The Catholicate of the West was a

Christian denomination A Christian denomination is a distinct religious body within Christianity that comprises all church congregations of the same kind, identifiable by traits such as a name, particular history, organization, leadership, theological doctrine, worsh ...

established in 1944 and which ceased to exist in 1994 to become the

British Orthodox Church The British Orthodox Church (BOC), formerly the Orthodox Church of the British Isles, is an independent Oriental Orthodox church. The British Orthodox Church has not been in communion with any of the Oriental Orthodox churches since a 2015 de ...

. The denomination was also known as the Catholic Apostolic Church, the Catholicate of the West (Catholic Apostolic Church), The United Orthodox Catholic Rite, The Celtic Catholic Church, the Patriarchate of Glastonbury, The Western Orthodox Catholic Church, and the Orthodox Church of the British Isles.

History

Background

Notice from Aphrem I

On 1 December 1938,

Ignatius Aphrem I Ignatius Aphrem I Barsoum ( syc, ܡܪܢ ܡܪܝ ܐܝܓܢܐܛܝܘܣ ܐܦܪܝܡ ܒܪܨܘܡ, ar, إغناطيوس أفرام الأول برصوم, June 15, 1887–June 23, 1957) was the 120th Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and head of the Syri ...

of the

Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East , native_name_lang = syc , image = St_George_Syriac_orthodox_church_in_Damascus.jpg , imagewidth = 250 , alt = Cathedral of Saint George , caption = Cathedral of Saint George, Damascu ...

, issued a notice in which it was stated among other things: * " all whom it may concern that there are in the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

and in some countries of Europe, particularly in England, a number of

schismatic Schismatic may refer to: * Schismatic (religion), a member of a religious schism, or, as an adjective, of or pertaining to a schism * a term related to the Covenanters, a Scottish Presbyterian movement in the 17th century * pertaining to the schi ...

bodies which have come into existence after direct expulsion from official Christian communities and have devised for themselves a common

creed A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) in a form which is structured by subjects which summarize its core tenets. The ea ...

and a system of jurisdiction of their invention". * "To deceive Christians of the West being a chief objective of the schismatic bodies, they take advantage of their great distance from the East, and from time to time make public statements claiming without truth to derive their origin and

apostolic succession Apostolic succession is the method whereby the ministry of the Christian Church is held to be derived from the apostles by a continuous succession, which has usually been associated with a claim that the succession is through a series of bish ...

from some Apostolic Church of the East, the attractive rites and ceremonies of which they adopt and with which they claim to have relationship". * " deny any and every relationship with these schismatic bodies .. Furthermore, our Church forbids any and every relationship and, above all, all intercommunion with all and any of these schismatic sects and warns the public that their statements and pretentions as above all altogether without truth". The statement alarmed the head of the Ancient British Church, the Patriarch Herbert James Monzani Heard (religious name: Mar Jacobus II).

Council of London

On 17 October 1943, a council later known as the Council of London took place, as Mar Jacobus II had decided to respond to Aphrem's notice. The council was composed of major and minor prelates from the Ancient British Church, the British Orthodox Catholic Church, the Apostolic Episcopal Church, the Old Catholic Orthodox Church, the

Order of Holy Wisdom Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of ...

, and the Order of Antioch. The council took place at 271 Green Lanes, Palmers Green, n. 13.; part of the building was rented as an office of the Patriarch of the Ancient British Church. The summary of the decision of this council which was printed on a leaflet stated, among other things, the following: * "The Council, embracing steadfastly the definitions of the Seven Ecumenical Councils and the Holy Apostolical

Traditions A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

repudiated the

heresies Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important relig ...

of Monophysitism and Jansenism and all other heresies" * " view of Ignatius Ephrem I having disclaimed all connection with the above-mentioned extensions of his patriarchate, lawfully made by his predecessor, the said Ignatius Ephrem was no longer recognized as holding office, that in consequence of the Patriarchal Synod and many of the bishops in

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

and

Malabar Malabar may refer to the following: People * Malabars, people originating from the Malabar region of India * Malbars or Malabars, people of Tamil origin in Réunion Places * Malabar Coast, or Malabar, a region of the southwestern shoreline o ...

