British Orthodox Church
A self-styled ‘Western Orthodox’ body in Britain, now part of the Coptic patriarchate. The leader of the church, the Metropolitan of Glastonbury, formerly derived his episcopal succession from various sources, of which three were ultimately Syrian: 1. Julius Ferrette (1828–1904), consecrated by the Syr. Orth. Metr. of Ḥimṣ (and later Patr. Peṭros III) in 1866; 2. Joseph René Vilatte, consecrated by Mar Julius Alvares, a Syr. Orth. bp. in India, in 1892; and 3. Ulrich Vernon Herford, consecrated by Mar Basilius (Luis Mariane Soares) a bp. of the Ch. of E. in India in 1902. All these consecrations were irregular and in later years neither of the churches concerned would recognize them. Since 1994, when the metropolitan was admitted to the Coptic synod, the church no longer emphasizes its Syrian-church connections. The Church’s magazine is the Glastonbury Review (see esp. no. 80 [July 1991], 18–28).
Sources
- P. F. Anson, Bishops at large (1964).
- Abba Seraphim, Flesh of our brethren (2006).
How to Cite This Entry
Footnote Style Citation with Date:
James F. Coakley , “British Orthodox Church,” in Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Electronic Edition, edited by Sebastian P. Brock, Aaron M. Butts, George A. Kiraz and Lucas Van Rompay (Gorgias Press, 2011; online ed. Beth Mardutho, 2018), https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/British-Orthodox-Church.
Bibliography Entry Citation:
Coakley, James F. “British Orthodox Church.” In Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Electronic Edition. Edited by Sebastian P. Brock, Aaron M. Butts, George A. Kiraz and Lucas Van Rompay. Digital edition prepared by David Michelson, Ute Possekel, and Daniel L. Schwartz. Gorgias Press, 2011; online ed. Beth Mardutho, 2018. https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/British-Orthodox-Church.
A TEI-XML record with complete metadata is available at /tei.