Orthodox Church of the Gauls

The Orthodox Church of the Gauls is a self-governing, Western Rite Orthodox Christian church formed in 2006. The is part of the Communion of Western Orthodox Churches.

WWW eglise-orthodoxe.eu

History

Eastern Orthodoxy

In 1924, a former Roman Catholic priest, along with his adherents, formed the Eglise catholique évangélique, an Independent Catholic church.
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 Western Orthodox Church, 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, 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 Russian Orthodox Church, and the parishes and majority of the clergy of the had departed with him.

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 in 2000. The group comprised the following communities, as well as a number of other disparate clergy:

The monastic community of Saint Michel and Saint Martin, which follows the Rule of Saint Benedict.
The Bethany Community – a lay community for hesychastic spirituality, led at the time by Father Alphonse and Rachel Goettmann at Gorze.

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 would mean abandoning their Western Orthodox liturgical and spiritual heritage. Therefore, the clergy resigned from the, taking their communities with them.

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 has grown numerically to comprise a number of parishes, missions, and monastic houses in France, Belgium, Spain, Poland, the United States of America, and Brazil.
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, with Bishop Gorazd Sawicki as its exarch.

Doctrine

The professes the doctrinal teachings of the ecumenical councils of Nicea, Constantinople, and Ephesus.

Relations with other churches

, the is in full communion with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in America.