|
“I have come as a light into the world,
that whoever believes
in Me
should not abide in the darkness.”
John 12:46
Orthodoxy
is the expression of Tradition and the Teaching of Jesus Christ from the
time of Pentacost when tongues of the fire of the Holy Spirit were sent
to the disciples. From Pentacost to the present day, Orthodoxy has adhered
to the Apostolic Tradition.
Orthodoxy
in East Africa had a rather unique origin as it was not the result of
missionary evangelism, nor was it originally inspired by European/White
introduction.
East
African Orthodoxy had two focal points: Uganda and Central
Province Kenya
The
1930s - the Colonial Missionaries
In
the 1930s it was the attitude of the Colonial government and the foreign
Missionaries, particularly from the Colonial Motherland, the United Kingdom,
that the African should be given minimum education experience and that
this should be under the direct supervision of the Missionaries. The Colonial
government did not hold enfranchisement as one of its goals, nor did it
have the finance to assume the responsibilities of educating Africans.
It
was the Missionaries who held that Christianity must be linked with a
cultural transference. In the Kikuyu areas this led ultimately to confrontation.
Increasing
pressure by the Missionaries, with the consent of the Colonial regime,
to force the Kikuyu to give up their traditions was strongly opposed.
The matter of female circumcision was the straw that broke the camel’s
back. Kikuyu in large numbers boycotted the Mission schools and churches.
They then set up their own schools in a process known as Harambee.
Boycotting
the Mission Schools - Kikuyu Breakaway Groups
There
were two groups: the Independents - the Kikuyu Independent School Association
(KISA) and the Karinga - the Kikuyu Karinga Education Association (KKEA).
The
word “Karinga” in Kikuyu means “orthodox” or “pure” and the members of
this group wanted to maintain their cultural traditions, identity and
beliefs, but they also wanted Christianity in its purest form.
The
Kikuyu community firmly supported their schools and soon they were quite
numerous not only in the area of Nairobi, but in the rural areas as well.
The established Missions were much opposed to these schools and tried
to pressure the government to close them, but they were allowed to continue
and flourish.
At
this time schools were church sponsored, so once the Kikuyu had abandoned
the Mission churches they had no schools. The organisation of the Karinga
schools provided for the educational needs of their children, but they
were without church affiliation.
Between
1935 and 1937 the Independent KISA and the Karinga KKEA were drawn closer
in their efforts.
Bishop
Daniel Alexander
The
African Orthodox Church in South Africa
The
local organisations of KISA and KKEA had heard of a Bishop Daniel Alexander
from South Africa. They raised funds and arranged for Bishop Alexander
to come to Kenya and provide religious instruction to members of both
organisations with the aim of establishing an indigenous church based
on legitimate origin.
Bishop
Alexander was the leader of the African Orthodox Church (AOC) in South
Africa. This church was independent of any white-dominated church organisation
and had association with the Afro-American African Orthodox Church.
Bishop
Alexander spent 16 months in the Kikuyu areas operating from a base in
Muranga. He baptised and lectured and provided specific religious training
to four young men who had been proposed by both the Independent and the
Karinga associations. Two of the men, from Kiambu and Nyeri, were ordained
priests. These became the first priests of the African Orthodox Church
in Kenya. The others, from Embu and Muranga, were ordained deacons, but
they chose not to follow Orthodoxy and eventually they established the
African Independent Pentecostal Church (AIPC).
During
the 1930s Bishop Alexander had also ordained two priests in Uganda. They
too had rejected the foreign dominated churches. In their case, they left
the Anglican Church.
The
Origins of the African Orthodox Church
After
World War I, in the United States of America, there was a strong demonstration
of black independence and cultural nationalism. Out of this wave for recognition
of black rights the African Orthodox Church was formed by blacks of West
Indian origin and it was closely related to the Universal Negro Improvement
Association (UNIA).
The
African Orthodox Church was comprised mainly of black Anglicans/Episcopalians
who were disaffected by the white dominance of their religious lives.
The church made use of UNIA’s official information service. The Negro
World to send out its message of the creation of a black church based
on Apostolic tradition.
In
1924, William Daniel Alexander petitioned the AOC to open its doors in
South Africa. Alexander was a black South African former Anglican clergyman
and a member of an indigenous church which was of schismatic nature. Eventually,
he became the first bishop in the African Orthodox Church in Africa.
The
African Orthodox Church in America was headed by George Alexander McGuire,
who came from the British West Indies. He had been baptised an Anglican,
educated by Moravians and had become a pastor of that sect in St. Croix
in the Virgin Islands. Later he immigrated to the United States and worked
for a period of time with the African Methodist Episcopal Church. From
there he moved to the Protestant Episcopal Church and became Archdeacon
for Coloured Work in the Diocese of Arkansas, the highest position, as
a Black, to which he could aspire.
McGuire
broke with this Church in New York and became deeply involved in the Black
Nationalist Movement being instituted by the UNIA. He became the organisation’s
Chaplain General in 1920 and within one year had established the African
Orthodox Church.
This
was a period of black disillusionment and disenchantment with their status
and with the enactment of discriminatory laws. This was not only true
in the American South, but also in the Northern cities where the discrimination
was often worse.
It
was also a time when the idea of separate development of the races was
being aired. The mainline churches, such as the Episcopal Church (Anglican),
wanted to bring the faith to the Blacks, but did not want to be seen as
advocates of “political and social equality”.
