aboutus

The Apostolic Episcopal Church (AEC) was established in
1925 by Reverend Arthur W. Brooks (1889-1948), a priest of
the Episcopal Church, USA, and noted seminary professor and
journalist with Walt Whitman’s renowned Brooklyn Eagle news-
paper. Elevated to the office of Archbishop of Ebbsfleet by the
Patriarchate of the Eastern Chaldean Church on May 4, 1925,
+Brooks situated the initial Synod of the AEC at historic Christ
Church by the Sea, Broad Channel Island, New York.

In the years immediately following the horrors of World War I,
Bishop Brooks envisioned a church that sought unity over
division, healing over strife. It was his guiding conviction that
though differing opinions and theological interpretations have
always existed within the Church, the unifying love of one
another through Christ, if vigorously pursued, could overcome
any external obstacles to peace and cooperation among the
faithful.

Archbishop Brooks determined that some of the most divisive elements within Christianity
stemmed from the early Councils of the Fourth and Fifth Centuries, and that if the followers
of Christ could envision the possibility of one vine with many branches as envisioned by some
of the earliest leaders of the Church, many obstacles to unity could be eliminated. Out of this
vision of peace and unity was born the Apostolic Episcopal Church.

With apostolic roots in the Eastern Church, through the utilization of liturgical elements in
celebration of both East and West, and by welcoming clergy to our fold from multiple
expressions of the Christian faith, the AEC has sought, since its inception, to boldly live
Christ’s request that we love one another — and through this love, allow peace and
understanding to flourish.

In 1926, +Brooks co-founded (with Dr. George Winslow Plummer) the Seminary of Biblical
Research, New York City. +Brooks, a former Professor of English Bible Interpretation at the
Greek Seminary of St. Athanasius, served the Seminary faithfully for many years as both an
administrator and Professor of Eastern Research.

In a public demonstration of the ability of Christian love to triumph over doctrinal differences,
+Brooks coordinated a united Holy Communion service at Christ’s Church By The Sea on
May 19, 1929, with clergy representing ten separate communions participating in one accord.
The AEC was incorporated in the state of New York in 1932 as an independent ecumenical-
ecclesiastical Christian communion.

The AEC is organizationally structured as an autogenic episcopate, wherein our principal
governing office is that of presiding Bishop. The offices of Deacon, Presbyter, and
Incardinated Pastor fulfill the Church’s stated ministry to serve “all people,” or as articulated
by Archbishop Brooks, “We believe in a universal ministry...composed of divers orders,
each functioning...as they are called by the Holy Spirit and authorized by the Church.”

Archbishop Brooks passed away prematurely in 1948 at the age of 59. His legacy stands as a
unique expression of Christian unity and cooperation which has served to influence and touch
the lives of countless individuals in need.

There is a road, steep and
thorny, beset with perils of
every kind, but yet a road, and
it leads to the very heart of the
Universe: I can tell you how to
find those who will show you
the secret gateway that opens
inward only, and closes fast
behind the neophyte for
evermore. There is no danger
that dauntless courage cannot
conquer. There is no trial that
spotless purity cannot pass
through. There is no difficulty
that strong intellect cannot
surmount. For those who win
onwards there is a reward past
all telling - the power to bless
and save humanity. For those
who fail,there are other times in
which success may come.

Author Unknown