having adhered to the aforementioned the right to elect to the vacant see was declared to be now vested in the Council" The council also states that "in order to prevent confusion with the followers of the adherents of the aforesaid patriarch", the "rightful Patriarchate of Antioch should no longer be called 'the Syrian Orthodox' or 'Jacobite' Church, but should be hereafter known as 'The Ancient Orthodox Catholic Church' and by no other name". Also, "the original jurisdiction of the Patriarchate should remain as heretofore, but its extensions in the West were specifically recognized and confirmed in their rights". Furthermore, "the traditional name 'Ignatius' in the official designation of the Patriarch should be abandoned, and the name ' Basilius' substituted therefor; ..the full Patriarchal title should in future be as follows: 'His Holiness Mohoran Mar Basilius N., Sovereign Prince Patriarch of the God-protected city of Antioch and of all the Domain of the Apostolic Throne, both in the East and in the West. The council elected as Patriarch of Antioch William Bernard Crow, founder of the esoteric

and previously ordained a bishop in 1943 by Mar Jacobus II under the name Mar Bernard; after this election, Crow took the religious name Patriarch Basilius Abdullah III. The council stated that "all bishops dependant upon the See of Antioch were required to make their canonical submission" to Abdullah III "within six months from the date of the Council, unless lawfully hindered". All those churches present at the council claimed to be an extension of the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch; this claim rested upon Jules Ferrette's claim. According to Anson: No bishop from the East made any submission to Abdullah III.

Creation of the Catholicate

By a declaration dated 23 March 1944, the Ancient British Church, the British Orthodox Catholic Church, and the Old Catholic Orthodox Church merged into a new body; the official name of this new body was: ''The Western Orthodox Catholic Church''. This body was soon after its creation renamed to '' Catholicate of the West'' by Patriarch Abdullah III. No church of the East gave its recognition to the Catholicate of the West. The first

Catholicos Catholicos, plural Catholicoi, is a title used for the head of certain churches in some Eastern Christian traditions. The title implies autocephaly and in some cases it is the title of the head of an autonomous church. The word comes from ancient ...

of the West, head of the Catholicate of the West, was Hugh George de Willmott Newman, also called Mar Georgius. He was consacred as this status by Abdullah III on 10 April 1944 under the name and title: Mar Georgius,

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

and

Metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a typ ...

of the Holy Metropolis of Glastonbury, the Occidental Jerusalem, and

of the West. Thereafter, Mar Jacobus II stepped down from his office of fifth Patriarch of the Ancient British Church, passing his rank of Patriarch to Willmott Newman; thus Willmott Newman was both Catholicos of the West and the sixth Patriarch of the Ancient British Church. Mar Jacobus II died in 1947. On 14 July 1945, Patriarch Abdullah III and Newman mutually agreed that the Catholicate of the West and its head would be completely independent, that the Catholicate would not be under the jurisdiction of Abdullah III and would only be under the jurisdiction of the Catholicos of the West.

Subdivision

The Catholicate of the West had been divided into 8 dioceses by March 1947: # Patriarchal Archdiocese of Glastonbury (counties of Somerset, Wilts, Dorset, Hants, Surrey, London, Middlesex), headed by Newman (Patriarch Mar Georgius) with his assistants (Mar Joannes, titular bishop of St Marylebone, and Mar Benignus, titular bishop of Mere) # Diocese of Selsey (Sussex), headed by Mar Jacobus II # Diocese of Siluria (Principality of Wales and county of Monmouth), headed by Mar Hedley # Diocese of Mercia (Berks and Oxon), headed by Mar Theodorus # Diocese of Repton (counties of Derby, Stafford, Cheshire, Lancashire), headed by Mar David # Diocese of Minster (Kent and Essex), headed by Mar Francis # Diocese of Deira (County of York), headed by Mar Adrianus # Diocese of Verulam (Hertfordshire), headed by Mar John "All the rest of the British Isles remained under the personal jurisdiction of Mar Georgius, pending the erection of more dioceses". By a bull dated 27 July 1947, Newman "erected a small group of ex-Latin Catholics in Belgium" into a rite "under his own jurisdiction. This new body was given the name of ''L'Église Catholique du Rite Dominicain''". The Catholicate had also been divided, by the 12 November 1947 or by 1948, into 12 eparchies (later called "apostolikes") representing the

12 tribes The Twelve Tribes of Israel ( he, שִׁבְטֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל, translit=Šīḇṭēy Yīsrāʾēl, lit=Tribes of Israel) are, according to Hebrew scriptures, the descendants of the biblical patriarch Jacob, also known as Israel, throu ...

of the spiritual Israel. Those eparchies were "constituted on a general basis of the origins, races, and

languages Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...

of Europe and Asia Minor in the days of the Undivided Church. Territories since discovered were regarded as 'suburbs' of the nations mainly responsible for their development". Those eparchies were each to be led by an Apostolic Primate; only three of the 12 eparchies had an Apostolic Primate. The 12 eparchies were the eparchies: # of all Britons (British Isles and British overseas possessions outside of America), headed by the Patriarchate of Glastonbury # of all the Iberians (Spain, Portugal, Portuguese overseas possessions, Andorra and the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

), headed by the Patriarchate of Malaga # of all the

Frisians The Frisians are a Germanic ethnic group native to the coastal regions of the Netherlands and northwestern Germany. They inhabit an area known as Frisia and are concentrated in the Dutch provinces of Friesland and Groningen and, in Germany, ...

