Orthodox Catholic Church In America

ORTHODOX CATHOLIC CHURCH IN AMERICA.

Rise of the Old Catholic Church (� 1).
Orthodox Catholic Church and its Statement of Faith (� 2).
Aims of the Orthodox Catholic Church (� 3).
Pastoral of Vilatte, Kaminski, and Miraglia (� 4).
The Utrecht Declaration (� 5).

The Orthodox Catholic Church of America is a branch of the Orthodox Church of the Latin Rite in the Western patriarchate, which, in addition to its primitive historic divisions of Europe and Africa, includes also, since the discovery of the Western continent, the whole of America. This distinction of rite is both necessary and desirable, because there are now throughout the nations of the Western world Orthodox Catholic churches of the Greek Rite, some of them in communion with each other, and all with their parent national churches in the several Eastern patriarchates.

The gradual growth of the comparatively late order of Jesuits, compelled, as they were, by the trend of the times and by the inevitable antagonism of the established monastic orders of the Latin Church to become the special self-constituted clerical supporters and political defenders of the papal power, introduced into that church a new theological tendency, whose ecclesiastical influence within the Roman Church, weakened as it was by the final loss of Germany, England, and Scandinavia, was to cause later

many unforeseen and momentous con- e. Rise of sequences. The arbitrary act, in 1653, the Old of Innocent X. in denouncing as hereti- Catholic cal the Augustinian doctrines taught Church. by Jansen (see Jansen, Cornelius, Jansenism), with the renewal of the controversy early in the eighteenth century by the repeated condemnation, in 1713, of the alleged Jansenist errors of Pasquier Quesnel (q.v.), in the bull Unigenitus (q.v.) of Clement XI., resulted in the consecration by the French bishop Maria Varlet, titular of Babylon, without awaiting papal confirmation, first of Cornelis Steenoven as archbishop of Utrecht, then of his two successors, and again of a fourth archbishop, Pieter Jan Meindaerts, who, to prevent the future loss of this newly transmitted Latin episcopal succession in the Catholic Church of Holland, established the two suffragan sees of Haarlem and Deventer (see, further, Jansenist Church In Holland). The consistently orthodox course of their successors in the episcopate was proved convincingly when they protested solemnly against the pronouncement of Pius IX: on the dogma of the Immaculate Conception (q.v.) of the Virgin Mary, which was only the prelude to the dogmatic declarations of the Vatican Council of 1870 (see Vatican Council) on the constitution of the Catholic Church and the primacy and the infallibility of the bishop of Rome. Here again the bish-

ops of the Church of Holland reaffirmed their agreement with the orthodox doctrine of the undivided Catholic Church, East and West, by rejecting solemnly these Vatican decrees. And when, soon after, the excommunicated priests in Germany, faithful to their theological leader, Johann Josef Ignaz von D�llinger (q.v.), were compelled, by the repressive measures of the Roman prelates, to organize separate congregations, the bishops of Holland not only approved this inevitable consequence of their opposition to these ultramontane doctrines of t4e Roman Church by administering the sacrament of confirmation to their catechumens, but later transferred in turn to them their Latin episcopal succession by consecrating Joseph Hubert Reinkens (q.v.) of Bonn. The union conference of 1874 in Bonn, summoned by D�llinger and attended by Old Catholic prelates, priests, and theologians, by theological representatives from both the Greek and the Russian churches, and by participating members from the Anglican churches of England and America, is historically the first free assembly of both Greek and Latin ecclesiastics since the unsuccessful Roman Council of Ferrara-Florence in 1438. This synod, after free and full discussion of the fundamentals of the orthodox faith of the undivided Catholic Church, East and West, accepted fourteen theses which are the first irenic formulation of those debated dogmas which divide the several reformed communions from each other and from their common ecclesiastical mother, the Latin Church of the West, also from the entire Greek Church of the East (see, further, Old Catholics).

