The Western Rite Vicariate of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, commonly called the Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate (AWRV) or simply the Western Rite Vicariate (WRV), is a vicariate of Western Orthodox Christian communities throughout the United States of America and Canada. It is the largest Western Orthodox jurisdiction in full communion with the entire Eastern Orthodox Church.
Formally established in 1958 by Metropolitan Anthony Bashir through an edict issued at the Archdiocese's General Convention in Los Angeles, the vicariate was established "To provide a home in the Orthodox Church for western people of non-Byzantine cultural and religious background," and "To witness to the catholicity of the Orthodox Church to her Byzantine Rite people, priests and theologians."
The AWRV numbers several thousand communicants in 30 parishes and missions, and one monastery. Administratively, the vicariate is structured into four deaneries covering the United States of America and Canada, with full oversight by an episcopal vicar (currently Bishop John of Worcester and New England), and the Archdiocese's Metropolitan (currently Saba Esber).
Since the reception of its inaugural parishes and clergy in 1961, the Vicariate experienced steady growth in the late 20th centuries through the reception of communities from Old Catholic and Continuing Anglican churches, and the Episcopal Church. Since its founding, the Vicariate expanding from three initial communities in the early 1960's to 24 parishes and missions by 2003.Recent reports as of 2025 highlight continued "explosive growth" in existing parishes, with strategic plans to establish nine additional missions and achieve 30 full parishes (not including missions) within five years.
History Earlier proposals Prior to the establishment of the Western Rite Vicariate in 1958, several groups had approached the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch to be received as Western Orthodox.
On August 5th, 1911, Archbishop Arnold Harris Mathew and the Old Roman Catholic Church in Great Britain entered into an Act of Union with the Patriarchate of Antioch, and Abp. Mathew swore an oath of fidelity to Patriarch Gregory IV as confirmed by Gerassimos Messara, Prince-Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Orthodox Church of Beirut. However, Prince-Archbishop Messara had no power to do this without the consent of Patriarch Gregory IV, which was never given" Patriarch Gregory IV retracted Messara's statement. On 26 February 1912, Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria Patriarch Photius of Alexandria, however, did accept this union. Although Mathew was originally informed that "all were welcome", he was not ultimately admitted as a cleric into the Church of Antioch. As Fr. Nicholas Alford notes:Some have claimed that Metropolitan Gerassimos gave approval to the Missal and Ritual used by Mathew, but as with the union, the terms of acceptance and what changes were needed were not clarified. The most significant effect of this episode was the lasting effect it had on a young Deacon Anthony Bashir, who accompanied Metropolitan Gerrassimos, as it was Metropolitan Anthony Bashir who gave a canonical home to the Western Rite movement in America forty-seven years later.Metropolitan Germanos (Shehadi), while resident in the United States, engaged in negotiations to receive a Roman Catholic movement in Mexico in the 1920's, but the group was ultimately not received. Metropolitan Anthony Bashir was approached by multiple groups in the 1950's, as noted in his report to the 1958 Convention of the Syrian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of New York:I have rejected many overtures from persons and sects of uncertain composition and purpose. Some eight years ago a number of former Roman Catholic priests and parishes in Central America sought admission to our Patriarchate with their Latin rite. My delegate reported unfavorably and the application was refused. Subsequently the movement took a course which fully justified my refusal. No one can avoid every failure, but in this delicate situation, so new to us, every precaution is necessary.
Society of Saint Basil
Sometime in 1930 or 1931, William Albert Nichols, a priest of the Apostolic Christian Church, converted to Orthodoxy and joined the American Orthodox Catholic Church, led by Archbishop Aftimios Olfiesh. In 1931, the Society of Clerks Secular of Saint Basil was founded by Nichols and Olfiesh. On September 27, 1932, Nichols was consecrated Auxiliary Bishop of Washington by Abp. Aftimios, with the name Ignatius, to evangelise Americans in the English language using a western rite. This was part of Olfiesh's plan to lay the foundation of the AOCC which would transcend nationality and language. Eventually by 1934, Olfiesh’s group, including Bishop Ignatius Nichols, would find itself outside mainstream Orthodoxy in "canonical limbo".
Nichols' successor as head of the SSB was Alexander Turner. Turner was given leadership of the SSB in 1936 and consecrated as bishop by Nichols in 1939. Bishop Nichols reposed in 1947, leaving Turner as the sole leader of the AOCC and SSB. Turner would eventually come to the conclusion that there was no future for his little flock outside canonical Orthodoxy, and through his friend Fr. Paul Schneirla began unofficial conversations in 1952 on canonical regularisation by Metropolitan Anthony Bashir in the Syrian Antiochian Archdiocese of New York. Turner had been promoting the Western Rite Orthodox ideal for decades before this, and expressing his ideas through his periodical The Basilian, later renamed Orthodoxy.
