Man and Church
‘We’re Not Going Under the Greek Thumb’: An Interview with Bp. Brett Travis of the AOCC
Travis denied the claim by GOARCH priest Samuel Davis that AOCC members would be received into the Orthodox Church by chrismation. He said they agreed to participate in the prayer service only if the AOCC bishop was “looked on as an equal, not an apprentice.”
On June 19, Fr. Samuel Davis of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America hosted an ecumenical prayer service at the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine in New York City. Among the participants were two clergy of the so-called American Orthodox Catholic Church (AOCC): "Archbishop" Wayne Daniels and "priest" Don Purdum.
The AOCC was founded as part of the Russian Metropolia in 1927 but split with the Orthodox Church in 1933 when its founder, Bp. Aftimios of Brooklyn, married a young Syrian woman. The AOCC went defunct in 1934. Several organizations now claim to be successors of the original AOCC. The largest is the group to which Daniels and Purdum belong; it was legally incorporated by its current "patriarch," Roger Paul Willingham, in 2006.
The presence of AOCC clergy at a prayer service hosted by the Greek Archdiocese caused much consternation among the Orthodox faithful. It was also controversial in some parts of the AOCC. Fr. Samuel Davis posted on Facebook that the service was part of an ongoing dialogue between GOARCH and the AOCC. He also said that the AOCC were preparing to be received into the Ecumenical Patriarchate by chrismation “in time.”
The Union of Orthodox Journalists reached out to Fr. Samuel Davis, Wayne Daniels, and Don Purdum asking for clarification. Davis declined to comment; Daniels and Purdum have not responded as of publication.
On June 25, the Rev. Dr. Brett Travis, the AOCC’s Bishop of Knoxville and Province of Southern Appalachia granted an interview to the UOJ.
Travis had this to say about the Juneteenth prayer service: “I like Bp. Wayne, but they [i.e., GOARCH] have been courting him for five years.” He said that Daniels agreed to attend the service only if he was “looked on as an equal, not an apprentice.”
The UOJ asked Travis about Davis’s announcement that the AOCC would be received by chrismation. “That statement is not true,” he responded. “There’s only four people who can make that decision, and you're speaking to 25% of our synod right now.
“We’re simply not going to do that because we don't need to do that. We need no validation from any other entity.
“I told Bp. Wayne, it’s a waste of time. They [i.e., GOARCH] will take it and try to spin their own narrative. Now they’re showing their hand. We see their agenda. And they’re going to be upset when we say, ‘It ain’t gonna happen.’
"We’re not going under the Greek or Russian thumb through chrismation—I call it cremation.”
Travis confirmed that dialogue between GOARCH and the AOCC had been ongoing for about five years. He said that Patr. Roger Willingham and Bp. Wayne Daniels had met with Abp. Elpidophoros of America in person.
Travis added that he has received phone calls from GOARCH officials asking him to talk to Daniels, with the message being that the two could become “one great big family.”
However, Travis also insists there is no chance the AOCC will come into the Orthodox Church. “There is no canonical church in the United States of America except the AOCC,” he declared. “And we won’t be bullied into submission. They either come on our terms or there will be no terms.
“We’re an American Orthodox church. And we could care less if you're Greek or Russian, because you’re not American. You’re an immigrant [church] as far as we’re concerned.”
The UOJ mentioned that many Orthodox laypeople were scandalized and confused by the meeting. The UOJ also mentioned that we asked Fr. Samuel Davis for clarification, and Davis responded: “You have no spiritual authority to be concerned with this.”
Travis stated that this is a product of the “distorted order” of the Greek Church. “Nicodemus can ask Jesus a question but you can’t ask Fr. Samuel?”
