Julian Joseph Overbeck
Julian Joseph Overbeck (1820–1905) was a
The modern re-emergence of an Orthodox Western Rite begins in 1864 with the work of Overbeck, a former Catholic priest. Overbeck had left the priesthood, converted to Lutheranism and married, though it is uncertain whether he ever functioned as a Lutheran pastor. He immigrated to England in 1863 to become professor of German at the Royal Military Academy, where he also undertook studies of the Church of England and Orthodoxy. Convinced that both the papacy and Anglicanism were on the verge of collapse, Overbeck was received into the Orthodox Church at the Russian Embassy in London by Fr. Eugene Poppoff in 1865 as a layman because he had married after his ordination.[1]: 5
As a part of his conversion to the Orthodox Church, Overbeck had requested permission from the synod of the
Overbeck had also begun to convince others of the feasibility of a Western Orthodox church and was ultimately able to submit a petition of 122 signatures (mostly
The next several years were spent with further developing the Western liturgies for administration of the other sacraments as well as the praying of the Divine Office. Overbeck also attempted to reach out to
By 1876, Overbeck began to make appeals to other Orthodox churches for their recognition of his scheme. He received audiences with the
References
- ^ a b Abramtsov, David F. (1961). The Western Rite and the Eastern Church: Dr. J. J. Overbeck and his scheme for the re-establishment of the Orthodox Church in the West (PDF) (unpublished? MA thesis). Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh. p. 5. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2005-10-23. Retrieved 2014-05-26 – via Project Canterbury.
- ^ Sobranio mnenii i otzyvov Filareta, mitropolita moskovskago i kolomenskago, po uchebnym i tserkovno-gosudarstvennym voprosam, ed. Archbishop Savva, Tome V, Part II (Moscow, 1888), 711-713.
- ^ Georges Florovsky, "Orthodox Ecumenism in the Nineteenth Century", St. Vladimir’s Seminary Quarterly, 4, No. 3-4, 1956, 32.