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The Celtic Orthodox Church, formerly The Catholic Apostolic Church, is an indigenous, autocephalous Orthodox Church in Europe with representation in the United Kingdom since the consecration of Mar Pelagius I in 1874. Since 25 December 2007, it has been united with the French Orthodox Church and the Orthodox Church of the Gauls in the 'Communion of the Western Orthodox Churches' (CWOC). Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy do not maintain ties with the Celtic Orthodox Church. The Primate of the Church, H B Mael was elected 9th Patriarch of Britain by the Holy Synod in 1995, following the former Patriarch, Mar Seraphim I, leaving the Celtic Orthodox Church to join the Coptic Church. H B Mael carries the title of Metropolitan of Dol and titular Bishop of Iona, and resides at the Monastère de la Saint-Présence (Monastery of the Holy Presence) at Saint-Dolay in Brittany.

History

The Celtic Orthodox Church, formerly the Catholic Apostolic Church, was established in 1866, and apostolic succession was derived from the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch. With the sanction of the Patriarch Ignatius Jacobus II, on 2 June 1866, Mar Julius, Metropolitan Bishop of Emesa consecrated Jules Ferrette as Bishop Julius and gave him the title of Bishop of Iona and its Dependencies. This consecration, in Syria, was witnessed and the instrument of consecration was verified before the British Consul at Damascus. Bishop Julius was dispatched to form an indigenous Orthodox Church in Western Europe, one not in any way subject to Antioch.

The Celtic Church in Britain has had a mixed history. Bishop Julius was not well received, and his successors had great difficulty in maintaining the Church. Resistance was encountered from Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox churches, but gradually it survived and grew. In 1994 the senior British bishop and several members of the laity left the Celtic Church and were received into the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, taking the title, British Orthodox Church.

The remaining bishops of the Holy Synod elected Bishop Mael, Abbot of the Monastère de la Saint-Présence, as Primate and Metropolitan. Those French members who rejected the opportunity to join the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria assumed the title of the French Eparchy: L'Eglise Orthodoxe Celtique (the Celtic Orthodox Church - officially the Celtic Apostolic Church) to indicate that its jurisdiction covered the area of the former Celtic missions.

In 1997(1998?) several of the former Celtic priests of the newly formed British Orthodox Church left the Coptic Church and returned to their Mother Church, being received back by Metropolitan Mael into the Celtic Orthodox Church. By 1998 the Church in Britain was given the status of an Eparchy or Province and in 1999 a new Bishop Eparch, Stephen Robson, was elected and consecrated for Britain; he had been one of those British priests who had chosen to leave the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate. In early 2007 the administration of the British Eparchy came under the direct care of the Patriarch, Metropolitan Mael, when Bishop Stephen, asked for release, with the blessing of Metropolitan Mael, from the Celtic Orthodox Church and was received as a monk into the Ecumenical Patriarchate on January 26, 2008. In 2012, a priest and congregation in Bournemouth also entered the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Four clergy remain within the Celtic Orthodox Church in the UK, in Bournemouth, Bridport, Edinburgh, and Haddington, and there is a Mission in North Wales.

See also

• British Orthodox Church

References

External links

• French Eparchy (in French and English)
• Communion of Western Orthodox Churches (In French)
• St Gwenn's Celtic Orthodox Parish

• Articles with too few wikilinks from December 2012
• Coptic Orthodox Church
• Orthodox Churches in the United Kingdom
• Oriental Orthodoxy
• Christianity in Europe
• Coptic Orthodox Church in Europe
• Religious organizations established in 1866
• Christian denominations, unions, and movements established in the 19th century