(Netherlands and Indonesia), headed by the Patriarchate of Amersfoort # of all the Helvetians (Switzerland and the Principality of Lichtenchtein) # of all the

Latins The Latins were originally an Italic tribe in ancient central Italy from Latium. As Roman power and colonization spread Latin culture during the Roman Republic. Latins culturally "Romanized" or "Latinized" the rest of Italy, and the word Latin ...

(Italy, Italian overseas possessions, Vatican City, San Marino) # of all the Franks (France, French overseas possessions, Belgium and its overseas possessions, and the Principality of Monaco) # of all the Teutons (Germany, and the

Free City of Danzig The Free City of Danzig (german: Freie Stadt Danzig; pl, Wolne Miasto Gdańsk; csb, Wòlny Gard Gduńsk) was a city-state under the protection of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gda ...

) # of all the Pannonians (Austria and Czechoslovakia) # of all the

Slavs Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...

(Russia, Poland, and the

Baltic States The Baltic states, et, Balti riigid or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, which currently is used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, ...

) # of all the Turanians (Hungary, Finland, and Turkey) # of all the Scandinavians (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, and Greenland) # of all the Levantines (Greece, Albania, the

Balkan States The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the whol ...

, Asia Minor, and Egypt) Five Church Courts of the Catholicate were set up near Kew Gardens: the Diocesan Tribunal, the Provincial Tribunal, the

Exarch An exarch (; from Ancient Greek ἔξαρχος ''exarchos'', meaning “leader”) was the holder of any of various historical offices, some of them being political or military and others being ecclesiastical. In the late Roman Empire and ea ...

al Tribunal, the Patriarchal Tribunal, and the Supreme Ecclesiastical Tribunal.

Glastonbury rite and confession

By 1948, the Glastonbury rite was created for the Catholicate of the West. The Glastonbury rite was compiled by Newman in 8 volumes of

liturgical books A liturgical book, or service book, is a book published by the authority of a church body that contains the text and directions for the liturgy of its official religious services. Christianity Roman Rite In the Roman Rite of the Catholic C ...

. The rite was mainly based on the

Irvingite The Catholic Apostolic Church (CAC), also known as the Irvingian Church, is a Christian denomination and Protestant sect which originated in Scotland around 1831 and later spread to Germany and the United States.liturgies. The goal of Newman in making this rite was to make the world's richest, most fastuous rite. The Glastonbury rite (also called "liturgy of

saint Joseph of Arimathea Joseph of Arimathea was, according to all four canonical gospels, the man who assumed responsibility for the burial of Jesus after his crucifixion. The historical location of Arimathea is uncertain, although it has been identified with several t ...

") is a neo- Gallican rite which was an attempt to make a Western Orthodox rite. On 1 June 1952, Newman published a book titled ''The Glastonbury confession'', a profession of faith which was binding for all clergy of the Catholicate. Anson states there were "few bishops and clergy" left at the time.

Loss of churches

Between 1951 and 1953 included, the following churches under the jurisdiction of the Catholicate left it: the Orthodox Catholic Church in England (expelled from the Catholicate in August 1951), the Ancient Catholic Church, and the Indian Orthodox Church.

Dissolution and continuation

In 1953, Newman held a

synod A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word ''wikt:synod, synod'' comes from the meaning "assembly" or "meeting" and is analogous with the Latin ...

at Glastonbury; the synod decided to dissolve the Catholicate of the West. The dissolution was done in order for the Indian law to accept the dissolution of the Indian Orthodox Church that had been under the Catholicos from 1950 until 1951–1953. To replace the Catholicate of the West, an organisation was created called the United Orthodox Catholicate, still headed by Newman. By the time the synod of dissolution was held, the Catholicate "had shrunk to three Provinces: (1) Britain, (2) Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg, (3) Germany, and a French Mission". An organisation headed by Newman called the United Orthodox Catholic Rite took the title of Catholicate of the West from 1959 and onward. Those "puzzling manoeuvres" were made to put an end to the system of "autocephalous tropoi" of the Catholicate, something which "could be done legally only by dissolving the corporation and starting '' de novo''". By 1959, the Catholicate of the West only had only six bishops left, and the Catholicate's twelve eparchies, Anson notes, were "little more than half-forgotten memories". In 1960, Bishop Boltwood left the Catholicate of the West. By 1964, the Catholicate had never applied to become part of the World Council of Churches, nor was it ever invited to join it. At one point, under Newman, the Catholicate of the West became known as the ''Orthodox Church of the British Isles''.

