Relations between the Russian Orthodox and the American Episcopal Churches in the first half of the 1860s

Abstract

The article is devoted to the initial period of the relationship between the Russian Orthodox and Episcopal Church in the USA in the period from 1862 to 1865. After the end of the war for independence in the United States (1775–1783), Anglicans of America gained independence from the Church of England and established their own Episcopal Church in 1784. Faced with difficulties in distinguishing themselves from numerous Protestant communities and sects, the Episcopal Church took the initiative to approach the Russian Orthodox Church as the successor of the ancient Universal Church, which had solid dogmatic foundations and a structural basis. The presence of parishes of the Russian Church on the North American continent contributed to rapprochement. In 1862, a Russian-Greek Committee was established in the Episcopal Church for the purpose of establishing friendly relations between the two denominations. In 1863 and 1864, representatives of the American Church, layman Roggles and presbyter Jung, came to Russia and met with representatives of the Russian Church authorities, including Metropolitan Filaret of Moscow, with whom they discussed possible paths to unity. The interfaith dialogue that had begun was interrupted in 1865 due to the American Civil War. However, the results achieved at this first stage of inter-church communion were in demand in the following years when the Episcopal Church in the USA joined forces with the Church of England for rapprochement with the Russian Orthodox Church.