The extension of the Old Catholic movement from Europe to America through the missionary activity

of its pioneer priest, a. Joseph Rene Vilatte (q.v.), of Wisconsin, and his Ortho-dox Catho- subsequently authorized. consecration, lic Church by the Syrian patriarch of Antioch, as and its archbishop of the Orthodox Church of

Statement the Latin Rite in America, has resulted of Faith. not only in the introduction of the

Syrian succession into the Catholic hierarchy of the Western patriarchate, but it is also aiding, slowly and silently, the other ecclesiastical influences which are assisting, year by year, the movement for Catholic reform and Christian union on the basis of the fundamental faith of the undivided Church, through this new ecclesiastical connection with the primitive national orthodox churches of all the East. The Orthodox Catholic church, orthodox because it accepts the universally admitted dogmatic decrees of the seven ecumenical councils of the undivided church, East and West, and Catholic because it possesses a validly consecrated hierarchy in the apostolic Syrian succession, exercising its duly designated canonical authority in the archdiocese of America, and being in communion with the several divisions of the one holy Catholic and apostolic Church of Christ, summarizes its. teaching in the following short statement of faith.

I. The only historical and consistent bond of church unity is that of the "faith once for all delivered to the saints," as taught by the united Catholic Church, East and West, during the period of the seven general councils. Orthodox Catholics join in faith, hope, sad love with all churches possessing and exercising the apostolic ministry,

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and accepting the teaching of the holy Scriptures as under stood by the fathers, doctors, and confessors of the first eight centuries of the undivided Christian Church through out the world. II. A validly ordained ministry in the apostolic succes sion is not alone sufficient for Christian and Catholic unity. For we moat also accept the Apostles', the Nicene, and the Athanasian Creeds without addition (of the Filioque) or subtraction from the faith. III. We also acknowledge and accept the dogmatic de crees of the seven ecumenical councils as the fundamental basis of unity in the Christian faith, and, in addition, all orthodox definitions of the synods of Bethlehem [see Jerusalem, Synod of] and of Trent, concerning the seven sac raments, as clear and concise statements of the doctrines taught by the Catholic Church throughout the world. IV. We reject the authority and deny the infallibility of any patriarch who claims, contrary to the canons of the seven ecumenical councils, supreme and sole jurisdiction over the one holy Catholic and apostolic Church of Christ. V. The monastic life among Orthodox Catholics is a de vout life of voluntary sacrifice to God, and of willing service and love toward men. We do not adore the images of Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin, and the saints, but venerate them as representing sacred persona. VI. We believe firmly, according to the inspired teach ing of the holy Scriptures, that there is only one Mediator of redemption between God and man, Christ Jesus (I Tim. ii. 6). We believe also that the intercessory prayers of the saints, who are our glorified brethren in the Church Tri umphant, are joined with those of us who are in the Church Militant on earth, for we are united in that one commu nion of saints of the creed. VII. Finally, we permit no dissent from the orthodox doctrines of our faith, for no one may add to, or take away from, the fundamental faith of the one holy Catholic and apostolic Church of Christ. The Orthodox Catholic Church, therefore, invites all clergy and Christians in the Western patriarchate who seek to assist and support the 3. Aims movement for Christian union, not of the only of the separated non-Roman com Orthodoa muniona organized since the sixteenth, Catholic seventeenth, and later centuries, but Church. also of all divisions, Eastern and Wes tern, older or younger, larger or smaller, of the one holy Catholic Church to study seriously that fundamental faith of the undivided Christian Church of the seven ecumenical councils. Only by returning freely and fully to the primitive apos tolic principles, and to that traditional orthodox teaching developed carefully and consistently from them, which preserved, for generation after gen eration, the unity in the faith of the Christian Church during the passing perils of those destructive divisions, can sectarianism, heresy, and schism be restrained, averted, and resisted in the present and the future, as it has been historically in those past ecclesiastical periods. Finally, the archbishop of the Orthodox Catholic Church of America, with his two senior nuffragana, has recently reaffirmed the same principles promulgated by the Orthodox Catholic episcopate of Europe in their Utrecht Decla ration (for which see below) in the following pastoral addressed to the clergy and Christians throughout the western world: Declaration of faith and ecclesiastical principles solemnly promulgated for the purpose of aiding in the reformation of the Latin Church, and the reorganization of the Roman Curia, according to the spirit of the primitive Christian Church in the Western Patriarchate, of orthodox sad glori ous memory. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the eternal, consubstantial, and undivided Trinity. We, Joseph RBad Archbishop Vilatte, Stephen Bishop

