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THE
FREE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ENGLAND (FPEC) was
established on 2nd
November 1897 as at St
Stephen's Church, East Ham, London. It united: The
Free Protestant Church (+Leon Chechemian), The
Ancient British Church (+Charles Isaac Stevens) The
Nazarene Episcopal Church (+James Martin) Its first primate was the Rt Rev'd Dr Leon Chechemian. The three bishops consecrated: George W.L. Maeers, for the Spanish Reformed Episcopal
Church, and, Frederick W. Boucher to the episcopal bench. These five bishops in turn then consecrated Andrew
Charles Albert McLaglen. The 1878 Constitution and Canons of the Reformed Episcopal Church of the UK was adopted for use in the new FPEC. The FPEC became known as: The Anglican Free Communion in 2012, and, The Episcopal Free Communion, in 2020 Beginnings to 1922 The Non-jurors, who wished to maintain their allegiance
to the Royal House of Stuart after the Glorious Revolution of 1688, were the
first group of episcopally-governed Anglicans to separate from the Church of
England. They existed from 1689 to 1805 when the last of their bishops died
without a successor. They also referred to themselves as 'the remant of the
Ancient British Church' and as 'the Orthodox British Church'. On 6 June 1866 a former French Roman Catholic missionary
priest, Raymond Ferrette (1828 - 1904), was consecrated a bishop, with the
religious name of 'Mar Julius', under the authority of the Syrian Orthodox
Patriarch of Antioch and was sent to England to initiate an indigenous and autonomous
Orthodox Church as a step towards reunion between Western and Eastern
Christians. On 6 March 1874 at Marholm, Northants, England he
consecrated the Rev'd Richard Williams Morgan (1815 - 1899), a clergyman in
the Church of England, as the native British bishop in this plan. Bishop
Morgan, taking the religous name of 'Mar Pelagius I', re-established the
Ancient British Church, while continuing his duties as an Anglican clergyman
and as a historian of note. On 6 March 1879, exactly five years later, he
consecrated his successor as head of this church, the Rev'd Charles Isaac
Stevens, a former presbyter of the Reformed Episcopal Church of the UK.
Bishop Stevens took the religious name of 'Mar Theophilus I'. Bishop Stevens'
co-consecrators were bishops in the Order of Corporate Reunion - a body of
independent clergy who wanted the Church of England to reunite with the Roman
Catholic Church. One of the co-consecrators, Dr Frederick George Lee, was a
literal descendant of the Non-juroring bishop Dr Timothy Newmarsh who had
been consecrated in 1726. On 11 April 1888 Bishop Alfred Spencer Richardson of the
Reformed Episcopal Church of the UK consecrated the Rev'd Dr James Martin,
who founded the Nazarene Episcopal Church and established his headquarters at
Flaxman Road, Loughborough Junction, London SE5. In 1890 +Martin founded
Nazarene College to serve as the church's seminary. In May of 1892 Dr Alfred S. Richardson resigned as
Presiding Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church of the United Kingdom. He
had tried to finance the REC on his personal credit and when some investments
went bad he became bankrupt. Dr Richardson then moved to Boulogne-sur-Mer,
France, where he died in 1907. Lord Plunket died in 1897 before the formation of the
FPEC in November of that year, Dr Chechemian was again head of the Free
Protestant Church of England. By 1896 Bishop Chechemian was living in London, and he
and Bishop Martin discussed the idea of merging the Free Protestant Church
and the Nazarene Episcopal Ecclesia into one larger church body geared to
Anglicans and Free Church folk as part of the Church Reunion Movement.
Archbishop-Patriarch Charles Isaac Stevens (known by his religious name of
Mar Theophilus) of the Ancient British Church also would semi attach his jurisdiction
to this new church body. Hence, the Free Protestant Episcopal Church of
England was born. The organisational Synod of the FPEC was held on 2
November 1897 in St. Stephen's Church, East Ham, London. St. Stephen's, an
iron building, had been built earlier that year and served as the
pro-cathedral of the FPEC until 1909 when it was sold to a group of
Spiritualists. Events at this synod occurred as follows: I The Nazarene
Episcopal Ecclesia and the Free Protestant Church of England were formally merged
into the Free Protestant Episcopal Church of England with the Nazarene
College continuing on as the theological school of the FPEC. The Ancient
British Church and the United Armenian Catholic Church of the British Isles
enter into intercommunion with the FPEC and each other in order to share
resources and in some cases clergy; II The 1878
Constitution and Canons of the Reformed Episcopal Church of the United
Kingdom plus its version of the Book of Common Prayer were adopted, with
modifications pertaining to the FPEC, as part of its Canons Ecclesiastical.
One notable modification was that a canon was passed stating that the FPEC as
an entity would not own any buildings, each individual congregation in
communion with her providing its own building and supporting its clergy. The
sad fate of Dr Richardson mentioned above probably figured in the minds of
the founding bishops and they wished to avoid personal financial ruin; III Dr
Chechemian was elected as Archbishop-Primus of the FPEC and Dr Stevens was elected
as his Coadjutor; IV Consecration
of Bishops Frederick W Boucher (Baucher), George W L Maeers, and Andrew C A
McLaglen - the first two for independent ministries and Bishop McLaglen for
the FPEC and the Ancient British Church as "Mar Andries". V Subconditional
Consecration of Bishop James Martin into the succession of the Ancient
British Church by all bishops present as "Mar Jacobus I Antipas"; VI Formal
Enthronement of Dr Stevens as Coadjutor; VII Formal
Enthronement of Dr Chechemian as Archbishop-Primus. In addition to being bishops of the new FPEC the
following were also on the episcopal benches of the Ancient British Church
and the United Armenian Catholic Church: Mar Theophilus I (Charles Isaac Stevens), Patriarch of
the Ancient British Church & Archbishop of Caerleon, Caertroia, and
Verulam Mar Leon (Chechemian), Primate of the United Armenian
Catholic Church of the British Isles & Archbishop of Selsey Mar Jacobus I Antipas (James Martin), Archbishop of
Caerleon-upon-Usk Mar Andries I (Andrew Charles Albert McLaglen), Bishop
of Claremont Bishop George Walter Lewis Maeers (b. in 1855 in Kent)
was consecrated to be an assistant bishop to the Reformed Episcopal Church in
Spain and nothing more is known of him. Bishop Boucher appears to have been
consecrated for an independent ministry. Both these two bishops were never
counted as bishops of the FPEC as their names are not on the official listing
of Bishops of the Church. Bishop Frederick William Boucher Sr. (surname legally
spelled Baucher) was b. in 1855 in St. Helens, Lancashire. His secular
employment was that of engineer's foreman in a factory pattern maker's
department in Liverpool. His probable employer was the Mersey Iron Foundry of
Liverpool, who built the first cast iron church in the world in 1814. Boucher
most likely had a hand in the design of St. Stephen's Church and the
resulting contact with the bishops of the FPEC lead to his consecration. By
the time his daughter Bertha married Lance-Sergeant Arthur William Martin of
the Second Battalion, Scottish Rifles on 17 March 1914, he apparently had
retired from secular employment as Bertha stated on the marriage certificate
that her father's occupation was that of "clergyman". He died in
1928 at Ormskirk, Lanc. The other five bishops consecrated +Martin, sub
conditione, as Mar Jacobus I Antipas and Archbishop of Caerleon-upon-Usk. In 1900, Dr Stevens succeeded Dr Chechemian as Primus of
the FPEC and Archbishop of the United Armenian Catholic Church. The episcopal succession of the FPEC arrived early in
the USA and Canada through a curious manner. On or before 19 February 1905
William Patterson Whitebrook (1871 - 1915) of Lambeth, England was
consecrated by +McLaglen. In 1908 Bishop Paulo Miraglia Gulotti (1852 - 1918)
of the Italian National Episcopal Church travelled to England in order to
conditionally consecrate +Whitebrook into the line of Archbishop Rene Joseph
Vilatte as +Whitebrook had joined the English branch of +Vilatte's church.
This occured on 27 December 1908 in +Whitebrook's domestic chapel of St.
Thomas of Canterbury, Bishopsthorpe, Stone Hill, Headley Down, Hampshire and
in turn Bishop Whitehead sub conditional consecrated +Gulotti bestowing the
FPEC and Order of Corporate Reunion lines of succession on him. In North
America Bishop Gulotti consecrated the following bishops - Carmel Henry
Carfora (1911), Paul A R Markiewicz (16 Nov. 1913), Josef Zielonka (16 Nov.
1913), and assisted at the consecration of Frederick Ebenezer John Lloyd (29
Dec. 1915) - bringing an Anglican episcopal line into Vilatte's jurisdiction. In 1909 Primus Stevens relocated the pro-cathedral of
the FPEC to the Church of Martin Luther, located at 26 Speldhurst Road, South
Hackney where it remained so until 1919. On 25 July 1916, Dr Martin, assisted by presbyters
William Hall and Ernest Albert Asquith, consecrated Benjamin Charles Harris
then of Essex and Ernest Mumby then of London as bishops for the FPEC in the
Church of Martin Luther, the pro-Cathedral of the FPEC, located at 26
Speldhurst Road, South Hackney, London. Bishop Harris was also an Baptist minister and continued
as such for the rest of his life in keeping with the belief that the FPEC was
a church for all types of protestants without them having to give up their
home denominations. FPEC clergy, rather than having explicit FPEC parishes,
have often served as nonconformist ministers in other denominations and
public institutions such as hospitals, gaols, and college chapels. In 1917, Dr Martin succeeded Dr Stevens. In early 1917,
the FPEC obtained recognition by the British Government as a legally
constituted denomination when the Venerable Ernest Albert Asquith, PhD, the
Archdeacon of the Church, was a test case under the Military Service Act of
1916. Clergymen could obtain an exemption from military service under the
terms of this Act. The officiating magistrate gave his decision that the Ven.
Dr Asquith was a lawfully ordained minister of a legally constituted
Episcopal Church, and therefore a man in Holy Orders within the meaning of
the Act. His Worship arrived at this conclusion after investigating the
origin of the Orders of the Church and the services used for ordinations and
consecrations which are based on the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. The organisation of the FPEC at that time was
characterised as follows. The laws for the proper self-government of the FPEC
were contained in its Canons Ecclesiastical. The Bishops were the chief
executive officers, and with the Archdeacon formed the General Standing
Committee. It was the duty of the Bishops to exercise oversight over all the
ministers and congregations within their respective jurisdictions, and have
the right of entry, at all reasonable times, into any church for the purposes
of preaching, enquiry, counsel and performing such other duties as pertain to
their office; they administer the right of confirmation and confer Holy
Orders. The supreme legislative and administrative authority of the Church
was vested in the General Synod, composed of Bishops and Clergy, together
with not more than two lay representatives (Synodsmen) from each organised
congregation. This Synod met quarterly, and for the due transaction of its
business appointed annually a Treasurer, Registrar, and such other officers
or sub-committees as it deemed necessary. It also had the power to add to the
General Standing Committee. The General Synod of the FPEC as of 21 April 1917
consisted of the following: +James Martin, DD, LLD (Caerleon-on-Usk, etc.),
Archbishop & Patriarch; +Ernest Mumby, DD (Caer-Leirion) and +B. Chas.