McGuire,
motivated by his elevation to Chaplain General of the UNIA movement, conceived
the idea of a universal Black Church which would unite Blacks of all denominations.
The leader of UNIA strongly opposed this concept of a universal Black
Church and with the proposed church affiliation to his movement. McGuire
resigned from UNIA and set up the African Orthodox Church, having himself
been declared its bishop by the local membership.
Why
Orthodoxy?
Why
Orthodoxy as the hope for goal ? Orthodoxy was unlike all other denominations.
It was never associated with racism, colonialism or religious imperialism.
It had not involved itself in universal missionary activity.
Further,
in America, the Orthodox were not associated with the establishment and
often faced the same discrimination as did the Blacks. Orthodoxy also
existed in Egypt, Ethiopia , India and the Middle East and in the eyes
of the African Orthodox Church members, Orthodox Christians from these
areas were kindred souls.
Previous
encounters with the Roman Catholic and Episcopal Churches had been futile.
Neither wanted to recognise or include the African Orthodox Church in
its communion. There were discussions with the Russian Orthodox Church,
which was agreeable, except for the wish of Russian Orthodoxy to reduce
the AOC to that of mission status.
Bishop
Rene Vilatte - The Old Catholic Church
Finally
McGuire made contact with a bishop of a schismatic Catholic Church, known
as the Old Catholic Church, and he received consecration. This bishop
of the Old Catholic Church in his own turn received consecration from
one of the Oriental Orthodox Churches.
This
bishop was Rene Vilatte, titled Mar. Timotheos, Old Catholic Archbishop
of North America and First Primate of the American Catholic Church. He
was one of the occasional individuals who have valid episcopal orders,
but was never recognised by any of the established churches.
Rene
Vilatte was born in Paris, France and educated by Roman Catholics. For
many years he vacillated between Catholicism and Protestantism. Later
he emigrated to Canada and from there went to the United States.
He
was very active in the sense of Missionary zeal and eventually was recommended
too be ordained a priest in the Old Catholic Church by the Bishop of Bern,
Switzerland, Edward Hezog.
Rene
Vilatte returned to the United States where he continued to work, but
met many difficulties, particularly in achieving the episcopy. Since he
could not induce either the legitimate Catholic Church to consecrate him
as a bishop, nor the hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church. He looked
far and wide for an alternative.
In
1880, Roman Catholics, led by a loan priest, in Southern India broke with
Rome. The priest, Antonio Franscisco Xavier Alvares, sought consecration
as bishop from the Syro-Jacobite Church of Malabar, which is an Oriental
Orthodox Church under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Antioch. Patriarch
Ignatius Peter III of Antioch gave his blessing to this consecration.
Rene Vilatte requested that Alvarez elevate him to the episcopate. Alvarez
agreed and Vilatte pledged his church and himself to the authority of
the Patriarch of Antioch and in return was made Archbishop of the Old
Catholic Church of America and granted the privileges and rights of a
Metropolitan.
Rene
Vilatte as bishop made more than twenty subsequent consecrations of new
bishops and of new churches. These consecrations became doubtful because
they were made outside the authority of the Church. This prompted the
Syro-Jacobite Church to officially withdraw recognition of the secession
churches in 1938. Further, Vilatte was accused of not upholding the canons,
nor did he remain within the jurisdiction of the Church of Antioch.
The
Rejection of Vilatte - Implications for Uganda and Kenya
This
rejection of Rene Vilatte and his secession churches did not have much
impact on the African Orthodox Church in the United States, but it did
have serious implications on the churches in Uganda and Kenya.
Uganda
The
Ugandans severed relations with Bishop Alexander when they came to realise
that he was not really Orthodox and immediately they entered into communication
with the Greek Patriarch of Alexandria, Meletios Metaxakis. His Beatitude
was sympathetic and able to guide the Ugandans well.
In
1946, His Beatitude, Christophoros II, Patriarch of Alexandria, accepted
the Ugandan Orthodox Church into his flock. In 1959 a diocese was created
for East Africa and a bishop given the title of Irinoupolis (in honour
of Dar es Salaam). At that time the bishop resided in Uganda and looked
after both the African work and the Greek planters who came to Africa
after the dispersion of Smyrna.
Kenya
The
situation in Kenya was very different. By October 1952, both the KKEA
(Karinga Association) and the KISA (Independents) were charged with subversion
and their schools were closed. It was widely thought they were connected
directly with the MauMau who sought independence from Great Britain.
The
government offered to reopen the schools, but only under the direct supervision
of the government or the Missions. A few of the schools of KISA did opt
to reopen, but non of the Karinga schools.
The
African Orthodox Church was forced to keep a low profile. For ten years
Karinga Orthodox were not allowed public worship, yet their faith sustained
them until the State of Emergency was lifted. Independence came and President
Jomo Kenyatta lifted the ban on the Orthodox.
The Kikuyu Orthodox, under the leadership of Fr. Arthur G.
Gathuna, chose to revive the Orthodox Faith in Kenya. Further, linkage
was made with the Orthodox in Western Kenya who had received the Word
initially from Uganda. Like the Church in Uganda, the Kenyan Church now
sought the legitimacy of the Patriarchate of Alexandria.
Read
other writings by His Eminence Metropolitan Makarios in Adventures
in the Unseen
|