Kaminski, and Paul Bishop Miraglia-by the grace of God

and the free suffrages of our faithful, through the Apostolic

Succession transmitted lawfully, validly, and canonically to us from that venerable Patriarchal See of the East, founded in Antioch by the blessed Apostle Peter himself,

which, with its indisputable apostolic authority, rights, and

powers, has been continued without interruption unto this

day-validly consecrated bishops of the Catholic Church,

joined in ecclesiastical union, and canonically assembled in the name of the Lord, in the orthodox Catholic Cathedral of Buffalo, on this the Feast of the Circum

¢. Pas- ciaion of Christ commemorated in the year total of nineteen hundred and ten, do hereby solemn ly affirm, repeat, and declare anew, that our

Vilatte, Faith and Teaching is the apostolic, ortho

$gmjngkl, dox, and catholic doctrine as it has been

and truly defined, confirmed, and established by Mii lia. the seven ecumenical councils of the un divided Church. Moreover, in the canonical exercise of our apostolic mission and authority, and especially for the strengthening of our faithful, and the perfecting of our ministry in the several divisions of the West ern Patriarchate, viz., in America, Europe, and Africa, we ac cept and declare the general authority of the use of the Latin Rite. For from the Western Ritual books we are able not only to extract and teach truly and faithfully the apostolic and primitive orthodox doctrine of the Church of Christ, but also, by means of their careful explanation and use, to restore it more and more to its former exalted state. Furthermore, we exhort with our whole heart and in boundless charity all those who call themselves Christians, who believe and hope in Christ the Incarnate Son of God and Savior of men, that while preserving and defending all consistent spiritual liberty which is the fruit of righteousness, we may truly become more and more one in faith, hope, and love, offering with out ceasing continual prayers and devout petitions to the compassionate and moat high God, beseeching him, the eter nal Father of us all, to have mercy on those who are com monly called unbelievers, materialists, and rationalists, the members of whom through the grievous circumstances of our times, are increasing more and more, and to illumine the darkness of their doubting restless minds, so that, con verted and led by the Holy Spirit, they may be restored to the communion of the Church of Christ.

Finally, let us both labor for Christian and fraternal unity, and pray ever more fervently to the Triune God imploring the hastening of that coming day which is to bring the longawaited triumph of the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, that glorious future day when all faithful followers of the Incarnate Son of God shall become united again, one fold and one shepherd, who is the risen and ascended Christ alone.

May the Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, through the ceaseless proclamation of the holy and eternal Gospel of Christ, favor and assist us in our work for his Glory in the Church Militant on earth. Amen.

Given in the city of Buffalo on the day, month, and year designated above.

To this document may be appended the Utrecht Declaration, to which allusion has already been made:

We, Johannes Heykamp, Archbishop of Utrecht, Cae

parus Johannes Rinkel, Bishop of Haarlem, Cornelius Dio

pendaal, Bishop of Deventer, Joseph Hubert Reinkens, Bishop

of the Old Catholic Church of Germany, and Eduard Herzog,

Bishop of the Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland,

assembled on this four and twentieth day of September,

eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, at the archiepiscopal

residence at Utrecht, having invoked the

The assistance of the Holy Spirit address the

Utrecht Dec- ollowing Declaration to the Catholic Church:

" Having assembled is conference in re 1&ta210n. aponse to an invitation from the undersigned Archbishop of Utrecht, we have determined henceforward to hold consultation together from time to time on matters of common interest, in conjunctio$ with our assistants, councilors, and theologians. We deem it fitting that, at this our first meeting, we should set forth a brief declaration of the ecclesiastical principles on which we have hitherto exercised our episcopal office, and shall continue to exercise it in the future, as we have already in separate deolarationa repeatedly taken occasion to state.

