The Orthodox Catholic Church of France (french: Église catholique orthodoxe de France), formerly Orthodox Church of France (OCF, french: Église orthodoxe de France), is an

Eastern Orthodox church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops vi ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

comprising three dioceses and using the

Western Rite Latin liturgical rites, or Western liturgical rites, are Catholic rites of public worship employed by the Latin Church, the largest particular church ''sui iuris'' of the Catholic Church, that originated in Europe where the Latin language once ...

. Though the OCF has been in communion with various

canonical The adjective canonical is applied in many contexts to mean "according to the canon" the standard, rule or primary source that is accepted as authoritative for the body of knowledge or literature in that context. In mathematics, "canonical examp ...

E. Orthodox churches during its history, at present it is not.

Foundation

Roman Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...

, left the Catholic Church as a result of

Modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

. Winnaert, along with a group of parishioners, joined the

Anglican Church 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 ...

in 1918. Winnaert and his adherents then separated from the Anglican Church and joined the

Old Catholic Church The terms Old Catholic Church, Old Catholics, Old-Catholic churches or Old Catholic movement designate "any of the groups of Western Christians who believe themselves to maintain in complete loyalty the doctrine and traditions of the undivide ...

in 1921. Winnaert and his adherents then separated from the Old Catholic Church and joined the

Liberal Catholic Church The name Liberal Catholic Church (LCC) is used by a number of separate Christian churches throughout the world which are open to esoteric beliefs and hold many ideas in common. Although the term ''Liberal Catholic'' might suggest otherwise, it ...

in 1922. Their group, ' (Free Catholic Church of France), was registered as a

religious association The 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State instituted in France (at the time without the Alsace-Lorraine, where the law does not apply) of religious associations also say ''parochial'' or sometimes in some churches, ''presb ...

in April 1922. Bishop James Ingall Wedgwood, of the Liberal Catholic Church, consecrated Winnaert as bishop. After Winnaert and his adherents separated from the Liberal Catholic Church, they established the ' (Evangelical Catholic Church) in 1924. According to ''

The Tablet ''The Tablet'' is a Catholic international weekly review published in London. Brendan Walsh, previously literary editor and then acting editor, was appointed editor in July 2017. History ''The Tablet'' was launched in 1840 by a Quaker convert ...

'', at the time of application to come into full communion with the

Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...

(ROC) in 1932, Winnaert's group had a membership of 1500 adherents, ministered by six priests and one deacon, in parishes located in Paris, Rouen, Brussels, Holland, and Rome. The agreed to receive Winnaert and his group into full communion in 1936. The episcopal ordination of Winnaert was declared doubtful. Winnaert was received into full communion as a priest in 1936 with the condition "that his irregular marriage be dissolved, and that he shall not be raised to the episcopate" but was raised to the rank of

archimandrite The title archimandrite ( gr, ἀρχιμανδρίτης, archimandritēs), used in Eastern Christianity, originally referred to a superior abbot (''hegumenos'', gr, ἡγούμενος, present participle of the verb meaning "to lead") wh ...

in the . Winnaert became administrator of those parishes that were received into full communion with and was supervised by the ordinary of the Russian Churches in Western Europe. Also associated with the Kovalevsky group, Archimandrite

Alexis van der Mensbrugghe Alexis may refer to: People Mononym * Alexis (poet) ( – ), a Greek comic poet * Alexis (sculptor), an ancient Greek artist who lived around the 3rd or 4th century BC * Alexis (singer) (born 1968), German pop singer * Alexis (comics) (1946–1977 ...

, a former Roman Catholic priest, desired to restore an ancient Roman rite, by replacing medieval accretions with Gallican and Byzantine interpolations – though Mensbrugghe remained separate from the OCF. Mensbrugghe was eventually consecrated a bishop of the in 1960, continued developing his Western rite under the auspices of the Moscow Patriarchate, and published a missal in 1962.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Western Rite Orthodoxy

Independent Eastern Orthodox denominations Eastern Orthodoxy in France Christian organizations established in 1936 Christian denominations established in the 20th century Eastern Orthodox organizations established in the 20th century

Foundation

See also

References

Further reading

External links