Jules Ferrette, also spelled Julius Ferrette[1][2]: 242 (22 April 1828 – 10 October 1904[3] or in 1903), was allegedly bishop of Iona; he is allegedly the founder of the Ancient British Church.
Ferrette claims he was consecrated as the Bishop of Iona and its dependencies by Mutran Boutros (later the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch) at Homs (Emesa) on 2 June 1866 who was allegedly acting solus and would have given Ferrette a mission to introduce Oriental Orthodoxy to the West.[5]: 35–6 [8][9] No original document of this alleged consecration is known to exist; Ferrette published what he claimed was an English translation of his Syrian consecration document after he arrived in London.[5]: 35, 37
The following churches and bishops are the main ones which claim, have claimed or are believed to be descending from Ferrette's apostolic succession through alleged episcopal consecrations received from Ferrette or from bishops who claim their consecration line goes back to Ferrette:
The line of succession also continued at least into the late 1950s in Britain under Dorian A. F. Herbert of Newport, Wales, who was the head of the offshoot Ancient British Church[clarification needed].[15] Herbert founded the Jesuene Church, also called the Free Orthodox-Catholic Church, in 1937.[16] Thereafter, Herbert was consecrated bishop of Caerleon in 1937 by the primate of the Orthodox-Keltic Church of the British Commonwealth of Nations, Mar Frederic (Harrington).[17]: 294 On 3 December 1944, Herbert was re-consecrated bishop by Willmott Newman.[12]: 454 [17]: 295 After this, Herbert "later syling himself Mar Doreo and regarding himself as the successor of Mar Pelagius (Morgan) [...] revived the [...] Ancient British Church" which had ceased to exist as it had merged into the Catholicate of the West.[18][17]: 294–8 In 1957, the name of Herbert's church was changed to "Ancient British Church (Agnostic)", with "(Agnostic)" meaning his church did not follow any dogma.[16][17]: 298
^ abcdefghiAnson, Peter F. (2006) [1964]. "Churches Claiming the Ferrette Succession". Bishops at Large. Independent Catholic Heritage. Apocryphile press. ISBN0-9771461-8-9.
^ abcdefghAnson, Peter F. (2006) [1964]. "Jules Ferrette, Mar Julius, Bishop of Iona, and alleged Patriarchal Legate of the Syrian Jacobite Church for Western Europe". Bishops at Large. Independent Catholic Heritage. Apocryphile press. ISBN0-9771461-8-9.
^ abAnson, Peter F. (2006) [1964]. "The Catholicate of the West (Catholic Apostolic Church), otherwise known as The United Orthodox Catholic Rite and The Celtic Catholic Church". Bishops at Large. Independent Catholic Heritage. Apocryphile press. ISBN0-9771461-8-9.
^ abcdAnson, Peter F. (2006) [1964]. "Churches of the Vilatte succession". Bishops at Large. Independent Catholic Heritage. Apocryphile press. ISBN0-9771461-8-9.