Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch — Malabar Rite
What is the Church
of Antioch?
Herman Adrian Spruit
CHRISTIC
We are a limb of the one Christian church, the Mystical
Body of Christ. We acknowledge the Christ as our founder, living head, and eternal high priest.
INDEPENDENT CATHOLIC
We are a Catholic church in the original, universal, sense of that
word as well as in our form of sacramental worship. We are neither Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, nor Protestant, though
our bishops and priests trace their Holy Orders, or “apostolic succession” (the tradition of bishops consecrating
other bishops), through Roman Catholic and Orthodox lines. In this way we trace our roots as far back as any other Catholic
or Orthodox church. Our priests perform the liturgy and administer the seven sacraments.
SACRAMENTAL
We are a sacramental church. We hold that the sacraments are visible signs of a manifestation of
divine grace, and are powerful aids to spiritual growth. Holy Eucharist (Communion), Reconciliation (Penance), Holy Unction
(healing of the sick), and Holy Matrimony are made available to all who seek them. Baptism is the rite of formal initiation
into Christ's church. Confirmation seals the commitment to a Christian way of life. Holy Orders is an initiation available
to those who wish to serve as clergy.
MODERN
We are a modern church. We maintain that eternal truth cloaks itself
in garb appropriate to the age, and that the outward form of religion should keep pace with human development. We do not shrink
from new knowledge. Our form of Independent Catholicism embodies an ancient truth for a new age. We provide an intelligent
alternative — traditional worship with the free exploration of new ideas and techniques. All seekers are encouraged
to explore every relevant resource for spiritual development.
FELLOWSHIP
Our church is a spiritual fellowship of followers of the Spirit.
We give ourselves and others encouragement to live the truth. To live the truth is to become ever more the Christ, the true
Self of all and the source of real happiness and abiding fellowship.
LOVE CENTERED
We are a church of love. We accept Saint
John's testimony that God is Love For us, Christ's ministry is the law of love: “Love the Lord,
thy God, with thy whole heart, thy whole mind and thy whole strength; and love thy neighbor as thyself. This is the whole
of the Law and the prophets.” Saint Augustine epitomized Christian ethics in the precept, “Love and do as you
will.”
UNIVERSAL
We maintain that the Holy Spirit acts through pure channels everywhere,
regardless of age, sex, race, creed or culture. There is only one true God, however this God is known or worshipped; hence,
there is eternally only one holy universal Church, regardless of the cultural form it happens to assume in a given time and
place. We revere the saints, sages, and holy ones of all ages and places.
HONORS THE DIVINE FEMININE
We recognize that the one true God speaks with both feminine and
masculine voices. We listen for it. We maintain that God touches us in many ways. We respond. The Divine Feminine and Divine
Masculine manifest through and in us. We act. We seek not one or the other, but rather the co-mingling and integration of
all that is God. Experienced inwardly and expressed outwardly, the Divine Presence moves us with Grace toward a stillpoint
where we can abide in Peace, rest in God, and co-exist with all that is.
MYSTICAL
We are a mystical church, keeping in mind the Old Testament words,
“Be still and know I AM - God.” We give a primary place to Christ's saying, “The kingdom of heaven lies
within you.” and acknowledge that the greatest advancement in spiritual truth is made by those who discover that divinity
resides within. If God is Love, then it is through our love that we come to a real and abiding knowledge of God. For Christians,
love is spiritual knowledge par excellence.
SPIRITUAL
We seek to draw back the veil, first to discover the deeper intellectual
import and then the experiential dimension, which is the true meaning of spiritual symbolism in scripture, ritual, liturgy
and theology.
OPEN COMMUNION
We hold that a chief purpose of the church is to perpetuate the historical sacramental tradition
as instituted by Jesus Christ, and as preserved through apostolic succession. We maintain that the sacraments are channels
of divine grace. Therefore, we make the sacraments easily available to all. Since the Eucharist puts us in communion
with the Christ, it is a channel of Grace without parallel. Therefore, at our altars all reverent persons are welcome to receive
communion, whether members of the Church of Antioch
or not.
OPEN HOLY ORDERS
Holy Orders are open to all, regardless of gender,
marital status, or sexual orientation. While we value of the principle of the “priesthood of the laity,” we also
recognize the importance of valid of Holy Orders for the administration of the sacraments. Our solution is to make orders
available to all qualified candidates who wish to serve Christ through ordained ministry. Such candidates are required to
have a level of academic achievement and prior life experience which demonstrates the potential for the successful completion
of a program of formation and for the professional practice of ministry. This formation is supervised by the church's seminary,
Sophia Divinity
School. All ministries must be self-supporting.
AN INVITATION
Do you want the freedom to read and investigate
the best of modern thinkers and writers, at the same time keeping your roots in the beauty and form of the traditional
church? Large numbers of clergy and lay members are leaving their traditional churches because they have realized that there
was no longer a possibility of their using their intelligence to utilize the best thinking in this new age and yet remain
in their churches. The great tragedy is that these people are often the most intelligent and best educated church members!
They have used their time and energy to keep up with the times and investigate the best thinking of our age and they have
had the heartbreaking experience of having to leave the churches, which they still love and in which most of them were raised
in, in order to respect what they have learned. If you are such a person, it could be that you are spiritually ripe
to join the Church of Antioch
and perhaps do not even realize it. This is the church which sets no limits to your thinking but, to the contrary, encourages
you to use your intelligence to find the deepest spiritual truths that you can. You are urged to read all you can on scriptural
interpretation, comparative religion, mystical traditions, as well as the best works in psychology, psychiatry, philosophy,
and anthropology. At the same time, you can share with your fellow seekers the experience of worshiping in the rich traditional
beauty of Eucharistic fellowship.
