Evangelical Orthodox Chruch

[pablope]

I have a former friend who converted to Catholicism, then, only a couple years later became Orthodox. The parish of which he is a member is either a part of, or a break off of the Evangelical Orthodox Church. I attended a liturgy of theirs once, and while I really liked the reverence and the music, the whole affair struck me as a bit cultish. This individual and his family has broken off all ties with his Catholic former friends, and his online persona has also become quite aggressive as of late, at least in his role as a “defender of the faith.” Can anyone shed any insight into this group?

Just ran across this article about them by Fr. Ray Ryland:

cfpeople.org/Apologetics/page51a033.html

Sixteen years ago we read that a group of Evangelicals had formed a new denomination. The event was hardly newsworthy. For centuries new denominations have been appearing, at the rate of about five per week in recent years. What caught my eye was the name this new denomination took: the “Evangelical Orthodox Church.”

My interest grew as I learned about their beliefs and practices. These were Evangelicals with some Catholic concerns. They had a liturgy and offered their people sacraments. They had bishops, even a synod of bishops. All or most of the men who organized the denomination appointed themselves bishops, and the leader became “presiding bishop.”

For years I lost track of the EOC. I wondered how long it would take its members to realize that one cannot be Catholic unless one is in the Catholic Church. Then in 1987 I read that the EOC had come to a different realization: It merged into the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese.

In the following years I saw two or three articles by Peter Gillquist, original leader of the EOC, briefly summarizing the pilgrimage, and in 1989 appeared his book Becoming Orthodox, now in a revised edition (Ben Lomond, California: Conciliar Press, 1992). A companion volume, edited by Gillquist, is Coming Home (Conciliar Press, 1992). It is a collection of convert stories by former Protestants (all but one a clergyman), most of whom were associated with Gillquist in his journey to the Antiochian Church.

 

[Cavaradossi]

Just ran across this article about them by Fr. Ray Ryland:

cfpeople.org/Apologetics/page51a033.html

Sixteen years ago we read that a group of Evangelicals had formed a new denomination. The event was hardly newsworthy. For centuries new denominations have been appearing, at the rate of about five per week in recent years. What caught my eye was the name this new denomination took: the “Evangelical Orthodox Church.”

My interest grew as I learned about their beliefs and practices. These were Evangelicals with some Catholic concerns. They had a liturgy and offered their people sacraments. They had bishops, even a synod of bishops. All or most of the men who organized the denomination appointed themselves bishops, and the leader became “presiding bishop.”

For years I lost track of the EOC. I wondered how long it would take its members to realize that one cannot be Catholic unless one is in the Catholic Church. Then in 1987 I read that the EOC had come to a different realization: It merged into the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese.

In the following years I saw two or three articles by Peter Gillquist, original leader of the EOC, briefly summarizing the pilgrimage, and in 1989 appeared his book Becoming Orthodox, now in a revised edition (Ben Lomond, California: Conciliar Press, 1992). A companion volume, edited by Gillquist, is Coming Home (Conciliar Press, 1992). It is a collection of convert stories by former Protestants (all but one a clergyman), most of whom were associated with Gillquist in his journey to the Antiochian Church.

Not merged, but were received into. To merge would imply that they had a valid priesthood beforehand and simply entered into union, which is not what happened.

 

[Nine_Two]

When the bulk of the Evangelical Orthodox Church decided to join the Antiochans, they did so as individuals (albeit they did so together). The Antiochans afterward ordained those who had been priests and bishops as priests, accepting that they had not previously had valid succession.

 

[guanophore]

When the bulk of the Evangelical Orthodox Church decided to join the Antiochans, they did so as individuals (albeit they did so together). The Antiochans afterward ordained those who had been priests and bishops as priests, accepting that they had not previously had valid succession.

I would expect that such persons would be required to undergo a period of discernment and formation prior to being ordained.