INTRODUCTION

IN the centuries following the separation of the Eastern and Western Churches, generally dated at 1054, Eastern Orthodox Churchmen were of the opinion that the true Catholic Church of Christ was represented only by the Eastern Church. And since there were no Western churches using "Western" rites left in communion with the Eastern Church it was natural for the idea to emerge that Orthodoxy was synonymous with the Eastern or Byzantine Rite. The thousand-year usage of Western rites and ceremonies, with the customs pertaining thereto, which existed alongside the Eastern rites when the two Churches were one was almost forgotten. At any rate, Western usages were considered in a suspicious light because they were practiced, from the Orthodox Catholic viewpoint, by schismatics and heretics who had deserted the communion of the Church Catholic.

In the middle of the nineteenth century a sensation was caused in the Orthodox Church circles by the conversion of Dr. Joseph J. Overbeck, a most remarkable but, today, comparatively unknown figure. Unlike previous converts to Orthodoxy, Overbeck did not wish to abandon his Western heritage and ethos and simply become an Eastern Orthodox Catholic. He desired to see the re-establishment of a Western Catholic Church in communion with the Church of the East. He wanted this projected Western Church to be at one with the Orthodox Church doctrinally but to re-possess its ancient heritage of Western rites and customs. Gathering about him a small group of other like-minded Orthodox converts in England, Overbeck devised a scheme to follow in order to bring his ideas into being.

Overbeck sometimes referred to his projected Church as the Western "Uniate" Church, i.e., a Church in union with the Eastern Church. He used the word "Uniate: in a sort of reverse order from the way it had originally been utilized, i.e., as a designation for those former members of the Eastern Orthodox Church who had united with Rome, retaining the Eastern rites and disciplines but adopting Roman Catholic doctrine. By "Uniate" Overbeck meant Western Catholic Christians who preserved the Western rites but adopted the Eastern discipline (Church constitution, canon laws, etc.) as well as the Orthodox creed. This "Uniate" Western Church was to be called the Western Orthodox Catholic Church.

Overbeck and his ideas were a bit premature and probably too radical for some Eastern Churchmen to accept in the nineteenth century. He was not successful in his attempts to restore the Western Church in communion with Orthodoxy. It was only in the 1920’s (in Poland) and 1930’s (in France) that Western Orthodox parishes were established along lines similar to those Overbeck proposed.

The purpose of this study will be to examine Dr. Overbeck’s scheme and describe his efforts to implement it. An attempt will be made to uncover the reasons for Overbeck’s failure. Heretofore the subject has not received any extensive treatment. The present study, thus, is the first analysis of source materials concerned with Overbeck and his scheme. As such, obviously it will have its shortcomings. The study is based primarily on Overbeck’s own writings as found, for the most part, in The Orthodox Catholic Review, the journal he founded and edited. Some use also was made of materials in Russian ecclesiastical journals and other Russian sources found in the libraries of Columbia and Harvard University as well as at the New York Public Library.