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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 canonical ties with any other Orthodox Christian body.

History

Established as the Orthodox Church of the British Isles in 1866, their historic Apostolic Succession was derived from the Syrian Orthodox Church. 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 not consecrated to form a British Diocese of the Syrian Church, but was dispatched with authority to erect an indigenous Orthodox Church in Western Europe which would not in any way be subject to Antioch. In this way an Orthodox Church for Britain was restored, its spiritual ancestor having given way to Rome following the Synod of Whitby (664) and the Council of Hereford (673).

Like many churches, the British Eparchy has had a mixed history. Bishop Julius was not well received in 1866 and many of his successors had great difficulty in maintaining the Church and its Orthodox Faith. Objections were made by both Protestant churches and other Orthodox Churches, but gradually the Church not only survived, but also grew. By 1994 the Church had gained such stature that the Egyptian (Coptic) Orthodox Church received the British Diocese within its jurisdiction, accepting its Orders. The senior British bishop having joined the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate, the remaining members of the Holy Synod of Bishops elected Bishop Mael (the Abbot of the Monastère de la Saint-Présence) to be Primate and Metropolitan. The Orthodox Church of the British Isles took the title, British Orthodox Church with the unanimous agreement of all her priests at an important Synod held in London. The Orthodox Church of the British Isles did not continue in existence since all of the members and clergy of the OCBI joined the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate and became the British Orthodox Church by a formal, legal change of name.

Those French members who rejected the opportunity of joining the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate now 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 old Celtic missions.

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

By 1998 the Church in Britain was given the status of an Eparchy or Province and in 1999 a new Bishop Eparch was elected and Consecrated for Britain, he had been one of those British priests who had chosen to leave the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate.

Organisation

• Eparchy of France

 His Beatiude Mael, Metropolitan
 His Grace Bishop Marc, Abbot

• Eparchy of Great Britain

 His Grace Bishop Stephen, British Eparch

• Eparchy of Switzerland

 Archpriest Dimitri Mottier, Swiss Administrator

• Eparchy of America
• Eparchy of Australia

See also

See also

External links

• British Eparchy

French Eparchy (in French)

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