Harris, DD (Essex), Rev'd William Hall, Bishop's Chaplain; B A Surridge,
Registrar; E.P. Woodcock, VDM [Verbi Dei Minister], Herald; and Venerable
Ernest A Asquith, PhD, Archdeacon. In 1917 the FPEC was undertaking mission work in America
however no documentation survives as to its nature. It may have been under
the oversight of Dr McLaglen as by that year several of his sons had
emigrated to Canada and the USA. He may have been visiting them during the
years 1916 and 1917 which would explain his not assisting Dr Martin at the
1916 consecrations (he was the only other functioning FPEC bishop and would
naturally be involved in that service) and his absence in 1917 as a member of
the church's General Synod. In 1919, Dr McLaglen succeeded Dr Martin. Dr McLaglen
had been consecrated to be the FPEC Missionary Bishop for Cape Colony based
in Cape Town with the title of Bishop of Claremont. The mission church of St.
Andrew's at Retreat Place, Hackney served as the pro-cathedral until 1936
when it was demolished as part of a city redevelopment project. 1922 onwards In 1922 Primus McLaglen considered his successors as the
head of the Free Protestant Episcopal Church, the Ancient British Church, and
the United Armenian Catholic Church. On 4 June 1922 he consecrated Francis
George Widdows and Herbert James Monzani Heard in St. Andrew's Church,
Retreat Place, London. +Widdows was to become the new Primus of the FPEC at a
later date. Bishop Monzani Heard was made the head of the Ancient
British and United Armenian Catholic churches. By that time these three
jurisdictions were "paper churches" as there were no formal
congregations for any of them; however, the FPEC had canons to organise
parishes (the hope) and to allow for independent congregations to be under
its bishops oversight (the reality). "The Church Times", of 28th April 1922,
devoted practically a whole page to an article, "A Chapter of Secret
History". It gave a somewhat detailed account of the background of the
Order of Corporate Reunion and the bishops consecrated for that organisation,
which were in the episcopal lineage of Archbishop Charles Isaac Stevens and
the passing on of that succession to the FPEC. The author of the article
added the following: "It is interesting, and may be of future importance
to note that the orders possessed by these Protestant bodies conferred
through Chechemian, MacLaglen (sic) and their co-adjutors are free from the
objections alleged against Anglican Orders by the Roman Catholic
Controversialists". In 1928, +Monzani Heard succeeded Dr McLaglen. During
his time as Primus of the FPEC and afterwards, he began spreading the Orders
of the FPEC into other independent church groups. He consecrated Bishops
Victor Alexander Palmer Hayman (20 April 1930), Frederick Charles Aloysius
Harrington (13 June 1938), James Dominic Mary O'Gavigan (20 May 1940), and
William Bernard Crow (13 June 1943) for their respective jurisdictions. He
also consecrated his successor as Primus of the FPEC, the Rev'd William Hall
on 18 May 1939 in St. Andrew's Church, Stonebridge Road, Tottenham, London,
N.15. Dr Monzani Heard introduced the name of The Episcopal Apostolic Church
of England at the time he consecrated +Harrington as an alternative title for
the jurisdiction. In 1936 the Stonebridge Road Methodist Church in South
Tottenham was acquired by the Rev'd Mr. Hall for the FPEC. This red brick
chapel was built in 1882 and was re-dedicated as St. Andrew's Church. In 1954
it was registered as St Andrew's Collegiate Church. It served as the pro-cathedral
until 1967 when it was sold to the Church of God congregation and later
became part of a housing development. In 1939, +Monzani Heard consecrated Dr William Hall as
his successor. On 30 September 1944 +Monzani Heard transferred the primacy of
the United Armenian Catholic Church, and on 29 January 1945 the headship of
the Ancient British Church, to Bishop Hugh George de Willmott Newman who
merged them into his Catholicate of the West jurisdiction. Mar Georgius
assumed that the deed of the college went with the Ancient British Church
instead of the FPEC in which it was vested by the Nazarene Episcopal Ecclesia
at the time of the 1897 union. Stating that the college was long dormant, on
25 October 1953 he appointed Bishop Ronald Powell (Richard, Duc de Palatine)
as the president of the college when he consecrated the latter to the
episcopate. Bishop Powell then made this "Nazarene College" part of
his newly established Pre-Nicene Catholic Church which still exists to this
day under Bishop George William Boyer of London.) On 15 July 1949 the Rev'd Frederick C King (1917 - 1985)
and his wife the Rev'd Karla King (deaconess) (1920 - 1999) incorporated in
California The Anglican Apostolic Church Of England as a USA affiliate to the
EAC/FPEC with its headquarters in Sunland, California. In 1963 Dr F C King
was raised to the episcopate by FPEC Archbishop of the USA, Dr E N Enochs. By 1949 the FPEC had almost ceased to function. Bishop
Mumby had died in September 1939; Archdeacon Asquith in June 1942; Bishop Harris
in November 1946; and former Primus Monzani Heard in August 1947. Primus Hall continued the practice of consecrating
bishops who did not serve in the FPEC. In 1952 he consecrated the Rev'd John
Leslie Baines (b. 1883) and in 1959 he consecrated the Rev'd Terence Hope
Davenport (b. 1900). Both Bishops Baines and Davenport were non-parochial
Anglican priests at the time of their respective consecrations. They did not
establish their own denominations because for the rest of their lives they
remained ministers in good standing within the Church of England. It appears
they just wanted to quietly hold independent episcopal rank without
functioning as a bishop - a not uncommon practice amongst ordinary Anglican
clergy. Primus Hall consecrated Charles Dennis Boltwood as a
bishop in the FPEC on 6 April (Palm Sunday) 1952. On 25 March (Lady Day) 1954
Dr Boltwood was elected to succeed Dr Hall as Primus of the FPEC. In 1959
+Boltwood succeeded +Hall as Primus. In 1957 and with the blessing of Primus Hall, +Boltwood
began to expand the FPEC outside of the United Kingdom. +Boltwood consecrated
Emmet Neil Enochs of California as Archbishop of the FPEC in the USA. In
1958, +Boltwood consecrated bishops for West Africa and for Canada. +Boltwood
allowed such a free hand in his clergy's ministries that the original purpose
of the FPEC became forgotten. Most viewed the FPEC as a 'starter church' and
quickly founded, or joined, other Anglican, Independent Catholic or Orthodox
jurisdictions. On 14 October, 1964, +Means attended a Papal Audience
held at 5pm that day in St. Peter's where his Episcopal ring and Pectoral
Cross were blessed by Pope Paul VI. Bishop Means was also given VIP seating
at St. Peter's when he was present on 18 October for the Canonization Service
of the Ugandan Martyrs - this service featured the use of the Coptic liturgy
and the release of white doves. On 16 October 1966 +Boltwood consecrated Albert John
Fuge, Sr. as a new bishop of the FPEC in New York State. On 8 September 1968
Dr Fuge became Archbishop of New York and Metropolitan of the USA in the
place of Dr Enochs, who in the meantime had become an Old Roman Catholic
bishop. On 19 October 1971, +Fuge consecrated Robert Randolph
Rivette at the Boltwood Chapel, New York, USA, at the end of a FPEC
Convocation which passed a new Constitution. The Boltwood Chapel was
subsequently officially dedicated on 27 October 1974 by +Fuge, assisted by
+Boltwood, +Benjamin C Eckardt, +William C Thompson and Ernest P Parris. The Free Protestant Episcopal Church, Diocese of Texas
was incorporated in the State of Texas on 25 April 1972 by +Robert R Rivette,
the only example of the official FPEC ever being incorporated in the USA.
This charter is in good standing. On 2 March 1970 the Free Protestant
Episcopal Christian Church, Inc. was incorporated in New Jersey with the Rt.
