Orthodox Church of France

The Orthodox Church of France (OCF, French: Église orthodoxe de France, formerly the Orthodox Catholic Church of France, French: Église catholique orthodoxe de France) is an Orthodox church in France, composed of a single diocese, which uses the Western Rite. Though the OCF has been in communion with various canonical Orthodox churches during its history, at present it is not.

Louis-Charles Winnaert (), Roman Catholic priest, was a Modernist. Winnaert, along with a group of parishioners, separated from the Roman Catholic Church in 1918 and joined the Anglican Church. Winnaert and his adherents then separated from the Anglican Church and joined the Old Catholic Church in 1921. Winnaert and his adherents then separated from the Old Catholic Church and joined the Liberal Catholic Church in 1922. Their group, Église libre-catholique de France (Free Catholic Church of France), was registered as a religious association in April 1922. Bishop James Ingall Wedgwood, of the Liberal Catholic Church, consecrated Winnaert as bishop. Winnaert renounced the Liberal Catholic Church in 1924 over its occult Theosophical nature after the publication of Curuppumullage Jinarajadasa's The Early Teachings of the Masters 1881–1883. After Winnaert and his adherents separated from the Liberal Catholic Church, they established the Eglise catholique évangélique (Evangelical Catholic Church) in 1924. According to The Tablet, at the time of application to come into full communion with the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) in 1932, Winnaert's group had a membership of 1500 adherents, ministered by six priests and one deacon, in parishes located in Paris, Rouen, Brussels, Holland, and Rome. The ROC agreed to receive Winnaert and his group into full communion in 1936. The episcopal ordination of Winnaert was declared doubtful. Winnaert was received into full communion as a priest in 1936 with the condition "that his irregular marriage be dissolved, and that he shall not be raised to the episcopate" but was raised to the rank of archimandrite in the ROC. Winnaert became administrator of those parishes that were received into full communion with ROC and was supervised by the ordinary of the Russian Churches in Western Europe.

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