Ecclesia + Apostolica + Jesu + Christi

The Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ in Great Britain

Primate & Bishop: The Right Reverend Seán Manchester, O.S.G.

Ecclesia Apostolica Jesu Christi was founded in Britain circa A.D. 36, having been consecrated by Christ Himself who is sole Head of the Church. Its first bishop was Joseph of Arimathea, the apostle of Britain, who lived within four years of the second expulsion of the Romans. Only John, of the original apostles, outlived Joseph. Fifty years after he had placed the Body of Jesus Christ in the tomb in Palestine, Joseph went to his immortal reward and joined the saintly company that had preceded him on July 27th, AD 82. Cressy wrote in the Church History of Brittany: “Joseph was buried near the little wattle church he built.” Etched into the stone lid of the sarcophagus into which his bones were later placed was the simple inscription: “Ad Brittanos veni post Christum Sepelivi. Docui. Quieve.” (“To the Britons I came after I buried the Christ. I taught. I have entered my rest.”)

The year 597 witnessed the beginning of the end of the autonomy of Ecclesia Apostolica Jesu Christi in ancient Britain. Pope Gregory wanted nothing less than complete subjugation of the Britons and recognition of their Apostolic Church of his authority over her. Despite all the efforts of Rome, only Kent and London felt the full impact of Gregory’s teachings by the time he died in 604. Three years earlier the pope had assured Augustine: “You are the only bishop of the Church in England.” Augustine’s successor was Laurentius who applied superstition to forge a union between Rome and the Anglo-Saxon kings. Those who did not submit to the papal sword, did not survive. Thus Rome “evangelised” Britain in a tradition established by Constantine when the Christian Church joined hands with the Roman Empire and lost its legacy. The end was in sight when representatives of both the Roman and British Church met in 664 at Whitby to discuss the future of the indigenous people. By the beginning of the 8 century all trace of Ecclesia Apostolica Jesu Christi had disappeared. The legacy of Christ Himself, lovingly restored by Arimathean Joseph, was lost and would remain so for the next twelve centuries. Yet something remained, waiting to be found, as a symbol of that which had been lost ~ the Cup of the Last Supper that was brought to England by Joseph and became enshrined in the sanctuary of the wattle church until it, too, vanished.

Good Friday 1973 and the founding of Ordo Sancti Graal on the summit of an English hill by twelve disciples laid the foundations for the restoration of the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ in Great Britain. The Hampstead & Highgate Express newspaper recorded on 4 May 1973: “Wearing white robes and carrying a nine-foot-high wooden cross, he plans to set off from Hampstead Heath next week on a pilgrimage of peace. Walking all the way with Seán Manchester will be a group of twelve young supporters, who want to spread ‘the simple, spiritual ways of life originally taught by Christ’.” The leader of the group would later write: “A spiritual journey had led us to that summit beneath a darkening sky where the echoes of yestercentury mingled with a portent for tomorrow. … On that fateful day an inner voice told us that the renewal had begun. This became our central quest: to rebuild the ancient Grail Church and restore its sacred orders so woefully broken down when Rome succeeded at Canterbury.” [The Grail Church: Its Ancient Tradition and Renewed Flowering, published by Holy Grail, 1995. £14.99. ISBN 1 871151 01 5]

Seán Manchester, eighteen years later, became the first bishop of the restored Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ, having already been diaconated and ordained into the priesthood prior by an autocephalous jurisdiction within Old Catholicism known as the Celtic Catholic Church. The apostolic succession and sacramental system is not optional to the Church. It is the sine-qua-non of the being of the Church; the vitality of its world in its present pattern of manifestation. Thus to be anointed by the laying on of hands into a valid line of succession was an obligation to be undertaken; necessary to distinguish the restored Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ from being yet another religious cult. The very name “Christ” means anointed.

