Differences between the liturgical vision of Kovalevsky, on the one hand, and Chambault and Mensbrugghe, on the other, as well as news of the plans of Patriarch Alexy I of Moscow to have Kovalevsky consecrated as bishop of the WOC, led to conflict. False accusations of impropriety by Kovalevsky, brought by Chambault and Mensbrugghe in 1953, resulted in the decision being taken by the Patriarch to remove Kovalevsky from his role of administrator of the WOC, without further investigation. When the deception was subsequently realised after an eventual investigation in September of the same year, an envoy was sent to Kovalevsky to apologise for the hasty judgement. However, it was too late. Kovalevsky had already resigned from the ROC, and the parishes and majority of the clergy of the WOC had departed with him.[2]
Oriental Orthodoxy
After a period of negotiation, a group of the Orthodox Church of the Gauls was welcomed into the fold of the French Coptic Orthodox Church (FCOC) in 2000.[3] The group comprised the following communities, as well as a number of other disparate clergy:
The Bethany Community – a lay community for hesychastic spirituality, led at the time by Father Alphonse and Rachel Goettmann at Gorze.[4]
However, some years later, in 2005, Abba Marcos issued a letter insisting that the clergy must adopt the Coptic rite and, moreover, making the claim that the use of the western liturgies had never been authorised by him. Having been afforded no opportunity to appeal against this decision, the affected clergy petitioned Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria in February 2006 for an audience to discuss the matter further. When they had not received a response by June of the same year, it became clear that remaining with the FCOC would mean abandoning their Western Orthodox liturgical and spiritual heritage. Therefore, the clergy resigned from the FCOC, taking their communities with them.[5][discuss]
Communion of Western Orthodox Churches
In 2007, the Orthodox Church of the Gauls, the French Orthodox Church, and the Celtic Orthodox Church established the Communion of Western Orthodox Churches.
In the years of stability since then, through organic expansion and the founding of new communities, the OCG has grown numerically and today comprises a number of parishes, missions, and monastic houses in France, Belgium, Spain, Poland, the United States of America, Brazil, and the United Kingdom.[6]
In August 2018, the clergy of the Priestly Fraternity of Ss Cyril and Methodius, along with their congregations, were received by Bishop Gregory and established by his decree as the Polish exarchate of the OCG, with Bishop Gorazd Sawicki as its exarch.[7]
^This organization has used the legal name Ukrainian Orthodox Church in America since 2005.[9]
References
^"Manifesto of the Orthodox Church of the Gauls". We confess the primitive faith of the Ecumenical Councils of Nicaea (325), Constantinople (381), and Ephesus (431). By this confession we take as our spiritual reference point the so-called 'Oriental' Orthodox Churches, rejecting any charges of 'monophysitism' which have been wrongfully linked to this confession.
^Nottingham, Theodore J. "Bethanie: a place of renewal". centre-bethanie.org. Gorze, FR: Centre de Rencontres Spirituelles. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
^"Annuaire de l'Eglise" [Directory of the Church]. eglise-orthodoxe.eu (in French). Luzé: Eglise Orthodoxe des Gaules. Archived from the original on 1 August 2016. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
