists today.

Classification of Orthodox Catholic Churches

Most such organizations have obtained Valid Orders from one or more groups in each of the Eastern and Western Churches, but retain few if any formal links with those original sources. In fact, in what is a sad indightment of Christian organisations in general, those original sources have usually severed such links as soon as they have found themselves unable to control their ecclesiastical offspring. It is these "orphaned children" that will be discussed in this article. Most of them derive from the work of certain key bishops, who all seem to have suffered significant persecution mainly by the Roman or Anglican church hierarchies in the early twentieth century. At least two, Villate & Ward, are regarded as saints by their followers.

The French American priest, Joseph Rene Villate, (1854-1929) is perhaps the best known of these. He received episcopal consecration through the Syrian Orthodox Church in Ceylon on May 29,1892 and thereafter ministered to Roman Catholics who had refused to accept the Papal claims of Infallibility made at the Vatican Council of 1870-71. Through him, the Apostolic Succession of the Syrian Orthodox Church first reached the West, and Villate's ecclesiastical descendants are to be found in several countries. However, Villate himself after many years service, eventually returned to the Roman Church where he was placed in a monastery in France and died in 1929.

A number of modern groups trace their origins to his original work, notably his American Catholic Church, from which several modern groups have developed. Of these, the Orthodox-Catholic Church of America [1] is probably the largest and best-known.

Another key player in Orthodox Catholic history was the Swiss Old Catholic Bishop Eduard Herzog,whose succession comes from the Dutch Old Catholic Church line, and who also played a part in the history of Villatte. (He ordained him as priest.) The Old Catholic Church, which broke with the Roman Catholics in the Jansenist dispute more than 200 years ago, has maintained its own valid lines of succession since that time. Herzog in fact took the Church to Switzerland, largely as a result of the same dispute over Infallibility. In addition to the various Old Catholic groups a number of other small churches owe much to this man, including the Philippines Independent Church[2]

Other key figures include Arnold Harris Mathew (1852-1919) who was consecrated in 1908 through the Old Catholic line and became the first bishop of the Old Catholic Church in Britain. Although he returned to the Roman Church in 1915 after many years of struggle, it was not before consecrating Willoughby as his successor and it was he, who together with Charles Webster Leadbeater in Australia, transformed the group into what is now known as the Liberal Catholic Church.[3] C.W. Leadbeater (1847 or 1854-1934), English clergyman and Theosophical author, contributed to world thought mostly through his work as a clairvoyant. ...

The Liberal Catholics differ from most of the other groups named in this article in that through Leadbeater they openly adopted many theosophical ideas and began to utilise the writings of many non-Christian sources. However they continue to maintain the basic Sacramental principles of Christian Catholicism.

Last of these key bishops, in point of time, but by no means least is John Sebastian Marlowe Ward, (1885 - 1949) who in 1935 was consecrated to be his assistant by John Churchill Sibley, the Archbishop-Metropoitan of the Orthodox Catholic Church in the British Empire. Sibley himself had been consecrated in America by F.E.J.Lloyd, the successor of Villatte and when he died three years later, Ward succeeded Sibley as archbishop. Ward had previously been well-known in secular society as a writer, scholar and contributor to the Encyclopaedia Britannica and later became known as both a psychic and mystic. A brief Life of Ward can be found at [4]

Ward sought to re-combine separate Orthodox and Catholic Lines of succession within his church, and obtained additional lines of succession from the the ecclesiastical descendants of Herzog and others. He also sought to return to the original teachings of Christ and His Apostles and devoted his considerable scholarship to that end. He formed a community known as the Confraternity of the Kingdom of Christ, devoted to preparing the world for the Return of Christ and the New Age that would follow. This emigrated to Australia after his death and a number of independent sub-groups have developed from it. These include the Orthodox Catholic Church of the New Age, which claims to have preserved all his original teachings, [5] the Orthodox Church of Christ the King, which maintains his considerable antique collection [6] and the Orthdox Catholic Church of Australia, which is still (2006) headed by one of the priests ordained by Ward himself, Peter Gilbert Strong (1920 - ). There are also a number of splinter groups that likewise derive their orders at least partly from Ward.

Unlike the Liberal Catholics, the Churches descended from Ward do not utilise non-Christian writings, though they accept that fragments of the Truth are to be found in all religions. Their teachings contain some similar elements to those of the Liberal Catholics, notably a belief in Reincarnation, but all of them are justified by and based upon interpretations of the "normal" Christian Bible. They offer extensive historical and biblical scholarship which provides a strong case for Ward's original claim that their beliefs were in fact held by Christ and the original Twelve Apostles, but were gradually lost, hidden or changed by the church fathers (notably St. Augustine, the former Manichaean) over the centuries.

Summary

The various Orthodox Catholic Churches are all relatively small, and even when combined their numbers do not compare to the larger and better-known Orthodox and Catholic Churches. Their beliefs cover a wide range of the spiritual spectrum, from ultra-conservative, to very liberal, and although some of their clergy lack proper training, most are also very sincere. Despite the persecution to which they are still sometimes subjected such clergy are usually only too ready to help the earnest seeker, who may well find that which is sought in at least one part of the Orthodox Catholic Church.