Rev'd Willard D Mayo, DD, PhD of East Orange, NJ as its Primus. Bishop Mayo
was most likely consecrated in January of 1970 by Dr Eric Daenecke (1914 -
1994), FPEC bishop of New York from 1960 - 1966. By 1969 Dr Daenecke was
living in New Jersey. This independent branch of the FPEC seems to have died
with Dr Mayo in 1997. On 17 October 1978 at the Park Road Methodist Church,
New York City, +Fuge succeeded +Boltwood when the latter gave the former
a Deed of Succession to the Office of Archbishop Primus. Those attending
included +Ernest P Parris (assistant FPEC bishop of New York) and the Rev'd
Dr Samuel Lewis (Dr Fuge's chaplain). Although the English speaking bishops
accepted this, +Horst Block and +Emmanuel Samuel Yekorogha (d. 1983) FPEC
archbishop of West Africa, did not. +Block became International Primus of a
schismatic FPEC which existed for some 22 years. On 7 October 2001 it became
known as the International Free Protestant Episcopal Church (TIPEC). In 1982 +Rivette succeeded +Fuge as FPEC Archbishop of
the USA. On 7th July 1982, at the nomination of +Boltwood,
+Charles Moffatt succeeded +Fuge as Primus. At this time, +Boltwood
directed +Francis Thomas, DTh (consecrated by +Boltwood in 1961) of London to
wind down the operations of the FPEC in the United Kingdom, sending its
original church records to +Moffatt in Canada. In 1994 it was determined by default, that as +Follick
had been the most senior cleric in the FPEC since July 1958, he had been the
legal Primus since +Moffat's death. +Moffat had not designated a successor. On 8 March 2003 one of the last of the English ministers
of the old FPEC, the Rev'd Cecil G. Cobran, B.Th., of London, England, died
at the age of 88 years. Muhammad Wolfgang Schmidt was consecrated on 20 March
2005 by +Block. On 26 November 2005 both +Block and +Schmidt consecrated
Peter Leers at +Leers home chapel in Dusseldorf as Bishop for Germany. In
2008 +Leers succeeded +Block as the Primus of TIFPEC and dissolved the
jurisdiction to end the schism in February 2011. Today The Free Protestant Episcopal Church continues advancing
worldwide. Since 2012 the FPEC returned, after many years, to the place of
its birth in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with a
bishop to lead the province and with assistant clergy. It was at the time of
Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee that the Church became established in
England, and in the year of the present Queen's Diamond Jubilee the
jurisdiction has returned with The Most Rev'd Dr Richard Arthur Palmer, M.A
as the Archbishop Primus. In a real sense the FPEC has returned home. PRO-CATHEDRALS
OF THE FREE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH
PRIMUSES
PEOPLE
ALBERT JOHN FUGE, Sr. (1911 - 30th April, 1982) A Lutheran pastor, of New York City +Fuge was based at the Boltwood Chapel, 177 West
Broadway, New York City. ALFRED SPENCER RICHARDSON (1842 to 1907) Born in 1842 in Manchester, England. He was the minister
at Great Malvern, Worcestershire for the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion
and for the Free Church of England in the 1870s when both bodies were
basically one church. In 1877 he and several other clergy left the FCE and
established a branch of the Reformed Episcopal Church in the United Kingdom;
his congregation became known as "The Church of God Reformed Episcopal
Church in Gt Malvern". On 22 June 1879 he was consecrated a bishop for
the UK REC in St. Paul's Church, Philadelphia, USA by Bishops William Rufus
Nicholson and Samuel Fallows. In 1885 Dr Richardson became Presiding Bishop
of the UK REC. Towards the end of that year, he and his family moved to
London where they resided at 27 Belgrave Road. He was involved in setting up
Christ Church, Carlton Hill and Christ Church, West Kensington. Some church historians have criticised Primus Richardson
for being involved in consecrating Dr Martin, and later on 4 May 1890
assisting Archbishop Charles Isaac Stevens (a former REC of UK presbyter) of
the Ancient British Church in the sub conditione consecration of Leon
Chechemian. According to FPEC tradtion, these consecrations occurred in one
of Bishop Richardson's London churches, most likely at Christ Church, Carlton
Hill. Dr Richardson was the first Anglican tradition bishop to bestow the
historic episcopate to other Christian denominations without requiring them
to strictly follow Anglican theology - this idea was stated to be a good
gesture in the past by various Church of England divines but had to that
point never been acted upon. He was establishing a precedent later followed
by his church's communion partner the Reformed Episcopal Church of the United
States. On 5 December 1896 REC Bishop Peter Fayssoux Stevens (1830 - 1910)
consecrated Edward Russell Middleton as bishop for the Reformed Methodist
Union Episcopal Church. This church body is headquartered in Charleston,
South Carolina, USA, and still maintains the historic episcopate. ANDREW CHARLES ALBERT MCLAGLEN (1851 - 16th October, 1928) By 1901 +McLaglen and his family had returned to
England, living in the Limehouse district of London. He was concerned that
his eldest son, Victor, had joined the British army in the Boer War, and
after getting the son out of the forces, thought best for his family to move
back to England. BRUCE DOUGLAS CAMPBELL (08 Mar 1953 - 04 Jan 2015) Archbishop of the Province of Northeast USA (03 Dec 2012
- 04 Jan 2015) Archbishop Bruce Douglas Campbell was born in Manhattan,
New York. He died in New Rochelle, New York. He was originally consecrated in
August 2001 by Bishop William E. Connor as a bishop for the Holy Cross
Anglican Communion. There was some confusion whether or not the holy orders
of the HCAC were valid, so Dr Campbell received sub conditional consecration
on 19 April 2003 from Bishops Paul Victor Verhaeren and Wayne Moore Hay. Actually, the Holy Orders of the former HCAC may be
valid. Bishop Billy Winford Corn (b. 1948) of Texas, who consecrated Bishop
William Earl Conner (b. 1943) on 6 March 2001 was consecrated by Bishop
William H. Green (1923 to 1992) of Oklahoma sometime in the 1970s. Dr Green
was consecrated a bishop by Bishop Dr Burnice Hoyle Webster (1910 to 1990) of
the Southern Episcopal Church. On December 3, 2012 became the Archbishop of the
Province of the Northeast - USA. CHARLES DENNIS BOLTWOOD (30th Aug 1889 - 3rd July 1985) Primus Emeritus : 30 Apr 1982 - 07 July 1982 Boltwood was born in Essex. His wife was Connie
Boltwood. In the 1930s and 1940s, Boltwood was a noted spiritualist. Between 1937 and 1941, Boltwood published several books,
printed at a small press in the town of Thorpe-le-Soken, Essex, which was
probably also the residence of the Boltwoods during those years. In 1942
Boltwood founded the College of Spiritual Science, a correspondence school
with courses for the training of "Spiritual Healers, Psychotherapists,
and Thalamopathists". +Boltwood practiced theosophy and presented
himself as an old-fashion evangelical Anglican. On 3 May 1951 he was ordained,
sub conditione, a presbyter by Primus Hall when, in addition, he joined the
FPEC. 1. consecrated
for the Catholicate of the West by +De Willmott Newman, sometime
between 1946 and 1949 2. consecrated
by +Earl Anglin Lawrence James of the Old Roman Catholic Church in
Canada, in North America, on 25 December 1950 3. consecrated
for the FPEC by Primus Hall on 6 April (Palm Sunday) 1952. 4. consecrated
by +De Willmott Newman a week later, on 13 April (Easter Sunday)
1952. 5. consecrated by
+De Willmott Newman on 6 July 1956. 6. consecrated
by +Konstantin Jaroshevich of the Holy Orthodox Church of Christ on 19
September 1958. In October 1960 +Boltwood left the Catholicate of the
West in order to concentrate on his FPEC work. Dr Boltwood became the Principal of Nazarene College
under the Patronage of Dr Hall as Primus, continuing to train by post,
various persons around the world in Philosophy and Theology. On 5 July 1955,
Nazarene College was merged with St. Andrew's Correspondence College
(Tottenham) Ltd. when that organisation was incorporated. On 27 August 1966
the final graduation dinner for this College was held at the Bonnington
Hotel, London, when the College was closed down and its records lodged at
Somerset House in anticipation of the sale of the pro-cathedral in the
following year. A curious by path to this story is that another
"Nazarene College" came into existence, claiming to be the
continuation of Dr Martin's original.
Bishops consecrated by CHARLES DENNIS BOLTWOOD Grant Timothy Billet 25 Dec 1950 Nestor Joseph Emile Antoine Frippiat 02 Sept 1956 Walter Joseph Hendrik Van Den Berghe 02 Sept 1956 Emmet Neil Enochs 02 June 1957 (1st cons) & 31 Aug
1958 (2nd cons) James Burrows Noble 04 Sept 1957 Reginald Benjamin Millard 15 Apr 1958 Emmanuel Samuel Yekorogha 06 June 1958 Benjamin Charles Eckhardt 16 Aug 1958 Charles Kennedy Samuel Moffatt 24 Aug 1958 John Marion Stanley 03 May 1959 Eric Daenecke 12 Dec 1960 John Trollnas early 1961 Francis Thomas 04 July 1961 William Charles Cato-Symonds 15 Apr 1962 Harry Kenneth Means 16 Aug 1964 James Everard Thornhill 24 Apr 1966 Arthur Olawale Nelson-Cole 29 May 1966 Albert John Fuge, Sr 16 Oct 1966 Edwin Duane Follick (b. 1935) 28 Aug 1968 at his home
chapel at 1 Aldborough Road, St. Leonards-On-Sea, Sussex EJ Evans summer 1968 Gordon Albert Da Costa 18 June 1971 William Elliot Littlewood 19 June 1971 Russell Grant Fry, Jr 19 June 1971 Horst Karl Frederick Block 09 Aug 1971 (1st cons) &
26 March 1972 (2nd cons) Robert Randolph Rivette 19 Oct 1971 Bishops consecrated by others on Authority of Primus
C.D. Boltwood Frederick Charles King 19 May 1963 by Archbishop Emmet
Neil Enochs Donald Jay Foard early 1964 by Archbishop Emmet Neil
Enochs Samuel Richard Acquah, Sr. 19 July 1964 by Archbishop
Emmanuel Samuel Yekorogha William Carson Thompson between Sept. 1968 & June
1971 by Archbishop Albert John Fuge, Sr. Ernest Percival Parris spring 1970 by Archbishop Albert
John Fuge, Sr. John Lawrence Brown 21 May 1972 by Archbishop Albert
John Fuge, Sr. CHARLES ISAAC STEVENS (d. 2nd February 1917) CHARLES KENNEDY SAMUEL STEWART MOFFATT (2nd March, 1907 - 7th November, 1989) FPEC Archbishop in Canada. Born in Lisconauss Ughnacloy, County Tyrone in Northern
Ireland. At some point he emigrated to Canada and was ordained a
pentecostal minister and received a doctor of divinity degree. Dr Moffatt on 5 October 1952 became the pastor of the
Apostolic Church of Pentecost (also known as Full Gospel Apostolic
Tabernacle) which was then located at 550 Sixth Street, Brandon, Manitoba. He
succeeded the Rev'd V.W. Jonat as pastor of this church. Dr Moffatt was a
gifted preacher, hymn writer, and musician. He was unusual for a pentecostal
minister in that at least twice a month he would celebrate the Holy Communion
Service for his congregation - most pentencostal pastors stress a preaching
ministry and celebrate the Lord's Supper only once a year at Easter. On 3
February 1957 Dr Moffatt conducted his final service at this location, the
growing congregation having purchased the former St. George's Anglican Church
building (built in 1905) at 801 Tenth Street (corner of Tenth Street and
College Avenue). Dr Moffatt conducted his first service in this new location,
renamed Emmanuel Church, on 10 February 1957. Clergy at this time: The Rev'd
Dr Charles K.S.S. Moffatt - pastor; Mrs. Myrtle M.E. Moffatt - deaconess and
church organist; Mr. R.J. Halsey - deacon, choirmaster, and Sunday School
superintendent; and Mr. Monte Schappart - deacon and youth ministry leader. Around 1955 Dr Moffatt discovered the Free Protestant
Episcopal Church and its St. Andrew's Correspondence College (Tottenham) Ltd.
