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The African Orthodox Church entered into
negotiations with the Russian Metropolia (now the OCA) for formal recognition
as an Orthodox jurisdiction. Unfortunately, these negotiations broke
down: the Metropolia demanded an unacceptable degree of administrative
control, while the Garveyites wanted to promulgate whatever doctrines
they chose. Eventually, the African Orthodox bishop was consecrated
by the "American Catholics", a group which had rejected the authority
of the Pope but was otherwise similar to the Roman Church. The Garveyite
Church had thousands of members on three continents, and was a symbol
of anti-colonialism in Kenya and Uganda. The African Orthodox in those
countries quickly broke off relations with the New York church and instead
became part of the Greek Patriarchate of Alexandria and fully orthodox.
The same process repeated in Ghana more recently, where Fr. Kwami Labe,
a graduate of St. Vladimir's Seminary in New York, has been building
a strong Orthodox community on the foundations laid by the Garveyites.
Today the African Orthodox Church as such is largely defunct, although
the parish of St. John Coltrane (!) in San Francisco remains quite active.
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