Creation of the Vicariate
As Schneirla recalls,In desiring to extend and implement Orthodoxy’s mission in America, Metropolitan Antony realized that there were also those outside of communion with the Church who were sincerely seeking the truth, who were desirous of becoming engrafted to the vine of Christ. After considerable meditation of the problem and taking into consideration the action of the Church elsewhere in the world, namely France, he came to the conclusion that the use of a Western rite in America could be of importance in facilitating the return to the Church of separated Western Christians in America. He turned for guidance to the late Patriarch Alexander III of Antioch who, in May, 1958, after consultation with the other Autocephalous Churches, gave an affirmative reply. Forwarding to the Metropolitan an Arabic translation of the famous 1936 Ukase of the Moscow Patriarchate, the Patriarch of Antioch authorized Metropolitan Antony to "take the same action, leaving to your Orthodox zeal and good judgment the right to work out the details in the local situations."http://www.westernorthodox.com/anthony
On May 31, 1958, Patriarch Alexander III of Antioch authorised His Eminence Metropolitan Anthony Bashir of New York to establish Western Orthodoxy in the Syrian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of New York. In August of that year, Metropolitan Anthony issued his edict establishing the Western Rite Vicariate in the archdiocese. The parishes of the SSB were quietly placed under probationary supervision for the next several years. By Easter, 1961, everything was prepared. The three remaining parishes under Bp. Alexander's supervision, and all the remaining Basilians, by this time only nine professed members, were received into the Antiochian Archdiocese of New York during Holy Week. The clergy were ordained as priests and Turner himself was given the rank of mitred archpriest and named the first Vicar General of the newly-established Western Rite Vicariate.Turner, J. (2010). Cum Illi Graeci Sint, Nos Latini: Western Rite Orthodoxy and the Eastern Orthodox Church [Doctoral dissertation, University of Wales]. Lampeter.
Expansion In 1967, Bishop Maurice Francis Parkin of a splinter group of the North American Old Roman Catholic Church under Richard Arthur Marchenna, and St. Luke's Priory, along with three of his clergy and the parish of St. Anne in Mount Holly, New Jersey were received by chrismation into the Western Rite Vicariate. The monks of St. Luke's Priory ran St. Luke's Priory Press, and after St. Luke’s reception into the AWRV, the monks would provide all of the publications for the AWRV. The priory was formally disestablished in the 1980's some time after Parkin's death, but the press remains in use by the Vicariate.
New avenues for growth opened in 1976 with the reception of Church of the Incarnation in Detroit, Michigan. Incarnation was a parish of the Episcopal Church before its reception by the Antiochian Archdiocese in 1976, amid the recent turmoil that had overtaken the PECUSA. Incarnation was one of only a few former Episcopal churches that joined the AWRV, but it left a massive impact on the Vicariate. Fr. Joseph Angwin, the parish priest (described as an "extreme ritualist") petitioned for the use of the Book of Common Prayer, as revised by his parish, as their liturgical rite instead of the Tridentine Use which had been used by all AWRV parishes thitherto that point. Metropolitan Philip gave tentative approval to the liturgy, and work began revising the liturgy according to the standards prescribed by the Russian Observations upon the American Prayer Book. This liturgy, initially entitled The Divine Liturgy: Western Rite, is what ultimately became the Mass of Saint Tikhon. The same period also saw growing ecumenical dialogue between the Polish National Catholic Church and the Antiochian Archdiocese. Even as late as 1994 there were hopes for a possible union between the PNCC and the Antiochian Archdiocese, but no union ever materialised.
In 1979, St. Andrew’s Church in Eustis, Florida was received into the AWRV, along with several other parishes from the Episcopal Church.The priest of Saint Andrew’s, Fr. Michael Keiser, began developing a parish prayer book to codify the liturgical materials provided by the Vicariate. Several years later, a paperback version of what would become the Saint Andrew's Service Book was printed by the parish and was quickly picked up by a number of other churches. The appearance of a full liturgical service book would help to stabilise the liturgical life of the movement, and eventually the AWRV would reissue several liturgical books in the years leading up to the publication of The Orthodox Missal in 1995.
In 1991, Fr. John Connely, rector of St. Mark's Episcopal Parish in Denver, Colorado—which had recently lost its historic building to the Episcopal Diocese of Denver, once visited by St. Tikhon of Moscow—came in contact with the Antiochian Archdiocese, and the community was subsequently received into the Western Rite Vicariate. The parish runs Lancelot Andrewes Press, a well-known producer of Anglican Rite liturgical texts, most notably the St. Dunstan Plainsong Psalter.
The Benedictine Fellowship of St. Laurence at St. Mark’s bought a mountain property near Cañon City, Colorado, in 2001 intended as a retreat center and outgrowth of the parish. The property had one large lodge on the site, where the church began offering retreats in 2001. The Benedictine Fellowship constructed an oratory in 2009. The monastic community of Our Lady of Glastonbury and Saint Laurence (now commonly known as Ladyminster) was officially established on Roodmas (September 14), 2013. Ladyminster has grown to become the cornerstone of the Orthodox Order of Saint Benedict, particularly through its oblates.
The Vicariate today Since its founding in 1958, the Western Rite Vicariate has increased more than tenfold in size, and now consists of "a rapidly growing dimension of the Church's mission in America," boasting 30 parishes and missions as of 2026. The Vicariate holds a bi-annual conference, hosted by various parishes, typically around the Solemnity of the Transfiguration.