of London, England. He took several of its theological courses and graduated
in 1957 becoming a Fellow of this school. On 2 June of that year, another one
of this school's graduates, Dr Emmett Neil Enochs of Los Angeles, California,
USA, was consecrated in St. Andrew's Collegiate Church, Tottenham, London, by
the Rt. Rev'd Charles Dennis Boltwood, Rector of the College and then
Coadjutor bishop to the Primus of the FPEC, the Most Rev'd William Hall, as
Missionary Bishop for Los Angeles. Upon his return to the USA, Bishop Enochs
contacted the other North American Fellows of the College and asked them to
support him in inviting Dr Boltwood to come to the USA to found branches of
the FPEC in both the USA and Canada. With Primus Hall's blessing, Dr Boltwood
spent between 16 August and 24 September 1958 in the USA where met various
St. Andrew's Fellows and preached in many churches. Dr Moffatt was
consecrated to the episcopal bench of this church body on 24 August 1958 by
Dr Boltwood assisted by Dr Enochs in the Church of St. Joseph of Arimathea,
Los Angeles, California, USA, as FPEC Bishop of Manitoba. On 7 October 1962
Dr Moffatt was raised by Dr Boltwood, who by then had become Primus of the
Church, as "Metropolitan Archbishop of Canada and the Northwest
Territories" for the Free Protestant Episcopal Church. (It should be
noted here that the title "archbishop" in proper Anglican usage is
never for the head of a jurisdiction. It is for the senior bishop of an
organised ecclesiastical province in which there are at least two diocesan
bishops; the archbishop may serve as one of the diocesan bishops in his
province.) Besides his church interest, +Moffatt was active in four
organisations: the Orange Lodge, the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, the
International Order of St. Luke the Physician, and the Kiwanis. In the Orange Lodge, he was Deputy Grand Chaplain of
British America, Past Grand Master of the Royal Black Knights of Canada, Past
Imperial Grand Master of the British Commonwealth, and was a member of the
Board of Directors of the Orange Benevolent Society of Saskatchewan (which
operates the Orange Children's Home in Indian Head, Saskatchewan) from the
spring of 1981 until his death. At the time of his death, + Moffatt was
Chaplain of the Right Worshipful Grand Orange Lodge of Manitoba. In his work with the Most Venerable Order of St. John of
Jerusalem - Priory of Canada, +Moffatt was the chairman of the Brandon Branch
of St. John Ambulance from 1979 until his death, and served on the executive
of the provincial council. In 1981 he was made an Officer Brother in the
Order. In 1989, on behalf of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, he was presented
with the honour of becoming Chaplain to this Order. For many years, Dr Moffatt served as the Brandon
chaplain for the International Order of St. Luke the Physician. In Kiwanis, of which he was involved with for over thiry
years, he was past president of the Kiwansis Club of Brandon; a past
Lieutenant-Governor of Division Three, in which capacity he served two terms;
and a Past Governor of the Western Canada District of Kiwanis International
during 1980 to 1981. By 1975, internal difficulties resulted in the closure
of Emmanuel Church at its Tenth Street location and the lost of most of the
congregation. Part of the reason was that Bishop Moffatt tried to maintain a
mixed Anglican-Pentecostal form of worship which over time made some of his
flock join the Anglican Church of Canada or pentecostal-type churches. For
the remainder of his life, Dr Moffatt rented out the premises for what was
left of Emmanuel Church at 47 - Seventh Street North, Brandon. It was at this
time that he incorporated his work in Western Canada as The Free Protestant
Episcopal Church (1975) Inc. under The Corporations Act of the Province of
Manitoba on 28 November 1975. After his death the church collapsed, leaving
his mission stations of Calgary in Alberta, Regina in Saskatchewan, and
Brandon and Winnipeg in Manitoba without their visiting pastor and they
disappeared. The corporation was dissolved on 15 March 1991. Members of the
Board of Directors during this time were as follows: The Most Rev'd Dr
Charles Kennedy Samuel Stewart Moffatt, DD [president] 1975 to 1989; Mrs.
Myrtle Mary Evelyn Moffatt [sec/treas] 1975 to 1986; Dr Philip H. Wiebe, MA,
PhD 1975 to 1979; Mrs. Shirley Wiebe 1975 to 1979; Mr. Alex Kostiew 1975 to
1991; Mrs. Pauline Kostiew 1975 to 1991; Mr. Ralph Crichton Redden 1979 to
1989; Mrs. Vivian Olive Redden 1979 to 1991 [president from 1989 to 1991];
Mr. William M. Ryan 1979 to 1991; and Mr. Brian John Nelson [sec/treas] 1986
to 1991. +Moffatt assisted at several consecrations of bishops
for the FPEC in North America during his lifetime. In addition, on 9
September 1984 he officiated in the consecration as chief consecrator of the
Right Reverend Wilbur W. Lyle (8 October 1907 to 25 March 2000), as Bishop
for the Diocese of British Columbia in the Reformed Episcopal Church of
Canada. This consecration service occured in St. Paul's Reformed Episcopal
Church, 628 Royal Avenue, New Westminister, British Columbia. Part of the
Episcopal Orders of the FPEC are derived from the REC and as both
jurisdictions are in the Anglican tradition, Dr Moffatt's involvement was
deemed appropriate. The FPEC episcopal succession continues on in the
Reformed Episcopal Church of Canada with +Lyle's participation in the
consecration of the Rt. Rev'd Dr Michael Fedechko on 29 August 1993 as REC
Bishop of Eastern Canada and in the consecration of his two immediate
successors as REC Bishops of Western Canada: the Rt. Rev'd Edward A.
"Ted" Follows on 12 September 1993, and that of the present
diocesan bishop, the Rt. Rev'd Charles William Dorrington on 23 June 1996.
After the death on 30 April 1982 of the Most Rev'd Albert J. Fuge Sr.,
Archbishop of the FPEC in the USA and International Primus, Dr Moffatt
succeeded to the office of International Primus on 7 July of that year which
he held until his death. During his years as an pentecostal minister and even
after his consecration as a bishop in the FPEC, Dr Moffatt ordained many men
as ministers for non-episcopal evangelical church groups. On 16 September
1984 he ordained to the priesthood the Rev'd DeForrest Wakefield Fletcher,
assisted by the Rev'd John D. Kelher, rector of Old St. Peter's Episcopal
Church, Tacoma, Washington State, USA, and by the Rev'd Jack M. Terry,
minister of First Presbyterian Church in Puyallup, Washington State. Old St.
Peter's was an old Anglican parish founded in 1873 that had left the
Episcopal Diocese of Olympia of the PECUSA and had gone independent. The
Rev'd Mr. Fletcher then became associate priest at Old St. Peter's until he
succeeded the Rev'd Mr. Kelher as the rector in 1996. Dr Moffatt never
demanded that Old St. Peter's become part of the FPEC and it remained
independent until 1992 when it joined the traditional Anglican jurisdiction
known as the Episcopal Missionary Church. So far research has found that he
only ordained one person for the FPEC in Western Canada. On 15 August 1961 he
ordained as a presbyter, the Rev'd Arthur Talfourd Foulger-Edington, B.D.,
M.A., M.Th., Litt.D. (1915 - 1970). The Rev'd Dr Foulger-Edington had been a
minister in a non-episcopal church until he joined the Free Protestant
Episcopal Church. Dr Foulger-Edington maintained an oratory for the FPEC in
his home in New Westminister, British Columbia, until his death on 4 January
1970. The Synod of the FPEC in Canada in 1986: Most Rev'd
C.K.S. Moffat, DD (Primus of the World Church); Most Rev'd B.C. Eckardt, LLD,
DD (Metropolitan Archbishop for the Dominion of Canada and Northern
Territories); Rev'd Canon E.B. George, PhD, LittD, ThD (Chancellor); Venble
L. Stotesbury Leeson, DD (Archdeacon & Chaplain to the Metropolitan); and
Rev'd Eric C. Naylor, DD. +Moffat died on 7 November 1989 at the Brandon General
Hospital. His funeral was held at the Central United Church in Brandon. He
was predeceased by his wife Myrtle on 25 December 1986, and by his son-in-law
Ralph C. Redden in August of 1989. He was survived by his daughter Mrs.
Vivian O. Redden, four grandsons and their wives, and six
great-grandchildren. DARREL D HOCKLEY While he was a lay cleric in an Old Catholic body,
Bishop Hockley received ordination to the three-fold Holy Orders of deacon,
presbyter, and bishop on 8 August 1998 by Bishop Ian Phillips of Fargo, North
Dakota, USA. The Old Catholic bodies that Bishop Hockley associated with did
not accept these ordinations as valid, and he continued on in the status of
lay cleric. On 2 May 2001, Bishop Hockley received a letter, dated 24 April
2001, from Archbishop Joseph L. Vredenburgh of the Federation of St. Thomas
Christians confirming his validly as a bishop in his line of episcopal
succession. Apostolic Succession Joseph Rene Vilatte (1854 to 1929), who assisted by
Bishop Paolo Miraglia Gulotti, consecrated on 29 December 1915 in St. David's
Church, 536 E. 36th Street, Chicago, Illinois, USA (+Lloyd's home church) Frederick Ebenezer John Lloyd (1859 to 1933) who
consecrated on 1 July 1923 in St. David's Church, 536 E. 36th Street,
Chicago, Illinois, USA (+Lloyd's home church) Samuel Gregory Lines (1847 to 1940), who assisted by
Bishops William Albert Nichols and George S. A. Brookes, consecrated on 20
December 1933 in St. Illuminator's Armenian Apostolic Cathedral, 221 East
27th Street, New York City, New York State, USA Howard Ellsworth Mather (1896 to 1964), who assisted by
Bishop Cyrus Augustine Starkey, consecrated on 26 August 1963 in the Order of
Antioch Chapel, Middletown, New York State, USA (+Mather's home chapel) JOSEPH LAVERNE VREDENBURGH (b. 1933), who assisted by
Bishops George Michael Zaharakis and James Abdul Mikhaelovitch Dennis,
consecrated on 19 June 1983 in the Priory of St. Thomas of India, 1546 Hayes
Street, San Francisco, California, USA (+Zaharakis' home church) morris ludwick (1909 to 1983) who consecrated on 2 July
1983 in the Chapel of Light in Hines, Oregon, USA (+Ludwick's home chapel) Ian H. Phillips (1933 to 2002) who consecrated on 8
August 1998 in St. Matthias The Apostle Mission Chapel, Suite 9 - 2174
McIntyre Street, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada (+Hockley's home chapel) Darrel D. Hockley (b.1956) EDWIN DUANE FOLLICK (b. 1935) Primus Emeritus : 04 Feb 2015 Woodland Hills, CA Ordained priest of the FPEC on 15 July 1958 by Bishop
Emmet Neil Enochs. Apostolic Succession Alfred Spencer Richardson (1842 to 1907) consecrated on
11 April 1888 in +Richardson's church in London, probably Christ Church,
Carlton Hill James Martin (1843 to 1919) who assisted in the
consecration on 2 November 1897 at St. Stephen's Church, Shrewsburg Road,
East Ham, London of Andrew Charles Albert McLaglen (1851 to 1928) who
consecrated on 4 June 1922 at St. Andrew's Mission Church, Retreat Place,
London Herbert James Monzani-Heard (1866 to 1947) who
consecrated on 18 May 1939 at St. Andrew's Church, later renamed as St.
Andrew's Collegiate Church in 1954, Stonebridge Road, Tottenham, London, N.15 William Hall (1890 to 1959) who consecrated on 6 April
1952 at St. Andrew's Church, later renamed as St. Andrew's Collegiate Church
in 1954, Stonebridge Road, Tottenham, London, N.15 Charles Dennis Boltwood (1889 to 1985) who consecrated
on 28 August 1968 at his home chapel at 1 Aldborough Road, St.
Leonards-On-Sea, Sussex Edwin Duane Follick (b. 1935) ERNEST ALBERT ASQUITH (1884 - 1942) PhD, FPEC Archdeacon 26 Speldhurst Road, London FRANCIS GEORGE WIDDOWS (1850 - 1936) "Ignatius", Bishop of Hackney Bishop Widdows was a former Roman Catholic Franciscan
monk. In 1886 he had become a non-conformist minister at the
Church of Martin Luther, at 26 Speldhurst Road, South Hackney. In 1909 this
church became affiliated with the FPEC. +Widdows had a chequered history of being in prison on
morals charges (he was a known homosexual in an age when it was illegal in
the UK to be so) and on the other hand ministering for many years to his
extremely loyal congregation. Widdows was the nominal rector of the Church of Martin
Luther. In July 1916 he was serving a gaol sentence on morals charges and the
Rev'd Mr. Asquith was rector in his place during this time. Primus McLaglen apparently had second thoughts about him
being his successor as head of the FPEC and within the year had him removed
from that succession and had any mention of +Widdows stricken from the
official records of the Church. There is some dispute that +Widdows was ever
consecrated, but the oral tradition amongst later FPEC bishops plus the
writings of other historians state that it was so. HARRY KENNETH MEANS (27 Nov 1919 - 19 Apr 2004) was an former Universalist minister who was the leader
of a group of 14 parishes in the Christian Universalist Church of America.
From March to October of 1964 he and his wife Rita went to Europe on church
business and to research on church history in the British Museum Reading
Rooms and at Ashmolean in Oxford. On 16 August of that year he was
consecrated in St. Andrew's Collegiate Church by +Boltwood, assisted by FPEC
bishop Dr Francis Thomas, and Old Catholic bishop Albert Dunstan Bell of the
USA. Courtesy of friends in the North American College at Rome, Italy, Dr
Means was able, by virtue of his FPEC episcopal standing, to have open access
to the Vatican Library. HERBERT JAMES MONZANI HEARD (1866 - 15th August, 1947) Headmaster of Raleigh College in Brixton, South London. He retired from his teaching profession in April 1930. He retired as the Primus of the FPEC on 18 May 1939. HORST KARL FRIEDRICH BLOCK (23rd October 1936 - 12th February, 2008) Missionary FPEC bishop in Germany and France Block was born in Ruppertsgrün, Bavaria - Germany on 23
October 1936. From 1655 to 1917 his family was living in Russia. The
ancestors from his fathers side came from Mecklembourg-Schwerin. After the
Reformation they became Lutheran. In 1796, Paul Ier granted Johann von Block ( Iwan Block
) letters of patent of Russian nobility. Doctor of Philosophy (1967). Doctoral Thesis: "Creative Philosophy" The
Independent Persistence of Thought. Dr Horst Block was admitted in to the Holy Order of
Deacon in March 1968. He was ordained a Priest in December 1968 in the City
of Christ ,now Monrovia / Liberia. Consecrated Titular Bishop of Edessa and Melitene
(Malatia) in 1971 in London, UK by Bishop Primus Charles Dennis Boltwood. Consecrated Bishop for the Diocese of West Africa and
parts adjacent in Europe, particularly Germany on Palm Sunday 26th March 1972
by the Bishop Primus Charles Dennis Boltwood. Consecrated: Archbishop Emmanuel Samuel Yekorogha, D.D.,LL.D,
Liberia. Witnesses and Co-consecrators: Bishop Roland J. Payne, D.D. Lutheran Church, Liberia. Bishop David M. Fyneah,D.D. African Methodist Church,
Liberia. Bishop Francis Thomas, Free Protestant Episcopal Church,
London, GB. Bishop Wilbur Kunkel, Pillar of Fire, Oakland, USA,
Missonary Bishop to Liberi.a Dr Rochefort L. Weeks , Rector of the University of
Liberia, West-África. Rev. Dr Hoff , Theological Seminary - FPEC University of
Liberia, West-África. After my consecration as Diocesan Bishop, Free
Protestant Episcopal Church-Liberia, I began to work exclusively for the
interest of the church in Liberia. October 1972, I had to leave Liberia as
"Persona non grata". Therefore my accreditation at the University
of Liberia was only from 1965 - 1972 by the Ministry of Education, Liberia. Tolbert could not escape from the rivalry among Liberias
leading families. The Tolbert-family being one of the largest in the country,
he soon appointed relatives in important public positions. I could not agree
to it. In the mid-1970s several Cabinet members belonged to the Tolbert-clan
among whom the Minister of Finance, his brother Steven Tolbert. Another
brother was President Pro-Tempore of the Senate, the Major of Monrovia was a
cousin etc. William R. Tolbert, Jr., an ordained Baptist pastor and
former President of the Baptist World Alliance, was President Tubmans modest
(invisible) Vice-President for nearly 20 years. He succeeded President Tubman
(1944 -1971) on July 23, 1971 after he had died in a London clinic. This was
the end to a good time with presidente W.V.S.Tubman. Its certainly not a bad idea to strive for the perfect
world, as long as you keep in mind that, while your objective most likely
wont be obtained, you will be able to make some things better. Amen. JAMES MARTIN (4 April 1843 - 29 October 1919) Born in Inkberrow, Worcester, England, the son of Samuel
and Diana (nee White) Martin. He was baptised in the Inkberrow parish church
on 30 April 1843 where the clerk made the error of recording his mother's
Christian name as "Hannah" instead of "Diana" - the two
names sound similiar in speech. Both of James' parents died in Droitwich,
Worcestershire - mother Diana in 1855 at the age 43 and father Samuel in 1868
at the age of 63. Apparently as a young man he travelled to the USA where
he attended university. The following appeared in the Brixton Times, 13th
February 1896: "The Rev. James Martin, of Brixton, who for twenty-five
years has been widely known throughout England, Ireland, Wales and the United
States of America under the title of Antipas, F.D., has received an official
intimation from New York that he has been admitted by the Examiners of his
University to the rank and status of Doctor of Divinity and Doctor of Laws,
in recognition of his erudition as a Theological Author. This honour has been
conferred during the jubilee year of Antipas, F.D." This jubilee year,
referring back to the year 1871, probably is referring to his graduation from
this un-named university. James apparently had a first marriage because at
the time he married Eliza Jane Boundy in 1871 his condition was stated as
Widower. The nom de plume, "Antipas, F.D.", came from
an early Christian matryr, St. Antipas of Asia Minor. This saint was known as
being a "Faithful Disciple / Defender" of the Word and was held in
high regard for his life by the Protestant Reformers from the sixteenth
century onward. Martin was searching to be part of a true Bible based
form of Christianity and was undoubtedly influenced by his studies. By 1871
he was back in Britain. He came into contact with the newly formed Nazarene
Fellowship, an 1873 split off from the Christadelphians. He joined the local
Swansea congregation, becoming a "ring-leader" of it as he referred
to himself. The name the new group took, "Nazarene", was the way to
point out they were trying to be like the original Christians. They too, have
a special devotion to St. Antipas as the example of those who are faithful in
opposition to all pretenders to Christianity; hence sometimes they were
called "The Antipas". The Nazarene Fellowship is organised into
independent congregations, officially known as ecclesias, therefore sometimes
the Fellowship is known as the Nazarene Ecclesia. James and his wife, Eliza Jane (nee Boundy), lived in
Mount Pleasant, Swansea until about 1878. Mrs. Martin was b. in Benton,
Louisiana, USA on 27 March 1851, daughter of Thomas Boundy Sr, a general
merchant and his wife Mary Ann (nee Webb) Boundy. The parents were married in
1839 in their birthplace of St. Agnes, Cornwall, and at some point moved to
America. Shortly after the birth of her brother Thomas Boundy Jr. on 26
February 1853 in Benton, the entire family moved to Ulverston, Lancashire,
England, where the Boundy children were all baptised on the same day of 13
September 1853. James and Eliza Jane were married on 19 January 1871 in the
Register Office in the District of Hereford by license. At the time of this
marriage, James was residing at All Saints, Hereford and Eliza J. lived at
Saint Mary's, Swansea with her parents. On 27 October 1876 their oldest
child, Antipas James Martin, was b.. At this time, James Martin's occupation
was listed as "Lecturer". In about 1878 the Martin family moved to
a large house at 59 Flaxman Road, Lambeth, Surrey, England where James
continued on in his studies and writing and became a congregational leader
amongst the London Nazarenes. In 1878 daughter May Lily Martin was b. and in
1880 daughter Ruth Christable Martin was b.. In the 1881 Census his
occupation is stated as being "Author". About 1887 Martin moved to
another large house at 81 Flaxman Road. About the same time the Nazarenes
established a formal church location, The Nazarene Tabernacle, in Kent House
Road, Sydenham, London SE26. Martin's income came from his lectures, by
having boarders at his various residences, and by his secular business
"J. Martin & Co., Printers, Engravers, And Publishers, 30 & 32
Ludgate Hill, E.C. London". The Nazarene Fellowship did not have a formal clergy as
most other denominations; each congregation picked its own bishops and
deacons on a basis like that of an ordinary society. Martin's group wished to
have more structure therefore, on 11 April 1888 (feast day of St. Antipas)
Martin received consecration as a bishop in the historic Anglican Episcopal
Succession at the hands of the Rt. Rev'd Alfred Spencer Richardson (1842 -
1907), the Primus of the Reformed Episcopal Church of the United Kingdom.
Martin made the acquaintance of Dr Richardson while undertaking research for
his booklet 'The Faiths of London', being a narrative of the sects and
denominations of that metropolis. Bishop Martin then began calling his church
organisation by the name of The Nazarene Episcopal Ecclesia. The Nazarene
College was founded in 1890, with the Martin home listed as its address, by
Dr Martin as his group's theological school. As late as 1885 Martin and his London congregation of
Nazarenes followed the beliefs of the sect which can be read at Nazarene
Fellowship Beliefs. At the time of his consecration as a bishop, Martin and
his church moved towards a more "mainstream" view of Christian
doctrine and belief especially as the Book of Common Prayer (REC version) was
henceforth used as the standard of worship in the new Nazarene Episcopal
Ecclesia. However, Dr Martin continued in his teaching that the immortality
of the soul was a pagan heresy and that the dead would sleep in their graves
and be resurrected to either everlasting life or to everlasting death. The
righteous would live and reign on Earth with Jesus Christ as King forever
under God the Father and the unrepentant evil people would be destroyed
totally by being cast into the Lake of Fire and exist no more. Heaven and
Earth would be recreated as one with Jerusalem as the capital of the
refurnished universe. Bishop Martin firmly believed that these beliefs were
allowed by the Church of England in her doctrine and he stated that he knew
Anglican clerics who privately believed the same. Both Bishop Chechemian and Bishop Stevens made the
acquaintance ,through Dr Richardson, of Dr Martin. Drs. Martin and Chechemian
became good friends and Dr Martin went to visit Dr Chechemian in Dublin,
Ireland shortly before Dr Chechemian received his license from Archbishop
Plunket of the Church of Ireland to officiate as a presbyter in that Church.
On 2 November 1890 in his home at 18 Hume Street, Dublin, Bishop Chechemian
sub conditione consecrated Bishop Martin into the episcopal lineage of the
Ancient British Church and the Order of Corporate Reunion which Dr Chechemian
possessed. According to Brandreth's Episcopi Vagantes and the
Anglican Church, 1947, page 52, at this consecration Dr Chechemian made Dr
Martin the new Archbishop (of Caerleon-upon-Usk) and Patriarch of the Free
Protestant Church of England. This would make sense as +Chechemian's patron,
Archbishop Lord Plunket of the Church of Ireland would probably frown on his
being head of an English based protestant church that would be in theory in
competition with Anglicans. On 25 July 1916 Dr Martin consecrated Benjamin Charles
Harris as FPEC Bishop of Essex and Ernest Mumby as FPEC Bishop of
Caer-Leirion. As Chancellor of the Nazarene College, he granted both new
bishops doctor of divinity degrees. Benjamin Charles Harris was born in 1884
in Essex, England. On 25 July 1915 he was ordained a presbyter, as was also
William Hall, by Dr Martin exactly a year before being raised to the
episcopate. Dr Harris throughout his ministrial career served as a minister
for various non-conformist churches. From 1927 to 1929 he was the pastor for
Romford Evangelical Free Church in Romford, Essex. In 1929 he left Essex for
Hertfordshire when he became minister for New Barnet Baptist Church. He later
became the non-conformist chaplain to the Mental Hospital in Abbots Langley,
Herts., in which town he died on 9 November 1946. Bishop Mumby worked in the
hotel industry for many years and appears not to have exercised much of a
ministry. He died on 12 September 1939 in Blackpool, Lanc., at the age of 53
years. Dr Martin died on 29 October 1919 at the home of his
youngest daughter, Mrs. Ruth C. Clark, 199 Maple Road, Penge, Kent. For some
nine days before his death, he had been suffering with broncho-pneumonia. He
had been predeceased by his son Antipas James Martin on 30 January 1908 in
Sydenham, London. A.J. Martin had been suffering with tuberculosis at the
time of his death. His occupation was that of master cycle maker. Daughter
Ruth had married Arthur Walter Clark of Penge, Kent on 19 August 1908 in All
Saints Church of England, Sydenham; witnesses were Eliza Jane and James
Martin. The officiating priest was Fr Farnham Edward Maynard (1882 - 1973),
who in 1910 moved to Australia and became a noted Anglo Catholic cleric in
the Australian Anglican Church and an advocate of socialism. Mrs. Eliza Jane
Martin died at the age of 71 years on 22 May 1922 at the home of her daughter
Ruth in Penge. She had been suffering with chronic inflammation of the liver
for some eighteen months at the time of her death. Ruth C Clark died on 21
November 1943; her husband Arthur W Clark died on 15 June 1964. May L Martin
never married and she died in Bromley, Kent during the summer of 1956. Ruth
and Arthur had at least two sons: Eric Arthur Antipas Martin Clark (1909 - 1982)
and John Douglas Gordon Clark (1912 - 1977). Nazarene Episcopal Ecclesia c/o 11 - 2174 McIntyre Street, Regina, SK S4P 2R7 Canada LEON CHECHEMIAN (1848 - 3rd December, 1920) Leon Chechemian, the son of Jacob and Rose Chechemian
(neé Gruchian) was born at Malatia (the ancient Melitene) as a subject of the
Ottoman Empire. Although originally a member of the Armenian Apostolic
Church, at the age of thirteen he met Dr Leon (Ghevont) Chorchorunian (1822 -
1897), who had not long been ordained Armenian Catholic bishop of that city.
Under his influence the family transferred its allegiance to the Armenian
Catholic Church, a grouping within the Roman Catholic Church (Uniate) and,
according to his own account, the young Leon travelled via Aintab and Aleppo
to Iskenderun where he took the steamer to Beirut, crossed the Lebanon
Mountains to meet the Patriarch. Presumably this was the celebrated Antony
Hassun, who had served as spiritual leader of the community from 1845 - 48
but did not resume his office for a second term as Patriarch until 1866 -
1880. Although styled Patriarch of Cilicia, the church headquarters were at
Bzommar near Beirut at that date, but moved to Constantinople from 1867 -
1928. Chechemian was ordained to "the four degrees of
subdeacon" on 20 November 1866; on the following day he was advanced to
"the degree of high deacon" and on 27 November 1866 was
"anointed priest" in Behesni at the hands of Archbishop
Chorchorunian with the permission of Archbishop Nazarin and also the newly
elected Patriarch Antonius Peter IX. He served as priest at Besui 1866-68,
Aintab 1868,Gurum 1868-77, Malatia 1868 - 77 & 1878 - 81 before serving
in Constantinople 1881 - 85 when he left the Armenian Catholic Church. Chechemian's claim to episcopal status does not appear
until later. In 1901 he merely refers to himself as having "received
from the Archbishop of Malatieh, Armenia, the degree of "Very Honourable
Doctor". According to his seal, adopted after 1898, Chechemian was
"consecrated a Bishop at Malatia, Asia Minor, 1878" and his own
account was that on 23 April 1878 he was consecrated as Bishop of Malatia in
the great Cathedral of Malatia by Archbishop Chorchorunian , receiving the
titles "Most Honourable Lord Doctor and Very Reverend." As further
evidence of his status Chechemian quotes from Medgemovie Havidis, a daily
paper published in Constantinople. In its issue of 28 December 1881 it
reports, "The Most Honourable Lord Doctor Leon Chechemian,
who was ordained to the most honourable degree of Doctor by the Right
Reverend Chorchorunian, most Illustrious Archbishop, and who was for a long
time in Malatia, on his arrival at this time in Constantinople, directly went
to St. Jean Chrysostom Church, and there with his brethren in the priesthood
holding Communion unanimously yesterday in the same church, celebrated High
Mass in the presence of crowds of people, which was heard joyfully. May the
Almighty God again, with such help, make the nation glad and bring down men
of evil thoughts." Although adduced as evidence of his episcopal status,
the press report provides no conclusive evidence but rather supports the
opinion that what Chechemian received from Chorchorunian was not the
episcopate but one of the ranks of Wartabyd, vardapet. It was not uncommon
for a diocese to be administered by a vardapet in the absence of a bishop and
he was accorded quasi-episcopal insignia but not the episcopal status
necessary to ordain. In his book, An Eastern Steps from Darkness to Light
(1890) Chechemian had spoken of being "Equal to the bishop in all
things, save the power of ordaining priests." "This was his Oriental way of translating a
stipulation, made at the time of his consecration, that he should not confer
Holy Orders during the life of Archbishop Chorchorunian except with special
permission. In other words, he was Episcopus in partibus infidelium, a bishop
without regular jurisdiction consecrated to assist another bishop, now
commonly called a Titular or Missionary Bishop." In Armenian the word 'Arachnort', referring to a
diocesan prelate or primate, is a title given to the overseer of a given
diocese. There are many cases in the Armenian Church where the arachnorts
(primates) were vardepets and not necessarily bishops. A vardapet arachnort
had all the powers and authority of a diocesan bishop, except the right to
ordain priests. A vardapet who was arachnort had the right to confer only
minor orders. It is possible, therefore, that Chechemian was the Arachnort of
Malatia which means that he was the primate of that community and this
translated rather into his claim to be Bishop of Malatia. Between 1881-5, Leon Chechemian served in Constantinople
and during this time he converted to Protestantism and resolved to emigrate
to England. In order to survive he at first found work as a common labourer
and studied at New College, a Presbyterian seminary. By 1889 his command of
English was such that he obtained employment in Belfast, Ireland through the
Presbyterian Church and became a noted lecturer and preacher in the
Protestant churches in that city. He arrived in England in 1885 and, like many penniless
exiles, at first earned a living by menial jobs: as a stablehand and a
sandwichman. He appears to have made his first ecclesiastical contacts with
Anglicans as he quoted a letter from Dr Frederick Temple, Bishop of London,
dated 4 June 1886 stating that as he had not invited him to London, he could
not be expected to maintain him. The Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr Edward
White Benson) was able to offer little practical support. Chechemian was to
complain bitterly of the "cruel" way in which they had treated him,
observing that "God made their hearts harder than stones."
Chechemian subsequently found a warmer reception among Scottish
Presbyterians, notably with the Rev'd J.G. Cunningham of St. Luke's Free
Church, Edinburgh. They made their own enquiries about his background as we
hear that Cunningham "sent out Dr Chechemian's Letters of Orders (which
are in Armenian language) to a friend of his in Constantinople, who made
local enquiries and found that they were correct as stated. The letters were
returned and are now in possession of Dr Chechemian." In reporting this,
Henry William Stewart, Rector & Rural Dean of Knockbreda, in the Church
of Ireland, Diocese of Down, affirmed "I have seen the document and the
seal but of course cannot read them." In 1889 Chechemian is reported to
have been preaching in the Presbyterian Churches of Belfast, notably Berry
Street Church and St. Enochs Church, Belfast and it was noted that "He enjoys
the confidence of and is warmly recommended by the most eminent men in the
Presbyterian Church of Scotland." In order to bring his fellow British Armenian refugees
into a non-papal church, Dr Chechemian established the United Armenian
Catholic Church in the British Isles on 15 August 1889. He established The
Free Protestant Church Of England in the British Isles in 1890 as a common
meeting place for all types of Protestant christians - Anglicans, Baptists,
Presbyterians, Methodists, etc. Dr Chechemian came to the attention of the Most Rev'd
and the Rt. Hon. Dr William C. Plunket (1828 - 1897), the fourth Baron
Plunket, Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of the Church of Ireland.
Archbishop Plunket hated the creeping Anglo-Catholicism within the Anglican
Communion which he viewed as an trojan horse for Papal re-establishment over
the Church of England. He dreamt as a counter measure of establishing
Reformed Episcopal churches in spheres of Roman Catholic influence. He saw Dr
Chechemian's idea of the United Armenian Catholic Church as part of the above
plan and endorsed it by giving Dr Chechemian a license to officiate as an
clergyman within the Church of Ireland. It was Lord Plunket's hope that
eventually this church would be established within the Armenian homeland as
an replacement for the Armenian Uniate Church. In 1894 he was able to help
establish the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church by consecrating its founder,
a former Roman Catholic priest, the Rev'd Juan Bautista Cabrera (1837 -
1916), as its first bishop. Unfortunately, on 1 April 1897 Lord Plunket died
before he could help Dr Chechemian expand the United Armenian Catholic Church
back to Turkey. On 4th May 1890, in order to remove any doubts as to his
episcopal status, he received consecration from Bishops Charles Isaac Stevens
and Alfred Spencer Richardson. In 1890 he was still preaching and lecturing in Belfast
as Stewart noted, "He can now speak English fairly well and he hopes
to become a naturalized English subject before he goes back to the
East." It was at this time that he was taken up by Archbishop
Plunket, Anglican Archbishop of Dublin, as Stewart notes that Chechemian was
still in Belfast on 5 September 1890 and had visited the Archbishop. Stewart
had a high opinion of him, "I believe him to be a sincere man and to be a man
capable of exercising a powerful influence over others ... It is no doubt an
ambitious undertaking, but he is evidently a man of great energy and
perseverance." Archbishop Plunket dreamt of weakening the power of the
Church of Rome by promoting Reformed Episcopal churches among indigenous
Christians outside the immediate sphere of influence of Anglicanism. He took
as his basis the decision of the 1878 Lambeth Conference to make a "solemn protest against usurpations of the See of
Rome" and an undertaking that "All sympathy is due from the Anglican communion to
the churches and individuals protesting against these errors and labouring it
may be under special difficulties from the assaults of unbelief as well as
from the pretensions of Rome." He received Chechemian into the Church of Ireland and on
4 November 1890 granted him a General Licence in his own diocese of Dublin.
Another license, issued from Dublin on 25 May 1891, gives a much fuller
picture of Archbishop Plunket's scheme. He was clearly satisfied with
Chechemian's adherence to the Reformed doctrines, "You have duly signified to us in writing your
hearty assent to the Doctrine of the Church of Ireland and of the other
churches of the Anglican communion and your intention to teach nothing
contrary to the same and have moreover stated that whatever public services
you may be called upon to hold will be ordered so far as circumstances will
permit after the model of the Books of Common Prayer used by the churches of
the said communion." Chechemian had obviously suggested that where he has
trodden, others will follow, as Plunket observes that, "A large number of your fellow countrymen together
with yourself have renounced your allegiance to the Church of Rome and have
entreated you to visit your native country and to minister amongst them in
the exercise of your office as a priest in the Church of God." It is clear that Plunket saw himself as giving
provisional episcopal oversight to what he hoped would be a future
self-governing independent anglican or episcopal community: "You in accordance with what you consider the usage
of the Primitive Church desire to exercise your priestly office under due
episcopal sanction and supervision pending the more complete organisation of
those among whom you propose to labour and until such time as you may obtain
legitimate source have appealed to us for whatever help in the above
mentioned direction it may be in our power to bestow" and went on to
"provisionally" authorise you to exercise your office of priest in
the Old Catholic Armenian community wherein you have been requested to
minister and we do hereby offer to you such provisional episcopal oversight
as you may require in the exercise of that office." In addition Plunket provided Chechemian with a formal
Testimonial, which the latter had printed and widely circulated. This
expanded the points covered in the Archbishops licence: "He is not undertaking this duty for the purpose of
winning our adherents to the Anglican Communion, or to any branch of that
body. He is merely responding to a call from some among his own people, who,
in obedience to their own religious convictions, and in the exercise of their
own religious liberty, have spontaneously sought for his ministry. As to what
may become necessary in the way of future Church organisation, he does not
seem, so far as I can judge, to have formed as yet any definite resolve. His
present desire is simply to preach the Gospel, leaving the result in Gods
hand, and awaiting the indication of his will. Meanwhile, however, should any designation of his
present position be called for, he would, I believe, prefer that he and those
who have sought his ministry, should be regarded as ARMENIAN OLD CATHOLICS in
other words, as a body of reformers who (in common with those bearing the
same title in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Spain and Portugal)
repudiate the dangerous innovations and intrusive claims of the Church of
Rome, but who, nevertheless, hold fast to what they consider old, and true,
and scriptural, in the teaching and practice of the early Church of Christ. As regards the Native Armenian Church, the attitude of
Dr Chechemian is somewhat different, and may, I think be described as
follows: Admitting, as he does, that the charge of monophysite
heresy brought against that church has been unduly magnified, he yet deplores
the many erroneous doctrines and superstitious usages, such as the veneration
of ikons, the invocation of saints, and the cultus of the Blessed Virgin which
unfortunately prevail within it at the present time. On the other hand, he remembers that the Armenian Church
has never so yielded to Papal usurpation, or so committed itself to any
irrevocable formulation of error as to preclude a return to primitive purity
and truth. He recognises, moreover, the indubitable claims which, but for the
present degenerate conditions, it would have, as a National Church, on the
allegiance of the people of the land. While, therefore, he cannot but sympathize with those among
its members who are compelled to seek elsewhere for the spiritual food which
the Armenian Church, as at present circumstanced, so lamentably fails to
supply, he would most gladly welcome, and as far as possible encourage, any
movement tending to internal reform whereby the many and diverse religious
bodies throughout Armenia, which now stand aloof from that Church and from
one another, might yet be presented with a safe and permanent basis of
reunion within its ancient fold." It appears doubtful that Chechemian ever returned home
to put these ideas to the test. In the 1890's hundreds of thousands of
Armenians died in pogroms ordered by Sultan Abdul Hamid II. The outbreak of
renewed serious persecution of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, which began with
the Sassoun Uprising of 1894, would have been a strong deterrent. In the
meantime, however, Archbishop Plunket was able to put his aspirations into
practice when in September 1894 he consecrated Seņor Cabrera as first bishop
of a Reformed Church in Spain. Between 23 June 1896 and 4 January 1901 Chechemian was
living in London and from there moved to Edinburgh. It was at this time that
he came into contact with a number of bishops of independent jurisdictions
and it was through these contacts that he probably resolved to follow through
Plunket's vision by establishing his own church. One of these was Alfred
Spencer Richardson, who had been consecrated bishop of the Reformed Episcopal
Church at Philadelphia in 1879. This Church is sometimes referred to as The
Cummins Schism after its founder, George David Cummins (1822 - 1876),
Assistant Bishop of Kentucky, who separated from the Episcopal Church in
America "on the old evangelical basis, now and ever to keep this Church
upon the platform of the Reformation." Another contact was Mar
Theophilus (Stevens), Patriarch of the Ancient British Church, which traced
its apostolic succession to the Syrian Orthodox Church through Bishop Julius
Ferrette (1828 - 1904). There was clearly common ground here as both Chechemian
and Mar Theophilus had a distant, but common episcopal ancestry from Oriental
Orthodox churches. They decided to cooperate together. On 2 November 1897 at St. Stephen's Church, East Ham,
Chechemian presided at the episcopal consecration of Andries Caarel Albertus
MacLaglen as Colonial Missionary Bishop in Cape Colony, South Africa. He was
also given the title of Titular Bishop of Claremont of the Free Protestant
Church of England which had just been founded with Chechemian as its first
Archbishop. Chechemian was assisted by three bishops. "To settle any doubt of his status Bishop Stevens
offered his assistance and consecrated Chechemian bishop sub
conditione." Between 4 January and 26 June 1901 Chechemian resided at
122 George Street, Edinburgh. He signed his application for naturalisation as
a British citizen in Glasgow on the latter date, having proved his residency
in the United Kingdom for an unbroken period of five years and three days.
His referees were all regarded as "exceptionally" respectable and
responsible persons, as they comprised Dr Cunningham and the elders of his
church, "of which applicant became a member in 1891, and they have known
him since then." The Naturalization Certificate was duly granted on 14
August 1901 with the Oath of Allegiance taken on 17 August 1901. Of Chechemian's subsequent career there is little
information. It would appear that he passed his responsibilities to Mar
Theophilus within a few years of their union. We know that he subsequently
contracted marriage as when he died at his home at 72, High Street, Tunbridge
Wells, Kent on 3 December 1920 of a cerebral haemorrhage, his widow Amelia
Robina Chechemian was present. Leon Chechemian was buried in the consecrated
section of Tunbridge Wells Borough Cemetery in Grave No. B-6-263. Chechemian's contacts with Presbyterians and other
non-episcopal Protestant groups do not suggest any loss of belief in
traditional ministry, especially as he himself subsequently submitted to
episcopal ordination. A contemporary account of him officiating refers to his
"weighty" robes, ornate pastoral staff and with "the mitre an
enormous and awe-inspiring spectacle." If neither considered apostolic
succession as of the esse of the church, they both at least considered it as
of the bene esse. Although encouraged by senior and influential hierarchs
of the Anglican communion, neither project ever enjoyed full support of that
church. He was received into communion and licensed at the highest level but
were never really Anglican. The Anglican Church in the nineteenth century was
closely identified with the power and prestige of the British Empire. It was
a misleading picture, however, as so much depended on the fickle changes of
British interests abroad and the equally volatile generosity of public
opinion at home. Taken up by one hierarch, he were as easily dropped by the
next who was wary of assuming the commitments of his predecessors. Isolated
in an essentially hostile society, Chechemian, having once tasted the fruits
of religious freedom in the West, could never return back to his roots. He
pinned his hope on a Church which eventually failed him because it lacked the
will to carry forward a vision set in progress without the consensus and
support necessary to bring it to maturity. Anglican hostility and Orthodox indifference, together
with a lack of resources, meant that the Church was barely able to begin the
missionary endeavour for which it had originally been established. Chechemian
although endeavouring to advance the work of the Church and to unite various
groups which sought Orthodox alternatives to Anglicanism or Roman
Catholicism, was essentially a visionary and a scholar, rather than a
practical administrator or evangelist. He had a somewhat naive trust in those
who approached him, and often left himself open to exploitation by men
seeking the appearance, rather than the reality, of Orthodoxy. It was almost
as if he believed that the truth of Orthodoxy was so self-evident and
profound that anyone being exposed to it would not only accept it and be
converted, but undergo an inner conversion of life as well. The
simple-hearted charity with which Chechemian received potential converts
often led to the pain of betrayal. Nothing has changed by now! Besides his functioning as a Church of Ireland
clergyman, Bishop Chechemian was the presiding bishop of two churches bodies
- one called the Free Protestant Church of England (a non-State episcopal and
liturgical church for all types of protestants) and the other named the
United Armenian Catholic Church in the British Isles (an non-Papal, Old
Catholic type of church body for Armenians in the UK and hopefully also
eventually for the Armenian Homeland). Apostolic Succession See 'Timeline'. MATTHEW JOHN CARLES TUZ (b. 1951) of London, ON, Archbishop of Canada. Consecrated on 3rd
July 1993 by +Rivette MELVIN FREDERICK LARSON (b. 1920) of Lynnwood, WA. priested by +Walter Hollis Adams (1907 to 1991) of the
Anglican Episcopal Church of North America before joining the FPEC. ROBERT RANDOLPH RIVETTE (1916 - 25 April 2004) FPEC bishop for Texas. A lawyer and retired USAF
officer. +Rivette suffered from Alzheimer's Disease from around
1997. WILLIAM HALL (1890 - 9th October, 1959) Primus Hall had served as a choir boy in St. Stephen's
FPEC Pro-Cathedral. In 1913 he was ordered a deacon by +Stevens and in 1915
he was ordained a presbyter by +Martin and appointed Bishop's Chaplain in
1917 in which office he served until he assumed the headship of the Church in
1939. He asked +Boltwood to formally joined the FPEC while
maintaining his connexion to +de Wilmot Newman's organisation. However, +Hall
was a stickler for the Holy Orders of the FPEC and made +Boltwood a deacon
(17 Dec. 1950), a presbyter (3 May 1951), and a bishop (6 April 1952) rather
than accept him as a bishop as far as the FPEC was concerned. In 1954 +Hall underwent an operation for colon cancer
and before this happened he appointed +Boltwood his successor as primus on 25
March of that year and also transferred control of St. Andrew's Church to
+Boltwood which was renamed as St. Andrew's Collegiate Church. +Hall was a long-time chaplain to Abney Park Cemetery,
Stoke Newington, Stamford Hill. FPEC - USA BISHOPS in 1997: +Edwin Duane Follick (b. 1935) of Woodland Hills, CA, +Melvin Frederick Larson (b. 1920) +Harry Kenneth Means (b. 1919) of Port Charlotte, FL, consecrated
on 16 Aug 1964 by +Boltwood, +Francis Thomas, Old Catholic bishop
+Albert Dunstan Bell of the USA, in London, UK +James Nicholas Meola (b. 1938) of Tom's River, NJ, and consecrated
on 13 Mar 1988 by John Allen Rifenbury, R R Rivette. (Troy Arnold
Kaichen of Virginia is listed in some histories as one of Meola's consecrators
but he only gave his consent to the consecration and was not present at
it.) +Ernest Percival Parris (1920 - 2008) of Saint Albans,
NY. consecrated
in spring 1970 by A J Fuge. +Robert Randolph Rivette (1916 to 2004) consecrated
on 19 April 1991 by Melvin Frederick Larson +John Marion Stanley (b. 1923) of Port Orchard, WA, consecrated
on 3rd May 1959 by +Boltwood, +James B Noble, +Reginald Benjamin
Millard in London, UK. +Matthew John Carles Tuz consecrated
on 3rd July 1993 by R R Rivette FPEC - CANADA Box 33079, Regina, SK S4P 2R7, Canada Most Rev'd Matthew Tuz, Metropolitian Archbishop for
Canada The early story of the work of the Free Protestant
Episcopal Church in Western Canada is the story of the life of the Most Rev'd
Charles K.S.S. Moffatt, D.D. (1907 - 1989) of Brandon, Manitoba, its founding
and first bishop. The Rev'd Benjamin Charles Eckardt, LL.D., D.D. (1902 to
1993), long time pastor of First Church of Christ (Disciples), 430 Elizabeth
Street, London, Ontario discovered the FPEC at about the same time as Dr
Moffatt in a similiar manner. When Dr Boltwood arrived in the USA at the
start of his 1958 tour to establish the FPEC in North America, Dr Eckardt met
him in New York City and was consecrated by him as FPEC Bishop of Ontario in
that city on 16 August 1958. On 23 October 1968 Dr Eckardt was elevated to
the position of Archbishop of Ontario by Primus Boltwood. In August of 1982
he was appointed to succeed Dr Moffatt as Metropolitan Archbishop for the
Dominion of Canada and Northern Territories shortly after Dr Moffatt assumed
the office of Primus. Archbishop Eckardt was industrious in the work for the
FPEC. At the time of his death on 18 January 1993 in his 91st year he had
clergy/missions in the following Ontario communities: London (Rev'd Dcn.
Matthew J.C. Tuz), Toronto (Ven. Arcdcn. Arthur Downes, Rev'd Frederic Albert
Scott [1914 to Sept. 2004], Rev'd Paul Refalo, & Rev'd Paul John Tuz
[1929 to 16 June 2012]), Holland Centre (Rev'd William Joseph Coke [1924 to
June 2009]), Owen Sound (Rev'd Lewis A. Short), and Windsor (Rev'd Michael
Frank Stoyka). After his consecration, Dr Eckardt maintained a basically
Anglican form of worship at 430 Elizabeth Street. Unfortunately, after Dr
Eckardt's death his London congregation reverted back to the Disciples of
Christ. However, the congregation reveres Dr Eckardt's memory and to this day
his portrait, dressed in his episcopal rochet and chimere, hangs in the
church building. In June of 1971 a FPEC synod was held in London,
Ontario, probably as a lead up to the main FPEC conferance which was held
later in New York City in October of that same year. At the London synod
three bishops for the USA branch of the Church were consecrated in +Eckardt's
church. On 18 June 1971 Gordon Albert Da Costa was consecrated by Primus Dr
Boltwood and Bishops Benjamin Charles Eckardt, Charles K.S.S. Moffatt, Albert
John Fuge Sr., and William Carson Thompson. On 19 June 1971 William Elliot
Littlewood (1910 to 1978) and Russell Grant Fry were consecrated by the same
bishops as above plus Bishop Da Costa. Just to confuse the record, on the new
bishops' consecration certificates different official chief consecrators and
assistants were listed (mix and match) even through all bishops present were
involved in the laying on of hands. From these three bishops the orders of
the FPEC entered many other churches as shown below: From +Da Costa: On 8 August 1976 he sub-conditione
consecrated Andre Leon Zotique Barbeau, Andre LeTellier, and Jean-Marie
Breault, bishops of the Catholic Charismatic Church of Canada From +Littlewood: On 22 October 1972 he consecrated in
his home church, St. Luke's Chapel in the Hills, Los Altos Hills, CA, USA,
the Rt. Rev'd Dr Walter Hollis Adams (1907 to 1991), founder of the
"Anglican Episcopal Church of North America". The next day, in the
Chapel of Miracles, at that time located in Pacific Grove, CA, +Adams
exchanged consecrations with +Herman Adrian Spruit of the Church of Antioch -
Malabar Rite. On 3 July 1981 +Spruit and +Joseph Laverne Vredenburgh,
Archbishop of the Federation of St. Thomas Christians, exchanged
consecrations in the Chapel of Miracles, Mount View, CA, USA. Many church
bodies are derived from Bishops Spruit and Vredenburgh. From +Fry: On 22 December 1974 he consecrated both
Bishops Thomas James Kleppinger and Troy Arnold Kaichen. On 16 March 1975 he
consecrated Bishop Michael Dean Stephens. All these bishops were involved in
various conservative continuing Anglican churches bodies. When Dr Moffatt died in 1989 he had not indicate whom he
wished to succeed him as Primus, and the Constitution of the FPEC did not
have any procedure to select a new Primus other than that of appointment by
his predecessor. (In February of 1979 the FPEC missionary bishop of France
and Germany the Rt Rev'd Horst K.F. Block basically appointed himself as
Primus of an schismatic FPEC, but the rest of the Church ignored him.) After
Dr Eckardt's death in 1993 the position of the FPEC in Canada was especially
delicate as it was the province of the Primus to appoint bishops and
archbishops for the Church. Luckly common sense prevailed and normal Anglican
practice was adopted by the remainder of the Canadian FPEC (all the above
mentioned Ontario residents). The clergy of the Church met and elected the
Rev'd Lewis A. Short to become Metropolitan Archbishop for all of Canada.
Episcopal oversight was given to the Most Rev'd Robert Randolph Rivette (1916
to 2004), the FPEC Metropolitan Archbishop of the USA until such a time Dr
Rivette could consecrate the Rev'd Mr. Short. Unfortunately Archbishop-elect
Short died in June of 1993. The Rev'd Matthew John Charles Tuz of London (b. 1951),
son of Lt.Col the Rev'd Paul John Tuz of Toronto was elected by the clergy to
become head of the Canadian Church. Matthew Tuz had been ordered a deacon by
+Eckardt and under special episcopal warrant of +Rivette had been ordained a
presbyter by Bishop-elect Short in early 1993. On 3 July 1993 he was formally
consecrated and installed as Metropolitan Archbishop of Canada by Dr Rivette
in an eastend municipal owned church in London, Ontario. On 4 February 1999
The Free Protestant Episcopal Church was incorporated once more in Canada
under the Statues of the Province of Ontario (registration number 1333161)
with its head office in London, Ontario. In the year of 2000 the Trustees of
the FPEC in Canada consisted of: Most Rev'd Matthew J.C. Tuz (Archbishop),
Venerable Arthur Downes (Archdeacon & Secretary), Mrs. June M. Eckardt,
and Mr. Graham C. Porter. In 1994 it was determined that the Right Rev'd Dr Edwin
Duane Follick, MSLS, PhD, DTh, DC had been the legal Primus of the Church
since Dr Moffatt's death as he was the senior most cleric of the FPEC at that
time. Dr Follick had been ordained a presbyter of the FPEC on 15 July 1958 by
Bishop Emmet Neil Enochs SUCCESSION FROM WILLIAM WHITE William White (1747 - 1836), assisted by Bishops
Alexander Viets Griswold and Nathaniel Bowen, consecrated on 31 October 1832
in St. Paul's Chapel, New York City, New York, USA John Henry Hopkins (1792 - 1868) who assisted by Bishops
Benjamin Bosworth Smith, Henry Washington Lee, Joseph Cruikshank Talbot,
Charles Todd Quintard, Robert Harper Clarkson, and John Barrett Kerfoot
consecrated on 15 November 1866 in Louisville, Kentucky, USA George David Cummins (1822 - 1876) who consecrated on 14
December 1873 in Christ Church, Chicago, Illinois, USA (+Cheney's home
church) Charles Edward Cheney (1836 - 1916), who assisted by
Bishops William Rufus Nicholson and Albert Carman (of the Methodist Episcopal
Church of Canada), consecrated on 17 July 1876 in Emmanuel Reformed Episcopal
Church, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Samuel Fallows (1835 - 1922) who assisted by Bishops
Charles Edward Cheney and Robert Livingston Rudolph, consecrated on 12
November 1912 in the Church of the Atonement, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
as the presiding bishop for the autocephalous Church of Jesus, based in
Puerto Rico Manuel Ferrando (1866 - 1934) who consecrated on 17
November 1918 at the Saint John's Masonic Lodge in Mountain Lakes, New
Jersey, USA as the presiding bishop for the autocephalous Anglican Universal
Church, based in New York City George Winslow Plummer (1876 - 1944) who assisting
Bishop Arthur Edward Leighton of the American Catholic Church, consecrated on
4 June 1929 William Albert Nichols (1867 - 1947) One may wonder why a masonic temple would be used for
the consecration of Dr Plummer. Bishop Ferrando was from 1911 - 1916 the
executive director of an organisation based in New York City known as Christ
Mission. This organisation was established in 1887 to provide a means of
support for former Roman Catholic priests (+Ferrando himself was one before
he became a protestant minister). In its early days Christ Mission held
meetings and services in various Masonic Lodges. Dr Plummer was a well known
Rosicrucian and Mason and was the author of various books pertaining to Free
Masonary. The Armenian Catholic Church The official schism of the Armenian church in the VIth
century did not prevent many bishops, along centuries, to remain in communion
with the Universal Church. Henceforth, since the XIth century, the Armenians
united their efforts to those of the Crusaders for the re-conquest of the
Holy places, and entered in relation with the church of Rome. However, this
union did not materialize. The rebirth of the Armenian Catholic Church did
not take place until late 1742. It was recognized as such by the Pope Benoit
XIV, and having at its head the patriarch Abraham-Pierre 1st ARDZIVIAN. Its
residence was first at the Kreim, close to Harissa, then the patriarch bought
land at Bzoummar where his successor built a convent and placed the first
patriarchal ecclesiastical community which became thereafter a center of
radiance for Lebanon, Cilicia, Mesopotamia and Egypt. The Catholic Armenians
have dioceses in countries of the Middle East, Europe and in the American
continent. Three congregations or masculine religious institutes and a
congregation of Catholic Armenian Sisters of the Immaculate Conception share
the monastic life. From 1928, the Armenian Catholic Church was again
reorganized to the administrative, scholar, cultural and social level. The
number of its supporters is evaluated at approximately thirty thousand,
served by about thirty priests and monks, spread over eight parishes. The
Armenian Catholic Church is present in the religious, cultural, political and
social Lebanese scene. Although the Armenian people are scattered, they
maintain a sense of their national, cultural and religious identity |
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