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" I. We hold firmly to the ancient ecclesiastical rule formulated by Vincent of Lerins, `Id teneamue quad ubique, quad eemper, quad ab omnibus creditum eat; hoc etenim were proprieque catholicum.'

" We therefore hold fast to the faith of the Ancient Church as expressed in the Ecumenical Creeds, and in the universally accepted dogmatic decisions of the Ecumenical Councils of the Undivided Church of the first one thousand years.

"I:. We reject as opposed to the Faith of the Ancient Church, and destructive of its primitive constitution, the Vatican Decrees of July 18, 1870, concerning the infallibility and the universal episcopate or the ecclesiastical omnipotence of the Pope of Rome. But this does not hinder us from recognizing the historical primacy attributed by various Ecumenical Councils, and Fathers of the early Church, to the Bishop of Rome as primes infer Pores, with the consent of the entire Church of the first one thousand years.

" III. We reject also as not founded on Holy Scripture, and on the traditions of the first centuries the declaration of Pius IX. in the year 1854, concerning the Immaculate Conception of Mary.

"IV. So also respecting the other dogmatic decrees issued by the Bishops of Rome in later times, viz., the Bulls `Unigenitus' and `Auctorem fidei,' the ` Syllabus of 1864' and the like pronouncements, we reject them so far as they are opposed to the teaching of the early Church, and do not therefore regard them as authoritative. Furthermore, we renew all the solemn protests which, in times past, the Ancient Catholic Church of Holland has made against Rome.

" V. We do not accept the Council of Trent in its decisions concerning discipline; and its doctrinal definitions we accept only in so far as they agree with the teaching of the early Church.

' VI. Since the Holy Eucharist has always formed the central act in the divine service of the Catholic Church, we deem it our duty to declare that we hold firmly, and with all sincerity, the ancient Catholic faith concerning the Sac-. rament of the Altar, in which we believe that we truly receive the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ himself, under the forms of bread and wine.

" The celebration of the Eucharist in the Church is not a constant repetition or renewal of that atoning sacrifice which Christ offered once for all upon the Cross, but its sacrificial character consists in this, that it is a perpetual memorial of that sacrifice, and a real representation on Earth of that one offering of Christ for the salvation of redeemed mankind, which, according to Heb. ix. 11-12, is continually presented by Christ in Heaven, where he now appears for us in the presence of God (Heb. is. 24). While this is truly the nature of the Eucharist in its relation to that one sacrifice of Christ, it is, at the same time, a holy sacrificial feast in which the faithful, receiving the Body and Blood of Christ, have communion one with another (I Car. x. 17).

" VII. We trust that, through the efforts of theologians, a way may be found, while' holding fast to the Faith of the Undivided Church, to reconcile the differences which have arisen since the divisions. We exhort the clergy under our charge, both in their sermons and in other religious instruction, to emphasize chiefly those essential truths of the Christian Faith which the ecclesiastically separated confessions hold in common; in dealing with existing differences, to avoid carefully the offending against truth and love; and both by precept and example to exhort members of our congregations to treat those who differ from them in belief in such a manner that they will truly exhibit the spirit of Jesus Christ who is the Savior of us all.

" VIII. We believe that it is by holding firmly to the teaching of Jesus Christ, while rejecting all errors which through the frailty of men have been mingled with it, and also all ecclesiastical abuses and hierarchical ambitions, that we shall do moat to counteract the unbelief and the religious indifference which are the sorest evils of our times.

"Given at Utrecht September 24, 1889."

Ernest C. Margrander.