Death of Newman, end of the Catholicate

In 1979, " Hugh George de Willmott Newman (1905-1979), ..patriarch of Glastonbury .. commonly known as Mar Georgius" died. He was succeeded as the patriarch of Glastonbury by William Henry Hugo Newman-Norton (Mar Seraphim) from 1979 to 1994. In 1994, the Orthodox Church of the British Isles (formerly named ''Catholicate of the West''), led by William Henry Hugo Newman-Norton, joined the

Coptic Orthodox Church The Coptic Orthodox Church ( cop, Ϯⲉⲕ̀ⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲛ̀ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ⲛ̀ⲟⲣⲑⲟⲇⲟⲝⲟⲥ, translit=Ti.eklyseya en.remenkimi en.orthodoxos, lit=the Egyptian Orthodox Church; ar, الكنيسة القبطي� ...

; Newman-Norton was consecrated as bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church. Thus, in 1994, the Patriarchate of Glastonbury of Willmot Newman's succession ceased to exist. Some clergy members of the Orthodox Church of the British Isles refused to join the Coptic Church and therefore left the Orthodox Church of the British Isles. The Orthodox Church of the British Isles thus became the

by joining the Coptic Church.

Claim of succession

In 1976, another continuation had appeared when "Mar David, erstwhile Apostolic Primate of the Iberians in the Catholicate of the West," claimed that "the purported dissolution had neither been lawful nor effective and that the Catholicate of the West had continued to exist independently of Mar Georgius". "In 1977, the then-Patriarch of Malaga, Mar David I," merged his Catholicate of the West with the Apostolic Episcopal Church, of which he was also primate. Since then, " e Prince-Abbot of San Luigi succeeded to the primacy of the Catholicate of the West and the Apostolic Episcopal Church in 2015". The current claimant to this alleged succession is John Kersey (Edmond III), also claimant successor to the

Order of Corporate Reunion The Order of Corporate Reunion (OCR), officially the Christian, Ecumenical, and Fraternal Order of Corporate Reunion, is an ecumenical association of clergy and laity of Anglican origin. The OCR was founded by Frederick George Lee, Thomas Wimberl ...

and dispenser of the Vilatte orders.

Doctrine

The Catholicate of the West considered itself to be one of the churches along with all churches with a valid

to compose the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. On 17 January 1947, the

Holy Governing Synod The Most Holy Governing Synod (russian: Святѣйшій Правительствующій Сѵнодъ, Святейший Правительствующий Синод) was the highest governing body of the Russian Orthodox Church betwee ...

of the Catholicate issued a decree which stated it rejected the '' Filioque'' and had removed it from the

Nicene Creed The original Nicene Creed (; grc-gre, Σύμβολον τῆς Νικαίας; la, Symbolum Nicaenum) was first adopted at the First Council of Nicaea in 325. In 381, it was amended at the First Council of Constantinople. The amended form is a ...

of the Catholicate. In 1955, the Catholicate adopted its ''Chapter and Organic Constitution''. The ''Chapter''s article VI stated: "This Rite he Catholicate of the Westis not autogenic, but is ..the direct spiritual heir of the Ancient Celtic Church, established at Glastonbury in A.D. 37, immediately after the Passion of Christ by Joseph of Arimathea, and afterwards extended into the

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

and other lands of the

Western Christendom Western Christianity is one of two sub-divisions of Christianity (Eastern Christianity being the other). Western Christianity is composed of the Latin Church and Western Protestantism, together with their offshoots such as the Old Catholic C ...

, and restored in 1866 upon the authority of the Syrian-Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch; and in the East represents the remnant of the

Syro-Chaldean The East Syriac Rite or East Syrian Rite, also called the Edessan Rite, Assyrian Rite, Persian Rite, Chaldean Rite, Nestorian Rite, Babylonian Rite or Syro-Oriental Rite, is an Eastern Christian liturgical rite that employs the Divine Liturg ...

Christians of St Thomas, derived from the preaching of the blessed Apostle St Thomas in the first century, and reorganised in 1862 upon the authority of the Syro-Chaldean Patriarchal See of Seleucia-Ctesiphon. This Rite is also the Repository of the mission conferred upon the late Archbishop Arnold Harris Matthew in 1908 by the Old Catholic Archiepiscopal See of Utrecht. By virtue of its threefold continuity and mission aforesaid, this Rite is not a sect or a

schism A schism ( , , or, less commonly, ) is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization, movement, or religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a split in what had previously been a single religious body, suc ...

, but a lawful and canonical Rite within the Church Universal". In 1961, an official publication of the Catholicate, ''Maranatha'' (see '' Maranatha''), stated the Catholicate "has no connections whatsoever with Old Roman Catholicism,

Anglicanism Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...

, or with any psychic cult, in any shape of form, but it is in all respects Catholic, Apostolic, and Orthodox, having valid

Orders Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

, Mission and Jurisdiction as an Autocephalous Rite within THE ONE HOLY CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH".