The Orthodox Anglican Church (OAC) is the American branch of the Orthodox Anglican Communion. Because of similarities in churchmanship and doctrine, it is usually considered to be part of the Continuing Anglican movement, although the church's origins predate the start of that movement and it was publicly critical of the Continuing Anglican churches when they were founded during the late 1970s.
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History
The church was founded by Episcopalians who withdrew from the Episcopal Church in 1963. The new jurisdiction was incorporated in the state of North Carolina in March 1964. Its founders intended to establish a conservative and Low Church alternative to the Episcopal Church. Episcopal polity with apostolic succession were maintained with the consecration of its first bishop on Passion Sunday in 1964 by bishops of Eastern Orthodox and Old Catholic lineages.
In 1999, Bishop Robert Godfrey and a majority of the church's clergy met in committee and determined to align the church more closely with the Continuing Anglican churches in worship style. A name change was also made. In opposition, lay leaders and standing committee close to the founding bishop and a small minority of the clergy subsequently started a new church and incorporated anew as the Anglican Orthodox Church.
On April 30, 2000, Bishop Godfrey retired as Presiding Bishop in favor of his suffragan bishop, Scott Earle McLaughlin.
In 2005, the jurisdiction changed its name from the Episcopal Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of America to the Orthodox Anglican Church.
Bishop Godfrey and Bishop McLaughlin were signatories to the Bartonville Agreement in 1999. In 2007, Bishop McLaughlin signed a Covenant of Intercommunion between the OAC and the Old Catholic Church in Slovakia, represented by the Most Revd Augustin Bacinsky. The Old Catholic Church of Slovakia seceded from the Utrecht Union in 2004 because of the Union's approval of women's ordination and same-sex blessings.
On Ash Wednesday 2012, Archbishop McLaughlin announced his retirement and the nomination of Creighton Jones of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to be his successor. That nomination was confirmed by the General Convention on June 9, 2012. Jones was consecrated as a bishop and enthroned as the presiding bishop and metropolitan archbishop on July 21, 2012, at the Anglican Church of the Good Shepherd in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
In 2014, the church celebrated 50 years as a jurisdiction of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church and also marked the 50th anniversary of its incorporation in the state of North Carolina (March 6, 2014).
On November 16, 2014, Archbishop Jones announced his retirement and nominated his suffragan, Thomas Gordon, to be his successor. On April 18, 2015 a special general convention of the church was held and delegates from the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico unanimously approved of the nomination. Thomas E. Gordon was enthroned the same day as the sixth Presiding Bishop of the Orthodox Anglican Church and Metropolitan of the Orthodox Anglican Communion.
Institutions
Saint Andrew's Theological College and Seminary was founded by the Orthodox Anglican Church in 1971.
The Orthodox Anglican Church's offices are in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Presiding Bishop of the American church, Thomas E. Gordon, also serves as Metropolitan of the global Orthodox Anglican Communion.