Open main menu

OrthodoxWiki β

Changes

American Orthodox Catholic Church

1,807 bytes removed, 10:50, April 14, 2009
rv unsubstantiated revisionism
==Disintegration==
In 1932, by a decision of a New York State court, Aftimios's cathedral was taken from him and given over to the Metropolia, as its charter stated that it could only be used by a hierarch subject to the authority of the Russian church. Nevertheless, Aftimios consecrated two more bishops, [[Ignatius (Nichols) of Washington|Ignatius (W.A.) Nichols]] (a former Episcopal cleric who had become an Old Catholic ''[[episcopi vagantes|episcopus vagans]]'') as Auxiliary bishop, and previouly [[Joseph (Zuk) of New Jersey|Joseph (Zuk)]] for the Ukrainians, who had the allegiance of perhaps a half dozen such parishes.
Armed with new bishops at his side but probably quite discouraged over the state of his jurisdiction both internally and externally, Aftimios then made the decision which probably was the death-knell for the American Orthodox Catholic Church:
:...on the 29th of April 1933 Abp Aftimios, in defiance of all Orthodox Tradition and Canon Law... married in a civil ceremony to a young Evangelical Syrian girl born in America [she was actually a member of the Syrian Orthodox parish in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania]—and despite all the efforts of responsible parties, he refused to resign as Archbishop of the new Church (p. 41).
Three days after Aftimios's wedding, some claim the two new bishops of the church, Ignatius and Joseph, held a "synod meeting" by themselves, and believing that Aftimios had resigned, elected Joseph as the new "President Archbishop of the Church" with Ignatius being his designated successor. They further voiced their support of Aftimios's marriage, stating that "'inasmuch as it is merely a Canon of the European and Asiatic branches of the Holy Eastern Orthodox Church, that a Bishop should not be married, such has no valid weight on the American Church where conditions are dramatically opposite' and 'therefore the Holy North American Holy Synod congratulates His Eminence on the moral courage in the step he has taken'" (ibid.). Fr. Serafim then observes: "This new thunderbolt was sufficient to effectively eliminate any authority the new Church might still claim to have—particularly when there were only six parishes by the summer of 1933 still adhering to the new Church" (ibid.).
Joseph in fact later denied making the agreement with Ignatius, "but he was already a sick man (and died on the 23rd of February 1934)" (ibid.). Ignatius then left the new Church without letters and got married himself in June of 1933 and, its claimed, began entering into relations with the representatives of the [[Living Church]] in America (the Soviet-sponsored pseudo-church), which had been competing (especially legally) with the jurisdiction of the Metropolia and the ROCOR. He eventually broke relations even with the Living Church and returned to being an ''episcopus vagans'', then became dying as the pastor of a small community Community Church in 1942 where in 1947 he died still the pastor of that church in Middletown Middle Springs, Vermont, but not before (again this is a claim) acting as an old catholic archbishop and starting multiple small religious bodies, many of whom claim, contrary to Orthodox canons and traditions, [[apostolic succession]] from him and the new Church.
[[Image:Raphael of Brooklyn grave.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Burial place of St. Raphael of Brooklyn, Bp. Emmanuel (Abo-Hatab), and Bp. Sophronios (Beshara), [[Antiochian Village]]]]
The only bishop left to the American Orthodox Catholic Church was Sophronios (Beshara), who then appealed to Platon for assistance and had also intended to contact Emmanuel (Abo-Hatab), but was deterred from doing so when Emmanuel died on [[May 29]], 1933, being buried by Platon (his gravestone reads [[May 30]]). "Bp Sophronius, despite all the setbacks, seemed to take his new post as 'President Locum Tenens of the American Holy Synod' quite seriously, and although he wished to restore relations with Metr. Platon, he wanted to be accepted as an equal Head of a Church" (p. 42). Platon was focussed primarily at that point on the arrival from Russia of the representative of the Patriarchate, Bp. Benjamin (Fedchenkov), who had been sent to investigate the ecclesiastical status of Orthodox America. Thus Platon "felt he could not concern himself with the crumbling new Church and so the remaining priests and parishes wandered from one authority to another or became completely independent," with the exceptions of Hieromonk Boris and Priest Michael, who were received back into the authority of Moscow and the Metropolia, respectively.
The following is denied by the North American Holy Synod of theoriginal American Church: Later in 1933, it is claimed that Sophronios officially removed and suspended Aftimios in October and deposed Ignatius, who had already left the church 4 months earlier, in November. There is no documentation to support this but there is an old newspaper article and according to Mariam's biography of her husband Sophronios congratulated the couple on their return home from Niagra Falls where they married. Sophronios He still refused to submit to Platon or the Patriarchate, however: "Despite the efforts of Bishop Benjamin and Hieromonk Boris, Bp Sophronius refused to consider being subordinate to Bishop Benjamin although he would have been allowed a considerable amount of independence and would have been permitted to continue to live on the West Coast" (ibid.).
