T ALLEN GREENFIELD's ECCLESIASTICAL PAGE

Photo of Bertiaux & Greenfield At Bertiaux's Chicago Temple, December 4, 1993 EV on occasion of Greenfield's reconsecration to the Episcopate. Photo by Frater 117. See Certificate below.

APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION &
SUCCESSION FROM THE PROPHET

a statement of policy by Rt. Rev.T Allen Greenfield

Please note that, as Tau Michael Bertiaux has held, since June 16, 1979, all major independent lines of apostolic succession through consecration at that time by Bishop Forest Gregory Barber, all such lines flow to me by virtue of my consecrations by Bertiaux. In line with Patriarch Tau Silenus and Primate Tau Apiryon, I hold that there is a distinction between, on the one hand, Spiritual Appointment and Consecration in the lineage of the Prophet of the Aeon (Crowley) and, on the other, traditional Apostolic Succession.. Both have their importance and validity, in my view, and, in holding both, I believe I can render a rather well informed and detached opinion on this. I hold the succession of the Prophet of the Aeon as a Bishop through Consecration by both the Absolute Grand Patriarch of the Ordo Templi Orientis Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica (November 19, 1988), and from the U.S. Primate of the same august body (December 10, 1993). I adhere to the Law of the New Aeon by conviction and solemn commitments.

It is our conviction that verifiable spiritual powers are demonstrably attributable to various lineages of spiritual succession, be this the so-called "Succession of the Apostles" (which may have more to do with the ancient Roman state religion than Christianity), various non-apostolic but similar lines of succession (Latter Day Saints, Doinel Gnostic, New Aeon, et al), or blood lineages as in the hereditary Hindu Brahmins or Hebrew Kohenim. As we often indicate, T Allen Greenfield professes only two fundamental convictions in these endeavors: he advocates Scientific Illuminism, or the method of science employed in pursuit of the aims of religion, and he holds firmly to the conviction that the world as-it-is is sufficiently unsatisfactory that exploration of almost any ethical out-of-the-box alternative, however outrŽ, is worth the effort. We consider this Tikkun Olam, the attempt to improve the world as envisioned in our native great Hebraic tradition.

I hold also with Tau Michael Bertiaux that Apostolic Succession is of value as a continuation of the most ancient priesthoods of Egypt and Rome through the Christian communion, and that special mystical powers"objectively" are transferred by consecration in these lineages. My particular assertion is that this can be objectively verified through scientific experimentation, similar to that performed in parapsychology with spiritual healers. The legend of Ormus, the Egyptian Priest converted in apostolic times to Christianity, and transforming Egyptian Rites into a mode suitable to the Aeon of Osiris is, at least allegorically, a fair hint of the orderly continuity between ancient Near Eastern religions and the Christian Succession in the Eastern Churches, making it a suitable vehicle for continuity in the Aeon of Horus. In the Western Churches, the Apostolic Succession existed in the many currents of the long-enduring state religion of Rome, which can be traced to the early Roman ruler Numa Pompilius, founder of the College of Pontiffs and the office of Pontifex Maximus, hundreds of years before Christ; passing through the Roman Imperial State as one with the Emperor as Pontifex Maximus from the time of Julius Caesar until the Christian Emperor Gratian renounced the title in 379 E.V., apparently in favor of the Bishop of Rome, Pope Damasus I. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, "The title pontifex was used of Roman Catholic bishops and pontifex maximus of the pope by the end of the 4th century." The continuity from the most ancient spiritual sources should be obvious here, and its historical value in continuity for the New Aeon equally valid, all other considerations and theories aside.

The following apostolic lineages are quite well documented. Others are also quite well documented and available for suitable historical research purposes.

OLD CATHOLIC & LIBERAL CATHOLIC 
 SUCCESSION - (This constitutes the full succession of Rome,
 through Pope Urban VIII,  his Archbishop of Rheims, the Archbishop of 
Mieux, and the subsequent accepted lineage of the Dutch Old
 Catholic Church through Archbishop Geraldus Gul.)

ARNOLD HARRIS MATTHEW consecrated by Old Catholic Bishop GUL April 28, 1908
FREDERICK SAMUEL WILLOUGHBY consecrated by MATTHEW October 28, 1914
JAMES INGALL WEDGEWOOD consecrated by WILLOUGHBY February 13, 1916
IRVING STEIGER COOPER consecrated by WEDGEWOOD July 13, 1919
CHARLES J. HAMPTON consecrated by COOPER September 13, 1931
HERMAN ADRIAN SPRUIT consecrated by HAMPTON June 22, 1957
FOREST E. GREGORY BARBER consecrated by SPRUIT June 15, 1971
MICHAEL PAUL BERTIAUX consecrated by BARBER June 16, 1979
ALLEN HENRY GREENFIELD consecrated by BERTIAUX September 21, 1986 &
December 4, 1993


EASTERN ORTHODOX (JACOBITE) SUCCESSION- (Jacobite/Eastern Orthodox Succession of Antioch)

JOSEPH RENE VILATTE consecrated by Archbishop JULIUS ALVARES May 29, 1892
PAOLO MIRAGLIA consecrated by VILATTE May 6, 1900
JULIEN HOUSSAYE consecrated by MIRAGLIA December 4, 1904
LOUIS FRANCOIS GIRAUD consecrated by HOUSSAYE July 21, 1911
JEAN BRICAUD consecrated by GIRAUD July 12, 1913
VICTOR BLANCHARD consecrated by BRICAUD May 5, 1918
ROGER MENARD consecrated by BLANCHARD January 7, 1945
ROBERT AMBELAIN consecrated by MENARD June 10, 1946
ROGER POMMERY consecrated by AMBELAIN MAY 26, 1958
WILLER VITAL-HERNE consecrated by POMMERY September 16, 1967
ROGER VICTOR-HERARD consecrated by VITAL-HERNE September 7, 1970
JORGE RODRIGUEZ consecrated by VICTOR-HERARD January 6, 1985
MICHAEL PAUL BERTIAUX consecrated by RODRIGUEZ November 14, 1985
ALLEN HENRY GREENFIELD consecrated by BERTIAUX September 21, 1986 &
December 4, 1993

DOINEL - NEW AEON SUCCESSION - 
1893 - Jules Stanslas Doinel consecrates Gerard Encausse
1909 - Dr. Gerard Encausse consecrates Dr. Theodor Reuss 
1912 - Dr. Theodor Ruess consecrates Sir Aleister Crowley 
1944 - Sir Aleister Crowley consecrates Major Grady McMurtry 
1983 - Major Grady McMurtry consecrates Tau Silenus 
1988 - Tau Silenus consecrates Tau Allen Greenfield 
1993 -   Tau Apiryon reconsecrates sub conditione Tau Allen Greenfield 


[Note that, while this clearly constitutes the New Aeon Succession recognized by the Order of Oriental Templars, the succession from the mercurial Bishop Doinel to  Encausse (Papus) to Crowley as listed here has been disputed.  The (non-apostolic mystical) succession of Doinel has come to Greenfield through so many other sources, it is listed here purely in the context of referencing the "New Aeon Succession" from Crowley.  Be it noted that any succession in this lineage within the initiatory system of the OTO as presently defined would be inappropriate to mention here.]

[The succession of the Russian Orthodox Church, 
Coptic Orthodox Church, Armenian Orthodox Church and
 the [non-apostolic] succession of the Mormon Church
 through Bishop William C.Conway, as well as the 
[non-apostolic] Doinel Gnostic succession through various
 routes are also applicable to my ministry.  Information
 will be provided upon request from serious academic 
and ecclesiastical scholars.] 

DOCUMENTATION