RETURN & RESTORATION: THE VISION THAT INSPIRED THE FORMATION OF THE ANCIENT CHURCH OF THE WEST

Christ the Word, the Center of Our Holy Patrimony

By Bp. Joseph (Ancient Church of the West) 

The vision entrusted to us is layered, textured, and deeply informed by the witness of history. It resists reduction to a single dimension, for it has been woven from many strands of our inheritance, through the British, Celtic, Syriac, and Anglican, and coming together into a living fabric.

The journey began with a return to the ancient British and Celtic patrimony, and to its remarkable consonance with the ancient Syriac tradition. On so many levels, these streams flow together, testifying to an underlying universal core, a catholic and apostolic strata that can be recovered, not invented. Against the loud assertions of the so-called “Orthobros,” who deny that such a stable foundation exists apart from Byzantine innovations, we insist that this ancient core is real, enduring, and divinely given.

The Nonjurors themselves outlined such a path of renewal. Rejecting both the fragmentary vision of the Reformation and the compromise of the Restoration monarchy, they sought nothing less than a true return to the Apostolic faith. They gave us the 1716 Concordat with Jerusalem, the St. James Liturgy, and the spiritual philosophy of Thomas Deacon, William Law, and John Wesley. Law restored Greek Patristic spirituality to Anglican life; Wesley carried this renewal into the common tongue of the people. These were not curiosities of history, but the very covenant and prayerbook of our forefathers: an inheritance that aligns seamlessly with ancient Orthodoxy and fulfills the original intent of the Caroline Divines. To embrace this is not novelty but obedience; not invention but patrimony.

From the East Syriac Church, we drew immense theological and historical inspiration. Having lived with them and learned from them, it was clear by 2015 that while they embody a profound fidelity to tradition, they lacked the missionary urgency that drives our calling in the West and around the world. To be a “Syriac Church in the West” would have been to imitate without transmitting, a dry attempt at Larping. The vocation given to us is not to preserve in isolation, but to proclaim, to teach, and to extend the faith of the Apostles to new generations.

This is why our vision feels organic and stable. It is not contrived; it flows from what was always already given, received, and prayed. Our work, through the Pathway to Holiness and in our growing ministries, is to communicate this vision, to hand it on in a form that is transmissible, faithful, and fruitful.

At the heart of this unfolding are the men whom God has knit together in fraternal communion. Bishop Gregory, with his humility and uncanny discernment of souls, speaks into lives with pastoral clarity. Bishop Jamil, with his ministry of healing and counseling, brings Christ’s comfort to the broken and addicted. Bishop Philip, with his vision for children, families, and homeschooling, builds the Christian household into the bedrock of the Church. Our beloved Asian Bishops, Metropolitan Rogelio with his wisdom and heart, Bishop Aries with his powerful appeal to conservative Anglicans to return to a fully Orthodox and Apostolic Faith, and Chorbishop Paul with his pastoral instincts, youth ministry, and focus on catechesis. Fr. John, with his many years of monastic experience on Mount Athos. Fr. Michael, with his deep understanding of Patristics, Aquinas, and teaching in Rome and Great Britian in many famous institutions. And Fr. Duncan, with pastoral simplicity and strength, anchors our life in worship and teaching. These are just a few of the notable clergy that are working together to make our Church a vibrant center of learning, discipleship and sacramental reality. 

This communion is not a coincidence of friendships, but a supernatural gathering. God has assembled this body to restore what was lost in the West, to shape a generation to love the Lord, and to worship as the Apostles and Fathers taught. The pastoral heart of our vision lies not in politics, nor in triumphalism, but in love. This love binds us to one another, animates our local ministries, and radiates outward in mission.

Here, then, is our patrimony: not a museum of forgotten rites, but a living covenant, a prayerful continuity, and a missionary fire. We have been called to restore, to proclaim, and to embody the faith of the Ancient Church in our own time, for the salvation of souls and the glory of God.

COLLECT

O Lord Jesus Christ, who didst send forth thine Apostles to preach the Gospel unto all nations, and hast in every age raised up faithful witnesses to guard and hand down the treasure of Thy truth: Grant unto us grace to be steadfast in the faith once delivered to the saints, to restore in our own time that which was lost, and to teach with love that which we have received; that Thy Church may be built up in holiness, and Thy Name glorified from generation to generation; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.