An historic continuity passing backwards in time to the apostles and Our Lord Himself was restored to the spiritual heirs of the early Apostolic Church in Britain on 4 October 1991. We are bound to believe that the powers that Jesus Christ bestowed upon the apostles were in turn conferred upon their successors through the laying on of hands. These powers have descended by the same means to present-day bishops in an unbroken succession. Thus the apostles are sent to continue the “works of the Messiah” and it is not that His mission is succeeded by theirs but that He is carrying out His own mission through their agency, working with them and confirming their word with accompanying signs. The sacraments are therefore outward and visible signs of the gifts to men and women of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The restored Church was named Ecclesia Apostolica Jesu Christi. The historical continuity of its apostolic succession, here imparted, cannot be questioned. It can be traced in an unbroken line to the nephew of Pope Urban VIII, Cardinal Antonio Barberini the Younger, prior to which it unfolds backwards to the Holy Apostles and Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself following the widely published Latin (Roman Catholic as it has come to be known) line.

From 1657 until his death in 1671, Cardinal Barberini, Archbishop of Rheims, consecrated as his coadjutor Charles-Maurice Le Tellier.

On 21 September 1670, by the orders of Pope Clement X, Le Tellier consecrated, (episcopally ordained and raised to the episcopate) Jacques-Benigne Bossuet.

Bossuet, as Bishop of Meaux, consecrated Jacques Goyon de Matignon on 24 October 1693 who, as Bishop of Condom, passed the succession on 12 February 1719 to Dominque-Marie Varlet, who, as Bishop of Babylon, on 17 October 1739 consecrated Petrus Johannes Meindaerts, Archbishop of Utrecht, who on 11 July 1745 consecrated Johannes van Stiphout, Bishop of Haarlem, who on 7 February 1768 consecrated Walter Michael van Nieuwenhuisen, Archbishop of Utrecht, who on 21 June 1778 consecrated Adrian Johannes Broekman, Bishop of Harlaam, who on 5 July 1797 consecrated Johannes Jacobus van Rhijn, Archbishop of Utrecht, who on 7 November 1805 consecrated Gisbert Cornelius de Jong, Bishop of Deventer, who on 24 April 1814 consecrated Willibrord van Os, Archbishop of Utrecht, who on 12 April 1819 consecrated Johannes Bon, Bishop of Harlaam, who on 14 June 1825 consecrated Johannes van Santen, Archbishop of Utrecht, who on 17 July 1854 consecrated Herman Heykamp, Bishop of Deventer, who on 11 August 1873 consecrated Gaspard Johannes Rinkel, Bishop of Haarlem, who on 11 May 1892 consecrated Gerardus Gul, Archbishop of Utrecht.

On 28 April 1908, Gerardus Gul consecrated Arnold Harris Mathew as Regionary Old Catholic Bishop for Great Britain and Ireland, thus bringing the Utrecht succession of the Old Catholic Church to the British Isles. This is known as the Mathew Line.

Arnold Harris Mathew, as Archbishop of London, on 28 October 1914 consecrated Frederick Samuel Willoughby, Bishop of St Pancras, who on 9 July 1922 consecrated James Bartholomew Banks, Bishop of Mercia, Primate of the Old Catholic Orthodox Church, who on 28 May 1940 consecrated Sidney Ernest Paget Needham, Bishop of Mercia, who on 4 January 1945 consecrated Hugh George de Willmott Newman, Archbishop of Glastonbury, who on 27 May 1950 consecrated Harold Percival Nicholson, Archbishop of Karim, who on 20 March 1955 consecrated Jan Frederick Assendelft-Attland, Archbishop of the Ancient Catholic Church of France, who on 20 May 1955 consecrated Irenaeus d’Eschevannes, Archbishop of Arles, who on 5 May 1957 consecrated Jean Pierre Danyel, Bishop of Redon, Primate of the Holy Celtic Church, who on 15 August 1966 consecrated John Nicholas Collins, Auxiliary of the Old Roman Catholic Church of Canada, who on 15 December 1968 consecrated Peter Cockburn Distin, Auxiliary of the Holy Celtic Church, Superior of the Order of the Atonement, who on 26 April 1969 consecrated Anthony Walter John Williams, Primate of the Holy Celtic Church, who on 20 May 1979 consecrated Illtyd Thomas, Primate of the Celtic Catholic Church, who, together with Michael Weston and James Henry Vermeulen, on 4 October 1991, consecrated Seán Manchester, Superior General for Ordo Sancti Graal, Primate/Bishop (with dignity of Archbishop) for Ecclesia Apostolica Jesu Christi (an autocephalous jurisdiction). On 1 July 1993 Seán Manchester was enthroned at Glastonbury as Bishop of that Ancient See. Those named in this paragraph are Old Catholic bishops in the Mathew Line of the Utrecht Succession. However, some were further consecrated, eg Illtyd Thomas was subsequently consecrated sub conditione on 27 July 1985 by Bertil Persson. Thus on 4 October 1991 Bishop Seán Manchester inherited Archbishop Bertil Persson’s lines of apostolic succession; plus, of course, those of Archbishop Illtyd Thomas held prior to his consecration sub conditione in 1985 by Archbishop Bertil Persson.