This is also denied by the North American Holy Synod of the AOCC which still exists: The "end" (according to some individuals) of the "Holy Eastern Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church in North America" came when Sophronios died in 1934 in Los Angeles. (Fr. Serafim gives the date of his death as 1934, though his gravestone reads 1940.) He is now buried at the [[Antiochian Village]] in Pennsylvania alongside St. [[Raphael of Brooklyn]] and Emmanuel (Abo-Hatab). Since the church continues today and Abp. Aftimios was the head of the Church until his death in 1966 (remember it is mentioned above he refused to resign) the original bishops of this Church were never the head of this Church legally or morally.
==Analysis==
[[Image:Mariam Ofiesh grave.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Grave of Mariam Namey Ofiesh]]
In 1995, an [[Independent Orthodox churches|independent]] group claiming the corporate rights to the names "The Holy Eastern Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church in North America" (THEOCACNA) and "American Orthodox Catholic Church" (AOCC), regarding the church itself as having been "held in Locum Tenens due to lack of clergy" from 1966 to 1995[http://www.geocities.com/theocacnainc/trace.htm], formed a new holy synod and included Mariam Namey Ofiesh (whom they regarded as the ''[[locum tenens]]'') among the members of its board of directors. It has since declared itself successively a metropolitanate (1997) and then a patriarchate (2003). In 1999 it suffered a major internal schism when four of its bishops broke from it and claimed the name for themselves. In the same year, Mrs. Ofiesh retired from the board and departed this life the following year.
In 1995, a new synod was seated who the ethnic like to claim are an [[Independent Orthodox churches|independent]] group with all the corporate rights to the names "The Holy Eastern Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church in North America" (THEOCACNA) and "American Orthodox Catholic Church" (AOCC), regarding the church itself as having been "held in Locum Tenens due to lack of clergy" from 1966 to 1995[http://www.geocities.com/theocacnainc/trace.htm], included Mariam Namey Ofiesh (whom they regarded as the ''[[locum tenens]]'') for a better name among the members of its board of corporate trustees of the Original 1928 corporation Aftimios incorporated as a legal entity. It has since declared itself successively a metropolitanate (1997) and then a patriarchate (2003). In 1999 it suffered a major internal schism when four of its bishops broke from it and claimed the name for themselves. In the same year, Mrs. Ofiesh retired from the board and departed this life the following year. In 2007, the group published threatened canonical punishment against those who hold the so called false mainstream interpretation of the history of the American Orthodox Catholic Church (i.e., that Aftimios was deposed, the jurisdiction dissolved, etc.) - all undocumented, just claimed.[http://www.geocities.com/theocacna/Decree.htm]. Some Much of the group's website is dedicated to claims of their legal identity and their being a canonically established church as well as canonical authenticity and especially to their registration of their original name various names and logo as a service mark. This was required because the ethnic orthodox remained silent for so many years allowing so many claims by independent episcopi Vagants to reflect poorly on Abp. Ofiesh of blessed memory and his church.  In 2008 North American Holy Synod of his church declared Archbishop Aftimios Ofiesh a Martyr for the Faith. An Icon was written: Aftimios Ofiesh, Martyr and Confessor of America. His Church does not consider him a saint as many independents domarks.
==Sources==
*Gabriel, Archpriest Antony. ''The Ancient Church on New Shores: Antioch in North America'' (San Bernardino, California: St. Willibrord's Press, 1996), 44-55.
*LaBat, Sean J. ''The Holy Eastern Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church in North America - 1927-1934, A Case Study in North American Missions'' (M.Div. thesis, St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, 1995).
*Archives - The Holy Eastern Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church in North America, Inc. 1928
*Ofiesh, Mariam Namey. ''Archbishop Aftimios Ofiesh (1880-1966): A Biography Revealing His Contribution to Orthodoxy and Christendom'' (Sun City West, AZ: Abihider Co., 1999). (ISBN 0966090810)
*Surrency, Archim. Serafim. ''The Quest for Orthodox Church Unity in America'' (New York: Sts. Boris and Gleb Press, 1973), 32-42.
ASDamick
interwiki, renameuser, Administrators
13,552
edits
Retrieved from "https://orthodoxwiki.org/Special:MobileDiff/82377"