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His Eminence is one of the most vibrant, knowledgeable, and
caring Bishops a person could ever hope to meet. After
spending over 20 years as an extraordinarily successful
Episcopal Priest, he was received into the Orthodox Christian
Faith to, among other things, serve as a pioneer in the
restoration of the ancient western-rites within the Orthodox
Church across the world.
Prior to November of 2002, Fathers Anthony (Bondi), Stephen
(Sinclair) and Joseph (Lory) were under the American Diocese of
the Church of France under their Vicar Bishop Gabriel. They
later decided to form into The Holy Orthodox Catholic and
Apostolic Church of America and entered into the American
Mission of ROCOR (The Orthodox American Church). On the day they
were received into The Orthodox American Church, Father Anthony
was elevated to a mitered Archpriest and appointed Vicar General
of the Western Rite.
On February 2nd of 2003, Father Anthony was ordained a Bishop
by Metropolitan Nicholas (Lambrou), Archbishop John (Schneyder)
and Bishop James (Johnson) in the Cathedral of the Holy
Protection of the Mother of God. Metropolitan Nicholas was from
the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and both Archbishop John and
Bishop James were from the Orthodox American Church. This
established the Apostolic Succession required for all Orthodox
Bishops by the universally accepted “Canons” of the Orthodox
Christian Church.
His Grace, Bishop Anthony and his Priests, along with
Archbishop John and Bishop James, decided to join with the
Former Exarchate of the Patriarchate of Alexandria to mitigate
against the fragmentation. On August 19th 2003, in the Cathedral
Church of the Protection of the Mother of God in New York City,
Bishop Anthony was elevated to Metropolitan Archbishop of New
York by the Holy Synod of the Former Exarchate of Alexandria.
This was done by the hands of Archbishop Constantine (Spyrou),
who continues to serve as the Primate of the Former Exarchate of
Alexandria, and Archbishop Anthony, Archbishop John and
Metropolitan James, received cheirotosia (canonical blessing of
their own ordinations as Bishops) from Archbishop Constantine.
As a new Metropolitan in the Holy Synod of the Former
Exarchate of Alexandria, His Eminence, Archbishop Anthony, was
appointed to oversee Western Rite parishes. Since being received
into the Former Exarchate of Alexandria, the Archdiocese has
grown spiritually and numerically to the point where the
Archdiocese of New York now has several more churches, priories, missions and sketes
located in North America. Each year it continues to grow one
step at a time at a seemingly exponential pace.
More than just growing numbers, the Archbishop Anthony
envisions the Archdiocese continuing to produce holy and
faithful Priests who will spread Holy Orthodoxy by both word and
example using the Ancient Orthodox Western
Rite. It is his mission to do all that he can to support
efforts for unity within Holy Orthodoxy. In order to accomplish
this mission, he is doing a number of things; 1) pressing for a
better educated clergy, 2) contacting other jurisdictions to
create a forum for traditional non-SCOBA Orthodox Churches to
spiritually unite and work together for the common good and 3)
working to make quality Liturgical materials available to all
people. An example of his efforts can be viewed in any of
the rubrics and texts below, which are are only the most recent
highlights of the hundreds of rubrics, texts, and books he has
both read and written.
He is truly one who leads by example.
The Order for the Celebration of the Restored Western Orthodox Liturgy
The Directions for the Celebration of the Restored Western Orthodox Liturgy
The Gallican Liturgy
The Holy Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church of America Official Liturgy
The Liturgy of Saint Gregory - Traditional Language
The Sarum Rite with Pictures
The above files are provided by His Eminence, Archbishop
Anthony, Metropolitan Archbishop of New York. |