When Bishop Seán Manchester was consecrated by Old Catholic bishops Archbishop Thomas, Bishop Weston and Bishop Vermeulen on 4 October 1991, he inherited many lines of apostolic succession for which the above table is but one strand. Upon his episcopal consecration Bishop Manchester received congratulations from many church leaders, notably the late Cardinal Basil Hume’s ecumenical advisor for the Roman Catholic Church, Fr Michael Seed of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement, many Orthodox, Uniate and Old Catholic Archbishops, including Archbishop Bertil Persson of Sweden who stressed the importance of being “able to refer to many different valid successions” when “working ecumenically.” He reminded the new bishop that he is “accepted by the Utrecht Old Catholic Communion. [6 December 1991].” Cardinal Basil Hume, the late Primate of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, invited Bishop Manchester to various ecumenical gatherings at Westminster as a representative of Old Catholicism in Great Britain and indeed as Primate of Ecclesia Apostolica Jesu Christi.

Ecclesia Apostolica Jesu Christi, described as the last pure branch of early Christianity, offers the fundamental ordinances of the Gospel, instituted by Jesus Christ as special means of conveying divine grace and influence, commonly called mysteries or sacraments; plus prayers, blessings, healing, exorcism, and funeral rites. No money is requested for this work. All seven sacraments are available. The sacraments derive their power to impart grace from the merits of Our Lord’s Precious Blood. However, without baptism no other sacrament can be validly received. In baptism we promise to renounce Satan and all his works. This sacrament is vital for salvation and will not be refused to anyone who requests it. All believers in Christ are accepted. Those who seek the Lord’s table will find the Cup of the New Covenant.

Ecclesia Apostolica Jesu Christi perseveres in professing the Faith of the primitive Church as formulated in the ecumenical symbols and specified precisely by the unanimously accepted decisions of the seven ecumenical Councils and of the Fathers of the Church. Teachings that have no substance in holy writ and were not accepted by the early Apostolic Church are not received nor held as Articles of Faith by Ecclesia Apostolica Jesu Christi. Yet, there is much else, not holy writ, but ancient tradition. “If it were all to be recorded in detail, I suppose the world could not hold the books that would be written.” (John 21: 25).

This tradition is not only deposited in the Britain Isles, but in places as far afield as Palestine, Egypt, India and the South of France. The following web-pages link to much more information about the traditions relevant to the Apostolic Church in Britain, plus details of its renewed flowering and aspects of its ministry today. Click on the appropriate title to view each Grail webpage:

Mystery of the Holy Grail W Guardians of the Holy Grail W Ordo Sancti Graal W Church of the Holy Grail W Apostolic Succession W Divine Grace W Divine Healing W Path of the Disciple W First and the Last W Doctrine W The End W Sacerdotal Society of the Precious Blood W The Beginning