What has become known as the Antiochian Evangelical Orthodox Mission (AEOM) is part of a movement among Evangelicals and other Protestant Christians toward liturgical and sacramental worship, and toward the rediscovery of the faith and practice of the historic church.
During the 1960s, a group of leaders in Campus Crusade for Christ, including Peter E. Gillquist, Jon Braun, Jack Sparks, J. Richard Ballew, Gordon T. Walker, and Kenneth Berven, became increasingly dissatisfied with the disconnection between evangelism and the church. In their evangelistic efforts on the college campus, the church was virtually nonexistent as a corporate visible entity. Converts were generally left to their own individual experience of faith and not well integrated into communities of worship and faith development.
Beginning in 1968, these persons left the staff of Campus Crusade and pursued their own ministries in different parts of the United States. In 1973, they resumed their relationship with one another in an effort to improve their own individual ministries and to see how they could best do the work of evangelism in the context of the church. They formed an organization called the New Covenant Apostolic Order (NCAO), which was designed to be a voluntary community of “apostolic workers” called to mutual commitment and support in ministry, with the purpose of establishing and building churches.
Since they were all from different Protestant backgrounds (Lutheran, Baptist, Evangelical Covenant, Methodist), it was necessary to work toward a common understanding of church, worship, doctrine, and parish life. To that end, the NCAO met for a week each quarter to study these issues. In order to find a common ground, the participants decided to undertake a historical study of these issues, including a careful reading of the patristic sources, with the results being carefully examined in the light of the Scriptures. Further, when the study was completed and consensus reached on an issue, they committed themselves to implement the findings in the local parish setting.
The early studies of the NCAO convinced them that the worship of the church had been liturgical and sacramental from the beginning. The outline of the eucharistic liturgy described by Justin Martyr in his First Apology became the basis for the worship of this sphere of churches. Studies of the Council of Nicea and the development of the doctrine of the Trinity and of the Incarnation led to a deepened and fuller understanding of the historic Christian faith. A study of the writings of Ignatius, Cyprian, and others led to the conclusion that the church should be structured with bishops, presbyters, and deacons leading the people of God. The writings of Irenaeus, Tertullian, Hippolytus, and Vincent of Lerins contributed also to the group’s growing understanding of the relationship between the church’s tradition and the preservation of the truth of the gospel.
Over a period of five years during the mid-1970s, the NCAO continued to study the issues and events of the first Christian millennium. The Seven Ecumenical Councils of the church were examined in detail, and their teachings embraced by the members of the NCAO and their churches. When the issues surrounding the Great Schism of 1054 were examined, the conclusion was reached that the Eastern Orthodox church was correct on the issues of papal authority and the Filioque clause in the Nicene Creed. This led to the desire to establish some relationship and dialogue with the modern-day Orthodox church.
As these findings concerning church structure and government, doctrine, and liturgy were taught and implemented in the local churches, it became clear that the NCAO was no longer a loose collection of churches, but had become, for want of a better term, a denomination. Consequently, in February 1979 these churches organized the Evangelical Orthodox Church (EOC), seen as “a denomination within the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.” Bishops were chosen and consecrated and a denominational structure was developed. Peter E. Gillquist was chosen to be the Presiding Bishop. A publishing house, Conciliar Press, was established in Ben Lomond, California, and a quarterly magazine, AGAIN, was begun.
At the same time, the Holy Synod of the EOC had a conscious awareness of the need to be integrated into the historic church in some fashion. To remain independent churches was outside the conception of the patristic faith to which EOC was committed. The EOC was one of the few denominations ever formed that had as one of its stated goals at inception to lose its independent existence through union with the historic church.
Later in 1979, the EOC opened a formal dialogue with the Orthodox Churches in North America with the goal of establishing canonical unity between the EOC and the other Orthodox churches. Theologians such as John Meyendorff and Alexander Schmemann, and hierarchs such as Bishop Dmitri of Dallas and Bishop Maximos (Greek Orthodox Diocese of Pittsburgh), were the key figures in the early discussions. The theology and liturgical practice of the EOC began to reflect more and more the experience and teaching of the Orthodox church.
One of the difficulties in establishing a relationship with the Orthodox Church in North America is that there is no single jurisdictional entity with which dialogue can be conducted. The church is administrated through the various parallel ethnic jurisdictions. As a result, the EOC’s progress toward unity with the Orthodox church was slow. Discussions with the Orthodox Church in America, the Greek Archdiocese of North and South America, and a pilgrimage to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul (Constantinople) in 1985 failed to bring about the establishment of communion. In September 1986, the Holy Synod of the EOC met with Metropolitan Philip (Saliba) of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America and accepted his offer to be received into the Orthodox church.
Beginning on February 9, 1987, the churches of the EOC were received into the Antiochian Archdiocese, and the clergy ordained to the diaconate and priesthood of the Orthodox church. Seventeen parishes with over 2000 members from the United States and Canada were thus canonically and sacramentally united with the Orthodox church. Metropolitan Philip (Saliba) renamed the EOC the Antiochian Evangelical Orthodox Mission (AEOM), and commissioned them to “bring Orthodoxy to America.”
Since being received into the Orthodox church, the AEOM has continued to be involved in the establishment of churches and the developing movement of Christians back to the historic church with her sacraments and liturgical life. Nearly twenty new churches have been established, and many more are in various stages of preparation. Conciliar Press continues to publish books, pamphlets, and magazines promoting the Orthodox faith, church, and spiritual life. International preaching missions have been carried out in India and Romania.
The early 1990s have seen a growing number of people from various backgrounds, Episcopal, charismatic, evangelical, who are searching for a fuller experience of worship and sacrament, faithfulness to the historic Christian faith, and the development of spiritual life in the context of the local parish. The AEOM hopes to be the vanguard of a larger movement bringing Christians back to the historic church.