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The Celtic Orthodox Church is an indigenous, Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Europe with representation in the United Kingdom for over 100 years. The head of the Church carries the title of Metropolitan of Dol and titular Bishop of Iona, with residence in Saint-Dolay (Monastery of the Holy Presence ) in Brittany (current titular : H B Mael since 1995). It does not maintain ties with any other canonical Orthodox Christian body (Eastern or Oriental), but the French body recently (late 2006) formed an association called l'Église Orthodoxe Occidentale (The Western Orthodox Church) together with the French Orthodox Church and the Orthodox Church of the Gauls.

History

Established as the Orthodox Church of the British Isles in 1866, their historic Apostolic Succession was derived from the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch. With the sanction of the Patriarch Ignatius Jacobus II having first been obtained, on 2nd 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 erect an indigenous Orthodox Church in Western Europe, one not in any way subject to Antioch.

The British Eparchy has a mixed history. Bishop Julius was not well received, and many of his successors had great difficulty in maintaining the Church and its Orthodox Faith. Resistence was made by both Protestant and Orthodox churches, but gradually it not only survived, but grew. By 1994 the Church had gained such stature that the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria received it within the Alexandrian jurisdiction, accepting its orders. As the senior British bishop joined the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria, the remaining bishops elected Bishop Mael (the Abbot of the Monastère de la Saint-Présence) as Primate and Metropolitan. The Orthodox Church of the British Isles took the title, British Orthodox Church with the unanimous agreement of the clergy at a synod held in London.

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) to indicate that its jurisdiction covered the area of the former Celtic missions.

In 1998 several of the priests of the British Orthodox Church who had become priests in the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria left the wider Orthodox communion and chose to return to the independent movement. Eventually most of them were received by Mar Mael and L'Eglise Orthodox Celtique, though some joined other independent groups.

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 status of the British Eparchy of the Celtic Orthodox Church became unclear. The Eparch, Bishop Stephen, asked for release from the COC and is said to have sought entry to the Episcopal Vicariate of Great Britain and Ireland under Bishop Basil of Amphipolis (Patriarchal Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition in Western Europe).

It is not known how many British clergy remain within the Celtic Orthodox Church, now directly administered by the French Eparchy. (The French website notes they are awaiting a new address, in the contact details of the British Eparchy.)

Bishop Stephen hit the national newspapers in February 2007, by performing an Orthodox baptism in a public house. - http://www.baptism.org.uk/public.htm.

See also

• British Orthodox Church

External links

• British Eparchy (no longer active)
• French Eparchy (in French)

• Articles lacking sources from January 2007