Episcopal Diocese International is fully communion & incardinated with the American Orthodox Catholic Church (AOCC).
The American Orthodox Catholic Church (AOCC), or The Holy Eastern Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church in North America (THEOCACNA), and sometimes simply the American Orthodox Patriarchate (AOP), was an independent Eastern Orthodox Christian church with origins from 1924–1927. The church was formally created on February 2, 1927 and chartered in the U.S. state of Massachusetts in 1928 with the assistance of Metropolitan Platon Rozhdestvensky of New York;the American Orthodox Catholic Church was initially led by Archbishop Aftimios Ofiesh before his disputed suspension and deposition in 1933.
The American Orthodox Catholic Church became the first attempted autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Christian jurisdiction for North America, though it was originally intended to function as a diocese of the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in America (today the Orthodox Church in America).The American Orthodox Catholic Church in its original foundation and continuation functioned as an archbishopric before elevation to the metropolitanate and then patriarchate; in modern iterations, various continuations adopt the patriarchate, most notably one led by Archbishop Blake-Allan Hammacher OSB
The purpose of the American Orthodox Catholic Church was to establish a new tradition in North America separate from any other particular ethnic or cultural traditions. It operated in the United States of America with initial support from the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in America, until Ofiesh suspected autocephaly and jurisdiction over the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in America, the Antiochian Archdiocese, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, and others.
We are following Western Rite:
Western Rite Orthodoxy, also called Western Orthodoxy or the Orthodox Western Rite, are congregations within the Eastern Orthodox tradition which perform their liturgy in Western forms.
Besides altered versions of the Tridentine Mass, congregations have used Western liturgical forms such as the Sarum Rite, the Mozarabic Rite, and Gallican Rite. Some congregations use what has become known simply as the English Liturgy, which is derived from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, albeit with some Byzantinization intended to emphasize Eastern Orthodox theological teaching. The Western Rite that exists today has been heavily influenced by the life and work of Julian Joseph Overbeck.
Western Rite missions, parishes and monasteries exist within certain jurisdictions of the mainstream Eastern Orthodox Church, predominantly within the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia and Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America.
In addition, the Western Rite is practiced within religious communities outside the mainstream Eastern Orthodox Church. The Communion of the Western Orthodox Churches and the Orthodox Church of France are entirely Western Rite. Furthermore, there is a small number of Western Rite communities among the Old Calendarists, such as the former Western Rite Exarchate of the Holy Synod of Milan and the Autonomous Orthodox Metropolia of North and South America and the British Isles; within independent Orthodoxy, the American Orthodox Catholic Church’s successors have Western Rite metropolitan jurisdictions. In the past, there have also been Western Rite communities within Oriental Orthodoxy. There also are a number of independent Western Orthodox churches and monasteries that are neither part of the Oriental Orthodox Church nor the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Western Rite parishes are found almost exclusively in countries with large Roman Catholic or Protestant populations. There are also numerous devotional societies and publishing ventures related to the Western Rite. Western Rite Orthodoxy remains a contentious issue for some.
Our Synod Office & Patriarch office:
66 West Broad Street #1,Nanticoke, PA18634, USA
Chancellors office:
Po Box KF 700, Koforidua, Eastern Region, Ghana West Africa, EN-041-1888